Re-installing the front Undertray!

 Welcome back for another post!

In my quest for restoring the Evo to its original spec, I've been busy researching the original front undertray that came fitted on these cars.

So in preparation, I turned to trusty Partsouq for all of the clips and bolts I needed. I also went ahead and bought genuine gaskets for the stock front pipe and muffler.

This is what it looks like (photo from Lancer Register):

I also found a fantastic local business that makes great quality dashmats and misc OEM-looking parts for JDM cars and Evo's are included!

Shoutout to Fitmint for a great quality product.

Right now, the car is getting a full mechanical check over at Tunehouse, and a bunch of rubber bushings being replaced, a full service and timing belt along with a full fluid flush + replace.

We should be locked in for a summer of fun driving!

-Matt

Updates, Parts + Adjustments

 Welcome back to my third post!

It's been a while, but I've been busy finding parts and configuring the car to how I think an Evo 8 should be. 

Let's start with a few weeks ago, I dropped the car off the Heasman Steering for a much-needed height adjustment.

Before:

While this height was perfect, it was difficult driving, avoiding any unseen bumps and speed-bumps, and I was slightly scraping entering the driveway - unacceptable in my books. So, after Heasmans worked their magic...

Subtle - but noticeable and daily-friendly! Also, notice anything different? Or should I say, missing 😄 If you said "Hey, you took off the carbon sideskirts!" you'd be correct. While they were a nice addition, and were genuine carbon...it wasn't to my taste. So after half an hour, I managed to carefully remove them from the car. 

Much better.

But the car is off again to a local performance shop. On the menu is a full car inspection, and they have my permission to give the car anything she needs. My goal is to establish a service & maintenance baseline, that can then be maintained from there.

Next stop after that, it's onto preserving the paint and rubbers of this amazing machine.

On a personal note, I've started noticing every time I drive this wonderful machine, I can't stop grinning. Maybe I'm still in the honeymoon phase, maybe it's the privilege of owning a Japanese icon, maybe it's because it makes all the right noises.

What a car.

Intercooler Sprayer Re-Fit and general Fanboying

Thanks for coming back for my 2nd post! One super cool think I love about Evolution's are their built-in Intercooler spray that comes factory-fitted to the front bumper-bar.

One thing that I noticed with the car was the hose lines that connect to the spray nozzles from the reservoir were missing, so thankfully I was able to find a genuine kit still available!

I'm looking forward to re-installing this cool bit of kit!

I've always been a sucker for cool genuine merchandise about a vehicle I own, and when I saw a genuine Mitsubishi brochure for an Evo 8 MR appear on good old Facebook Marketplace for $20, I couldn't pass it up!

Currently, the car is at Heasmans Steering getting a ride-height adjustment back to daily-friendly and cop-friendly height and a general suspension check for anything that needs attention. 

Plenty of OEM parts arriving and waiting to be installed, so stay tuned!

-Matt

She's Home

Welcome to my blog!

This little blog aims to be a working log of my efforts to preserve, maintain and enjoy my new-to-me 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 MR. As my good friend George noted, my first car was a Mitsubishi Lancer CE, and after many cars and trucks, I've now come full-circle and am lucky enough to own a hero car of mine, a JDM Lancer Evo 8 MR.

I've never owned one before, and was really quite fussy about finding one that had minimal mods to it. After an extensive search, this is what I brought home:

For me, I had fairly strict criteria:

-Stock motor

-Stock driveline

-Reversible modifications

-Clean and not abused

-Graphite Grey Pearl (A39) colour

-Minimal kilometers

-No accident history

-No drilled dash/aftermarket gauges

-Stock wheels

Fairly difficult to find for an enthusiast car 20+ years old! But I was lucky and thankful for the previous owner who was as OCD as I am.

Considering how picky I was, and how rare this combination was to come by, I understand that instead of modifying, my enjoyment comes from the preservation and maintenance of this amazing Japanese machine. 

After my first drive, it solidified a number of things to me:

1. The hype around these cars is warranted

2. The driver engagement is pure analog enjoyment

3. The steering and chassis is simply fantastic

4. Practicality - it's got 4 doors, and a trunk when you need it (I won't be leaving this in a shopping mall carpark)

This car has a few modifications that I'll be restoring back to OEM:

1. GFB BOV

2. OEM gear knob

3. Turbo-back exhaust (I'll keep a stock exhaust if I get defected)

One thing that needs to change for me though, is the ride height, as good as it looks, it's just too risky to get pulled over and avoiding bumps on the road. I'll seek to restore it to stock height as soon as possible.

The venerable 4G63T

More stories and photos to come as I restore this legendary piece of JDM history.

Stay tuned.

-Matt