1998 Evolution V GSR: Classroom

[Tim_M]

Our machinists said he will polish, but no guarantees. Hopefully back next week.

In the mean time...another small batch of bolts arrived from Japan. Picking up duty due packages means we must visit the Stuttgart airport and interact with the DHL lady - the epitome of German customer service. Once we stopped taking it personally, it became more comical/enjoyable. We ask, "Do you speak English" (in German) - her curt replay "nein!" Next she asks, "Let me see your ID!" in excellent English! It goes on - like a British comedy...

Nonetheless, new seat bolt anchor...previous was remnants of a harness:



And assembling the front end inner fender plastic - two mud guards and an intricate brake duct...once we located the correct little plastic clips, is quite solid...we have quite a few plastic clips of various sizes now...



Cross our fingers for bearing and crank deliver by Thanksgiving...excellent time to spend some time in the garage.

And some relief to the registration for this vehicle...took some smooth talking and two tries, but we have been granted another 3 months extension...avoiding the exclusion of the American inspection system. Forcing us to use the German TUV and all its restrictions. I can sleep now...

[Native]

we have been granted another 3 months extension

That's great!

[Solar]

Those Germans are well known throughout history for their great sense of humor.............

Glad to hear you got a extension, and I'm guessing Thanksgiving over there isn't quite the same as here ? Fingers crossed on the crank, but it should be okay, (I'd be more concerned about the cams)

Found this interesting: https://jalopnik.com/dont-go-looking-fo ... 1848037503 They're talking about the later models, but still.

[Tim_M]

Brian: Happy Thanksgiving! Love the American holidays...that Germans don't celebrate - everything is open! Thanks for the link...I do like the cars and kick myself for not buying an Evo 9 back in the day. They are a good design and very useful with 5 seats and a trunk.

Crank was returned with an ok bill of health. It did clean up sufficiently with a polish. New bearings received and installed. We also went whole hog and added a new oil pump/plate to hedge our bets as much as possible. Tonight the oil pan was reinstalled...waiting for sealant to set.

Only image I took...prepping the rear main seal:



Half of each day is already spoken for with volunteering to sell Christmas Trees, but tomorrow we will pre-lube it and time the cams. Saturday it gets reinstalled fully and I'm going to try my darnedest to fire it up on Sunday.

[Tim_M]

Progress!

Decided to complete the valve cover since all the parts (drill/tap/bolts) arrived (took two tries on the SS button head bolts)...drilling:



Tapping:



Complete with blue locktited oil separation baffles with a dash of sealant on the edges (like OEM)!:



Installed and cams timed!



Looking back at the process a new valve cover in the beginning would have been a better way to to, but the assistant wouldn't have had so much more experiences!

Today it will be hung with clutch install and in it goes!

[Tim_M]

Only have excuses...

We did get it dropped in...just hookups left.

Always satisfying to hang an engine - turning point:



Eye candy - twin disk...seems overkill for this Evo:



All hands on deck...although an incredibly easy drop in...just one mount with a jack underneath awaiting the trans install:



Trans went in smoothly - bit of sweat as it wasn't nicely balanced on the floor jack...didn't drop it though! More to follow...

[Tim_M]

Progress!

New OEM battery hold downs get pretty close to the closed hood...Assistant and her Dremel made quick work - hold it tight and watch the rags!:



Topping the 10W-30 Valvoline VR Racing Oil...:



Ready to give #2 attempt a whirl! Funny how the second time it goes together much easier...:



Pulled the plugs and spun the starter...50 psi of oil pressure! Good news.

Tentative success! Fired right up pegging the oil pressure gauge - 100 psi! Few minutes to warm up and settled to a ~28 psi warm idle. Believe that is a good number!:



Is this metal Evo 9 blow-off (recirculation) valve installed correctly? Finding an OEM-like Evo engine compartment is a bit harder than one might think:

[Native]

Pulled the plugs and spun the starter...50 psi of oil pressure! Good news.

Tentative success! Fired right up pegging the oil pressure gauge - 100 psi! Few minutes to warm up and settled to a ~28 psi warm idle. Believe that is a good number!:

Hooray! That's terrific.
What's the tentative part?

[Tim_M]

Steve,

Thanks!

Time will tell if the repair on the crank was sufficient. It is not perfect, but may be acceptable...could be 100 miles or 100,000. It was just a polish vice a full grind which is not ideal.

Nonetheless - tonight was first time on the ground and the maiden voyage (roads are clean...)!



What a treat to throttle the project finally. Taut, quick steering, low exhaust note, blowoff noises, great time for a 5 km exploratory run. Love the right hand drive...so does my assistant (in left seat giggling all the way!)

No dash lights which was quite a relief. Backup lights are inop was the only discrepancy. Even the electric cooling fan popped on at the end.



Now the fun part of figuring out how to tune it once we get it inspected...when the roads are clear...

[Native]

Woo-hooo! Way to go!
Congrats to you and the assistant.

[Tim_M]

Steve - thanks! Great feeling and reminds me why I like these small, turbo sedans. The coil overs will be interesting and the round-about was an unintentional drift due to the stickered Rivals and cold temps...great fun! Of course that was what the assistant remembers about the ride...I think I'm in trouble.

[Native]

Of course that was what the assistant remembers about the ride...I think I'm in trouble.

Lol. That's good and bad... at least there's another year or two before you gotta hand over keys...

[Loren]

[Solar]

WOW, congrats !! Looks really nice too ! Probably the cleanest 33 year old Mitsu out there. I'm very impressed not to see a bunch of zipties and taped off wires everywhere .

Did you add up all your receipts or did you do like I did, and just file them away and use your budget number as the final cost ?

[Tim_M]

Thanks gents. Most anyone can screw a car together, having it last is real success. Unfortunately that test will have to wait until spring. Takes the wind out of the sails for satisfaction (didn't have to worry about that FL!). I do hope the crank repair was sufficient.

Yes she has a ways to go especially in Germany, but we might have another assistant learn the art of car control.

Receipts: thanks for bringing that up - - we did approach this as a project manager...so we do have a spreadsheet reflecting the damage. But, think the investment for the young'n will pay off if she learned a thing or two (and realizes she might be the coolest girl at school pulling up in this (23 year old) thing... )

[Tim_M]

Pulled it out in the daylight after 13 months...fun car with all the eye catching elements:



Nearly complete engine bay - the breather will eventually disappear:



The refreshed calipers look nice behind the bronze wheels:



and short video:



And the novelty of the first drive wore off. Looks like we have transfer case leak (axle seal), coolant leak (thermostat?), brake master cylinder damp along with the reverse lights. We did note that the boost gauge was dead because we didn't hook it up with the associated large vacuum leak. The AFR is closer to lambda now at idle...funny how that works. We did ship off an oil pan for the road race treatment in New Zealand - yes half way around the world...see how long that takes.

[Solar]

Look at that purdy car ! Wow, now I see why you took on this project, it turned out really nice, congrats ! Really like those dinner plate size running lights, I need to to get those on my cars to combat the big truck guys that put those huge light bars on their trucks, even though they never take it out of the city.

In due time you will get the bugs worked out, its all part of the fun, right ? From what I'm seeing is those Evos are fetching a decent price in the market right now, so at the worse you probably broke even ? There was a episode of Wheeler Dealers where they got a Evo 7 and rebuilt the engine and put ugly ass vinyl graphics on it and sold it for a decent price, though not sure how "real" that show is.

Keep us updated on getting the bugs worked out. It will be fun when you get it over here, we can take our projects to C&C and show them off.

[Tim_M]

Brian: Appreciate the comments. The car has quite a bit of interesting points to look at - a far cry from the current Tesla generation. Admittedly, the photos make it look much better than in reality, but we are happy with the outcome. Quite a struggle not to drive it...as mentioned - several areas to tweak. We did another full brake bleed - concern over a squishy pedal on the first push. Hopefully not a master cylinder ~$500 cost for OEM! Need to put a few miles on it to confirm. No bubbles came out...but then again, I've had an air bubble in the master get stuck - sat empty for nearly a year... We also tidied up wiring, hose routing, and some polish to the front strut bar as well as the hood 'rain deflector.' You are correct, all minor quibbles - and good fun fine tuning the combination.

Love it when a car comes with holes in its hood from the factory:



Big job today ... minor polish:



This also came in the mail...not sure if we are game after reading a tuning guide for dummies - with ROMs and other acronyms-making my head hurt! Where is my Holley HP tune on the fly ECU?!!:



You ought to come this way and we can go for a ride around the Ring...you can even sit in the wrong seat for extra thrills!

Merry Christmas!

[Solar]

You ought to come this way and we can go for a ride around the Ring...you can even sit in the wrong seat for extra thrills!

Merry Christmas!

I've found most of the time a squishy brake pedal isn't a master cylinder, you probably have some air stuck in there. (In all my years of wrenching they either just leak or don't work.) Do you have Speed Bleeders or are you doing it the old fashion way ? When I did the brakes on my 240 I used Speed Bleeders and a hand type vacuum pump, took quite a while to get all the air out because the system was open for a while and I flushed it with new fluid. I used the vacuum pump to get the fluid to the bleeder then used the Speed Bleeders to finish it off. Just a thought.

That would be so cool to go for a ride, maybe if the travel issues and the other garbage going on in the world subsides in the future, it could be a serious thought. For now, I'm staying state side, I even canceled my ski trip to Colorado in January because our flight got moved and the resort can not guaranty that there won't be restrictions put in place when we get there.

I read somewhere Nurburg is undergoing some major maintenance on the circuit and will be closed a while ? Did you tear it up with your Camaro that bad that they had to resurface the track ?

Hope you and your family had a nice Christmas, and have a Happy New Year !

[Tim_M]

Brian: Happy New Year to you too!

Bleeding: we did it the old fashioned way and seemed nice and firm. But each car movement got a squish on the initial push then it was fine. After the short drive we had fluid on the outside of the master as well. Couldn't discern the source. Miles will help. A new master is ~$400 for OEM! I have a Motive Bleeder deal...but it is in the states...not liking on buying a second one! Speed Bleeders could be an option, but I paid extra for the SS models in the refreshed Brembos! The challenges we have... ;-)

Fortunately, the Ring gets updates it seems each winter. I surely paid a portion of that improvement thanks to the bill I got from my last visit. Means I should try harder to get more return on the investment in the coming year...hopefully the Evo comes together!