Back to 17’s! (Evo)

In a blast from past, I am switching back from 18s back down to 17s. When I had this setup prior, I was running 17×9.5 +32 Wedssport TC105n. I did not like the wheels uneven spoke design, but I do really look back fondly on that setup, which made the car feel like lightning in…

Morimoto LED Headlights (Toyota Sequoia/Tundra)

One of the weaknesses of having an older car, particularly one that has been in production for so long, is that some of the technology ends up very dated. The halogen headlights were replaced for the 2018+ Sequoias/Tundras with a factory LED option. That said, not only is the option of upgrading expensive, the shape…

Stl Solo 03272022

First event of 2022 to dial in a host of changes for the Evo. Unfortunately, the conditions were just not ideal for really dialing in the car. Got to run in 3rd heat, but temps stayed around low 40s all day, and with the amount of drivers per heat, the tire temps were ice cold…

2022 Preseason Updates

Well the preseason starts as soon as the season ends when it comes to car development, and there are a number of things going on with the Evo. This preseason will be all about improving the balance of the car – namely, decreasing weight and/or shifting the weight balance. As far as events go, it’s a…

Evo 9 – Fluidampr

I’d be lying if I said I knew how this really worked, but I’ve been generally thinking about smoothing out the engine a little after the balance shafts were removed. Turns out this doesn’t really (only marginally) improves engine smoothness, most of it is for the smoothness of the internals. This article discusses harmonic dampers,…

Mitsubishi Evo 9 MR OEM Brake Air Guides (MZ555004EX)

With the recent loss of the brake ducting, I’ve returned to relying on the OEM brake air guides for the Evo. From what I understand, in conjunction with the undertray, these should work pretty well. Interestingly enough, looks like my lower flap had broken off on the driver’s side. Never noticed – probably happened after…

OEM RS Trunk Bar (Evo)

Short post – scored one of these for cheap on the forums, and threw it on the car. Doubt it does anything, but it probably weighs ~2 lbs including the bolts at most, and looks nice. I had to remove the plastic trim surrounding the trunk latch, you’re supposed to cut it to fit, so…

Aluminum UICP & Strut Tower Brace (Evo)

Furthering my desire to correct the weight balance on this car, I am replacing the factory steel strut tower brace with an aluminum Carbing strut tower brace. This brace weighs about 5.5lbs, compared to 7.3lbs from stock. I’m not entirely sure in terms of strength on this part, but it is also much thicker than…

AP Racing 8350 Brake Kit (Evo 9)

This took a lot of consideration on my end, but I decided to downsize from my Evo 10 Brembo + Girodisc brake setup to the AP Racing 325mm 8350 front caliper/rotor kit from Essex. Essex claims 14lbs unsprung mass decrease – 7 lbs each front wheel, compared to the stock Evo 9 setup. My current Evo…

SSB Uprights & Ceramic Bearings

Continuing my preseason updates for the Evo are my SSB uprights. These uprights/spindles/knuckles go in place of the OEM spindle. In the front, it connects at the top to the bottom of the coilovers, and on the bottom it connects to the control arm. It also replaces the toe arm from OEM with its own…