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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
After resisting for so long with my OEM recaros, I’ve caved and have chosen an aftermarket seat: the Recaro Pole Positions. These seats are not the most hardcore option, but they are a fixed back seat that still provide good support and are lighter than OEM. I’ve chosen the black leather + suede option, at…
This off-season is primarily going to be focused on improving the Evo’s balance. The Evo needs any help it can get in the balance department. The entire ACD pump has been relocated to the trunk, for a shift of 20 lbs off the front and 20 lbs onto the rear. Likewise, the battery has also…
Well, 2021 didn’t quite turn out exactly as I had planned. A number of car issues, large and small, hit me at just the right times to rob or nearly rob me of several events. Going back to the start, my first trip out to NCM nearly ended in disaster – my Falkens delaminated right…
I attended the “full” Midwest Fest for the first time in 2021, as 2020 meant no festival portion for the event last year. Honestly – I preferred last year. There were so many people at the event that you could barely get your car from paddock to grid and back, as tons and tons of…
Another item that was upgraded mid-season – I finally installed 2″ brake ducting on my Evo, using binary’s mounting bracket and some high temp hosing. This was a fairly simple process, and there’s only one way the bracket can attach itself to the back of the caliper. After that, I simply mounted the hosing directly…
While I meant for a series of upgrades to be featured in one single mid-season post, so many things got in the way that it just makes sense to split things into parts, starting with my new cams – a set of GSC S2s. These are a slightly more aggressive cam than I have had…
Hard to believe it’s been 6 months since my last autocross event, but this year has been going by really quickly, with lots of track days and issues with the car. I took this chance to get in a nice, simple, problem-free autocross and to bed in the new front pads. Thankfully, that’s exactly how…
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