Noticed at the end of last year that the Evo’s reverse lights stopped coming on while I was in reverse. Found it unlikely that both bulbs went out at the same time, and they don’t have their own fuse – which meant that the reverse switch (switch on top of the transmission that tells the…
For one of the final pieces of the evo’s track prep, I decided it would be prudent to install an oil cooler, to keep the oil in it’s optimal temp range during these hot lapping sessions. After doing some research, I decided to go with a Setrab oil cooler, one of the top names in…
R56HS has now become QL Motorsport! Due to changes in priorities and cars, I have shifted the blog to become a more driver-focused site. I will still be driving the Mini for nearly half the autocross events, but have shifted the focus more to the Evo, prepping the car for autocross and track, and continuously…
Part 2 of the new wheels – OEM X GSR wheels to use as track wheels. I would be running the 265 width for SCCA autocross, but the limit for AWDs in street and most enthusiast classes for track were 255s. The X GSR wheels ended up being a good compromise that would be relatively…
The other required part of swapping to the Evo X brakes was upsizing to 18″ wheels. There was pretty much only one set of wheels I wanted, which was the CE28N in 18×9.5. After much research, it seemed the only offset that would really work well would be the 18×9.5 +34. The +28 would be…
As part of my winter projects continue, another issue I wanted to address was getting an updated head unit. While the headunit I had was good, I was getting ever so slight static buzzing noises from it. I reached out to the manufacturer, who not only agreed to take it back, but also sent me…
Was lucky enough to score an Evo 8 wing in Wicked White recently. This is a mod I’ve always meant to do on the white Evo, if I happened to come across it. Evo 9 wings are weaker than Evo 8 wings, and heavy winds are able to bend or break these wings. The wing…
Thanks to the chatter on the forums, even after getting brand new rebuilt calipers in 2016, and finally fixing the soft brake issue (titanium shim bending due to poor design), I was convinced to again revamp the entire braking system, this time to the X brakes setup, in the front only. Aside from one minor…
I’m doing this rather retrospectively as I adjust some of the formatting of the journal. I was still in full swing autocross mode with the Mini during this time, but that started to wind down and the seat time had started paying dividends to driving other cars, including the Evo. Some set up changes below:…
With the Corolla pushing on strong with 223,000 miles, and my recent travel requirements, I’ve decided to make an upgrade to improve the livability by installing an Android headunit. How-to below. I purchased the Joying Android 6.0 headunit designed for the Corolla, which will come with the appropriate trim & connection to make this a…
