2003 Evo 8. The walk of shame!

The 8 is about as about as good as it gets for a cheap Evo. They aren't viewed as especially desirable compared to a 6 or a 9, so they aren't really commanding much money. I used to worry about it getting nicked, but I think the game's moved on to the Golf R and S3 Audis.

The smart money though would be an Evo9 wagon.....all the benefits of a saloon, but it's an estate body and less money for reasons that defeat me. If I didn't already have this, I'd be looking at them.

If you ever get the chance, go for it. I've had access to a lot of ostensibly more desirable cars ( Nissan R35, R8, IS-F, Kleeman Merc ). They've all come and gone, this is still here. There's nothing quite like them.

I would have to sell my M5 to get one, and I don't think that I could do that, it would feel like taking too much of a bath. They're currently at £10k plus for 7s, so I imagine 8s will be more.

The miracles of a more expensive trickle charger....the battery this is connected to was giving off all the signs of having nearly croaked it 3 days ago. Happy days.

It had been connected to a Lidl ? Aldi? can't remember, cheap and cheery, I did wonder whether it was the car developing a problem or the charger not doing the job. Lesson learned.

Timely. I'm just recommisioning my VII RS after a similarly long hibernation and my closest MUTII owning garage has packed in work and I was wondering whether Evotune were still on the go.

Excellent!!!

Lol, you and me both. It spends more time on here in pictures than it does on the road!

I've had it for nearly 20 years, it had 8k miles on it when I got it at 8 months old in 2004, it's still only done 52k, despite it living in Crete when I lived there in the mid 2000s, regular trips to the IOM when I was back in the UK, up and down from Newcastle to Southampton etc, several trips to the Spa classic, plus a couple of trackdays, quarter miling at Santa Pod and Thorney Island, and multiple blasts around Scotland in the company of like minded hooners. It seems like there was a period in it's life where it was never really inactive, yet the mileage tells a different story.

Considering I added 14k miles to it in the first year I had it, it really has had very little use between then and now.

I must subconsciously regard it as the best car I've had, everything else that many would regard as better cars have fallen by the wayside in a straight fight between what to keep and what to let go of. It's interesting to have been able to run more than one car at a time, you don't have to sacrifice something to try something else and then regret making the wrong decision afterwards.

An honourable mention must go to the Lexus IS-F I had back in 2009. I wish I still had that. But I let it go in favour of the Evo.

Thank you.

So, it's home, and without incident. My mate, whose mother's garage was the Evo's home until today, picked me up after he finished work. After popping in to see her and thanking her for the extended loan of her garage, for which she refused any remuneration, bless her, I set off. It fired up as though it was a daily driver, 20 mins later and that was that. Everything feels a bit bumpy and and crashy, but that'll be the square, slightly deflated tyres and cold oil. The air con is still ice cold. The engine sounds absolutely sweet, albeit driven gently off boost, in deference to the old fuel. I never drive it on boost until it's done 15 miles from cold regardless, it needs that long to get oil temp. All bets are off after that, 1.8 bar and a heavy right foot are temptations I rarely resist!

It's had a quick bath before bed, first time it's been with the rest of the family for a while and the first time I've managed to get the 3 of them in there without resorting to using the scissor ramp I bought when I first hatched the plan to house 3 cars in a 2 car garage. Living in a city centre townhouse has it's disadvantages with regard to car owning practicalities.





Soz, another sideways pic.



In the last pic you can see the scissor ramp with the MR2 parked sideways over it. Once you get the hang of the angles, it's pretty easy to manoeuvre it into where it needs to be, and it's less aggro than using the ramp just for parking. It means I'm way more likely to use that car, as it's a right faff using the ramp in a tight space. I'm much happier with this solution, and this should be the way things are for the forseeable now that I've nearly finished the house and don't need garage space to be used for storing building materials, which was initially why the Evo has ended up being away for so long.

So, the to do list involves a fairly in depth engine bay aesthetic overhaul, a machine polish of the paintwork, a replacement 3 port boost solenoid, as it wasn't making full boost before I stored it and I've had probs of this nature in the past.

I want to repaint the front APs in the red that became an option after I had already bought the black ones, and I'll need to find the white decals they will need. They will then better match the original rear red Brembos. I should really consider having the front end repainted, as it's absolutely battered from multiple and committed trips around Scotland, but it's never had paint and I like the fact that although it could be better, it's all still original. I'm going to put a double din carplay in it, something I wasn't bothered about until a couple of years ago, but I've realised it makes a car a much nicer place to be.

I'm also going to put a second alarm on it. I was offered 30k for it a little while ago, by someone who has known the car a long time. It was 22k when I got it! It's a huge offer for what it is, but I said no. There's no point, I would only go through the same sellers regret as every other ex Evo owner seems to experience. But it made me realise that I've maybe been a bit complacent about the desirability of it, and I'm self aware enough to know my reaction to it being stolen will be disproportional if it gets nicked.

In the time I've owned it, I've replaced one heater matrix at 10 years old, and one air con rad at 15 years, plus two batteries. Those are the only parts to need replacing due to failure, that it left the factory with. The only other probs have been the failure of mods that I've added, the used and unknown mileage Evo 9 turbo that I ran at 1.8 bar for 8 years before it shat itself in Scotland, and the aftermarket 3 port boost solenoid. It's been a great car for me. I can't see it ever leaving now.

It's completely standard internally, but it's a complete Evo 9 VVT head transplant, E9 turbo, inlet manifold and ECU with home made wiring loom to run the MIVEC and a custom made braided line oil feed from Pirtek for the same, fed from one of the ports on the oil filter housing instead of drilling the rear of the block for the supply ( which is how Mitsubishi did it ). That would have meant engine out, and I couldn't see the point.. Plus, additional bolt ons. So, Walbro fuel pump, ARP head studs, coil on plug kit, ETS intercooler and hard pipes, HKS silentpower exhaust, decat, 3" downpipe, ported standard exhaust manifold, modified airbox with panel filter and cold air feed, 3 port boost control and all the EGR guff removed.

It's mapped for 97ron, as at the time, I couldn't always get VPower or Tesco 99, so probs makes a bit less than it could, but the torque is 380, and bhp on high boost ( 2 stage map ) 393 I think ( been a while since it was done ). I wanted to keep the torque figure at a reasonable amount below 400, as that's where the problems start with the standard rods and 6 speed box. It's quick enough for a road car. At Santa Pod it hit 60 in 3.9, and 100 in 10.9, not spectacular in comparison to a mapped Golf R for example, but it's enough.

Sorry, just looked back through this, and realised I posted a lot of the above back in 2020, sorry for repeating it!

Lovely car!

We don’t do much right in NI but we definitely have a better MOT system. The setup in England is mad.

Interested to hear a bit more on the 9 > 8 engine swap. I've seen the odd one and every write up suggests it's a PITA to work out. This must be 10+ years ago on MLR though.

Is it straight fwd now?