Friday 28th October 2005

Mitsu Evo turbo upgrade now out

Tuner uprates IX to 450bhp and cuts lag

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Evo IX - bit slow?

Are you finding that the 345bhp from your Mitsubishi Evo IX MR FQ-340 a little pedestrian? If  so, maybe you need a tweaked turbocharger to boost power from the standard 345bhp to 450bhp.

Turbo specialist Turbo Dynamics has claimed to be the first in the country to convert the IX's turbocharger into a full dual ball bearing turbo.

Company boss Peter Marsh is said to be "delighted that the first converted Evo IX on the road is reporting impressive performance figures in early testing", following round-the-clock work by company technicians. The car left Turbo Dynamics' premises in mid-October.

As part of the conversion kit, Turbo Dynamics replaced the lightweight magnesium compressor wheel with a more traditional aluminium version to cope with the increased power output.

"It has been an extremely technical project to produce this ball bearing unit which is not just more powerful than the road version but has reduced lag and better transient response,'' he said.

"There has been tremendous demand for a more powerful turbo and in addition to producing the best possible product we have invested in dedicated tooling equipment to cope with expected demand for the unit.

"We pride ourselves on producing a complete package for customers and by replacing the wheel as well as developing the conversion kit Evo IX drivers can be assured of a completely reliable performance upgrade,'' said Marsh.

The new ball bearing turbo has been produced for Dave Gammon of EVO400, which has been inundated with requests for increased power for the new model since its UK launch earlier this year.

[bosshog]

Oh - what do you think - 10K miles before the 2.5(?) engine goes pop.
I'm all up for more power, but the reliability of these conversations just don't seems to add up.

[RichardD]

Would be interesting to see a power graph, I didn't think it was possible to get that sort of bhp from 2 litres unless the turbo doesn't come in until 4k plus revs?

[SpunkyM]

Don't forget there is already an FQ400 so an extra 50bhp is probably within the design margins. Just.

What I don't quite understand is that they have replaced them magnesium turbine with a heavier aluminium one - won't that increase lag?

The FQ400 has a bad reputation for being almost unbearably laggy so if their claims are true it could be a winner. As always though you can't believe the hype, need to see a 30mph - 70mph figure in top gear.

[MarkoTVR]

SpunkyM said:

What I don't quite understand is that they have replaced them magnesium turbine with a heavier aluminium one - won't that increase lag?

Dunno, I guess being heavier it would also give it more inertia once it has eventually spun up.....? If so, it might maintain higher RPMs during gear changes than a lighter wheel. Maybe.

[PhilboSE]

There's few people and companies that can tell Turbo Dynamics anything about turbos, they're very well regarded in the industry, so I'd tend to trust their claims. They replaced my standard turbo (not on an Evo) with one designed to my specifications: more and wider spread of power, and less lag, and exceeded my expectations.

Though from what I've read, the Evo engine will need more than a bigger turbo to get to 450bhp: stronger rods etc at the least (unless these are already uprated as standard in the IX compared with the VIII etc).

[rsvmilly]

SpunkyM said:

The FQ400 has a bad reputation for being almost unbearably laggy so if their claims are true it could be a winner. As always though you can't believe the hype, need to see a 30mph - 70mph figure in top gear.

This was overstated by TG. Although, in a real world test by MLR the better response of the turbo of the 340 diminished the power advantage.

www.lancerregister.com/art_fq400report.php

As to reliability of 400hp Evos, there are plenty of modded ones making that sort of power - generally on aftermarket turbos.

[jjprestidge]

There's an older Evo down here in the Westcountry that is unbeatable in sprints and is reputedly running over 500 bhp (and I don't doubt this judging by some of the time it's achieving.) It competes in the road production class (a bit of a misnomer in my opinion) so is not a stripped out rally special, although I suspect that it is not driven on a daily basis.

I've never seen it miss a beat at any of the sprints I've competed in, although it may be serviced very regularly.

JP

[EcHo05]

The turbo conversion is based on the IX Gt Magnesium Turbo Charger, Not the laggy Garrett GT35 found on the FQ400!

Lag is not an issue

[Turbo T]

Mark Shead @ MA Developments is the man for Evo's. He can build some awesome cars with good road manners too.

[granville]

[_VTEC_]

derestrictor said:

Tempting you to get another EVO Simon?

[lap_time]

Re: first comment in forum-2.5? WTF? all 4G63's are 2 liter, unless you opt for a Tomei Genesis 2.2 liter crate, however, RCD have developed a 2.4 liter stroker kit with the aid of Crower. That baby makes a whopping 600+kW at the wheels, or close to 900hp. Lag, however: try an 88mm turbo, with full boost only available from about 5000rpm. As for replacing the magnesium wheel with an aluminium one, as listed in the story, it is stronger. It weighs more than tyhe magnesium wheels, therefore it is laggier, but it can take higher boost.

[EcHo05]

The wheel is actually titanium, and has a ball bearing core which easily compensates for any lag!!

[smifffy]

SpunkyM said:

need to see a 30mph - 70mph figure in top gear.

Absolute nonsense.

Go do a 30-70mph test in *any* turbocharged charged in top gear and you'll find the results to be startlingly disappointing (cue Clarkson's ridiculous EVO 400 test). A turbodiesel would give the best results here, surely you're not advocating this?

If you did this test in an RS 200, WRC or any of that ilk, then the results would be equally appaling.

The whole point of a turbocharged car is that it comes alive once the turbo spins. The real question is at what point does it start spinning and how long it takes to reach optimal operating speed. This is always a compromise here with the size(read mass) of the turbo, but there are advances being made here all the time.

The WRC and Scooby/Evo revolution have meant massive leaps forward in technology, and if you compare the characteristics of an RS Ford of 10+ years ago against the modern turbos available there is no comparison.

[ApexClipper]

It's not often I speak ill of Clarkson, but that FQ400 test was absolutley meaningless and held no water whatsoever.

As Smiffy says, do the same test in just about any turbocharged car, and you'll get more or less the same results

[rsvmilly]

Especially as that six-speed Evo was geared for 170+ mph