We've got a new project at the shop; a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, or EVO for short. While we're well known as a premier performance shop for European sports cars, in actuality we work on all cars that have a sporting pedigree. And the EVO certainly has that in spades...
The third installment of our Japanese make-over mini series stars a 2008 STi. All new coils for the struts, sway bars front and rear, complete new exhaust including down pipe, and new trans and engine mounts.
Continue reading "EVO, EVO, STi: Part 3 Subie Pipes & Coils" »
Part 1 of EVO, EVO, STi went through a brake rebuild on an EVO 8. In this installment we go over a sway bar installation on an all new EVO X.
Spring is in the air and the sun is rising on our Japanese performance car customers. The last few weeks we've had a rally of AWD sports sedans come through the shop: a couple of EVOs and a new STi. In part one we describe rebuilding brakes on an EVO 8. Part two goes through a sway bar install on a new EVO X. And part three follows a complete suspension and exhaust upgrade on a new 08 Subaru STi.
The last time we saw this particular Mitsubishi EVO was back in September when we installed new sway bars and upgraded the suspension bushings, Truly EVO Sway Bar Install. This time around we're replacing the stock struts with Ohlins units and upgrading the braking system with a custom brake cooling duct kit, stainless steel braided lines and new rotors at all around.
A typical stabilizer (a.k.a. sway bar and/or anti-roll bar) swap takes a half an hour to maybe one hour if the end links are in a bad spot or the bar needs to be fed thru a tight area. The front bar on a Mitsubishi EVO is a whole other problem, requiring a great deal of disassembly just to see the bar in the first place, let alone take it out.
It's great when we're able to help out customers with their performance needs. And sometimes it's as simple as a good alignment. The devil is in the details, or so they say, and doing a proper alignment is all about the details. How accurately you measure the base line, and how close to the specifications you're aiming for you get are key details.