When you ask any company today who tops the ‘A-list’, we cansafely say that the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII is always in the top 3. What does that mean? Companies carry large quantities of productfor particular applications and they track which platform sells the most amount of product. When they total the numbers, only a small number of vehicles can be considered ‘A movers’. This translates into a large number of enthusiasts drive an EVO VIII.

We wouldn’t want to miss out on any of the fun, so we set out to fi nd an EVO of our very own. Anyone who has visited the Mitsubishi dealership knows that they will not let you test drive one, at least here in SoCal, and many of the Mitsu camp are loathe to let anyone drive let alone wrench on their cars. When this subject was discussed at a TPR Staff meeting, Advertising Sales Manager Justin Lim announced that he had a friend that would be willing to let us get our greasy paws all over it. This focus for our project is making a reliable stock turbo’ed EVO for road race and time attack.

The first item up for installation and testing is one-of-a-kind RS2 prototype coilovers from our friends at B+G. Brian and Mike at B+G say that the production model will have a black body, black springs, and metallic silver perches to match aggressive styling to the already aggressive performing set up. These coilovers are not just ride height adjustable but dampening adjustable as well. Combine all these elements and what you get is an outstanding product from a company that emphasizes quality. Installation was a breeze and fi tment was perfect. Another bonus was that we saved a couple of pounds per corner over the stock suspension.

Next we tackled the task of installing Buddy Club’s 272 Racing Spec Cams with the help of Everett Lucas from Pann Auto Performance. Our baseline test was made with our ’03 EVO VIII sporting only an RS*R downpipe and exhaust. Results produced 246.1 WHP at 7000 RPM while producing 223.58 lbs. of torque at 4300 RPM. After tweaking on the adjustable cam gears for a bit we found the best setting for these cams with this set up to be 4 degrees retard intake and 0 degrees on the exhaust. Results may vary from car to car. Final results from the cams boasted 261.6 WHP at 6400 RPM while laying down 253.99 lbs. of torque at 3900 RPM. You do the math. We were pleased with the results, especially without fuel tuning or a boost controller.

Last but not least we made Ad Sales guy Justin Lim install the Buddy Club’s Racing Spec Condenser. Many Mitsubishi buffs know that they have a less than adequate grounding system. This product regulates voltage while increasing the effi ciency of the vehicles ground points. Kevin Feng from Buddy Club USA recommended we used the throttle body, alternator, and engine block as grounding points. When we put Project EVO back on the dyno we didn’t expect what we got. Peak HP stayed consistent with the previous test however we saw 281.71 lbs. of torque at 3800 RPM! Just to clarify, boost levels were at 12.5 psi at 3800 RPM for both baseline and fi nal testing. The EVO was loaded up at 2400 RPM and ramped simultaneously to prevent unusual boost spiking at low RPM.

Stay tuned as we take our new Project onto the race track for heads up testing against a completely stock EVO.