Name: Timmy B // Age: 32 // Location: Wellington // Occupation: Bank manager
NZ Performance Car: Hi, Tim. Tell us what made you want to buy an Evo, and why this one.
Tim: Hey, NZPC. One of the cars Dad had when I was young was an Evo III — I think it was about 1997. I had some pretty fond memories of that and thought to myself, I want to buy one of these one day. When I started looking, there were a few white and silver ones, but they didn’t really stand out to me, then this green one with bronze wheels turned up on Trade Me. It was in Nelson. I really liked the look of it, so I jumped on the ferry and picked it up straight away.
You’ve now been building it for over a decade; what’s caused the build to span so long?
Let’s just say ‘motors’ — yes, that’s plural. I have had a few issues in that decade. The first casualty was due to crank walk, a common issue in the early Evos, and that’s when the real modifications started. Since the motor needed a rebuild, I thought, let’s forge this one. That ended up being a three-year build. I took it to Powercruise not long after finishing it and ended up having an issue in the head and dropping a valve. So, a quick rebuild was needed; a new piston, valves — at the time, I decided on replacing the valves with oversized ones, which meant that, once it was back together, it needed to go back to the dyno, and that’s when I lost the third engine. The oil pump failed and toasted the crank and the block; my partner, Jess, said it was the quietest trip back from Auckland — I think I said about three words in the eight-hour drive! So, three motors had spanned about seven years, and the last three years were spent building the motor that is in the car now.
Ouch! You’ve also recently acquired a new shell for it all to be swapped into — why’s that?
The car has reached the point where I wanted to start using it for motor sport more than as a road car. The next step would have been a roll cage and a plan to run something wider than a 215 tyre. That would involve cutting the original shell up — something that I wasn’t too keen on, as it is still in really good nick for its age. This new shell popped up on Race Car, in Shed Classifieds, earlier in the year. I thought that it looked like a great buy, but didn’t think much of it until my friend Tim Chai showed me the shell again a few months later, and it had reduced in price (bonus!). It has everything I wanted: big brakes, five stud, widebody running 245s, and a roll cage. All the hard work was done, and I didn’t have to cut up my current shell.
A solid compromise on both fronts. What does the future hold for each car now?
‘BULL3T’ has been stripped of its running gear and set aside in storage. In a couple of years, I will return it to a road car, with a much milder build. The new shell will be a dedicated race car for hill climbs, street sprints, and tracking racing.
Can’t complain about that. Cheers, Tim!
1992 Mitsubishi Evo I
Engine: Mitsubishi 4G63, 1998cc, straight-four; 4G63 block bored to 85.5mm, JE pistons, Eagle rods, K1 Technologies billet crank, ATI Super Damper crank pulley, RaceFab baffled sump, ported-and-polished head, Brian Crower 282-degree camshafts, Brian Crower valve springs, Brian Crower titanium retainers, Brian Crower billet valve keepers, GSC Power-Division lifters, Supertech 1mm oversized valves, Cometic head gasket, HKS cam gears, HKS cam belt, custom carbon-fibre intake, custom spun trumpet runners, Skunk2 one-litre manifold spacer, Skunk2 90mm throttle body, K&N air filter, three-inch stainless rear section exhaust, HKS power muffler, custom three-inch downpipe, Garrett GTX3582R, 0.82 exhaust housing, custom mild-steel top-mount manifold, TiAL 50mm BOV, TiAL 44mm wastegate, twin Walbro 450-litre-per-hour lift pumps, twin Bosch 044 fuel pumps, Aftermarket Industries three-litre surge tank, Aeroflow fittings, Injector Dynamics 1700cc injectors, flex-fuel ethanol-content sensor, Sard fuel-pressure regulator (FPR), M&W pro-14 capacitor-discharge ignition (CDI), 300M ignition coil, Link G4+ Storm, half-size radiator, ITL intercooler, Mocal 16-row oil cooler, custom mil-spec engine harness, Frontline Fabrication billet rocker cover, Frontline Fabrication billet coil plate, ARP fasteners
Driveline: Evo I five-speed manual, Tilton 7.25mm twin-plate, Tilton flywheel, viscous front limited-slip diff (LSD), Evo III rear plate LSD (3.9:1), Wilwood Dynapro six-pot front calipers, Hawk Performance pads, Znoelli Evo IV 294mm slotted and dimpled front rotors, Znoelli Evo I 260mm slotted and dimpled rear rotors
Interior: Evo IV Recaro, Sparco steering wheel, Racepak IQ3 Street digital dash, custom billet ‘JERK’ gear knob
Exterior: Evo III side skirts, Evo III end caps, Evo II rear spoiler, Evo II front bumper, Evo II front lip
Wheels/tyres: 17-inch Enkei Tarmac, 215/45R17 Dunlop 03Gs semi-slick
Suspension: BC Gold coilovers, Hardrace rear camber arms, Hardrace rear toe arms, Whiteline Evo VIII bump-steer tie-rod ends, Evo VIII tie rods, Ultra Racing 23mm rear sway bar, Superpro polyurethane suspension bushes, front strut brace
Power: 394kW on 27psi
Torque: 550Nm
Fuel type: BP 98 octane
Tuner: Chris Wall at Prestige Tuning and Motorsport
Thanks: My amazing girlfriend, Jess; Chris Wall at Prestige Tuning and Motorsport; Zac Haar at Carboglass; Lance and Carl Howard; Shane Mendoza; Andrew Burns; Money Mcchesney; Nick Chiew at NST; Tim Chai; Clint Rae at Rae Emerson Motorsport Developments; Circle Jerk Crew; and everyone else who has helped me with the car