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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.
![0G8A6730.jpg](https://nzperformancecar.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/0G8A6730.jpg)
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.
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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.
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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!
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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