The 97 GS-T project begins

[proteusx301]

I'm new to the forum, however I've been lurking around for about 4 months now, ever since i bought my car. I'm in no way new to working on cars, however this will be my first high performance engine rebuild. I've done many engine rebuilds for work, however they all used factory parts and by the book procedures, so they were mostly cake. I just basically wanted to get on here and lay my plans out on the floor and have some other people look at them, perhaps throw in some of their own ideas or recommendations. Any helpful information is always welcome.

The basic plan is that I'm shooting for between 350whp to 400whp for a daily driver. Engine management will be a EPROM 95 ECU with DSMLINK. I'm not the kind of person to do a job halfway, so someone tell me if im cutting corners somewhere.

ENGINE- donor motor is a 95-96 7-bolt
Block will be sripped bare and hot tanked
cylinders will be overhoned ten thousandths
deck machined flat
stock pistons and rods reused, havent decided on what kind of piston rings yet
clevite 77 rod and main bearings
ARP hardware kits will be used when applicable
balance shafts will be removed
cometic head gasket
ARP headstud kit
head will be hot tanked and cleaned
mating surface machined flat
3-angle valve job, using stock intake valves, and evo exhaust valves
port job
hks cams (havent decided on 264/272 or 272/272 yet)
all of this of course topped off with complete rebuild gasket sets
all new timing belt components
Evo III exhaust manifold
Evo III turbocharger
Evo III O2 housing
RRE 3 inch downpipe mated to a 3inch high flow cat, 3 inch cutout added to DP
Apexi N1 catback
225 lph fuel pump with rewire
STM tank-to rail fuel kit
STM return kit with FPR

All this will of course be supported by the appropriate engine management and monitoring gauges. I will be re-using my existing transmission, havent decided on a flywheel and clutch kit yet. Well thats basically it for now. Thanks in advance for any advice that is given.

 

[proteusx301]

Block and head are now completely stripped. Going on Tuesday to talk to a local machine shop that does high performance work. Still missing a few parts for the build, but its starting to come together. DSMgraveyard.com is a great website, spent a good ammount of cash there.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

and finally the aftermath of the teardown, what a mess. Going in tommorrow to work a half day and then organize that mess.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[airmail96]

Looking good man, sounds liek you have a well thoguht out build on your hands. Keep us posted.

 

[airmail96]

Looking good man, sounds like you have a well thoguht out build on your hands. Keep us posted.

 

[supermech21]

Still gonna use the stock rods / pistons? Right now the goal may be 400 but what happens 2 years from now when the goal is 600? Some ross pistons and eagle rods wont break the bank will they

 

[proteusx301]

Has been a while since an update, been buisy with work. Not much time to work on the car.
Engine is completely torn down, parts organized and in boxes. Mostly everything hot tanked and sand blasted. Head and block will be going to the machine shop shortly (havent bought all the parts i need for that yet). Attention has been turned to the car itself lately, getting it ready for the new engine. Came home today to find my first set of upgrades sitting at the door.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Apparently my boost controler comes with an optional cat. (He was excited by all the boxes and wouldn't go away) And before someone says it, there is already an aftermarket boost gauge installed.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Thats it for now. Next is probably the intercooler, followed by all the fuel system upgrades, minus the injectors for now.

 

[Dsmj89]

Looks good bro can't wait to see more pics and updates. Keep up the good work.

 

[proteusx301]

Intake kit and HKS SSQV are installed. Turbo spool now sounds like a high pitched vacuum cleaner, with a slight growl on the low end. The HKS valve has quite an interesting sound when it releases, hard to describe but I think when the exhaust is put on the two sounds will blend together well. I'll be stripping out the stock vacuum routing for the wastegate and BCS tomm, and installing the MBC. I'll take some pics of the new setup when I'm working.

 

[parker4]

I didn't see a fuel filter in that list but I didn't re-read the op. I also didn't see any suspension or break upgrades. You'll need more control and stopping power with 400 hp. With a shop like that I'd make fun of you for not installing some stiff bushings. Polyurethane is stiffer (race inspired) then Energy. Energy is a little more street able but still really stiff. I've got energy bushings and I feel the individual divots on man holes. I didn't look at your online garage so you may have race inspired springs and shocks, bushings and large breaks already installed, but if you don't your gonna want some more overall control with 400 hp.

 

[parker4]

oh and an LSD. Spend at least 700 dollars, sbr sells an insert for $250 that blows the tranny up. And I'd do a act 2600 w/ street disk, and b/c you are fwd I'd go with a lightened flywheel. I was told that the fidanza was the cream of the crop and noticed a HUGE difference.

 

[proteusx301]

Most of the suspension and brake modifications weren't mentioned, but will be done. The thread was originally started about the powerplant build but there will be many suspension mods added.

Polyurethane bushing kits
Megan Racing coilovers at stock height
Brembo standard rotors with Hawk HPS pads
stainless lines
Chassis underbraces
Front and rear sway bars

 

[DSMunknown]

Did I see an Evo 3 intake manifold?

BTW, if you're serious about the Evo piston/rod swap and don't wanna pay out the arse, throw me a PM or email.

 

[Rockbmx1]

I would opt in an fp manifold for the evo 3, and get a tubular o2 housing over the cast style. As mentioned, the mitsu 3 layer mls is better then the crapmetic hg. I would suggest going with 272/272 kelford cams or the fp2 cams, those seem to be the good cams out right now. Other then that it looks to be a fun build. Good luck.

 

[Doubleot]

Sick build man. Keep us updated.
Just reading this makes me want to tare out my engine and start getting more hp out of her

 

[proteusx301]

Did I see an Evo 3 intake manifold?

BTW, if you're serious about the Evo piston/rod swap and don't wanna pay out the arse, throw me a PM or email.

Decided to use the stock rods and pistons as originally planned. Actually just finished hot tanking them and cleaning the ring lands today at work.

As to what you guys are saying about the intake manifolds. Something I've never been able to find any good information on (possible I've just missed it on a search) is running the aftermarket intake manifolds on an OBD2 car that must pass emissions?

Another question that I havent been able to find a solid answer for- What are known o2 housings that fall under the evo 3 or 2g configuration. By that I am refering to how the evo 3 housing sits at a different angle and requires a different downpipe setup. This is a big question I need to square away, as I am trying to do all bolt ons and non-motor mods before the engine goes in.

 

[proteusx301]

After doing a bunch of research tonight, I'm only finding spotty answers to google searches, nothing to actually make up my mind. I've known for a while that my donor motor is from a Mitsubishi RVR, not a big deal because 7 bolts are able to be set up multiple ways, from what I am seeing. The problem I have run across is my piston ID numbers - 63DTEV. One search hit on google lists these as having a 9:1 compression ratio, same as the Evo3. Others list it as a 8.5:1 and still others as a 8.7:1. Search hits on this forum were lacking for this topic and I'm wondering if anyone out there has any info on the subject. On a side note, the pistons have the 2.8mm oil control ring lands, which was only run for a few years as I understand.

 

[ktwDSM]

Your not gonna upgrade the tranny? These trannys really start to suck when your pushing around 350-400 whp

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

More pics please..

 

[proteusx301]

Your not gonna upgrade the tranny? These trannys really start to suck when your pushing around 350-400 whp

The transmission will be swapped. Probably with a shep unit.

 

[proteusx301]

A few pictures from the piston cleaning.
Before-

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

After-

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[DSMer541]

damn!! those came really clean...almost look new

 

[proteusx301]

My exhaust showed up today. Some big dang pipes, looks great. Went with a Apexi N1 catback and matching Apexi N1 downpipe. It comes with the one adapter, a 2.5 to 3 inch neck-down. I'm assuming that the N1 downpipe is just an extra 3 inches longer to eliminate the need for a small section of 3 inch pipe. I'll take some pictures in the next few days. I'm taking the kit to work with me tomm so that i can coat the pipes for rust prevention.

 

[DSMunknown]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/bolt-tech/245603-lancer-evolution-iii-intake-manifold.html

 

[FLASH1970]

Looks like a good build but I have a few questions.

Wouldn't there be a little bit of piston slap going on with using stock pistons and machining out the cylinders .010?

What happened to the 7-bolt that was in the 97? The reason I ask is because in 97 they redesigned the thrust bearing to be a split bearing which resists crankwalk better.

Your setup looks pretty god but just a suggestion... getting a MLS headgasket, some stronger rods and tri-metal bearings would make your setup a lot stronger and more forgiving if there's a tuning mishap or something else goes wrong. But, it'll work with what you have listed.

Best of luck to you!

 

[proteusx301]

Well after this project got shelved due to money being needed for other things, it has been since pulled out of the closet and is making headway again. The parts pile is continuing to grow as I'm collecting the things I need. The cyl head goes to the machine shop on Friday, the block still sits on the engine stand. The build plan has changed slightly, with future mods in mind.

Apexi Turboback

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

rear brakes done

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

front brakes done

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Evo 3 16g turbocharger

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

another one of the E316g sitting next to a tdo4hl 13g

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Evo 3 oil filter housing

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

AN pushlock fittings

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

B&M oil cooler

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Evo 3 Exhaust manifold

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Punishment Racing o2 housing

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

manifold, turbo and o2 housing assembled

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

ETS FMIC

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

The head is going to the machine shop on Friday. I've decided on pretty much all the parts for it, except for the cams, sill up in the air on that one. Going to be installing the intercooler on Saturday, probably the last thing I do to the car until the summer when i swap the motor.

 

[Aproductions]

looks good! goodluck with your build.