fuel

As with many fresh Japanese imports it has some additional gizzmos like the toll card reader which talks to you in Japanese, a 2005-era Carrozzeria HDD based navigation system and the above-mentioned A'PEXi I-Mobisses alarm system which talks to you in Engrishu. There really is a mess of wires under both the front drivers and passengers seats which I need to get rid of. The first that has to go is the Carrozzeria headunit as there aren't many radio stations here below 90Mhz, the built in TV can't receive anything here, and it drains the car battery something crazy if I leave the ACC power on without the engine running. The HDD unit that sits in the boot runs REALLY hot and I just generally don't trust it. I do love that it's a single DIN pop up display so I can still see the gauges if the display is banished back to its hole. Still has FM radio presets from Japan that stick around even when I disconnect the car battery: The Navigation showing its last moments in Japan, pictured here is the ports in Nagoya: I opted to get a Pioneer AVH-3500NEX which is the only unit on sale today that is single DIN, has a fold out screen as well as supports Apple CarPlay & Android Auto. The plan is to move the Ralliart gauges to below the headunit that way I can still see the gauges even when the display is out. Bonus alarm lols:

One of the gambles of buying a used car on the other side of the country sight unseen is that you may be in for a few unexpected surprises. I even had a pre-purchase inspection done at an independent performance shop in the seller's city but they missed the very obvious rumbling noise coming from the rear at highway speeds. They did pick up on the very obviously leaking radiator, so I guess there's that. I was hoping the driveline noise wasn't the rear diff, and thankfully the wagons don't come with AYC so there isn't the dreaded AYC pump failure or noise to worry about. As the noise got louder with speed I took a punt and got $30 wheel bearings in hopes that fixes the noise. Now, Mitsubishi only sell the rear wheel bearing with the spindle hub as one unit for $600 each, aftermarket are still about $250-300 at the cheapest. At 1/10th of the cost, I figured I couldn't mess up the bearing only change too bad. I was going to do many pictures at each step à la @kws but opted to make it into a YouTube video instead: I am happy to report that $60 and a few hours of my time has sorted out the rear end noise. Phew.

Have just been plugging along working my way through a list of some things needing to be done. The original radiator had sprung a leak where the plastic top tank meets the core, and I knew this when purchasing the car. I took a chance and drove it the 4137km back home topping up the coolant 500-1000mL every morning before setting off again, but obviously needed a permanent solution. As the North American Evo 8 & 9 only came manual, finding an auto radiator locally was impossible. I ordered an Evo 8/9 manual radiator off RockAuto (like under $100 delivered) along with getting a $20 Amazon auxiliary transmission cooler. The car already has a fairly separate auto trans cooler so it probably wouldn't have missed bypassing the radiator mounted trans cooler, but opted to put in the extra cooler just in case. It's all going to come out eventually when I do the manual swap anyway.

that date on the arm is probably American format - month/day/year so June 2004 rather than 2006.

My 2010 B6 Passat with the 2.0t TSI at 153k hasn't used any oil in the ~8,000kms I've done in it and I'm using a 10W40 full synthetic. Slight weep of oil present around the sump and cam tray of the cylinder head but not enough to leave (significant) drops that I've noticed. Definitely pull the inlet manifold and do a valve de-carb job though, it was night and day difference on mine. Also, unsure if you figured out a radio but I got the RCD330 from Aliexpress for like $400. Basically the same as a modern car with CarPlay and Android Auto etc.

and the fuel door badge was much easier as it's just two bolts Disco Fred:

The front badge was lifting at the corners and the rear badge on the fuel door had lost half of its flag and generally looking crap so got some new repro badges. I suspect the front was wearing a different style/year badge in a previous life as the holes drilled didn't match the peg spacing of the '80 nose badge and the pegs had been snipped off the back of the existing badge after finding a template on the web I measured up where the replacement badge was to sit. The existing badge wasn't even in the correct spot so glad I did this anyway. new holes drilled, thankfully the badge covers up the old holes

So just an update to show I still have this heap. Have replaced the window rubbers and sorted out 90% of the door glass rattle with new cushions that look like this To fix the rest of the rattle I have to disassemble the window tracks to replace the plastic guide wheels and I cbf'd doing that right now so will just live with the small amount of rattle and occasional misalignment. Sorted another thing that bugged me - when this car was repainted however long ago they didn't black out the body behind the side gills/grills so beyond the black you could see the white body underneath which didn't look great.

so I wasn't kidding about taking so long to fit the springs - finally got around to making progress on the suspension. - Pulled rear suspension apart and replaced all the bushes, installed the racing beat springs, sway bar and fox body Mustang rear shocks (had to trim a little off the eye mounting) - Pulled front struts out and replaced inserts with PFL AW11 KYB's, installed the racing beat springs, new bump stops/bellows, strut rod bushes and racing beat sway bar. Still have to replace ball joints, front LCA bushes and all the steering tie rods etc. Basically the same height as the original saggy 37 year old springs but much stiffer and taught. Was able to rotate the front strut tops for more negative castor and camber too.

So I gave it a good clean up, ditched the Enkeis in favour for Evo X BBS's and put Tein springs in the front Have yet to fit the Tein springs in the rear, but it's already sitting a bit low because there's a 6 speed gearbox, transfer case, flywheel and shifter assembly in the boot. Just need to track down a RHD pedal box, clutch master cylinder and a M/T dash cluster (probably going to get a Ralliart S3 cluster as it already has a Ralliart S1 auto cluster along with the Ralliart oil temp, oil pressure & boost pressure centre gauge set).

As if I didn't need yet another distraction and eventual half finished project, I came across a tidy-ish 2005 Lancer Evolution IX GT-A wagon with low kms (81k) on the other side of the country for a decent price and figured it was probably going to be my only feasible opportunity to own one as only 2500 were produced in total. It's stock right now with the exception of Evo X Enkei 18x8.5 wheels, a Varis CF bonnet (wanted to swap it with an OE aluminium bonnet but they are hard to find and the Varis is growing on me) and a bunch of JDM gizmos like a malfunctioning A'PEXi I-Mobisses alarm system, DVD+HDD navigation pop out display head unit and toll card system that talks to you in Japanese. Initial plans are to give it a decent clean up as the paint has many scratches presumably from automatic car washes and need to fix a couple mechanical issues like noisy rear wheel bearings and a leaking radiator. Longer term plans are to hit it with the lowering stick, 6 speed manual convert it (already picked up the box/transfer case, clutch, flywheel, shifter etc) and locate a M/T Evo 9 turbo to fit (as current turbo is slightly smaller and runs less boost). A MIVEC head swap would be nice too.

Hope you're not planning on using the GDI pistons? They have a weird raised dome with recess where the injectors spray Plus the piston rings tend to gum up and cause compression and oil burning issues, though that is more of a result from the direct injection system I guess.

looks like Mookeeh still make/sell rear struts, though they are for widebody only (not sure what the difference is for the rears, for the fronts there is a different stub axle angle) http://www.mookeeh.com/gs123.html & https://dragtimes.com/parts/Mookeeh-MK1-Performance-Stiff-Shocks-Struts-Starion-Conquest-Widebody-GS2-3_141400623954.html can even get pre-threaded rear struts ready to accept SW20 MR2 front inserts - https://www.ebay.com/itm/255099126539

great thanks @cletus! I'm wondering maybe I could just hang onto it here in Canada until it's 20 years old. That would be 2025 which isn't too far away. I guess Evo IX wagon would also be classified as a SIV. The Clean car fee would probably be the killer though, but I'm sure that is the price to pay for having one of my wanted cars. If I bring over the C3 and/or RX-7 looks like I would skip the clean car fee there. How do they determine if a damage repair requires a repair cert? am wondering where they draw the line between regular body damage (like a dent) that has been repaired and painted through to a more serious repair like a quarter panel replacement

you're right about the rust, this Evo II was a total rust bucket. But it has been in Ontario (where they salt the roads in winter) without additional rust protection undercoating for almost 20 years so that would be the reason. It makes my (mostly surface) rusty 2010 VW Passat look pristine in comparison. The 2005 Evo IX wagon doesn't have rust and it's only been in the country (in BC too where they don't salt the roads) for less than a year - it's just the previous rear quarter repair that I am more worried about, also just wanted to make sure I would actually be able to bring it back to NZ in a year or two when the time comes.

so looks like getting insurance for a less than 25 year old JDM RHD car is near impossible in Onterrible, so instead I am looking at a '94 Evo II a bit closer to home. Can I register a '94 fine in NZ these days?

Long time lurker in this thread, but I am looking at purchasing a 2005 Lancer Evolution IX Wagon here in Canada, hanging onto it for a while here and then eventually bring it back to NZ with me in a few years time. It's fairly tidy but unfortunately it was auction grade R leaving Japan with a repair to the right rear quarter panel. Looking over the car it looks like the repair was done well and it's not overly obvious, but at the price that it's at (roughly a third of what an equiv one in NZ is listed for right now) I am seriously looking into it because it's one of my bucket list cars. One question is, when I eventually bring it from Canada to NZ would the prior Japanese auction history be visible to the NZ border despite the car coming via Canada? I would want to tidy up the repair to the point that it's not detectible at all. Another question is, would a 2005 Lancer Evo be eligible to import into the country these days? Being out of the country 11 years now, I'm not even up to date with the import restrictions and regulations. Thanks all!

I so want some of them too - I swear I saw a reproduction flare somewhere (trademe maybe?) which was really just a battery operated torch but looked like a flare on the outside.

can you use the Bluebird front suspension complete? like put the whole hubs/knuckles on? that way you get your 4x114, bigger brakes etc

Have you considered a UZ instead? Don't want to knock the V engine too much but even the 4L 5V is short of power, not very economical, and as you'll probably find out, hard to get a decent 4/5 speed trans for.

yep was just going to post.. you need at least 15's to clear the 276mm Evo1-3/6th & 7th gen Galant VR-4 brakes

Thankfully the original pistons cleaned up good with no pitting etc

has been a while - still have this (obvs). I only got around to chucking on the AMG grill and amber corner lamps - the HKS TB elbow had a temp sensor hole drilled into the underside and ideally it needed a proper bung welded in so it doesn't leak. Ran out of time to chuck in the Bilsteins but still need to figure out how to mount the ABS sensor cable and brake line bracket onto those struts as they don't have the same mounting brackets as the original struts. Did end up having to refurbish the brakes though, put it through a WOF and it failed on the rotors being below min thickness and pads low which I knew about so already had some EBC yellow stuff and new rotors all round sitting there waiting to do the job. Problem is once I compressed the pistons in on both the front calipers at least one of the pistons per caliper started to get stuck. There was some gross yuckyness inside the calipers (but not rust). I ended up rebuilding the calipers with new seals, and then when it came time to bleed them back up both of the front lower rubber hoses had blockages in them so ended up fitting braided lines. This thing was fighting me every step of the way basically haha.

As for the wagon I lowered it a smidge, chucked on the GTO 17s that used to be on the sedan, and fitted some paint matched sideskirts (yet to paint and fit the lower door cladding, think it looks fine without them for now)