fuel

swapped the Evo X BBS's over from the Diamante cause they had the correct 245/40 tyre size needed - the original MAK 17" wheels it came on were wearing an incorrect 235/45 so who knows how long the speedo/odo was over-reading the speed/kms travelled.

First job was to tackle the variable presence two-piece crank harmonic balancer: Thankfully had access to the crank pulley from the red flooded GTO myself & Damien parted out a few years ago so was able to slap that on even if just temporary. Also gave it a good polish up, removed the large decal on the rear window and swapped on clear fender indicators:

At least it's manu-well I guess. Plans are to hit it with the lowering stick, yeet those ugly aftermarket MAK wheels and generally tidy it up further. It has good bones and being a '99 it has the last update treatment (front end, side panels etc)

New year new irresponsible vehicle purchase I guess.

Cams are the same - no difference there

The Evo VR-4 core engine is all the same as the regular VR-4 engine anyway, the only differences are the bolt ons such as injectors and turbo etc.

I think it's to do with the power level or how heavy duty the hubs/brakes etc need to be. CM2A is half the power of a CM5A and the CM2A stuff may not have been up to the task on the GSR but perfectly sufficient for a MX.

Definitely 4x114.3, they use the same front hubs and rotors as Evo1-3/CD5A GSR/Libero GT - those same 256x24mm rotors are used on the basic 8G Galants too and they for sure are 4x114.3. I did a quick google and yeah can see lots of sites claim the CM5A as 4x100 but I suspect it's being lumped in with the regular Lancers which indeed are 4x100.

also if you happen to have a spare rear diff with plate LSD let me know, am after a center for mine.

Being a CM5A GSR it should be 4x114.3 and not 4x100

Nah subframe stays put the box and transfer case get separated first and then they each come out down the bottom.

tempting! the front subframe has to be dropped down to do the job though which is a pain - incidentally whiteline USA have black friday deals on now and can get a 26mm front bar shipped for just over $300CAD assuming I don't get stung for import duties on arrival - the rear bar managed to sneak in without being dinged. But most Evo guys seem to get good control of roll by stiffer springs and roll center correcting ball joints etc

Yeah think I'm just going to keep the Bilstein/Tein combo for the time being - I wouldn't mind finding different springs to bring the front up a touch more, or will see how the front sits once the lighter manual trans is swapped in. After swapping in the new strut tops and bumpstops I flipped the camber adjustment bolt (can go one of two ways) - I had it set to max negative camber when I initially put in the springs and in hindsight I probably didn't need to as lowering the car had the same effect of dialing in negative camber anyway. With the bolt flipped back to how it was originally, I still have about -1.5deg in the front which is plenty enough and the bonus is the front tyres don't rub on the inner guards any more.

Just stock Bilsteins with Tein lowering springs, recently had to replace the front strut top mounts and the bump stops as they were wearing out and made it sit a good 10mm lower in the front than it needed to. I thought it was odd that the car the springs came out of didn't sit as low as mine in the front, didn't think the auto trans was that much heavier. And yep the superpro rear bar went in earlier in the year ahead of my trip to tail of the dragon - I have it on the softest setting right now but even at its softest it should be more stiffer than the stock rear sway bar. haha right??

Last amount of spam I swear: Definitely need to do something about that body roll, and finally ditch the all season tyres it is on (am eyeing up a set of Michelin PS4S's to replace them)

More spam:

Last month I went to a track day at Gingerman raceway in South Haven, MI (about 500km west of Toronto) and had a blast. It was timed sprints with 30sec gap between the cars, over the weekend there were four different configurations of the track. I sat about middle of the pack in terms of timing, there were some seriously fast cars there including a CT5 Blackwing and even a large Merc SUV that had no business going as fast as it was. Here's some pic spam:

Just wanted to double check this is happening again next year - I gather it would be Sunday 21st Jan 2024 going by the third sunday of Jan?

Put them up on TradeMe in the vintage section am sure they will find a new home.

Bit the bullet and bought a brand new Van Steel 330lb 0.5" shortened low arch composite spring. Just need to pick up some longer spring bolts and I can get it fitted along with the adjustable strut rods and new poly bushings I bought ages ago.

damn this seems like such a sweet trip, wish I would be around in Taumarunui to catch up. If anyone needs tools or a garage to work on shit while in Taumarunui let me know am sure I can arrange something.

The seals aren't actually in bad condition on the cracked tops, maybe someone can reuse the frame/seals with new glass who knows I then placed the driver's side gold top on (without the new seals attached yet) to adjust up the clips and clasps to make sure it sits properly before continuing. It looks like these tops are actually going to sit a lot more flush than the originals which is nice as the way the original tops sat always bugged me. disco -

I got to work pulling the old seals off which left part of the old seals stuck to the adhesive behind, definitely a messy job scraping but being careful to not mark the blackened underside portion of the glass The wagon definitely comes in handy to use as an impromptu workbench The hardware on the original blue (cracked) t-tops is definitely in better condition so I am swapping them over

Small update, ended up selling the Astro top as I wasn't sold on how crude the mounting system was. I was in the US again last weekend and was able to pick up some fairly well used gold/bronze tint ones for a reasonable price - think these are off the '82 Collector's edition Corvette but I am not 100% sure of that. As I had some new t-top seals as part of the door/window rubber seal kit I purposely looked for a pair of t tops that needed the seals doing so these seals wouldn't go to waste. You can see the condition of these t-tops aren't the best and the mounting hardware is a bit manky also.