Oct 31, 2016

Sleeping Beast | Garage R Mitsubishi Evo


During a trip down to Singapore early this year, we were able to get a chance to visit Garage R which is the main distributor for HKS parts in South East Asia. From how I recalled it, going to Garage R was like walking in a Toys'R'Us full of sought after car parts. They had KW and Hipermax coilovers on one wall, and racing wheels and titanium exhaust systems on the other. The main purpose of the visit was to get info about the street going HKS GT1000 GTR that I shot in Kuala Lumpur on the owner's recommendation.



Before I arrived to Garage R, my contact, Jason Lin was able to get hold of a couple of his customers' cars for me to shoot. One of them being a Mitsubishi Evo 9 MR that he mentioned was 'stock'. That got me scratching my head and thinking why would I want to shoot a stock Evo? Long story short, Jason just told me to come down and take a look at the car first. So when I looked at the car, aside from the Wedsport wheels and the minor carbon fiber details, it actually look stock.




I examined the car as if I was a police officer. I opened up the engine bay and at first glance, it looked stock as well. I stepped inside of the car and there wasn't even a single gauge or a turbo timer in sight. It was one of those moments where I was a baffled because I was expecting something. So Jason told me I should look inside the glove compartment. Curious on my he asked me to do so, I pulled it open. There inside sits the HKS F-Con V Pro and other engine management devices that was cleverly concealed in the glove compartment.




It finally made sense. This Evo is a certified sleeper. The overall look of the car was so deceiving yet when a person sees a HKS F-Con V Pro ECU hidden in the glove compartment, they will know there's something up with this car. While being in the previous owner's possession, this Evo was planned to be built for track use. In fact, during that time, this Evo did experience some circuit action for a couple of times before being sold to the current owner.




When the current owner bought the car, his intentions was just to keep the car on the street. The 4G63 motor that came with the car was totally stock when the Evo changed hands. However, in the middle of 2015, this Evo was brought over to Garage R for a full engine rebuild. The 4G63 motor was opened up piece by piece for the project and replaced with mostly the best HKS off the shelf parts available for the 4G63 motor.




At the bottom end, the stock internals were replaced with stronger HKS forged pistons and connecting rods. The MIVEC cylinder heads has been port and polished and currently running HKS 272 camshafts with adjustable HKS cam pulleys. The turbo system was also replaced with a HKS GT2 7460R turbine and a HKS stainless steel exhaust manifold.With the HKS F-Con V Pro engine management system hooked up, it was taken to the dyno to be tuned. The 4G63 motor is currently making 440 horsepower at the wheels at 1.9 bars of boost.




Despite making that amount of power, this Evo is one of the more driveable ones with a clutch that doesn't feel heavy and has manageable power that gradually comes in throughout the revs. Anyone who drives this won't expect it to have more than 400 horsepower until they have their foot flat on the floor.  In other words, this car is a certified sleeper. For an Evo that drives like a stock car while having this amount of power that's just ready to be unleashed, this would be the kind of car that I would drive on a daily basis without worry or hesitation. There's just no other way to put it.


TUNING MENU
Owner: Anonymous
Model: 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR CT9A
Location: Yio Chu Kang, Singapore

ENGINE:
2.0L 4G63 Inline-4,
HKS Forged Pistons,
HKS Forged Conrods,
HKS 272 Camshafts.
HKS Adjustable Cam Pulleys,
Port And Polished Heads,
Cosworth Headstuds,
HKS 1.6mm Metal Head Gasket,
S90 70mm Throttle Body,
HKS Stainless Steel Turbo Manifold,
HKS Silent Hi-Power Exhaust,
HKS GT2 7460R Turbo,
HKS Super SGV Blow Off Valve,
Koyorad Aluminum Radiator,
HKS Racing Suction Filter,
HKS F-Con V Pro ECU,

DRIVETRAIN:
6 speed manual,
Tomioka Racing 5.09 Final Drive,
ORC Racing Concept Twin Plate Clutch,

SUSPENSION, CHASSIS AND BRAKES:
HKS Hipermax III Coilovers,
Tanabe Anti-Sway Bars (F & R),
AP Racing 6 Pot Front Calipers,
AP Racing 4 Pot Rear Calipers,
Slotted Front Brake Rotors,

WHEELS AND TIRES:
Wedsports SA-67R 18 x 9.5 Offset +20 (all round),
Michelin Pilot Sport 3 265/45/18 (all round),

EXTERIOR:
Ralliart Carbon Fiber Front Lip,
DAMD Carbon Fiber Side Skirt Lip,
DAMD Carbon Fiber Rear Lip,
Ganador Carbon Fiber Side Mirrors,

INTERIOR:
Stock

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Garage R, Singapore.

BONUS IMAGES