Looking at a thrashed Evo 8 for a very reasonable price. Before I pull the trigger, a few questions:

Do the Evo and the regular Lancer share fenders?

Car is slow under acceleration. Check engine light on, cylinder 1 misfire. It can get out of it's own way, but just barely. Turbo seems to spool (as evidenced by the atmospheric BOV), but it definitely doesn't feel like it. No signs of a blown head gasket. Idle is fine, P.O. already did plugs and new wires without any change. Everything seems to point to low compression, I suspect the rings. Short of getting a compression tester on it, any other telltale signs?

Anyone know ballpark prices for a new 4G63? I'm thinking it might be cheaper to replace than rebuild...

Not many body parts are shared with the regular lancer, the EVO has wider fenders. It sounds like it has some body issues? Check the intercooler and piping, and leaks there could cause some of the symptoms that you are describing. The open BOV is a bad idea unless the engine management system was changed. If it was, that's a whole 'nother can of worms. If it wasn't, I'd suspect everything the P.O. touched on the car. Here's what I'd do-

Check to see if the engine management system is stock

Check all of the intake piping and intercooler, pressure test.

Does the car have a boost gauge? How much boost is it making?

Datalog the car if possible. Is it showing a lot of knock and the timing being pulled?

The engines themselves are very stout, and even worn out ones will make decent power under boost if everything else is working. That said, they are usually rebuilt rather than replaced. And replaced usually means building another used motor, I don't think there is a big demand for new motors. Nothing like Subaru. They are very easy to rebuild, and you can even do an effective re-ring with the block still in the car (not recommended, but I've seen it done many times with good results.) If I wanted the car, I'd buy it as if it were all trash and then cross my fingers, knowing the odds are that it is a simpler fix.

Engine management is stock. I checked the couplers by hand, but you're right, a pressure test is in order. No boost gauge. With the engine running (oil cap off), it seemed like there was a LOT of air coming out of the oil cap...is that normal?

The car is beat, but I may be able to get it cheap enough to turn it into a $2017 challenge participant.

If it shifts through all gears with no grinds, and you don't hear any transfer case whining while driving, pick it up for that kind of money. If it needs a motor, either fix it or part it and you can easily make money off of it.

Does it smoke at all? Has the timing belt been done recently? Possibly out of time.

I think only the front doors are interchangable. Front fenders are wider and aluminum, rear doors start the rear flaring to the wider rear fenders.

If the car has just bolt ons, it would have to been beat pretty bad, or had a terrible tune to hurt the motor. But basic leak tests will go a long way.

I want to say a decent amount of pressure coming out is normal. When I hurt a ringland on my 6 bolt 4g63, the car smoked, bad, everywhere.

I have a 1g DSM and everything you have stated points to low compression and bad rings. The 4g63 motors are very strong and off the replaceable parts give up before anything else.

Main cause of bad rings in a 4g63 is cooking the oil. It is very easy to do in these cars.

Figure at minimum $800 in parts and machining to rebuild yourself. $3500 for a shortblock

If its less than the $2017 challenge I would be very tempted to buy it, part it out, and buy a nicer one with the proceeds. Of course that means no challenge for you, but it also means a better car. This is one of those cars, especially with rats, where the whole thing is worth a lot less than all the parts, especially if its modded.

If you need a Tactrix Openport cable to sync into the ECU, Holler. I have one collecting dust that you can borrow. You would just need the $10 adapter for mitsubishi.

Also, The COP is not the best in the world so it's a good chance it's toast too. If the car shifts ok, buy it. Shoot, I'd probably buy it from you for 3K if the car shifted smoothly.

93gsxturbo wrote: If its less than the $2017 challenge I would be very tempted to buy it, part it out, and buy a nicer one with the proceeds. Of course that means no challenge for you, but it also means a better car. This is one of those cars, especially with rats, where the whole thing is worth a lot less than all the parts, especially if its modded.

THIS

bmw88rider wrote: If you need a Tactrix Openport cable to sync into the ECU, Holler. I have one collecting dust that you can borrow. You would just need the $10 adapter for mitsubishi.

Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that, since you're local.

RyanW wrote: If it shifts through all gears with no grinds, and you don't hear any transfer case whining while driving, pick it up for that kind of money. If it needs a motor, either fix it or part it and you can easily make money off of it. Does it smoke at all? Has the timing belt been done recently? Possibly out of time. I think only the front doors are interchangable. Front fenders are wider and aluminum, rear doors start the rear flaring to the wider rear fenders. If the car has just bolt ons, it would have to been beat pretty bad, or had a terrible tune to hurt the motor. But basic leak tests will go a long way. I want to say a decent amount of pressure coming out is normal. When I hurt a ringland on my 6 bolt 4g63, the car smoked, bad, everywhere.

Trans was in good shape, clutch was shockingly intact...but then again the motor was way down on power. Adding another 100ft/lbs might make the clutch scream for mercy.

No smoke. Highly doubt the timing belt has ever been touched. Oil is black like my soul.

P.O. claims it only has the BOV and a 3" exhaust. That seemed to be the case when I looked at it. He also said it runs better after it warms up for 10 minutes, which, again, made me think of bad rings.

I was super dubious about this until i heard the price. It's a safe buy in parts alone.

Well, it's not QUITE challenge money, but I'm sure I could sell some parts off of it and make up the difference

Another failure point is the throttle bodies can have a seal failure thus all the boost can escape around the throttle plate pivot. I have heard some claim that it can mess with the MAP and cause confusion in the ECU as the pressures are changing too rapidly. IDK if that is a real thing though. But the claimed result was misfires.

Valve seals could be toast or the piston rings. Both are serviceable. The big money is in the transmission, transfer case and rear diff. If they are ok then you are way ahead.

Body wise someone already answered that the non-evo lancer does not share much with the evo. But many have tried to swap evo body parts to non evo lancers. I assume you have confirmed it is AWD. You should see a CT9A code on the body firewall in the engine compartment. CS6A for non-evo lancer.