The Evolution Project

Heres a photo update on project.

Both John and I are full time students and I have a job as well so most of our work is done at night and in sort intervals. But in 2 days we've managed to pull the:

hood

front and rear bumper covers

both front fenders

all 4 doors

the rear seats

drop the exhaust (WHAT A PAIN!)

steering pump

and a few other odds and ends.

Today marked the first day of the Evo project. After about 2 months of solid research on the conversion and what is ahead of me, I decided to search for a Mirage(which will be referred to as the donor car) . It took about two weeks before I found this beautiful donor. It was in Delaware which wasn't that far a drive from S.E. Pennsylvania. Anyway our research told us that all we need is the frame of the car literally. So I just needed to find a donor frame that wasn't rusted too badly. Well this one went above and beyond my expectations. I lucked out tremendously with this find. The motor wasn't running so I had to tow it home BUT there was not a spot of rust anywhere on this car. The rear quarter panels (which are attached to the frame ) were our biggest worry, any rust in there and it would have to be professionally refinished which John just got his cars done and cost him over $2k. This car was spotless, even the interior was pristine, I couldn't have asked for a better donor car.

The lady and gentlemen that sold me the car were super nice and very helpful with the whole transaction process as well as helping us get the car on the trailer dolly. Their old car is going to see a whole new life.

So this project was inspired by a car show my friend John and I attended in May. It was an import show with lots of nice cars from the surrounding areas. We both (I can comfortably say) know quite a lot about cars. We have engineering backgrounds and just a love for Japanese import cars. As we were about to leave the show an odd looking purple coupe car shows up with "Evolution" badges all over it. As we look at this car, we keep saying, "it's not an Evo, it only has two doors!" I have loved Evo's since I was a little kid, one of the first cars I actually really got into along side of the R34. So naturally I was kinda pissed but then also asking myself "how the hell is this an V, it wasn't even made here and this wasn't imported because the steering wheel is on the left side." We were pretty stumped for a few hours until John did some research.

In the US the first Evo to be sold was the Evo VIII, this was the direct replacement for the Mirage. But before the Evo VIII the Mirage was built on the same chassis as the Evo IV,V, and VI, which were only sold in Japan. This means you can convert any US 1998 to 2001 Mirage to said evos. The man at the show had converted a coupe Mirage into a coupe Evo V, which was never made any where in the world. It looked kinda funky and I wish I had pictures but it was unique. 

Anyhow, the next day we researched everything we could find about the Evo conversion. We did find a few people in the US that have already done the conversion, but it was less than 10 nationally. Everything that needed to be done from right hand drive to left hand drive conversion and the motor (4g63) that fits in the Mirage was researched with a fine tooth comb. That being said within a month we rented a garage and within two months I pulled the trigger on buying a Mirage.