EVO 9 suspension upgrade is very similar to 1G/GVR4 upgrade.
Front:
Knuckle connection ? EVO uses 14mm bolts where as DSMs/LRVs/Summit use 12mm. Some people just use oversized washers and fix everything in the ?most negative camber? position. That works OK, but because holes are oversized, things can come apart. So I welded some washers in the ?most negative camber? position.
The knuckle on the EVO is 27mm, DSM/LRV/Summit knuckle is 22mm. Therefore you need two 2.5mm spacers to take up the space.
Here is a photo of welded-on washers and spacers.
Installed photo:
The EVO strut top mount is very similar to the LRV/Summit top mount. They have 3 mounting studs, spaced at 120 degrees of each other. The difference is that the studs on EVO top mount are located on a larger base circle. So you just have to elongate the holes a bit.
On the other side, I elongated those holes to give me a maximum camper. So I will end with slightly more camber on the passenger side, which could come in handy during left turns?
Next, I had to mount the brake line bracket. I simply used a ~3? extension to pick up the mounting point on EVO strut.
Rear:
Springs, stock riding height was ~1? higher in the rear than in the front. Therefore, I have decided to cut out 1? worth of spring (one coil) to increase the spring rate.
For the dampers I used EVO 9 rear shocks which have received a ?DSM/GRV4 style? modification in the rear (welded in stock bottom mount).
On top, I simply installed Summit/LRV upper mount, while leaving out the spring.
You will also need to cut down the rear spring perch or you could kit the body and/or inside of the wheel. My original trimming was not enough and I scraped my balancing weights on the rear wheel.
I was afraid that this upgrade will result in a very harsh ride. I was wrong! The ride is very reasonable and handling is great! I still haven?t aligned the car, so I am not sure about the specs that I ended up with. And I haven?t pushed it to the limit yet. But from a few miles (and on-ramps) I am very happy with this upgrade!
Final ride height:
Passenger side camber:
I whish I would have done this on both sides.
Future plans:
- Front and rear struts bars - I am usually not a big fan of those bars. In most cases they are done purely for looks. But in this case, I have more than doubled the stiffness of my suspension on what isn?t known as particularly stiff chassis. So I think that using bars is a very good idea.
- Upgrade the rear springs - I wan?t to get stiffer rear springs. Mitsubishi EXPO (7 passenger wagon) come with stiffer version of these springs. I will get it a shot next.
Leon