Day 1: Arrival

The small town of Fontana, California isn’t know for much aside from its speedway, a famous gangster’s destination for down time, and for birthing a motorcycle gang. However it is also the home to Daniel Espinoza,who skateboards professionally for: Cliché Skateboards, Lakai Footwear, Active, Ándale, The Quiet Life Clothing, Autobahn Wheels, Grizzly Grip, and Royal Trucks. Between traveling and skating he enjoys modifying his dream car, or Alice as he refers. In December of 2014 Mr. Espinoza reached out to us and described his satisfaction for our Agency Power exhaust on his beautiful Mitsubishi Evolution IX. Further discussions lead into Daniel’s plan for his car and like most builds it required more boost and the need to make more power. Now we knew we wanted to be apart of this build, but we also knew we couldn’t do it alone. So we called up our good friends over at Vivid Racing to see if they would be interested in aiding in the process,without hesitation they hopped on board and a date was set.

Fast forward 6 months. Today is Monday July 13th, 2015. Mr. Espinoza and his partner in crime Juilan drive sleeplessly 6 hours from Fontana,CA to Gilbert,AZ to begin Project #AliceTheEvo.  The goal is to swap in a larger stainless steel turbo, an upgraded turbo manifold, and install a complete Agency Power exhaust. With 4 days to complete the project we thought it might be a good idea to make him work a little bit and capture some professional skateboarding while he’s in town. Stay tuned to watch the build progress.

Day 1 Images:

Day 2: The tear down

After receiving the car we got to work right away and started the tear down process. The factory exhaust and manifold had seen better days, the turbo was on its way out, and the blow off valve needed a rebuild.  With all hands on deck and everyone executing their job duties the removal process went flawlessly. Our assembly team had the V1 blow-off valve  completely rebuilt and upgraded to V2 components before we could even get the turbo unbolted.  We began the R&D for the new O2 housing and downpipe option. After to talking with Mr. Espinoza it was decided that we would in fact recirculate his new TiAL wastegate back into the downpipe. For now we leave you with a few photos. Day 3 we will start the fabrication process and fit  it all to the car.

Day 2 Images:

Day 3: Fabrication

Out with the old, in with the new.  With the need and desire to replace Daniel’s stock turbo we wanted to make sure that we could offer the very best supporting modifications to the build. The vehicle current downpipe setup featured a dump tube for the factory internally waste-gated turbo, we however wanted something a little more than “loud noises” under heavy load. One discussion lead to another and after our new O2 housing had been TIG welded up by our highly skilled fab team, we offered a few suggestions for Mr. Espinoza. We all know the car is gonna make power with the upgraded FP Red stainless steel turbo, but we want more than just power out of this build. This is when the idea of a recirculated waste gate came about. Why let the excess boost pressure got to literal waste? Previous experiences of this alternative boost pressure relief usually resulted in pleasant sights of flashing light exiting the tail pipe and by the look on Espinoza’s face when mentioned, we knew we had to.  In typical Agency Power fashion we wanted to make sure that this add-on to our already available EVO VII | IX downpipe could easily be installed and removed in conjunction with the rest of our modular system. To ensure this was possible we designed the recirculation piping to use a slip-fit for easy of install and future removal purposes. Stay tuned as we begin the install process tomorrow!

Day 3 Images:

Day 4: Assembly

After the fabrication process came to a completion all that was left was to install the new parts. The all new cast FP manifold and FP Red turbo slid easily into place an with the use of V-band clamps and we could guarantee a leak free exhaust system. Upon first removal we noticed quite a few areas that shown signs of leaky exhaust gaskets and we wanted to ensure Mr. Espinoza would be getting the most out of his new turbocharged system. With all installed and the engine running smoothly we were eager to take the EVO for a quick ride around the block. But without a new tune or AFR gauge to monitor the mixture entering the combustion chamber we advised to have one installed. A short time later and we were able to see that the vehicle not only idled at stoichiometric efficiency (14.7:1) but the car actually ran a bit rich under load. Although we did not want to test the vehicle to reach its full boost potential it was very clear that this new set was begging to be unleashed, had Daniel lived in AZ we would have had the vehicle tuned here but due to the fact that alot of variables affect a vehicle tune we advise he better wait to have it done back in California where he currently resides for optimal results! As the #AliceTheEvo project came to an end, we said our farewell and Mr. Espinoza began his journey back the the Sunshine State.

Day 4 Images: