The turbo system was built in-house by Pruven's Ken Shelinsky. The most labor intensive portion of any turbo kit is exhaust manifold fabrication. Shelinsky paid special attention to exhaust runner length, placement of the turbo, 02 housing fabrication and numerous other factors. The weapon of choice was an infamous top secret Racing-spec GT turbo from Buschur Racing.Pruven also fabricated its own intercooler, along with custom intercooler piping and a custom intake manifold.
The intake manifold has a three-inch AccuFab throttle body attached to the turbo system's three-inch intercooler piping. It houses two fuel rails with four 740cc injectors in each rail. Four serve as primaries, which mean they work all the time for idle and cruising duty and the secondary four come on-line as the engine sees boost. Both rails share an Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator and are each fed by their own Walboro 255-lph fuel pump. The idea was to have an adaptable fuel system that could keep up if and when the crew wanted to swap to a bigger turbo. Mission accomplished.
Cokic and Shelinsky tag-teamed the tuning on Pruven Performance's all-wheel dyno via an HKS F-CON V-Pro. The V-Pro is HKS' answer to all Japanese cars that need a stand-alone ECU. Being such a critical product, only specially trained authorized HKS Pro Dealers have the codes needed to gain access to V-Pro tuning maps, and Pruven Performance is one of them. They turned the amp up to 11 and after a few pulls realized a very streetable 689 whp. "As you can see by the dynograph. The power just doesn't fall off, the 4G63 just keeps on giving," says Cokic.
During strip testing through most of the 2004 season, the EVO had nothing but clutch problems. "Finally, after some careful consideration and five devoured clutches, we opted to use the ATS triple carbon clutch kit," says Cokic. "At last we would be able to get to the track and not worry about breaking the clutch. The stock EVO has a pull-style clutch that commonly breaks on hard launches. Installing the ATS clutch cured this ailment because the ATS setup transforms the pull configuration of the OE unit to a push style. Consequently, there is no longer a retaining clip to break. We are running a Shepherd Racing transmission with upgraded internals to allow shifting at 9300 rpm and a custom ratio gearset tailored for the EVO's 570 lb-ft of wheel torque.
Inside, a six-point roll bar was crafted by Mike Carbone of MPH Fabrication of North Haven, Conn. The roll bar is absolute perfection as it follows the interior lines perfectly. Cokic says people have got in the back seat and not even realized a roll bar was there. Without a doubt, Mike will be adding on a full cage in the near future when Pruven gets back to the track with its new setup.
Under the banner of "Last But Not Least" the eye-catching appearance of this Evolution showcases the handiwork of DP Motorsports of New Haven, Conn. This car appeared in the Primedia booth at the SEMA Auto Salon and in the two weeks or so between that appearance and the photo shoot the car was transformed.
"We have always wanted flames on our shop cars, but have always put on vinyl graphics. This time, Steve and Cheli from DP Motorsports convinced us they could pull off something truly next level, and they made the car look unreal," says Cokic. "It was a really big risk to take due to the fact that it's a $30,000 car, and there would be no turning back. But after seeing the roaring flames, I wish we did it earlier. This paint looks phenomenal!"
The Pruven EVO definitely has the firepower to dominate the street and the crew plans to hit the strip to see what kind of timeslip the Mitsubishi can generate. We will be on the scene to bring you blow-by-blow results.