New EVO owner

[EVO Randy]

Hi all,
Just got my 03 EVO 8 for $14,500. Came with a few mods already. Cat back exhuast, also believe cat has been punched thru, CEL keeps hauniting me. Pretty sure ECU has been flashed, curious to find out any suggestions? Three pod gauges, I get the impresion from the threads these are not very acurate especialy the air/fuel ratio.
Had some interesting brake issue's that i dealt with the dealer/warranty on. They replaced ABS "brain", they replaced some kinked line's, rotor's calipers and pads. Had the car a few weeks then they got to replace the master cylinder, I had to go with an after market as the factory was back ordered for weeks. Hope this doesnt come back to haunt me. Oh they also got to replace the rotor's and pads again.
I plan to make some more minor mod's, like a boost controller, new gauges. I'm then, well sorta clueless. I hear upgrading the BOV is a nice touch, but afraid that is a little out of my skill level, will read up some more on that. What do you guy suggest?
I am not after the fastest ride, just one that purr's like a..... well a nice EVO. LOL.
I love this car, it's by far a huge upgrade from my 99 caviler. . Any starting point suggestions, referals to a good shop in northern colorado would be awesome.
Well off to read the threads to see what i can learn.

[JustDSM]

Welcome! There's plenty of people here with some good know-how to help get your car sorted out.

[turbolarry]

Originally Posted by EVO Randy

... also believe cat has been punched thru, CEL keeps hauniting me.

The best way to know for sure is to drop it and take a look inside. If it is, that sucks because you'll need one for emissions sooner or later. I don't know about out there, but here in CA every time a car trades hand it has to be smogged. If you did get this from a dealer tell them to give you a new cat too.
Once you get that sorted a test pipe or high flow cat will give you some more power.

Originally Posted by EVO Randy

Pretty sure ECU has been flashed, curious to find out any suggestions?

Just to make sure, take it to the dealer and have them flash it back to stock. Start over with a clean slate

Originally Posted by EVO Randy

Three pod gauges, I get the impresion from the threads these are not very acurate especialy the air/fuel ratio.

You might have got lucky. What kind of gauges are they? As long as they are a decent brand and they were installed right you might be able to still use them. Maybe you got really lucky and that air/fuel ratio gauge is actually a wide band display and that's why you getting the CEL.
Take a look under the glove box and under there is a cover for the main harness. The cover pops out towards the passanger seat and if the wiring for the A/F gauge goes to pin #76 here;
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/e...-ecuwiring.htm
... if it does, then it's just a blinky light show.

Originally Posted by EVO Randy

I plan to make some more minor mod's, like a boost controller, new gauges. I'm then, well sorta clueless. I hear upgrading the BOV is a nice touch, but afraid that is a little out of my skill level, will read up some more on that. What do you guy suggest?

It's best to start with exhaust stuff; catback (which you already have), test pipe/high flow cat, then downpipe.
If your gauges check out OK, then a boost controller works (20-21 psi), then you'll need some type of tuning, then look into a recirculating BOV/CBV (compressor bypass valve) to hold the higher boost. It's not hard; a vacuum line and two hose clamps.
From there things will snow ball out of control into a 2.3 liter and GT35r turbo...
Welcome aboard.