We do some cool stuff here at WebRidesTV.com, but we’ve never done a real build up of a car from stock to… rock (?) - sorry, couldn’t come up with a cooler word that rhymes with “stock.” In any case, the sole purpose of the build is to slap on some of the best (read “expensive”) aftermarket components on the car. Hit the jump to check out some of the mods that we’re doing!

No, really… that is not the core purpose. We love aftermarket stuff. It takes the mundane and makes it spicy, exciting and much more fun to drive on the street and on the track.

The project is unique in the sense that all the parts we use will come from companies that are real engineering and / or manufacturing companies. We’re not talking about companies that simply slap on their logo onto parts that come from 50,000 different vendors. Rather, we’re targeting companies that conceptualize, design, manufacture and RACE their products.

The first target area for upgrades is footwork. Footwork? What the hell is footwork, you ask? Well, it’s exactly that… the tires, wheels, brakes and suspension. For the Evo, the choices were rather easy.

We’ve known the gang over at Endless USA for quite a while (check out their tuner garage on WebRidesTV.com as well). As purveyors of some of the most aspirational performance products, they peddle sweet coilovers (under the Zeal brand) and braking systems. Their stuff is actually designed and engineered by really, really smart people with expensive HP calculators. And they test their stuff in world-level racing series, like F1, WRC, Japan GT and so on. Can it really get any better?

So for suspension duties, we picked the Zeal Function Xs coilovers (with an 8kg / 7kg spring rate). The construction quality is top notch. And it’s more than sufficient for some of the track duties the car will see. Pillow ball bushings everywhere, with a sliding camber plate for the front. In the rear, we’ll use the latitude afforded by the eccentric bolts built into the lower control arm, straight from the factory.

In the braking department, Endless’ sweet braking system was called in. With 6-pistons of love up front (with a two piece slotted rotor) and 4 more pistons out back (again with a two piece slotted rotor), we’re talking about a total of 20 pistons and 8 pieces of rotor working to stop the car from certain peril. We can’t wait to get this car on the track.

One of the key fundamental differences between the stock Brembo system and the Endless system is caliper and piston design. Whereas the stock Brembo system (keep in mind that these are mass-produced Brembos for the OE market, not the aftermarket systems like the Gran Turismo kit that they offer) utilizes a symmetric 4 piston design in the front caliper, the particular Endless system in our build utilizes 6 staggered pistons of different sizes in each of the front calipers. The leading edge piston is smallest, while the trailing edge piston (relative to the rotation of the rotor) is the largest. This is highly ideal for a brake system as the trailing edge piston must generate the highest level of pad pressure against the rotor, whereas the leading edge piston must generate the lowest level of pad pressure - rotational energy will push the leading edge out, while pulling the trailing edge inward . Additionally, such a staggered design eliminates the need for back plates on brake pads, which are only necessary to reduce vibration within the pad during braking. This vibration causes noise and the cheap way to reduce or eliminate this noise is through the use of high temp grease or brake quiet “gunk,” both of which attract a lot of dirt. No such messes with the Endless system.

Additionally, brake pad replacement is made easier through the use of an allen-head bolt which holds the pads in place. With the stock Brembo set up, a rather crude metal pin that one must literally hammer out with a shot peen holds the pads in place. I guess the money had to be saved somewhere to competitively bid for OE business. Although the stock system is perfectly fine for most applications, we’re going all out on this project and stock just will not do.

Next: More suspension goodies, courtesy of WORKS.

SOURCE BOX

Endless USA
18421 Gothard Street, Unit 200
Huntington Beach, CA 92648-1236
(714) 847-0694
www.endlessusa.com