This month, I wanted to make an effort to find more project cars, I am dubbing it “Project Car Awareness”. I am looking for those that were being built for a while, and really deserve to be followed up to find out what’s been going on with them. I reached out to “EVOSOCIETY” here in Barbados and they put me on the trail of this interesting EVO 8. If you have an interesting project, send Sleeper Forest a message in our form down below! We look forward to hearing from you.

Being Vegan is the latest dietary trend these days. Recently here in Barbados, we have been hyper alerted to things that damage the environment as well. Being Eco-friendly is all the rage. So it goes without saying that you should put your project car on a diet, a vegan diet. This Corn fed EVO 8 isn’t lacking in power on it’s healthy diet of corn juice.

I met up with Jabarry “Prince” (in blue), and Kyle (in red) to talk about Jabarry’s project. He’s been working on it for the better part of 2 years now, and it’s been a long process of building to get the car to where it’s at now. He’s part of a local racing team here called “PK RACING” and he’s been building the car to specialize in Drag Racing.

The Workshop

Jabarry has built a space to work on the car at home, and his machine finds its way home and on jack stands when it’s time to start working on it. When I came by he was doing some work on the factory inlet manifold, he was exchanging it for a PRO Series intake, housing a larger throttle body, and a more free flowing design.

The first thing I like to do is really take in a workshop, it’s such a great place to photograph contrasts of textures. Shiny chrome tools covered in oil, and what would’ve been clean toolboxes, covered in dust from use. It tells the story of a home project, taking time after work and a few hours on weekends to squeeze that time with your machine.

Friends are a large aspect of home projects, as well. Jabarry has been part of PK Racing for a long time, and other than it being a racing team, it’s really a group of friends who really love cars. They would have grown up together, and eventually wanted to make their own mark on Barbadian car culture. His friends know, when they see the light on, he’s working and they’ll pass by and see how he’s doing.

the 4g63

Why are EVOs so good? Obviously,because their engines have the correct orientation, that’s why. Fight me in the comments section. Mitsubishi has built one of the most legendary engines. This is a fact. Over the years, they have been working on different ways they could really deliver the most this platform has to offer to the surface it’s used on. On paper this engine sounds pretty mundane. It’s a 4 cylinder turbo, with a 2 Liter capacity.

What’s amazing about it, is that it gets the job done. Jabarry has rebuilt the motor in this EVO, exchanging many of the internal factory parts for forged aftermarket parts. EVOs really come alive when you throw copious amounts of boost at them. They just take it all and throws the power out at you.

Highly boosted engines are not ideal when using pump gas. This is why, having a healthy diet is important to this build. This engine is making upwards of 38 psi of boost, and this is made possible by good old corn juice.

Ethanol is an organic fuel. It can be obtained from cane, corn and other plants. What we know as race fuel, is derived from corn. Ethanol allows an engine to run far more advanced timing than gasoline. Its overall energy density being lower than gasoline means you will have to flow a lot more fuel into the engine, this means changing the fuel pump, injectors and the regulators.

Using ethanol though, really improves the performance of your engine, its cooler, has a much higher octane than gasoline and burns much cleaner. Downside to ethanol means, he will have to refill almost every pass on the drag strip, but it grows on trees right?

Looking Ahead

This project has been setting some crazy times on our 8th mile at Bushy Park Raceway, it’s well into the six second range. Building the engine is definitely important when it comes to a drag car, but some time can be shaved off using some better suspension, and coil overs are definitely planned for the near future with this car.

He’s been running the factory diffs, and driveshafts on the car, and according to some, they say he’s on borrowed time with this aspect of the car due the change in power the car is making, but he’s willing to run them until something happens, then he’ll know he's really surpassed what the car is capable of.

This car is an ongoing project. I’m excited to see what else happens with it. I really appreciate the welcome from PK Racing, and allowing me to take a look at this pretty unique build.

Until next time, Happy Motoring, and don’t forget to eat your greens.

Follow Sleeper Forest on Social Media!

Instagram, Facebook, Sleeperforest_alex