Spec

Servicing had been well taken care of so everything worked as it should. There were also some pleasant OEM mods in the shape of an Evo V engine, Evo VI TME wheels, Evo VIII ecu and Evo IX Brembo brakes. There was also a Blue Cat 3" exhaust system but essentially everything else was stock. The former owner was a smoker so the interior was rather tarnished and reeky, with the odd burn hole here and there, so it was going to start as an interior deep clean and retrim to make it a nice place to be.

Interior

So everything got stripped out of the interior, aside from the dash and carpet. Seats and doorcards went off for a retrim in black leather and deep grey alcantara while I set to cleaning the rest. Various panels and trims were easy enough, shampooing the carpet was bit trickier and cleaning the headlining was a fag. But everything looked, and smelled, so much better when it all went back together.

Carbon fibre skinning

Decided to have a bash at some carbon fibre skinning, liked the idea of 'real' carbon overlays. Went for the centre console cubby lid and the door pockets on the front door cards. Turned out quite well, but a learning process also - larger sections with plenty of overlap (cubby lid) are relatively easy whereas skinny parts with little to no overlap and visible edges (door pockets) are a pain! Will certainly do more in the future though, with the layers of resin built up properly and smoothed and polished, it looks awesome and OEM quality.

Graphics

Went with something a little more WRC inspired with this. The rally plates on the doors and bonnet are more obvious, and those in the know will spot the side stripe resembles the earlier Evo rally car's livery. To this I added plenty of Skewer specific stuff, plus a shout out to JDModified who did the servicing and updates when I had it, including the fitting of an Apexi Power FC ecu, which made it even more lively. It was kept relatively simple though, black main colour, red accent colour, with a less more type of overall design. Still turned heads, and not just because of the classic Evo burble.

Never finished

Shiro ultimately suffered a similar fate to Quartz and I ended up having to sell due to a combinaton of increased outgoings and high running costs with a number of unavoidable long journeys at the time. Had Shiro stayed I would most likely have sorted a nice set of coilovers and was contemplating a six speed gearbox from the later MR marks. This was 10 years ago and personal circumstances have improved, so I may well find myself considering an Evo 8 or 9 MR variant in the not too distant future.