NZ Performance Car – September 2019

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NZ Performance Car: Hi, Tim. Tell us what made you want to

buy an Evo, and why this one.

Tim: Hey, NZPC. One of the cars Dad had when I was young was an Evo III

— I think it was about 1997. I had some pretty fond memories of that and

thought to myself, I want to buy one of these one day. When I started

looking, there were a few white and silver ones, but they didn’t really stand

out to me, then this green one with bronze wheels turned up on Trade Me. It

was in Nelson. I really liked the look of it, so I jumped on the ferry and picked

it up straight away.

You’ve now been building it for over a decade; what’s caused

the build to span so long?

Let’s just say ‘motors’ — yes, that’s plural. I have had a few issues in that

decade. The first casualty was due to crank walk, a common issue in the

early Evos, and that’s when the real modifications started. Since the motor

needed a rebuild, I thought, let’s forge this one. That ended up being a

three-year build. I took it to Powercruise not long after finishing it and ended

up having an issue in the head and dropping a valve. So, a quick rebuild

was needed; a new piston, valves — at the time, I decided on replacing the

valves with oversized ones, which meant that, once it was back together,

it needed to go back to the dyno, and that’s when I lost the third engine.

The oil pump failed and toasted the crank and the block; my partner, Jess,

said it was the quietest trip back from Auckland — I think I said about three

words in the eight-hour drive! So, three motors had spanned about seven

years, and the last three years were spent building the motor that is in the

car now.

Ouch! You’ve also recently acquired a new shell for it all to be

swapped into — why’s that?

The car has reached the point where I wanted to start using it for motor

sport more than as a road car. The next step would have been a roll cage

and a plan to run something wider than a 215 tyre. That would involve

cutting the original shell up — something that I wasn’t too keen on, as it is

still in really good nick for its age. This new shell popped up on Race Car, in

Shed Classifieds, earlier in the year. I thought that it looked like a great buy,

but didn’t think much of it until my friend Tim Chai showed me the shell again

a few months later, and it had reduced in price (bonus!). It has everything I

wanted: big brakes, five stud, widebody running 245s, and a roll cage. All the

hard work was done, and I didn’t have to cut up my current shell.

NAME: TIMMY B // AGE: 32

LOCATION: WELLINGTON // OCCUPATION: BANK MANAGER

WEEKEND WARRIOR

PHOTOS: AARON MAI

THANKS: My amazing

girlfriend, Jess; Chris Wall

at Prestige Tuning

and Motorsport; Zac

Haar at Carboglass;

Lance and Carl Howard;

Shane Mendoza;

Andrew Burns;

Money Mcchesney;

Nick Chiew at NST;

Tim Chai; Clint Rae at

Rae Emerson Motorsport

Developments;

Circle Jerk Crew; and

everyone else who has

helped me with the car

A solid compromise on both fronts. What does the

future hold for each car now?

‘BULL3T’ has been stripped of its running gear and set aside in

storage. In a couple of years, I will return it to a road car, with a

much milder build. The new shell will be a dedicated race car for

hill climbs, street sprints, and tracking racing.

Can’t complain about that. Cheers, Tim!