SP Rides: Winning the Game
BY MICHAEL KITCHENS
Name: Tevin Agena
Age: 24
Occupation: Manager at Flagship Fastlube Automotive Shop
Hobbies: Cars, paintball, gaming
Year/Make/Model: 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution 8
Color: Viper Red
Engine: Garret GTX3582R Turbo, Converted to ECM LINK V3, Tuned by Kevin Sampayan, 2.2L Stroker Engine, Big FMIC, AEM Water meth injection 1000cc Dual Nozzle,1000cc Precision Fuel injectors, 255 Walbro fuel pump, Stage 3 Cams, Ported intake manifold, Straight pipe, Turbo smart BOV, ECM boost solenoid, Muse o2 dump, Spark tech coil pack kit, Battery relocated to trunk.
Exterior: Carbon Fiber hood, Carbon Fiber Fenders, Carbon Fiber Trunk, JDM rear bumper, Voltex Front bumper.
Interior: EQ boost gauge, AEM Wide band, Subwoofer, JVC deck
Suspension: Tein Drop Springs
Wheels/Tires: 17-inch Motegi Racing Wheels, Federal Super Steel SS-595 at 245/45 R17
Tevin Agena is a professional gamer who has racked up $10,000 in prize money in his off time. The 24-year-old also bought his first ride and since then, he’s become the proud owner of 36 other rides. Among his fleet are Hondas (both N/A and turbo’d), SRT-4s, GTis, turbo’d 240SXs and a Celica GT. Not bad at all.
“I would get bored. Every time I’d see something (available to purchase), I would just end up selling my ride and buying something else,” explained Agena.
But the boredom has ended. That’s because this week’s featured ride — a 2003 Mitsubishi Evo 8 — is Agena’s dream mobile. And now that the search is over, he’s determined to invest in this ride’s potential.
He purchased the Mitsubishi to build it into a racer, not to turn it into some kind of show car. But make no mistake about it: What he possesses is an absolute beast of a ride. Thanks to the fully built 2.2l stroker engine that resides in the chest cavity of this monster, Agena is pushing out 600HP with a methanol injection. The benefits of methanol are considerable: reduced detonation, lower engine temperatures, increased octane levels and extra power. Handling the tuning honors was Agena’s friend, Kevin Sampayan, who used an ECM Link v3 and an ECU taken from a DSM. The OEM Evo ECU was tossed in order to tune the AWD beast until it reached some pretty fantastic power levels.
In addition to the stroker engine, the car generates power through the use of a Garret GTX3582R Turbo combined with a larger front-mount intercooler. A 255 Walbro fuel pump is combined with 1000cc Precision fuel injectors while 1000cc Dual Nozzles inject the methanol into play. The car has all of the additional bolt-ons including a ported intake manifold, straight pipe and catback exhaust.
Interior-wise, the car has been kept simple, which is perfect for a goal-oriented machine like this one. The cabin includes the appropriate gauges for monitoring while the battery has been relocated to the trunk for better weight distribution. Also visible within the trunk is the methanol tank and a subwoofer for a whole lotta boom.
Although Agena is not concerned with showroom quality looks, he still opted to dress up the exterior with choice pieces of kit as well as a quality paint job. There are immense bits of carbon fiber including the Seibon hood, fenders, and front lip merged with a Voltex front bumper. A carbon fiber trunk lid takes up the rear. All this black is set against a gorgeous Viper Red paint job filled with pearl and gold flake.
Agena is a man of few words, but he’s also a man who plays to win, and this AWD menace is proof of that.
