There are two sides to Steve Lim. On one side you see an unassuming average Joe, on the other, he is one of the most dedicated car builders, racers, drifters...you get the idea. He is, in the purest sense, the very meaning of what we consider to be a true car enthusiast. Steve doesn't pay anyone to wrench on his car; he stays late nights after work and on the weekends to decipher Japanese instruction manuals and make sure the parts his company sells will work right on American market cars. Steve didn't recruit pro drifters to see how well his S13 could hang on a drift course (although his company, Mackin Industries, did), he took every chance he had to practice drifting at the local industry track events and even helped to form Industry Drift Day to show his dedication. And now, as he steps into the world of circuit racing, you won't find any hired guns to mash the gears of his Evo MR at Time Attack; Steve's going to do the dirty work himself. It's his mission and only he can do it.
After retiring his S13 drift car, Steve needed something that could not only accommodate his family's needs (especially since the birth of his son and another on the way), but could showcase one of Mackin's performance lines, ARC. The choice he had to make was between this or the STI, and it was the overall look and availability of parts that solidified his choice. "I really needed a four-door, something turbo from the start and the Evo is a true commuter car," Steve says. "Towards the end, my drift car became too hard to drive on the street and there was no way I could put my kid in the back where the seats used to be," he laughed.
So began a three month period of test fitting prototype pieces from ARC Japan, most of which now lie under the hood and can even be purchased as they've made their way to retail shelves. At last year's SEMA, the Evo debuted ARC's Super Induction intake box, a titanium exhaust, intercooler, Prestige-R valve cover and a gradient cam cover. Steve then teamed up with A'PEXi who tuned the 4G63 after he bolted in one of their RX-6 turbos to pull more boost. Unfortunately, getting the most power out of the engine was somewhat limiting since the Power FC ECU is still in development, so A'PEXi used an AFC Neo to adjust air/fuel, AVCR to adjust boost settings and a reflashed ECU from XS Engineering, all as a temporary solution until the Power FC's ready. Once installed, Steve thinks the new product could be good for up to 450hp. Meanwhile, the near perfect six-speed gearbox gets a stronger Xtreme clutch from ACT to handle the newfound power, and a Cusco limited-slip takes care of putting that power to every driveshaft.
Next, Steve used his divine influence and a deep connection to Japan's ings+ to source an aero kit that could make his MR pop. The N-Spec fiberglass pieces do exactly that, adding nice, rounded out edges that don't overpower the natural lines of the original chassis. F1 Motorsports completed the paint work while Euphoric and Six Autoworks cut the graphics. Then he put on mild touches of carbon fiber with a Seibon vented hood and rear trunk.