Andi's 1998 Quicksilver Supra Turbo 6sp
850 HP!!
I have arranged this website in the form of a journal, with the most recent
events at the top. There is a list of upgrades below, with links to the media
and pictures pages, followed by the day to day entries. I hope you enjoy your
visit. Have comments or questions? I would love to hear from you; send me an
email to: andi@airmail.net.
The above dyno chart shows 678rwhp at 28psi of boost, and that was with CTC67H turbocharger on a Directed Engineering cast manifold. I've since upgraded to a Sound Performance 321-Stainless Steel tubular header, and with the brand new engine CTC Motorsports put in the car last month, I expect low to mid 700 rear wheel horsepower. That's over 850 horsepower at the crank!
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Upgrades
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MEDIA CLIPS!
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8/4/2002: A couple weeks ago, CTC asked me if they could put my car in their display booth at the Hot Import Nights car show in Dallas. I was happy to oblige, and I hurried to get the "One Lap" passenger door replaced before the show so the car would look good. The One Lap door turned out to be a really cool souvenir, with all the race stickers and racers' signatures on it, so we prominently displayed the battle-scarred door next to the car at the show. Last night was the big night, and it was pretty entertaining. Surprisingly, intermixed with all the rice there were a few other cool, performance oriented cars there. The Subaru "I-Club" made a pretty cool showing, and big companies like Nissan and Mazda had their own booths. (Are you listening, Toyota?).
The real shocker, at least to me, came during the 11 o'clock awards ceremony. You see, HIN actually has one performance-based award called "hottest tuned auto," intended to honor the hottest modified import at the show. It turns out they picked my Supra for this award!! :) I really think the One Lap door is what did it. ;)
I've added a few pictures of my car from Hot Import nights to the pictures page.
6/3/2002: Well, it's been a while since my last update hasn't it? Let's see, since then, I've... changed tires, gone single, changed clutches, blown my motor, borrowed another motor, and done a cross country race breaking dozens more parts along the way. Where do I start.....
First, I'd like to use this space to bitch about BFGoodrich Tires. I picked my wheel sizes (17x10 and 17x11.5) around the best dry-grip street tire available -- the BFGoodrich G-Force TA KD, in 275/40ZR-17 and 315/35ZR-17. Just one problem -- Michelin, the company that makes BFGoodrich tires, decided to just not manufacture the 315 KD's for a while. So along with a few other Supra owners with 315s and all ZR1 owners, I got stuck running halfway decent Yokohama AVS Sports while I wait for BFG to make more KD's. I timed myself at the Motorsport Ranch with the AVS Sports compared to the KD's, and the Yok's are about one second slower than the KD's. :( I look forward to running KD's again.
For One Lap, I ran Complete Custom Wheel 18x10 front wheels and 18x11 rear wheels, with Pirelli PZero Rosso 285/30-18s and 315/30-18s. (One Lap rules this year dictated the use of Pirelli tires). Gripwise, I'd say the setup was right between my current Yokohama 17" setup and my preferred BFGoodrich 17" setup. I'd've preferred to run PZero Asimmetricos (non-Rossos) in One Lap as they're sticker, but Pirelli doesn't offer the Asimmetrico between 295 and 335 so I wouldn't've had a proper rear tire. Hopefully by next year I can flare the rear fenders a bit..... imagine a Supra with 18x10.5 and 18x13 wheels shod with 295/30-18 and 335/30-18 PZero Asimmetricos.... wouldn't that be cool?!?! :-D
I also changed clutches. A few of the Dallas Supras had been having problems with their RPS Stage 3 clutches so I didn't want to risk it with One Lap... So I decided to go with an ACT heavy duty 6-puck all-metal race clutch... The surprise came after the install, when this theoretically much more aggressive clutch exhibited very similar driveability to the RPS alternating puck design. Now One Lap is over and the clutch is still holding great, even with many 1.8+ bar launches (every time trial in One Lap begins from a dead stop) and even some insane-load 2.1 bar pulls in 6th gear (Clint's driving and Clint's motor..... heh.). So I forsee keeping this clutch for a while... Interestingly, the RPS clutches that were having problems were all part of a bad batch w/ a different puck design, and it turns out my RPS wasn't one of the bad ones. Oh well....
Oh yeah..... One Lap of America... wow, THAT was fun. Who'd've thought that much stuff could break in one week, and that despite all our troubles it could still be so fun? Read up all about Clint and Andi's One Lap of America adventure at our One Lap website linked below. We've got the whole story chronicled there, including quasi-daily essay updates, pictures, etc.
1/12/2002: Well, it's been a while since I've made an update to the website... I figure I might as well condense the latest modifications into one summary.. Here goes:
Clutch: I loved the TRD Twin Disc Clutch system but hated the rattle from the lightweight flywheel. (Lightweight flywheels on MKIV Supras cause the Getrag 6-speed transmission to rattle very loudly at idle, making your car sound like a loud tractor at stoplights.) The stock flywheel is a 33lb oiled and sprung dual-mass unit that quells motor vibrations before they reach the transmission. To eliminate this rattle, I went back to a stock flywheel, which meant I also had to change clutches (AFAIK the TRD Twin Disc Clutch will not work with a stock flywheel). The clutch I'm using now, an RPS Stage 3 Solid Hub 6-puck unit with alternating metal and carbon pucks, is very grabby. Engagement is not as smooth as my TRD Twin, but I'm glad the rattle is gone. And I have no doubts this clutch will hold any power I can ever throw at it -- which is why I got it, as I plan to go single turbo someday.
Wheels: I used to have Forgeline 17x9.5 and 17x11 forged wheels, in the "RS" 5-spoke style. At ~20lbs each, these were very nice and light wheels that served me well over the past year on the street and track. But once I found out that I didn't have the widest wheels you can put on a stock body Supra, they had to go. ;) I'm referring to CCW's, the same wheels Reg Riemer and Emmanuel Crouvisier ran in One Lap of America and others in the Supra community have began to discover. My CCW's are half an inch wider than my Forgelines were all around, at 17x10 and 17x11.5. The extra width should make the tires more stable on the wheels as compared to my old wheels, and I got bored with the Forgelines after having them a whole year anyway. At ~20lbs each, the CCW's are about the same weight as the Forgelines and have a strong, forged center disc like them as well. The biggest advantage is probably the fact that these are a 3-piece bolted-together wheel, meaning that a bent rim can easily be repaired quickly and inexpensively by simply replacing the damaged lip. Hopefully I'll never have to test this feature.
Suspension: The standard Tein spring rates of 780# and 450# provide about the same understeer/oversteer balance as the stock springs -- that is, biased towards slight understeer. To remedy this, in the past I had a huge custom rear "bigass" sway bar and a regular TRD front sway bar. With this setup, the car was balanced to moderate oversteer. I like oversteer, but the car was also twitchier than I'd've liked because the swaybar was doing more work in balancing the car than the springs were. I decided it would be better to balance the car's attitude with springs rather than swaybars, so I began by matching the rear swaybar with a custom "bigass" front swaybar from Phil Panas' group buy. The front swaybar complemented the rear swaybar well -- it was about the same or just slightly less percentage-wise stiffer than stock as the rear, and helped reduce body roll even more while returning the balance back to stock. Now that the car's balance was more or less decided by spring rates, I went two increments stiffer on the Tein rear springs -- "10K" springs (560#) instead of the standard "8K" (450#) ones, which translates to a 25% increase in rear spring stiffness. Now that I've had the car on the track, I think this is by far the best suspension setup I've had yet. It's very neutral, with a very slight bias towards oversteer when I want it. It's not for everybody, but if you like a neutral suspension setup without annyoing understeer, it's great. With this new suspension and wheel setup, and the same 275/315 g-force TA KD street tires, I easily beat my previous personal best at the Motorsport Ranch and had more fun in the process than before as well. :)
Euro Hood Scoop: After seeing the 3 Quicksilvers in Houston with hood scoops, I just had to join the club. ;-) The hood scoop is a Geunine Toyota Part that comes preinstalled on all Supras in Europe. Its job is to cool the turbos and the back of the motor at high speeds, so I figured with all the high speed / track driving I do, I need one. I ordered the part and the little accessories that go with it from Jeff Watson at Jay Marks Toyota, and installed it myself with a friend (after having the scoop itself painted, of course). Note: There is an optional metal air guide under the hood scoop that sends all the cold air to the "scoop-looking" heat-sink on the turbo side of the head. I did not get this guide as it would interfere with the TRD shock-tower bar. However, a good bit of the air coming through the hood scoop still cools that heat-sink, and the rest of it goes to cool the top and back of the motor, including the coil packs. (The timing belt cover is cut just behind the Toyota logo to leave the coil packs exposed -- allowing them better cooling not to mention enhanced spark plug servicability).
Shifter: I decided to try a stock '93-95 shifter. Some background: In 97, Toyota updated the shift lever and made it about 1.5" taller than the 93-95 shifter, meaning longer throws and a higher shift knob. I hate the stock 97-98 shifter. Until now I've had a Bryce Danna short-throw shifter (a stock 93-95 shifter modified to have shorter throws / higher effort by extending it below the fulcrum). The BD shifter was very nice but I always felt like the effort was a bit too high. Now that I've tried a stock 93-95 shifter, I think this is my favorite. BTW, I've also tried a B&M short-throw shifter. It's the shortest-throw, highest effort shifter available. Didn't like it -- a bit too notchy and high-effort for my tastes.
9/19/2001: After some more dyno tuning at Speedworks in Lewisville, my car put down some new personal bests.. :) And I'm especially enthused that these new numbres confirm that the Tx2k1 numbers weren't a fluke. Heh. The numbers are:
Here's the 22psi graph:
9/2/2001: Well, I went and upgraded from the 255/40-17 front g-Force TA KD tires to 275/40-17's. I was initially worried that they wouldn't fit and might rub, but I'm happy to report that they fit fine and don't rub at all. I took some pictures of the new setup.
Note that while installing the 275/40's up front I raised the front spring perches on the Tein coilovers by 3.5 threads, since the new tires are 0.62" taller than the old ones. Now that I've seen the car's stance with this setup and tested that the tires don't rub, I'm going to lower the car slightly (maybe 2 threads in front and 1 thread in back).
7/8/2001: I forgot to mention here that a few weeks ago I bought a new set of shoes for my Supra. BFGoodrich g-Force TA KD's have a reputation for being the ultimate street tires for dry traction, so I decided to give them a try. They don't make them in the 265/40ZR-17 size that I had in front previously with the S-02's, and unfortuantely there is *no* max-performance tire that is available in both 265/40-17 and 315/35-17. I definitely wanted to have the same model of tire all around, as I learned my lesson with mixed tires front-to-back when road racing on the S-02PP's and Pilot Sports (see the 5/4/2001 note below).
The g-Forces are available in 255/40ZR-17 and 275/40ZR-17. Since my car actually oversteered a bit due to the big custom rear sway bar, I decided to go with the 255/40ZR-17 fronts, and of course the 315/35ZR-17 rears.
The big surprise came when the tires arrived. I learned that BFGoodrich g-Force TA KD's are, in terms of width, very underrated. The 255 fronts that arrived were just as wide as the 265 Pole Positions they replaced, and the new 315 rears were considerably wider than the 315 Pilot Sports they were replacing -- about half an inch wider. I had already modified the rear wheelwells to fit the 315 Pilot Sports -- I had the rear fender lips professionally removed, and slightly hammered in the frame rails in the lower front portions of the rear wheelwells where they were contacting the sidewalls. With the new 315 g-Forces, I had to get the mallet and do even more hammering on the insides of the rear wheelwells to get them to quit rubbing under hard cornering. Now all is good and they fit fine and don't rub. I also applied some rubber sealant over the small area of the frame rails/wheelwells that had been rubbed/hammered so as to prevent rust.
I've been to the track twice so far on the new tires -- once at the Motorsport Ranch and once at Texas World Speedway. The g-Forces performed beautifully, with less tire howl, sharper response, and better overall grip than before. Most importantly though, they were consistently balanced throughout every session -- none of that increasing oversteer as the tires heat up that used to happen with the previous mixed tires setup.
I am considering moving up to 275/40ZR-17 fronts next time, assuming that I can retune the suspension setup (mainly the swaybars) for slightly less oversteer.
6/25/2001: Quite a few cooling modifications performed, most notably the shoe-horning of the power steering cooler to the driver's side brake duct so it would no longer block the radiator. Read all about the new cooling modifications in my cooling tech article.
5/4/2001: Well, after four months with the Tanabe G-Power Medallion, what can I say? It's exactly what it's advertised to be -- the quietest, most mature and restrained exhaust on the market for the MKIV. That having been said, I realized that the Tanabe isn't compatible with, umm.. me. :) I was at Alamo yesterday and what do you know, they had a beautiful new HKS Super Drager exhaust just sitting there, and well, I really missed my old Drager. So I bought the Super Drager and had it put on immediately, and sold the Tanabe within a couple hours (the Internet is great isn't it?).
On a different note, I don't like my tire setup anymore. The Pilot Sports in back aren't all that great -- on the road course they get hot and greasy faster than the Pole Positions in fronts, which means increasing amounts of oversteer as the road racing session progresses. Not cool. I wish Bridgestone made the S-02PP in a 315/35ZR-17, but they don't. :( I really want to get the same model tire all around, so as to not have changing dynamics as the tires heat up. And NOBODY makes a tire in 265/40ZR-17 and 315/35ZR-17. Since I don't want to goto 275/40ZR-17 (too tall IMHO for the front wheelwells), I think my next set of front tires will be 255/40ZR-17's. There are a lot of options available in the 255/40ZR-17 and 315/35ZR-17 combo, and what I will most likely go with are the Michelin BFGoodrich G-Force Killer Dry (KD) model.
Also, with this new custom rear sway bar from Phil Panas and the Tein standard spring rates, my car oversteers a bit more than I'd like. The standard Tein rates are 780# in front and 450# in back -- I've ordered the 900# front springs to try to balance the car out and also prevent wheelwell rubbing (with the 780# springs, the stock bumpstops still play a role in preventing wheelwell rubbing over bumps during cornering, etc.)
3/19/2001: I just got back from the Tx2K1 Supra Meet in Houston last night. I had an awesome time and would like to thank everybody that helped organize the meet, and everybody that came and made it the best Supra meet ever.
The first event of the weekend was drag racing at Houston Raceway Park on Friday night. Note: The TRD Twin Disc clutch may be great for highway and road racing, but it leaves much to be desired for drag racing. I found it hard to slip on the launch because of the grabby engagement, and also the much reduced flywheel inertia makes the car either bog or spin off the line. My best runs were 4000 clutch dumps, bogging to 2500 and waiting for the turbos to spool (I'm running true twin mode which also doesn't help off the line with this clutch). Nonetheless, even on my daily driven Pilot Sport street tires, I still managed a new personal best of 12.331 at 121mph, and that was with a lackluster 2.1 second 60' time. I'm extremely happy with this time, and especially the trap speed. The car was running 118-121mph traps consistently all night. The launch didn't seem to affect the trap speed much, but it was the runs when I spun all the way through 2nd that had the lower traps -- so hooking up on the 1-2 shift did seem critical to getting a good trap speed. On the better runs, I was hitting the rev limiter in 4th gear right at the traps.
I must admit, though, that Saturday is the day I was waiting for. This was the day we road raced at the small road course at the Hitchcock blimp base in south Houston. The course was pretty hard on tires, but it was worth it.. With my new suspension setup (Tein coil overs, TRD front sway bar, and stiffer-than-TRD rear sway bar from Phil Panas), the car was just slightly balanced towards oversteer.. making for some nice action shots... :)
...then on Sunday, we had a dyno day at Xcessive Performance. Here's my new dyno chart:
I'm extremely happy with my new numbers. The first run was in 5th gear, peaking at 23psi. The second run was immediately following the first, and was done in 4th gear. Notice the correction factor of 0.96. You can also view the actual dyno graph before correction.
Click here for the Tx2k1 picture galleries.
3/2/2001: I had a set of TEIN HA coil-over suspensions installed. Although I was extremely happy with the KYB/Eibach setup, and I still think it's the best street/daily driver setup, I felt I needed a stiffer suspension for road racing. The TEIN setup is definitely the ticket for great handling -- the spring rates are about 50% stiffer than the Eibachs (780 #/in front, 450 #/in rear), with the 16-way externally adjustable damping to match.
So far, the ride seems a lot stiffer (obviously). Medium-sized road imperfections, such as the fender-length ripples in the roads that appear over time, are a lot more pronounced now. Surprisingly though, little road imperfections like potholes don't seem any harsher, and neither do large bumps/crests.
Overall, I like the TEINs very much and can live with a slightly rougher ride for the great handling benefit. For the road racers & autocrossers out there, you can't go wrong with these.
2/4/2001: Like I've seen on other road raced Supras, my Redline power steering fluid was boiling and burping out the power steering fluid tank at the racetrack -- leaving a residue on the fuse cover after every session. The fact that my Greddy oil cooler went right in front of the little non-finned Greddy PS cooler probably didn't help matters.. :)
So, this past Friday I had Alamo Autosports custom fabricate brackets for and install a real, box-type finned power steering cooler between the FMIC and the condenser. It was a bit more expensive than I'd've hoped, but at least it's a nice black Swedish-made cooler that fits very nicely and should extend the life of my power steering pump.
Also, while they had the front bumper off to install the cooler, I unbolted the horizotal slat in the front bumper opening in front of the FMIC.
12/23/2000: After two months of waiting, my TRD Twin Disc Clutch finally arrived from Japan. This is one nice unit, with two 6-puck discs and a lightweight flywheel. The entire assembly weighs about 20lbs less than the conventional stock flywheel + TRD single disc clutch setup I had before.
I had it installed yesterday, so I've only put 50 miles on it thus far. The engine is definitely more free-revving in neutral with the lighter flywheel, although the engagement is a bit harsher and grabbier now. Hopefully with break-in the light chatter upon engagement will go away. So far I haven't heard the infamous multi-disc-clutch rattle, but I expect it to arrive soon when the clutch breaks in.. no big deal. :)
12/22/2000: With the TTC mod, my Super Drager exhaust's noise level when just driving around town was beginning to bother me. I decided to swap it out for a Tanabe G-Power Medallion. Not only is the Tanabe significantly quieter, it is also less outrageous looking, which I'm very happy about. :) It is extremely quiet inside the car, and even with TTC the exhaust note is never intrusive. Surprisingly, it's actually not that quiet from behind the car at wide open throttle.
Also, to make those long runs on cold nights a bit safer for the engine, I added a Bryce Danna fuel pressure damper bypass thingee. Basically, this is a thick stainless-steel-braided fuel hose with high quality Earl's fittings that directly connects the fuel filter to the fuel rail, bypassing the fuel pressure damper (a restriction). This makes it easier for the fuel pump to keep up with the flow when the fuel pressure goes up with boost. To quote Phil Panas, I don't even notice the 'pulsations' that aren't being 'dampened' anymore... :)
10/30/2000: First, I forgot to mention in last week's entry that I recently had KYB AGX 4-way adjustable shocks installed to complement the Eibach Springs. I never realized how bouncy the stock shocks / Eibach springs setup was until I had the KYBs put in. The ride now with the KYBs is orders of magnitude more controlled now, soaking up the big bumps at speed that would previously "launch" the car. (Don't you love rebound control?) The KYB's are 4-way adjustable, and I have them set to 3 at all four corners. (Even at setting 1 they were stiffer and more controlled than the stock shocks). I highly recommend to anybody considering Eibach springs -- get these KYB shocks also. Otherwise, you'll end up paying for the labor twice like I did when you decide the ride is too bouncy and want to get some good shocks installed. ;)
I dyno tuned my car today. Below you'll see my newest dyno charts, at 17psi (pump gas and 11.5:1 A/F ratio) and 23psi (race gas, 12.0:1 A/F ratio). At 17psi, my car made 418rwhp and 400rwtq and when we put in the race gas and turned the boost up, it peaked at 440rwhp and, yes that's correct, 495ft-lbs of torque at the wheels. Obviously from the shape of the torque curve the turbos are really running out of breath at the high boost setting (they didn't sustain the 23psi -- the boost fell to about 18psi by redline).
I didn't have a chance to try an 18psi dyno run on pump gas, but I think it will probably be in the 425-430rwhp range. As you can see the gains from the VPC not only include a nice torque increase at high boost, they also provide a much wider horsepower peak (err, plateau) that doesn't fall off at all before redline.
10/21/2000: Road Course Racing at Texas World Speedway and the The Motorsports Ranch made me realize I need to upgrade my Supra's cooling system significantly. Otherwise, I'd continue having to take cool down laps after every couple hard laps, which certainly takes all the fun out of it. I had a huge Fluidyne radiator installed, with a 70/30 mix of distilled water to Toyota red coolant, plus one bottle of water wetter. To further aid in the task of keeping the engine and turbos cool, I got a Greddy 10-row oil cooler installed just behind the driver's left brake duct opening in the front bumper. I can't wait to go to the Motorsport Ranch again and test this new setup. I also bought a set of Kumho Victoracer V700 competition tires (245/45ZR-17 and 275/40ZR-17) for the stock wheels, to help me out at the Ranch.
I recently sold the OZ wheels, and am now upgrading to Forgeline RS 17x9.5 and 17x11 forged wheels (ZR-1 widths) with 265 and 315mm tires. I would have gotten Pole Positions all around, but they don't make 'em wide enough, so I went ahead with 265/40ZR-17 Bridgestone S-02 PP's in front and 315/35ZR-17 Michelin Pilot Sports in back. They should be arriving sometime next week.
To try to get a little more power and tunability out of the car, I got an HKS Vein Pressure Converter (VPC) which eliminates the stock mass air flow (MAF) sensor and replaces it with manifold pressure and temperature sensors. The idea is (1) to allow more air into the engine by eliminating a potential restriction (the small MAF sensor that all air has to pass through before entering the turbo inlets), and (2) to provide a bit of tuneability (i.e. turn the gain knob up a click or two for road racing, and so forth. Assisting me in the fuel tuning area is a Fields SFC Hyper R fuel coputer. Both of these devices are mounted in the glove box and actually look pretty slick. (I sold the Apexi Super AFC and replaced it with the Fields because the Fields is a smaller and IMHO more robust unit).
I will be dyno tuning soon, and will also try to get some good pictures of the Supra with all the new toys within the near future.
7/18/2000: Before going to TWS this weekend, I did the true-twin conversion, which makes both turbos run in parallel all the time. I haven't dyno'd yet, but the new chart will show one smooth torque curve, instead of the stairstep you see in my previous dyno charts. TTC is a lot more predictable for the road course, and also exhibits less lag from a high RPM punch because you don't have to wait for the 1-2 transition.
I also removed the 12V fuel pump mod today. I believe the 12V fuel pump mod is dangerous because it lets the fuel pump overheat on long trips, causing you to run leaner and leaner into your trip. AMHIK. Toyota made the fuel pump run at 9V when cruising for a reason.. Good thing I watch my EGT gauge closely...
6/22/2000: I recently had Earmark Car Audio install Formula One "Classic" window tint on my Supra. I chose the classic tint because it's a nice neutral gray color, and since it's non-metallic it won't interfere with my Valentine 1's rear radar reception. I went with 35% on the side windows and 20% on the back.
6/5/2000: Today, I had a custom cold air box made at Alamo Autosports, to shield the cone intake from the hot underhood air. Also, I removed the shroud under the right headlight that used to direct air from the bumper's air inlet to the intercooler, thus allowing the cone intake to breathe through this inlet. Take a look at the pics of the setup above!
5/30/2000: Take a look at the July issue of Turbo Magazine at the top of page 75, and you'll see a small picture of me in the staging lines at Texas 2000 in Houston! :-)
I also added a couple of cool sound files at the top of this page today.
5/25/2000: I made the 150 mile trek to visit Jarrett Humphreys at Powerhouse Racing today in order to get my new Apexi Super AFC fuel controller installed. Jarrett has a new Dynojet dyno complete with a wideband o2 sensor, so he was able to tune my air/fuel ratio precisely. Jarrett also retuned my cam gears; they're now at +1 degrees intake and -5 degrees exhaust. Oh, and he replaced my stock spark plugs, which according to him are prone to missing at BPU power levels, with copper NGKs at 0.032" gap.
With this configuration my car now peaked at 424.4rwhp and 448.5rwtq. Although the peak horsepower is ironically the same as before, the horsepower curve is much smoother than before. Scroll down to my old dyno chart and you'll see that it was dropping to 365rwhp by redline. Now I have a solid 390rwhp at redline, which means I have a lot more average horsepower in the rev range used at the track (4500RPM to redline). Also note that it was a lot hotter today (99 degrees in the dyno room) and we didn't have any ice this time. My new dyno chart is shown below.
5/15/2000: We're back online! I'm sorry to say this website has been down for the past week due to DNS problems with the webhost switchover, but thankfully now it is back up.
Last week my old AVS Intermediates became dangerously worn, so I decided to replace them with 275/40ZR-17 AVS Sports. Besides great handling looks, the straightline traction afforded by the AVS Sports is amazing -- I highly recommend them!
Also, I sold the Greddy Type S blow-off valve (got sick of the whale/farting sounds it made at part throttle) and replaced it with an HKS Super Sequential blow-off valve. The HKS is welded in the hard pipe inlet to the intercooler, to look and sound great. IMHO this is the best sounding BOV, and it also works well with the stock mass air sensor, not causing any idle problems. Note: I left the stock blow-off valve back to work together with the HKS, because the stock blow-off valve is looser and responds faster, preventing compressor surge.
4/26/2000: Today, I had a TRD clutch and new Toyota flywheel installed. The clutch pedal feel is very different -- I'd estimate that it has about 40% more effort, and engages a lot closer to the floor. It is still very smooth with absolutely no chatter.
I also had my TRD brake pads replaced with new stock Toyota pads. The stock Toyota pads are quite a bit more grabby on initial applicatoin, and they're also quieter than the TRDs.
4/21/2000: I just got some new OZ Competition wheels, sized 17x8.5 in front and 17x10 in back. They're all 41mm offset, so they are not only wider than stock but also centered slightly farther out. (Stock offset is 50mm). The fronts are wrapped in 245/45ZR-17 Yokohama AVS Sports, and the rears are wearing 265/40ZR-17 Yokohama AVS Intermediates.
I took some new pictures of my car today with these wheels, which should also show off the shiny Greddy FMIC. :-) The pictures are at the top of the picture gallery above.
4/14/2000: Wearing my newly acquired BFGoodrich Comp T/A Drag radials, I went to Ennis tonight for some quarter mile drag racing. I only got two runs in tonight because of an hour long wait per run :(, and on the 2nd run I got overenthusiastic with the launch and did worse than the first. On the first run, I really underestimated the traction from the drag radials, and a 4000RPM slip just bogged to 3000 before starting to seriuosly accelerate. This produced a 2.0 sixty-foot time, and a 12.4 at 117.75mph. I'm confident that with a little more practice and a higher RPM launch I can get a much lower ET. Here is the timeslip of my best run:
4/2/2000: Today I calculated the optimal shift points for best acceleration according to my gear ratios and dyno chart.
3/31/2000: After having had my Greddy front-mount intercooler installed earlier this week, I thought the car felt like it had a lot more power. This morning I went to the dyno to quantify these gains, and the results are intriguing to say the least. You see, according to the mkiv.com FAQ, the stock intercooler is fine for BPU power levels and FMICs like my Greddy don't have any positive gains. My experience is very different. Check out this incredible dyno chart showing the before & after power curves for the Greddy FMIC. That is more than a 50rwhp gain from the intercooler, which IMHO is nothing short of astounding. Maybe I had a slight boost leak before the FMIC install?
While on the dyno, we decided to test the cam gear settings to see how much power they really add. Check out this dyno chart to see the difference between having the cam gears set to 0/0 and having them set to the standard +1 degree intake / -3 degrees exhaust setting.
Here is my best dyno chart so far, with my cam gears set to +1 intake / -3 degrees exhaust, and the front mount intercooler installed:
I went to the Texas Motorplex at Ennis tonight to do some quarter mile racing. Mainly I wanted to see what trap speeds I would get, to see if the increase in power on the dyno would be reflected on the track. Surely enough, the power is definitely there -- look at my newest timeslip (below right). The time isn't quite as good as my best run in Baytown (below left), but the trap speed is 5mph higher. The time would have been better as well but Ennis is not nearly as sticky as Houston Raceway Park.. even though I got a good launch, I started spinning after the 60' mark. BTW, I'm car #377 -- the one on the right. :-)
3/13/2000: Just got back from Houston for the Texas 2000 Supra meet. It was a lot of fun, and I even won a prize and trophy for qualifying in the Street 8 at the Baytown IDRC races! On my first run ever in my Supra, I was pitted against Bryce Danna's famous 873rwhp monster. I was very nervous, but I managed to pull off a 12.8 sec pass at 112mph. :-) Then they decided to let me die a painful death and pitted me against Christian Rado in the eliminations.. The race was funny, he left me like I was standing still. :-)
Above to the left is my best timeslip of the day, which also happens to be my first run of the day. :-) I am car #233, in the left lane.
2/21/2000: My HKS Super Drager exhaust arrived today. I took some pics of it:
[Super Drager Pic 1] [Super Drager Pic 2] [Drager Tip] [Drager Muffler] [Muffler Inside]
At idle, the HKS Super Drager is louder than the TRD by a considerable margin. Surprisingly, at cruising speeds around 2000-3500RPM, the HKS is quieter than the TRD. Then, once the second turbo comes online around 4500RPM, the HKS Super Drager once again becomes louder than the TRD.
I will try to take pics of the HKS Super Drager installed in the near future.
2/20/2000: I took a picture of my interior today so you can see the Greddy Turbo Timer install that I had done at Earmark in Plano last month as well as the dash-mounted Blitz Dual Soleoind Boost Controller (DSBC) next to the TRAC button. I also had a set of Razo pedal covers installed yesterday to help with heel & toe, but removed the clutch pedal cover because it was intruding on the dead pedal space.
2/19/2000: I took some new pictures of my engine bay and Unorthodox Racing cam gears today. They're at the bottom of this page.
2/18/2000: Well, I've had the Supra for two months and my rear tires (255/40ZR-17 Fulda Extremos) are bald. Damn, this car is just too much fun. :) This morning, I had 265/40ZR-17 Yokohama AVS Intermediates installed. I think the 265/40ZR-17 size fits the 17x9.5" wheels better than the stock 255 size, and hopefully these Yokohamas will grip better than the Fuldas (which were actually quite grippy).
This weekend I had my TRD springs replaced with Eibach Pro-Kits. The Eibachs seem slightly softer riding and better matched to the stock shocks. (I think the TRDs require firmer damping.) Also, the Eibachs are one finger width lower in front than the TRDs, and the same height in back. The ride height is more even now, with a consistent single finger gap between the tire and fender at all four corners.
Oh, and I also had Unorthodox Racing cam gears installed a couple days ago, set to +1 degree on the intake side and -4 degrees on the exhaust side.
1/20/2000: I just installed a set of Toyota Racing Development (TRD) stabilizer bars. These replace the stock stabilizer bars, front and rear, and according to TRD they increase roll stiffness by 27% all around. Also, they are painted a nice shiny red color.
Included in the box was a set of polyurethane bushings, which I also installed. While improving swaybar response by resisting deflection more than the stock rubber bushings, these bushings also produced a very annoying creaking noise whenever the front suspension moved. I was able to eliminate this noise by greasing up the front swaybar bushings with Energy Suspension swaybar grease.
1/9/2000: Today, I installed a K&N drop-in panel air filter and removed the upper airbox lid. I seem to have gained a considerable amount of power with this modification, probably because the stock airbox and filter were very restrictive at BPU levels. I like this new setup because it gets cold air like the stock intake and is isolated from the engine bay's hot air, while providing a greater breathing ability. Also, the blow-off valve seems to be able to do its job better, as letting off the throttle while on boost is now smooth rather than causing the car to lurch like before. Note that I did need to secure the K&N filter to the top of the airbox so that it would not move around while driving.
12/21/1999: This past Sunday, my Supra was BPU'd, which stands for basic performance upgrades. The components that were installed are: Rod Millen 3" SS downpipe, Blitz dual solenoid boost controller (running approx 1.3 kg/cm2) custom mounted in-dash, Greddy boost cut controller, and a couple of Greddy gauges for boost and exhaust gas temperature.
I also had a Bryce Danna short-throw shifter installed, which markedly improves shift feel and shortens the shift throws by a large margin. This is especially true on 97-98 Supras like mine which, to begin with, have a much taller shifter than the 93-95 stock shifters.
Today, I took my car back to Team Dynotech in Garland, Texas to see how much of a power increase the BPUs gave me. I am very impressed with the awesome horsepower and torque increases, and of course the beautiful sounds it now makes on boost. Thanks to Bryce Danna for the beautiful install of the boost controller and my other BPU mods.
At BPU, running about 1.3 kg/cm2 of boost (on pump gas), my dawg put down an uncorrected 412hp and 437ft-lbs of torque to the wheels! These numbers indicate, at the crankshaft, approximately 490hp and 519ft-lbs of torque.
This dyno graph shows the torque/power curves for both the TRD exhaust-only baseline as well as the full BPU run.
12/13/1999: I had a very fun day today. :-) Jordan and I took my dawg to the dyno today, and he showed me how to properly dyno this car. (e.g. resetting the ECU, taking out the TRAC fuse, and so forth.)
With the only power modification being a TRD exhaust, my car put down 320hp to the wheels, which is the equivalent of about 380 crank horsepower. Wow!! I am very impressed; Toyota seriously underrated the TT Supra from the factory. I mean, let's say the TRD exhaust gave me 20hp at the crank -- that still means my car came from the factory with 360hp! :-))))
Click here to see the baseline dyno chart with just TRD exhaust.
I really lucked out with this car. I'd been planning to install a TRD exhaust and some nice springs as soon as I bought my Supra, and this one already had a TRD exhaust and TRD springs! I love the sound of the TRD exhaust. :-)
In the near future, I will post other stuff here such as BPU dyno charts (:-D), calculated optimal shift points, and so forth. Stay tuned.
If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.. you can mail me at andi@airmail.net.
