JustinP10
10+ Year Contributor
- 38
- 0
- Feb 26, 2011
-
Gilbert,
Arizona
I bought the car a couple years ago through the dealer I worked for at the time. It came in on trade and needed a LOT of work. Leaked oil, smoked a bit, the suspension and tires were shot, etc... However, it had a super clean interior, good paint, and low miles (a little over 60k).
The only mods to the car when I bought it were an old greddy intake and exhaust (parts were branded as trust). I started with the normal maintenance and replaced all of the seals on the front of the motor, resealed the oil pan and valve cover, etc... I replaced the timing belt and tensioner (balance shafts removed), drive belts, plugs, filters, all fluids, etc...
I drove the car like this for a bit, but realized the turbo was shot and so was the suspension. So first order was to replace all of the suspension parts and wear items. I replaced all of the suspension bushings with ES bushings, and the motor mounts with prothanes. Instead of just replacing the shocks, I swapped everything out with KSport coilovers. I also replaced all four rotors and threw in Hawk HPS pads.
Next step was to address the worn turbo. I was planning to just swap to an big 16G, but ended up going down a different road, looking for the best overall powerband. I have a few friends that are really good fabricators and one offered up his services for a custom manifold. We decided to go with a custom twin-scroll manifold, that would allow the evo 8/9 turbos to be a drop in setup. I picked up a low mileage evo9 turbo, evo o2 housing off ebay, and made a hybrid evo/dsm downpipe. With the manifold, we can fit everything from a stock turbo, up to at least an FP black (IIRC, that was the largest we accounted for, but there's still room left) and they'll all just drop right in. I tore the stock intake pipe somewhere along the way, so I swapped over to an FP intake as well.
While everything was out of the front, I replaced a lot of the oil and coolant hoses with silicone hoses, to get rid of a few existing leaks and hopefully add a bit of reliability to the setup down the road as well. I replaced the radiator with a large mishimoto x-line setup as well. (AZ is too damn hot). I also replaced the stock charge pipes with hard pipes and upgraded to a supra sidemount. I made a custom duct for it as well.
I dyno'd this setup and the car wasn't performing like we had hoped. The power was falling off VERY early, and just wasn't acting right. I went back through and cleaned everything up and while I was in there, added GSC S2 cams to the mix, hoping to shift the powerband up a bit as well. I opted to go with their springs and retainers at the same time as well.
Back on the dyno again, after a few more leaks and minor issues, and the car was happy and running mostly as expected. It made just over 300hp and around 310ftlbs. Spools up very early and the powerband feels great, even when held back on 91 octane pump gas.
I still have a lot more left to do to the drivetrain and I have a sleeved 4G64 block, ready for a long rod 2.4L stroker setup as well. I hope to have those ready and rolling over the next 3-6 months, as spare funds allow.
Here's a few pictures:
I know it's a bit blurry. The peak torque is just over 300ft.lbs and hp is at 300hp as well.
The only mods to the car when I bought it were an old greddy intake and exhaust (parts were branded as trust). I started with the normal maintenance and replaced all of the seals on the front of the motor, resealed the oil pan and valve cover, etc... I replaced the timing belt and tensioner (balance shafts removed), drive belts, plugs, filters, all fluids, etc...
I drove the car like this for a bit, but realized the turbo was shot and so was the suspension. So first order was to replace all of the suspension parts and wear items. I replaced all of the suspension bushings with ES bushings, and the motor mounts with prothanes. Instead of just replacing the shocks, I swapped everything out with KSport coilovers. I also replaced all four rotors and threw in Hawk HPS pads.
Next step was to address the worn turbo. I was planning to just swap to an big 16G, but ended up going down a different road, looking for the best overall powerband. I have a few friends that are really good fabricators and one offered up his services for a custom manifold. We decided to go with a custom twin-scroll manifold, that would allow the evo 8/9 turbos to be a drop in setup. I picked up a low mileage evo9 turbo, evo o2 housing off ebay, and made a hybrid evo/dsm downpipe. With the manifold, we can fit everything from a stock turbo, up to at least an FP black (IIRC, that was the largest we accounted for, but there's still room left) and they'll all just drop right in. I tore the stock intake pipe somewhere along the way, so I swapped over to an FP intake as well.
While everything was out of the front, I replaced a lot of the oil and coolant hoses with silicone hoses, to get rid of a few existing leaks and hopefully add a bit of reliability to the setup down the road as well. I replaced the radiator with a large mishimoto x-line setup as well. (AZ is too damn hot). I also replaced the stock charge pipes with hard pipes and upgraded to a supra sidemount. I made a custom duct for it as well.
I dyno'd this setup and the car wasn't performing like we had hoped. The power was falling off VERY early, and just wasn't acting right. I went back through and cleaned everything up and while I was in there, added GSC S2 cams to the mix, hoping to shift the powerband up a bit as well. I opted to go with their springs and retainers at the same time as well.
Back on the dyno again, after a few more leaks and minor issues, and the car was happy and running mostly as expected. It made just over 300hp and around 310ftlbs. Spools up very early and the powerband feels great, even when held back on 91 octane pump gas.
I still have a lot more left to do to the drivetrain and I have a sleeved 4G64 block, ready for a long rod 2.4L stroker setup as well. I hope to have those ready and rolling over the next 3-6 months, as spare funds allow.
Here's a few pictures:
I know it's a bit blurry. The peak torque is just over 300ft.lbs and hp is at 300hp as well.
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