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| BRIAN DENHAM |
| 1994 TOYOTA SUPRA TURBO |
| 6 SPEED |
| SILVER/BLACK |
| SHERWOOD, AR. USA |
 EMAIL BRIAN |
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| 12 photos |
| 2719 words |
| April 7th '04 |
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GENERAL:
I’ve been interested in cars since an early age due entirely to my Father. I can remember working in the garage with him on his 74 corvette when I was growing up. The first real performance car I owned was purchased in 2000. It was a 2000 dodge viper gts, red exterior with a cognac interior. It was because of this car that I became aware, painfully, of the mkiv supra and what it was capable of! Some of the local supra guys found me on an internet message board and wanted to meet up with me to check out my car. We met up and I got my first glimpse of the mkiv supra. I was as impressed with their cars as they were of mine! We got around to taking the cars to the local drag strip where I was very surprised at the outcome…..they ate my viper for lunch! Their supra’s were at the bpu level and running about .5 seconds faster than me. I was amazed at how easy it was to get huge power increases out of the supra for little cash outlay.
After 1.5 years of owning the viper, in December of 2001 my wife and I decided to put the viper up for sale and start looking for a supra. It took me about 1-2 months of searching every place online I could think of to find the car I wanted. As luck would have it, I found a car in Dallas where my parents live. They were able to go over and look at the car and take it for a test drive. My Dad called me after the drive and told me to buy it. Two days later my wife and I drove over and bought the car and drove it home.
It was a beautiful 1994 Silver on black twin turbo supra. The car was near stock when we purchased it, having only an aftermarket exhaust, intake, and turbo timer. The car didn’t remain in that state for very long! I quickly went to bpu by ordering the downpipe and boost controller and switching the car to TTC mode. It’s just simply amazing the difference in power that $500 investment made! Pretty soon after going bpu I decided to go ahead and order a few more parts. I bought the HKS cam gears, Greddy 3 row FMIC, and an upgraded clutch with lightweight flywheel. I was very specific in my research for all my upgrades to be sure that they would work well if/when I ever decided to go to a single turbo. With that in mind, the next step was the purchase of the HKS VPC and the Apex’I S-AFC. That was it, I had no more excuses not to buy that single turbo kit now! | ENGINE:
The engine still retains all of the stock internals at this point. All of the modifications I have performed have been strictly bolt on parts. I was pretty satisfied with the power until recently when the bug hit yet again! I began my research on the different single turbo kits out there. After a month or so of research, and another month of talking my wife into letting me spend the money, I finally made my decision. I decided to follow in the footsteps of the proven power leaders like Peter Blach and SW and bought an RPS turbo kit. I had an excellent buying experience with Rob Smith at RPS and would recommend his kit to anyone. Rob spent hours on the phone with me answering questions and making sure everything was as it should be before and after the sale.
I went with the PT 63 turbo with a .81 exhaust housing. My kit arrived about 4 weeks after the order was placed and I began the install soon after. The lead wrench job on the turbo swap was handled by Jeff Thomey of TNC performance (http://www.tncperformance.com/) in Little Rock, AR. Jeff had the stock turbo’s out in just over 3 hours on our first night of working on the car! Just working on the car in the evenings after I got home from my day job we had it finished in 4 evenings. With the boost controller off we went for a maiden voyage. I had a full tank of 104 octane so I felt pretty safe dialing in moderate boost levels. The car had very smooth power delivery at the wastegate spring setting of 9 pounds. The sound was just absolutely amazing though! Thankfully I already had an FJO installed and was able to see that my a/f ratio was very safe even with the stock fuel system, so we decided to up the boost a little. I turned the controller on and found the setting for 1.2 bar. All I can say is WOW!!! It’s amazing how much the car came alive when the go pedal was mashed now! To help put the power to the ground I am using a South Bend clutch set up. The set up includes the South Bend dual friction 6 puck sprung clutch disc, the South Bend pressure plate, and a Fidanza aluminum flywheel. I am very impressed with the South Bend set up. It has a very close to stock engagement with almost zero chatter. The pressure plate provides the increased clamping force, but doesn’t give my left leg the workout like an ACT plate. The South Bend set up is wild enough to handle 600+ HP, but mild enough that even my wife is able to drive it on the street in traffic. To keep missed shifts to a minimum I also installed a B&M ripper shifter. The latest modification performed was the installation of a nitrous express EFI wet kit. Currently I am using a 65 shot, but will probably increase that to a 75-80 shot soon. For the future I will be considering strengthening the valve train to be able to safely run a higher rev limit. I am also considering going to some upgraded HKS camshafts in the future. | FUEL:
I drove the car with the new turbo on the stock fuel system for about 1 month. I closely monitored my EGT’s and the a/f ratio and set my max boost at a safe 1.2 bar during that time. When the time came to upgrade the fuel system I enlisted the services of Polk Performance (http://www.polkperformance.com/) in Bryant, Arkansas. Polk Performance is famous for their work in the DSM modification and tuning area, plus he is a friend so I knew he would take good care of my car. We went with a different design from the norm on the fuel system. The components are pretty standard including twin Walbro’s intank, dual feed rail, 780cc injectors, and an Aeromotive FPR. The design for the system comes from the same style used on F1 racecars. The pumps are tied together in tank with a Moroso Y block leading to a –8 bulkhead fitting. From there a single –8 line runs to the aftermarket fuel filter and up to the now modified FPR. Coming off each side of the FPR is a –6 line, one going to each end of the rail feeding the 780cc injectors. There is no return off the fuel rail, but rather we used the bottom port of the regulator with a –6 leading to the stock return line. Since the install of the new turbo and fuel system I have decided to run race gas in the car full time. My supra isn’t my daily driver, so I am able to justify and afford the cost of a full tank of 104 octane. This allows me to keep the boost set at 1.5 bar for every drive which means loads more fun on the highway!! For track days or dyno pulls I will add in some C16 and turn it up to 1.8-2.0 bar as my max boost setting. | ELECTRONICS:
To keep everything running smoothly I decided to go with the proven components including the HKS VPC with the Apex’I SAFC wired in. I am using the B chip in my VPC to control the larger injectors. The SAFC allows me to fine tune and dial in the proper A/F ratio throughout the RPM range. To aid in tuning and to make sure the car is safe I also have an FJO wideband installed on the car. | BRAKES/CHASSIS:
My car is still retains almost all factory components. Since they are proven performers for everyday street driving, and since I don’t often participate in track events, I decided not to go to a big brake kit. I have changed out the factory rubber lines with the Goodridge steel braided lines. I have also changed out the factory pads with a set of Stillen Metal Matrix pads and bled in some Motul 600 brake fluid. For suspension performance I decided to go with the proven set up of upgraded springs and shocks. I installed a set of Eibach lowering springs along with a set of KYB AGX adjustable shocks. For a little extra support when the targa is off I have a front strut tower brace in place. | WHEELS/TIRES:
When I bought the car it was still rolling on the factory 17” silver painted wheels. The rear tires were nearly bald when I bought the car so I knew they would have to be replaced soon. I immediately began looking at 18” wheel/tire combinations. I finally settled on 18” SSR Integral wheels wrapped in Bridgestone Pole Position S03 rubber. I really love the S03 tires for all around performance in both dry and wet conditions. The car now feels as stable on wet roads as it does on dry roads. I rolled with the SSR wheels for almost 2 years before deciding to switch to a different set. As luck would have it, one of my good friends had a set of Blitz 03 wheels for sale. He offered them to me at a good price, so I decided to go ahead and sell my SSR’s and buy his. They are sized 18x9 fronts with 255/35’s and 18x10 rears with 285/30’s. | INTERIOR:
The interior of the car has remained close to stock. The front and rear seating area’s still retain the full stock features. I have added a dual A pillar pod holding Apex’I EL electronic boost and egt gauges with memory, peak hold, and warning. The FJO wideband display is mounted on the steering column. Inside the glovebox is a custom mounting plate holding the VPC and SAFC. The biggest modification to the interior is my addition of a competition level audio system. For the install of that system I went to my good friends at Bryant Car Stereo in Bryant, Arkansas. The system consists of a combination of Eclipse and Memphis audio components. An Eclipse cd headunit sends signal to two Memphis amplifiers. One amp sends 75 watts to the Eclipse component set up front and the Eclipse point source speakers in the rear. The second Memphis amp sends 1100 watts to a pair of custom installed Eclipse aluminum 12” woofers in a sealed enclosure. To help the system on those big bass notes is a Lightning Audio 1 farad stiffening capacitor. To connect everything together we used Tsunami speaker wire and RCA cables. The system sounds amazingly clear and precise and will pound out 150 db’s if I crank it up! | EXTERIOR:
As of now the exterior of the car remains untouched, save for a set of OEM Euro glass headlights and painted brake calipers. I really like the looks of the supra’s beautiful stock lines. At some point I may consider adding some aftermarket body pieces and doing a repaint. I am undecided at this point if I will repaint it the factory alpine silver or go with a custom paint scheme. I am leaning towards a charcoal grey color right now. | PERFORMANCE:
The first trip to the dyno was on a very hot August day in Arkansas. The air temp was 93 degrees with a heat index of 105. With the car running straight 104 octane the first pull netted us 575 rwhp. A quick look at the peak on the boost controller showed 1.7 bar. I turned up the EZ a hair and tried it again. The next run hit 590 rwhp at 1.8 bar. Damn!!! So close to the T04R required number, I was not going to give up. I knew the nitrous would get me over the 700 hp mark, but I wanted to do it all turbo! I knew this turbo had more in it at that boost level! We let the fan cool the car a little bit and tried again. On the third pull with boost set at 1.8 bar the car put down 605 rwhp and 540 rwtq all turbo. I had the a/f ratio tuned to 11.4:1 by doing just a few pulls and watching the FJO. The max EGT temp was 840 degrees Celsius during those 3 pulls. When we switched on the nitrous system for another pull, for some reason, it didn’t activate. The problem was identified as a faulty rpm window switch.
When replacing the window switch we also noticed that the nitrous solenoid had a leak. The leak was coming from the top of the solenoid where the power and ground wires come out. We pulled out the faulty solenoid and sent it back to NX for warranty work. A short while later it finally made it back and we re-installed it on the car. Now with everything wired up and not leaking we were ready to try again. By this time in November the air temps had cooled off dramatically so I was hoping and expecting some better numbers off the bottle as well. I got the car back to the dyno in November and was expecting a nice increase over the hot August dyno numbers. At 1.8 bar, to my surprise, the car made the exact same rwhp number of 605, but did pick up 30 rwtq to 570. I do feel the car has a little more in it as my a/f ratios were all over the place. I had it tuned fairly well in the summer, but the change in temperature and pressure has thrown off my tune more than I expected. We decided to go ahead and get a pull on the nitrous after waiting so long! The first pull on the bottle started out great. I have it set up to activate on a window switch between 3000 and 6700 rpm’s. It came on hard at 3000 rpm’s and man did I love the sound when it hit! We finished the pull and got the numbers, 648 rwhp and 634 rwtq. The torque number was spot on for the 65 shot I am spraying, but the horsepower number was not adding up. In looking at the graph it was obvious that the nitrous turned off early, around 5700 rpm’s, and kept us from getting the power we should have. It should have been closer to 670 rwhp if the nitrous had sprayed all the way to my 6700 rpm cut off. We originally thought it might be a faulty rpm module, but upon contacting MSD it appears that it is functioning, as it should. I’m hoping it was just the tires spinning on the rollers, but as I was unable to back the run up there was no way to be sure. It could have been a little detonation and some timing being pulled, or it could have been some problem with the spark.
I will be checking all these ideas out and will get back to the dyno soon. I will be sure to post an update here as soon as I figure out what’s going on. Regardless, the car is a still load of fun even if it is down 30-40 horsepower from it’s potential! |
PARTS LIST:
| ENGINE:
Precision Turbo PT 63 with a .81 a/r housing
RPS manifold, Jet Hot coated 2000 deg.
RPS midpipe, Jet Hot coated 2000 deg.
RPS downpipe with flex joint
Innovative pro-gate wastegate
HKS racing type 1 BOV
HKS SS BOV
Greddy 3 row FMIC
Ported lower intake manifold runners
Polished stock intake manifold
K&N 4” I.D. filter
HKS cam gears
NGK 6097 spark plugs gapped at .028
Greddy oil filter relocation kit
Mohd EGR block off plates
HKS super dragger exhaust
TRD radiator cap
Hose Techniques silicone hose
Hardpipes.com polished upper radiator pipe
Nitrous Express EFI wet kit | FUEL:
780cc injectors
Aeromotive FPR
Dual Walbro 255’s intank
Polk Performance polished fuel rail
-8 main feed line
-6 lines feeding the rail
Aeroquip AN fittings | ELECTRONICS:
HKS VPC
Apex’I SAFC
FJO wideband
HKS EVC EZ boost controller
HKS turbo timer
Greddy BCC | DRIVETRAIN:
Fidanza aluminum flywheel
South Bend dual friction 6 puck sprung clutch disc
South Bend pressure plate
B&M ripper shifter | BRAKES/CHASSIS:
Eibach pro-kit springs
KYB AGX shocks
Strut tower brace
Goodridge steel braided brake lines
Stillen metal matrix pads
Motul 600 fluid | WHEELS/TIRES:
Blitz 03 wheels, 18x9F and 18x10R
Bridgestone PP S03 tires, 255/35/18F and 285/30/18R | INTERIOR:
Apex’I EL electronic boost gauge
Apex’I EL electronic EGT gauge
Lotek dual A pillar pod
Custom glove box panel
White face gauges
Bel 980 radar detector
Billet aluminum nitrous bottle bracket
Eclipse 55040 headunit
Eclipse 8052 5.25” component set
Eclipse 8963 6.5” point source set
Eclipse 88120 DVC aluminum subwoofers (2)
Memphis ST-1000D 1100 watts x 1 @ 1ohm
Memphis ST-3004 75 watts x 4 @ 4 ohms
Lightning audio 1 farad stiffening capacitor with digital readout
Tsunami twisted pair RCA cables
Tsunami 4 gauge power/ground cables
Tsunami speaker wire
Tsunami battery terminals
Tsunami ANL fuse holder | EXTERIOR:
Stock alpine silver exterior
OEM Euro glass headlights
Painted calipers, G2 system red paint |
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turbo: PT63
pistons: oem
rods: oem
head: oem
cams:
boost: 26psi
injectors: 780cc
pumps: Walbro x2
fmic: GReddy 3-row
clutch: SB
nitrous: 65
rwhp: 648 (dynojet)
circa 762hp at the flywheel
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