Homer

The car performed brilliantly on the track day. No issues at all during the day aside from a slightly loose water hose. The w58 is still going too I did around 35 laps of Bedford GT circuit, which for those that aren’t familiar with it is a long and high speed track. It’s around 4.5 miles per lap. The brakes were incredible, I never found the limit on them. No fade and no loss of pedal even when abusing them. I put a lot of that down to the race fluid and pads. Supratronix non oem front brake calipers held up just as well as stock. Very impressed for such a low price! I did find some issues: - The ARB’s need to be uprated. - The w58 is not well suited to the TT power delivery, I was constantly dropping off the 2nd turbo in lower speed corners. I’m impressed it didn’t lose any gears though! Kev also came along for some passenger rides, which he seemed to enjoy

Track day at Bedford GT circuit on Monday so I’m getting the car prepared. 1) First job was to get the car on a 4 poster lift and get all the suspension and subframe bolts torqued down. I used a local garage for this for a very reasonable cost. The guy that runs it used to prep rally cars and did a very thorough job. I also had the diff oil changed. 75/145 LSD oil since it’s a plated diff, no additional additive. The old oil came out like new and no filings in the sump plug, not bad since it’s been in there for 15 years 2) The brake pads from daily ones to Porterfield R4 race ones. They need bedding in so I’ll do that either late at night or early morning. 3) The oem drivers seat had an issue where it shifted forward slightly under hard braking. I’ve replaced this with a Recaro one and Recaro seat frame from a forum member. It was inexpensive and is extremely comfortable! I don’t know how I’ve put up with stock seats for so many years. Game changer! 4) The exhaust is also changed over to an oem one. It now has a UK spec 1st and 2nd cat and a genuine UK spec rear section. It’s quiet as hell and I hate it. Good for the strict noise limits at Bedford though. Once again, huge thanks to @evinX for helping getting this thing fitted. It’s a lot longer process than first appears. Only down side is I can now hear there is an exhaust gasket leak on either the manifold or between the manifold and turbo. That would explain the poor idle and turbo whistle. No chance to fix this before the track day so I’ll take my chances. Either way it looks like the exhaust side is coming off…. I’m not entirely sure if it’s going to go back on. All the UK stock stuff. I was going to decat as I have the pipes, but no point while it’s stock boost: Sounds crap: Recaro driver seat, very comfy! I think this is the larger person version so no lower side bolsters. Massive improvement over stock and for not much money: Race pads. These are nearly £500 new, luckily a member was selling a brand new set for a fraction of that.

It wasn’t my idea, honest! Managed to fix it in the end by manually bleeding the abs pump using a child’s medicine syringe. If it works it’s not a bodge!

Thanks guys, that was my concern. It doesn’t have the TC Ecu plugged in because it’s not possible. It’s got a facelift abs unit with a uk engine. I have only one of the two plugs for the TC.

I’ve ran into an issue bleeding the brakes of all things. Calipers have been off and back on in all 4 corners, new pads, new discs. I’m changing fluid over to motul RBF700. I’ve got round to bleeding but can’t seem to get any fluid pushing through to the rears. It’s just pushing air out and the odd spec of fluid. I’ve done this 5 or 6 times on other supras and never had an issue. I can’t find any leaks and the fluid level remains the same in the master cylinder. I’ve tried it with engine both on and off. I’ve had a good search through the forum but everywhere says I’m doing it correctly. Could it be an air lock or something related to the abs? Any ideas? New calipers, pads and OEM discs for the front:

The new/cleaned up brake calipers are finally ready to be installed. I bought new non-oem ones for the front as the ones in the car could do with a refresh. Rears have been cleaned of multiple layers of paint and repainted. This took many more hours than I anticipated! Thankfully no more issues with seizing on these. I’ve painted them using the closest colour that Toyota use for the late model calipers. If you buy new from Toyota the fronts come in this grey colour and the rears are weirdly mat black. I bought some new rear discs (non oem). The old ones were okay wear wise but were drilled and slotted, while that looks good, they’re prone to cracking on track. I attempted to paint them the same as the oem ones come out except using 2K paint. After fitting I realised the front faces need some paint too so I’ll correct that another time. For now I’ve used some Mintex pads for road use, they were inexpensive and I don’t drive the car hard on the road so I’ll see how they perform. For track days I picked up a bargain set of new race pads from a forum member.

I came here to read about how to setup a boost controller and encountered this discussion. Wow. Thanks Mike and others for the detailed responses, they were extremely helpful

No, that’s for a different model car. There are several ways to find the correct part number, the easiest is to go to: www.toyodiy.com , input your car details and find it directly. Alternatively you can state here your car details, exact model from the vin plate(not chassis number), market (UK, EU, US or JDM) and whether it’s facelift or not.

No worries and thanks for checking, much appreciated. I’ll check with Mike as I didn’t have any response on the WhatsApp group. What are the chances! If that’s available I’ll buy it from you. Can you let me know your mobile number or alternatively message me from the WhatsApp group. I’m not entirely sure it will work as I have a jspec shell and uk Ecu. The active spoiler comes down at 60mph as it should so the speed signal appears to be correct at the moment. It’s just the instrument cluster that’s wrong. Who knows… might just be worth a try.

Today @evinXand I refit the front bumper. The aftermarket SMIC interfered with the active spoiler and cause it to catch on the front lip. It obviously wasn’t designed to work with one so the simplest solution was to cut a small section out of the side of the active spoiler under tray. This allowed the active lip to sit in the right place and stopped it catching. We also replaced the rear drop links as one was loose. The car now handles a hell of a lot better! It’s my intention to adapt and extend the stock ducting so that it works the way Toyota intended. The only issue I have is the stock ducting was missing, I’ve been trying to source one for some time but no luck so far! I fully agree with your post though, I’m always surprised so few make any ducting when fitting front mounts. That would be great if you don’t mind. They’re not particularly expensive (I think most are a 5/8ths conversion), but just need one that fixes the pas issue. It’s a shame the TRL ones aren’t available as they were perfect.

You're right, I forgot about the UK limit being different. It's 155mph which given this is stock I'm not going to hit on a track day! I also heard that since I've removed the traction control unit it's delimited anyway. I just need to figure out how to get the instrument cluster converted without messing up the PAS sensitivity

@Mike2JZ I managed to source a UK spec Ecu and swapped it today. You were absolutely correct on the two and half issues. I really appreciate your post as without it I would have spent a lot of money and time trying to solve these issues. The car now has more boost on the first turbo and transitions to the 2nd one smoother and sooner. The 2nd turbo now comes online more reliably and for the first time works in first gear. Its also got a little more power at the top end and doesn’t seem to drop off like before. The only thing that’s not changed is the low idle however that’s probably caused by me not having the 2nd o2 sensor in installed yet.

ECU issues… and resolution. My car has an auto Ecu but has been converted to manual transmission, like many others. In a recent thread @Mike2JZ pointed out some of the issues that can occur when you retain the auto Ecu. I incorrectly assumed it was only timing but it was so much more. Mike explains it in this post: Even before this I have been on the hunt for a UK spec manual ECU, but had little hope one would ever come up for sale. They’re just about one of the hardest things to find for a supra. Luckily, @Tyson mentioned he might have one in storage somewhere. He found this last week so I arranged to purchase it right away, thankfully Mike was very reasonable on the price which I’m incredibly grateful for! The only other one I found wanted the same money as a decent standalone for it. I fitted the manual Ecu today and it worked perfectly, it’s resolved two of the three outstanding issues: 1) First turbo is now producing much more boost. 2nd turbo spools sooner and even works in first gear now. 2) There’s more power at the high end, it continues to pull beyond where my old jspec car would, likely due to the high lift cam. I believe from Mikes posts that these are due to issues caused by the car thinking it’s in neutral. It still feels a little sluggish compared to jspec but that’s something I’ll have to get used to…. or maybe it’s already time for BPU I’ll try and get a go pro video to show how it is at some point. Quick question for any readers… which speed delimiters are used these days? I had a search around but couldn’t find much. I’ve got a track day coming up so don’t want to hit a wall at 112mph!

Quick couple of jobs completed in the last couple of days. Nothing too interesting! 1) Corroded water neck has been replaced with a new one. 2) The two rubber hoses connecting the turbo inlets were suspected to have collapsed, so I replaced them. It turns out there was very little wrong with them, though one did show signs of it starting to collapse. It also have me chance to inspect turbo 1, there was no play in the shaft and the blades looked new. Not bad for a 200k mile engine! There was a the usual grime from the EGR system so I will be removing that as soon as possible. Hose starting to collapse, the other one was okay: New hoses and water neck fitted. I was tempted to take the turbo shield off for painting but didn’t want to open that can of snapped bolts!

Sorry man, I already reused that as it was missing from my car.

I planned to do a lot of jobs today but just one of them ended up taking all afternoon… I found the Intercooler I’d bought off a forum member was leaking so needed to get a replacement. I really want to keep it stock and retain the active lip so I needed to find a replacement side mount… not easy!!! Luckily someone replied to a wanted ad saying they had an Greddy/Trust side mount with the IC piping. It was a fairly good price and turned out to be in fantastic condition. Also turns out these are extremely rare. It’s well made too, much better than some copies I’ve seen. Got that fitted today but decided not to fit the aluminium piping, I’ve kept it all stock (less heat soak and less chance of hoses popping off). A test drive found it’d picked up a bit of power, but most importantly the 2nd turbo is coming in much sooner. Almost where it should be. The car is a bit quicker now but still fairly disappointing compared to my old jspec TT. Greddy IC: New versus old: All done, it sits at a bit of an angle, I guess that had to be done because it’s bigger than the oem one.

Loving this thread and your attention to detail. It’s also very helpful for me to see which screws and clips should be used in some areas. Mine is a hodge podge of different things so I’m never sure which are oem or not!

Thanks Mike, that's really good to know and makes sense. It might explain 2 of the issues I'm seeing with my car as well, so I'm a bit stuffed. I doubt my chances of finding a UK spec manual ECU. I really need to get my car to you for a dyno run...

Anywhere form £1.5k to over £4k for the ECU, plus mapping. The only downside is I'm not sure sequential turbo function is available with standalone.

Ah crap. I’ve heard of this for years but never any technical detail as to why. There was previously suggestion about pulling timing at shift points but they vary, so I’m not sure…

A few little updates: 1) During the cars past life it lost its active spoiler. After a lot of ear bashing Kev finally convinced me to get one fitted, though this was very cheap by todays standards (as I bought it from him )! While I was on holiday Kev was kind enough to fit it to the car. I’ve always maintained the active spoiler makes a noticeable difference to front end downforce at higher speeds, so for a car that’s going to be doing its share of track days it’s a very worthwhile upgrade. 2) The 2nd turbo delay issue is getting worse, I think that along with some issues with the piping the IC is leaking. I need to find a smic solution, but options seem limited. The whifbitz one is expensive and has poor reviews and CW isn’t making them anymore. I’m going to see if something can be made locally but I’m not very hopeful! I don’t want to lose the active aero so have backed myself into a difficult position. 3) Amayama parts arrived at last, this is one of the last big orders to get the main parts of the car finished. Now, lots of fitting fiddly bits! The picture below shows just how far head the active spoiler is in front of the cooling systems (IC, AC rad and water radiator). It gives a good visualisation of just how much air is being forced into the stock ducts. att.S2OjbILd-t4o__gN4oSDZiW6VkSdpzAVTiC1QdrD-VQ.mp4

Kev’s been busy and finished the wings and bonnet. I’m really pleased with the results, there’s some specs in the paint and some small runs in the clear coat but it’s really good considering this is a diy job with no booth. He also did an amazing job with the bonnet scoop, it’s impossible to tell it was painted while on the car. It’s good enough now to leave it for a couple of weeks to let the paint harden before beginning the wet sanding process. That is going to take a lot of hours but the final result should be pretty decent. It’s very dirty as we had a big rain shower yesterday. couple of before and after Kev put together. How it arrived at his place and how it left.

So while I wait for parts @evinX is getting on with the next stage of paint work. The bonnet paint had completely failed due to it being painted very poorly previously. It has serious corrosion and paint flaking off. Kev is going to do what he can with it for now but it looks like I might need to source a replacement. The hood scoop is oem but the bolts connecting it are permanently fused together. There is no way to remove it without breaking it, so for now it’s going to painted in place. Kev is confident he can get it looking good. Front wings also have stone chips previously painted over and there is a lot of underlying rust. Kev is going back to bare metal before epoxying and repainting.

A few more jobs ticked off the list today. It doesn’t look like much but this took over 4 hours! 1) the drivers windscreen washer was not working correctly. Found that the plastic connector above the turbo area had melted almost closed. This was like this since I had the car so possibly from when it had the big single turbo in it. 2) We finally got the stock fuel pump working. As always the cause was simple… the fpc wire was cut somewhere between the Ecu and the fpecu. Dispute checking we never found the break so decided to put a new wire in from the Ecu to the back of the car. @evinX suggested we put the UK spec fuel pump Ecu as they’re far more beefy. Kev already had a bunch of UK connectors so it was just a case of reusing the plug. The 12v mod is also tied up and been placed securely alongside the FP ecu 3) Kev put on a new supra badge at the back. I went for the US version as I always liked the way it looks. Next up is a huge order from Amayama to finish off the last incomplete bits in the car. While I’m waiting for those the car is going back to Kev’s for the next stage of paint (bonnet and front wings).

Understood One job tomorrow is to take off the intake pipework and inspect those two bits of pipework. My jspec car had the same back in 2003. The engine in this one is from a 200k mile UK car that appears to be completely unopened. The service history is 100% Toyota until a few thousand before being taken apart, but very little has been replaced apart from service items. Those services were 13 years ago. It really needs a full refresh, bottom to top.