downimpact's Supra story

downimpact · August 4, 2015

After 9 years thought I'd start a project/history thread, share my experiences and the never ending quest to finish the car...

When I bought the car I always knew I wanted to build it into something capable and having a twin brother (non identical) there was and is always competition.

I knew it had to be a TT6 spd, back in 2006 there were plenty of options. I went to a number of trade centres up north and despite being assured they were in good condition, was hugely disappointed with their version of 'good' condition. Having travelled 200 miles I looked at one my brother had scouted for me before, having seen the tat before this slightly blinded me and when I saw this clean example I put a deposit down without having test driven the car. I picked it up the next week as below with massive smiles, think I paid £8,200 for it (was now in some debt to, no quick journey here). Car was completely stock except daft wing and soon to be junked cd changer in boot.

With my Brother's dc2 (great car)

Shortly after this clutch was slipping replaced by mkiv suprastore/Interpro and full service (this is why always test drive a car yourself).

Then in Sept/Oct we went to the ring for my first track day experience.... (this route is not recommended), did about 15-20 laps I think. Was raining most of the time and had a few spins as at the time rwd was new to me and I had no idea how to drive on track. I was also dog slow and Ian C (fairly sure) said hello in the paddock/field after passing me in 3 series bmw as a passenger who couldn't believe it was a TT, shame intact I persevered and continued to be slow. H7ERO was also there that weekend it transpired later in another white supra and going somewhat quicker, George was also there staying at Sliders as well in the Kermit Supra.

Ring pics:

Had a go on the autobahns but only did circa 120 as the wing was putting such down force on the back the steering was going light which felt pretty scary.

After this I fitted gold likiwid art badges, which were a bit marmite. Also fitted CW fast road pads which certainly felt better at high speed especially over 100.

Attended some first jap welsh car meets - met Chenco9, vvteye, CardiffSupra

Chenco9 (Mike's blue UK) not sure who's was the silver supra?

Vvteye's (John's) low mileage facelift

Despite some rumours on facebook I setup the JapWales meets at Toby Carvery to try and emulate the JapNorth meets Manchester way, I know as I was the only one there asking permission from the manager pic from the first meet:

Early 2007 I got rid of those awful badges and had the rear hatch rust fixed, spoiler swapped to something more sensible and the rear de-badged by a body shop in Newport (guy also burnt my carpet when welding plate - still looking for replacement)

Went to another Welsh meet with some west wales club, met SupraSonic (John).

My Brother bought an RX7 (I presume to keep up)

The day after I met my wife to be, I took these photo's with the 2008 club calendar in mind.

Mr September '08 (thanks for the votes)

Went to first Suprapod 2007 with Mike (chenco9) and John (vvteye) convoying sensibly from Wales. Did circa 50 runs, I like to get value for money, just over 14 secs completely stock on old tyres from Japan, I had also taken the spare and tools out by this time to save weight circa 17kgs from memory.

I have more suprapod 07 pics and welsh meet pics if anyone interested can send link.

Edited August 7, 2015 by downimpact (see edit history)

downimpact · August 4, 2015

Late in 2007 I went back to the ring but only did a few laps as was raining heavily the whole time, on the way home on the autobahns with new spoiler got to 140 when the windscreen wipers decided it was to fast and no longer cleared the rain from the screen! I had to slow down after that.

In 2008 the car went in for a bodykit and respray at Knight Racer this is definitely not the place for a recommendation or recanting a tale, what I will say is the blending I had done in 2008 has still not cracked after numerous track days. I focused on the aesthetics to some extent first as the insurance at £700 odd a year still felt ruinous. Another lesson learnt in hindsight don't blend in skirts especially if they veilside. Mods were: Do Luck front, Trial Rear, Veilside Skirts, remove ariel, remove wiper.

I bought some OEM 17's from H7ERO while car being re-sprayed and had them re-furbed by a specialist in Bridgend RIM, in hindsight this was a complete waste of money cost me total £6/700, which could have gone to some nice after market alloys.

While my car was being resprayed in Rover trophy blue my Brother decided to buy this beauty, in the same colour, Swine!

After an extended period of time (waiting for do-luck bumper from Japan) I got the Supra back:

It went back and on second attempt was like this:

With refurbed wheels

Sketchy on the dates but in 2008 we had the first club track day at Llandow (good old days), my third track day and I was still slow but learning. Chris Wilson was there in his Zeus, Paul Whiffin, Bignum and numerous other club members, was a great day but sadly lacking photos as I lost my hard drive a couple of years ago. This video from Bignum sums up the day and great recovery by knightrider:

Brother's RX7

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/1913538_370928640312_7774536_n.jpg?oh=e8a5adf9c6dba189deab7a06d11898b2&oe=563D3C0F

More sketchy dates but last club day at Llandow in June 2009, still stock but running cw fast road pads and eagle F1's, met DrJekyll (Craig) for first time.

Brother was in a 318is putting some bpu supra's to shame until:

(still a hero in a stock 318is)

After this day car went to CW for first time, for service primarily and fitting do-luck braided brake lines, this did appear to make the pedal stiffer initially, but also could be cause fluid was changed.

In July '09 we had the excellent Ross-on-Wye meet that Nevins organised, thread with pics here

Welsh contingent in '09, left to right > Dyer864, Nevins, J_Supra 07(Jason), me, Morgan (Lisa), Vvtyee (John)

Edited August 7, 2015 by downimpact (see edit history)

downimpact · August 4, 2015

Suprapod 2009 with vvteye, still on crappy rubber worn Eagle F1's, again did over 50 runs. Best time was 13.9438 @ 103.14. Thread and pics here

After this I fitted CW race pads for the jap spec brakes, as was eating the fast road pads at Llandow.

I then seem to have a gap in my history Supra wise, even declaring the car SORN over winter. Did some drifting in my shed 320 with welded diff and Oulton park in my Skyline in January 10

In April 10, Chenco9 and I did Llandow, I had picked up pace in the Supra by now and the CW race pads seemed to perform brilliantly. Last time on Eagle F1's as they were getting destroyed at Llandow getting scrubbed on the edges, it's quite an abrasive track.

Then onto the ill fated Suprapod 10, went with DrJekyll and Chenco9, having put brand new Michelin pilot sports on the back was optimistic of putting in a better time. However the whole day the track was wet so we never got any runs Craig did have a 3 lane motorway drift/aquaplane on route to keep things interesting.

Car went to CW for his SMIC and new OEM rad, also fitted a TRD rad cap. I was getting ready to go BPU and doing the precautionary work first.

Then in 2011 things started getting more serious, starting off with Llandow day in Feb with DrJekyll, Chenco9 and Brother (Accord Type-R). Moving to the Michelin pilot sports these were excellent for a road tyre and stood up to the track abuse well, standard jap brakes were also feeling a bit on/off.

[video=youtube;Tj-VgBmBwbg]

DrJekyll's Supra from TSS a month later (waiting for you to build another)

One issue I became aware of was having a do-luck front and trial rear gives no access to towing eyes, which could be an issue if beached in gravel. With no easy solution and not wanting to cut the bumpers, I opted for a strut brace so in an emergency I could be pulled by this. I bought a second hand TRD strut Brace which had been sprayed metallic blue and never fitted since, result! Also picked up a cusco master cylinder brace hoping this might help my brake feel.

In March I did a Rolling Road day at GotBoost? in Bridgend as a bench mark on the stock engine in 4th with a at the wheels figure. Completely in hindsight but I wonder if the boost shouldn't be nearer 0.8?

Also swapped the Jap spec brakes for second hand UK spec brakes in the hope this would solve the on/off feeling of the jap brakes when hot on track. I reasoned that UK brakes were a worthwhile upgrade and you could always sell them on for the same price if going to upgrade to bigger brakes later. Around this time J_Supra made me a custom towing eye for the front which solved all the potential towing eye issues.

Japfest '11, convoy from Wales - J_Supra_07, DrJekyll, Welsh Steath (Lewis), K913, had good fun and played with a corvette on route, we all waited in the layby for the mega Lui convoy, tagged on and promptly got stuck in traffic for an hour...last time we did that.

J_Supra_07 Supra, na aerotop to TT 6spd conversion

After this I went back to Llandow as Optim8 had booked on, thought it would be a good opportunity to try the new UK brakes and the strut brace. Adding the strut brace I couldn't really feel the benefit but on original bushes and suspension any benefit could well be lost in the wallow. (Yes I was fancying my chances vs the GTR in the video)

Then in August it was time to go BPU, I went with CW decats, rr, Tanabe medallion exhaust (to keep DB down for track days, it's about the same noise level as stock with no cats, but a little more bass note), HKS FCD, Walbro fuel pump, Defi gauges for oil temp and Boost and Innovate AFR gauge.

When I went to pick up we were a bit concerned about the AFR's 12.2 at cross over, I booked back into GotBoost? to put on a dyno and they confirmed it was running lean and not safe to do power runs. Much research ensued which led me to this: why the Greddy BCC well worth a read and would make me avoid the HKS FCD in future.

Sadly Greddy was long discontinued but I did find a company doing a replacement doing a 'boost signal limiter' which was designed to mimic the Greddy from the US. Having made this one switch the AFR's were down to a healthy 11.5 on cross over and I took the car to be re-dynoed at GotBoost? to check all was now ok with fuelling. The car now running 300bhp at the wheels, 4th gear run. All this took many months of cursing and by then was into April 2012.

It was also at this point I found the problem with the UK caliper pins, when went to change the rear pads and couldn't get the pins out. They had to be cut and punched out due to corrosion they were impossible to get out normally. I then switched to the CW stainless steel pins as would hate to be stuck track side with no tools to remove them.

Around this time Lewysdanny (Tim) came back to the Supra fold Which led to our epic convoy (and probably still the best) to Japfest '12, met up with Listy among others at Magor, had much fun on the way down with a Aston and straight into the show this time. Mine and Lewysdanny's Silver Supra - check out those rims!

Edited August 7, 2015 by downimpact (see edit history)

downimpact · August 4, 2015

June '12, I swapped over the HCB005 (?) Halfords battery 17 or 18 kg for a braille race battery weighing in at 3kgs and a nice weight saving off the front of the car.

I also swapped the tyres over for Fedral 595 RSR's, I choose these as I'd read the Supra is a bit heavy for 888's. I then headed to Blyton with my Brother in a VX220TT to try all this new power and grip.

Was a great day, the tyres added lots more confidence and the BPU power just felt like waiting until the straights and being able to reel cars in. Oil temps on track peaked at over 130 degrees, so started short shifting to help manage the temps. Brakes still had this on/off quality to them when hot, so I wanted to try and get this addressed as well.

In July/Aug the car went to CW, to have all the brakes refurbed with new stainless steel pistons, master cylinder seals changed and fit an oil cooler.

Once I had the car back it was off to Rockingham Speedway to give it another go. I had bought a go pro now as well for better videos in HD Long video skip to 4 mins onwards for best bits with track action.

Oil temps were now much better peaking at circa 105 degrees on track. I felt the car was slow in the infield sections compared to the caterhams, so swapped the rear hatch for a Seibon CF version with Lexan Perspex to help save weight.

March 2013 went to Combe, was foggy so lost half the morning and had constant rain. The grip was non existent every time I touched the throttle the semi slicks would break traction, it's quite an uneven surface so kept unsettling the car as well. I swapped over to really old road tyres which despite having seen better days did improve the grip level but even then was a struggle to get power down, didn't hit full boost all day and had enough fuel left in the first tank to get home! Sadly lost hard drive so have no videos, this is recurring theme and a reason not to procrastinate and upload to youtube sooner for safe keeping.

After this I removed the rear seats, I put foam and a layer of audio carpet down to stop some of exhaust/road noise, in combination I think I've stripped somewhere between 60-80kgs of weight out, need to get it on a weigh bridge though.

In May went to Pembrey which was a good day with some hail thrown into the mix, good track just wish they had more days per year. Had this near incident which is closest I've been to contact with another car.

After it was the annual pilgrimage to Japfest, went with Chenco9 and Lewysdanny met up with Listy and other from south west at Severn View services, but there seemed to be a miscommunication about how to convoy so after getting held up leaving the services we were all scattered. The drifting in 2013 I thought was really impressive entering quarry corner at must be triple digit speeds.

Chenco9's UK Supra 6spd

Lewysdanny's - this is how clean the car looks 24/7

In June I went back to Llandow with chenco9 and Lewysdanny to try out the BPU power at a familiar track and also easy for other locals to come to. Massive thanks at this point to Mike and Tim for helping out my Brother when his VX220's rear bolts at the top of the hub decided to sheer sending the rear wheel into the wheel arch, we were still there sometime after closing fixing it to be driveable home. Known fault it transpires (not built like a Toyota )

Video to come when edited

After this it was finally time to do something about the 19yr old suspension and bushes, up to this point I'd still be on the original oem equipment and certainly in my experience this says a lot for the handling of the stock Supra. The car went to CW for his mild track set up: new bilsteins, poly bushes, trd arb's and focused alignment.

(needs a clean)

In 2014 March-ish went to Bedford to try out the new settings, unfortunately things didn't go according to plan with 'warping' the discs down the main straight Not sure the exact cause but some ducting would seem a sensible precaution. What I will say and feel slightly guilty about is I did have 3 to 4 cars spin out right in front of me who seemed to be increasingly over optimistic with their cornering when the old Toyota came up behind them. Also the organiser no longer allowed suction mounted video camera's, despite checking similar camera for the Blyton day above one organiser I'll try and avoid now.

Fitted a second hand set of UK discs and off to Japfest '14 with Lewysdanny and Chenco9, just went straight this time and arrived first on stand Pic is why I'm concerned where the stand is and we ain't by the pylon and somewhere flat.

June-ish '14 went to Castle Combe with Brother, managed to get on a half day in the afternoon. Sadly after half a lap it became apparent the discs were slightly warped they were second hand of unknown origin, lesson learnt there. Still despite using brakes as a last resort the car was blisteringly quick, through the chicanes I could exit and promptly overtake Caterhams which was satisfying. Power steering fluid was escaping through the top presumably from boiling. Again no suction cup video's

After this the car went into the garage and largely forgotten about until 2015, where early on a power steering cooler was fitted and it is now with DrJekyll for lots of fixing and new pads, discs, tyres, TTE's to go on and some brake ducting.

Edited August 9, 2015 by downimpact (see edit history)

downimpact · August 4, 2015

more updates

downimpact · August 4, 2015

more to come

Hammer · August 4, 2015

Good thread, keep it going, well done for using the car even after the re-spray.

lewysdanny · August 4, 2015

Great thread , with more to come this is gonna be epic . Well done Jon, keep this going .

downimpact · August 4, 2015

The hardest part is trying to get things in chronological order, this why I thought it maybe a good idea to document.

downimpact · August 9, 2015

I've now updated this to present day. May add details I forgot latterly.

downimpact · July 17, 2019

wow this was a while ago, I should probably put updates on. Basically, then I had kids and fun times went out the window

Last track day was last Oct 18 at Combe, car is off road and needs a map before back on track. I need to find photos to, I still have both RZ and SZ (250k miles)

Mallory Park '15