| BRETT TODD |
| 1994 TOYOTA SUPRA TURBO |
| 6 SPEED |
| WHITE/BLACK |
| MERIDIAN, ID. USA |
 EMAIL BRETT |
|
| 10 photos |
| 2345 words |
| February 14th '04 |
|
|
|
|
INTRODUCTION:
Brett dynoed again the day after he joined TO4R.com, and with nitrous spraying onto the front of the intercooler to cool it on the dyno, this sleeper made 934rwhp on 33psi boost. This is still with the 2.75" downpipe, stock factory intake, stock unported head and HKS type-s intercooler, most of which are due to be changed in due course. Where will it end? Will Brett hit four figures on boost alone? |
GENERAL:
It was about 4 years ago that I laid my eyes upon my first MKIV. It was sitting in a car lot for sale. I wondered what it was because I’d never seen anything like it driving around before. I turned around to head back to the lot to check it out. It was a Red/Black 1993.5 twin turbo auto with low miles. I took the car for a quick test drive and from that day on I fell in love. Unfortunately I was not in a position to get the car at the time so I moved on, but in the back of my head I always told myself that one day I would own one of these magnificent machines.
Finally that time came in December of 2002, I was able to start seriously looking, but it wasn’t until February that I found what was to be my next vehicle. I wanted something that I could modify while still keeping it a reliable daily driver since I put about 13,000 miles a year on my car. My Stealth was always giving me problems, and was down a lot of the time for various things. So it happened that the Supra that I decided to go with was a 1994 Toyota Supra Twin Turbo with the 6 speed manual transmition. It was by far, the fastest thing I have ever driven. I fell in love with it. I knew my old car, which was a Twin Turbo Dodge Stealth would have to go.
It was a cold February morning and I was waiting outside for the person to drive up in what I had hoped to be my future car. It had to have been at least thirty degrees outside and I would have frozen to death if my adrenaline wasn’t flowing so fast. After twenty minutes or so of waiting I hear a deep sound coming from a car that seemed to be getting closer to me every second. I finally saw it. It was beautiful! This white car came rolling over the hill and parked right next to me. I had butterflies in my stomach at this point, and was excited beyond control.
I opened the door to get in the car. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I had never ridden in anything that was as fast as this car. It was exhilarating. The car produced somewhere in the mid/high 400whp. That number was a good 150whp more than it came with stock. The first time the guy hammered it I flew back into my seat. I was not expecting it to kick me back as much as it did, it was scary! I told him to warn me the next time he was about to do that so I could prepare myself for the burst of speed!
After twenty minutes or so of him driving, he decided that it should be my turn. We pulled over in a gas station to switch seats. I remember shaking badly as I crawled into the drivers position. Finally after two years of waiting my dream had finally come true. It was well worth the wait, and I am glad that I waited for what I wanted, instead of settling for something less.
I quickly took all the modifications off of the Stealth and sold them so I could have money to purchase modifications for the Supra. From here on out, I think it is safe to say, that I was addicted to modifying my new car, and it has only gotten worse as time went on!
This was my first experience with a RWD car, and coming from an AWD I knew it was going to be a lot different. It took me a while to become accustomed to driving it on the street. I knew that with all the extra power I had on tap, that one wrong move could send me into a guard rail or off the side of the road. Just like anything anyone does, it just took some getting used to. With the Stealth I was able to get on in while taking corners, but with the Supra doing that was not a safe option.
Driving a car with this power on the street can be a challenge. At only 18-19lbs of boost I often don’t get traction until 3rd gear. When I’m not getting into boost it drives just like any other car would and has proven to be very reliable. My car has never been down for a repair that wasn’t planned. Besides dropping in a fresh shortblock due to the original one having low compression, the only thing I HAD to purchase was a new set of coil packs. Considering I made almost 60 passes down the track last year with numerous pulls on the street and dyno making 450whp on pump gas (with the old setup) that proves that the Toyota Supra is a perfect platform for making power reliably. |
ENGINE:
When I purchased the car, it already had a FMIC, full exhaust, boost controller, and a small single turbo kit installed, including a TS04 turbo. This setup made 451whp on pump gas at about 17lbs of boost. This was more than enough power for me while I was getting used to the car. Driving the car with this power was not as difficult as I expected. Traction was not usually a problem from 2nd gear on up. Spool was in the lower 4000RPM range and the power came on nicely. I was able to have power pretty much when I needed it. As time went on I started to want more out of the car. I left it alone for 6 months and drove it with NO problems at all. During august, I started to gather the parts I would need to turn my car into a powerful machine.
The first thing that had to go was the turbo. It was replaced with a PTE 76mm GTS that I purchased from Boostlogic. After reading/hearing and even seeing visual proof that Supras could make massive amounts of power on the stock bottom end I decided to keep things simple and use a factory shortblock. I had made an entire list of parts that I wanted for my setup so when time came, I knew what I would go with. I knew that with such a large turbo, I would have to raise my redline to get the most out of it. For this I opted to go with Crower Valve Springs, and Crower Titanium Valve Spring Retainers in hopes of avoiding valve float when revving to my 8500RPM target. I also had the stock oil pump modified for high flow to avoid blowing my front crank seal at the higher revs. |
FUEL:
I knew I was going to need a lot of fuel to carry out the plans I had for the car. At first I was going to go with my own custom kit w/850cc injectors but shortly changed my mind. I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel for my current goals, with room to increase power down the line if I so needed. I decided to go with the 1000cc Titan Motorsports fuel system. Included with this kit came #6 sized fuel lines, six 1000cc fuel injectors, a 17.3mm fuel rail along , a second OEM pump, and all the other accessories needed to install a complete fuel system. Each stock fuel pump is able to support enough fuel for about 500whp, so I knew with this setup I would be able to flow as much fuel as I needed. |
ELECTRONICS:
I knew with all the aftermarket parts that my car would soon house, that I would need something to run it all. The stock ECU was the first to go. After doing some research I quickly decided to go with the AEM over the other “alphabet soup” that’s out on the market. Even though it was fairly new, I was sure it would get the job done. I decided to go with the Horsepowerfreaks.com AEM EMS/FJO combo kit to control/monitor my car. When the AEM first came out, I remember reading posts on the forums by people who regret purchasing it which made me a little skeptical, but I am glad that’s what I decided to go with.
Since I knew nothing about how to tune an EMS, and I didn’t want to “attempt” to do it myself so I sought out professional help. For this I turned to Sean McElderry, owner of Torquefreaks.com and may I say EXCELENT tuner. My car drives just like a stock supra until I step on the gas. He tuned it to idle perfectly despite the HKS 272 cams I have in it. I can turn 20+ MPG while cruising along on the freeway. |
BRAKES/CHASSIS:
The car maintains its original suspension, but I intend to change that in the future.
I also have a completely stock brake system, with new factory rotors and pads installed on the car recently. I am amazed how capable the stock braking system is on these cars for street driving. I do not know yet if I will be upgrading the brake system in the future. I have other things I would like to change before that.
As you can see I am still using the OEM 17x8.5/17x9 rims. I wanted to maintain the sleeper appearance as I have done with all my cars, so I decided to stay completely stock all the way around. However, I may succumb to the temptation of larger wheels sometime in the future if I see the right ones.
I have also started to drag race and soon realized that I would need a different set of rims/tires if I wanted to run decent times. After my first trip to the track I swore to myself I would never go back until I had something to enable me to find more traction. So I bought a set of Cobra R Replica rims with ET Streets mounted on them. The tires are 16x26x11.5 and hook up well so far!! |
INTERIOR:
Since I like my cars to look simple and clean, the interior has been kept pretty simple as well. I have black 98 leather seats for the driver and passenger as well as a dual 60mm pillar pod that houses my HKS EGT, and Fuel Pressure gauges. The boost gauge is mounted in the stock clock location in the dash, with the faces of the HKS gauges being white. I decided to mount my FJO on top of the steering column so I could keep a close eye on it during pulls. I also have the turbo timer mounted in the dash on the left hand side of the steering wheel. |
EXTERIOR:
The cars exterior is completely stock except for the 98 headlights, 98 tail lights and 98 turn signals. I am not sure if I will do anything more with the exterior except a new paint job down the line. I think the lines of the supra are timeless and I don’t believe anything needs to be done to change them. Everything seems to flow and fit together perfectly! |
PERFORMANCE:
The first time the car hit the dyno with the new setup on pump gas at 18/19lbs it made 618whp. This was on 91 Octane gas. The guys at the shop were amazed at the power it put down on pump gas, especially considering the size of the downpipe that is on the car. After all the tuning was done on pump gas the tank was filled with 116 octane race gas and the boost was cranked to 30lbs. This setting yielded 808whp on a Dynojet dyno which again is extremely impressive to me considering that my downpipe is only 2.75 inches and an intercooler rated at 550whp. This was all done on a stock shortblock.
I never knew that a car could be this fast while still being practical. It has been well worth the wait. Every time I hop in the car I get the biggest smile on my face. |
THANKS:
I would like to say thanks to Sean at Torquefreaks, he has been great to work with and is a very polite and intelligent person. He is an excellent tuner, and I would recommend him to anyone. Also thanks for putting up with the 100’s of emails and always responding as fast as you did.
Also, John, the main mechanic at Torquefreaks. Everything was installed very clean and professionally. I am very impressed with the way you made everything turn out.
Chris and Horsepowerfreaks for many of the parts used on my car, and all the suggestions you made to me regards to building up my car.
I was very impressed by everyone I encountered at both Horsepowerfreaks and Torquefreaks.
Kean at boostlogic for helping me decides on the turbo that would suit my power goals.
I would also like to thank my family and friends for putting up with my addiction to modifying my car. Thanks for being their and supporting me! |
EXTRA:
I know there is a ton more power left with the current setup. I think it’s reasonable to say that switching to a full 4 inch downpipe and exhaust is mandatory for a setup like this to attain its full potential. Im expecting a gain of at least 50whp when I have a full 4 inch system installed. |
PARTS LIST:
|
ENGINE:
PTE 76mm GTS
RPS Manifold (not big torque)
Turbonetics deltagate wategate
HKS Racing Type II BOV
HKS Type-S FMIC
S&B 4” Intake w/chrome pipe
HKS 272 Cams
ARP Head Studs
Crower Valve Springs
Crower Titanium Valve Spring Retainers
Greddy Power EVO catback w/ 2.75 inch downpipe
EGR Block off Plates
Polished Intake Manifold |
FUEL:
1000cc Fuel Injectors
Titian 17.3mm Fuel Rail
Dual Intank OEM Fuel Pumps
Aeromotive FPR
#6 Fuel Lines |
ELECTRONICS:
AEM EMS
FJO Wideband 02
HKS DLI
HKS Type 0 Turbo Timer |
DRIVETRAIN:
HPF clutch
OEM flywheel |
WHEELS/TIRES:
Street Driving- OEM rims with Kuhmo Supra tires
Drag Racing- MT ET Streets 16x26x11.5 |
INTERIOR:
HKS 60mm 2.5 Bar Boost Gauge
HKS 60mm EGT Gauge
HKS 60mm Fuel Pressure Gauge
Veilside Shift Knob
98 Driver/Passenger seats |
EXTERIOR:
98 Headlights
98 Taillights
98 Turn Signals |
