11/05/09

After the 1st round of Time Attack at Oulton Park I've decided to install a smaller rear housing on the GT42 turbo I'm currently using. Oulton being a bit more technical than some of the other circuits showed up some lag on a couple of the corners. I've changed it from a 1.15 to 1.01 AR so hopefully that'll make it a bit more responsive for Knockhill this weekend. If not I might drop down to a GT4094, not sure yet. Also, I've off to Nitron Racing Shocks tomorrow to get the car corner weighted, it'll also give me the new weight of the car after the weight savings I've been performing on it, I'm hoping to have knocked off 50kg with the doors and boodlid. Unfortunately I've added some weight with the weld in cage and triple box exhaust, soon see tomorrow.

28/04/09

Well a bit of an update on the car, managed to get it all finished off Thursday afternoon, just in time for Time Attack. The car itself worked a treat for the full 2 days with no issues.  The AP Racing brakes are the best I've ever experienced, enormous stopping power time and time again.

The handling is a huge improvement on last year, I now have the confidence to push it in the faster corners with a really nice neutral balance to it. I still want to rose joint the suspension arms at some point though, (its never finished!) Definately noticed a difference in grip levels now I have the APR rear spoiler fitted. I didn't really get to play around with Nitron dampers as I was to busy learning the track.

The Racepak IQ3 dash is a marvel, for anyone doing plenty of track days it is a must, so easy to read everything along with lap timing, its perfect in every way. The fuel swirl pot worked a treat to, meant I would run very low on fuel with no fuel starvation problems.

You can see a report from the Time Attack weekend here, I think we did quite well!  Check it out here

21/04/09

Took the car for its first drive tonight, my god, I've forgotten how fast it is! Its so weird driving it without the wastegate scream, I can just hear a distant whine from the turbo. Gearbox/flywheel noises dominate now which aren't the best noises! Time to get that sequential box in there me thinks.

20/04/09

Finally got my AP's on. Had a nightmare with the supplier making them correctly, I wont go into it all as it'll piss me off again! But anyway, they are all on and look the business.  The kit consists of AP Pro 5000+ 6 pot race calipers with 362mm floating discs on the front and 4 pot 335mm on the rear, Porterfield R4 race pads front and rear along with Goodridge braided lines. I'll be adding these to my website very soon, if you want to buy the ultimate brake kit for the Supra then this is it. The kit will also be available with the road spec calipers to if so required.

OK, managed to get the fuel system in yesterday/today, thanks to Dazza as he did most of it! Consists of swirl pot and 2 extra pumps to feed the engine along with the 2 pumps I had in my fuel tank already. Nice pumps these Walbro externals, very quiet unlike Bosch 044's! Shouldn't have any problems with fuel starvation now.

09/04/09

And I test fitted the fibreglass doors, fitted perfect, I'll be adding these to my website ASAP. There so light compared to stock!

 09/04/09

Finished off relocating battery & alluminium washer tank from the boot to the back seat area. Not a 5 minute job as the wiring all had to be redone, also wired in another relay for the extra fuel pumps I'll be running when the swirl pot goes in tomorrow(hopefully)

And got my APR GTC300 carbon rear wing all mounted. I've used Max Racing boot mounts as I prefer the look of them, the rest is APR. I've also used shorter pedestals than what comes with the Supra kit to lower the spoiler down a bit. Lets hope it works.

08/04/09

Ok, the all in one catch tank & power steering tank is now in place. The rear part of it is the breather tank, all baffled and gated inside and the front part is the power steering tank, again gated & baffled inside. Catch tank has 3 -12 breathers going into it and breathes through the K&N filter on the side of it.

 02/04/09

OK, bit of an update, been working flat out trying to get my dash finished off, finally got the carbon all cut out and the Racepak, AFR gauge, boost controoler, Racelogic all wired up and fitted into the car. I'm pretty happy with the way its turned out for my first attempt at a carbon dash.

Also finished off remounting the boost controller solenoid. 

30/03/09

Got my Nitron dampers fitted on Friday. I forgot take pics of the dampers on the car, I'll do that next time I have the wheels off.

When I had the dampers made I wanted to have the canisters mounted under the bonnet and in the boot area, I know from our RX7 and Steve/Ben's cars that having the canisters under the car makes it a right pain to adjust everything. Front was easy enough to do as the canisters can be fed through but the rears required cutting a hole in the boot floor. I had the Nitrons made with a suitable rubber grommet attached to the hose to seal the hole up again once fitted, you can see that in the pics next to the canisters. I'm very happy with the final result, lets hope they work well now!

Passenger side front mounted canister, nice and easy to adjust if needed

Drivers side front mounted, also removed abs/traction control relay box which frees up some room, and I've relocated the boost controller solenoid(not pictured)

Boot mounted canisters. Still got to remount battery and windscreen washer tank to the back seat area, its on the big list of things to do!

Next job which I haven't been looking forward to is making the dash for the Racepak IQ3. I'll be keeping the stock dash pieces in place for the moment covered in sheet carbon, takes bloody ages to cut it all out and make it look nice! I've done these 2 bits so far, next is the centre part where the Racepak will attach to, I'll hopefully get that finished today with any luck.

My new catch tank/power steering tank arrived yesterday, looks the business this does, its going to mount where the abs unit used to be, 2 units built into 1. I'll post some pics up when its fitted

11/03/09

Bit of news, my Nitron 3 way dampers turned up Monday, these are proper quality, best I've ever seen, lets hope they work as well as they look! They'll also be available in 1 way & 2 way as well. I'll get them on my website ASAP.

I've had the cannisters made with enough piping so they dont have to be mounted under the car. The rears are going in the boot and the fronts are going in the engine bay, makes life easier adjusting them.

 Fibreglass doors arrived the other day, check these out, they weigh 6kg each, I weighed a stock door without the glass and window mechanism in them and they weighed 20kg. Should be on for a good 35kg weight saving with perspex glass, I'm going to keep the electric windows though as it doesn't weigh that much. I'll be selling these for about £800 + VAT, just got to test fit them to make sure there a good fit.

Also picture of the Racepak IQ3 in its box, nice bit of kit this

24/02/09

A couple of updates, wont be anymore for a couple of weeks as the car is having the roll cage made and then off to have the exhaust made a tad quieter. Anyway, I removed the ABS unit from under the engine bay, as you can see it leaves a nice big space for other bits and bobs. I'm going to have my catch tank and power steering tank in this area now, along with the HKS DLi and Aeromotive FPR. The resistor pack was mounted here before, I'll be rewiring that into the inner wing so its hidden out of the way. Also fitted a new master cylinder just as a matter of course. You'll see braided lines going to the master cylinder, one connects up with the Tilton bias valve on the rear brakes and the other end into a t-piece for the front brakes.

19/02/09

Ok, been doing more interior stripping the last few days:

The mission was to remove the dash so its loose as its going off to have the weld in cage tomorrow. Dash removed

What a mess of wires, its had 2 alarms and a tracker over the years so there's crap everywhere, will have to sort this when I get it back in a couple of weeks

Pic of the back of the dash with the loom attached to it

The loom

I removed the loom from the back of the dash and attached it to the car instead, makes it easier to get the dash in and out in the future.

Tilton bias valve fitted in place on the transmission tunnel.

11/02/09

Fuel swirl pot arrived today, I've made it to fit above the diff under the floor, dont have to worry about boxing it all up in the boot area then to comply with MSA rules/regs. Hopefully my measurements were correct! Going to be running 2 Walbro's in tank which are already there and then another 2 Walbro external pumps under the floor next to the swirl pot, I'll post more pics up when we get cracking fitting it.

 08/02/09

And the interior is now stripped ready, getting it ready for the weld in cage