Suprash

Get your ramps warm cause you're gonna have her back soon... I'll put the red felt on the run-ups Im not used to such treatment lol.......

Get your ramps warm cause you're gonna have her back soon...

Mate you reckon that engine bay is ok in the last pic, you wait until I have spend a couple of hours on that with some metal cutter and lots of elbow grease But yeah it is like watching a child grow, especially when you start looking back on old photo's, its like "ahhhh, look at her there" lol...... That HGV is one of my fav pics too, someone took that when we was on our way to the Nurburgring......

What a journey, by the far the best car I could have ever bought, she has brought so many laughs over the years, the enjoyment that has surrounded her and with meeting people, and the places I have been. Of course this whole story has been shrunk into 3 main stages, but this whole car has been constantly changing over the years.

So thats my Supra inside and out as she stands today. Below are few more pics from along the way, how she looked and places I have been.....

So now Im at the stage where I am now.......she was returned to the body shop to get some paint rectified that hadnt settled properly from the respray, have the UK bonnet vent re-fitted due to loosing it one day while on the motorway, and to get the last stage of the engine bay finished. So I only have 3 spoiler pics from the garage, as I said I only got these today...... So carrying on with the body work, the Ridox front bumper with carbon fibre lip, ignore the orange side repeater covers, they are only temporary. The rear bumper, I wanted something different, 90% of Supra's that have their rear bumper changed will opt for a Trial rear, a very nice and clean bumer I think, but considering my car has a fairly clean look, I wanted something a little in your face, and after looking at the car I decided the rear was probably the best place for the car to carry this off..... And now for the egnine bay shot, they sprayed the fan shroud, the spark cover, fuse box cover and carbon canistor. Of course this engine bay has been constantly worked on in small bits along the way, strut brace, polished P/S resevior etc.....of course the pipe work is no longer polished to the level I like but wait till I get her home......

And then into spray...... I was also waiting on new front and rear bumpers, but due to a back log from Japan they were never going to arrive for months so GVN decided to have the car back at a later date and just get the car finished, and this is how she looked, obviously the front and rear bumper had not been sprayed with car.

Rear arches rolled..... Side skirts being blended into the door and car more....... Rear quarter had been wacked before and had to be re-filled, dont worry the area wasnt as big as it looks here, this is a just a lot of skim to get the shape that the body shop guy was happy with, he has a very sharpe eye this chap...... So now into primar.....

Guys, well firstly I had some spoiler pics sent to me today of the work that has just been finised on my Supra. So thought I would use this oppurtunity to show some of you the car anyway. Actually I had half written this with the spolier pics and some old pics and now just removed it all, as Im on nights, I got time to kill, so Im going to give you a little "this is your life" on my Supra lol.....its amazing what you'll do to kill time on a night shift lol....so sick back with a cup of tea and I'll take you over the last 7 years of ownership So it was back in 2002 when after a split with the ex I had a chunk of money burning a whole in my pocket. I decided instead of putting all that money down on another house I would take two thirds of it and spunk it on a Supra after I spotted it on Ebay of all places one day, again on a night shift trawling the net. So after several communications with the seller and a trip to Leeds I had fallen in love with this car. Now he wouldnt let me test drive it when I first went to view it, he took me out and showed me its power and instantly I was hooked. My previous most expensive car and biggest powered car was a Calibra 2.0ltr 16v, hardly something to shout about, so the day I picked up my Supra and drove her for the first time, she felt an absolute monster, something so huge wrapped around you, I felt tiny in the drivers seat. But this was how she looked when I purchased her all those years ago. So the long drive home was memorable, coming from a normally aspirated 2.0ltr to a 3.0ltr blown engine was well, like Starship enterprise speeds. This car felt awsome. It cruised at such rediculously fast speeds, feeling like a huge solid chunk of metal being propelled at flashy light type speeds. The excelleration felt really good, and then I was getting hit again when the 2nd turbo comes online hurtling you even quicker. I found the sequential setup very strange at first, to feel a car suddenly get a second burst of life half way through its rev range, but boy was I smiling. I soon found the Supra Owners club (mkivsupra.net) where I spent pretty much the next 4 years learning everything about these cars, and deciding and then learning along the way which route I wanted to take to acheive my ultimate car, as after a while once I had settled into her, the power started to feel smaller and smaller. The first couple of years were more my hungry power days, I wanted single turbo's, a big intercooler, and uprated clutches all for that monster power house, but I soon realised quickly the Supra's power levels could be very respectable for not too much money in terms of bang per buck, but one thing I did learn along this route of engine and power tunning is that unless you spend a huge amount of money then a lot of aftermarket parts dont always work as well as Mr Toyota intended. So after having uprated clutches, lightened flywheels and Hybrids that were poorely built I figured that its best not to go down the single turbo route, and especially with the constant battle I saw other owners having with single turbo setups, mainly becuase they thought their budget kit would work, and when it didnt would have to spend twice as much, which turned out not to be very budget, that if I wanted to keep that Toyota reliabilty I need to keep the car as stock as possible. So after my second set of stock turbo's and first set of Hybrid turbo's had blown, I got the Hyrbids rebuilt again and removed a lot of the modifications I had already spent a lot of time and money in and since have binned any intentions ever of going single turbo. The only other option I would consider these days is big twins keeping the sequential setup. The sequential turbo setup is a big part that makes the car what it is in my opinion. So after the first 4/5 years and several U-turns the car was dyno'd at 380 rwhp making it around 448 bhp at the flywheel. Something I felt quite acheived about. The part list basically consists of this now: Hybrid turbos, running with no BC @ 1bar Double de-cat with a full stainless HKS Hyper exhaust. Hybrid frount mount intercooler Blitz Induction kit Walbro fuel pump Apexi S-AFC FSE PWR radiator Apexi boost and exhaust gas tempature gauges to see whats going on. Goodridge steel braided brake lines The car at this level isnt much more then BPU++ I believe but even then I could kill almost everything on the road, especially the motorways, the Supra is such a grand tourer, a top end monster, that even if something was quicker then me below a 100mph, above 100mph I would claw back in a few of those cars that got away and then would steam on past them. Pretty much I soon realised if you hadnt spent a good 40k+ plus on a car then I could kill it. I then decided it was time to turn my attentions to getting the car how I want cosmetically. So next was to get start on my engine bay, this is pretty much how it looked in the beggining, already a little work had started here as the blue hose kit is on already and the hard pipes for the FMIC have been polished, along with the battery cover, but still an early picture. So after having both rocker covers, inlet manifold, throttle body, all turbo pipe work and sequential pipework stripped off and sent away to be chromed and polished, I was finally sent this lot. So after having that lot put on this was how the engine bay looked. So next was the big one, the respray. I debated for quite a while over what colour to go for, even over the years my preference to colour could change weekly and I could never settle with a colour that I would be happy with so decided to keep the OEM gun metal grey. I decided on new front and rear bumpers, a OEM UK bonnet vent, getting the Blitz side skirts blended with the car. So off to GVN in Chiswick the car went. Being stripped down and UK bonnet vent......

Tony if you want another you could use mine.........I would be very interested to learn more about geometry and cars. I knew it is a big area on its own, but not to the extent in which you talk sometimes, its quite amazing. I believe the 13 is quite adjustable underneath in certain area's and would no doubt end up spending more in that area if I ever got involved with you for any period of time lol......let us know if your interested.....

I know, thats what I thought lol, but at least its something to show for the amount of time, money and effort I put into my cars, thats it though...lol well and a broke bank balance lol.....

Ok, carry on from this, as I myself have always used 2nd hand part worns, well nearly all worns shall I say lol, but having a browse around on the web for the cheapest new rubber I can find, and thats still coming out at £35. Like Fundamental I too noticed the difference in control you have with a good tyre, so now Im thinking drop all this begging from local tyres shops for their old tyres they throw out, but see if I can find anyhere that I could buy a seriously cheap budget tyre. On average I use 4 set of rears for one drift practice day, so who knows anything I dont about where to go or look for the seriously cheap unbranded but yet lots of new tread tyre ? Tony, what about you know, do you know anyone ?

Tony WTF !!!! lol.........erm, dunno, this is why I come to you.............I dont know this stuff lol

Back to the point of grooved tyres Vs slick or bald tyres.......depsite it seeming backwards, you want tyres with more grip then slick. This is what I have been taught and this is also something I found out on my last drift day. Once a tyre has shed its tread pattern and you now have yourself a semi/slick tyre, you will have less control of the drift as the rear of the car has nothing left to grip with. So I can see the logic in someone saying to drift with those rally tyres, they are probably a harder compound and the tread pattern would probably last longer then a normal tyre. But like I used to think you dont want worn, bald, or slick tyres to drift on. When I was I just kept spinning all the time, so now as soon as a tyre even starts to delaminate Im into the pits and a new set of rubber goes on.

Yes mate it was built by them, if that is Dan Joyces crew ? based down in Cornwall ? Havent had chance to get her along to a drift day yet but when I do she will be driven, she is my daily drive at the moment until I pick the Supra up this weekend, then I plan on keeping her off the road for a bit to have some bits and pieces done and a good checking over. So yes you will see me with both cars very shortly.....do I get a discount for x2 cars, a bit like buy one get one free, but Im thinking book one in and get another free lol

Still have it, the engine is chocolate but there is a newly built engine in there with Wiseco pistons and a brand new turbo, except something is a miss with it, the engine wont fire up and I couldnt afford any more labour time for the garage to keep working on it to find what the issue was so I pulled the car out and its been sat at home since.......you interested then

I have seen this car on Ebay, very nice example, but not sure how people can say its surprising how little went into this car because the parts list is massive Also is Lexsport, Lex from Pod who organises the drift days ? Kickingriffin, what sort of price tag is on that 13 ?

But the best thing I like about this car is the House of Kolor glow in the dark paint. Anyway Tony, as I said before I need to get both cars along to you soon mate, especially the S13 before I get out drifting......

And managing to do this to several sets of tyres. So after starting to feel like I have mastered the basics and am a lot better at general car control, I started to feel like the standard S14 was starting to hold me back. So I went on the hunt for something more spec'd and came across this little gem. She has quite a big parts list, and even though I havent had chance to get her on a drift day yet, from the little fixes I have been getting round some private roundabouts I know Im drifting far better in a properly built car, there is so much more control, no body roll or weight transfer to deal with like in my standard S14.

This is for Tony more so, dont think anyone else here knows me, but since the beggining of the year I have been attending various drift days. I originally bought a matt black S13 to start drifting in, but that engine went chocolate on me before I even got out due to a dodgy MAF sensor sending fudged signals and the poor weak CA18 bore washed itself causing loss of compression. So after buying another chocolate CA18 engine, I started to loose patience with these weaker engines and decided to get hold of an SR20 engine and go for the conversion, so after sourcing an engine there was the problem of how to get the engine from Liverpool to Basingstoke, but me and the seller came to an agreement that if I bunged him an extra £300 I could have the whole car. So off I went to collect my low end S14 to bring her back to Basingstoke and pull out the SR20, but after getting her home I debated why I was causing extra expense and hassle by going down this route so I decided to just start drifting in her as she was. After several drift days I was improving, and to my surprise on one day I won most improved driver. After this I probably got a little frustrated one day with one lap circuits, felt like there wasnt enough time to settle with only go round the circuit once, so I was trying to manji down the straight and this was the consequence of trying to force something. Thankfully no damage and I was back out 10mins later, so after a little word with myself we continued to get as much seat time as possible, and after a few more days I was now starting to get the hang of it a lot more.

Tony, just checking everything is ok ready for Thurs ? Cant wait for the car to come back to you mate, really need you to work some magic otherwise this is gonna start costing me a fortune. Mark is having the car tomorrow to do a full caliper refurb with new pistons, then getting the discs skimmed, then she is straight round to you. I will be bringing my tyres with me, can you arrange to get them fitted ? Falken 452's, opted for the cheapy brand as I really couldnt warrant spending a grand on other rubber and seeing as the Falkens were £530 all in I really cant grumble. And its not as if I havent been pleased with the Falken 451, was a great tyre for the money, shame you dont get too many miles outta them though, thats my only down point, where as Im sure a better quality other tyre would go for longer, but for grip and general dry and wet performance to the me the non pro driver they seem ok. I can still get the tail out when wanting to so Im happy lol....... Anyway as I said cant wait for you to double check this front end, I swear its worse then when you set her up using the bent lower wish arm but that makes no sense, so thats why Im feeling very confused at what exactly is going on......maybe even get you to come out in the car and see if you can feel like I can ?? Also Mark reckons my disc warpping could be down to geometry, something about wheels working in realition to one another, but someone else I know up north who is like a god when it comes to geometry says that under no circumstance can geometry cause disc warping, whats your take on this ?

Cheers Tony, she feels much more stable at high speed now and generally a little tighter all round on the front end now, but Im still getting a lot of creaking when going from full lock to full lock or with weight transfere say turning into a road.......shame as when you set her up last time with the old bent wish arm she didnt creak at all until everything seemed to slip back to the way it was. When you had her back was any of the settings out by much, or would it have been anyway from where Mark replaced the lower arm....? And any tnoughts on this creaking, Mark said to have a word with you. He said something like the fact that the tyres would be worn to a set up that wasnt right on the car and now that she is true the tyres could be fitting against each other, but Im doubtfull alone this would account for the creaking still......??

Thats a damn nice Supra.........

Hey Thorin, you wont go wrong if you get Tony to do it, he impressed me no end, not with just his work but his appreciation for cars...... [/hijack] Hi Tony, I can now post eventually.......thanks for the set up the other day, I will post in the newbie section soon.... [/hijack]