Well my first ever car was an old Toyota Corolla AE92 which started life as bog std as they come.
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I brought it for
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£700 back in 2001 and set to work on it.
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Between 2001
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-2005 it had major cosmetic surgery bringing the bodywork bang up to date, the chassis was uprated to make the car handle and the old T-vis lump was removed and re fitted with the newer Non T-vis lump which i fully built and tuned which resulted in a healthy 204hp revving to a fantastic 9,200RPM.
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Once the corolla was done it was time to sell on to get what has always been the car i want
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- An MR2 Turbo.
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The corolla sold pretty quick and i got the
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£3000 asking price for it.
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The idea for then was to put the money in the bank for a while, get a bit of interest on it and keep my eyes peeled for a tubby.
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Well lets just say that didnt last long!!
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Browsing through auto trader and ebay i came across it.
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I dont know why but i letterally fell in love with it at first sight
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- so much so that i drove the 150 mile trip that night to go and look at it.
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I loved it and sure enough left a deposit there and arranged for me to go collect it in a few days!!
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The car in std format.
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![Image](http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/nathanfreke/DSCN1313.jpg)
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I collected it a few days later and on the journey home it became pretty apparent that the clutch was shagged which did annoy me but didnt phase me!!! I was impressed with the power of it and the way the car was designed, a very modern feel for a car that is 12years old!!!
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When i brought it the car had minimum mods
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Rev 4 Recaro Seats,
Weds Sport SA90 Front wheels
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(dont ask why as i dont get it either!)
Defi Boost Gague
Raybrig Head lights.
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The motor was totally Std and with only 121k Kms on the clock it seemed a healthy one too.
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After a couple of weeks driving it around the clutch finally bit the dust and gave up the ghost.
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So i found a techniclutch on good old ebay and also an XS power DP so i though it was just too much of a bargain to turn down!!!!!! And within a week she was back on the road and going well
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- although i never got the gains i had expected with the de cat.
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Then one fatefull night i had some drunken idiot crash into my car
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- severly denting the wing, denting the door and damaging the front nose cone.
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After he flead the scene we went to the police and reported it
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- ofcourse he had no insurance and to this day its all still going on and i have had to fork out for a new door
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+ wing and after being fed up with the tatty look of my car i deceided that some ohlins shocks with 30mm lower springs, a border front nose, skirts
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+ rear spats from Stiling FX coupled with the extremely sexy Bomex drift wing i got from Nighspirit was the injection of style it needed to give it the sharp, clean look it deserved.
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![Image](http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/nathanfreke/DSCN1471.jpg)
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My aim was to keep this a nice std car
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- nothing too loud or garey as it didnt look good when i turned up at important meetings with it.
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It was infact the closest thing i could get to a
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'Racing Drivers' car as my budget would allow.
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My aim soon went out the window!!!! Next on the list was a mongoose exhaust to compliment the dp and what a difference that made!!! The whole car just came alive when i fitted it
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- best
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£250 i had ever spent! Then next was a MBC witha nice boost upgrade to 1.1bar and i picked up a s/h unichip which had been mapped on a fellow members car to 1.3bar on std turbo
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- i fitted this in the veiw to getting it mapped but never actually got round to it
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- i just figured that if i was only running 1.1 bar then it would be over fuelling!
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I then met Mark Smith AKA Nightspirit and he was very help full and had some fancy stuff up for grabs which resulted in me buying a new HKS i/c from him.
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The car flew
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- and i ended up running consistent 12.8's down santa pod in Feb this year with traction not at its best.
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Next on the list was an apexi PFC pro drag spec.
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I got it, fitted it
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- did all the start up procedure, wound the boost back down to std and took it gently up the road.
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It didnt feel right
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- and the motor on idle felt lumpy kinda firing on 3 1/2 cylinder style.
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Anyway after a couple times of trying out the launch control smoke started to bellow out the exhaust which was worrying!! After a quick compression test it became apparent of a piston failure in number 3 cylinder
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- my worst nightmare confirmed!!!!
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So the car went into the unit and the engine came apart
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- leaving the engine in situ as i wanted it to be a quick fix.
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After thinking it over and inspecting the bores
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- which they were fine i arranged the purchase of some std size forged pistons, HKS head gasket
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- ARP head bolts and some uprated Big end bearings.
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the head was skimmed and the valves lapped back in as they were all leaking slightly
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- with new valve stem seals fitted.
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I also got some ARP big end bolts and had those fitted with the con rod being checked for straightness and re sized.
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I sourced a lovely HKS 1.2mm head gasket and a set of ARP head bolts.
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A friend of mine who owned an Evo V put me in touch with his contact and after many frantic phone calls i recieved some 86mm CP pistons within 5days
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- i was well happy!! Luckily the guy who fitted my conrod bolts had a set of ACL big end bearings in stock so i had those and started to build my motor.
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*******this is going to have to be wrote in stages as my brain cant hack all in one go*********
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I set about building my engine
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@ 9am that morning and by 5pm it was driving up the road
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- thats how eager i was to get it going again!!!
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All was good
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- the run in was fine although the engine was a little slow i didnt want to push it hard due to the base map on the power FC.
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Once i was happy the engine was all run in and that any niggles were out the way i got some sard 850's and a Walbro intank pump.
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The pump was a total
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@rse to do because of the awkwardness of the tank but i knew once it had been done i never had to think about it again!!
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So all the bits in place i booked myself into WGT for a mapping session
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- expecting a great time.
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no chance!!!!!!
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There were a few problems we just couldnt address
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- the main one being the turbo was very laggy and after lots of playing around we gave up with it as nothing made any difference.
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The end result was 280 hp and 300lb/ft and it went well in that spec.
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After leaving the mappers feeling slightly down hearted i got on to my good old mate Nightspirit and started asking about turbo's
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- the T67 really appealed to me and Mark said he was going to keep his ear to the ground and see what came up.
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After about 2 months i got a call from Mark saying this HKS TO4S turbo kit was on the auction site
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- not knowing the capabilities of this i was unsure but as it was so quiet on the turbo front and me being very impatient i went down the bank
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- sorted a hefty loan and bidded on this turbo
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- luckily only a few other fishing bidders were looking at this unit and we got it at a very decent price which left me with about 500 left over to get other supporting mods.
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So with the turbo on its way from Japan via boat i had about 6weeks to get the rest of the build up together and after a couple of phone calls to Hussein i had myself a pair of HKS 272
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/ 11.2 mm cams, HKS valves springs, HKS cam pulleys
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& sard FPR within a week.
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And also a tasty second hand apexi GT courtesy of Shafster
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Needless to say that lot didnt take long to fit! The most tricky bit was changing the valve springs with the head still in situ
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- but just over an hour later they were all changed
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- set all the valve clearances and fitted the cams
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+ pulleys.
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After doing more research on the turbo i had began to realise just what i had brought
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- this thing was far beyond my expectations and knew that if i wanted to get the best from it, the HKS side mount had to go.
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I had toyed with a CC setup but at that time money was tight after expenses i had not accounted for and as the MR2 isnt my everyday car i decided to go with a boot mount setup
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- it was suprisingly easy to do and with lots of friends in the fabrication trade i got a shroud
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+ scoop knocked up for next to nothing.
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With the body kit i had on i didnt want a big scoop sat on top of my boot lid as i felt it would upset the lines of it so i got in contact with cool louvres and they put some funky and effective vents in my boot lid to let that hot air escape.
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And just to finish off the cooling process i added a coolingmist WI system to be sure the engine recieved the coolest charge possible.
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![Image](http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/nathanfreke/IMG_0107.jpg)
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more to come!
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So the finally the day arrived when the turbo was delivered
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The Turbo is a HKS TO4S, the manifold is a Sard unit and the Waste gate is a 56mm Sard Racing unit too.
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After a few days sorting things through and getting what i needed i fitted the turbo and hooked up all the i/c and fitted the new Greddy Profec B spec- not forgetting the ACT 495lb/ft 6puk paddle clutch supplied by Hussein.
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I then spoke to Rob from Perfect touch and arranged a day for it to be mapped
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- happy days!!!
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With everything set to go i took the car out for a quick spin to see what spool up characteristics were like and well, without a map on it the turbo got 1 bar by 6k rpm
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- this was a tad worrying but i kept an open view until it was mapped by Rob.
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On the journey down even at very low boost, when the turbo did eventually spool it came on so hard it was instant
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'Grin' factor!!!!
Once at perfect touch Rob had a quick look over and set to work on it.
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Not really knowing what sort of power it would be good for i thought anything over 400 would be great.
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after about 35mins rob came back in asking if we wanted him to stop
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@ 400 or keep going.
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i then instantly raised the goal to 450!! Not long after Rob came back with a big smile on his face
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- it had made 482
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@ 1.6bar with little ign.
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I was so happy as it completely surpassed all my expectations!! Rob just needed to do a little more and sort out the cruise map and the end result was a cool 501.8 hp
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@ 1.7bar
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- a fantastic acheivment.
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i think Rob was as happy as i was!!!
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![Image](http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/nathanfreke/IMG_0122.jpg)
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On the road we couldnt run the 1.7 bar boost as we were experiencing compressor surge so we had to settle for 1.55 which i gues equates to about 450 hp but it was still an animal to drive and the turbo spool time was massivly improved
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- hitting full boost
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@ 5,5k rpm.
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The car made me so proud and made every penny i had spent on it worth it just to get the result i did and knowing that with a few more mods there is a massive amount still to come.
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Next on the shopping list was ATS cv housings and a torque bar for the motor to keep the engine still
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- thus helping to put the power to the ground and helping to prevent the manifold from breaking
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- I got these bit from Peter
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@ sBits who was very helpful i might add.
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The bits arrived the day before i was going to santa pod so i spend that fitting them and the next day off i went safe in the knowledge that i wasnt going to shatter any cv joints!!!
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So my first 1/4 mile run after the tune and i have to say it was tricky
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- a severe lack of grip meant pulling off gently and way out of the turbo range so either a severe bog down or masses of wheel spin!! A frustrating day but i did manage an 11.9
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@ 123mph which i was happy with
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- on a better day with some DR's im confident of low 11's.
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The car is now off the road till feb
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- undergoing some more work
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- mainly cosmetic but also some performance enhancing bits inc a slight tweek on the ex cam to bring the spool lower again and to help eliminate the compresser surge enabling me to run the 1.7bar it was mapped to.
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