...long time in coming, lots of testing, trying new and unique ways to get the disired results safely....300hp wasnt in my mind when i got the car, but i will start from the beginning.
..car has come a long way...pics on day of import, these were the pics the previous owner sent me when it was for sale, i was the second owner in the uk, he'd had it about a year.
....it came with rare 16inch volk racing staggered wheels, TOMS front and rear strut braces and lower TOMS antiroll bar and unknown TOMS exhaust, rusty!.
..momo wheel/knob and pedals....everything else was bone stock except the nice rare el glow badge which i didnt actually notice
my first ever meet, back in 2005 i think with IMOC
pete j's pic of me on the road
first year, and first service, i needed rear tyres, new discs and pads ALL round, ouch! cost me a fair bundle!
then came my first mot, turns out a strut was leaking, and noone knew the make of the ones i had on there
(adjustable), which was a nice suprise i had uprated suspension, but it was no good! doh! so i needed new stock struts and thought id get some -40mm pi springs..it already had unknown springs, which im gutted i didnt keep now, as car was pretty low before i replaced them, pi's arnt so low.after a years ownership, i began to mod the car, interior was my first step.
...painted silver dash, and speedhut dials, and blue leds everywhere
next came a boost gauge from speedhut, fcd and mbc and boost raised, and an apexi induction kit.
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i then tinted my tobs, and had the volk wheels refubed in black chrome.
..also thought good time to paint my calipers red!before
after
was then time for my first rolling road trip to engine advantages in essex, made 180atw, 241flywheel
(bit generous), and 258lb of torque at 13psi, or 0.9bar, car simply didnt like more than 13psi at peak power, 5500rpm...only mods were mbc, fcd and induction kit with old rusty toms exhaust.
then off to JAE
was then time to update my interior again, i bought some lovely secondhand leather seats and door cards from a 95 uk car.
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then decided to give the engine a bit of a clean and fit a catch can.
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then decided i had had enough fo the silver dash, and got another one and painted it black.
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now i wanted more power, so i had shaf import me in a brand new blitz new spec R exhaust direct from japan, and i also got a extremeboost downpipe from tim at TB.
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had a club member help me out fit the downpipe and nur spec, previous week i fitted a greddy ic i managed to get a hold of!! i ended up custom building my own backing plate, and making my own ic fan shroud and purchased a spal fan to go with it.
..bare in mind at the time this fan add on was very new, and no products were on the market AT ALL, so had to build it myself....
then id had enough of my 16s, and wanted something bigger, decided on these staggered rota alloys.
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then off to the dyno the day after we fitted the exhaust/downpipe!
made 200atw, at the same 13psi, 263lb, 258fly
(flywheel numbers possibly generous again imo)...so 20atw increase with the ic, downpipe and exhaust...same boost.
VIDEO!!!
id grown to dislike the blue dials and gauge i had, so i went the whole hog and replaced the clock, heater control leds and window switch leds to Red to match the second set of speedhut dials id now ordered, also red obviously, along with a red gauge to.
..id also had enough of the mbc and decided to get myself a nice new greddy profec B spec II boost controller and mount it on the steering column..which i installed and setup myself.
it was then i decided i wanted to modify the car in the looks department.
..i ended up purchasing a greddy front lip and sideskirts from rogue.
...and to match the styling, i puchased a used ct20b and had that fitted at peter at sbits place!!
i did a few photoshops first to see if i liked the kit, not bad match up if you ask me, lol
then off to JAE.
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at this point i came across a AP engineering power FC, rare power FC that is a direct bolt onto a rev2 only.
..but while i was there, thought i may as well ditch the afm, get some 540s, rev3 map sensor, mat sensor and get mapped on that....ie convert to a speed dencity setup like the rev3s...you can keep the AP version with the afm, stock 440s and everything, it has two different versions built into the same ECU, afm and no afm, but decided i may as well ditch the afm!
ran into numerous problems installing it, namely down to the fact i didnt realise i was running on 3 cylinders! the dam power FC was busted, and i paid a pretty penny for it! refund, no! Bas*erd member who i got it from!!
as id fitted these other rev3 parts and had a busted power fc, my only option was to now try and get hold a rev3 power fc, and rewire the ecu to rev3 spec so i could actually run on an ecu.
..as i couldnt just pop my rev2 one back on. With the help of ryan at 2bar, he rewired the car, and i borrowed a rev3 ecu...initially thoughts were good, but rev limt was at 5k rpm because i now needed a rev3 ignitor...managed to get hold of that....could now rev to redline, but power was seriously lacking past 5k rpm still.i then spent the best part of a year trying to figure out what was wrong, changing parts, getting a ATS bored out fuel rail, incase it was a pressure drop issue.
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then got an opportuntiy to get in the mr2 magazine with these pics, issue one! check it out!
anyway, got hold a rev3 power FC, and had that on me for a while while i finished up the car and was testing out other things that were the cause of my high rpm issue.
....in that time i bought a load of red hoses for the engine bay,
here was my home made induction kit i put together to ditch the AFM
also in that time i took it to the dyno just to show folks what was happening high in the revs and to get help diagnosing it! quite bad high rpm problems!
212atw, 252 at the flywheel.
..reliable dyno dynamics.
then got me a nice cam cover
and some JDM rev3 lights.
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and went to the WRA.
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then a little while later, my downpipe snapped clean in half! probably due to using heatwrap!
(note i removed wrap in the pics)
setup the 4 light brake mod.
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then debaged the car and got hold of some rare US reflectors, which came with the wiring harness to connect to my rear lights.
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was at this point, late last year i finally got my act together and put on the power FC to see if my high rpm running problems could be sorted with the ecu, and not with my changing parts! had my douts, but turns out there was nothing wrong with the car at all, was simply the fact it just didnt like the rev3 ecu!! doh
anyway, got mapped on the road by ryan at 2bar tuning.
he did note the water temps did seem pretty high! anyway, car felt great!
unfortunatly, about a week later, and i start to overheat on boost, was happening more and more, got a leakdown and sniffer test done, and turns out my headgaskey just didnt like 1.2bar boost pressures! dam! headgakset busted!
so the next 2 months i decided to give it a go myself on the driveway, with the help with the cambelt side of things from luke at pacific works.
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decided to completely illiminate the TVSV and TVIS now, as i was using a ebc for boost control, and the rev3 setup doesnt use the TVIS
turbo out and cam cover off
was then i decided, i was going to completely overhaul the engine and bling it up, fit new gaskets everywhere i could.
..replace HFH, all clamps etc etc
sent off the head to nathan at centruy motorsport for a skim, relap, reshim, new valve stem seals, cam seals and a clean.
at the same time a fitted a rev3 inlet camshaft
i also decided that it would be a perfect time to fit a metal headgakset, i bought a 1mm cometic MSL one, and some ARP head studs! also some new idler bearing, new cambelt
i must fo spent the best part of 5hours cleaning the block face and the pistons to!
before
after
FINISHED after 2 months!
while it was in bits, i thought id get some more gauges to, so ditched my speedhut boost gauge and got a set of oil pressure, oil temp, water temp and boost gauges from nick at gaugeplace, all red and black obviously!.
....id also had enough of my silver face speedo dials, (red el glow), so i got my THIRD set of speedhut dials, this time, only difference, was it was a black face.i also imported in a rare omori din panel to fit 3 of these gauges.
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photoshoot after the carnage of replacing the HG
great, now was time to get back on the dyno and mapped again!
BUT discovered another issue! basically the turbo was on its way out! doh! was letting past to much oil, which ment ryan at 2bar tuning couldnt advance the map to much, still managed 278flywheel bhp tho, think was 235-240atw.
...cant remember....basically my torque took the worst of it in the high rpm range, just dips way to fast aparently.
then on the look out for another turbo, got one from harry over on imoc
had help fitting that with
"dgh938peg"....then back on the dyno AGAIN, and all was good! boost raised to 1.2bar and these results
301hp, 255atw, 290lb of torque
comparison to my old rev3 ecu graph anyhow which i had done not long before at the same dyno place
finally happy, a claybar session!
after then, bit of a break! phew!!
and then got some CRN discs and redstuff pads.
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then off to the kent coast run.
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next plan, probably 800injectors, a large ATS or GT series turbo, still at 1-1.2bar and make 300atw, 360+flywheelll.
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