All was quite slow going to start with as I was learning all about the car and what could be done to it, most of which knowledge came from joining IMOC and getting to know the people who knew the cars best, Dino and JJ at the top of the list of my gurus.
All that was done for the first year or so was a grainger valve and some cosmetic parts. Even then though I thought 1bar was incredible.Then came the Blitz NUR spec, which at the time was a fairly rare exhaust followed later that year by my biggest gamble, which to this day has probably been my best single mod, the ST205 chargecooler setup.
I cant take all the credit for this idea as I first read about it in the banzai feature on other IMOC members. It was Dave Hirst I believe that had done it and I really liked the sound of doing it
.. And so it began. I knew it wasnt going to be a straight forward mod as it wasnt ever fitted to the MR2 in the first place, but being fitted to the same engine in the Celica it couldnt be that bad. Biggest problem was to find a pre-rad that would fit at the front without going to the expense of a custom item. A few weeks of hunting round local scrap yards with a tape measure turned up a fiat cinquecento that had been front ended, of which the main radiator turned out to be almost the perfect size. I then purchased a brand new item and went about bodging it to fit. Running the pipes wasnt all that fun either as I decided to try and run 25mm pipe work to get more fluid in the system. As the aircon had never worked on the car the pipes for it were ripped out to make room for the new CC pipes instead. This mod instantly made the car feel quicker and still to this day keeps the car nice and cool, even at the current 1.6bar. 
I then found myself needing a new clutch so bought myself the fantastic RPS street max clutch that is still holding on nicely now.
Along with an amazing scrap yard find, my JUN 3.5kg flywheel and a different gearbox as the original one had a 2nd gear syncro issue.
This was then followed with the new turbo, a turbo technics stage 1 hybrid.
I decided to go for this particular turbo as it would get me to the 300fwhp figure I wanted but without compromising the low down grunt that the ct26 can give. Then came the aussie downpipe. On the stock ecu and afm I managed 310bhp on the dyno with this little lot at 1.2bar now using the apexi avcr. Next came the expense, the motec M4 ecu along with the larger rev3 injectors.
Theres not much I can say about this bit of kit that I doesnt say for itself really. Originally set up for 1.3bar and the afm removed but later for 1.4bar the car just flew in this guise and made 346fwhp, but as always, you always want more.This is where things went a little wrong.
Having it remapped again, this time on a dyno not on the road; I decided to push my luck a bit. Now I always knew it was a risk, but wondered if I could get away with it, but no. We tried pushing the boost up to 1.4 bar but the stock head gasket decided to say goodbye all over the dyno.Good excuse to go even further though, so it was delivered on the back of a flat bed to Andi at AMTUNING
(my hero 
) to be sorted.In went the JE forged pistons, TRD 1.4mm head gasket and the ARP head studs.
Now it was ready for some serious boost levels.
After a couple of disappointing mapping sessions with niggly bits going wrong it was wound up to 1.6bar
. What an animal! On the dyno it now makes 364fwhp which I thought I would be happy with
.yeah right! You soon get used to it. More to come on that in time though.Its had various body mods done along the way which are all visible from the pics in my garage so no real need to mention those, except to the point of my other current aim, to lose weight from it.
Now its my only car and mainly a road car so I didnt want to go to the extremes on completely stripping it out so the interior is pretty much stock to look at.
Im trying to get the body parts as light as possible at the moment, using a carbon bonnet and carbon t-bars and modifying an n/a engine lid. Its had bits and pieces removed all over it and far too much to list really. Lets just say if its not needed Ive removed it. Still loads more to be done on this front though, just need a bit more money for more carbon.
Suspension is really the other main area that has been looked at.
Using parts from my sponsor; Tim at xxxx (youre a star mate 
) it now has KYB adjustable inserts in the stock rev1 struts and some amazingly hefty anti-roll bars. Also fitted are a full poly bush set (which is a worthwhile upgrade to anyone whose car is getting on a bit now) and front and rear strut braces. This little lot has completely transformed the handling of the car from not too bad to absolutely amazing.
And then we come to my history with gearboxes of course.
The first one was changed due to a dodgy syncro as Ive said, then I completely mashed 4th gear in the second box due to me being a little over enthusiastic at santa pod one day. That was then rebuilt with new cogs only for me to break the 3rd/4th selector fork. With that fixed and effectively on my 4th box I went to TOTB IV only to wreck the same selector fork again on only my 3rd run, not a good day out really. Which then brings us to its current box. After deciding the rev1 internals just werent up to the job it was time to scrap the box in favour of the stronger and better geared rev2+ box, but before it went in I had a few bit to do to it. First up was the TRD diff as having one of these in the rev1 box. I was very happy with the way it behaves. Also fitted was the higher ratio final drive thanks to massive input from Dino helping with part numbers and what needed to be done. Currently this gives me a theoretical top speed of 186mph, but Ill be changing tyre sizes soon for other reasons, but these will then increase that speed to 191mph.
Well thats pretty much the last 4 years work to date in basics.
Next on the list was going to be a bigger turbo and 2bar boost, but due to financial issues I doubt that will now be happening.
So the plans have changed for now to just up the fuel pressure to gain me enough fuel to run 1.7bar and bigger cams.Im hoping this along with a remap for a higher octane fuel will see me to the 400fwhp mark still using the ct26.
Fingers crossed.
[-o<
