Can Supras Turn?

[staticpat]

Glad to hear all the positive feedback regarding handling mods. I was under the impression that it was basically a cool streetcar/boat. I knew some people tracked them, but I figured most are street or drag cars (just look at the thread list in the racing forum.) I knew the mkiv's handled awesome but most people seem to drag them instead. Didn't really think that the mkiii's were built with the same intent.

Wait a minute, you want to swap in a 1G-GTE? That motor is underpowered, and has a really small aftermarket. Good luck getting parts too. If you don't want to worry about lag and have twins, get a 1J or 2J. My 1J has almost no lag, and packs plenty of punch.

The potential engine would be hauling a shell of a supra, not a full weight mkiii. As far as aftermarket, depending on class I may not need or want anything, and many things will need to be fabricated regardless. A turbo 2L would be interesting but most likely I'll stick 7m. I don't know what I'm doing yet, just throwing out ideas. The 1J may not be that expensive to run and maintain, I'll look into it.

Swaybars are also a big help in this area, I don't have high rate springs yet so can't speak for those but I'm sure they'll help overall grip. It's an east car to control via throttle IMO, which should be pretty important in rally but will the suspension take hard landings?

Miatas are a seperate classing from mk3's in auto-x and thankfully so. IMO, a class prepped Mk3 would not be able to beat a similarly prepped Miata at auto-x on equivalalent tires. As an example, Miatas have dominated their classes for years, where Camaros and Mustangs take the mk3's class. The PAX is higher (less correction) for the Miata.

Since rallycross and rally are divided by driveline (convertibles banned, aha no miatas!), the playing field is complex. I won't be competing against camaros and mustangs; it will be mr2s, rx7s, etc. This is probably a bad thing.

I'm not sure about the suspension, but the supra definetely seems to be built tougher than other competitors ( vws, 323s, celics etc.) that people run. Of course landing 3k lbs is going to take a harder toll too.

Hmmmm

Sorry Rafael I already started ripping out parts, you can't have the car . Not really, I'm just brainstorming outloud for now.

 

[GeneStarWindGSW]

Sorry Rafael I already started ripping out parts, you can't have the car . Not really, I'm just brainstorming outloud for now.

Rip one part out i dare ya :biglaugh:
lol well its up to you man.

 

[st2b]

Does the TEMS work better than the Supras without TEMS on track?

I'm sure they have their differences

 

[Supracentral]

TEMS SUCKS on a track...

(Personally I think TEMS sucks anyway... It's an attempt to make the Supra "soft" - it's that whole luxury GT car thing, which I can live without - I'd rather have the performance...)

TEMS can be really unpredictable at times. I've had it decide mid turn that it wanted to change dampening...

 

[Brewster]

hell yeah they can turn. the megan racing coilovers i had on my car made it handle wonderfully. i had a lot of fun handing bmws their ass in the twisties while still on sawblades. the suspension system is essentially the same as the mkivs, double wishbone front and rear, and i would still call it technologically advanced today.

get some coilovers, wide wheels and grippy tires. you don't know what you've been missing.

 

[honestabe]

Even a fully stripped down MKIII would weigh just under 3000 pounds. It would take a lot of money and time to make a 1G put down as much power as a 1J. For a car as heavy as ours, you need a respectable amount of power. If you want to stay 7M, then you'd have to upgrade your oil system by getting one of Kaizen Motorsports trick new oil pans and pick-ups because of the side to side motion.

Having a single turbo is great and all, but it's best for the straights. You'd be better off with twins if you want to do a lot of turning because of the lack of lag.

And as far a rallying goes, from what I've read and heard, 1 session of rally driving takes a major toll on your suspension and will wear it out extremely fast because of the constant and hard dampening.

 

[Poodles]

one word...

swaybars

The rest is up to you, but I find the supra is a bit odd to handle when the spare is out as the balance is off...

 

[Red7m]

Why reduce weight on a mkIII to make it competitive in racing when you can just reduce year? ;P

Right here is your answer. Buy a mkII shell and take your engine/tranny out and swap it into the MKII shell.

 

[honestabe]

Right here is your answer. Buy a mkII shell and take your engine/tranny out and swap it into the MKII shell.

That's my next project car. Hell, I may even do it using my 1J that's in my 87.

 

[prsrcokr]

TEMS SUCKS on a track...

(Personally I think TEMS sucks anyway... It's an attempt to make the Supra "soft" - it's that whole luxury GT car thing, which I can live without - I'd rather have the performance...)

TEMS can be really unpredictable at times. I've had it decide mid turn that it wanted to change dampening...

Interesting, I've thought about this happening but never noticed it. I can feel when I forget to switch to 'sport' mode but never noticed when it's changing to 'firm' on track. I figured there might not be a big difference in the two w/ Tokicos (however normal vs. sport can be felt)

Btw, if you're considering changing the platform a Celica All-trac might be a great choice.

I'm planning to get rid of it soon though.

 

[flight doc89]

sway bars help, coilovers help more. My Tein HA's are great, can get'em stiff as hell for track but can still turn them down for street (perfectly comfortable).
Also, you can adjust the ride-height with them, so you can lift the car up for the rally-x if you want

 

[staticpat]

I was waiting for you to chime in, I was really looking forward to seeing you run this season. Wanna swap cars?

As for the celica all-trac: If I could sell the supra for what its worth I could easily buy a car built for rally. I'd really like to run an rx-7 though personally. My quandry is that selling the supra is difficult, and I already have a lot into it already.

 

[buldozr]

Since rallycross and rally are divided by driveline (convertibles banned, aha no miatas!)

honda and mazda make the hardtops for both miatas and s2000's.... no bashing on miatas, ive seen both rotary and ford 5.0L powered, EVIL EVIL machines when modded. If you have aluminum heads on the 5.0, weight difference is negligable. You wont see me drive one though.

 

[rcsupra]

I thought I'd contribute a bit as I'm a sucker for threads involving Supras and not just going in straight lines :icon_smil

I'll second the previous swaybar statement...I just installed some Suspension Techniques bars front and rear and the difference is insane; and you can do better than these even. On the completely stock suspension I felt the car was at times dangerous to even push a little bit, the confidence that a flat-cornering car inspires in you alone is worth the money! I had two good friends drive the car, ones who thought the MK3 was a boat, and both were blown away. One road races a built 2g Eclipse GSX, the other drives a MKIV. The potential is definitely there and I can't wait to really start tapping it with this car

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

I thought I'd contribute a bit as I'm a sucker for threads involving Supras and not just going in straight lines :icon_smil

I'll second the previous swaybar statement...I just installed some Suspension Techniques bars front and rear and the difference is insane; and you can do better than these even. On the completely stock suspension I felt the car was at times dangerous to even push a little bit, the confidence that a flat-cornering car inspires in you alone is worth the money! I had two good friends drive the car, ones who thought the MK3 was a boat, and both were blown away. One road races a built 2g Eclipse GSX, the other drives a MKIV. The potential is definitely there and I can't wait to really start tapping it with this car

Just springs, struts, and a front strut brace made a world of difference for me. Next thing would be the sway bars for me:icon_bigg

 

[IJ.]

I went from a 1000kg 1977 Lancer that handled like it was on rails to the 1600+kg Mk3 that had more body roll than the Titanic....

I did Shocks Springs and played with alignment a LOT with minimal improvement, this was back in 1997 when there was nothing off the shelf here in sway bars.

I had looked at the stock bars and thought "they're huge why is this thing a terrifying pig to push hard"

It wasn't until I unbolted one and realised they were tubular that the penny dropped, I contacted Whiteline (then Selby Suspension) and sent them a pair of stock bars to use as patterns and the transformation was STUNNING

 

[Poodles]

and thanks to you, they support our car...

stock springs, KYB shocks, whiteline adjustable swaybars on soft at both ends, stock wheel size (in old enkei racing wheels so a whole lot lighter), with Kumho ECSTA SPT's in the stock sizes and I run circles around most people...

the swaybars took the car from being unpredictable and prone to snap oversteer (scary as shit at times), to the point where I can push it into a 4 wheel skid with complete control...

 

[staticpat]

the swaybars took the car from being unpredictable and prone to snap oversteer (scary as shit at times), to the point where I can push it into a 4 wheel skid with complete control...

I don't believe it, tell me more.

 

[buldozr]

I don't believe it, tell me more.

bout to say, I was about to sell my boat(supra) to get an rx7 due to not liking the handling... so this thing can handle.... I think I might keep this thing after all.

 

[prsrcokr]

It won't handle like an RX7 but it does have a good suspension for the age (if it's in good shape)

Poodles, most people mention their mk3's pushing alot. I had the same thing after replacing the bushings. Very tail happy and never pushed (with 235/265 tires) I changed swaybar bias (stiffer front bar) and 235/255 tires. Now it's very nuetral, with a slight oversteer tendency.

Glad to hear some people say coilovers are a bigger improvement but I won't believe it until I see it (hopefully 08')

Glad you got the bars, RC, can't wait to see it at an event!