Gilsdorf's Long Road to Automotive-Nirvana

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
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Reno, NV
Well after a long and very expensive road I've finally found auto nirvana . . . and it isn't in the Supra.

I picked up a new ride over Easter and as soon as we have moved into the new house this fall I'm going to start parting out the Supra . . . unless someone wants to come up with $16,000 for the car as is (along with a few, quite a few actually boxes of extras) . . .

The new ride:
p1720129_1.jpg
 

mecevans

Supramania Contributor
Jan 18, 2009
1,295
0
0
M-bay, cali
I got to say, your one of the few members on here that upgraded to a better car.

Any mods planned for the new beast?
 

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
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16
58
Reno, NV
Thanks--I'm sure plenty of members upgrade or move on to some other project and the rest of the forum just doesn't know.

I just bought an Akrapovic Ti exhaust for the GTR, installed the mid pipe and will be installing the full system later in the month, may do downpipes at the same time. Then the plans are for a Cobb Accessport tune--The GTR's response to mods is huge, but the cost is much greater than the Supra.
 

SupraBlur

New Member
Nov 16, 2006
96
0
0
Hollywood, CA
Gilsdorf;1780090 said:
Thanks--I'm sure plenty of members upgrade or move on to some other project and the rest of the forum just doesn't know.

I just bought an Akrapovic Ti exhaust for the GTR, installed the mid pipe and will be installing the full system later in the month, may do downpipes at the same time. Then the plans are for a Cobb Accessport tune

If the Supra had anything nearly as cool as the Cobb AccessPort I might have modded a lot further. The ability to completely remap the stock ECU in every way shape and form, thus negating the need for piggybacks ever going standalone is priceless. Even the super-insane AMS Alpha 12 kit (~1500hp) is still running on a stock ECU with a Cobb map.

The GTR's response to mods is huge, but the cost is much greater than the Supra.

This is mostly true although ironically unlike the Supra, the cat-back hardly yields any power gains (although the one you bought will sound awesome, look good, and most importantly shed ~30 lbs). Most of the gains from the Akrapovic system comes from the mid-pipe which you've already installed. And yes it definitely costs an arm and a leg -- to those unfamiliar, Gilsdorf's exhaust/mid-pipe system is around $6500 but is considered to be the best in the business (full Ti, excellent build quality, fantastic sound, and zero drone). Akrapovic makes the OEM exhaust for the Porsche 911 GT2 and high-end aftermarket applications.

It sounds like we're going down a similar path with the mods -- I've got a decatted midpipe (AAM) and hopefully soon I'm going to pick up the 3" intakes and 1000cc injectors with a custom Cobb tune, which I expect to yield ~550-575 whp on 91 octane. I see downpipes in my future, but still on the fence about going catless and the potential for fireballs attracting the wrong kind of (police) attention.

GTR-sig-1.jpg
 

JCFsupraman

New Member
May 12, 2005
132
0
0
Cold North
Well I truly enjoyed reading your thread...up until post #83. So what did you do with the Supra? part it out or sell it.
Do you still have the GTR or have you found another path to automotive nirvana?
 

Gilsdorf

Street Dragon
Jun 18, 2005
244
0
16
58
Reno, NV
JCFsupraman;1827966 said:
Well I truly enjoyed reading your thread...up until post #83. So what did you do with the Supra? part it out or sell it.
Do you still have the GTR or have you found another path to automotive nirvana?

Thanks JCF, I haven't parted her out yet. Still waiting on the house sale to close and then I have to build (or have built I should say) the extra garage(s) before I turly start the part out. I've put a few rare parts up for sale, but the market is pretty flat right now and there was little interest.

I've owned the Supra for 20 years now and have put a ton of heart and soul into it, but the rewards were deminishing and the frustration growing.

I'll be keeping the GTR for a while, the mod bug has caught hold again . . .

Thanks for reading! Where in the Cold North?
 

Zumtizzle

Can't Wait to Be King.
Oct 21, 2006
2,825
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36
Sac-Town, NorCal
Damn. Nice to See you're still around. Nice GTR! I also am in the market but I'm considering a Base C6 Vette.

Since I haven't purchased my first home yet.
 

JCFsupraman

New Member
May 12, 2005
132
0
0
Cold North
Gilsdorf;1828272 said:
Where in the Cold North?

South Detroit...Steve Perry coined the nickname in the Journey song Don't Stop Believing by mistake and it stuck....

Even Perry admits to getting choked up over the song, with its powerful chorus.

"The lyric is a strong lyric about not giving up, but it's also about being young, it's also about hanging out, not giving up and looking for that emotion hiding somewhere in the dark that we're all looking for. It's about having hope and not quitting when things get tough, because I'm telling you things get tough for everybody," Perry said.

He recalls writing the song with Cain — combining his own memories of smoky nightclubs with an image he had of Detroit from a hotel window after a concert in 1980.

He only found out later there is no such place as the "south Detroit" he sings about —that south of the U.S. city is the Ontario city of Windsor.

"I tried north Detroit, I tried east and west and it didn't sing, but south Detroit sounded so beautiful. I loved the way it sounded, only to find out later it's actually Canada," Perry said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/music/story/2009/07/20/steve-perry.html

and they say that no one writes songs about Canadian cities...lol.

Arnel Pineda doesn't sound bad infact I may like his performance a little better than Steve's. The girls seem to love this song whenever & where ever it's played.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o42DB5gLBk&feature=related

But Steve still has a better voice in my opinion and "My Journey Includes Steve Perry"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FadN7sjekPE&feature=related
 
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spooln6cyl

Member
Mar 28, 2011
44
0
6
Auburn CA
Goodness, this is all so awesome! Im sure your gonna hate to the see the Supra go. I've only had my Supra for a year and have already told myself im not going to let it go. Can't imagine how you would feel after all that work. Seems like you've found a pretty nice replacement for it though. Love the GTR man, what a car. Congrats on everything!!!