It Sounds like a Supra.. but thats one strangely shaped Supra..?

[hamgatan]

I've been meaning to post this thread up for a while but the procrastination bug is strong within me..

About 6 years ago I decided to get rid of my fat pig MA70 and settle for something sleeker, slimmer and just downright pimptastic.

And then the project thats taken me the last half decade was born;

Current Specifications

1988 GZ20 Toyota Soarer GT Limited (Black/Silver Two-Tone)

Engine Mechanical
1JZ-GTE (JZA70)
ARP Head Stud Kit
Urethane Semi-Solid State 1JZ Engine Mounts
JZA70 Crossmember
R154 Manual 5 Speed
Garrett T04S 0.70AR Turbo
JJR T4 Flange Exhaust Manifold
JJR 50mm External Wastegate & Screamer Pipe
Stainless Braided Oil Feed & Return Lines
Cusco Oil Catch Can
V Band Flange 3" Dump
3" Exhaust from Dump Back
Custom Stainless Polished Intake Pipe
Blitz 6" Air Filter
540cc ST205 GT-4 Injectors
Bosch 040 Intank Fuel Pump
Custom Intercooler Piping
Ninja Garage Custom Intake Plenum
Ninja Garage 90mm Throttle Body
Cooling-Pro Type1 600x300x76 FMIC
Koyo Aluminum R Core 52mm Radiator
Custom Polished Radiator Hard Top Pipe with Temp Sensor
GReddy 1.3 Bar Radiator Cap
TRUST Remote Oil Cooler / Filter Relocation Kit with Braided Lines


Electrical
Bosch Silver 480CCA Heavy Duty Battery
Boot Battery Relocation
APEXi AVC-R EBC
APEXi S-AFC
HKS Turbo Timer

Suspension, Brakes & Driveline
Cusco Comp-S Height Adjustable Coilovers
Cusco Front Strut Tower Brace
Nightpager Front Brackets
R32 Sumitomo 4 Pot Calipers
Bendix Ultimate Pads
Custom Braided Brake Lines
350Z Track Edition Slotted Rotors & Centric Ring
KAAZ 1.5 Way LSD Centre

Wheels
17" BBS LM Rims 17x8+35 / 17x9+35

Interior & Sound
MOMO Fighter Steering Wheel + BossKit
Autogauge Smoked Series - Water Temp Gauge
Autogauge Smoked Series - Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge
Autogauge Smoked Series - Boost Gauge
Autogauge Smoked Series - Oil Pressure Gauge


Exterior
Custom Plates
Factory Z20 Side Skirts + Rear Pods
6000k HID Conversion Kit

On the List of Modifications for the Near Future Include
- Haltech PS2000 EMS
- OS Giken Twin Plate Clutch
- Bride Low Max Fixed Back Seats & Rails
- CAMS Compliant Half Cage
- CAMS/ADR Compliant 4 Point Harnesses
- SARD FPR

More to Follow..

 

[hamgatan]

Well this Saga began in 2007 when I acquired my first Soarer.. I loved the comfort of it well beyond what the MA70 had given me.

1990 GZ20 Soarer GT-Limited - White

Being a tight arse I picked her up quite cheap as she had two blown CT12's and a gutless 1G-GTE (despite testing very well 180psi across all cylinders). A marathon overnight effort in replacing the Turbo's resulted in a happily boosting at 9psi Soarer for the next few weeks. Sure, it was hardly impressive being a 1G.. and a month later being stuck on the side of the freeway with coolant billowing out of the radiator sparked my justification for the next step.

Me: Umm.. Yeah This engine is fucked. I cooked it.
Wife: Well how much is that going to cost?
Me: Too much, its not worth it. It would cost me the same amount of money to do a 1JZ conversion.
Wife: OK. Just get it fixed
Me: *grinning ear to ear with the satisfaction of knowing I just conned the wife into allowing me to do the conversion*

Now, the reality of the situation was that I might have only had a blocked radiator.. but yeah, lets just flip forward before my wife sees this yeah?

So a week later I had my hands on a JZA70 Supra Half Cut. On initial testing the block failed compression on 3 cylinders (Sub 140psi). So that was returned and a newer Chaser block was supplied as a replacement. All Sump and running gear was swapped over and we were ready to go.

Given that I looked at the 1JZ conversion I thought it would be nice to order a whole swag of complementary parts as well.. So after trawling Yahoo Japan, I ended up with Coilovers, Factory Kit, a few sets of Rims including my SSR Vardens and Work VS Editions.

So along came the conversion and out came the 1G which I was not sad to see go

All going well the final product was finished and happily with two weeks go till Autosalon, the worst thing that could go wrong did. Turn key, *burble burble* - Yeap.. BHG.

So straight away I stripped the head back down again and sent it off to be skimmed and cleaned up. A new head gasket and ARP studs were ordered and I crossed my fingers that everything would be back together by Autosalon.

The gods must have been on my side that week because everything arrived on time and I had the car slapped back together in under a week and running. It wasn't running well - And the fact the water temp gauge was reading two bars above halfway was testament to that when I rolled it into Autosalon for the weekend show.

And so with that out of the road she ran reliably and flawlessly for another year until the long arm of the law decided they didn't like the look of my car and issued a Defect Notice with 14 Days to submit the car to the Pits for Inspection.. The list of things to repair I was given spelled the end for the white Soarer..

So I thought there must be an easier solution to my problem and thats when a friend of mine decided to sell me this registered rolling shell on the cheap..

TO BE CONTINUED..

 

[hamgatan]

So one lazy Saturday afternoon I arranged a Car Trailer and went to pick up the shell and cart it home. The following day I got stuck into reviving her back to her former glory. First up a good cut and polish and put my BBS LM's on it.

Then the next week followed the second conversion - Pulling all the gear from the white shell and reviving Darky. So with a little assistance from the next door neighbours kid I got cracking..

And thats where I threw in the towel for the day as I was BEAT! A week later I absolutely gutted the remaining parts from the white shell and sadly all that was left was this sulking husk of metal on the front verge. Another week later she was crushed into a cube.

At this point I just had smaller anciliary stuff to do inside the black shell. Wiring being one of them. Piece by piece I put the Soarer back together. Improving on the mistakes I'd made in the first conversion and putting together a much better quality car. At the time I converted to custom Y pipe dumps and fabricated a new exhaust join and everything was coming together nicely.

First was rebuilding the cooler piping and rerouting it

Then cleaning up the rest of the engine bay

Then suspension adjustments and final bits and pieces and voila - Finished Product.

And after all the new piping was completed

It was when I took it for its first drive though that I noticed a new set of problems start. For some reason the car was throwing itself into Limp Mode. It was revving to 3500rpm then just spluttering and not boosting. Initially I thought boost leak but i rechecked all piping and it was fine. The ECU was throwing a knock sensor code but I swapped the knock sensors from my JZX90 Mark II and they also had the same issue. Tried new coilpacks.. new ECU.. new igniter.. everything. Still the problem wouldn't go away. So I left the Soarer alone for a while and it sat forlornly on the lawn until recently where I worked up motivation to tackle it again..

 

[hamgatan]

And so late 2011 saw me getting off my bum and making some serious decisions regarding the Soarer. What I wanted to do was make the car far easier to work on and a crapload more powerful - So I went Big Single.

It was during the disassemble process that i noticed the cause of my 3500rpm misfiring.. rear turbo intake pipe wasn't bolted on properly. FAIL!

This is how it currently sits under the engine bay at the moment waiting on the arrival of my Plenum, Throttle Body and Radiator. Hopefully I'll have enough to invest in a Haltech PS2000 EMS soon as well and I can get cracking on wiring that up to drive all this monster thats growing under the hood. I've started polishing up the cam covers - have resprayed the OEM coilpack / timing belt covers in gunmetal. Investing in some SuperSpark coilpacks also in a couple of weeks.

 

[jfreeman]

very clean gives us what we want, pics!

 

[mecevans]

Moar picturz!!!