j-spec vs. a-spec

[YoNkErS87t]

I would rebuild. you could get a jdm for the price of a rebuild. Maybe a little more money to make it more reliable. MHG and arp head studs would do it.

This is coming from someone that bought and put a jdm in with good success.
I just pulled the head and everything is clean and looks like very little ware.
I got lucky because when i recieved my motor it had a flexwheel from a automatic. So the engine couldn't have been beaten that bad on.

 

[gmoney]

but like i said in the past i still would need a new head due to the people who previously worked on it

 

[89mkthree]

I'm looking at aprox 500 in parts, a few hundred in machine work, and i'm assembling it myself. MHG, ARP everything. It will be very strong

were are you getting a rebuild kit for $500. and what comes in it?

 

[thesupraman]

^^ I would like to know what a 'crapload' of money is...

I figure my car will run mid 12's easily after i upgrade my turbo. So far I have spent just under 3200 on my car... That includes the purchasing price of the car.

walbro/afpr/safc/550's/j-tube removal
lex afm/apexi intake
JBL LR elbow/3 inch high flow cat/3 inch mandrel bent exhaust
MBC set @ 17 lbs; falling to 15 @ redline.
stock headgasket from elmhurst toyota w/ arp headstuds.
AMSoil 4 qrts w/ lucas oil stabilizer + Toyota Oil filter.


All on a j-spec engine with a claimed '55000' miles. When taking the head off; valves/pistons looked very clean.

just my .02

Trust me, running mid 12's is never as easy as one might think. As you mentioned, you will definately need to upgrade your turbo. The stock ct-26 runs out of breath at around 14 psi. You can turn the boost up all you want, but you just make heat, not power. This causes detonation which makes the computer retard the timing and richen the mixture, robbing even more power.
And as Squid699 said, if you want reliability, you can throw your stock head gasket in the garbage. That thing will hold 400 whp for about 20 seconds. All of these things add up to " a crap load of money". I'm not trying to be a smartass, just sayin it takes dough to make enough power to run 12's consistently and reliably.

 

[Disced]

I understand what you are all saying; however the stock CT does not just blow 'hot air' after 14.. There have been dyno runs which show this and from running 14 to running 19, I can feel it in the 'seat of the pants' dyno. But, I don't run around all of the time with 19 since that is ONLY @ night when it is 40 degrees or less.

Also, how many people actually ran stock headgasket retorqued to 85 w/ 400-450 hp? Are you speaking from first hand experience? Because Juhanis ran the felpro STOCK HG for quite sometime before his blew; which was probably from detonation since he street tuned his setup.

Again; a crap load of money, I assume would be well in the 10k + range... Which a lot of people have spent and still don't do 12's because they can't launch/don't buy slicks.

You can stick with what you read; but real life experience speaks for itself.

 

[rakkasan]

I understand what you are all saying; however the stock CT does not just blow 'hot air' after 14.. There have been dyno runs which show this and from running 14 to running 19, I can feel it in the 'seat of the pants' dyno. But, I don't run around all of the time with 19 since that is ONLY @ night when it is 40 degrees or less.

Also, how many people actually ran stock headgasket retorqued to 85 w/ 400-450 hp? Are you speaking from first hand experience? Because Juhanis ran the felpro STOCK HG for quite sometime before his blew; which was probably from detonation since he street tuned his setup.

Again; a crap load of money, I assume would be well in the 10k + range... Which a lot of people have spent and still don't do 12's because they can't launch/don't buy slicks.

You can stick with what you read; but real life experience speaks for itself.

Get your turbo upgraded & then boast about your 12 sec machine. Show us your time slip, too. Should be real easy.

 

[Justin]

were are you getting a rebuild kit for $500. and what comes in it?

Well i paid 150-200 for my last kit, that was a pre-assembled kit, that came with everything

Okay so I just did numbers and its going to be closer to 600, but whatever *shrug* Arp studs, crank, and rod bolts/studs, MHG, Clevite bearings, and a gasket kit

 

[89mkthree]

would you mind telling me were you got the parts. cuz im lookin at doing that myself over the summer.

 

[shaeff]

I understand what you are all saying; however the stock CT does not just blow 'hot air' after 14.. There have been dyno runs which show this and from running 14 to running 19, I can feel it in the 'seat of the pants' dyno. But, I don't run around all of the time with 19 since that is ONLY @ night when it is 40 degrees or less.

sure it does, but that doesnt mean you wont feel the difference. when we say its 'blowing hot air', we mean its past its maximum efficiency (around 14-15psi), not that you wont make more power, because you will.

however, it is blowing hot air keep an eye on those EGT's.

-shaeff

 

[thesupraman]

I understand what you are all saying; however the stock CT does not just blow 'hot air' after 14.. There have been dyno runs which show this and from running 14 to running 19, I can feel it in the 'seat of the pants' dyno. But, I don't run around all of the time with 19 since that is ONLY @ night when it is 40 degrees or less.

Also, how many people actually ran stock headgasket retorqued to 85 w/ 400-450 hp? Are you speaking from first hand experience? Because Juhanis ran the felpro STOCK HG for quite sometime before his blew; which was probably from detonation since he street tuned his setup.

Again; a crap load of money, I assume would be well in the 10k + range... Which a lot of people have spent and still don't do 12's because they can't launch/don't buy slicks.

You can stick with what you read; but real life experience speaks for itself.

You are absolutely right, first hand experience does speak for itself. I am trying to help people so that they don't make the same mistakes that I did. You dont need to spend that much money to get in the 12's, but you eventually will if you keep replacing stock HG's. Did Juhanis put another stocker in when his went? To me and probably 75% of the board $5000 is a crap load of money. I probably have about $6k total in my car of upgrades, that includes $2500 in labor to rebuild my engine (wasn't comfortable doing it myself). You can try and skimp on parts, but from my experiance, it costs way more in the long run......

This run was on worn out 17" Kuhmo ecsta supra 712's @22.5psi tire pressure.
Boost was @ 18.5 psi

 

[aye mate]

^ What turbo are you running?

 

[Poatree]

it costs more to buy one that might not be in as good shape.

 

[thesupraman]

^ What turbo are you running?

Upgraded CT-26. 60-1 compressor wheel, stock turbine wheel.

 

[Disced]

Get your turbo upgraded & then boast about your 12 sec machine. Show us your time slip, too. Should be real easy.

Man, is it just me or do you seem like a real idiot?

You know; I would definately do exactly that if I weren't getting married in August and trying to save as much money as I can for my honeymoon; which is going to be something which I will enjoy and have memories from which will make me much more happy than showing one measly person up on the intraweb.(if you don't know the sarcasm behind intraweb you should kill yourself; seriously! :icon_cool: )

Trust me; I would be able to run 12's easily with what I have plus upgraded turbo/slicks. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to.

You always see people posting "poor night @ track" because they are on street tires with a full sp61 kit and spinning 1-2-3. Which is what slicks + a line lock are for.

 

[Disced]

You are absolutely right, first hand experience does speak for itself. I am trying to help people so that they don't make the same mistakes that I did. You dont need to spend that much money to get in the 12's, but you eventually will if you keep replacing stock HG's. Did Juhanis put another stocker in when his went? To me and probably 75% of the board $5000 is a crap load of money. I probably have about $6k total in my car of upgrades, that includes $2500 in labor to rebuild my engine (wasn't comfortable doing it myself). You can try and skimp on parts, but from my experiance, it costs way more in the long run......

This run was on worn out 17" Kuhmo ecsta supra 712's @22.5psi tire pressure.
Boost was @ 18.5 psi

I don't know what he put into his; but he melted 3 different pistons I believe; he ran 22 lbs of boost on upgraded CT's for I think 6 months before it blew..
And yes, 5k is a crapload of money; but I have spent that much money over the time of one year; not just dropping it all at once. ALso, I had the 'benefit' if you could call it that of being rear-ended in my 87 POS celica driving to work one day and got a 2k settlement for it; and that money was what was mostly spent on my car.

And I'm not saying to skimp on parts; however the topic has not gotten out of hand and I would like to just comment on what the main topic is.

I would also go with a full rebuild; either stock or forged/shot peened. It is way more worth it to take the sure thing over the gamble of an easily abused engine. You will KNOW your engine can handle whatever you want to throw at it.

Just my .02.

P.S. I didn't buy or put in this JDM engine. I bought the car from a guy @ a pawn shop who bought it from another guy who put the engine in. The car was from a salvage yard and the old engine had knock. That is why I bought the car for so cheap.

 

[thesupraman]

And I'm not saying to skimp on parts; however the topic has not gotten out of hand and I would like to just comment on what the main topic is.

I would also go with a full rebuild; either stock or forged/shot peened. It is way more worth it to take the sure thing over the gamble of an easily abused engine. You will KNOW your engine can handle whatever you want to throw at it.

Absolutely right, it has gotten out of hand. Sorry gmoney for the clutter. The stock bottom end (crank and rods) on the GTE's are pretty much bullet proof. They will hold 400-500whp all day long. MHG, Pistons+rings, and of course new bearings should do it. Also the drivetrain is very stout. I've never heard of anyone breaking a trans or rear. Make sure that you change the diff fluid fairly regularly tho- they have a low capacity which makes the gear oil get dirty very quicky. You're gonna need a clutch too, I have a TRD And it works well for me( light pressure, smooth engagement, no chatter, and Toyota claims 600hp holding capacity) but there are plenty of good clutches out there. Since you need a head and misc parts, you'll just have to figure out which is cheaper, buying the parts that you need to get your engine going, or buying a j-spec complete engine. Keep an eye out on ebay, I picked up a complete head (cams, intake runners, fuel rail+injectors, etc.) for $125 + $70 shipping. Good luck man. ---Jim