photographer: Henry Z. DeKuyper
Pristine, perfect and powerful-these were the buzzwords racing at Matrix-like speeds through Mike Miranda's mind as he contemplated the beautiful red '95 Supra. He knew he wanted it for himself and he knew it was too fine of an example to go full tilt on. Mike and his shop, e-Shift Performance of Key Port, N. J., constructed a number of wild, high-horsepower rides. This time around though the game plan was to make the car a weekend warrior and instead of a street/strip drag car this Supra would be part daily driver and part road racer.
Mike knew he only needed moderate amounts of power and that with the venerable 2JZGTE it would be easy to tap into a few extra ponies. From square one he knew the suspension would be the biggest hill to climb.
The block is stone stock because the 2JZ's internals have been known to stand up to 800 whp when done right and Mike's goals are lot less lofty than that. Mike did see fit to perform a mild battery of upgrades on the head. A pair of 264-degree HKS cams is on call to work with the turbo upgrade. HKS adjustable cam gears add a bit of advance to fine-tune airflow through the head. Mike also swapped out the stock valves in favor of Manley valves that are built to endure the long durations of full-boost blasts often seen in road racing situations.
Mike decided to step it up with a single-turbo conversion featuring a Turbonetics T66, or more precisely a T-series HP66. This turbo is quite a bit smaller than some of the monsters we see on four-digit 2JZs. It sports a Turbonetics 65-trim F1 turbine wheel and a 66mm compressor wheel in a responsive .58 A/R housing. A TiAL Sports 44mm wastegate keeps boost in check on the hot side while an HKS blow-off valve fends off compressor surge on the cold side. The Supra runs an HKS front-mount intercooler. The engine is super clean and looks like it just rolled off the assembly line, with the exception of the heat-wrapped piping, the polished compressor housing of the single-turbo conversion, GReddy Airnix filter and custom radiator setup.
A pair of Walbro pumps feed the fire via a SARD fuel rail and 1,000cc injectors. Tuning is a tad old-school with an HKS VPC running the show with the help of an A'PEXi AVC-R boost controller. Mike's tenacious tuning regime saw the Toyota strapped to the rollers with the regularity of a dairy cow being strapped to a milking machine. Instead of 2 percent Lowfat, Mike was coaxing pure power from the 2JZ and after numerous runs on e-Shift's dynojet the T66 provided a healthy 679.8 whp. Torque is also of prime importance for a road racer and the Supra has 603.6 lb-ft at peak, but from 4,700 to 5,900 rpm there is590-plus on tap.
Nailing apexes is about generating g-forces and not merely pumping out brute power so the suspension is much more critical for this weekend warrior then in traditional street/strip propositions. Mike bolted on some HKS Hipermax coilovers with all the goodies, like camber plates and pillow-ball joints. Dialing the setup in was the biggest challenge in the build phase. This was overcome by outsourcing the suspension setup to Kurt Omenstetter of Phoenix Auto Center in Palm, Pa. There it was corner weighted and underwent camber correction and overall suspension tuning.
The Supra rolls on 19-inch Enkei RPF-1 wheels wrapped with Yokohama rubber. The Enkeis frame huge Rotora brakes setup for the repeated hard stops and torturous heat cycles that can be unleashed on the road circuit. The Rotora setup features 14-inch rotors in front and 13.5-inch rotors in the rear with four-piston calipers all around.
"In addition to the end result of the suspension," Mike says, "my favorite mods on the car are the turbo and brakes because of the extremely fast spool and the equally fast stopping power on the road course. The Supra is more than fast enough on the road course. The suspension has achieved that difficult balance between being stiff enough for racing but comfortable enough for the streets everyday."