With the bottom end buttoned up, Dana turned his attention to the cylinder head. Both Dana and Ben Waage of Virtual Works spent countless hours on the flow bench trying to squeeze every last cfm from the 2JZ cylinder head. Those countless nights on the flow bench Dana and Ben found using a 1mm-oversized intake and exhaust valve increased the cfm output of the cylinder head. Once Ben performed the final porting and polishing of the cylinder head, he had to concentrate on accommodating the secret-spec high-lift cams from Crane. To avoid contact with the cylinder head and the cam lobes, Ben carefully machined the cylinder head to clear the lobes. The cylinder head was then sent to Adam who took the helm and performed a three-angle valve job before stuffing it with a battery of Ferrea hardware: stainless steel valves, double valve springs and titanium retainers. After the cylinder head was completed it was mounted in place and a set of adjustable AEM Tru-Time cam gears were utilized to degree the cams for optimum performance.
With the foundation built and ready for duty, Dana and the Virtual Works crew concentrated on building an equal-length tubular manifold for the extra-large hairdryer. Constructed completely from 1.625-inch stainless steel, Dana meticulously handcrafted the manifold featuring smooth radius bends that channels all exhaust gases into a T4 turbine housing. From the turbine housing the spent gases are directed through a custom 4.5-inch downpipe before making its way through a Burns Stainless muffler. A massive Precision Turbo GT47-88 turbocharger compresses ambient air to three times the atmospheric pressure (42 psi) before forcing it through 3-inch aluminum I/C piping and into a GReddy 4-row air-to-air intercooler. As the compressed charge air makes its way through the intercooler heat is extracted from the charge air increasing the oxygen density of the charge air. This in turn decreases the chances of detonation and allows for more power. From the intercooler the cooler charge air is then routed through 4-inch I/C piping where the amount of airflow is controlled by an Accufab 90mm throttle body.
Once the motor was done this Supra was off to the drag strip. Unlike the pitiful strips most of us are left with, racers in Las Vegas get to run on the The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway most Friday and Saturday nights. As soon as Dana made the first pass he knew that they had a whole new set of problems-suspension. The car was all over the track and ran a best of 11.2. Matt from UPFD sent him a set of custom coil-overs to try out. They needed a lot of adjusting, but after they were dialed the coil-overs worked great. With no other changes to the Supra's power, just a couple of months of tuning, the addition of suspension and adjusting air pressure in the tires, the car ran a 9.96.
While Dana surpassed his original goal of an 11-second daily driver, we all know that no enthusiast stops there. After the 9.96 run Dana decided that it was time to build a custom intake manifold for the car. It was a six-week-long project, night after night on the flow bench trying to get the best numbers possible. Once completed, they headed to the dyno and the intake manifold netted a 40-hp gain. Jason Seibels, who tunes the vehicle, said it was "the most evenly flowing manifold he has ever seen on a Supra."
Once the charge air makes its way into the runners extra-large 1,600cc injectors spray high-octane race fuel before finally making its way into the combustion chamber. Keeping in the injectors fully primed and ready are a trio of Weldon components (fuel pump, filter and fuel pressure regulator) in place of the stock pieces. The air/fuel mixture is further compressed in the combustion chamber where it gets ignited by Denso Iridium spark plugs. Increased spark intensity is aided by an HKS DLI ignition amplifier. Orchestrating ignition and fuel timing is an AEM EMS stand-alone engine management system.