Project Supra is back, but in blue-lots of blue.
It's been a long time. Some of you probably even forgot about the car already. Our MKIV Supra project started life back in 2004 in its original white form. After extensive performance upgrades it morphed into what you see here.
During this process we installed Tein coilovers, Brembo brakes, iForged wheels with Bridgestone tires, and went a step further with a full engine rebuild and an SP71-GTS turbo upgrade-all controlled with an AEM engine management system. But in May 2005, our 1,000-mile old motor nearly seized and our main bearings were toast due to the dreaded crankwalk. The car sat for over two years but we at least got a few things done, including its change of color (PPG Estoril Blue), Sparco Siena seats and '98 model headlights from Champion Toyota.
We ended up getting a new cylinder head from Champion Toyota, which was sent to Amazon Racing for a mild port and polish. It was also fitted with our 1mm oversized Ferrea valves and had a five-angle valve job at 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 degrees with a 1mm seat at a 45-degree angle.
Fast-forward to May of 2007 and the car was ready to be fired up with a brand-new engine rebuild, using the same Pauter rods and Pro-Gram billet main caps, but with new and improved JE Pistons. Sadly again, the day came to fire it up and the engine locked up. In a panic to get the project moving, we ordered a brand-new factory short-block, which you can order for a very reasonable couple grand from Champion Toyota. Shortly after, we found out our block was actually OK and had locked up at the oil pump from improper pre-lubrication. We'll keep the engine as a spare for now.
The headaches continued, however, when attempting to get the car back together. During its two-year absence-between having it stored at various automotive shops and being stripped-down for a color-changing paint job-several parts were missing. First, the cam caps for the cylinder head couldn't be found, so there went our head. A new head was purchased from Champion Toyota and was sent to Amazon Racing to get massaged and fitted with our Ferrea valvetrain, which included titanium retainers, dual valvesprings and 1mm oversized valves. Amazon also completed a five- and four-angle radius valve jobs to the intake and exhaust sides, respectively. Amazon lapped each valve for optimal seal against the seats when each valve is closed, and back-cut the top outside edges of the intake valves for improved velocity when opened at low lift.
We got a new factory short-block from Champion Toyota. Josh Rickards at House of Power was responsible for putting that together. We were also excited to test our new SP71-GTS turbo.
Amazon then sent the head to get flow bench tested in order to baseline the flow before its minor porting and mirror polishing. After the work was done it was resent and at 0.4-inch valve lift and 28 inches of water, the figures improved by an additional 19 percent on the intake side and 22 percent on the exhaust
Once the long-block was completed at Amazon it went to House of Power, where owner Josh Rickards was in charge of putting the long-block together and back in the car. He also had to put up with the numerous "little things" that kept the car there for weeks before he gave it his seal of approval for transport.
To recap, we've got the Boost Logic pulleys as well as AEM adjustable cam gears. Next time, we'll see if we can further improve performance of our HKS 272-degree cams with these gears.
Another part that turned out missing during a previous tow was the freshly painted T-top, which would've set us back another $2,000 for a new one. In order to transfer the car from California to its home near Kansas City, Miss., we needed another one fast. After an exhaustive search we came across Turbo Toys on the East Coast, which specializes in used Supra and various Nissan parts. The company sold us one from a crashed silver MKIV. It was a perfect fit, of course. Now we just needed to paint it.