From Reg Riemer Fri, Oct 27, 1995 Calgary, Alberta. Canada. Hello all JZA-80 owners. We are also racing a 94 JZA-80 TT in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Supras driver and owner is Mark Love of Calgary. Mark is very happy with my first years efforts tuning his car. In all Honesty I didn't think I would have time for the project, but after I got started with the JZA 80 I was having so much fun living with the car on my driveway that, well lets just say I made the time to read the service manuals and documentation on the car "thanks John Page for the New Car Features Book, indispensable information". The JZA-80 really is a fantastic car, easy to work, forgiving when driven fast {you can even listen to Bach while blasting around the track}, good looking, the list goes on and on. At first exposure to the stock car Mark and I were very disappointed with the cars raw Horse Power performance. For me the engine was to flat below 4000 rpm to compare to my hot 3000 lb HKS'ed 82 7M-GTE powered Supra, the stock JZA-80 just seemed flat pooped. I discovered that part of the reason the car was initially so bow wowed, was that the previous owners has stuffed a small ball bearing into one of vacuum lines coming out of the VSV for the # 1 turbo waste gate, in slap happy hopes of making the FBC work. People who do not understand things should leave well enough alone. This problem along with Calgary's 4000 feet altitude made the car slower than it should have been. Mark was very close to giving the car back to the dealer he purchased it from when Toyota gave him my name in hopes I could sort out the problems with the car the dealers could not find. Mark is a very good driver with a number of training schools behind him. He is very smooth and at easy behind the wheel, this is a big advantage for him and the car. This past weekend Mark had a best time of 1:29 on the 2.1 mile 10 turn smooth flat easy Race City road course. Full bore race cars run 1:26 and 1:27's on the track. The Supra was basically killing all cars at the track this past weekend including an original super big {$, six zeros} collectors Ford GT 40 race car! The bad black Supra was on its tail all the way down the straights, passing the 30 year old suspension and tires in the turns was no problem compared with trying to pass the the GT-40's full race engine down the straights. The ford V8 sounded fantastic with its open headers and wild race cam. There was a large number of hot 911 race cars, 911 street cars, as well as a brand new 911 TT. Also on the track last weekend: Ferrari's, NSX's, a Dodge Stealths and also a Viper, M-BMW's, Lotus Esprit turbo. I had no idea there was so much exotic hardware in Calgary. The TT Supra was passing everything on the straights like most cars pass other cars the open highway. The new 911 TT handles much better than 911's of past, many of the older 911 were put into the weeds and concrete due to spins, the older 911's must be a handful to drive. The owners looked like they were working very hard just keeping the cars on the track at the slower speeds. The JZA-80 feels like it is on a sunday drive all the way around the track. When the Supra TT comes in the pits other car owners would come over to see the black Supra sitting there purring at 650 rpm cool as a cucumber with only a slight burble from the big exhaust system. Most people were absolutely astonished at how the car performed. The amazing thing is other than the following changes the car is basically a stock Supra. Some of the changes I have made to the car this season are as follows: We are running with a stock ECU with and Fuel cut system employed. Mods to the TCS, on the stock JZA-80 TT the trac computer still gets into the engine timing when the trac off button is activated. Pulling out the timing when it senses wheel spin. A simple mod to the trac ecu will allow you to have the system really shut off when you push trac off button. Still allowing normal trac operation when trac is turned on. In the exhaust department we are using a custom made 3.5 inch down pipe replacing the cats {by far the most drastic improvement made to the car}. The factory cat's and pipe amount to half of the exhaust system under the car. The rest of the system is a 85mm single exhaust pipe to the 130mm tip at the rear. I am controlling boost pressure with an FBC {fussy boost controller} manufactured by M's. It is only controlling the boost pressure via the #1 turbos waste gate yielding adjustable boost pressures up to 18 lbs when booth turbos are up. The most boost we have run on the 2JZ- GTE engine at the track is 16 psi for 10 to 12 laps around the 2.1 mile track. We are running race fuel. It is cool in Calgary this time of year and the car has performed flawlessly, infact oil and water temperatures have always remained within normal. Mark has already purchased the Greddy front mount intercooler along with the Greddy Rebic III with 2x550cc ND injectors. We will be installing this gear over the coming winter. We are also looking into a single turbo upgrade this winter, this is why we left the ECU stock. The only advantage to chipping the ECU is to allow for changes to stock TT boost management below 4000 rpm IE: single turbo to tandem timing and pressure. The cost of $1200 to $1500 dollars to do the ECU would be money down the drain in our case. The JZA-80's Stock Fuel system works well to about 17 psi with the stock turbos all you need is a FCD. P.S. We are currently using eibach springs and stock shocks, running larger than stock tires all around. Tire temperatures are ok, we are running 35 psi hot rear and 39 psi hot front. If anyone has played with alignment specifications please let me know what you have learned. To see what the suspension is doing I followed the Supra around the track in a very fast DSM race Talon {SEE TALON BELLOW}. The rear of the car is somewhat happy and it appears that do to the lower ride height we may be getting to much jounce suspension travel causing excessive negative camber on the outside rear tire. Only 1/2 to 2/3 of the inside edge of the tire remain glued to the track. I would like to limit the jounce travel the same amount the springs have lowered the car, to see if the car levels out. Also the rear suspension may not need much initial negative camber. The inside tire is firmly planted, the suspension appears to built its own ample negative camber on compression. Maybe by putting all of our heads together we can all benefit from the racing time. {TALON} This Talon killed off everybody at the C.O.P. hill climb a few weeks ago, full bore Mustangs, race prepped Corvettes, Alfa's, Porsche's, GT1 race cars of all sorts. A really mean DSM car running a real 350 hp 4 banger, race suspension, etc. The big V8 camp guys have lost to this car for the past three events in two years, some of them are not happy about being eaten alive by a 4 banger Japanese car! I say HA HA HA HA. We should take a vote and see if this letter should be sent to the Talon list guys, I think they would like to read this message. You guys figure it out ok. P.P.S. Please ignore any type o's, I blasted this note together. Talk soon Reg Riemer of {SONIC} {END OF FILE} __________________________ From: GODKNOWS@aol.com Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1995 00:27:49 -0400 To: supras@vicor.com Subject: Re: TT power & racing the JZA-80 Sender: owner-supras@vicor.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: supras@vicor.com Reg Riemer says: > P.S. We are currently using eibach springs and stock shocks, running > larger than stock tires all around. Tire temperatures are ok, we are > running 35 psi hot rear and 39 psi hot front. If anyone has played > with alignment specifications please let me know what you have > learned. To see what the suspension is doing I followed the Supra > around the track in a very fast DSM race Talon {SEE TALON BELLOW}. > The rear of the car is somewhat happy and it appears that do to the > lower ride height we may be getting to much jounce suspension travel > causing excessive negative camber on the outside rear tire. Only 1/2 > to 2/3 of the inside edge of the tire remain glued to the track. I > would like to limit the jounce travel the same amount the springs > have lowered the car, to see if the car levels out. Also the rear > suspension may not need much initial negative camber. The inside tire > is firmly planted, the suspension appears to built its own ample > negative camber on compression. > > Maybe by putting all of our heads together we can all benefit from > the racing time. The whole letter from Reg excites the hell out of me! Next weekend I'm going to be at Willow Springs on the big road racing track with my 94 TT - I can't wait! I know of two things that will help Mark and Reg. Both are related to suspension (getting all that power out on the track). The first is tires. Mark is running stock tires (I know they're bigger, but they're street tires). When I road race I replace my street tires with BFG R1s. They make a huge difference. They have a stiffer sidewall and they are sticky as can be. I am running stock sizes front and rear (235/45X17 front) and (255/40X17 rear). After a few events on the normal size R1s I am now convinced that the way to go is with 245/45 front and 275/40 rear. They will fit and will give that much more in cornering ability - helping keep the tail better planted when powering out of a corner. The TT has so much power that it is easy for the tail to swing wide or want to swap ends if you give it as much gas as you're tempted to. With the R1s you are just able to get more power to the ground safely, especially when cornering. And they also brake better. Yes, going up a little will give somewhat more rolling resistance, but the TT can cover it! My car is bone stock engine-wise although I soon plan to modify it some. The second improvement is to change the shocks. The only adjustable ones made now that I am aware of is GABs. I've done it and I can testify that although they sure aren't fun to drive on crappy city streets (they start out on the mildest setting at about 15% stiffer than stock), they are wonderful on the track. And I think that they might help with what Reg noticed being excessive jounce. They keep the whole platform better planted on hard cornering, braking, etc. I have the Eibachs too. Indeed, let's keep talking about these modifications. I know that there are a couple of others on this list who road race. Let's hear from you. There's a new addition: RACER618@aol.com (Ara Arslanian), plus our old standby: Kenne45663@aol.com (Ken Steinbach) and others. John Page __________________________ >I can understand your feeling about launching at high revs and annihilating >your 18" tires. But it will only be abusive if you drop the clutch at like >5000 RMPs. I know it's easier said than done, but you must finesse the >throttle and clutch to get a decent launch. You must also consider that the >suspension on these cars are not designed for hard launches. They are >designed and intended more for road racing. In any case, Turbos with manual >transmissions are not easy to launch. > I have done enough modifications on my 93 1/2 (premier model) TT to >boost the HP to about 430 horses. Although I only road race her, I did manage >to perform a decent 1/4 mile launch from 3000 RPMs and ran a time of 12.91 at >113 on 15 lbs. of boost. It was my second attempt only so I can definately >say that my good launch was mostly luck. It takes plenty of practice to make >consistent launches. > > Goodluck all > Ara __________________________ From: RACER618@aol.com Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 09:38:50 -0500 To: supras@vicor.com Subject: Re: TT power & racing the JZA-80 Sender: owner-supras@vicor.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: supras@vicor.com Hi John, this is Racer618 (Ara). John is absolutely right about the R-1 tires. At the Lime Rock track in Conn. (1.54 miles with 7 turns) where I run my TT, my lap times are about 1 second faster on the R1's than any other street tire. I am also running the stock size tires, but I will try the little larger size that John recommends and share my findings. Goodluck Ara Arslanian __________________________ From: RACER618@aol.com Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 09:24:50 -0500 To: supras@vicor.com Subject: Re: TT power & racing the JZA-80 Sender: owner-supras@vicor.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: supras@vicor.com Dear Reg, Thanks for sharing your modification and racing insights on the new Supra TT. I also race my TT at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut with times in the 1:03's with no lap traffic. I have left the stock downpipe intact for the time being, but will contact you about your downpipe system. Can you also tell us if you are using the stock seats or aftermarkets. I have the lightest OMP seats availabe ( about 7 1/2 lbs.) made of Kevlar/carbon: model ARS. If you are using aftermarket seats, which one and did you have to fabricate your own seat brackets. Also what type of wheels are you racing with? I have been running the Ultr-light Speedlines. Goodluck Ara __________________________ From: Kenne45663@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 23:03:15 -0400 To: supras@vicor.com Subject: Supra Supercar Sender: owner-supras@vicor.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: supras@vicor.com I don't know how many of you watch the Bridgestone Supercar series on ESPN, but it's great racing among cars that are relatively close to stock running on Bridgestone street-legal tires. I just finished watching a tape of the race at Phoenix and there is now a Supra TT joining the fray with Corvette, BMW, Nissan, Porsche, Pontiac, et.al. In just its second race the Supra, driven by Javier Quiroz, qualified second behind the series champion. The starting positions were inverted so he actually started farther back in the pack and had worked his way up to second before being booted from behind, dropping him back to fifth. Later he spun in an oil slick laid down by a lame 300ZX TT. The announcer mentioned that the Supra was brand new to the series but was amazingly fast right from the start. The other cars in the series have had several years (or in the case of Corvette, decades) of development so it is quite a tribute to Toyota's engineering. I only hope that their decision to halt production doesn't eliminate the car from future competition, since it looks like it would have a bright future.