1997Soarer

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys

Both cars above are on factory ecus so I pass IL emissions (I have a few tricks setup but I pass and that's all that matters) and both cars are 100% reliable as they are. If I ever NOT had emissions I would experiment with high end standalones to see what other power I could free up.

Both cars have ignition upgrades but the SC runs more advanced timing than the IS does (perks of still having a dist. - you can manually adjust timing and the factory ecu adapts to it). The IS has the better exhaust manifold; The Figs PPE header. The SC only has the MVP (one day I'd like to have a custom one built like Brendan did). If I had money lying around I'd probably buy another Figs and cut it up to fit on a SC (I think both front sections would bolt in but the long 2-1 pipe would have to be altered to fit and line up to the stock catback

Bimmerbill

Rudy, tell me about priorities, I find myself working in my yard more than in my garage or on my cars. I think a time in my life has come to sell off several of my cars and that will leave several more to get rid of down the road. My plan in life was to build and sell each one after I retired. Retirement is not what it is cracked up to be unless you are independently wealthy. Oh well I have had a great life with no regrets. Always enjoy your life and you will not have any regrets either.

RudysSC

Bill - you always have such a great outlook sir. I suppose you never know what your future holds, but I hope to maintain a good grip and outlook as it sounds like you have as well. On that same note - I'm trying very hard (I'm 31 years old) to save money left and right with the hopes of being able to retire at a good age and not have to work myself until I'm dead. Throwing money at cars doesn't help that cause much lol, but I figure if I stick to "beaters" and fun, cheap, older stuff, I can hopefully have the best of both worlds through the course of my life. Always a pleasure reading your comments!

Bimmerbill

Rudy, I also enjoy all of you comments, they are always full of encouragement and life. See you later.

RXRodger

iTrader: (2)

ITB's get mentioned a lot in this thread. ITB's can give you that high maximum hp number which is something a lot of people look for, but it usually is at the cost of mid range torque. On the race car I have done some minor head porting, slight head shaving, removed the MAF, straight intake, removed cats, and large straight exhaust with straight through muffler. I have been in the 213ish range on wheel horsepower on a dyno jet. Just can't seem to squeeze any more out of it. We are going to try a little more tuning. The current tune has knock disabled, so we are going to try a little more aggressive timing and put the knock control back in. In our case, the main thing is to have a safe tune because the car gets hammered on for hour after hour in endurance racing. The current bottom end is a little tired, we had to throw a junkyard engine in the night before a race a little over a year ago and we are still using it, but have since put the good head on that short block. I want to build a little better exhaust downpipes with longer runners before the merge, but just no time lately. We are limited to running stock manifolds, so no header without taking points in the race series. Same on intake manifold. And we must run stock cams. Being non vvti, I may look a little closer at maybe tweaking cam timing to see if there is a couple of ponies there, just hard to do much there without doing some tweaking, putting it on the dyno to see what you get, etc.

Bimmerbill

Good morning Rodger, thanks for your input, that answers a lot of questions I have had. Have you ported your exhaust manifolds so that they are a little bigger than the exhaust port on the head. I have seen that on a number of BMW's. It is supposed to work. Have a great day.

RXRodger

iTrader: (2)

I haven't. The 96+ exhaust manifolds are a fabricated stainless versus the previous years being cast iron. I have a set of those, but they just don't look like they would flow as well as the cast iron ones, so have not used them. But they weigh less, just another trade off, so may see if I can polish and grind on them a little.

Bimmerbill

Rodger, I may have mentioned this before but years back guys running in stock class would make block off flanges for their cast iron exhaust manifolds and fill them with muriatic acid for a day or two and this would help. I never did this but friends told me it did help. Just might be worth trying?

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Bill, I am with Rudy on this-- I love your outlook and certainly living with no regrets is the very best way to live. Your wisdom is much appreciated here and a reminder to all of us to aspire to the same clarity of mind and wide open view of the big picture

As far as special and/or vintage vehicles go, I feel that for any of us at any age they've got to do something for us on a very core level that, with a few older car maintenance quirks being forgivable, gives us joy to own and use them. I would humbly submit that whichever cars or car stays with you Bill they/it should meet that criteria.

To that end I'd emphasize that the right modifications for your SC are the ones that truly make you happy. The SC chassis itself and how it feels to drive even without boost is pretty special on its own. How *you* enjoy and drive your car as you would have it set up is the most important thing, Bill. I can tell you that the modifications that really made me fall in love with my SC other than the car itself when it was stock came YEARS before I finally swapped the naturally aspirated engine out for a turbocharged one.

A fun and timeless car is just that no matter how it's set up.


Rudy, I also do not regret finally getting my GTE swap done but I do have to agree that the actual stock naturally aspirated engine was in several ways simpler to maintain and did have a lot to offer in the fun department even though it wasn't overly powerful for the weight of the chassis.

It's also a fact that non-turbo engines will last longer than turbocharged ones even in the case of a very strong and overbuilt 2JZ with turbo boost thrown at it. I believe the current record for the highest mileage is a 500,000+ mile 100% stock 2JZ-GE Non-VVT-i in an MKIV Supra which is very impressive. The 2JZ-GTE or any boosted 2JZ may or may not reach that mileage between rebuilds if cared for *really* well.

As far as future swaps go I think I will eventually do one more and that would be an EV conversion to an SC but it's just not affordable or ideal right now for this chassis with the current mix of OEM and aftermarket parts and aftermarket support currently available. Much farther down the road those factors may change. That said I'm only researching it on the far back burner for now and I'm just happy enjoying my SC as it is while I shift focus to other things.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Rodger, agreed on the tradeoffs with custom ITB setups. Every naturally aspirated engine with an ITB system that I have ever seen tends to be tuned for the higher RPM range with aggressive gearing. Glorious sound and response but certainly at the expense of low end power. Also in your situation your class rules probably would never allow you to use such hardware unfortunately.

Question: Are you allowed by those class rules to port the stock cast iron two-piece exhaust manifolds?

RXRodger

iTrader: (2)

Yes, we can port heads, manifolds, etc. It is just something I have not taken the time to do. There are so many things to do to a race car to 1) keep what you have running reliably and 2) doing improvements. Time has been so tight that most of our focus lately has been on the first part, just making sure it stays running. Our focus before the next race is going to be troubleshooting a loss of power at our last race at Road America and then focusing on hyper weight reduction. I need to get 200 pounds or more out of the car, but man it is going to be a challenge as all of the low and mid hanging fruit have been picked.

Bimmerbill

Craig, I appreciate your comments. Thank you so much. I feel like I was just rewarded with a big MEDAL for doing something great and wonderful.

Rudy, Thanks again for yours also.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Just thought I would share this here. Jay Emm On Cars reviews a UK imported 1995 Supra SZ (factory W58 LSD model) with an Australian made aftermarket ITB kit. Not "fast" but very responsive, very engaging and fun.