April '04 NEWS

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6-04-04 - 10:30pm - Here we go... another month, another news update!

Hope you've had time to let the SSCOSTT system sink in since the last post... I think I have ;)

This coming weekend is EASTER, YAY! You know what that means? Lots of chocolate for most people, church or family for some others... For us? It means 4 days straight to work on the car!

Yes, that's right, this weekend we'll be taking the entire turbo system out, making adjustments, checking things, and putting it all back in, hopefully with the beginnings of the SSCOSTT system working!

We've made the call, due to the cost of the parts we're going to use as the intake valves, that initially we're going to run with just one, and vent the big compressor's initial flow to atmosphere (the engine bay, lol) rather than into the small compressor.

To remind you, the system diagram...

So... basically if you look at the green "recirculation" pipe, we won't have that initially. We will have the small valve next to the blowoff valve after the big compressor, but that will open directly to the engine bay and release the air out there. We won't have the intake valve in the filter - small compressor pipe yet, either, and will continue to pull airflow for the small turbo direct from the air filter.

Why? Because of the costs of the valves, we don't want to fork out for two if we find that one doesn't achieve the desired results.

Also, it'd be good to make sure it works properly before we even attempt to flow the airflow through the small compressor and confuse things even more... changing one thing at a time is always a good idea.

So, what should we get out of this? We should get air flowing through the big compressor (at last) rather than have it hit the brick wall of a 1 way valve (with full pressure from the small compressor on the other side), allowing the big turbo to make boost and flow before we decide to bring it online. At the point we snap the new valve closed, the flow of the big turbo will (theoretically) throw open that one way valve and enter the system.

If it doesn't work? I say "crap" and we lose the one way valve in return for another electronic valve we can open whenever we want. Still the one way valve is a good idea, to prevent air from reversing back through the big compressor for some stupid reason (while tuning most likely, hehe)

So that's what the coming Easter weekend will consist of...

Looks like fun, huh! :)

Can't wait.... keep an eye on the webcam page as it'll finally get an update while we're working on the car! :)

Or... you could go to church... ;)

Regards,

Jason

20-04-04 - 10pm - Welcome back! I know I've been slack as usual with my updates...

Last weekend was another "work on the car" weekend...

We had a few leaks to patch up in the intake.... and an oil leak to stop. Well, the oil leak isn't quite fixed, that'll be a this weekend job. The intake's pretty well patched up (and looking grubby again covered in welds :) ) and working pretty nicely.

The other big news for the weekend was the installation of my new Coilovers.

This exciting purchase came sugar coated! I bought a set of Ohlins coilovers from an import company over east. They had taken the set off a Soarer, so I knew it would fit the Supra, and had put stock suspension back on the Soarer since its new owner didn't like the ride hardness of the Ohlins, and the company said they were only height adjustable, so the customer just said replace them with standard...

Anyway, after a little research into the Ohlins brand, I realised that this company made what is widely regarded as some of the top Suspension components available. The fact that the company selling them said they were height adjustable only was a little confusing, as I figured such a good brand would be fully adjustable... I E-Mailed, and they confirmed that these were in fact, height adjustable only. Crap. So... their price was $1700AUD shipped, and they'd been reconditioned, which is approaching the price of a totally new set of TEIN HA fully adjustable coilovers.

After much umming and ahhing, I decided that the brand name of Ohlins meant that the coilovers MUST be made well enough even without damper adjustability, so I had a chat, negotiated the price down to $1400AUD Shipped (*Grin*) and paid for them...

They arrived after a couple of weeks. Much to my surprise and total pleasure, I found out when I got them tested that they ARE in fact totally adjustable, moreso than many other adjustable coilovers!

They have height adjustability, damper adjustability (which adjusts Rebound and Bump settings), but also a bump only adjustment, which adjusts bump relative to the Rebound rate!

The damper setting is 30 point, and the range of damper is incredible! After installing them this last weekend, I set them to fully soft damper, and could EASILY bounce the car up and down on the suspension. I thought "oh no, the spring rate is way low", so I set it up to full hardness to see if it was still soft.

Much to my delight, I could not budge the car at ALL. I rested my whole weight on it, bounced up and down, and ... damn, it was rock solid!

So for now, I've set it to 20/30 clicks for both front and rear, though I think I may harden up the rear just a little more, as there's still a little roll in corners ;)

It also turns out that the coilovers have been rebuilt with TEIN Solid upper mounts, and Tanabe Precedeo Springs! Bonus! :)

All in all, I've been told the set is probably worth over $5000, and to pick them up for $1400 was an absolute steal!

Thankfully the company who was selling them didn't know they were fully adjustable, and priced them as such. Lucky for me I took the gamble and won! :)

Now, some photos from last weekend... when we basically took the entire system out, assembled it on the bench, then put it all back in the car! Hopefully that will be the last time in a long time we have to do that!

Here's the pics...