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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Tracking a n/a supra


Scutch0
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Hi guys, I had my first taste of track action yesterday with a evo and scoob on a driving experience day, and I felt right at home within a few laps in each car (having a Aston and a Lamborghini in the evo over the space of 6 laps :) ) and it's all I can think about now. I had toyed with the idea of getting a evo instead, but I'd like people's ideas on takingmy n/a on track?

 

It's pretty stock ATM, 18's, blitz nur spec, and a Chris Wilson first decat. It appears to be on stock suspension.

I think my first port of call would be to upgrade the brakes somewhat as they seem fine at speed, but lack feel at lower speeds, they also couldn't hold a candle to the brakes on the evo obviously.

 

Is the stock suspension pretty good on track?

I will say I'm not super flushed with cash so I'll possibly sort it over time, and would like the most cost effective way to prepare her.

 

Thanks guys

Rich.

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As Craig said, gut it like a fish!

 

Don't be under any illusion that because the car is a NA it will somehow be cheaper to track, modifying a car to get the best out of it is a slippery, as in near vertical slope, believe me.:) Everything becomes a worth the money if you squint hard enough. I'm loath to calculate the current cost for my yet-to-see the track-this-year mistress. And I've been a cheapskate by this club's standards!

 

Are you prepared to live without all the creature comforts that keep the softies around here happy?;)

 

If so the aircon, the heater unit behind the dash, the carpet, the rear seat, the heay front seats, the I.C.E. and other such luxuries can all be removed if you can live without them, it makes it easier if the car isn't your daily driver admittedly. Theres 150kg that can be lost without spending a penny. That alone is worth £1000 spent on brakes, suspension or the engine.

 

If your car doesn't have, at the very minimum, the factory torsen LSD already fitted to it then I'd suggest investing a few sheets in something half decent from the numerous suppliers around, a one way diff is plenty. Don't bother fitting the factory torsen if you don't have one, it's not a diff for track use and although an improvement over nothing at all it's not worth the effort of fitting it for the gain.

 

Brakes are alway a good place to spend a few quid on. There are several options open to you. The first is a rebuild of your own calipers, decent pads, lines and fluid for the brakes you have, this can produce surprising results if the correct components are used. The next and probably most popular option are the UK-spec brakes, 4 pot fronts and 2 pot rears. Again, with a rebuild, the right disks, pads, lines and fluids this set-up is pretty hard to beat for the money and will out perform most of the cheaper eleventy-million pot big brake conversions available. The next real option is AP, Alcon, Stoptech and a few other top-end brake manufactures, these are money-no-object options and pretty much speak for themselves.

 

Talk to Chris Wilson regarding suspension (and everything else for that matter). Simple as.

 

Do not spend money on the engine, other than to get it running properly or to fit a turbo. But address everything else first as regardless of what you choose to do about the powerplant the rest of the work will stand to it in the long run.

Edited by pedrosixfour (see edit history)
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Do the suspension and brakes and it should be a fairly good track car, you should probably budget for an engine oil cooler as well. Next I would suggest you look at fitting a good plate type LSD like a Giken. Just depends on budget and "keeness". Sadly track days are addictive and you WILL want something faster before too long, then something faster still.... :)

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Thanks for all the input guys!

Sounds promising! I can quite believe that it's addictive, however I drove a 350bhp scoob sti which was manic in a straight line, but suffered from the usual impreza understeer, whereas the evo was so agile thru the twisties, so I'd be happy with a similar handling ability!

It's my weekend car, so it doesn't have to be too civilised.

Ive come up with a list, what do we think?

 

-braided lines^

-5.1 fluid

-new discs, I'm not really into drilled and grooved as I've had mixed experiences, so was planning to go for new stock ones?

-new pads, suggestions?

-17's -stock?

-good rubber, any suggestions? As I'll be driving it to the track

-exhaust bung (it's pretty loud :) )

-front strut brace

-fast road geometry setup

-harnesses

-loose install, rear plastics & rear seats

-tow hooks

Edited by Scutch0 (see edit history)
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-braided lines

- Any of the recognised brands will be fine.

 

-5.1 fluid

- some would argue that a very good quality dot4 outperforms dot 5.1 in tough conditions. But choose a good brand in either and you'll be fine.

 

-new discs, I'm not really into drilled and grooved as I've had mixed experiences, so was planning to go for new stock ones?

- Stock seems to be a good option although I have to say I use 3G disks front and rear and I'm very happy with them. Having said that I don't appear to be the hardest person on brakes. Now gearboxes are a different matter!

 

-new pads, suggestions?

-A Chris Wilson track spec pad would be a very good idea with stock disks and calipers but I don't know if he offers an option for both caliper sizes on the Supra. Do a bit of a search, there are several threads about different pads used on Supras that are tracked regularly.

 

-17's -stock?

- Perfect.

 

-good rubber, any suggestions? As I'll be driving it to the track.

- Opinion is divided on this. R888's were the default choice for most of us for a while but most would agree that they overheated on the heavy Supra when giving it the beans and lately prices have gone through the roof. There are several other options available in a street legal, semi slick tyre, some also have a compound option. Again the search button is your friend.

 

-exhaust bung (it's pretty loud :) )

- How loud?:)

 

-front strut brace

- Not really much of an improvement due to the type of suspension used in the Supra. I have a Carbing brace myself, but more for the brake master cylinder stopper it comes with rather than any effect it has on the suspension. Upgrading your anti roll bars would be money better spent. Rear first, then a matched front.

 

-fast road geometry setup

- See if anyone that has been recommended on this site to do this job is in your area.

 

-harnesses

- Only a good idea if you are prepared to do it right and fit a roll cage and proper bucket seats. Harnesses can be bad news otherwise.

 

-loose install, rear plastics & rear seats

- Thats a morning's work!

 

-tow hooks

- Supra comes with these as standard, save your money. For something else.

Edited by pedrosixfour (see edit history)
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i reverted back to 4.0 racing fluid over 5.1 . may have just have been me but i felt the pedal lost feel when the brakes got hot

 

I will be monitoring my own Motul 5.1 closely now that the ABS unit is out of the system but I did think my own pedal was a bit spongy the last couple of times I was out. It's possible the fluid is not up to the job.

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Unless you're looking at spending mega money, I'd go with stock Toyota-Bilstein dampers, a Torsen LSD, stock 17s, some boggo standard road tyres for your first year or so, a quiet exhaust (preferably no bung required), braided lines, cw fast road pads, a full service, and a full geometry setup. Losing weight can come later (though I did go full bore and strip mine out before I'd even done a track day).

 

I ran mine for about 3 years with a very similar setup, though the brakes and tyres were eventually upgraded, and loved every bit of it.

 

You could, if you were interested, then join in with the Toyota Sprint Series next year. ;)

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I had considered just getting some decent road tires before going r888's or something, see a pal of mine used to do alot of sprint series, and it something I have considered, but I'll see how I go to start with... I'm actually starting to worry about stripping my pretty mint n/a...

Also I'm not sure If I should start out on the current suspension or not, as sitting beside other supras it's defineately lower even on the 18's.

Is a LSD one of the first ports of call then? I was kinda hoping to start off small next year and just loose some of the weight, 17's, sort the brakes and just have a bit of fun, then go a bit more serious the year after!

Also on exhaust systems, I was considering completely decatting her for on track, as I'm running a first decat and it made quite a bit of difference, but even now, it is very loud as it doesn't have the silencers on the stock twin pipes before the backbox... So I'm concerned about not passing the noise regulations.

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Check the VIN plate under the bonnet on the driver's side next to the wing.

 

If it says A01B under Trans/Axle then, unless the diff has previously been swapped, you have a torsen diff (the B is the critical bit) and you can run that til the cows come home if you wish, it's just not as good as a plate type diff on the track.

 

If the diff code has an A at the end (A01A) then chances are you have an open diff. Again, run this for as long as you need to but when the time comes and funds allow then treat the car to something decent and marvel at the transformation!

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In terms of necessary things to do before you go tracking -

Full service

Reduce noise (Put the cat back in and use a stock exhaust, if necessary)

 

High priority after that -

1. Brake upgrades (new pads, braided lines)

2. Full Geo Setup (on whichever wheels you will be tracking on)

 

The rest are just nice to have. Get on and enjoy it.

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