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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Manual Aerotop?


Scott
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As i understand it its impossible to buy an Aerotop with a manual gearbox. I really like the idea of the Aerotop as i have a T-Bar at the moment which is great in the (few and far between) good weather.

 

I've seen a few people talking about Auto-Manual conversions. Has anyone here actually done this? What sort of ballpark figure is this conversion? I would be getting an experienced garage to do the work so it would probably be around £50 an hour. Is it a big job?

 

I've also seen it mentioned that the 5speed box is stronger than the 6 speed. Would doing the conversion with a 5 speed N/A box be better?

 

What u guys think?

 

Scott =op

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I've also seen it mentioned that the 5speed box is stronger than the 6 speed
That's not right mate. The 6sp Getrag v160/v161 is near indestructible.

 

The rest I will leave for someone else to answer because it's been done to death many times before

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£2200 for all the parts from a [cough]Reputable spares dealer[cough]. £3k job usually all inc. My own car is a converted 6 speed aerotop. You dont have to be an expert mechanic to do the conversion yourself to be honest. One particular member did his own conversion in 8 hours on his drive. ;)

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See this is the thing, i definitely want a manual, it has to be the turbo and my preference was a UK model. However, i currently have a T-Bar and the aerotop would be great. The thing is that the aerotops are actually quite cheap because they are auto's. I could probably buy one and do the conversion for the same sort of money as a uk manual tt.

 

I just read about a list of the parts i'll need that was floating around at one point. Was an excel spreadsheet IIRC.

 

Would anyone be kind enough to point me in the right direction to download it?

 

Scott =op

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U aint wrong mate but it is nice that on the occasion when we do get a nice day that i can take the roof off. My T-Bar hardly comes off but its great when it does. Saying that, 5 mins in and the windows are up with the heater on because she complains she is getting cold.

 

Jake, why "Ewww" to the UK model? I thought the equipment was better on it with regards to the fuel pump, interior, lights etc and its also much easier to sell when the time comes? Can't really see any downside to the UK model other than its more expensive.

 

Scott =op

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Jake, why "Ewww" to the UK model? I thought the equipment was better on it with regards to the fuel pump, interior, lights etc and its also much easier to sell when the time comes? Can't really see any downside to the UK model other than its more expensive.
It was tongue-in-cheek. There's a lot of "my car's better than yours" banter between the UK owners and the J-spec owners.

 

Here's my take on it (other will disagree and that's fine):

Fuel pumps and headlights are cheap and easy to change. Personally I would rather have a newer, lighter car, with Recaro seats and the excellent j-spec turbos. VVTi is an added bonus.

 

I suppose it depends what you want. The UKs are a great luxury car but they're heavier than the J-cars, they have the smaller, less torque, laggy steel turbos, a lot of them have beige interiors and stuff I don't want/need like cruise control, headlight dildos, EGR and heated leather seats.

On the plus side they do have glass headlights, 550cc injectors and decent brakes but any good j-car has the same brakes. Glass headlights are cheap if you want them (most folks seem to prefer the facelift j-spec ones but I like the glass ones)

Once you start seriously modding the car you'll want more than 550cc injectors anyway.

 

Don't get me wrong, UKs are fine cars but in my opinion they're not the top Supra to have, not if you want a sports car anyway.

 

I would recommend that before you buy a Supra take the Pepsi challenge and drive a VVTi manual RZ and a UK manual. To me they're very different cars but who knows, you might prefer the UK.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if you do test drive both types.

 

 

 

 

ps,

And don't get me started on bloody aerotops! :D

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Lol, see this is one of the reasons i joined this board waaaay before i'll be buying one.

 

Earlier on i was reading about the differences on a website and it stated that the UK turbo's are upgraded versions of the JSpec ones. I didn't realise the ceramic ones were better, although i assume thats because the internals are lighter, they won't be as strong though. As i read it the UK ones could take 1.4bar wheras the jspec ones were only good for 1.2 bar.

 

Is the VVTi not a bit new for me? I thought they were post 96.

 

Oh, please start on aerotops coz thats what i'm thinking about now. I want to get as much info on all the different models as i can. Its the opinions i am interested in not the paper facts.

 

Cheers

 

Scott =op

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It's a can-o-worms and one that's been gone over many times on here but basically ceramic j-spec turbos are more responsive (faster spooling, more torque) and the UK ones can make more peak power (but the UK cars are heavier) - I think these things are generally accepted.

Neither type is much use above 1.2 bar as (to put it in simple terms) they just make heat rather than power when they're out of their efficiency 'island'.

 

Look for posts by Chris Wilson and JohnA for lots of interesting, and differing, opinions on the subject. CW is generally regarded as this country's leading expert on Supra tech and I know he wouldn't have a UK spec either.

 

How do you mean a VVTi is too new for you? There's no such thing as too new, is there?

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If you tilt your head to the left you will see its a :p cept without the icon. In the AOL AIM days i absolutely hated the smileys. I have no idea why i hated them but i made up my own using text. I obviously couldn't use the normal ones such as : - ) as they would generate the smileys.

 

I use =op as a type of signature as there are many scott's.

 

Scott =op

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A standard rev2 is 5.7, a standard rev3 and upwards is 5.1. Mine has a bit more horsepower than a rev3 so really gunning it i would guess between 4.5 and 5 seconds. Even i could manage 5 but a really good driver could probably get 4.5

 

HTH

 

Scott =op

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