Looking for some advice for turning my supra into a track car

[Juhanis]

i want the car to be able to be driven on both. i installed the coilovers today. its not corner balanced yet, so, there is more to do with that. but it has been aligned and the ride height has been set. its about 3/4" higher in the back, and the front suspension is set a little harder than the back. i tried to promote understeer a little in the alignment since the car is making enough power to be a hand full coming out of turns or getting into the throttle on straights. so far the car feels awesome, when compared to what it was. i checked on my brakes, and they should be ready to be shipped maybe on monday. more to come.

[Zumtizzle]

Which coilovers have you gone with?

Nice work i'll watch this one, and chime in on oil coolers and such in a bit. Can you quote me for a set of 1200 CC Injectors? I'll send in cores as well thanks.

[Juhanis]

Which coilovers have you gone with?

Nice work i'll watch this one, and chime in on oil coolers and such in a bit. Can you quote me for a set of 1200 CC Injectors? I'll send in cores as well thanks.

i went with the megan racing track coilovers. i'll pm you with the price.

[black89t]

I'm sorry, but you can't learn to drive at the limit unless it's a controlled environment. Driving at eight tenths on a twisty public road is pretty different.

There's a big difference between a dedicated track car and a street car prepared for track days, building the former is far more expensive and involved. Still not sure which one homeskillet is really wanting, priorities aren't clear.

very true. i was assuming he was talking a street prepared car. even though with what he plans on doing to the car he would be in SM (street modified) class like me.


and make sure when you corner balance the car to use the ride height adjustment to distribute the weight. you don't want to mess with the preload to get it balanced right. it will handle totally different on a left compared to a right. you want the same preload on all four corners. just thought i would let you know before you waste time doing it wrong. thats why its so important to have seperate preload and ride hight adjustment.

[Juhanis]

luckily my coilovers do have separate height and preload adjustment. the place i'm going to take it to does a lot of track car suspension stuff. so, this is a walk in the park for them.

[black89t]

i went with the megan racing track coilovers. i'll pm you with the price.

nice! i would like to hear how you like them after you get some miles on them. and as much as people talk shit on megan coilovers they aren't that bad. i have a couple friends around here that run the megan tracks and they run good times. one of them is actually usually in the top 5 times. he has a s14 with a rb25 swap running a gt35r, twin scroll mani, tial wg"s, real greddy intake mani, bbk, kazza dif, ect. car is fuckin fast drove it once at autocross and the responce, grip, and braking was amazing! i see why 240's are so popular for track cars. but anyway just though i would assure you they'll be fine for what you plan on doing before people try to trash them.

[Zumtizzle]

all of these off brand coilovers come from the same place. It's just work finding a set that works for you.

[tErbo b00st]

All these high dollar engine parts and you cheap out on Megan coilovers?

[Wreckless]

All these high dollar engine parts and you cheap out on Megan coilovers?

Is wiisass still making those gangster status Bilstein-based MK3 coilovers?

[Juhanis]

All these high dollar engine parts and you cheap out on Megan coilovers?

they had good reviews… i must say, i love mine so far.

[tErbo b00st]

Is wiisass still making those gangster status Bilstein-based MK3 coilovers?

I think he'll build them if you ask nicely. He also does Koni (which is what I have).

they had good reviews… i must say, i love mine so far.

Reviews by people that don't know what a good coilover is and never/rarely take the car to the track.

[Wreckless]

I think he'll build them if you ask nicely. He also does Koni (which is what I have).

That's good news, I suppose. The hardest part about doing a MK3 'right' was the lack of top-shelf suspension options that weren't getting into Moton territory.

Reviews by people that don't know what a good coilover is and never/rarely take the car to the track.

I had a set of the Megan Tracks in my MK3 ages ago, and they were tons better than anything I'd experienced at the time. Then I got some seat time in an E36 that was dialed in on some PSS9's and I realized what I'd been missing. The Megan Tracks will be just fine for the early days and developing skills with lower traction tires though.

[tErbo b00st]

I had a set of the Megan Tracks in my MK3 ages ago, and they were tons better than anything I'd experienced at the time. Then I got some seat time in an E36 that was dialed in on some PSS9's and I realized what I'd been missing. The Megan Tracks will be just fine for the early days and developing skills with lower traction tires though.

I'm of course going to disagree. It's much more difficult to learn when the car is inconsistent and the suspension isn't doing it's job

[Wreckless]

I'm of course going to disagree. It's much more difficult to learn when the car is inconsistent and the suspension isn't doing it's job

On the contrary, the most important thing is track time. As a driver you're going to have to learn to feel and adapt to changes in the cars setup and countless other variables anyway. While he won't be as fast as he'd be on some baller shit, it'll work well enough initially, and after learning to adapt to the quirks of inferior shocks you'll only appreciate good stuff that much more.

[Zumtizzle]

I honestly look at any aftermarket suspension as opening up a new world, I'm sure if this car becomes serious they'll be re-valved, springs will be changed probably half a dozen times.

Juhanis what have you been thinking Remote Filter or Sandwhich plate? Personally with a JZ i'd run a sandwhich with an internal thermostat like the mocal unit.

[Juhanis]

I honestly look at any aftermarket suspension as opening up a new world, I'm sure if this car becomes serious they'll be re-valved, springs will be changed probably half a dozen times.

Juhanis what have you been thinking Remote Filter or Sandwhich plate? Personally with a JZ i'd run a sandwhich with an internal thermostat like the mocal unit.

i have a sandwich plate that was used on an airplane, which i already adapted to work on the jz. i was going to run that when i felt up to the task of installing all that stuff. i already have all of the parts to do this… i just need motivation.

general update:
my rotors/brakets/rear pads should be here by saturday. i paid extra to start over with new blanks and have the slots machined into them instead of having just drilled rotors. i also bought some falken azenis rt615k's for the front, which are mounted and balanced already. the rear tires i'll replace once i kill the crappy ones on there right now. the car has plenty of power to kill them quickly. i was looking into getting some nt01's or something back there. soon the cams/springs/retainers/head studs will go back in. and the redline will be increased to 8k rpm. the car currently gets about 13mpg with some spirited and some highway driving. i'm aiming for higher than this (hopefully 15-20mpg on the highway). so, that's kinda what im up to as of now… tuning… here are some part pictures.
megan coilovers. (these are installed already, as i said)

wilwood calipers/pads. kershaw knife wasn't included =)


little straight line acceleration video i made before i took my old suspension off, and with the drag radials on. the car makes a little more power now, and this is with the stock cams. only 1bar of boost. basically this is the lowest amount of power i can make with this wastegate spring.

[tErbo b00st]

wait. Your getting cross drilled rotors for the track?

[Zumtizzle]

wait. Your getting cross drilled rotors for the track?

Says he's starting over with blanks with slots unless i'm miss reading?

[Juhanis]

Says he's starting over with blanks with slots unless i'm miss reading?

ding, ding, you're correct. i absolutely do not want drilled rotors for my brakes. the wilwood system weighs a lot less than the stock brakes as it is. plus, its less proned to cracking without the drilled holes. i forgot the exact weight, but i think i read that its roughly 40 lbs lighter. of course that depends on the kit, caliper, single or two piece rotors etc.. but the calipers are damn light, so, i can say for sure they weigh a lot less.

[tErbo b00st]

Ok cool. good work

[Juhanis]

well, time for a little update… so, there were a couple of miscommunications involving my order with my big brake kits. the outcome basically is that i have rotors that are only drilled and not slotted at all. and they also included an extra set of pads for the rear brakes, which i dont really mind all that much. haha. so although the rotor thing sucks, i just figured i'll see how i like these ones. and if i dont like them for whatever reason i'll use my credit that i have with them (since i paid extra for the slotted rotors), and just get those. everything went smoothly with the exception of one thing… one of the hubcentric rings didnt fit, which kind of sucks since now i cant drive the car after i put the brakes on it. oh well, enough babbling… onto the pics.

big rotor vs. stock rotor lol


here's a pic of one of the front brakes installed…


and here are what the front and rear brakes look like… it was a pretty tight fit in the front, but then again i was looking for the largest brake i could stuff into that rim.
front.

rear. which still uses the stock parking brake.



my overall impression with the kit was pretty good with the exception for that hubcentric ring not being able to fit properly onto the hub. the hardware was nicely packaged in bags in their own little separate compartments. the brackets were like 3/8" thick steel, and powder coated black. they looked very nice. the kit also included every bolt, washer, shim, etc… which was badass. the kit also came with stainless lines, and new fittings. so, all and all it was a fairly good experience. i think i would have been a little annoyed if i actually had some reason to drive the car though… i have to wait a couple of days for a new ring so that i can install the rotor properly. and then i can drive it.

[tErbo b00st]

You don't need hubcentric rings. The acorn style lug nut self centers the wheel. Other then that nice looking brakes

[RB MOTORSPORTS]

weight reduction proper suspension would work on those first

[Juhanis]

i tried to not use the hubcentric ring on one of the rotors since i couldnt use all four anyway. it sounded like shit… like something was very broken. so, i had the one hubcentric ring that had the too small inside diameter machined to the proper size. i shall try again today to drive it. as for weight reduction the car is about 700 lbs lighter than stock.

[ecekovic]

I hated the hubcentric rings that i used on my bbk, i ended up using a dremel to bore out the Inner and outer diamaters just to get the rotors to slip on, ended up working fine but I would have liked a rotor that did not require them or a ring that was machined much better