Martin Donnon

Tilbrook has laptop tuning available now

The reason I had trouble is that the unit I was trying to tune as a Pro wasnt. Some less that desirable had installed an FC Pro sticker on the box, but other than that it was an absolutely conventional R32/R33 GTR computer. I deal directly with AP Engineering in Japan, so can source any of their 'domestic only' parts such as RB20DET FC, 1JZ FC etc if you happen to need them

I dont want to sound like an old woman here, but leaving the compression of the RB as tall as possible by retaining the stock head gasket would be part of my plan. The only thing that ever damages them is detonation, and good tuning keeps that from occurring. Ive seen the stock gaskets perform reliably at 330rwkw +, so you shouldnt have a problem. As far as compression is concerned, consider when Munros 3 litre engine was pulled down and reassembled that the target compression was raised from 8.6:1 - 9.05:1. The same goes for the other 'big' GTR we are screwing together at the moment, a road car using a strict diet of 98 octane unleaded and 1.7 bar (max) boost. Its been constructed at 9.2:1. If I spent a couple of hours on your combination, as is now, we should be able to squeeze it quite happily to 260rwkw. If you want to take me up on the offer I will help you FOC. Just cost you a feature in HPI. Is all. I dont know why, but the Z family of engines 1J/2J sound much different to the RBs. Theyhave really odd shaped exhaust ports which obviously contribute. BTW Whatisname I have the turbos off my car, sitting on the bench at GT Autosound in Glynde, so if you are popping past, come have a look, and verify that they are indeed stockers!

The 33 engine bay was clean, damn clean, as was the rest of the car. Those close enough would have heard me say it was damn near, if not, the nicest 33 I have seen, and Ive seen plenty of the buggers both here and in Japan. Hats off. Doesnt make up for lacking what you have acutally paid for though. Whatisname you are in the luckiest position of all. All you need to fix your car is some tuning and a better turbocharger. Thats what stands between you and 300rwkw. Believe it or not. A bolt on HKS GTRS turbocharger, combined with 550cc injectors / 1.5 bar of boost and 300 is your oyster. Simple. Microtech computers are not hard to tune, in fact simplicity for non qualified operators is one of their attractions. As for the suffering old Tojo, the Soarer turbos were hot, damned hot, capable of soaking even the HKS GTR Circuit Spec intercooler quickly. They were far from efficient at 280rwkw, couldnt make any more boost, and would not be my recommended choice at such power levels. BUT they didnt break, and I have blitzed those poor buggers hard, darned hard. Dont point fingers at the dyno either. If any of you went to Adelaide Autosalon when certain 380rwkw cars were making 300rwkw and others even less I put the Soarer on the dyno to give it a tug before cams etc. Even when it made 248rwkw on Tilbrooks for a HPI story in an open dyno bay, it made 239rwkw on Morpowas dyno at Salon....in less than optimum, and warm, conditions. I didnt mind that at all, neither did the 2 or 3 hundred witnesses. Freeball, think before you make offensive, and simply dumb comments, lets see your car on the dyno, and have it compete with a bolt on stock tuned car like Whatisnames or mine, and we will go from there. If you can keep the pace, then great, if not, accept you have something to learn, and not from being a smartarse.

I dont do this stuff to impress others, or to keep secrets. Thats not what I do for a living. Rather its my job to try things that havent been tried before, and report the results. If the turbos made 220, then thats what they make. They happened to turn 281rwkw on the day. Thats what they make. Starlet turbos dont fit. I wouldnt waste my money on a 'Hiflow' conversion. Believe what you want. What you are saying WOULD be true IF the turbos were rated at 220 - 230rwkw. I have no documentation stating this, neither I am sure, do you. Toyota dont release compressor flow information publicly. A quote from my installment in HPI28 on stands in Dec/Jan - "Soarer turbochargers are misunderstood, misconstrued, and sadly maligned. Next time someone tells you they are ‘junk’, 'fragile', or only capable of 220 and something rwkw look them in the eye and ponder ‘Does this clown really know what hes on about?’. Then go somewhere else." There is a BIG gap between 11.2:1 and 11.8:1. You may notice that the RPM dyno doesnt have mixture logging as part of its configuration, just the AFR meter readout. Nothing wrong with that, just dont expect acceleration mixture - as happens on the road, and on a dyno power run - to be the same as steady state, constant load - which is commonly used in dyno tuning. Both excessively rich mixtures and over advance both lower the knock threshold of an engine....as do excessively lean mixtures. That engine, presented as it was on the day, was tuned nowhere near its power potential, nor is being excessively rich to be considered 'safe'. There is much more there if the management is capable of being carefully and most importantly consistently calibrated. FYI I ran, and do run the Soarer in its 281rwkw guise at a consistent 12.3 - 12.5:1 AFR - it was on the graph - with up to 18 deg timing on board at any time. I also have a detonation indicator, as part of the Power FC, which allows me, in part to make serious, and power productive tuning decisions.

Forget about 1kw mods, start planning 20kw mods. Thats the only way you are going to achieve decent power. With a proper turbocharger, you wouldnt be running stock turb figures (for the mods you have made), and decent tune/AFRs, not 11.2:1, you should easily crack 265rwkw. Be careful how you answer here though cos I showed you how easy 280 odd was with turbos rated at '200' max. You didnt believe it, you probably wouldnt believe your own car with a decent 2535 making 280 odd as well.

I might have to wind those stock Soarer turbos up to 1.4 bar and put another 20,000km on em just to teach you a lesson! I really didnt expect to outpower you guys with stock turbos, and some bolt on mods. Must be all in the tuning. Pity no powerful Skylines turned up. Would have been good. Whole day was hard work!

Yes, the car in question is John Munros car. We took it to Willowbank for Drag Combat in full road trim with only 30 minutes (thats right) tuning on the new engine, and locked in 5% front torque assistance (basically rwd). It ran a couple of 10.7s @ 138mph, so we were quite happy with that. Since that time though the car has been radically altered, as follows - OS 3 litre engine HKS 2835R Twin gate turbo kit HKS Step Pro valve train system Trust Drag cooler Motec M800/CDI 8 management Motec boost control Drag fuel cell Trust 6 speed box OS 4 plate clutch Tilbrook dual rpm delay box Apex VMAX Hydraulic Torque controller ATS front/rear lsd HKS driveshafts HKS Hiper D/Drag suspension Cusco camber arms Plus lots of other bits & pieces. Its also been lightened a hell of a lot - lexan windows, zero interior (save for Velo Carbon seat), custom 4 light dash, etc. etc. etc. In Drag Combat trim the car made 510rwkw/9000rpm @ 1.3 bar of boost pressure, hence the good mph with 1.9 second 60 foot times. With the new 4wd control, and 2.0 bar it should have some good potential. Tilbrook builds/prepares the car, every nut & bolt. Adelaide Engine Developments screwed together the engine, and yours truly has the job of punching the numbers into the Motec. Its all fairly exciting stuff. Unlike the other fast GTRs around this car is still road registered, runs on pump gas, and is quite driveable with the full exhaust in place. John is going to put a few thousand road kays on it in the near future. Obviously the car will be subject to a full build up feature in HPI....

The decision has been taken - due to the likely track condition not to run the car at AIR tomorrow. Without enough track prep the car is not going to be too spectacular on street Toyo tyres. Next meet, weather permitting, for sure. For those that want to know the car is prepped by Tilbrook