Project Trd

[natett]

Small update:

So after realizing there is no point selling as i wasn't going to sell it for the same price as a rough stock tt i decided its time to bring it back to daily driver standards.

The first stage of this was to remove the lag monster of a turbo...the GT42R. While you could say it wasn't terrible laggy, where it failed miserably was in mid range power both on and off boost. No looking back it was an absolute dog to drive on the street. After talking, annoying, pestering and just being painful to many (thanks to everyone....you all know who you're) I decided to go with the 6466 from precision.

I was invited to the Castrol Edge Drag Battle held by Motive DVD and i had sold the 42 about 3 weeks prior to the event. This really put the heat onto strip the old kit off and install the new turbo, fabrication, test and tune before driving to Cootamundra airport to go head to head with 1000hp gtrs....and loose by 100s of meters each race! Nevertheless the car felt a million bucks and was the perfect stomping ground to get use to the new setup. To see footage from the Drag Battle you will all need to buy Motive DVD 19 which should be released just before WTAC.

The new turbo was amazing. The car feels so different in every part of the rev range. to put it simply I lost 10rwkws (down to 416rwkws) but I gained a ridiculous 100kws in the mid range with similar boost now almost 1500rpm earlier. Touch the throttle now and it will instantly be over 10psi unlike the 42 that would do the same after a short tea break!

While the turbo was off i decided to wrap my 6boost manifold. Using the DEI titanium heat wrap made this fairly easy however those that have used cheaper wraps that require wetting...I can understand why you would have complained so much haha Now everything is wrapped and the new turbo was given a DEI turbo beanie to match. The stuff works wonders and kept engine temps cool all day while thrashing it around the runway.

Another modification completed was Marks Engineering shifter bushes. All i can say is if you don't have them...GET THEM! I guess mine felt so different as the original bushing was not even connected and had completed perished.

As you can imagine it was a massive rush to remove the old and install the new in time to compete in Cootamundra. The weekend before the event I drove to Sydney to pick up the turbo, drove straight back ready to start fitting it all straight back together. Fabrication Monday/ Tuesday, Oil and plug change Tuesday night, tuning Thursday to be at Cootamundra by 10am Friday. Big thanks to Dustin for helping after work and road tripping to Sydney, PJ for the quick turbo turn around time, James AKA GameOn for dealing with BS and the intake pipe and joiners, Notoras Motorsport for the fab work and replacement exhaust studs and ESP for another awesome tune!

Here are a few pictures:

Blown gasket (thank fully the cause of a small noise i could hear after powercruise)

Tear down

Prepping the manifold

Wrapped (cable ties were replaced with metal ones once I was happy)

No more water lines

New turbo

The old vs the new

The finish product...its tiny compared to the old gt42!

Now all thats left are some new aesthetic tweaks in time for Showcased next weekend and a possible exhaust change to quieten the car and return it to my old daily. The only item after that is a new stereo as my existing 6 year old front speakers and head unit are starting to rapidly die.

[colourclassic]

Not much to say apart from WOW! Must drive a lot better without that huge 42R holding it back!