When this post eventually gets published, just know I started writing it as soon as I dropped the car off at SRD Tuning for the single, so I don’t miss any detail out! On the way home, I stopped to fix a mates laptop and get a burger, about an hour away. On that journey, I got a message from Lee and SRD and it just showed the stock auto was already out of the car. It was that quick. The following morning was a message from Mike showing the 3D printed case for the Emtron KV12 ECU, a lovely touch that nobody will ever see, but it’s there and secured properly. That is why you use SRD.
Within a few minutes, Lee then sent a picture of the BMW Supra A90 Gearshifter in the OEM location. The lads really aren’t messing around. It’s great to see – and at this point it’s only been 2 days.
It’s now a couple of days later… and the work continues. Lee sent me some more photos of the less sexy elements. The fuel pump going in, the bumper coming off and the trial fitting of the SRD single turbo intake manifold, complete with T4 divided flange.
For giggles, I thought I’d throw in the picture of the stock side mount intercooler, which has done the car proud for 22 years, but now it’s time to say sayonara to it, as it makes way for a much, much larger replacement. And towards the end of the day, Mike sent me the first pictures of the custom engine wiring loom. This is going to be mega.
Fast forward over the weekend and now some more pictures have dropped – at this point I’ve had some really nice messages on Social Media, saying how the build has been progressing!
The first updates were of the ZF 8HP70 gearbox being mounted up with the Garage Whifbitz installation kit, along with a fresh oil pan and fluids making sure the box is tip top.
Quickly followed by the pictures that everyone loves – the power adders! There was a miscommunication on my part with SRD, I thought we’d agree a VBand turbine housing, but we’d actually just said that it was an option as actually said T4 divided. Thankfully, Mark at Pulsar Turbos UK got me a T4 Divided Housing out in super-quick time, fantastic customer service. And as you can see, it looks the absolute bees-knees with the ETS 5″ intercooler. That’s plenty of cooling even for my lofty goals!!
Another item to add was the Zestek CAN Hub steering wheel, which not only looks MEGA, it also saves me from having to get a CAN Keypad, everything is at my fingertips. Literally. Mike did some really trick setup on this, which we’ll talk through:
- Top left: Horn
- Next across: Rolling Anti Lag enable
- Second from top right: Cruise Up / Cruise Down
- Top Right: Anti lag
- Bottom Left: Gearbox mode
- Above that: Power Steering enable/disable
- Left Rotary: 8 position traction control
- Right Rotary: Boost and Torque Management
- Remaining two: Cruise Enable/Disable and Resume.
I asked SRD to fit the KW V3 suspension, to improve the handling but also to give space for the TE37 wheels (coming soon!). These give a wonderful ride, firm and compliant. These will be great for the slap! Adventures Highland Fling to Scotland in May.
One of the last jobs was for Simon from Arch Enemy to come and roll the rear arches, ready for the Advan 315/30/18s!
Fast forward to 8th March, and I’m making my way down in the R34 to bring the Supra home (how cool does that sound!?). Let’s cut to the chase. It’s incredible. Lee, Mike, Ash and the team have done a staggering job.
The drive home was initially slow, getting to the know the car and how it drives now. I quickly got up to speed though, and then I heard it. The noise. Oh, my god, the noise. It sounds so deep and the induction noise is a bit Darth Vader-like. I can’t get enough of it. The power delivery with the smoothness of the Emtron and the response of the Pulsar G40-900 combined with the quick shifts of the CAN TCU powered 8HP70 makes this a real weapon.
Power is 558whp, which is about 620bhp, but it’s the torque, 700Nm or 520lb/ft from 4200rpm makes this thing a riot on the road. The short ratios of the 8 speed make it feel a lot quicker than the numbers suggest. We have done some work on the Engine <-> Gearbox mapping to bring it more inline with my own tastes, but other than that, it’s absolutely bang on.
With the new final drive, OS Giken LSD and 3.4 build coming this year, it’s going to be a hell of street car.
SRD Tuning – you have been heroes. And here’s a video Ash did on my car.
