Time Attack/Circuit Car Build - **Forged engine installed!**

[mindless]

A little over a year ago I was able to acquire as my first car a pristine red EP82.


The red hatch in her last pristine condition.

Unfortunately due to a stupid decision the car ended up on the receiving end of a botched mod job to make it into a "show car". The experience was so painful I've deleted all photos of it. I wanted to forget about the car so bad that I ended up buying a very fresh EK9 Civic TypeR.


The rebound...

But of course you never really get over your first car. Coincidentally I was toying the idea of entering the local circuit racing/time attack scene along with my brother. So we decided to just have the car rebuilt as a full race car. Fortunately there were some parts that was purchased for the previous botched mod job that we were able to use for our purpose. So we found a shop and started the transformation.


BC Racing Coilovers


Prosport AFR Gauge + Wideband O2 Sensor Kit, Prosport Oil Pressure Gauge


Apexi AVCR Electronic Boost Controller


Cusco front and rear strut bars


Blitz Super Sound Blow Off Valve


5EFHE ACIS Intake Manifold / Bar & Plate FMIC


2nd Hand TD04L

eManage Blue

We stripped the car down, had a custom rollcage built, had all the parts above installed and mapped. Since this was going to be a circuit car and the internals are not yet forged the tuner opted for a very conservative .8 bar. Squeezed out 155whp which was ok. We had fun during our first season racing unfortunately we were far from competitive and the car was not reliable at all. Suffice to say I was very disappointed with the support from our tuner. Anyway at least I saw that there was hope for the car but we needed to switch to a different shop/tuner. So we did.


Dropping her off the new shop for the next race season

Right away a lot of shit that the previous tuner has done to the car was fixed. Reliability was prioritized - we had to get the car to be reliable before the first race. Long story short we became competitive and my brother was even able to push to go 2 classes beyond his previous class. I ranked 7th in my bracket (where I usually would be 20th). There was hope!


Working out the kinks.


Stripping out the harness


Reworked simplified racing engine harness


After the 1st race


There is hope

Next up we needed a few quick upgrades to be able to push harder for the next race. So we got a fresher (brand new) TD04L to replace the used one and basically rework all the turbo piping and improve the cooling by installing automatic and manual water sprayers for the FMIC/radiator and oil cooler.





Continued...

Edited August 24, 2014 by mindless

[ro55ifumi]

Oh my stop teasing and can't waiy

John

[mindless]

Reworked piping

Surge Tank

TADA!

Off to the races we go!

By the second leg we actually had a win. I went from 7th to 4th in my time attack class. My brother bagged a pole position and secured a win for 2nd place in a highly contested 35 car grid race!

POLE!

Winning was awesome. Now that the car felt very competitive - it was time to do something about its looks. Next up: Repaint! I wanted to change the colour from red to something else because there were already quite a number of red race cars in the event. I opted for a dark shade of gunmetal for the outside, silver for the cabin and blue for the cage.

Continued...

Edited May 6, 2013 by mindless

[mindless]

Here she is now. Pictures taken at the most recent leg of Circuit Showdown (the time attack/grid racing event we joined):

Also upped the boost to 1 bar now

With her other hot sister - my EK9:

Boost or Revs?

I grabbed another fourth place in my time attack class which brings my overall standing to 2nd

Here's a video of my latest run:

She's still a work in progress. A few things we need to do is to replace the shitty temp dashboard we have with a properly fabricated racing dashboard. I'm also thinking of some aero a proper front diffuser/underpanel because she does get "floaty" at high speedsbecause of her being very lightweight. Also we need a b-pillar bar to properly mount the 4 point harness into and modify the rear axle to get some adjustable camber.

But here are her specs as of right now:

SPECS:

1990 Toyota Starlet GT Turbo - Quad lamp conversion

1.3L 4EFTE Engine

Block Rebored to 75mm

Suzuki G16B Pistons

TD04L @ 1 bar boost (14.5psi)

5EFHE ACIS intake (dual runners)

C56 5-speed transmission

OEM LSD

Goodridge Steel Braided Brakelines

Runstop Uprated Drilled Front Rotors

Ferodo Brakepads

Emanage Blue

Greddy 3 Bar Map Controller

Apexi AVCR Boost Controller

Custom temp triggered automatic radiator water sprayer

Custom manual intercooler/oil cooler water sprayer

Prosport Wideband AFR gauge

Prosport Oil pressure gauge

Sparco Carbon Fiber Bucket Seat

Personal Steering Wheel

Custom oil/water temp gauge

Custom surge tank

Blitz SuperSound Blow off valve

Bar & Plate Front mount intercooler

Custom designed exhaust manifold

Custom straight through exhaust

Custom 6 point cage

BC Racing Coilovers

Cusco Front and Rear strut bars

Cusco Adjustable Panhard rod

Custom rear sway bar

Fully stripped interior

15" Rota Grid 2

195x50 R15 Champiro SX1

Edited May 6, 2013 by mindless

[mindless]

Fixed the images

[morgey]

Very impressive dude, got a great little and very competitive motor there

Good luck on future events!

[mindless]

Thanks!

[shorty]

wicked build thread!! wish we had more affordable race events oveer here. looks like great fun! what front lip is it on the gt in the first pic?

[Amjad]

Badass!!!

What's the reason for Suzuki G16B Pistons?

If you build a front diffuser/undertray, please write up a "how to" guide for us, as I'm sure a lot of people will want to know how you did it!

[mindless]

@Shorty it is great fun! Nothing like meeting up with your friends once a month to compete in local grassroots motorsports events

I think that lip was a custom one. Came from a Toyota (Corolla) Altis retrofitted to my car.

@Amjad During a routine piston ring replacement way back when the car was new to me we discovered that I had 2 cracked piston lands. Unfortunately there were no OEM 4EFTE pistons available at the time and to order one would take months. Since this was my only car at the time I couldn't afford to do that. We found out that other shops locally were secretly using "vitara" g16b pistons – much like you would in a SOHC honda build as a cheap upgrade to 4EFTEs. Their reasoning behind it is that it allows them to lower the compression even more than the standard one because it has a dished top (vs the d15b's slightly domed top and in our case 4EFTE's flat top) , which in turn allows them to run more boost (with proper fuel support of course).

The actual vitara pistons are 1mm bigger at 75mm vs the stock 4EFTE pistons so you would need to rebore.

To be honest I wouldn't suggest this to anyone unless they really have no choice and if you do you must go to a very reputable machine shop because you will be at the limit of the engine's clearances to fit Vitara pistons. But so far my engine has been running great since then no issues from the block at all.

Edited May 10, 2013 by mindless

[mindless]

I don't know about whether or not it can really run higher boost levels, because I'm still just at 1 bar and frankly on a circuit/time attack car you don't need that much power. But the only peculiar thing I noticed is that even without changing the mapping in eManage our AFRs always seem to be on the richer side no matter how much we increase the boost. It was true when we upped it to .8 bar and we noticed the same thing when we went to 1 bar. Maybe its the rebore. I'm not sure but whatever it is – it does give us that extra margin for boost.

[lew777]

Nice build

[mindless]

Thanks @lew777

[Idrees]

Epic build, I love how you guys have used the car properly too unlike some of us (including myself)

Keep the pictures coming!

[mindless]

@Idrees its never to late to take it to the track Thanks for the compliment!

[shorty]

i know what you mean about bore walls i run 75.5mm JE pistons and its a seriously tight fit in a 4efte engine. im gonna keep looking at this build when ever i start to lose the love for building mine back up track is the main aim of my build too just with no competative focus. cant wait for the next update.

[mindless]

@shorty thanks glad I could help its never too late to turn a botched build around you just need some patience.

Also, wow that's new to me I always thought that 75mm was the biggest you can go with our block. How does she run on 75.5mm pistons?

[shorty]

Runs very well tbh, never had an issue running bigger turbos and lag realy, however hg's are a pain to get hold of as you will struggle to find 75.5 mm bore hg's. Is thin on the walls but not had a major issue yet and its done 10k since forging 5 years or so back.

Thats a shot from the last overhual, never had. An engine faliure with it just a few hg's. One from overlap as it was only a 75mm boare and one from head lift due to shitty cheap head bolts. But that was some years ago, its got more arp bolts in now than id care to count lol n the spec has got crazy but the pistons have always been good for me.

[mindless]

That's awesome to hear. At least I don't have to throw away my block after 75mm. Who provides 75.5mm pistons for the 4E block?

[shorty]

Umm only ones i know of are JE bud but im sure others might do, i know the JE ones used to be around £600/700 a set

[mindless]

Well that's better than zero options I guess...

[shorty]

very true mate. blown 4efte's can also be aquired through the site. blocks arnt as common as they used to be but certianly your on the right site to obtain one if its needed bud. shipping just the bare block to you shouldnt cost the earth i wouldnt think.

[Amjad]

@Shorty it is great fun! Nothing like meeting up with your friends once a month to compete in local grassroots motorsports events

I think that lip was a custom one. Came from a Toyota (Corolla) Altis retrofitted to my car.

@Amjad During a routine piston ring replacement way back when the car was new to me we discovered that I had 2 cracked piston lands. Unfortunately there were no OEM 4EFTE pistons available at the time and to order one would take months. Since this was my only car at the time I couldn't afford to do that. We found out that other shops locally were secretly using "vitara" g16b pistons – much like you would in a SOHC honda build as a cheap upgrade to 4EFTEs. Their reasoning behind it is that it allows them to lower the compression even more than the standard one because the deck height is shorter, which in turn allows them to run more boost (with proper fuel support of course).

The actual vitara pistons are 1mm bigger at 75mm vs the stock 4EFTE pistons so you would need to rebore.

To be honest I wouldn't suggest this to anyone unless they really have no choice and if you do you must go to a very reputable machine shop because you will be at the limit of the engine's clearances to fit Vitara pistons. But so far my engine has been running great since then no issues from the block at all.

Sweet, thanks for the info!

[H_D]

Good Write up. I really enjoyes reading this thread.

Well done!

[mindless]

Thanks @H_D