Supra Tt Or Not To Be

[3RROR]

Hi guys, finally I have found a decent Toyota/supra forum where the members are over the age of 12! :) I am a happy bunny! Anyway, I’m the proud owner of a jaguar xj6 3.6 which is a great car by all means, but as I have always loved the mk4 supra twin turbo I may have to sell the jag. basically I’m here to find out as much as I can before making a decision on a supra, find out a little more about the car in general etc, ever since I sold my escort rs turbo and 340 bhp @ wheels sierra rs rwd cossie i have craved to get my hands on another turbo car, and the supra feels like a good stepping stone, I wouldn’t keep the supra standard for very long (if I find a standard one in the first place) and was wondering how easy/hard it would be to get a genuine 400 bhp @ wheels from this car? Also any replies as to how the other parts would hold up with this power and any other things to look out for would be greatly appreciated. I know it’s a very newbie like question, but I am a noob when it comes to the supra, tnx in advance, and a big HELLO to you all!

[adi]

you'll love the fact that the supra wont blow up like your cossie :P just kidding..

400 bhp @wheels = same as every other car - turbo, intercooler, fuelling. But you'll be relieved to hear you wont have to crack open the engine to strengthen it, its all fine up to about 600 flywheel.

[3RROR]

The cossie was actually a good car, no problems whatsoever, well the chassis legs are always rotten, think they came with that as standard :) but as with the supra, they are cheap to modify to 911 munchers due mostly to there light weight. but 600 @ flywheel would be taking the engine to the highest limits and would last about a week the thing stopping me from buying another cossie would be my jaguar, ever since driving around in total comfort and silence, with handfulls of torque, a cossie i feel would be a come-down, i think the supra would fill the gap nicely, relitive comfort, same nutty rwd action as a cossie, and the ability to tune to 400+ bhp with ease, oh and the looks, cant forget about that. as u can tell, i always bought cars for fun factor and never looks in the past(ford and jaguar mostly), so this is a great bonus too. only thing that may be a problem for me is my budget at this time, £10k - 12k at a push, and i would really like the uk car... would this kinda cash get me a nice example? or should i consider looking into a modded import?

Sorry again for all the questions, just wanna get a nice one!

[adi]

I'm not much of a mkiv guy, but from hanging about on mkiv forums like a groupie, i can tell you that you really want j-spec as opposed to UK spec if you want to go for big power.

£12000 will get you a decent j-spec. UK spec has the edge initially at 330 bhp but the j-spec has much more tuning parts available for it, and will take mods more easily than the UK spec. Of course you will pay more for insurance for a j-spec.

Loads of bolt on parts available for the 2JZ , but to get up to the figure youre after i'm guessing youre looking at about £4000 on top of purchase price.

[Harvey-aw11]

If you do get a JDM supra, make sure its the later model that came with 17" wheels as standard - these had bigger better brakes (same as uk model i believe). Earlier 16" wheel models has not so good brakes.10-12k is a little low budget for a great car, but there should be some reasonably nice ones out there for that. Your probably find an auto no probs for that sorta money, but you want a manual really, 6 speed preferable. :D

[3RROR]

oh yeah, its gotta be manual, unless i find a REALLY mint auto. but i will need to wait and see. i take it i should stay clear of modded cars then? i was thinking it could save me a few grand on bolt ons, but wear and tear on engine/gearbox due to too much thrashing may cost more in the long run? any suggestions?

[kash]

Welcome....

yeap... u've definatly gotta get a Supra.... I'd recommend a manual TT Targa Top... but the problem is that they are sooo rare... I believe that about only 1 in 15 Supra's built are TT targa tops :( .....

About staying clear of modded cars is totally a preference I think, if ur thinking of tuning it up a bit it might be worth while getting one that has already had some work done on it (probably save you a bob or two on mods). I personaly would go for an unmodified one.... gives me the option getting it modified to my likeing :). However as far as I know Supra engines are bullet proof, I've never heard of any cases of modded Supra's causing major problems. One thing I would say is that try to get one that is in good nick and with fsh.

There are plently of j-spec ones about, the uk ones are bit harder to come by... or u could always import one urself in which case I would recommend Miguel from www.neweraimports.com, he's a fantastic guy and will get the perfect car for you in ur budjet.

[adi]

hmm newera is notorious for being massively overpriced, but if youve had good epxeriences with him then i guess he must be okay in some cases. All targas are autos im afraid..

These guys have a mssive amount of supras in but again can be a bit expensive (about 10% on top of other prices) but they do offer a very good service.

You can also ask on the mkiv site mkivsupra.net , although theyve recently gone pay to play but you can still post 20 posts or something..

[3RROR]

thanx for the advice guys, i always thought the uk cars where more tunable too, take it the ecu and turbos are different on the two cars then? to be honest, the extra bhp on the uk car drew mw towards it in the first place, but now i know ;)

what about the right hand drive jap cars, am i best to get a left winger and avoid the converted cars like the plague? hmm, cant imagine driving lhd on uk roads though. ah well decisions decisions

[Leeky]

yeap... u've definatly gotta get a Supra.... I'd recommend a manual TT Targa Top... but the problem is that they are sooo rare... I believe that about only 1 in 15 Supra's built are TT targa tops :( .....

As far as i know all the Targa Tops (or Aero Tops as they are called) were the GZ TT model which did not feature a manual gear box as an option i believe.

I tried to find one before and many have told me the manual 6 box was only available as an option on the RZ.

[adi]

thanx for the advice guys, i always thought the uk cars where more tunable too, take it the ecu and turbos are different on the two cars then? to be honest, the extra bhp on the uk car drew mw towards it in the first place, but now i know ;)

what about the right hand drive jap cars, am i best to get a left winger and avoid the converted cars like the plague? hmm, cant imagine driving lhd on uk roads though. ah well decisions decisions

Uk ones are still tuneable, but more difficult to get parts for (and more expensive in some cases).

There is a lot of difference between jap and UK spec, turbos, brakes, mapping, trim etc etc.. but for some reason the serious modders go for the jap examples (which incidentally are all rhd, !Removed! drive on the same side of the road as we do). The UK spec is the nicer car if you want to leave it standard. Check here under imports.

Worth remembering though that j-spec insurance is a lot more than UK cars, but the purchase price is lower.