Engine           Modifications Overview


The following is a rundown of modifications to my 7M-GTE, following no particular order. Ultimately, a Quick Links menu will be added, & each section will have it's own reference/pics page.

Turbo: A ceramic-coated, Toyota CT-26 turbo from a 1989 model MkIII was sent to Turbonetics for rebuilding, blueprinting, & modification. A TO-4E, 57-trim compressor wheel was fitted to an oversize bored compressor outlet, while the turbine wheel was clipped to fit & also allow less backpressure under elevated boost. The integral wastegate was also ceramic coated, & mounted with three (3) 1mm steel washers under the mounting flange to stiffen the built-in spring's rate. Final control is provided by the A'PEX-i AVC-R electronic boost controller.  The user interface is simple, allowing quick changes to settings, which normally run anywhere from ~10.7 to 19.2psi. On a daily basis, boost level is kept minimal with the AVC-R turned off. Keep in mind, a 15 year old tranny is pushing 428 foot-pounds through it @ 17.0psi, as seen on Dyno Run #5 accessed from the Dyno links on the main Engine Page.
Check out the side-by-side comparisons of stock to the Turbonetics upgrade:
  Turbo Upgrade Page.

Intake: Custom cool air induction supplies ambient temp air from the front bumper to the intake zone, where it is then filtered by a 9" K&N FilterCharger air filter mounted to the HKS VPC adapter tube.  I used K&N Part #KNRE-0810 from Parts Warehouse. Further, I shortened the VPC tube about 10 cm, to facilitate fit. The air filter used to be shielded from hot under engine temps by a custom made heat shield that provided relief from high under hood temps normally found in turbo cars. The conical piece I used was made of galvanized steel, & was further modified by Dean Marcum to reduce flow restriction. I found the piece in the ducting section at Home Depot. The superior filtration and air flow capabilities of the K&N,  serves as the foundation for all other power mods.
Blowoff valve function is provided by a Greddy S-type; useful in reducing high back pressures between shifts over the stock Toyota unit without any associated pressure loss @ boost levels up to 22psi.
Check out a variety intake setups Oldschool Supra has seen: Intake System Page.

PCV: A Jazz mini-breather can was put into service to relieve the return of the cam cover generated oil vapors into the intact tract. This mod will be redone to a closed system by implementing a sealed, intermediary condensation tank. This alteration will serve to eliminate the oil problem in the intercooler, while being more environmentally friendly by re-routing residual fumes to the intake tract for combustion. See the work-in-progress write-up: PCV Breather Page.

Intercooler: A Spearco Intercooler [IC] offers a 24% efficiency gain over stock, while custom polished 2.5" aluminum IC pipes mated by Purosil 5-ply silicone hose & aircraft hose clamps (T-bolts) maintain elevated boost levels. The final piece in the pipe puzzle was the stock cast aluminum elbow that mates to the compressor-side of the turbo by rubber hose. It was removed & replaced with a custom angled & mandrel bent 2.125" mild steel pipe. That pipe, in turn, mates to the 2.5" main IC inlet pipe with a silicone hose adapter. I was truly amazed at the throttle response improvement in each & every step of the intercooler upgrade process. Even that one small section after the turbo made noticeable improvement.
Check out the Spearco Intercooler: 
Intercooler Upgrade Page.

Ignition: Ignition is the stock, distributor-less system using 3 separate coil-packs. Vitek 8 mm silicone spark plug wires fire Autolite 3923 copper spark plugs. Spark plug choice was governed by need for a cooler plug & higher maintenance levels- fuel mixture variations from tuning in new mods have a way of being too rich, consequently resulting in fouling. No need to run expensive platinums, if they might be subject to the need for frequent replacement anyway. So a non-platinum, one heat range cooler, & incredibly less expensive spark plug was found in the Autolite 3923. A useful equivalent spark plug is the NGK 3330, or better known by it's part # BCPRES7 when you head for the parts counter.

Fuel: The HKS Vein Pressure Converter eliminates the stock air flow meter, while including basic fuel curve adjustability; working piggyback to Toyota’s reliable TCCS-based ECU. Addition of the HKS GCC (Graphic Control Computer) has helped alleviate over-richness by the VPC/F-Con in the lower rpm bands.  Additional dyno-tuning is on tap, to take full advantage of the GCC's ability to fine tune the fuel curve.
The HKS PFC F-Con programmed fuel computer modifies the fuel curve based on rpm & absolute pressure sensor data; providing a complete fuel map, which extends beyond 11.4 to12.8psi, or fuel cut off [FCO]. Besides providing for fuel mapping beyond the stock ECU's capabilities, the F-Con also helps eliminates FCO, allowing for higher than stock boost pressures to be used. Some say the VPC does the same thing without the F-Con, which I found to be true. But ECU open loop mode air-fuel ratios [measured by Motec], proved that VPC/GCC settings did nothing. Installing the F-Con, allowed open loop tuning of the fuel map to occur, which was proved by careful analysis on a Dynajet 248C logging Motec data & EGTs.
In addition to a page dedicated to the install of all of these fuel computers, I will be adding links pointing to an FTP site for the English installation instructions of all the gizmos I have. I need to confirm with my already generous Host {Michael Donahue, Roswell, GA], that our server has the room.
Fuel injectors are the RC-Lucas 550cc/min disc-type injector, that offer ~25% increase in overall fuel availability over the stock 440cc/min injectors. Beware, as the HKS electronics prefer pintle-type injectors, having possible adverse effects under very high-boost situations. Your mileage, may vary. Feeding the RCs is the Walbro model GSS315 255 liter/hour fuel pump- able to supply engines up to 600rwhp. The OEM fuel pump voltage setup includes the 7.2 - Battery Voltage resistor, which can hamper tuning of the add-on fuel computers, so this OEM component was removed.
Baseline fuel pressure is currently controlled by a new stock FPR. A custom made CNC'd aluminum AFPR by Reg Reimer was serving duty, but was unable to adjust below the ~40psi baseline fuel pressure put out by the Walbro pump running at fulltime 12V. This basicly meant it was functioning no different than the stock FPR. Both act as a rising-rate pressure regulator, adding 1psi of fuel pressure, per pound of boost, in a one-to-one ratio.

Insert side-note here: Also helping things out is the recent replacement of the oxygen sensor. This helped lean out overall rich running, also smoothing out idle/closed loop mode greatly. I swap the sensor out before every smog test, every ~20K to 30K miles.
The link provided below shows a few fuel computer component pics, & an HKS-gizmo Re-Tune Procedure; the install will be documented at some point in the future.
See the work-in-progress writeup: 
Fuel System Page.

Water Injection: Besides providing bulk intercooling service with their intercooler upgrade, Spearco is also the source for the installed, turbo-specific water injection system. Activated by pressure switch @ 3 psi., additional timing advance by the ECU is awarded, with noticeably better response.
The water injection thing is cool, literally...to further reduce intake charge temps & increase intake charge density. The system is set to inject a mist of distilled H2O [and occasionally a 50-50 H2O/Methanol mix] into the intake stream ~ 30.5cm before the throttle body. The nozzle location takes advantage of the high air velocities at that point in the intake tract to facilitate atomization of the incoming fluid. The system does infer the caveat of a sealed/pressurized system, needing pressure equalization between the intake & the water tank; so water can get passed the turbo generated pressure!
The Spearco kit was carefully massaged to include custom hand-made polished aluminum mounting brackets, an AirLogic 0-15psi pressure switch, -03AN Teflon/SS braided vacuum lines, and -04AN SS braided hose for fluid transfer. To reduce latency inherent to the original Spearco design, I integrated a -04AN check valve up by the injection nozzle mounted to the intake pipe.
The power steering cooler mod was initially a prerequisite to installing the water injection; since the stock power steering cooler resided where the water injection tank was first located. A small PermaCool PS cooler was installed forward, tucked away- just behind the mesh grille & in front of the original coolant reservoir mounting location. With all of the stainless steel braided lines & fittings, the PS cooler is overkill, but functional & cool looking.
Anyway, at the time, the location mentioned was the only place I could find that would accomodate the water injection tank. The reservoir was eventually relocated to the area inside the passenger-side fender, where the windshield washer reservoir was put by Toyota. Looking back @ over 10 years of driving, I had used the windshield squirters only one time. So, that tank had already been removed in a previous weight-saving move. Looking at the water injection tank's original placement in front of the radiator, it was blocking too much airflow; & it's presence there, just looked wrong. Hence, the move.
The link provided below only shows a few component pics, the install will be documented at some point in the future.
Modified Spearco Water Injection: 
Water Injection Page.

Exhaust: An HKS 75mm CAT-less downpipe, mated to a CarSound 3" high-flow CAT, concluding with the HKS 85mm Super Drager turbo exhaust system provides ample throughput of spent gases. CA emissions standards were difficult to meet, but the dyno smog test done in California, did approve my car. Of course, the breather can off the cam covers & BOV were all re-situated for the occasion, in order to pass the visual portion of the test. Retaining the bulk of the emissions system was easy, since most play integral roles in the fuel injection system as well. The EGR system, often subject to debate in performance conversations, was left intact, since its function, in the case of the 7M-GTE is nearly benign to performance goals. The charcoal canister used to route tank fumes to the intake, was also left intact. Much of the pride from driving this powerful machine, comes from knowing it runs clean, as well as fast.
Check out both the HKS 75mm turbo and the 85mm Super Drager exhaust systems: 
Exhaust System Page.

Cooling System: The cooling system has been undergoing a series of mods, including a PermaCool 14" high flow electric fan, & much more. More to come on this topic, as several steps have been taken, and remain planned, for dealing with keeping things cool.

Miscellaneous: To add both color & reliability, 3.5mm silicone hose supplied by HoseTechniques routes most vacuum-driven devices, while a few are running 1/8" metal braided vacuum lines. The assortment of hose-types & pipes makes the engine compartment look less boring & more reliable than the original, all black & cracked OEM stuff.

Gauges: Tuning data include pre-turbo exhaust gas temp [EGT] with peak/hold feature by HKS, injector pulse width monitoring included in the AVC-R, NOS mechanical fuel pressure gauge, Cyberdyne electrical fuel pressure gauge, Halmeter AF30 air/fuel ratio meter, vF monitoring of TCCS correction, & real-time vacuum/boost, and finally, a Cyberdyne digital voltmeter. The HKS Turbo Timer V Type-One also incorporates a built-in digital voltmeter; along with RPMs, speed, & several timing features. Last on the info list is the A'PEX-i Rev-Speed Meter, with a variety of functions redundant to the turbo timer, including the ability to remove the speed-cut function in the ECU. Not that going over 150mph is ever a consideration, but now it's possible!

Nitrous Oxide Injection: NOS is the last power-adder component in this car's engine equation. Not satisfied with the NOS-05348 wet shot kit, I set out to design a small dry shot system, capable of bringing on full boost quicker. I'm currently three parts & two custom brackets shy of completing the system. Ha! I'll have it jetted so low, it will obviously serve a goal outside of producing massive horsepower. 1st & foremost, NOS was chosen for it's ability to reduce intake charge temps from 50 to 65F. In this capacity, the NOS system serves to aide reliability, as opposed to compromising it, as commonly occurs by over-zealous modders. 2nd, the introduction of small amounts of NOS to a turbo engine virtually eliminate the infamous *lag* so often mentioned in the same breath as *turbo*. Taking this very modest approach to NOS utilization, has been shown to work quite well on the turbocharged 7M-GTE, & makes the bottle last a lot longer. :-)  3rd, if the desire to crank up the NOS to make larger horsepower gains does occur, the previously described fuel system upgrades will easily handle any new fuel requirements, independent of open or closed loop ECU operation.
Actuation will be by one of several methods being considered:
By way of an RPM window switch in conjunction with the throttle position switch for safety. Also being considered is using the already-installed A'PEX-i Rev-Speed Meter's RPM-switch function, an Air Logic pressure switch [normally closed], and again, the throttle position switch for safety.

More info will be made available as the project progresses. Until then, you can see what I've got going on thus far: Dry NOS Preview Page.

Driveline: The transmission & differential are original equipment. The 2-piece drive shaft has had the center-bearing replaced twice, & the U-joints replaced once. I've gone through five clutches- long story, that I may comment on some day. Current clutch is an RPS Stage IV, 4-puck carbon disc, with their famous modified pressure plate. We'll see how this one goes, & since it survived 428 foot pounds of torque on the dyno, I guess there's hope for this one.

Tuning Notes: Boost peaks between 2800 to 3200 rpm, depending opn boost level & rpms. Lag is minimal & the response is near linear. It has great low-end response & overall, the power, smoothness, & reliability have proven nothing short of phenomenal. This modified 7M-GTE is truly amazing!
See some numbers on the Performance Stats Page.


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    Last Update: 08/23/2001
    Author: Lawrence K Anderson Jr
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