01-01-04, 18:56 GMT+10#1
Steve's VL Calais Turbo
This is Steve's VL Calais Turbo, and like quite a few other cars, has come a long way from when he first got hold of it. Lets start with the car itself before heading under the bonnet. The car itself is a series 2 example, dark blue over silver, and was originally fitted with the stock calais rims. These have since been replaced with 16" polished VT GTS look-a-likes. These rims are fitted with the usual 225/50 tyres.
Inside a CD player keeps Steve happy and are hooked up to Alpine and Kenwood speakers. An Autometer Pro Comp gauge has the duties of watching the boost level, and this is pillar mounted for optimum viewing.
While Steve has spent a little bit of money on the exterior, its the motor and accessories where most of the money has gone. Starting with the block, it was bored 40 thou oversize, and was fitted with HPC coated ACL oversized pistons. The rods have been resized and are connected to new main bearings and conrod bearings. A larnished crankshaft also sits in the block. Up above the cylinder head has come in for some work with porting and polishing to "stage 4" specs. New valves has been used, and the camshaft has also been polished. Crow valve springs are attached to the valves.
Induction is taken care of firstly by a cold air intake which feeds a k+n hi flow filter located in the factory air box. The air is then compressed by a hi flow T03 before it is ready to be used in the engine. But before it makes it there it is cooled by a AVO Stage 2 cooler. This cooler was bought as a complete kit with all of the piping and brackets, and all of these have been retained for use in the car. Boost is set at 10psi for the low setting, or can be turned up by an in car switch to a much more entertaining 15psi.
Keeping the motor running smooth is an Autronic computer which has been tuned by Lachlan at Chiptorque on the Gold Coast. He is also the man who has tuned both the JUDGE cars.
After the engine has done its job, it is expelled through a, you guess it, mandatory 3" system from the turbo right through to the tip. Putting this power to the ground in a Supra 5 speed manual connected to a heavy duty ceramic clutch which is fed down to a rebuilt 3.45:1 LS diff. This then puts out xxx hp at the wheels, which is plenty of power to have lots of fun with.
Slowing Steve's beast are DBA cross drilled and slotted rotors which are bitten by Dustless pads at all four corners.
Update 04/03
Steve has done a lot of work since this article was written, and here is what has happened.
Firstly Steve's now running Wiseco Forged pistons (30thou OS) for added strength so i can now throw in some more boost without hurting it. A different cam has been also added which boosts bottom end torque. A new clutch courtesy of Direct Clutches has smoothed out the takes offs dramitcally.
A front mount Garrett core intercooler has been added to replace the old AVO unit and helps to keep air temperature down on high boost, it works exceptionally well considering the hot and humid conditions of Townsville, Nth Qld. They are very much behind the 8 ball with turbo cars up north cause of the extreme summer tempertures. Having said that, Steve has just installed a Malpassi rising rate fuel regulator the other afternoon to try out and went out on the highway for a run - it was a few deg. over 30, high humidity and he held it flat on 20psi in 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and not a ping to be heard, and he was wrapt with that!!
Steve has had about 23psi - 25 psi through the engine but is happy keeping a safe level rather than running around on the engines limit. He's running two boost settings of 13 and 20psi. The Autronic has been tweaked to add a bit more fuel on high boost levels also. The same hi flow TO 3 turbo remains, but many people are trying to talk him into a larger Garrett ball bearing unit. As this would bring awesome power gains, it is not planned for the future.
Final tuning and dyno power runs are to be undertaken in the next month or two. A trip to the drags last year (first time ever) yieled 13.1 @ 107mph. They later found out this was achieved with a hurt engine (piston blow by) and without pulling 4th gear. Another trip is planned for the drags this year with the new combination when the weather gets alot cooler. An enormous thanks to Bob Hawkins Performance, ChipTorque who completed all the work.
0 likes