"My wife looks absolutely stunning stepping from this ride..."     Capt.Nemo

Babe-O-Licious Mama-San sez:  "Yes, it's seriously too fast.   No, you can't drive it".    

                                                         ~ Click on any image to  ENLARGE ~  

Custom Pearl-White paint,  1992 Toyota Celica Turbo All-Trac.   Original owner.  Zero rust.  Sweet, rare & classy ride.  Easily spoils driver.   Tight steering & handling.  Like riding on rails.

  

This is a late-evening, low-slung, Turbocharged 2000cc 4-cyl AWD prowler, with a tuned (very mellow ) 3" exhaust, flashy 17" chromed wheels, #20 grey tint windows, and full-coverage front-end JDM Yellow (Retro Le Mans-racing) running lights, headlights & foglights.

  

A genuine light-weight and extremely durable 'Rice Rocket' chassis, specifically designed by Toyota Japan to gain serious face across the international rally racing circuit.

   

 

Did You Know:

TTE (Toyota Team Europe)  quickly advanced to win 16 World Rally Championship races, using this limited-production early 90's design.

And then...   Someone became suspicious and made a detailed inspection of the '17 PSI' Toyota Turbocharger assembly, as used on their fleet of super-quick AWD Celica racers.

 

Busted & Banned:

TTE was discovered using an illegal turbocharger air restrictor that included both a bypass mechanism and spring loaded devices to conceal it from scrutineers.

Toyota actually caught cheating??    (Ummm...  Yep.)

WRC ruling disqualified Toyota Team Europe from sanctioned rally racing for 1 full year, as well as hitting TTE with a considerable forfeiture of that season's racing points.    

     

And why was the World Rally Championship regulatory board so ticked-off with Toyota Team Europe for this ingenious little device tucked away out of sight??  

Maybe it had something to do with the modified "17 PSI" Turbocharger's actual 24+ PSI output...

Figuring roughly, there's 10 HP to be gained for every PSI of additional turbo boost pressure:

14 PSI higher boost w/Turbo mods = 140+ additional HP to the wheels.

You get the picture?   WRC-ruled-illegal, dangerously-overpowered, and banned as unfair.  

Toyota Japan was not amused, and possibly suffered severe loss of face Globally.

                          So, onward to Formula-One for Toyota Racing.

                                                

Oh yeah...   This same (WRC-ruled-illegal) modified CT26A turbo design resides in my overhauled All-Trac, less the spring-loaded cloaking mechanism.

(These movies are quick & dirty temps, until I find time to generate better quality with a proper camera mount.   PLEASE NOTE:  There were two 200 pound passengers on these runs = 400 Lbs xtra weight).

First run, windows down & roof open, with Turbocharger audiably sucking max flow:    http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=50150A1EE03F9B70

Second run, windows up & roof closed, gauge hits 20+ PSI Boost as I snap through gears:    http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=F153C2095DECAF0B

                      The AWD Celica chassis was originally conceived to rally race as a production vehicle.  

During 1992, only 271 All-Trac's were supplied for sales within the USA, and very few were produced in the 'Bright Toyota Racing White' with minimal black trim.

These vehicles were pre-allocated to specific Toyota USA dealerships, well-over 9 months ahead of actual product availability.

Reasonable on fuel consumption, and a durable sexy kick-ass racer...    Hey, it's a Toyota.

Here's how a long-established and well-seasoned import repair shop in S.E. Ks. overhauled & upgraded my '92 Turbo Celica AWD to  'jeese, that's close enough for me'   Toyota WRC rally racing engine specifications.

Took most of 30 days to complete this project, squeezing an impressive 353.1 WHP from a stock 2000cc 4-cylinder 24.5 PSI Overly-TurboCharged Japanese block.    (Click below to  ENLARGE  Dyno Chart & Boost Gauge reading)          

 

                                                       But First off...

                           ~  A brief Toyota history note  ~  

OldePhart Flashback:    Pictured below is the Toyota 2000GT , forerunner of everything in Japanese sportscars  -  as featured in a 1967 James Bond flick. 

Sean Connery was so large, the car was custom-built as a convertable so his head wouldn't bump the roof during filming.  Zoom in and check how far back the passenger seat is set for him.

The 2000GT prototype was first shown at the 1963 Tokyo Motor Show, with limited production starting in 1965.  It was never factory-built as a convertible.

The GT's 2000cc in-line DOHC valvetrain & timing assembly was designed and produced  by Yamaha, and developed 160HP.  This 6-cylinder Toyota block was further refined to 200HP for racing.

(The word 'Yamaha' is proudly molded into my '92 Celica's 3S-GTE engine timing belt cover).

Gracefully streamlined front, fenders, and hood.  Two rows of engine-cooling hood ventilation louvers.  Hideaway popup headlights.  Over-sized built-in racing foglights.  Rear hatchback chassis design.  Twin-tip exhaust. 

All of these advanced 1963 styling cues were carried foreward into the 1990-1993 production Celica Turbo All-Trac designs.

  

Ready For a $6K Overhaul?

Since leaving Japan, my Toyota All-Trac chassis had never seen a seal cracked for a fixit.

Extreme reliability has been an understatement.  Always fired up.  Always ran smoothly.  Hey, it's a 'Yota.

At 16 years of runtime with 133K miles, and showing plenty of turbo bearing slop, it was high time for a 'pre-emptive-strike' chassis rebuild - before extremely bad & costly things happened, probably in a most inconvenient un-affordable off-planet environment.

 

Late August of 2008:

Removed hood.  Stripped engine bay.  Inspected for corrosion (whoa - none found!).  Pressure-washed empty engine area.   Personally transported the CT26 turbo assembly to Arkansas for a complete seasoned-professional rebuild by GPOPSHOP, located just outside Bentonville.

I remember standing over the empty engine bay thinking, "Will I ever get this car back together again - and actually running properly?"    

Shop Overhaul Movie w/Engine:   http://video.cardomain.com/VideoPlayer.aspx?id=680641

                                          

 

The Awakening:

After the engine had been stripped down for spec'ing, my well-seasoned import mechanic (shop owner) tells me, "This car has been seriously over-engineered in Japan, but it's been all-sorts of crippled to meet USA govt & insurance regulations."

Then he adds, "Hey, you know...  We could just as easily rebuild this to perform to original racing specs for about the same money as a stocker grandma rebuild".  

"So, how do you want us to handle this?  Put it back the way you drove it in, or put it back the way it was originally designed...    with serious fun & games in mind"?

WRC racing Celica:   http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=0043F263D7716A9E  

Okay...   I'm pretty well sold on this extremely bad idea.

Question:   How soon can I actually play with one of these nasty deadly rally romping screamers, and more importantly...  does it actually leave goose-bumps on the skin??   

 

 

Factory-Stock OEM setup:  

From Japan, this high-compression iron block/aluminum head ST185 engine generates 200 hp @8 PSI boost, capped by a 10 PSI boost limitation, and a programmed fuel pressure dropoff when the Turbocharger excedes 12 PSI. 

Toyota's OEM build also uses a blowout-prone paper head & intake manifold gasket set, and a factory street clutch with a pokey 18-pound flywheel that will certainly slip under any serious loading.

                                                

 

So, Here's What We Did:

The stock Engine, Turbocharger, Clutch, & Flywheel were rebuilt or replaced to closely match original (WRC-ruled illegal) Toyota Team Europe Racing specifications.

 

Basic Gizmos First:

Overhauled engine block w/chemical cleaning, rebore, and a set of fresh 8.5:1 (coated top) high-compression pistons, rings, & rod bearings.  Everything was microbalanced.  

Took the head assembly apart and chemically cleaned it.  Rebuilt the DOHV train with minor high-RPM improvements and microbalancing.

Rebuilt & balanced the CT26 turbo using improved bearing seals, after boring out the twin-entry turbocharger housing & clipping the exhaust turbine wheel by 10% (excellent work done by GPOPSHOP in Arkansas).

These same rally-proven Turbocharger mods got Toyota Racing busted & banned for a year by the WRC governing board.   Hey, can I pay extra for this option?

We installed fresh OEM ignition cables w/rotor & cap, NGK Iridium IX Spark plugs, and 5 new DENSO fuel injectors with a DENSO hi-flow racing fuel filter.  

Note:   #6 heat range plugs are fine for sucking in frigid Winter air, but run way too hot in humid Summer temps under high boost (over 15 PSI), leading to dangerous pre-ignition (knock) and engine shudder.

Sucking hot Summer air requires an Intercooler fan, a #8 Cold range plug set, and with a shot of high-octane dinosaur fuel she'll run smoothly @22 PSI boost.

Punch the pedal & you get QuickSnot.  Really quick snot.

The fuel pressure regulator's sensing hose was moved from the engine's intake manifold vacuum tap, forward to the Turbocharger housing's positive pressure tap (ahead of the intercooler pressure drop) .

   

        Turbo controller w/fuel pressure regulator sense tap           Fuel pressure gauge sensor tapped into fuel rail

This slight modification brings a 1.5 - 2 PSI increase to the fuel pressure regulator sensor input, which allows for a bit quicker fuel demand response into the rail & out the injectors.

This trick removes the negative vacuum on the fuel pessure regulator which will drop fuel pressure below 40 PSI.

This is a little-known TTE rally trick resulting in a bit quicker & smoother throttle response.

She idles at around 48-52 PSI fuel pressure, & at full Turbocharger 22 PSI boost raises to 75-82 PSI fuel pressure without dropoff.  That's moving some fuel through the bored-out rail.  

 

Hidden Broken Stuff:

We found the EGR valve's steel tubing feeder had split and was causing an improper air/fuel mixture for the past several years.  This problem, because it was such a small crack that would spring open under higher turbo pressure, was not a fun trick to quickly locate  -  and needless to say, the fuel milage also went to crap.

The image below shows the hair-line tubing crack, and the photo on the right shows how Toyota figured out the design's weak spot and now has a curved-brace welded to the replacement tubing to keep it from flexing and cracking under load.

If you find a mysterious carbon trail on vacuum hoses and sparkplug cables located close to the firewall on the driver's side, and you can't locate the source of the obvious exhaust leakage, carefully inspect the EGR's steel tubing weld where it joins the small mounting plate atop the engine.

A slight exhaust smell inside the closed vehicle after warmup is another important clue of a possible EGR tubing leak, as well as a slight exhaust-leak noise coming from under the hood when the engine is reved. 

This EGR leakage will confuse the onboard computer, causing it to dump extra fuel & blacken the exhaust pipe.  Also, a poof of black smoke will appear from the exhaust when accelerating.

Pretty disconcerting after paying for a clean overhaul, fresh plugs, and new stainless exhaust system.   ;(

We finished off the chassis with a set of fresh half-axels, bushings, wheel bearings & seals, engine bearings, engine mounts, belts/hoses, rebuilt starter/alternator, & new pwr steering/water/oil pumps. 

Had the fuel rail intake carefully machined from 4.5mm to 8mm diameter and fed from both ends.  This helps keep cylinders 3 & 4 from leaning out during higher turbo boost pressure.

The onboard computer was tampered with slightly and remapped, using an extended roughly-linear air/fuel mix table downloaded from a trusted TTE/TRD European source.

 

More Hidden Broken Stuff:

We replaced the factory 18 pound (cracked) flywheel with a 10 lb chromoly SPEC racing unit. 

A lightened flywheel gives a snappier power transfer to the AWD with faster rev-up, and smoother compression braking, helping reduce rotor & brake-pad wear.

This was followed with a SPEC Stage-3 racing clutch, and a 5-layer COMETIC MLS Stainless Steel & Copper head gasket set with matched COMETIC intake manifold and exhaust manifold gaskets.

Note:   These particular multi-layer steel & copper engine gaskets are designed for extreme-compression drag racing applications.

All configured to safely handle double PSI turbo boost, as well as the predictable evil nasty result:  Increased Traffic Violations.

   

                                      Driver's View                                                              Business View

Other Helpful Goodies:

A MSD Ignition RPM switch was added to the firewall, to open the 2nd set of intake manifold butterflies at 3100 RPM, set down from the factory 4200 RPM trip point.  This parallels the on-board computer control, so cold starts are not affected.  A noticable improvement.

It was time to open the exhaust flow, using a 3 inch diameter MOTORIA hi-flow stainless steel, twin-tip tuned exhaust.  Had to torch and re-shape in a couple of places to clear the frame, but they're well worth the effort. 

These fresh stainless pipes produce a reduced sound level with a very mellow bass-note.

Listen to 3" Exhaust:   http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=61D06DD19759A8E0

 

 

Advanced Traffic Violation Reduction:

A Valentine One Radar/Laser detector was quickly ordered & mounted in the front window.  My '92 vintage Uniden X/K detector was way-past 'EOL', and it somehow slipped off the workbench and fell into the 'big round filing cabinet'. 

Being a techie & Ham Radio geek, I have to point out that the Valentine One detector is absolutely the best technology on the market today, and directly available over the Net. 

FWIW:  A Wal-Mart 'got no ears' COBRA Radar Detector just wasn't gonna cut it and was promptly returned within an hour, after failing sensitivity tests on our Amateur Radio microwave techie bench.  We were not amused.

 

Important Stuff Toyota Should Have Added:

I installed a 30 PSI ProSport mechanical Turbo Boost gauge and a matching ProSport 110 PSI fuel pressure gauge to the dashboard, top-left of steering.  (The sluggish Toyota factory in-dash boost gauge pegs-out & turns totally worthless past 8 PSI).  

   

A SPAL 9" 708 CFM high-capacity 12 VDC fan was added to curb summer heat-soaking of the intercooler's core during periods of low (or no) air flow through the hood scoop.  

This, along with a taste of LUCAS Octane Boost, quickly vanquished the dangerous 'pre-ignition shudder' problems being encountered above 17 PSI boost with the onset of warmer (Read: hot & humid) weather conditions in Kansas.

 

New Stuff Coming Soon:

I'm looking to add a BOSCH 'turbo diverter valve', as designed for Porsche.

More commonly known as a 'Blow Off Valve', this particular unit is designed to recirculate the metered high-pressure air back through the turbo's intake, instead of dumping it straight to atmosphere.

                                   

                                              Only $50 for a SAMCO T-hose & $50 for the BOSCH valve.

 

Below, the ProSport Turbo Boost Gauge Does it's Thing:

As I punch down to pass a pair of pokey overloaded 50 mph nose-2-butt transports on a Missouri 3-lane passing zone.  

This is a pretty stiff uphill-pull rural highway passing area, leaving the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri & headed West towards Kansas on US54. 

Pass 'em here or be stuck behind these rock-flinging ladies for the next 20 miles...

A quickie back into 4th to launch from 40mph, then slip her forward into 5th  -  still getting pressed back into the seat while accelerating uphill @22PSI boost. 

Whoa...   What a rush .  It never used to do anything quite like this...

Final uphill passing speed:   "Yeah, wife's right -  this is Seriously too fast".

           

I added a proper set of matched screeching Fiamm mini-airhorns, designed to wake up Grandma in the crosswalk.   Like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard, these will quickly raise the dead.  

Those oh-so-stylish, Toyota 'Beep Beep' twinky-horns (Think annoying Roadrunner cartoon) were carefully removed, crushed into tiny pieces and swept into the 'big round filing cabinet' .

Good Job!    And with extra Brownie-points added for maintaining a tidy work area while destroying perfectly good parts.   ;)

 

Fuel Cutoff Fixit:  

That pesky 12-PSI over-boost fuel cutoff was hacked for all of maybe $.89 in parts. 

I used  a simple 4.4 volt zener diode & ground wire to bleed over-voltage from the vacuum manifold sensor on the firewall to fool the onboard fuel cutoff watchdog: "Hey computer, we might have 10 PSI boost going for us, but not a bit more...   Honest."

 

How I got my LUX on, with Le Mans Racing Style:

For enhanced night vision, I rally-retroed the ho-hum flip-up 'sealed beam' headlights back to USDOT Approved Luminics 2500 Kelvin JDM Yellow H4-loaded hi/low-beam bulbs, contained in a glass Spec-D Projector rally-lense conversion kit.

Note:   All motor vehicles on French territory, until EU merger, were required by law to use Yellow headlights.  USDOT regulation mentions only the colors White, Directed Yellow, and Amber as being allowed on the front of US vehicles.

  

 

How Well Do They Work?

The high-beams light up a moonless-night country highway like an airport runway, providing excellent deeply-penetrating contrast.  A 100% improvement for night & foul-weather distance-vision, and easy on the eyes over long periods of use.  Yellow reflective road signs light up the night from a half-mile away.

The oversized OEM lensed-foglights were also upgraded to matching Luminix 2500 Kelvin JDM Yellow H3 55-watt high-contrast bulbs.

One can easily spot this car cutting through the fog and snowfall, with 240 watts of tightly-focused Yellow over Yellow   -  blazing a path without annoying and dangerous HID glare for oncoming drivers.

JDM Yellow bulbs also offer a noticable advantage in hazardous 'white-out' road conditions.   I've noticed much less reflected light from thickly-blowing snow, when compared to a typical set of glaring blue/white or HID bulbs.

These lights will also aid a driver in spotting remote road markers & reflective deer eyes waaaaaay down the highway.

Wandering deer are a major night-collision problem, as they tend to jump in front of a car with little or no warning.  Where there's one, four more will quickly follow.

The horns on a buck can easily penetrate a front windshield when colliding at 65 MPH, impaling the very unlucky people in their front seats.

        <JDM Yellow 5 watt Parking/Curb Lights >                       < JDM Yellow Headlights and Fog Lights >

The 7"x6" glass SPEC-D advanced projector rally-lens kit provides for a secondary set of  #168 Yellow 5-watt Wedge mini-bulbs, directly wired to the front bumper curb-lights.  

Another pair of these Yellow 5-watt #168 bulbs were set into the hood scoop for effect & evening engine bay illumination.

I also installed Yellow 1157 dual filament bulbs with DEPO clear-cut signal lenses, chosen to clean up the front bumper and better-focus each turn signal's pattern.

Enhanced night safety is the whole point,  but she also has this very sexy front-end  'Lemans Racing Glow'  thing going on...

 

Toyota's Turbo All-Trac Background:

          40% of the total production run stayed in Japan.

Only 271 Turbo All-Trac's were produced for the USA over the '92 production run.    The final '93 factory run produced 89 USA chassis.

I personally bought this chassis off a K.C. Ks. Toyota dealer's show floor in '92, just as they peeled the final pieces of shipping film from the windows.   

This lone racer hadn't been off the factory delivery trailer 45 minutes, and it was already capturing way too much customer (and salesdroid) attention. 

This K.C. Toyota dealer had been alotted one Turbo All-Trac chassis for all of '92.   Jump on this now, or forget about it...

It was Zen.   I was in the right place at the very right time of life.  And (amazingly) I actually had the dough.  It's a good thing my wife was with me at the time to approve this foolishness.

 

Lost in a Sashimi-Induced Haze:

I paid around $22,000 with 8.3 miles on the odometer.

Drove her home 17 years ago with a grin on my face, shakey sweaty hands...   and a completely emptied savings account.  

Within months, I was targeted by a totally-unaffordable $1500 insurance premium  -  due basically to that higher-liability word 'Turbo'.

After much hassle over auto insurance premium pricing, I was economically forced to garage my baby for nearly 6 years while I tried to wait patiently...

Coming out of cold garage storage, my insurance liability premium had dropped to $192 a year, but now there were painfully annoying flat spots on the car's gone-brittle tires, and it had a completely ruined clear-coat.   ;(    I was no longer a happy camper.

 

Caution - Fresh Paint:  

Sixty days out of storage a local repair shop hand-sanded the body, then applied 2 coats of 'Bright Toyota White', 2 coats of (actual) white-pearl dust, and 3 coats of clearcoat.  Had original Toyota design pin-striping & emblems re-applied.

 

I aquired a TRD small emblem sheet from Japan, and had fun with the outside door handles, front ashtray face, outside mirrors, hood vents, and shift knob. 

The under hood, front window, rear window, and back deck large white vinal graphics were custom made for the car locally.

 

When sunlight hits the finish you can see grey and pink hues reflecting off the shimmering pearl...   Right before you go blind from the glare of the reflected Kansas sun.

 

System Reboot:

Since chassis rebuild, she passes slow hillbilly pickups & transports on a flat 2-lane in a flash...   Without any need for downshift before pulling out & around. 

You definately know when the upgraded Turbo kicks in & the second set of intake-manifold butterflies snap open at 3100 RPM.

There's an oddly distinct & loud 'Whoooooooosh'  in the exhaust's sound and your head tends to snap back into the headrest.

I actually had to go back over the engine and add a dab of glue & spring-locks to all manifold vacuum hoses to keep them in place.  (Eh, it's only 22+ PSI boost...   Go figure).

Fair Warning:   Higher PSI boost will dump loads of fuel, quickly separate weak plumbing, split/collapse old brittle large-diameter turbo & intercooler feed hoses, and separate OEM paper-head and tin-exhaust gaskets. 

Hey kiddies...   Get a clue.   Don't try this at home  -  or alone in the dark.   ;)

"This needs to be done right the first time, with quality components and a seasoned mechanic.    Or not.   ...It's your car".

   

        Click To ENLARGE  /  Dynometer chart with Turbocharger PSI boost gauge peak, during final run 10/15/08

Dyno'd in a Kansas City suburb speed shop at 353.1WHP @24.5 PSI full-boost, the dual-entry bored & clipped CT26 Turbo is currently capped at 20-22 pounds boost with a custom spring & ball-valve controller. (A stock CT26 turbo's output maxes out around 17 PSI).

The ability to quickly pass slow-running stacked transports on a two-lane highway is my actual goal, not drag racing tacky overly-plasticised kiddie cars.  Although, it seems rather adept at doing that.

When I left his garage, my mechanic leaned over and told me,   "You don't need to baby this...   It was designed to handle it".

 

Stops on a Dime with 9 Cents Back:

The decision was made to keep the stock OEM vented rotors and calipers, as the rotors were not warped in the least  -  telling me Toyota had used top-end steel in their original design.  Only the pads were replaced, as they were about half-worn.

The computer-pulsed Anti-lock Braking System has saved my butt over several winter's use, while too many drivers ended up twirling off the icy highways and into the ditch  -  or into each other.  ABS is a definate keeper.   Those who strip it out for minor weight-savings seem a bit foolish.

 

Chromed Rims and Fresh Rubber:

She's fitted with TSW Kyalami chromed 17" rims, a pair of ICHIBA 25mm Alum/Mag alloy wheel spacers (to better fill-out the rear wheel wells), and 60K mile Yokohama Avid H4S  215/40R-17 low profile sticky-rubber  -  For smooth, well-balanced rollers.

This particular tire choice kept my speedometer within 1/2 MPH reading of the original factory wheels and tires, which only had a life-expectancy of 30K miles for $230 per replacement tire.

The new Yokohama's cost me $97 each delivered, with double the mileage rating.

Over a month period, I looked at a hundred styles of new wheels before finally deciding that chrome had the cleanest look against the pearl-white paint.

I was searching for sweet & classy, and my final decision had to pass with my Chinese wife.  (Remember, one must always keep the natives happy...  ;)

Many of the sport wheels I found looked really great, until I actually computer-imaged them on the car.  Others were just too radically expensive to even be considered.

I found quality chrome-plated wheel designs can be hard to come up with, and TSW has since discontinued my prefered style of 17" rims.

 

Off-Hand Observations:

* Winter of '08 *

* There's very little noticable AWD tire slippage on quick-starts from a full stop.

* At launch, this car sounds like a screaming Banshee crossed with an industrial vacuum.  It does get noticed.

* She moves lots of ar, and it's really snappy-tight slipping through the gears.

* This baby is easy on the eyes and romps with the really big dogs jus' fine.

Visit any Toyota dealership & salesdroids ask me, "Are you ready to trade-up to a Prius?".

        (wheeze...  cough-cough, ptooey)                                 "Ehhhh...   Nyet Comrad".

* Spring of '09 *

* As the weather warms, I'm feeling a touch of pre-detonation creeping in at high-boost levels.

* I'm logging about 19 mpg city & 24 highway, and she's fed strictly 91-octane or better.

* FWIW:  Missouri offers up some refreshing (CENEX ) 93-Octane pump fuel without alcohol.

This fuel has seemingly slowed the (not entirely unexpected) seasonal pre-detonation problems, that have been creeping into this engine as the weather warms up.

* The quest for a pre-detonation fixit begins...

* LUCAS Octane Boost (because it actually works ) is being added to locally obtained 91-octane fuel to further reduce warmer-weather pre-detonation shudder.

* There's a slight (almost turbine-like) whine coming from inside the hood scoop, due to the intercooler's new curved-blade fan I installed to prevent heat-soaking.  This definately helped reduce pre-ignition shudder as the weather turned warmer.

* Added a 110 PSI fuel pressure gauge, tapped into the fuel rail to monitor for spikes and drops.

* Summer of '09 *

* Have 10K miles on the new rebuild

* Found out the 8 Lb-lighter than OEM (SPEC 10 Lb Chromaly) flywheel requires a 1K higher engine idle when the Air Cond compressor kicks in, or it can unexpectedly stall the engine when waiting at a stoplight.  (Really, a slight price to pay for the improved responsive power transfer to the AWD).

* The quest for a pre-detonation fixit continues...

* Visited the Lake of the Ozarks & loaded up on 93-Octane CENEX fuel.  Interestingly enough, within the next 5 miles nearly all signs of pre-detonation at high boost have ceased...  and it's 95 degrees F outside.

* Had an interesting discussion with an Osage Beach, Mo. city officer claiming my JDM Yellow headlights were illegal.  He found Mo. state DOT defaults over to Federal DOT, which allows only 'White, Directed Yellow, and Amber' on a vehicle's front. 

Nothing else is specified, as to which color is for which light.

Verdict: Yellow headlights seem to pass inspection in Kansas & Missouri. 

I made sure to point out to 'Officer Friendly' how a passing group of noisy Ricers (and a Porsche) sporting intense HID-Blue, Violet, and Green headlights  -  although really pretty   -   might not be fully compliant with the law as we just recently discussed.  He smiled an evil grin & headed off toward the Ricers.  ;)

* Just installed a fresh set of 2-range-colder (Level 8) NGK Iridium IX spark plugs.   The original Level 6 heat range plugs were running way too hot for the rising Kansas Summer 'melting-asphalt' index.

* These Colder Level 8 plugs have seemingly curbed the dangerous pre-detonation issues encountered under high boost, while sucking hot Kansas Summer air.

 

The Mirror & Seatbelt Make a Statement...

It seems this chassis infuses some with the hots to play 'Speed Racer' from the stoplights.

There's just no end to the plastic-laden kiddie-cars gunning for quickie disappointment.  (Though, the new Subi WRX & Mitsu EVO AWD are a pretty impressive matchup).

Typically, they over-rev their 2WD, spin their tires, and blow a thick cloud of acrid smoke.                                   ...All while I'm shifting into 3rd a half-block ahead of 'em.

Ya know  -   some people find it difficult to understand exactly what an AWD Rally romper is all about; as most have never experienced (much less driven) a competition chassis design quite like this.

In the WRC world, it takes a bit more than pretty plastic break-off add-ons and a KW pumping distorted audio through 15" speakers.  And hey, that over-size dead-weight wing on the back sure looks interesting...   But is it really gonna help you compete?

Oh, and speaking of competition...

 

Here's WRC Rally Racing at it's Finest:

Yeah Buddy...   

This is the killer Toyota chassis that took 16 World Rally Championship races in the early 90's.  This basic 4-cyl+Turbo+AWD design ripped a path others quickly followed.

 

 

Break Out the Popcorn & Beer...

I Brought Some Car-Porn Movies to Better Illustrate My Argument:

http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=0043F263D7716A9E <--(Quickie Demonstration)

http://video.cardomain.com/clip.aspx?key=3DA02E246B5B96CF <--(WRC Slop Trough)

http://video.cardomain.com/VideoPlayer.aspx?id=680880   <--(WRC Racing Clips)

 

 

Recent Show Results:

Placed 1st in 'Sportscar' division at regional outdoor 10/18/08 car show, competing against 7 flavors of Corvette and several layers of, possibly, overly-plasticized ricers.

Caught surprised looks and raised eyebrows from the Corvette boys and girls as the announcements were made and awards handed out.

 

My six-year-old boy, who had kept busy shuffling a step-stool to clean off endless falling bird-poo, became noticably excited as he stepped up to accept the award for 'Mom's race car' 

He worked two full days helping out, and deserved a 1st place plaque for all his time and effort in support of Dad's rolling traffic-violation project.

The competition actually seemed shocked at the news (well, I was), and later, these same exhibitors quietly slipped over to take a close-up view of this Overly-Turbocharged 2-liter Japanese Racer that they had never seen or heard of before now.

 

Competition Notes:

I found others didn't bother to pull their wheels & clean inside them, remove rocks from their tire's tread, repaint brake calipers, brush dust from vents, etc.

Experienced show judges tend to take detailed notes and reward exhibitors for extreme-cleanliness and close attention to the finer points.

Ummm...  and the above Toyota Team Europe WRC Racing videos, endlessly looped on a 20" LCD monitor behind the car, might have helped out a wee bit.

The show judges spent at least 5 minutes watching my collection of early-90's Toyota WRC racing flicks before judging the car & moving on.  (At the time, I didn't think much of it).

                  ...Apparently, car-porn might be a hit with the judging panel.