88 Celica UK GT4 Trinity. Track car

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

Will do, thankfully the OEM ones are almost brand new anyway.
Its just a bit of a pain in the ass job, dropping the prop etc on your own aint no fun.

 

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

yeah its interesting to compare the two.

He finds loads of time at the end of the lap going wide into the corner with the bush, by driving on the outside of it, I admit I didn't even think to try that

We were late getting to the track due to stopping to help a fellow competitor who had run out of gas in his tow car, so I missed the walk arround slot, very possibly I would have used that different line if I had walked the track.

My cornering speed, while not even close to perfect, is normally much better, the crappy understeer and too solid back end of the car meant, I could not drive it the way I would normally, left foot braking and steering the car less with the wheel, more with the throttle.

To give you an indication of how bad this was, on the prev two tracks with the old suspension set up, comparative times bellow.
Rockingham
me 86.57, paul in the aygo 93.07
Barkston Heath
me 59.48, paul 64.31

Then woodbridge
me 1.34.23, Paul 133.63

It shocked me, just how much time I lost fighting the understeer, by lack of nous meant I ran out of driving ideas to beat it

no matter what we did with the car, lowering tire pressures at the front, raising the rear, softening the front damping, stiffening the rear arb, the only thing we did not do was disconnect the front arb, which maybe we should have done.

If only I had the spare cash, I would get some more race tuition, last year I did the sprint school at Curbourgh and learnt loads, but 1 days tuition does not a race driver for me make

Paul in the aygo on the other hand has done a hellva lot of track work and it shows

Still once we swap back to the old front bar, the handling should come back to us.

Plus I have simple cost effective plans to gain another 30bhp, so its not over yet.

Cheers for the feedback.

 

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

Right, after some good advice from Mafix we have sourced the following bits.

Still to be collected.

Complete Gen 3sge engine, with low miles.

Comes with out manifold but other wise pretty much there. head has no cracks etc

Plan is to strip the head down, and clean up the cams and fit them into my head, with shimless Buckets, as per out tech section.

I also plan to get some cam gears so we can dial in the timing.

Not sure when this will be done by, but I plan to have it re mapped with new cams, fuel pump and a small boost increase all in one.

The spare head, my third one, going to see if we can start to do some work with flow and porting. as its the same as the 3sgte head ( something i did not know before )

Block is pretty much worthless, going to take advantage of a big blast cabinet my mate has just got and turn it into a wine rack lol.

Fingers crossed my rear subframe bushes and suspensuion bushes turn up soon, as looking at mine, they are pretty shot.

 

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

I want to keep the cars heat beat 4th gen, thens it even more satisfiying to beat the later cars and when they go.
" only coz you put the ST205 engine in it" ( as thats the only way people in the uk see to build cool power 165s) I can say, "nah mate you got duffed by a 165 engine 101k and all "

not sure on the cam cover, think its different.

The whole lump has cost me £20 delivered, so I can play with out fear of ruining it.

 

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

In the respect off tools, I am very lucky, My mates dad runs a volvo workshop and body repair centre, so I can "borrow" or get bits done after hours for beer rates.

3sge lump on twin carbs, now there is an idea

Few pics off the track action, compared to the last sprint, I am far happier with the cars stance on the the track, lot less roll and pitch.


God knows what the hell I am doing here, :shock: think this was on a run I got very pissed off about and just beat the steering wheel in frustration in the corners!!!






once we get rid of the w/line ft arb and replace it for a stock one and play so more with the tyres and the camber, I think we will be on a winner

Fingers crossed I should have a 2nd pair of R888s part worn coming as spares. which is handy.

It sounds daft, but the other thing I am doing is upgrading the windscreen washer jet system, the tracks are very dusty, and waiting in line you get covered in dust, I had poor visibility on a couple of runs. S I have ordered from a classic car rally place a large non return valve with reservoir, and bigger jets. hopefully this will help. New wiper blades coming too.

Simple things, but nice pleasure

Last night after washing car, swaping back to road wheels, and few other tidy ups from the sprint on sunday, went along to a local pub for a meet with some fellow celica owners.









Thanks to Ed for the pictures
must admit the two ST205s look well, the guy who built the rally rep has also done a nissan pulsar and a Escort Cosworth one too.

A late arrival was a Gen 7 S/C with well over 300bhp, very nice it is as well. Shame we got no pics.

Car now awaits it's MOT test on Monday :shock: hopefully they will not be anal about the bits on the car like the rally pedals etc.

We shall see.

And to finish off, a sad pic of a breaker, I hope to get some bits off soon. being broken by my mate Steve.

Rust, duff transfer and gearbox and lots of issues mean its not worth trying to get back on the road

 

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

hi fella,

Def going to do some porting and polishing on the head, may do it in stages and post up pics so I know I am going in the right direction with it.

think I will go for Fidanza cam gears, as there are a few pairs knocking bout on the UK MR2 forums.

Cannot wait to get the cams in and timed up, be great to extend the rev range.

Intake temps are bout 40 degrees on track, not so great, thinking bout bigger replacement for the intercooler, may go for a wider one, its just monies again lol. seen some nice big ford cosworth ones.

lot of guys use evo intercoolers, but I want to to go wide rather than tall. easier for install. I really do not want to cut out the bumper bar.

Mapper is fairly happy at current boost level though.

Got to get my spares subframe blasted then coated, decided to hold off on the seam weld for the second. once bushes arrive then we can get on with the rear rebuild.

Thinking bout taking it down the local strip on a RWYB day, would be happy with mid to high 13s just for shits n giggles really. not dragged it since I did a mag feature.

 

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

oh yeah, its not going to be crazy launches at all. just fun

Your right I should do the subframe first, its just there is never enough time, I think may revise my time table, next event is 2nd Aug, then the 8th Aug, and I want to have a track day before that to make sure the suspension is dialled in. My thoughts are that once the rear is all properly built up the handling will change again.
Current plan is a cheap airfield track day, and pay for garage space so we can swap out / change parts and settings. seat time can only help my times, plus once we have a set up I am happy with we will then get it pro set up to make sure everything is spot on.

So I may hold off doing the rear set up until after the 8th, as I dont want to throw to many variables into the mix.

If I try to change too much at one time I may struggle again with the feel of the car.

My thoughts are that once the rear is all built up, with welded subframe, lsd, and all new bushes, the rear off the car will be tighter, and may require a re think on front set up to get a good balance.

We know the LSD will ultimatly encourage power oversteer and increase traction... thoughts?

 

Re: My 1988 GT4 ST165 Sprint / fast road car lots of updates

Cheers fella good prices on them