Garage99

Displacement is fun. Big turbos are fun. AWD is fun.
Displacement + big turbo + AWD = FUN.


The basics:

• AEM EMS Series 2
• Stock 6G72 3.0L block with forged internals
• Ported stock heads
• Brian Crower 280 cams
• Borg-Warner S400SX3 turbo
• custom manifolds, exhaust, intake, intercooler, and throttle body
• RC 1200cc injectors
• Aeromotive FPR
• E85 fuel
• HKS DLI
• Blitz Dual-SBC Spec-R boost controller
• only 23-24psi… for now

There were no mechanical issues with this car at all, which is always welcome.

Considering the size of the turbo, boost came on at a very reasonable RPM… thanks in part to a device that makes the turbine inlet smaller at low boost levels. Once the turbo was spooled, the boost level was controlled *perfectly* by the Blitz EBC. As the boost was turned up, the car responded very well and power levels continued to rise. Minimal changes in fueling were needed for the additional airflow, thanks in part to the boost compensation mapping in the AEM EMS.

The results:
574.9 hp @ 7500rpm and 477.5 ft-lbs @ 5250rpm

This was a complete build from the ground up, done by Jan and Angel. The car’s previous setup had a Blouch Dominator 1.0 turbo that put down 330whp on the heartbreaker dyno, resulting in a 1/4 mile pass of 11.8 seconds. Of course, the owner still wanted more.

This time around, a custom rotated-mount setup with a large turbo was installed along with a slew of supporting upgrades. The original block was bored over and rebuilt with Eagle rods, CP pistons, ACL race bearings, ARP head studs, and Cometic head gaskets. Killer B Motorsport’s reinforced oil pickup does its part to keep everything properly lubricated.

The basic parts:

• GT3586R turbo with HTA billet compressor wheel and Tial turbine housing
• AEM EMS
• 1200cc injectors
• custom fuel system
• Ported heads
• Brian Crower stage 2 cams
• TurboXS FMIC with custom piping
• GT-Spec header
• TiAL 44mm wastegate

This resulted in a set of strong, but reliable tunes on pump and race gas.


The results:
Pump gas: 392.6 hp @ 6750rpm and 335.5 ft-lbs @ 5750rpm
Race gas: 445.5 hp @ 6750rpm and 377.5 ft-lbs @ 5500rpm


Race gas and pump gas comparison:



Compared to our baseline stock 2006 STi:

Mikey has been wanting to turbocharge his RSX for a long time. Over the past winter, he put lots of effort into this project, fabricating many of his own parts. In the end, everything came together very nicely to produce a car with a strong and wide powerband.


The parts:

• Garret T3/T04E 57 trim turbo
• Bosch 750cc injectors
• Hondata K-Pro
• Treadstone manifold
• custom downpipe
• AEM 3-port boost control solenoid

The results:
294.3 hp @ 8000rpm and 207.0 ft-lbs @ 6500rpm


The short story is that Mikey put a turbo on his car and picked up 109.3 hp and 71.7 ft-lbs over the old NA numbers at only 10psi. A higher-reading MAP sensor is on it’s way, so a bit more power will be made soon.

Compared to his last NA numbers:

This Supra arrived in need of some help. For the most part, the car was mechanically sound, but there were a few loose ends to tie up. Once those issues were addressed, I took at peek at what was going on in the car’s AEM EMS.  From the first glance, it was obvious that the tune was pretty haggard… there would be lots of work to do.


The parts:

• Garrett GT42 turbo
• AEM EMS
• 1680cc injectors
• fully built motor
• HKS 272 cams

The results:
After correcting the basic parameters within the AEM EMS, the car behaved beautifully. Once the car was running nice and strong at the wastegate level, I started to turn up the boost and the power output just kept on rising. Somewhere north of 25psi, there was a hint of a miss at high RPM, so we decided to take a look at the spark plugs. The plugs Jan removed from the car did look a bit old, so he replaced them with new ones that he had in stock. This alone resulted in a gain of 30whp.


730.6 hp @ 8250rpm and 532.5 ft-lbs @ 6750rpm

As compared to our “measuring stick” stock ’06 STi: