Aristopheles

Yup. 4WD V8 was also sold in Japan - obviously.

Manual? That's been converted or it's not a TT as all TTs are autos. I reckon £5000-5500 would be the OTR price in the UK after all import costs etc.

4.3 would be the Mk2, late model. V300 or V3.0 is the TT, S300 is 3.0 NA, can't remember what the V8 is called.

So when did you get an Aristo? I know you where after one from that thread on the Supra forum, but I didn't think you'd already got one!

If in doubt, make friends with your local MoT station, and problem solved :)

Hey mate, afaik, there is - I was talking to Gaz or Kev about this a little while ago and was told that Envy is one of the few people that does de-cat pipes for the Mk1.

Yes, but not all 17s will fit - not even all 18s will fit. My Supra had Blitz Racing Wheel 03s in 18" and the spoke clearance over the caliper was very small. If you don't mind the styling, then a set of UK Supra wheels will clear the brakes, as will facelift J-spec Supra wheels. A more attractive option is to fit 18" Lexus Sport alloys from the GS300 Sport. These are light, and, to the best of my knowledge, will clear UK brakes. They cost around £1200 from Lexus - if you do go for them, make sure you specify the 10" wide rears which were an option.

The standard Aristo brakes are - to the best of my knowledge - identical to those of the J-sepc Supra. They can't be the uprated brakes that were standard on UK Supra as the car would need facelift J-spec Supra or UK Supra style 17" wheels, which are among the few 17" wheels that can clear the caliper assembly. All Mk1 Aristos came with 16" wheels as standard. Edited to add - Of course, you know the Supra facts already, brain, as I recognised your name from the MkIV Supra forum :D

Colin's right, only certain wheels will fit over the Supra TT brakes due to their size - and they're not cheap either. They are, however, very, very good, despite being as old as they are. Bear in mind it's the UK TT brakes you'd need - the J-spec brakes are very poor.

I could help you with the Mk1, but the VVTi engine is more complicated - try here www.lexusvertex.com. The engine is pretty tough and you should be able to get around 400bhp safely and without much trouble.

Get them both out and slap a restrictor ring in there - most common practice on the Supra, and it works just fine. As for having a boost controller, who told you to buy that? I'm pointing no fingers, but it was a waste of time and money - the UK version of the 2JZ-GTE engine needs a boost controller to raise boost at BPU, but seeing as the JDM engine uses the cats to control boost, once one or both of these is out, boost will rise automatically. You'll need the aforementioned restrictor if both cats are junked - though you already know this - to restrict boost to the 'safe' level of 1.2bar. Boost controllers can only raise boost, not lower it, so it won't save you if you start overboosting.

Hmmm, maybe you're right.

If anything, TTC reduces response, as the car is running near enough no positive boost until well past 3k rpm, and due to the TT engine having a lower compression ratio than the NA engine, it feels very sluggish and lethargic. I hate TTC mode on my Supra - droning exhaust note, terrible response and you lose all the low-end responsiveness that the first turbo supplies. The mod takes about 15mins to do, so you can easily swap it back if you don't like it.

I think standard stall is something like 1800rpm. 4000rpm is pretty high, though I know of someone with a Supra running a 3800 t/c, and he says it's fine in everyday driving, though it's very easy to spin up the rears, and it does feel like the you're driving around with a slipping clutch.

Ah, cool, so it's 7 plus the sub. Thanks a lot for that!

I was just wondering how many speakers the stock sound system has? I remember having a look around the V300 when I took one for a test drive, and counted 7 speakers plus the sub. I've been looking at some interior shots recently, and it seems that there are 2 extra speakers located on the shelf behind the rear seats, either side of the sub - so is it 9 plus the sub? Thanks guys.

Thanks for the feedback guys - glad you found it useful.

Very, very nice car, and slick looking wheels too! How much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking?

Alongside Nissan's RB26DETT, the 2JZ-GTE - in my opinion - is one of the best performance engines to have come out of Japan. While its standard outputs are impressive, one of the characteristics that makes the GTE so appealing is the ease with which it can be tuned. No doubt many of you will have heard the terms 'Stage 1', 'Stage 2' and so on bandied about, and while they may well apply to various cars and engines, if you're tuning the GTE properly, there's only really one main stage of tune above standard. A car at this stage of performance tuning is referred to as being a BPU car or one having had BPU modifications. The term BPU - which stands for basic performance upgrades - was coined by an American company which specialises in the modification of the MkIV Supra. While the term only tends to be used on Supra forums, it can readily be applied to the 2JZ-GTE engine in general. In order to get the most from the GTE in terms of performance upgrades, everything that constitutes BPU should be performed at once, for both reasons of performance gain and engine longevity. The three main componenets of BPU are the exhaust, air filter and de-cat, with everything else being linked to these in one way or another. This trio is essentially what gives a BPU car its extra power, but you have to take precautions to make sure that the rest of the engine can cope with the extra power it is now being asked to produce. In all honesty, an exposed after market air filter is somewhat unnecessary, though most people will fit one anyway, so I thought I'd include it in the list of BPU requirements. It is widely accepted that the standard GTE airbox is in fact far more efficient at supplying the turbos with plenty of cool air as it isn't affected by heat-soak, so rather than shelling out for an exposed filter, it would be far more worthwhile - and cheaper - to simply slot a free-flow panel filter into the standard airbox. It might not give you any extra power as such, but it won't do any harm and it's not expensive at around £30. In the JDM GTE, the cats act as boost controllers, so removing these will allow the boost to increase, resulting in more power. The trouble is that without cats, the boost levels will reach dangerously high levels, which is where the restrictor ring comes in. This is essentially a washer that is fitted between the de-cat pipe -or pipes - and the exhaust, and when the correct diameter is chosen, it will prevent boost levels from going beyond 1.2bar. Beyond this point, you will significantly shorten the lifespan of the ceramic turbos, and they will be operating outside of their efficiency range. Due to the fact that you can control boost levels on the JDM engine with nothing more than a restrictor ring, this negates the need for expensive boost controllers, at least at this stage. In order for the turbos to be able to actually reach 1.2bar, you must first overcome the ECU's built in safety system. The standard ECU is designed to cut fuel to the engine if it detects boost levels over 1bar. You must therefore fit an FCD (Fuel Cut Defencer), which over-rides this safety cut, allowing you to up the boost freely. Once you have removed the cats and are limiting boost with a restrictor ring, it is essential to get a boost gauge, regardless of how cheap or expensive a gauge you choose, in order to monitor boost levels and to make sure that everything is running as it should The final performance modification is the exhaust - there aren't many available for the Mk1 Aristo, but try and choose a fully stainless system with a nice pipe diameter all the way through the exhaust - 70-80mm or thereabouts. The final two must-haves on the BPU list are a set of colder plugs and an uprated pump. The plugs that come with the highest recommendation are the Denso Iridium IK24s, which run cooler than normal, but don't cause any problems with everyday driving. You may be tempted by HKS plugs, but they are in fact Densos with HKS logos and a higher price tag. As for the pump, the standard item will struggle in trying to supply the engine with the extra fuel it will now need - probably the the best choice is the Walbro 255lph pump. You may also want to fit a blow-off valve - the HKS SSQV is easily the best available, mainly because it pretty much won't leak under any circumstances, as it is designed to be held closed by the pressure of the air running from the turbos to the engine, instead of using a spring to hold the valve closed. This covers the basics to reach the first main stage in tuning the GTE. I will edit and ammend this to add any additional information, such as details on BPU+ etc. but the basics have at least been covered here. Happy tuning.

Yeah, I think so too - will do one tomorrow :)

I was just thinking about sticking up a brief guide to going BPU with the 2JZ-GTE engine. I've seen a couple of posts here about tuning the Aristo, but no general guides and while I'm no tech wizard, I'm familiar with the GTE and thought it might be useful. If it's been done before, or if people aren't interested then I won't bother, but I just thought it might come in handy - let me know.

Not really, though obviously, running higher boost will reduce the lifespan of your turbos. The only thing I can think of is that it's said running TTC means the 2nd turbo has an easier time, as it doesn't go from being pre-spooled to suddenly on full boost. However, many people have experienced more problems running TTC, including ome nasty boost spikes and a loss of most of the low-end torque that the 1st turbo provides. Like I said, the mod is easy to do, so try it and see what you think.

Assuming you mean the TTC where you simply swap around a number of the sequential pipes to makes the turbos spool up together, it's not that great. Try it, sure, as it only takes a few minutes to do, but the general concensus is that it's not worth it. I have the electronic version on my Supra, and I've only used it three times, if that - much prefer sequential.

Thanks for that mate - I've got an Aristo in GT4 too, in fact, I've got a couple! Aristo has same engine, true, but the Supra gearbox is exclusive to the MkIV Supra, and was never used in any other Toyotas. Manual conversion would cost a fortune, and would be a waste of time and money, in my opinion - the Supra conversion costs £4k, though there are a few nutters who've had it done! If the Aristo auto is geared for 200mph, that's more than enough Was thinking if it would be possible to transplant the Supra auto into the Aristo, as it's meant to be a superb box, and you have the added advantage of being able to change gears 'manually,' so to speak. Of course, this is all just speculation right now :)

Does anyone know what the ratios are on the Mk1 V300 auto box? Also, what speed is the box geared for in top? Thanks guys.