Ah yes! It’s spring again, and its time for all the weekend draggers to start lining up at their closest strip and haul ass down the ¼ mile stretch and hope they are victorious when it’s all said and done. At this time of year I ‘m very ecstatic, because it’s one of the best time of the year for the inside scoop and the Dv1 crew. It was the first weekend in the month of May 2001 and it was a two days event. The days were the 5th and 6th and both days were jumping at English Town New Jersey. Why? It was the first NIRA event of the season and it was the biggest one of the years thus far. I guess everyone was just as eager as the Dv1crew, because the turn out was astonishing. If the remaining events are as good and this exciting, I can’t wait for the next. I’m telling you! You had to be there to fully absorb the impact of this event. On this weekend myself and twoDv1 members witnessed a turning point in the import racing scene. It was massive! Not only because of the attendance of the spectators and local hot rodders, it was huge due to the turnout of the heavy hitters that were on hand to strut their stuff. As impressive as they all were, we had to pass them up for the family, which is Toyota and strictly Toyota. There were so much supped up Yotas, it got me a little hyped and confused for a few minutes but I settled down and decided to think big. So here we are big turbo, big motors, big wheels, big trailers, big bucks and big expectation for the future, which should have been last weekend the 20th at the NIRA event in Gains Ville Florida. Before you go any further, stop and drool for a minute or two like I did with my tongue hanging and eyes bulging like a pulped frog.
“WOW! OH SHIT! WHAT THE F**K!” were my exact words as I cross the plastic barrier and shook hands with some familiar faces, ERIC &MARC KOZELUH of RPS racing, who are also working with Turbonetics on this project. What a jaw dropping sight? A 2001 front wheel drive 1.8 twin cam four cylinders 2zze motor producing 180hp, dismantled and redesigned as a wicked pro mod fiberglass frame rear wheel V-8 twin turbo fire breathing Bull dog. I’ve heard of it for a few weeks before its debuted from my main man JC of JC performance in Brooklyn New York. He told me how awesome it looked but not in my wildest dreams I would’ve thought it looked like this. It clearly showed how determine and dedicated the guys at RPS & Turbonetics are trying to set new trends and raise the bar to a higher level in the import scene. The guys I spoke to told me “this wasn’t really high budget to their standards”. What? They couldn’t be serious because this is definitely not a grass roots or back yard project by any means what so ever. Lets take a closer look at this work of art.
The chasse was purchase as an existing PRO Mod fiberglass unit that should weigh about 2300lbs with a nasty twin turbo V8 Toyota producing about 16 to 1800hp running on methanol and no NOS I was told. The motor in question is a hybrid. What do I mean by hybrid? The short block is a Toyota Tundra V8 4.7 liter bored & stroked out to a 5.3, liter monster you see in front of you. The block is coupled with a head from the Toyota Lexus LS400 quad cams 32 valves. The respiratory system was taken care of when the head was fully CNC for all out performance. The cams are custom grind by Turbonetics & RPS, so were the 32 valves. The intake plenum, exhaust and fuel rails are all custom built. The injector rails are set up to fit 16 injectors in order to provide the necessary fuel this hungry looking motor would be needing.
For the ignition timing and spark, 8 MSD 6A box coupled with8 MSD coils. Two E6K Haltech ECU units will control everything. I asked? “What else was done to the motor”? Everything was the answer. The crank is a special lightweight unit forged out of billet by the guys at RPS, Carrillo rods, J&E pistons and much more goodies. To help the block hold the massive overdose of power, a girdle was put in place with 4 bolts mains and the block was bored and fully sleeved. On the custom headers sits two huge T76 ball bearings turbo with custom front and a custom 4inch discharge down pipe. In order to unleash all that doggish power to an unsuspecting pavement, they need a reliable and capable tyranny, so the Turbonetics & RPS crew decided to shell out a few thousand cheddar about $1500+ for a linco 3 speed air shift transmission with a Titian twin disc centrifugal set up. The rear end is a custom sheet metal possi set up with a 112-inch wheelbase and a Pensky suspension set up coupled with a set of sticky 34.5 by 17 by 6 HOOSIER tires. All the gearing including the ring gears are kept as secret, although I tried my best to find out. They’re a lot more to learn about this machinery, but the guys aren’t saying as yet. One thing I can say on this cars behalves, it looks great and from the little crumb of information I got I was impressed. Now I can’t wait to see it take center stage, its debuted date was the 20th but it wasn’t done in time for that stage. A few weeks from now English town will be hosting its 2nd NIRA event of the season and the Dv1crew intend on being there to capture the Turbonetics & RPS bulldog release the hounds. Remember this, everything on this car was custom built, from the wicked paint scheme to the last nut & bolt to achieve impressive # and soon we will find out. The stage is set and the audience awaits the arrival of its Super Star or in this case a Super Car so the show could start.
I would like to thank the staff at Turbonetics and RPS. For the time
and effort to give me an interview.
Special thanks to: Erick, Marc, and John Chow.
Good luck guys and all the best.
Lloyd: What can you tell inside scoop
Marc: The motor is ready for sale and plans to kick ass and takes names, would love to take the car to the street race.
Lloyd: Same question John.
John: We Plans to break everybody off and set industry standards
Lloyd: What about you Erick?
Erick: I want everyone to know that Toyota rule.
Lloyd: This is good enough for me, the inside scoop, and all Yota heads out there.
Until next time, Holla!
One At Division One and the Inside Scoop.