300whp Jamaica style

hardcoreep

Member +
Background
The GT Turbo is a dying breed in Jamaica. Unlike Europe where there is a constant flow of Starlets here there is a three year import restriction. This means the last legal EP82 to enter our shores was in 1999 and the last EP91 would be 2003. Back in the mid-2000s Starlet tuning hit its peak in terms of power output, tuning development and popularity. Right now its a known quantity allowing for anyone with a budget to buy and make a high horsepower Starlet. Over the past year or two there has been a resurgence in demand for the GT Turbo due to its low cost and high levels of performance potential. With basic modifications the average Starlet can generate 200whp. Hardcore owners have been able to exploit the 5E combination to make impressive horsepower numbers and quarter-mile times.

The Starlet community is a small one in Jamaica. As I've said on my own personal site, hardcore.ep91.com, it became a very factionalized situation with tuners hiding information from each other on grounds of ego and profit. However, in more recent times as their popularity has dropped, the information flow has been more relaxed. Most Starlets have fallen into the hands of performance faithfuls and this is where my story sort of began. I've been associated with this car from its previous owners.

On this site EPs are new entity, in Jamaica, Starlet tuning has evolved without a lot of the niceties you UK guys enjoy. Back then there were no off the shelf pistons and rods. Power had to be made with what was available. To give you one example, the common turbocharger was the Garrett as these were cheap from any junkyard, but as the Impreza moved stateside and secondhand Mitsubishi turbochargers off eBay are now more common.

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The car
The car was initially owned by my friend Colin Morris, who brought in the car from Japan. It was converted to a high compression 5E-FHTE when his original engine died. It went on to win our local 14-second drag class. Full details here. As the owner upgraded to an Evolution the car was sold to another friend, who eventually began to scrap it for a Motorsports project. It was eventually rescued by the current owner sans engine, gearbox, and in pieces. Left with no choice, it had to be rebuilt, at which point I was drafted into the project.

The goal is simple, 300whp, a feat easily achievable on the stock engine internals. Recently there have been questions about the ability of the stock motor to achieve such figures on this site. The truth of the matter is that 300whp from a stock 5E in Jamaica is so simple most people don't bother to even document it. As I did over on my home site wheelsjamaica with the AE111 Levin/Trueno I will document the build up to make it a definitive 5E thread. I'll try to answer all the relevant questions I can while providing insight into Jamaican tuning.

The 5E
I was initially one of the first people in Jamaica to go 5E. This was about '99-'00. I went to the 5E when I lost my EP91 4E-FTE. Since I couldn't find a Glanza engine I opted for a 5E bottom half. My experience with the 5E was not initially a great one, as I went through several motors learning how it worked because there was not a lot of knowledge outside of Japan. However I recognized the potential something I passed on to Noel Rhone, our local Starlet Guru. All I have on the 5E is again on hardcore.ep91.com, but I'll give you a quick rundown.

There are two 5Es, a FE, and a later FHE, and even within those are several variants, ranging from ACIS equipped models, to coil-pack engine. The 5E is a combination of the older 3E and the 4E. 5E-FEs have the thinner connecting rods. The deck height is taller than the 4E to give the 5E its extra displacement, and the ACIS heads have slightly more aggressive camshafts. Much like i discovered the 5E has a bad reputation here in Jamaica. Its known to be an unreliable engine that easily destroys con-rod bearings and pistons. Over my experience I've come to understand the engine and just like anything new or different you have to know what you're doing. Its not just a matter of throwing stuff together. The bottom-line though is that if you want to make more than 300whp the increase in displacement can support it. There is more than enough evidence that if pushed a properly built 5E can make 400whp+. I might even dare say the 500 range.

From my experience there are three reasons why you'd use the 5E; 1)You want over 300whp, 2)You already have a 5E, and 3)You have no engine and that's what is available to you.

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Juice (left)
My first 300whp was my friend Juice. He was actually the one that connected me to this site. Juice damaged his 4E and was convinced to go 5E. His car runs stock internals using 4E-FTE pistons and two headgaskets. It uses a rather small IHI/Garrett combination. Using an eManage Blue it was programmed to 298whp before my eyes by my tuner and friend David Diedrick. His engine has since been rebuilt allowing me to confirm its contents hadn't changed since then. He had posted his 'controversial figures' and eManage file on the old GTTurbo site a while back.

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What 300whp looks like, Jamaican style.
 
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HYBRID

Super Moderator <a href="http://www.toyotagtturbo.
fantastic read as always Rory! keep the writeup coming!!

kon
 

GP82

Member +
Alot of my friend's have started to build high compression (9:5.1) motors here as they have access to high octane fuel, then they start to blow/lift heads and cause damage to the bottom end mains/big/little bearing. With high compression, the cylinder pressure's will be to high putting strain on a forced motor.

The 4E capable of 300hp in it's stock form?
 

hardcoreep

Member +
The Story so far
The car has actually been running for a while now, until last week. The owner was anxious to get it on the road, but since he got it in parts and sans drivetrain he bought an already prepped 5E engine and gearbox. Unlike me, he opted not to pull the engine down before installation. The turbo of choice was the td04L off a WRX, but I told him not to bother using that on the 5E because it would be too small. The 5E has very high cylinder pressures due to its FE head and therefore lots of exhaust energy, more so than most 1500cc engines. A friend, as fate would have it, crashed his STi and we scrapped the td05-16g off that car. The next step was the manifold. Rather than use the standard 5E N/A manifold the owner decided to have a proper tubular manifold built using the runners from the 4AGE20v. It was cheap , and while I worried about the size of the runners, on the road it turned out to be fine with the car hitting boost as low as 3000rpm.

Then bad luck. While he sorted out the management the headgasket failed flooding cylinder four. Unable to compress the coolant the car bent a connecting rod, but made it home fine. This turned out to be good news as the engine when pulled apart revealed several issues. The engine was used, and had been sitting down for at least a 6 months or so, meaning it needed to be refreshed and this is where the whole thing starts. I'll be documenting the 5E build up and its eventual 300whp.

Stage One: Clean up
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We're not using some advanced clean room. He's building 300whp from behind his fridge.
With the engine pulled apart the realized the first problem. While the engine was a 5E, the person was using the older 5E-FE rods. Since the owner had the previous engine in parts, there was no question about replacing the rods. The block has since been stripped and cleaned up.

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The engine block on the stand to be rebuilt with the stock parts.

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Conformation that it is indeed a 5E block.

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The piston numbers on the block in order, important.

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The other side of the block. Again all stock, no tricks.


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The reason for the rebuild. On the right is a 5EFE rod originally in the engine. It was damaged by hydro-lock.
To the left are the new stock 5EFHE rod to be used.


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The difference is even more obvious from this angle.

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Stock 5E pistons. Not to be used. The normal route is to shave these down for a custom CR...

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...but we will be using these, stock 4EFTE pistons.

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More proof of stock-ness, the 5E crankshaft.

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The 4EFTE oil pan and pick up.

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Factory head, throttle body, cams, and larger injectors 460cc.

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Turbocharger from a WRX STi

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The management system of choice, in Australia.

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Most of the local cars use the 5E NA manifold but...
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...after some discussion the owner decided to have a tubular manifold made up. Its made from the OEM 4AGE20v headers,
so we know it will last with the proper bracing.


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All that power meant the stock mounts had to be converted to Teflon inserts done locally.
A rough ride but necessary with these power figures.
 
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Dutch

Fresh Recruit
Thanks Hardcore for posting information on my car hope it will help others..this site is great btw I do alot of reading here
 
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