I just started building my EB Evo 9 GSR that I acquired last January. I haven’t done much to it yet but I’m going to share what I have done so far and maybe get some inspiration from other people.




To start with some backstory, my first ever “fun” car was a Wicked White Evo 10 I got back in 2016. It started as a bone stock car which enjoyed a lot but ended up getting bored of the stock power. I decided to jump straight to a bigger turbo and ended getting a stock location GT35r. I made ~470whp on pump 93 with all the supporting mods. It was fun for a few years but I got the 2JZ itch and decided to get a 1994 Toyota Supra to replace the Evo 10.

The Supra started out as a stock auto twin turbo car and turned into a pump gas 650whp 6spd the year after. It was a stock bottom end 2JZ GTE with T56 magnum from Grannas racing. I touched almost everything on car except for the intake manifold and bottom end.



It was a great car and fun to drive but with all the attention it got from people and police. It didn’t feel as enjoyable as it should have been. Being in Montreal, Canada there were only a handful of supras around so everyone made a big deal of it when it was driven.

That brings me to my current car, an electric blue Evo IX GSR. I ended up selling the Supra to a guy in San Francisco and buying the Evo from a guy around LA. I thought it would be fun to travel across the States so I trailered the Supra from Montreal all the way to San Francisco and on the way back I made a pit stop at La to pick up the evo. All in all it took 8 days and ~10000km (6k miles) there and back.

 

Now on to the Evo. It’s a 75k mile 2006 Evo GSR with some mods. The previous owner has modified the car pretty extensively. Here’s a basic run down of the car when I bought it:

-Stock block
-Quartermaster 8 leg
-Kelford 280 cams
-GT35r with 67mm wheel
-4.5 inch intercooler
-BPR double pumper with twin walbro 525s
-ID2000 injectors
-Moroso oil pan
-D2 Drag coilovers
-Skunk2 intake with S90 throttle body
-Stock ecu

Made 650whp on a dynapack.



I drove it like this for awhile but since it was tuned on E85 I had to buy barrels to drive it. I wanted to get a standalone for it so I could run flex fuel and more motor sport functions. I found a bnib Maxxecu Pro for 1500USD so I couldn’t miss this deal.


As I was removing the oem wiring harness I noticed that the current GT35 turbo was shot. Tons of in /out shaft play. with a leaking compressor seal. I had an EFR 9280 lying around in my house so I decided the evo would be the perfect candidate for this turbo.

Since the GT35 had a v-band housing, I needed a new T4 divided manifold for the EFR. I wanted a top mount for the car but I couldn’t find anyone that made a divided T4 top mount for the Evo. I took it upon myself to make one.

Here’s what it looked like tacked up after test fitting.



All welded up and installed with turbo:




The initial plan was just to add a standalone but it has spiraled out of control after the broken turbo. I plan to modify the fuel system and potentially build the block later this year.

I am currently tackling the fuel system so I will try to give some updates later.

 

Looking great man! And welcome back! That should be a blast.

 

Congrats on the car.
The QM leaves alot to be desired for street duty. May consider an exedy triple when it comes time.

Also, will you have a second cooling fan. You would be surprised at how well the stock fan actaully cools these cars.

 

Thank! I missed my first evo a lot and it’s great to be back in one.

Thanks man. Yeah, the 8-leg is pretty awful to drive, but it was slipping a tad bit from the previous owner. So I am replacing it with a new Tilton twin disk I got for 1k USD. Not sure how it will drive either to be honest but I since it’s also a small diameter race clutch I don’t have high hopes for streetability.

Yup, I am going to have two fans. The pull fan on the inside doesn’t fit anymore because of the turbo placement. I’m going to get a 1” smaller fan otherwise it will touch the compressor housing.

 

Things will always spiral out of control when modding...it's as if we want things to go wrong so we can upgrade them. Congrats on the car and the trip sounded like a good time!
I also flew out to SF to get my IX, about 2 years ago. Also found some shaft play in my turbo too...and spiraling ensued.
Do you have any comments on the Supra vs. IX?

 

Yeah for sure, builds always snowball unfortunately. And I agree I do sometimes wish things would break to give me an excuse to change them and that was the turbo this time just like yours haha.

As for the supra vs evo, honestly both have their pros and cons. Looks, sound and cool factor go to the supra for sure. The evo also feels kind of cheap compared to the supra which makes sense considering the msrp on both. Other than that the evo is better. It feels more nimble and honestly is more drivable because I could put the power down on the ix a lot more easily due to awd. I would 100% have a supra again if I could have both.

 

I mean looks and cool factor are subjective things. I personally think that the evo takes it for those was never crazy about the round “bubble” look of the supra. Always liked boxy/sharp edges. You could say I’m bias but then I had the option to pick an mkiv over the evo 9 and I narrowed it down to a gtr or evo at the time. The evo actually cost more and I opted for the ix. Even test drove a r33 gtr but the styling of the ix won be over. I personally like the seats and steering wheels design better. The car felt/looked smaller, it was lighter and driver focused and I like a basic feel. I mean the cheap interior feel? Sure but not by much all those Japanese 2000/90s era cars were so driver focused the interior felt minimalist on most. Who buys these cars for luxury anyway? My friends fd and the skyline feels like a 93 civic si interior its all plastic panels. Some just cheaply wrapped in leather to add comfort which is just extra weight so no thanks, that supra is a beautiful car though no doubt.

 

Yeah, the supra is definitely not for everyone but I am surprised that the evo was more expensive unless it was the NA version. MSRP here in Canada was much higher when adjusted for inflation.

I’ve been in a lot of 90s japanese sports cars and the supra had the most luxuries most of the time. Power folding mirrors, heated seats and power seats, etc. Surprisingly there was not much plastic either.

But yeah I agree, luxury isn’t the goal with these cars. My plan for my evo might be to go for a sequential and built 2.2. Definitely not luxurious in any way haha.

 

oh msrp was definitely higher but this was back in 2012/13 when Canada was importing a ton of jdm cars before the states and nobody really wanted them or like the idea of rhd cars.

Yes the supra was very luxurious for its time which is why it was more of a grand touring car than a race car. It was a whale in weight but easy to strip down, great power to weight capability and very mod friendly and I think that’s what made it so desirable. It was the Japanese muscle car.

Anyways that’s a real good way to go I’d say 2.2 is that sweet spot for fitting a larger turbo setup but not too big with great response. Il be keeping watch on this car very excited to see where it takes you. I am more of a “jdm” build person where keeping all parts Japanese for these cars is very important. I just find they always work and fit better. It’s like you wouldn’t throw a bunch of Japanese parts on a hellcat charger would you? That’s kinda what it’s like to me haha

 

Electric Blue looks so good in the sun. I always liked the Supra over the GTR's I have not driven a supra or a GTR but i have hear the R32, 33 are just a boring car to drive in stock form.
My Buddy had a supra for like a year or less and just didn't like it. Say it felt much larger then a Evo and sold it for his 2nd or 3rd Evo.
You have a fun little car on your hands. What kind of fuel mods our you doing?

 

Spot on with the mod friendliness of the Supra. Honestly making 800-850whp relatively reliably on stock bottom end is amazing.

So far short term plans for this car are not too grand but I have a 2.2 rotating assembly being balanced at the machine shop right now. 153mm nitto V2 rods, wiseco 1400hd and a 94mm crank. I was going to opt for a 150mm rod for more torque but I want to rev it to 9-9.3k rpm and play it safe with the extra rod length. I am probably putting these into the block in fall so I can enjoy the car this summer. Last thing I need is a car on jackstands all season haha.

Also, I’m not too opposed to using non japanese parts on the car if it’s better or more affordable than the japanese equivalents. Like the ecu, turbo and engine internals. A lot of things on the car will be fabricated by me if it’s within my capabilities. As long as it still feels like an evo, I’m happy.

 

Yeah, honestly the supra and gtr stock aren’t anything special. I feel that the evos are already pretty fun stock.

Not going to be changing too much on the fuel system since the previous owner had some nice parts already. I’m just going to change and add some stuff.

Fuel system as it sits (bold is what I will change/add)

• BPR double pumper w/ 2 walbro 525s
• ID2000 injectors
• Aeromotive FPR changed for a Radium DMR to reduce engine bay clutter
• Aeromotive fuel rail
• 30 micron filter Changing for a filter from Fuelab or ID
• -8 and -6 braided rubber AN hose from pump to rail. Going to do -8 and -6 hardline underneath and PTFE hose where it needs flexibility.
• Adding GM flex fuel sensor with a Radium split flow sensor adapter.

I have everything ready to be installed except for the filter. I’m torn between the Fuelab 818 and ID F1250 since they are both around the same price range and are acceptable for the bosch injectors.

I already started removing some of the old stuff. Hopefully I can get most of the lines ran this week if I have time after work.

 

Go with the Bulletproof racing double pumper with the 525s and go from -8 to -10 and -6 to -8 and thank me later. This will help solidify your fuel pressure and not allow it to drop further then it needs to be cause you have so much more fuel in the lines. I would also swap the fuel lab small unit out for a larger one as well. Lots of the smaller fprs have issues with higher hp.

 

Yeah, -10 feed and -8 return was my initial plans but I wanted to use hardlines underneath the car instead of running PTFE lines the entire way and I couldn't find anyone that sold 5/8" stainless or copper nickel tubing. The largest I found at a reasonable price was 1/2" copper nickel tubing. I found some 5/8 tubing overseas but shipping costs were unreasonable. I used a fuel flow calculator and at my future power goals (900-950whp), there was only a 3-4 psi pressure drop between -8 and -10 feed lines. So I ended up running with some -8 and -6 copper nickel hardlines. As for the fuel filter, I will go with the ID F1250 since its marginally more expensive than the Fuelab 818 but flows way more.

Some pictures of the -8 and -6 lines routed under my car. I removed the OEM fuel lines and the evap line too so I could keep the oem brackets which I had to modify to fit the lines. I know that no one will look under the car at fuel lines but I never really liked how most cars just had braided hose ziptied to the oem hardlines. Next thing i'm going to do is run the PTFE hoses to the fuel rail and hanger.