Hi All Just got a 1990 GT4

[drumow]

Hi all first of all nice site, second i just bought a GT4 1990 and its all standard only thing is the exhaust done up and a very bad but nice kit IMO. I want the car to go fast and very good acceleration and of course  excellent road holding. It currently has 19 inch rims that i feel terrible for road holding when i drive. Can some one give me a few pointers ideas.

Thanks Ken

[ChrisW]

Hi mate,
Welcome to the club. Glad you like it.
As for your 185,it depends on the extent you wish to go with the modifications. I've got 17" alloys on mine, with a front and rear strut brace. Add to this, Eibach springs and KYB shocks and it transforms the road holding.
A good idea for more power is to either set a budget or a BHP goal. For example, to get around 300BHP I went with an Aussie down pipe to improve air flow(and exhaust noise ), swapped the top mount cooler for an ST205 chargecooler, fitted some colder grade plugs and uprated leads, and a Greddy Profec B Spec II boost controller, not forgetting a fuel cut defender. When this was mapped at Nobles it made 301BHP at 1.1 bar.
This required bigger brakes obviously, so I went for HiSpec 4 pots up front with DS2500 pads all round.
I hope this gives you some ideas, and if you've any questions feel free to ask.

Cheers

[cunning stunt]

Hi fella and welcome , wow a185 on 19" thats got to interesting get some pics up.
Where abouts are you from ?

[silverspeed]

wttc club fella.. 

How deep are your pockets.? 

[drumow]

Hi all and thanks for the ideas my budget is 2000€ for now and most of all well done on your 185s

[Chris_de_Bear]

Engine wise:
Biggest limitation on a 185 is the standard paper head gasket. Any increase of boost and it's on borrowed time. The solution is to fit a metal headgasket. You can either do it as a first mod to avoid the worry, or wait until you start getting symptoms and then sort out the mess afterwards (possible warped head & new water pump needed).

Next on the list is to improve the intercooler if you have the top mount air-air. Usual solution is to go for a front mount setup. This won't gain you much BHP on it's own, but will save your engine when you start winding the boost up.

Ignore the above at your peril.

Wheel wise, IMO 19" is too big for anything other than smooth, dry tarmac. Maybe even too big for that unless yopu have very stiff suspension. My personal preferance for the road is 16 inch as they don't tramline badly and will be predictable and easy to drive on in all conditions. If you like a very firm feel then 17 or maybe 18.

[silverspeed]

as chris say's.. one of the biggest killers for the 185 ata is heat..  cs bumper and bonnet will help loads.

[drumow]

Thanks all for the info.

1st i will do metal headgasket
2nd i will fit in the intercooler
3rd i was going for different turbo for better acceleration
4th will change to 17inch ultra light (would go for 16 as u recommended but will find a problem to buy tires i think in malta)
5th will lower the car for better road holding

Thanks for all the hints will donate end of the month 

What you guys thing of the current procedure. I also would like to change the kit with a higher spoiler but thats when my budget goes back up.

Thanks again 

[Chris_de_Bear]

I hadn't realised the Malta bit.

17 inch wheels are probably more appropriate for your weather - I doubt you get our mud covered roads :lol:

Your spec list looks good to me.
Turbo wise, if you want a mild upgrade consider a standard turbo from the ST205 (often known as CT20b). This retains good low end response but doesn't run out of puff so much at the top end. Beyond that, you're into hybrids which often end up disappointing as you spend most of the time waiting for the boost to kick in.

I've yet to see a high rear spoiler on a 185 that looks like it belongs, somehow they just look out of place. I've seen st205 style hoops as a single spoiler or bolted on top of the standard spoiler, and racing type 'surfboard bolted on' types.

[drumow]

Chris_de_Bear Thanks again for all the ideas. Spoiler still not sure what to do. Turbo i want good acceleration was going for garrot. What do you suggest always for speed was thinking 300 to 400 Bhp always i want the car to be reliable.

[silverspeed]

just do a 205 engine conversion.?  350 bhp all day long.

[drumow]

Is it better for a new engine found a link below for 205 engine what u think m8t

http://got-jdm.com/9499-jdm-3sgte-celica-st205-20l-complete-engine-with-turbo-p-106.html?zenid=otq0un1770b12r4hsjq7fnhcg7&currency=EUR

[Chris_de_Bear]

The 205 engine itself isn't really any better, only that it has metal headgasket as standard.
What makes the 205 better/more powerful is the turbo and the ECU.
The 205 water chargecooler is better than the top mount a-a but not as good as a front mount a-a. It's easier to fit a front mount to a 185 than to rig up a pump and pre-rad for the water chargecooler.
Also a pain to splice a 205 ecu/loom into a 185. Easier to go standalone ECU on the 185 loom.
The 185 also has bigger head ports, and possibly slightly stronger pistons.

[silverspeed]

down side.. reliabilty on a 350 brake 185 run on a shoe string.  getting a good power figure is easy.. keeping it is expensive. A good 205 lump and some elbow grease gets you a better reliabilty chance.

[Chris_de_Bear]

Why is a 185 block/head less reliable than a 205 one in an otherwise identical installation of ECU/FMIC/fuel pump ?

My exoerience to date is the opposite.