BOOSTED BEAMS
EURO HYBRID
While the majority of us have been off playing with the seemingly endless supply
of fast Japanese offerings, we’ve all but slept on what can be had from a well-
built Euro. No one would know that better than the team at Eurosurgeon! Richard
Gebhardt is out to show us all exactly how potent a Euro can be, and this Audi S3
8V is the perfect example of not having to go to the ends of the earth see solid
power. It runs a stage-three hybrid turbo upgrade developed locally by MSE
Turbos, the first of its kind in the country.
The goal was to reach 298kW at the wheels as a starting point — keeping in
mind that it is all stock internals within the S3’s two-litre heart, for now — and get
the car into 10s down the quarter-mile. A base run showed 185kW at the wheels,
and, with a version-two tune on the factory low-pressure fuel pump, it made
283.7kW running 26psi of boost — well within the safe limits of the package,
according to Richard.
The next steps are to replace the factory low-pressure fuel pump in order
to wind the boost up some more and to start leaning on the package to see what
it’s really capable of!
Ben Aitken has been grinding away on this ’81 Toyota Carina TA61 for a
good five years now. It started out as a 2T-GEU, but when it blew a head
gasket, Ben saw that as the opportunity to put a bit of modern power
through the chassis. That idea would start out as a 20-valve 4A-GE swap,
and Ben would get as far as having an engine and supporting components
sitting on the garage floor before a move from Tauranga to Christchurch
put everything on hold.
The thriving car scene in the shaky lands quickly reignited his passion
for the project, so everything was packed up and shipped southwards a
few months ago. At that stage, Ben was still planning to use the 4A-GE,
but it took only a few cold ones with a good mate before that idea evolved
into something more. You see, that mate wanted the engine, and, in return,
offered to sell Ben a Toyota 3S-GE Beams with all the pieces needed,
which had been ripped from a wrecked Altezza.
At present, Ben is in the process of making all the mounts to hold the
package in the chassis and will even have a crack at the driveshaft. After
playing passenger in said-friend’s KE70 at Chrome Christchurch recently,
he has decided that a turbo will be added to the mix for some extra fun, and
he’ll also be fitting adjustable suspension.
The idea is to have the car ready for the 4&Rotary South Island
Champs.WIN NEXT MONTH
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