Heavily modded, AE101 4agze, AW11...Stock ecu???

[Mooro]

Ok I'm seriously entertaining the idea of importing a particular AW11 from japan which has a heavily modified AE101 4agze conversion,

The mods I'm certain of are,
-AE101 4agze conversion,
-Heda cams 272° inlet and 264° exhaust with Heda valve springs (no idea about Heda brand??)
-1mm Heda gasket
-TBS supercharger kit with 1Bar of boost,
-AE101 CPU with APEXI SAFC piggy back.
-Some combo of HKS and APEXI exhaust and muffler
-3 core radiator
-oil cooler
-oil filter relocation kit

I think it has had a full rebuil 6000kms ago with the following mods. The translation is a bit rough though (I include translation in brackets)
-Port and polish (Engine head: [irijiyuumupuragu] (7th) exchange sport plug cord shortcut/set long adjusting valve grinding head balancing plane research (0.03) port grinding IN side guide cutting combustion chamber capacity adjusting (within 37cc±0.2cc))
-Engine block balancing and with JE forged pistons (Engine block: Surface balancing plane research (0.08mm) dummy head boring splash horning/honing piston clearance (6/100) shake-out [haikonpupisuton] JE forging while blocking (81.5Ф: Head amount concave 6cc: Within balance 1g) )
-Crankshaft lighten and balance ([konrotsuto] side 磨 (within balance 1g) crank shake-out [jiyanaruokuru] hole enlargement crank balance taking TRG metal )
-2jzgte fuel pump and maybe fuel regulator (Fuel type: Fuel pump third fuel regulator fuel line hose exchange fuel tank cleaning for 2JZ turbo )

Anyway as you can see it is quite modified and should be a lot of fun with the associated suspension mods it has...but as seems to be often the case with the Japanese he has spent a lot on mods and then skimped on controlling with an APEXI SAFC. My question is has anyone had experience with a modified AE101 4agze like this and running it with the stock ecu and just an APEXI SAFC or similar? In particular with those cams will it run like a pig or can the stock ecu handle the requirements?

The long term plan would be to run an SC14 and aftermarket management but for now I would need to run as is but I don't want it to be a pig which guzzles fuel.

Post your thoughts.

[Koffee-Black]

Hey man, soudns good, got a link?

I ran 267 cams in my aw11 gze for a bit, even on the track, with stock ECU, it was fine. It actually runs alot rougher now with an ecu and tune

I also had the headers/cat/cat back exhaust, and pulley mod done too.

Get it!

[Mooro]

Yeh I'm pretty keen. Just have to contact buyer and make sure he will sell it within my budget. I've been following your car a bit...everytime you I see something about it it seems to have more done to it...you must be spending a bomb on it!

I'm guessing the one for sale, being an AE101 conversion will suffer for the 5500rpm cutout as well . in his description for why the APEXI SAFC was used he says,

"Because with 5000~8000 revolution normal value is dense, it is thin setting. Because of this power insufficiency of S/C peculiar high revolution "

Hopefully he is referring to the 5500rpm cutout and hopefully they have resolved the problem otherwise I guess only solution is full management. On a side note a 4agze at 8000rpm must be a nice thing .

I guess these are the risks of importing a car and I just have to accept it, it's just that I'm purchasing at the upper end of my budget so I don't want to get hit with heaps of unexpected costs.

[Mooro]

Also Koffe how did you find the improvement to 267° cams. I have heard some negative experiences with SC's and cams. I think mostly because you lose the bottom end urge that the SC is so famous for. Things is I actually don't really like the bottom end dominant power delivery of the SC so I would sacrifice a bit of bottem end for some more top end.

[Koffee-Black]

the top end on the stock sc (for me anywyas) was shocking. The cams helped, but its still shit haha. boost still comes on as normal, but off boost is very laggy. But its not much off boost, comes on about 2100.

Yeah i been spending a shitload!

[Mooro]

I'm coming from a big turbo SR20det silvia so I think the lack of top end maybe a dissapointment for me too.

Yeh I remember reading about you complaing about being beaten by a type R . Did you see the video of that guy taking a type R at Winton raceway on the straight...his seemed to have similar mods to you as well. Maybe something a bit off with yours.

Anyway this one being an AE101 4agze should already have quite an advantage so hopefully will quite quick.

I can't quite figure out what the final compression ratio is for this particular engine as he has new pistons, modified head and block and thinner HG but hopefully it is still up around the 9.5:1 so it won't be as laggy as an AFM 4agze.

[TooF]

just a thought with that much work and aftermarket (sorta) managment you may have issues with engineering and compliance, id reccomened speaking to your engineer who will have to approve it before you go importing..

[Mooro]

Hmm maybe I've been a bit naive in that regard but I'm in WA and my understanding was that all I have to do is the usual 15yr old import compliancing (seatbelts, mirrors etc) and then just take it over the pits...i'e no engineers certificate/approval required. That was my understanding although I'm not certain so if somebody can confirm I would appreciate.

I presume I could just take the APEXI SAFC off when going over pits and it would still run ok or I could probably hide it under the dash to get over the pits. Although it is modified, externally there won't be much to give it away and I presume with those cams the idle will still be relatively stable. I am worried about the suspension though cos it has 11kg/cm² springs in the back which is getting pretty bloody stiff! I had problems getting over pits in the silvia with stiff springs like that.

[Koffee-Black]

Yeah, being an 88 or older car, should be fine!

yeah them damn type r's!!!

[TooF]

no for a 15yr you still need an engineers approval. unless things have changed with the dropping of the 15yr rule and adoption of the 1988 rule.

if you are bringing it in though an importer they will normally organise the engineers cert otherwise if your bringing it in yourself you will need to do it.

it is a requirement to get the cert before you get a blue slip (nsw) id assume the rules would be similar over there
the only way (nsw) you will have an import registered without going past an engineer is to do the dodgy and find someone that will issue a blue slip without the engineering paperwork (iilegal obviously).

now how much of the liability will fall onto you and how much would stay with the blue slip inspector i couldnt say but it is certainly the dodgy way to do it and has the potential to come abck and bite you on the arse.

id be very wary of buying a highly modified car sight unseen as there are very varying levels of quality in workmanship. where a stocker dosent tend toi have these issues.

also having a piggy back ecu to me says its been done on the cheap, whilst they can work ok if you are serious about doing the job properly you go for a stand alone ECU. so have other aspects of the car been done on the cheap ?


this isnt trying to discourage you from buying the car. just good to be aware of the possible pit falls. but before you put down a penny id be speaking to an engineer in terms of road registration, and also someone in the know (ie not the clown at the local motor registry) speak to DOTARS as to exactly what the rules are as you dont want to get stung bringing a car over then find you cant get it registered or registered eaisly.

[Mooro]

I'll find out about that for sure, but I do believe that NSW rules are a lot tougher than WA. I'm pretty sure that engineers approval is not required from a compliancing point of view. However if it does have modifications that would require engineers approval whether an import or Australian delivered car then obviously you need to get engineers approval.

[kingmick]

No a stock computer will not handle a VERY modded 4ag!
Best bet is to go aftermarket ECU, I get the shits with people that spend thousands on the engine and dont want to spend a few grand on a good ECU to make it all gel properly!
Like is said" do it once do it right"!! the Aftermarket ECU then gives you the option with what ever changes you want to do in the future!
The Apexi stuff does a good job for what it is, but there is a good reason Apexi isnt used as an ECU by people that really race etc.

[Mooro]

I agree that aftermarket is the only way but the japs always seem to use these band-aid options like fuel controllers. Money permitting I would certainly go aftermarket, it's just that if I buy this car I won't have enough for a while to change. I'm sure i will get a better result with aftermarket but as long as the car is still drivable and reliable as is then I can save up for aftermarket.

[kingmick]

take it to a point the ECU will handle no probs till you save!
The japs use it because they know, no better and like there gadgets!

[Mooro]

Yep I was wrong...apparently I do need an "engineers signoff" for import into WA. However they said that if there is no crazy modifications like strange enine conversion etc then it should be pretty straightforward.

The car is generating quite a bit of interest but I think I will put a bid on it. The way I look at it, he has done some good modifications and sure APEXI SAFC is a nasty solution but it is not uncommon in Japan and he has done some quality reliability mods like the 3 row radiator, oil cooler and oil filter relocation so hopefully that is a sign that things have been done properly.