Hi guys! Just wondering what people think is the best way forward with getting more power into an Altezza. Is it best to build/turbo the 3SGE engine or if it's more cost effective to swap in a 1jz or 2jz? Looking at getting around 350-400bhp. I've read through Pete the Russians Minty Fresh Altezza thread and would appear that the Beams engines don't like being Turbod, any advice? Thanks!
The 3sge does respond well to being turboed but to get decent power 300+ hp like my one was it will cost a lot. You would probably have to spend double what the car owes you to get a good reliable turbo setup. If you don't want to go down the forced induction route a 1uz v8 will fit and they are cheap and plentiful.
Do like the turbo route I think, done engine conversions before and they're usually a nightmare! Haha sorry for the stupid question but do the internals and gearbox hold up okay after 300 or so bhp? Heard that 350bhps the limit there about.
The most common kit is the Greddy TD04 kit and at 300 bhp it is probably at it's limit as it's not a big turbo but most get 260-280 with it. It's high boost that will kill the internals because of the high compression. So unless you lower your compression 0.5-0.6 bar is probably all you could run safely on stock engine. Just get a custom manifold made and and a big turbo and away you go.
Has anyone ran a less queer turbo than a poxy little td04 on one? A bigger turbo will have less pre-turbo backpressure which is what makes the most problems on stock internals. Something bigger will both give more power at the same boost, and likely make slightly more boost possible with safety.
ive only had turbo'd altezzas with a td04 Though despite being stupidly small they really do shift. a 300bhp altezza feels a fuck load faster than a 300bhp s13/14. The only thing i didnt like was the power delivery, its hard to explain. There is pretty much zero lag as youd expect from something so small but because of the vvvti instead of it being a constant pull up to the rev limiter, it spikes the revs up very quickly after around 5k. For drifting its very hard to keep in the powerband that you want without it banging off the limiter. That probably doesnt make sense to anyone other than inside my head. The bolt on GReddy kit is good for a reliable safe 300bhp. Anything over that and you might as well get uprated internals, and a proper sized turbo, injectors etc. Most turbod altezzas will have the GReddy kit as it comes as a bolt on package with everything needed. To be honest though as a drift car if i had a stock manual altezza i wouldnt bother spending the money on a turbo conversion. Id just bin the dual mass for a lightweight flywheel and clutch, buy a decent diff/coilovers/lock mods and drift that. They are one of the most under rated drift cars going and have more than enough power in stock form to have loads of fun with. Just suffer a bit from not enough lock and parts being hard to get in the UK. Ive had a few of them recently and they are absolutely awesome cars. If having a 400bhp car is some kind of essential thing, which i dont really get why it would be, buy something else and tune that as it will be a shit load easier. Sticking a 1jz into an altezza would be a nightmare and cost a fuck load. Just buy something with an sr/rb in it and save yourself £5k
Having just bought one of Jack's old Turbo Altezza's I'll report back in due course, booked in for a remap next Wednesday so hopefully she'll run well. I'm aiming for 250-280bhp using the TD04 and i think that will be more than enough for the car. is there a reason why you need so much power? As said above they are really good standard and as with all cars there is a limit to how much power is useful. An Altezza @ 300bhp imo would be plenty for the chassis. Regarding the power delivery, i think an easy way to explain what you mean is because the design is similar to Honda's VTEC system so when on boost and VVTI you get double bubble. So with very low traction (mid skid) its very easy to hit the limiter.
I didn't actually address the main question did I lol Best route for Altezza Powazzzz is a cheap small turbo kit running low boost. If required you can cheat compression with a thicker headgasket, add uprated injectors and run more boost but i think its worth considering if the Altezza is the best base if your power target is so high
Thanks for all the help guys! I think i'll stick to the turbo conversion based on what you guys are saying. Ive had an s13 and 14 with over 300bhp and they never felt like they were running that great so thought the Tezza would be the same. Got everthing else sorted on the car but a hydro and then as you say trying to find some lock mods! Think ill have to go custom :/
Normally the problem with boosting NA engines is the high compression ratio, to lower the compression by messing with the internals gets expensive real quick. A cheap but good solution for you is water/meth injection, that will allow you to run a lot more boost and ignition timing. If you get it setup before mapping, a neat and simple way to do it would be map low boost without injection, high boost with injection. Pritty simple and cheap to wire a fail safe to drop boost when water meth mix runs out. I'm selling a kit, I'v pulled it off my car now, I'l do it a bit cheaper if you buy before it goes on ebay: http://www.driftworks.com/forum/parts-sale-private-sales/242394-coolingmist-water-meth-kit.html
I'll be bolting on a hks gt-rs turbo and hks manifold on my altezza in the next few weeks hopefully so should be interesting to see what power it will make.Hoping I'll get around 320-330 bhp. They are rated for a lot more on the altezza from what I could find on Internet.
I know of someone who made a custom supercharger kit for his altezza. Car made in around 360bhp on low boost. He said it wasn't great for sliding tho.something about smooth/constant powerband. He removed it then and installed a turbo kit in the end. Few lads in New Zealand said that the vvti helps turbo lag and not to worry about turbo lag on a big turbo. One of them made 476bhp at the wheels on his altezza with forged internals
I do but I haven't updated it in a long time mate. Here is a link with some helpfull info for you. Altezza Club Of NZ/Australia -> Turbo 3sge Faq
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've been trying to find someone with knowledge on the greddy kit. Does the emanage come with a map out of the box for the turbo kit? As in can I install everything out of the box, plug the emanage in and run 5-6psi safely?
