Article by Evan Griffey
Decompression Chamber
Turbo & High Tech Performance 12.2000
http://www.turbomagazine.com
You've been lectured by your girlfriend, abused by your boss, pushed around by customers and you spilled your daily iced, blended mocha on your favroite pants... All that before lunch! But you have made it. Its 5 PM - you hit the door and are greeted by a setting sun and the promise of sanctuary. If you are Jesse Hsiao, you can still easily save the day on your ride home. You see, Hasio's ride is the first burbocharged 2000 Toyota Celica GTS. Thats right GTS! This pressurized decompression chamber provides the adrenaline overload needed to wash away the bad taste of a long day.
We decided to try our taste buds on the Celica and wrestled the keys away from Hsiao for a few days. When it comes to taste, the ALT Celica is a Sour Bomb lolipop that zaps the taste buds so hard your face almost craves in as you involuntarily pucker and squint. The turbo spools eagerly and seems to deliver thrust quite low in the rev range - and it keeps on giving the higer the rpm. The Celica accelerates enthusiastically with just the slightest hint of torque steer.
At speed, right foot stomps bring about a surge of speed. When boost hits, the Celica was not as savage as some other turbo'd street cars weve driven - most notably Project Serious Sentra. But one must remember this car was rolling on 19s, which are considerably taller than the stockers and therefore harder to break loose. The power delivery of the Celica was more linear and the car was smuch more controllable when the power came on. We throttled the car pretty hard, but refrained from high -rpm launches. We are very curious what kind of number the Toyota would turn at the strip.
One of the cool things about a quickly spooling turbo is Pressure Flexing-spooling up the turbo and jumping off the throttle to sound the blow-off-valve- in the presence of, say, an early 90s Camaro. It was fun; the Camaro lost. The car did everything well, the suspension was communicative, but not overbearingly rough, and the gearbox was a gem. The B&M short throw shifter and ACT clutch made a dynamic duo, The clutch provided proper clamping pressure and the shifter delivered quick access to all six forward gears.
The car's only shortcoming was stock brakes. They stopped fine, but the taller tires could easily cause quick pad wear. We would look for osme more stopping power if the red rocket belonged to us. This nitpicking. The car and the turbo kit got a big thumbs up. The heroes of this saga were the technicians at XS Engineering. The XS crew handled the R&D effort that went into this strictly bolt-on boost proposition. The Celica's 2ZZ powerplant was left internally stock and the head was untouched. A tubular manifold was fashioned to position the turbo, which was a tedious task, considering the lack of room between the engine and firewall. The manifold is home to the big power adder - an IHI AX-1 balll -bearing turbo. Prior to entering the engine, the turbo pushes air through a custom XS Engineering air-to air intercooler. The chiller features a big 24x11-ince XS Engineering GTR core and the end tanks have been polished to a high luster finish.
When it came to meeting fueling requirements, XS faced a real challenge. The Toyota runs a single line fuel system, which means that enrichment is more intrusive and does not keep with the bolt-on personality of the kit. The pump and regulator approach of the kit met the demands, but XS wanted something friendlier. The use of an additional injrector setup is the leading candidate to cure this problem . As it sits now the ECU is unmolested and the 2ZZ retains its stock injectors and fuel lines. An MSD fuel pump increases fuel volume, while an SX standard fuel regulator teamed with a Vortech boost-sensitive unit bumps the pressure as the engine comes up on boost. This set-up is more than adequate, which says a lot, considering the engines lofty 11.5:1 compression ratio and the kits 7.5 psi peak boost. On the spark side, the OE ignition has been ehnached with a B&M New Volt ignition amplifier.
On the dyno, numbers dont lie and the XS Engineering turbo kit rewards the enthusiast by generating an additional 94.1 HP at the wheels. The car baslined at 157.1 and after bolting on the boost it spun the rollers to the tune of 251.2 HP. If you are concerned about flywheel numbers figure a 15 percent driveline reduction into the equation, and the ALT Celica makes an estimated 288 HP. Turbos are great for low-end torque and the Celica illustrated this point vividly. At 2800RPM an additional 30 lbs-ft were being generated, 40 lbs-ft at 3000RPM, 51 lbs-ft at 3200 rpm and 55 lbs-ft at 3500. This was quite good, considering the 2ZZ's 7600 RPM redline and 7250 RPM peak power point. The numbers were run without a cat and when we drove the car, it was set up in 50 state legal trim, making 233HP at the wheels. When it came to looks Jesse went for maximum effect with a minimum of parts. A Wings West aero kit provided the most dramatic impact on one's retinas. The W-Typ kit was joined by an aggressive Wings West wing. We espcially liked the front fascia, which added a more muscle-bound look to the leading edge of the car while nicely framing the intercooler.
Linear Mode
