ep news

reporting on news from the forum and around the world

WORDS BY | Joz | Enzo

Recreational | anyone fancy an ep82 coupe? 20th of april 2009

This very refreshing el54 Tercel/starlet hybrid belongs to Manny. Staying in the sunny Californian state this is his own quater mile play toy. The car has been in this state since early 2001 before taking off the road to concentrate on improving its spec. At present it has an internaly stock 5e-fhTe engine running 22psi through a t3 trubo. He is currently revising his setup and is hoping for low 12's to high 11's pass down the 1320.

Manny grafted on the kouki ep82 advance front end. To do this he changed the entire core support to fit the lights. So deweld the stock one welded the starlet one in. This all adds up to a very refreshing look which could lend itself to eather the tercel coupe or 5 door saloon. This idea really does get the creative juices flowing in terms of creating an alternative mode of transport for people that want to upsize from the Ep but still wanting to keep the question marks flowing and having something rare. Tercels are in plentiful supply in Japan(clicky). At current exchange rates you could have something similar looking parked on your driveway for circa £1.5oo!

Recreational | Tony Tangs 4age Starlet Sr in Banzai 16th of April 2009

Congratulations to Tony and Shelly Tang who are in this months Banzai with a very unique 6 page write up on Tony's 4age engined Starlet SR. You can obtain a copy of Banzai at your local newsagents now.

Trade | New Traders for UKSC 12th of April 2009

UKSC is proud to anounce two new traders to the forum. both Dane at Starlet Parts Service and Mike at Monster Motorsport have proved themselves with reliable customer service within starlet circles.

Click on their banners to browse their shops. this move should provide the starlet enthusiast with more available choice.

Recreational | New look forum + traders shop now open 7th of April 2009

You will have logged into a different looking forum this morning, been working a while on this update to bring the whole forum inline with the main site and personalize it.
You should notice a few new features to the forum.
In order to get to grips with it you will need familiarise yourself with the forum navigation panel. A big improvement over the scattered links at the top of the forum before hand
we have new trading software also for our traders also. Its early days now but the inventory for the site will build up and its all safe and secure by using Paypal as an easy payment method for any products.

you can view our new forum shop here

And if you would like to leave feedback or have any thoughts on the change, please do so here

Recreational | Amazing Super 1600 Ep82 3oth of March 2009

This amazing and thoroughly worked on ep82 belongs to Evo Racing Neal ArmStrong. known for the way he throws about his group N evo, and great Scandinavian 'slick flick' technique. He destroyed the rear end of his last rally prepped ep82 in the barbados 2006 rally, he set about the mammoth task of rebuilding. Alan and Lawrence Bayne are the two engineers responsible for this far more focused rally ep82 built to FIA Super 1600 regulations. the build took three years from start to completion

its been "built to accommodate a 17x7.5 inch wheel. The idea right now is just a tarmac 'time attack' style machine". The cars hart is a very special 'formula atlantic' big port 16 valve 4age. In full race trim this engine is capable of a 11k redline and can produce 240bhp. From a 1.6 N/A that's 150bhp per liter! The engine is mated to an air shift, paddle box. The car has yet to be driven in anger but rest assured once it gets more development miles some decent media footage will surface. Thank you to Jarrod Skeete for the pictures.

Recreational | TGTT track day 21st of March 2009

Today saw allot of tasty Ep machinery converge at Llandlow circuit. Weather conditions were great for Irish club Toyota Gt turbo's first track day organised by Sam. The allocated space of 40 cars filled pretty quickly. A few of the northern Irish boys made the trip over as well as Rory Co from the Aberdeen area. A great day was had by all. Thanks to Elaine willcox and Mike Monkfish for the great pictures.

Trade | Tong develops possibly the ultimate hybrid ct9 7th of March 2009

Currently in development by Tongs Turbo's is the 'TD-12 Ultimate' which is designed with an external waste gate. Testers are required for this hybrid unit.
A member on the forum (M16chris) tested an earlier development of this turbo and reported that it had no lag characteristics of some of the other hi flow/hybrids out there, usually a trade off, he reported back that full boost(1bar!) was reached by approximately 28oorpms
Mr Tong designed the turbo to be the best performing ct9 hybrid in mind, by having the same low boost characteristics as standard while also being able to run more boost. (for example the warranty will be set at 1.4 bar)
as for the spec of the turbo,
the front end is similar to the gt spec but the enlarged trumpet has been bored out by a few extra mm's to house an even larger gt spec compressor wheel.
the limiting factor to power on the ct9 is its turbine housing.
the core with new bearings and the much larger 12 blade shaft wheel are from a tdo4 and the turbine housing is from a ct12 (bigger a/r)
if you would like to see mouthwatering pictures of the new turbo or would like to enquire about testing one log your interest here

Personal | Ep95 soon to find its way onto my drive 21st of February 2009

After much deliberation i have finally bitten the bullet and purchased a nice low mileage zenki Ep95 Starlet Reflet f. Spending an age online looking for the best most cost effective way of getting it over i finally found a new friend, Takashi Tagami. Countless hours on msn with him opened up a gateway and a wealth of knowledge to the full japanese auction market for me, it is an eye opener to say the least. you can find his services at his company buysale.co.ltd anything under £1000 and the agent fee is about 30,000 yen which equates to roughly £225 at current exchange rates. i purchased the car for an agreed price of 93.ooo yen(£700) by the time its landed the price will increase to just under double that figure. Now, more about the car.

It is on a 97P with only power searing and ABS, the essentials i need, everything else is spartan to save weight. When it arrives on the 23rd of next month i will rip its guts out and fit a six speed close ratio box and turbo conversion to the fourwheel drivetrain. will document the full conversion and the goal is 280bhp whilst also refining the drivetrain(a front lsd if i can find one and maybe removing the central viscus diff). watch the blog for more progress on this and other fast 4x4 eps. Geo

Trade | SGTT re brands to TM Developments 15th of February 2009

After many years of outstanding service to the EP community for both parts and services Dave Burwash has decided branch out the well known starletgturbo.co.uk brand into the evolution that is TM ‘Toyota Motorsport’ Developments which aims to offer parts for all Toyota vehicles.
This is a welcome and refreshing development and can only benefit all Toyota enthusiasts nationwide in their search for unrivalled prices on parts and a reliable and helpful service. TM Developments also have their own re-themed website to coincide with the changes. We wish Dave and everyone at TM Developments the very best in their new and exciting venture.

to find out more check the trading forum and website here

Recreational | Stop press! new CT9 Hybrid Record Broken 4th of February 2009

Dub-se7en (Ian) on the forum looks to have set a new record for a hybrid CT9. Well known for his professional approach and having previously achieved outstanding figures on his standard ct9 he decided to take the next step which is the hybrid route and by his standard of work certainly didn't’t disappoint.

The thoroughly worked ct9/20 hybrid is actually a reworked Tong turbo with all fabrications made by renowned Maltese tuning company GT Power Tuning. The hybrid unit fully compliments a fully built 4e-fte engine with extensive headwork. Ian managed to record a headline peak figure of 243bhp and 222.6lbs/ft torque which are unprecedented figures for a hybrid turbo.
UKSC sends congratulations to Ian on a job well done and we are now all looking forward to similar future feats. you can view Ian's build thread here

Recreational | UKSC calendar now available 21st of January 2008

After some issues with the sizes of photos submitted for our first calendar, i received a calendar proof through this morning and all the pictures look mighty fine. Hats off to everyone that submitted in last years photo competition and a special thank you to Rob for looking after the calendar monthly voting. if you would like a calendar get your name down here.

Recreational | UkSC plans own track day 3rd of January 2008

Plans are in motion for a uk starlet club track day. The event will be held at Kames circuit, which is located in Muirkirk in the month of May. A venue that Malcome Wilsons M-sport use to test their WRC Focus. The event will be timed and held in heats with prizes for the winner. keep your eyes pealed for more information on a set date.

Recreational | club shop now open 31st of December 2008

With the website now up it is only fitting now that you can support extreem ep and uksc with our own brand of clothes which you can purchase from spreadshirt. There are quite a few designs to choose from with more scheduled to be added to the range. find out more here.

Stop press | website launched 29th of December 2008

It has been a long time in the design stage but UKSC's technical flash site is now up and running. This will be a container for technical information and will be updated on a quarterly basis with useful information relating to these cars... dependant on the success of this over the course of the year will spurn a bigger club dedicated to all toyota enthusiasts. Watch this space.

Recreational | Aus 1.8 7age hybrid turbo ep91 warrior 5th of December 2008

This very special and potent EP belongs to Dave Loftus who is a member on the sister Australian site. Its heart is made up of a black top 4age head mated to a 7afe in effect making a manic revving 1800cc 4age based na engine. On this setup it made 212 wheel horse power, that equates to circa 250bhp @ the fly showing the true potential of the advanced 5valve per-cylinder quad throttle bodied as standard Toyota four banger - eat that B16 & K20 boys!
In 2006 the car secured NSW Under 2 lit re championship.
"We won the majority of races and set lap records at every NSW track."
This is interesting enough but it gets better. . . .

After that Dave parked the car up while he concentrated on his new toy, a Skyline. so whilst mincing with turbo's and racing the Liner for two years he had an idea to turbo the 7age which was already an impressive engine. The net result after instillation was 280bhp @ the wheels(320@fly) at a low 10psi. Initial outings have shown the car to be manic in every sense of the word.(ed- this must best the best engine setup for the starlet) With its bump up in power and its light weight both combined together to make this car devastatingly fast! Dave shattered the short track lap re cored at Oran Park. The trade off of this extra power puts him in the over 2 lit re class in IPRA against rx7s which will just add to the fun.

Here is a video of Dave shattering the lap record at Oran Park. turn it up!

and the race is here

Trade | Zisco impresses with range of new products 28th of November 2008

Zisco have revamped their sub forum with a range of new products and prices to keep you interested. With 5 different manifolds alone for the ct9 turbo made from different materials and different coatings. Zisco have pursued on UKSC with a high level of customer service.
The range of manifolds start at £350 for the intercooler and radiator friendly manifold. The ram style manifold retails for the same price. If you would like the best level of boost control there is an externally gated option available also. to check out more or to order a manifold please click here

Recreational | Toyota sprint series ep hero November 22nd of November 2008

The Toyota sprint series has almost completed a year now and Barrie has been flying the EP flag high. This season for him was a massive learning curve changing his turbo setup nearer the end using the Tried and tested tdo4L turbo.
Mapped and set up by Abbey motorsports currently 225 bhp at the hubs @1.4 bar, few additions should help beat a few more of the competition.
lsd and poly bushes are due to go in for next season as well as constantly honing the suspension settings. Wishing you all the best for next years season.

Recreational | central and southern meets planned. 7th of november 2008

For the northern region there is the West Yorkshire meet planned for the northern crew on Saturday 8th November at 5pm located in the Huddersfield Tesco Underground Car Park, HD1 1RW. Instructions have been given to move to the car park at HD1 4AW if there is nobody present.
We wish everyone a safe journey there and back for both of these meets and hope to see you there!

Recreational | forum hacks and launching of flash site planned-summary by Joz

Ukstarletclub.com has continued to be a revelation in recent years as a friendly forefront forum and dedicated information resource for starlet enthusiasts all over. With its recent growth and rise in stature within starlet owner circles it has come to no surprise that the site is getting a evolutionary new facelift to fit in with current proceedings.
The site uses IPB software. It is actually quite powerful and can produce fantastic results if used to its potential.
This can clearly be seen on the newly created front portal page which is an incredibly detailed layout of UKSC's features and within one conveniently central forum 'hub' so everyone can get their 'daily uksc fix'.
Useful features such as RSS news feeds are in place so members can keep up to date on the latest topics. A shoutbox has also been added which allows members to communicate with others on the forum in real time. This will prove to be very useful if there is an urgent or time sensitive answer needed to an EP related problem a member may have.
Lastly a useful 'unanswered topics' function was added, so that all those threads that never get answered can all be accessed.
There has also been a major revamp to the EP technical sector of uksc with an updated technical section. In the past the technical section was revamped so that active topics where in one place and 'resolved topics' were placed into an information archive.
This archived information will now be compiled into individual Wiki style articles so that members can add and access detailed information in a convenient place. This is how the UKSC Wiki came into place and is certainly a welcome technical feature on the uksc site.
A signature logo was finally designed for the EP Technical section which had gone without one for so long which was criminal.
There has also been some effort made to cater for what members can do in their spare time whilst on the site with the introduction of a fully functional games arcade with online rankings the order of the day. 2 new games are being added every two weeks to satisfy the game freaks within us.
It will certainly be an eventfull few months for ukstarletclub.com with an awesome array of new features mentioned implemented to enhanced the 'Extreem EP' experience as well as new members joining up daily to add to the ever growing UKSC ranks.

trade | Cruise Power Demo still for sale 6th of october 2008

We reported on the cruise power demo car away back in January and its still for sale. Patrick with RHD Japan met up with the boss from Cruise during their visit down to Tokyo. They informed him that the Cruise EP91 Demo Car is still available for sale and as they do not have any English speaking staff RHD have volunteered to help introduce any interested customers to them.
This is the EP91 that can be seen on the official Cruise site. If anyone is interested please RHD Japan via e-mail and they will be more than happy to help out. mail to rhdjapan@rhdjapan.com

trade | starletgtturbo.co.uk Stainless steel braided brake hoses. 2nd of October 2008

These are on special offer by Dave, a full set replacing all 6 rubber hoses. Improved pedal feel and braking force, they come with plastic coating and zinc plated fittings. Complete with new bolts and washers. these hoses are an essential part of getting rid of that spongy pedal feel as the standard ones balloon when pressure is applied to the brake pedal. You can find out more about them here

Recreational | scoop more info on DK's ten second Ep91 29th of September 2008

We reported on this ep back in July,one of our members from New Zealand came forward with the 411 on this car. Its a truly amazing Extreem ep build. The mission brief for it was to be a genuine 10 second car and the owner Jesper achieved this after a bit of fine tuning of the setup mentioned below.

The engines heart is a small port 1.6 4AGE/GZE hybrid engine with forged internals. A Garret GT3582R ball bearing turbo pumps huge amounts of air into this engine. Management is taken care of by a DTA S80 unit and the diff is by KAZZ. In this current tune the car produced a massive 508 hp and 480 nuton meters of torque at an incredible 2.1 bar!
Rolling stock is 9.5 x13 compomotive easy vætgs rims. with 3x15 at the back using M/H drag slicks 24.5" by 9.5" The most interesting bit about this since this car cracked the tens the builder has gone hardcore wanting to brake into 9s or lower. At the time of writing this, the current build has gone under some drastic changes that we will let you know about in due course.

Click here and here for some 11 second passes when it was still in development

trade| uksc welcomes trader starletgtturbo.co.uk to the forums 20th of September 2008

starletgtturbo.co.uk is a starlet parts company dedicated to all things starlet related, run by Dave burwash and co, he is a dedicated EP nut and has been operating for a good few years now. In that time Dave has built up a reputation of reliability with a high level of customer satisfaction. Dave has an online shop that sells any part you could ever need for the starlet from serviceable items to forged engine builds he has anything for your cherished ep.
please click in the link below to browse his website or alternatively register your interest on his forum here.

Recreational | AUSC sprint days 16th of september

Our guys at the AU Starlet Club have a community and wealth of knowledge that's probably only rivaled by the Jamaicans or the Northern Irish guys. They have local sprint meets all the time at Queensland raceway and Lakeside. I could go into detail on some of the members rides that are here but you could have a look for yourself at the forum.
Thanks to Jason for the pictures which are great. The turbo swift is pretty special. Owned by Zuboo and its capable of some ridiculous times on track and strip. We will see more of zuboos ride in the future.

Recreational | UKSC TDi Powertuning RR Day 7th of September 2008

The sixth of september saw a rolling road day and meet organised by Jag and Rob. There was a healthy turnout of eps for the event and aze_b managed a decent 289.7whp with his kouki ep82. The day also raised funds for charity. A good day had by all.

Recreational | the annual Japanese Auto Extravaganza 1st of September 2008

Jae was a great success this year for not having much time for planning by event organisers, they held true to the jae spirit of a relaxed camping environment for people to meet and let there hair down. Friday saw 16 starlets arrive and on average there were close to 26 starlets on the stand at any point over the two days. M on every other. A big thanks to Rob for organising such a great weekend.
To see more pics click here