Hubert's MKIV Supra: Soft Spot

Like Ken Yu, Hubert Chan first got a taste of speed on two wheels. His motorcycling antics with his cousin Wil sowed the seed, but it wasn’t until one of Wil’s dearest friends gave Hubert a taste of acceleration that made even a 600cc bike feel a little lackluster. The stoplight-to-stoplight sprints in Phil’s modified fourth-generation Supra Turbo had Hubert hooked. “It just never stopped pulling,” he said.

However, Hubert wasn’t pushed in the direction of drag racing — he had an affinity for corner carving. An E30 M3 seemed to him the coolest cornering machine in his price range, but he struggled to find the right one. Eventually, he decided another platform might be more accessible, so he gave the big Supra a chance. This was 2013, back when both these iconic cars cost half of what they do today.

The Supra had left an indelible mark on him, and though not many had taken them to the track, his knowledgeable friends signed off on the Supra as a worthwhile sports car. When Hubert found the online listing for a clean, reasonably priced, and unmodified 1994 Turbo, he bought a one-way ticket to Salt Lake City and drove it back to the Bay, dreaming of future modifications the entire way.

The Supra Turbo had proven itself as a stellar road tripper; comfortable, quiet, and still torquey enough to pass anybody quite easily. However, it was a little on the boaty side, and Hubert sought out a few ways to improve the footwork.

First came a set of Fortune Auto 500 coilovers, and the resulting agility proved that the car was more versatile than its reputation had led him to believe. The Supra’s long wheelbase didn’t feel like an encumbrance on tighter backroads, and the way it sat securely over bumps and cambers made it quite confidence-inspiring.

The foundation was there for more power, which Hubert always knew would be the most exhilarating part of tuning this new toy of his. The promise of easy horsepower encouraged him to amass a large collection of engine parts over the course of the first year. By the time he’d had it for twelve months, he was ready to move onto the second chapter and double the power output.

With the help of mechanically-inclined friend, they pulled the factory turbochargers and replaced them with a log-style cast manifold and a Precision 6266 turbocharger, then fitted Kelford 264° cams and a full 3” Tanabe Medallion Exhaust. With some meth injection and a safe tune of the AEM V2 from Lawrence Shipman, the motor made a healthy 580 horsepower on 91 octane.

With the way the Powerhouse Racing turbo kit emphasized low-end torque, it became challenging to turn that into propulsion. To address the wheelspin issues, he followed the forum recommendation to replace the factory torsen with a TRD 1.5-way differential and increase the rear tire size to 295s, which he was able to do via widening the factory rear wheels.

For the final touches to the footwork, Hubert had consulted the Supra community for an appropriate sports alignment, but upon taking it to Elite to have it aligned, Melody Cannizzaro suggested a few alterations to his provided specs. With additional toe-in at the rear, the Supra felt reassuring and stable; enough so that Hubert was comfy stepping on the throttle in second and third gear. No longer was he hindered by the big torque, which gives relatively little warning before it hits.

The Supra had established itself a capable cruiser and a competent canyon car, but Hubert was most interested in seeing what it was like in an environment where he could really stretch its legs. It wasn’t long after that his friend Janning encouraged he take the Supra to Laguna, where he met his friend Samson, another track driver who’s been instrumental in getting Hubert up to speed.

After a few spins and some big slides, Hubert began to get a sense of just how much of the power he could use in Turns 2 and 11. The power must be applied gently in the slower corners, but it will put the power down in third, assuming the car is mostly straight. “The car was definitely driving me that day, but I didn’t care. I was addicted!” he exclaimed.

Over the next few events, Hubert began addressing the handling problems only apparent after a few fast laps. It was still a little too floppy from factory; the annoying targa top would flex to the point of requiring readjustment after every session.

Hubert parked beside his friend and mentor Samson’s M3.

Titan Motorsports’ four-point rollbar, reduced the flex and the need to fiddle on the targa between outings. Still, it remained too soft to transition crisply, so Hubert installed a set of SuperPro polyurethane bushings at the critical points in the suspension, Titan anti-roll bars, and a TRD strut bar. It’s tauter than it’s ever been, but it’s still a little on the comfier side. As a car which sees more street duty than track action currently he’s content with the setup.

Its ability to cruise to and from the track in total comfort isn’t something he’s willing to forgo in the name of going faster quite yet. The power is more than adequate, the car is controllable, and the engine doesn’t show any signs of stress. Essentially, it’s barely breaking a sweat with such limited lapping.

“I’m happy with the Supra in its current state for now, but once I get a little more comfortable pushing it, I might improve the brakes and the suspension.

It’s just an easy car to live with, and I’m afraid of ruining that. Plus, it gets so much attention in the pits. Some people ask me why I risk driving such a rare car, but I think it’d be wrong to keep it in a garage. Most people think it’s only good for drag racing, but the Supra is a great performance car — it’s very much at home on the track.”

Peter's 2JZ-Swapped S13: Tweaking the Famous Drift Recipe

Photos: Luke Munnell

After an itinerant adolescence filled with drifting and hot rodding, Peter Hong relocated to Los Angeles, where his friend turned him onto track days. He picked up an E46 M3 and started running laps, but the cost of the car, as well as his fondness for the cars of his youth, compelled him to make a change.

His aim was rooted in pragmatism and thriftiness. Peter wanted to see if his S13 would handle as well as his M3 because, as he puts it, “then I wouldn’t need two cars.”

His background in drifting meant he’d already learned a lot about the chassis. Having been through five of them, some with swapped engines, he knew that the potential to find a nice balance between power and agility was there if he executed the build properly. Plus, with prices being what they were a decade ago, a well-modified S13 wouldn’t break the bank.

The first iterations of the car were as basic as can be. Aside from swapping in an SR20, the car had little more than basic bolt-ons and set of Hankook RS4s. Yet, contrary to popular opinion, it worked well on the road course.

Entry-level Ohlins, Z32 brakes, a Carbonetics 1.5-way LSD, and a set of Recaros were all the basic bolt-ons needed to make his car work well on the road course. Mild engine mods yielded 250 at the wheels—more than enough for a 2,800-pound car—and the sense of security from his six-point welded cage encouraged him to push the car hard.

“It’s such an intuitive car at that power level. I got down to 1:27s at Streets of Willow pretty fast,” he recalled. Achieving that time in a car requiring little maintenance was bliss; he’d managed to invest minimally and still extract plenty of performance. This was before he decided to wander off into the land of diminishing returns on his investment.

The last of the basic bolt-ons was aero. After throwing some of the APR catalog at the car, Peter was astounded with how well the once-ponderous front end would turn.

Adding power and a set of Brembo F40 brakes helped Peter lap Buttonwillow 13CW in 1:51.

But respectable isn’t really that satisfying in the short term, so Peter, carried away by his curiosity, decided to increase power. A succession of different turbos, an AEM standalone, high-lift cams, and minor porting eventually brought the power output to 390, but not before he went through a few engines.

It wasn’t that the hikes in power—each new motor made about fifty more than the last—stressed them to the failure point. Actually, the most powerful iteration lasted ten events before it spun a rod. Little did he know that slapping on a set of Pirelli scrubs and running the banking at Auto Club Speedway was denying the SR its lubrication. This happened three times, and every time he spun a rod, he just grabbed a new powerplant and got on with it. To be fair, this was easier to do when an engine could be found for a fifth of what they’re worth today.

However, the regular rebuilds challenged Peter’s patience. Seeking a more reliable motor that could produce more power safely, he started weighing the options. The weight and accessibility of the LS tempted him briefly, but a friend who’d just parked their fourth-generation Supra offered him its engine for a friends-only price. Again, it was Peter’s frugality that helped this “deal” along, and soon he had the Supra’s straight-six in his possession.

Unlike the SR, the 2JZ-GTE requires a lot of work when fitting it into an S-chassis’s engine bay, but with various sponsorships, he could make the transition to straight-six power pleasantly. AEM provided the ECU, Beau Brown tuned the engine, Kaizen Motorsports handled the wiring and plumbing, and HeliarcWorks did the fabrication; much of the front was tube-framed to compensate for the 2JZ’s weight. To safeguard himself from the starvation issues he’d dealt with before, he added a baffle and eventually an Accusump.

“It’s not laggy enough!” he laughed.

This time, he wanted to ensure the motor wouldn’t be the weak link. After mounting the radiator in the rear and a massive intercooler up front, he laid them both at 45° angles and devised all the ducting needed to ensure a steady supply of cool air.

The issue was no longer reliability. Instead, it was power—or too much of it. The oversized 90mm throttle body, log manifold, and hefty Comp 6467 turbocharger caused boost to hit like a steam hammer low in the rev range. With 450 lb-ft available at 3,500 rpm and a spiky delivery, the engine made far more than what the car and driver could realistically handle.

The lack of drivability forced Peter to try a few solutions: 295-section rear tires, a larger APR GT1000 wing, and better tires. These helped, but since the wheelspin was worst at lower speeds, he tried toying with the alignment.

Actually, he studied it. After installing a set of Powered by Max drop knuckles, he threw the car up on an alignment rack and started analyzing. These corrected camber and toe gain on compression and improved the control arm angle, resulting in optimized traction and reduced tire wear, but as the footage below shows, it’s still an animal.

Peter has decided to try a new platform and is selling this amazing car. Those interested can check the listing here.