A few weeks after our eventful meeting, we received an updated rules list and a firm warning from our managing editor to take our competitive level down a few notches. Obviously we turned a deaf ear to what Elliott said. While the new interpretations of the rulings continued to have a series of gaping loopholes--which brought smiles to our faces--we searched high and low, finally narrowing our engine builder down to SP Engineering located in the City of Industry. SP Engineering and their knowledgeable staff are regarded as one of the most respected tuner shops in California. Over the past 10 years, SP has built their reputation on tuning and catered to some of the fastest and horsepower hungry vehicles to date. SP Engineering, known as one of the industries trendsetters back in 1996, owned the exclusive bragging rights to building and dynoing their first high-horsepower Supra 2JZ with a simple piggyback fuel management system. The vehicle owned by the now-infamous Ken Henderson laid down 666 whp using a HKS GCC and VPC management system. Eight years after the triple-six power figure, Ken's Supra made headlines on the Nov. '04 cover of Turbo, delivering an amazing 1,110 whp while periodically driven on the streets. SP set the standard again in 1997 using the GCC and VPC layout, delivering 700 whp on another customer's car using a slew of bolt-on products. "We accomplished this power level without even touching the engine internals or even lifting the heads. Back then crazy high-octane gasoline was nearly nonexistent," says Alex Shen, SP Engineering owner and hard-core performance enthusiast. In 2000, SP was up to their tricks once again, benchmarking the 2JZ power limits with 822 whp on a daily driven Supra with the aid of a simple piggyback fuel management unit.
From 1,100hp Supras to 1,000hp Skylines, there seems to be no limit to what Alex and his team of mechanics can accomplish. Our initial plans before talking with Alex was to initially build a 2JZ motor in hopes of eclipsing the 1,000hp marker on 100-octane fuel. The five-digit horsepower numbers were a realistic goal that have been tried and tested throughout the years. The 3.0-liter mill seemed to fit the bill for our build but we ran into a series of problems within the competition rules that would affect our winning outcome. If we decided to stroke the factory displacement to a 3.4-liter and were given the penalty of using a forced-induction setup by a multiple of two, we'd divide our target horsepower of 1,100 and get 161.7 hp/per liter. Not a bad number to work with but if our competitors decide to build a 4G63 or SR20DET engine, the 2.0L engine multiplied by 2 and divided by a target goal of 650 hp would net them 162.5 hp/per liter. Close to half our 2JZ horsepower figure but a better horsepower/per liter ratio, which would give them the winning edge.
So what is a team hell-bent on taking home the winning trophy and bragging rights to do? It's rather simple. We take our engine selection to the next level and build a noteworthy RB26DETT and decimate the competition. If high-horsepower 2JZ buildups are regarded as the staple within the SP repertoire, believe it or not, their knowledge of the RB26DETT comes in even stronger. "If we target somewhere in the 1,000hp range and receive all the parts we have been talking about, its not hard to make this a realistic goal because in all truth, it's been done before. It's typical to see 1,300 to 1,400 hp cranked out from the RB26DETT. When we built my RB26 a few years back I didn't even go crazy on the engine so weren't really pushing the engine. My R33 put down 980 whp and was dynoed while running a hollinger transmission so I'm not even worried about having to push this motor." With a smile and look of confidence Alex continues by saying "Hirofumi Kondo, our chief mechanic was working at Blitz Japan for eight years before he began full time at SP Engineering. Turbocharging, supercharging, and computer tuning is Hiros specialty so I have full confidence in him. Hiros been installing and tuning the HKS V-Pro with exceptional knowledge because he's been there and done that for some time now with an advantage of over four years of tuning ahead of U.S. tuners."