You take one Supercharged Levin, one HKS turbocharger, leave it with Peter Hopkins for a week or so and look what happens…
Madness,
that's what We had always thought Toyota's factory-supercharged Levin was
a fairly decent performer. Why? Well, in standard trim, the flagship four-cylinder
engine dubbed 4AG-ZE would willingly and reliably pump out near 160-odd hp
from its blown 1.6-litre mill. Throw in plenty of right foot action, and sub-8-second
standstill sprints to the legal limit are easily attainable.
Jacky Leung's Levin is a
little different, not only for the fact that it's rolling
low on a set of 18's and graced with D-Speed style spoilers, but more importantl
y
for what's ticking under the bonnet.
In similar fashion to Lancia's superb 037 Group B rally monster of the 80's this Levin coupe benefits not only from the aid of its crank-operated, pulley driven Supercharger, but from the extra puff supplied courtesy of an HKS Turbocharger hanging off the side.
Even though the 4AG-ZE's internals remain completely untouched, peter conservatively estimates horsepower from the little 16 valve DOHC motor at around the 260-plus, all thanks to some very tricky modifying at the well-equipped Advanced Imports workshop in Glenfield , Auckland.
For starters and in anticipation
of the rather tasty HKS GT2540 Turbocharger, the factory exhaust manifold
was binned 
in
favour of a custom-built set, fully fabricated by Peter. The full length of
the restrictive factory exhaust was also ditched, the Levin now sporting a
full stainless, RS*R system from Mr Gadget, that runs a single 3 inch pipe
splitting into dual 2.5's before exiting though some very serious tip action!
With the HKS hair dryer capable of flowing up to 350hp in place, boost pressure is adjustable through the addition of a dash mounted Greedy TVVC controller. Blowing 0.7 kg standard, the internally unmodified engine is safely dialled up to 1.2 kg boost. However, when the JE forged pistons, the Wolf Engine Management System and the jumbo injectors Jacky's already ordered arrive, Peter's talking of a seat-sucking 2kg being twisted up, which is sure to make for some interesting acceleration to say the least.
PULLING POWER
In
addition to the turbo pressure, a Cusco oversized pulley and belt kit raises
blower pressure from a factory-guised 8 psi up to a more favourable 11psi.
On the gas, the Levin pulls exceptionally well from low revs, the supercharger
providing big punch near instantaneously, which thanks to the HKS turbo lasts
right through the rev range in none too subtle fashion it's fair to say that
this thing honks and has produced a massive performance gain over the standard
vehicle. Greddy Type-R, blow-off and relief valves purge the system of excess
air, which is plentiful from the very efficient Apexi front mounted and factory
top-mounted inter-coolers that still operate with the supercharger set-up.
The Apexi unit which sits very snugly beside a trust oil cooler and behind
the modified front air dam has had modification work on the end tanks to suit
the pipe work, which all incidentally have been chrome coated by the good
people at North city Platers.
Apexi supplied the Super
AFC which allows easy adjustment of the air-flow sensor signal and the advantage
of being able to modify the fuel curve at specified priest RPM points. A Super
ITC, also from Apexi, has been employed to adjust ignition timing much like
the AFC control fuel at specific RPM, this by modifying the crank angle sensor
to advance or retard timing plus or minus 15 % 
Power-in is transferred in a rampant frenzy of tyre smoke through a Toyota Racing Development (TRD) heavy-duty clutch and ultra-light flywheel. Jacky toys with the throttle to counter excessive wheel-spin but, as you can imagine, it's not too easy laying 260+hp to the tarmac through a single front tyre.
Those 18 inch Racing Turismo's shod with sticky 215/35 series Toyo Proxes FZ4's are loaners from Mag & Turbo Warehouse North Shore. Jacky has 17's of the same design on the way which are sure to look the business. Suspension has been dropped and stiffened with a full set of TRD adjustable shock absorbers and lowered progressive rate springs. Cusco front and rear tie bars pull the whole set-up together and the Cusco sump guard protects the engine from bottoming out on our oh so smooth roads.
MADE OVER INTERIOR
I
tune with the attitude developing under the bonnet, the Levin's interior also
came up for a make-over. The front seats were replaced with a pair of very
nice multi-way adjustable Recaros and the steering wheel binned for a Momo.
There's Razo ally pedals and a very discreet pillar mounted Pivot LED shift
light. Monitoring engine performance is made easy with an impressive array
of Greddy meters. Both pillar and dash mounted are boost pressure, exhaust
temperature, oil pressure, oil temperature, and fuel pressure gauges, not
to mention the speed meter which can accurately record 0 to 100 kph and standing
quarter mile times at the push of a button. An Apexi turbo timer looks after
the all important engine run down time
BOOM SOUNDS
When he's not indulging in
the aural excitement eruption from the dual RS*R, turbo, supercharged and
dump valve, and
Alpine TDA 7638E head unit and multi-disc CD changer control the nicely balanced
audio system. Dual Rockford Fosgate amplifiers drive front and rear-mounted
Sony Component midrange and tweeters: 2 bass is handheld by twin REF 10- inch
subs from a boot mounted box. The whole system provides plenty of thump to
satisfy and is fully protected by some fairly wild car security. After the
pistons, computer and injectors are in, the lads will no doubt be laying a
few times on the strip, which should be very interesting. Both Jacky and Peter
are very pleased with the results to date, and it's not hard to see why! top
job, all masterminded in New Zealand.