040: Building a Reliable 1000hp 4-Cylinder for Formula D. [

From the very infancy of import drag racing through to the current high-stakes, big-dollar world of professional Formula D competition, this week's Tuned In podcast guest has been at the forefront of it all.
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Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: hpcdmy.co/hpa-...
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Stephan Papadakis of ‪@PapadakisRacing‬ joins us from Los Angeles for a great, in-depth conversation on a wide range of interesting topics, starting with his origin story that begins with a gig sweeping floors at an engine building shop.
Stephan then goes on to discuss the very early days of import racing - a time that saw his fledgling business, Papadakis Racing, go from complete unknown to household name within the burgeoning scene. Predictably, that means talking about fast Hondas.
After a few years spent setting and resetting records on the quartermile, Stephan and his team saw an opportunity to jump into something entirely different when the US drift scene began to explode. The Papadakis Racing team was at the very crest of the wave, pushing just what was possible further and further, and Stephan talks us through that progression from glorified street car to the current crop of 1000hp+ grip monster FD machines.
Host Andre Simon hones in one particular topic of interest - the development of Toyota's humble 2.5-litre 4-cylinder 2AR engine and its use in pro-level drifting. This turns into a pretty deep dive into the long process of taking an everyday motor and turning it into not just a competitive FD engine, but a championship-winning one too. How did he make the power, and more importantly, how did he make it reliable?
Learn more about Performance Engine Building by coming along to the next FREE lesson: hpcdmy.co/engineb
Finally, the discussion then turns to the BMW B58 straight-six, as found in the Papadakis Racing Toyota GR Supra piloted by Fredric Aasbø. Stephan was one of the first guys in the aftermarket to get his hands on - and tear down - one of these motors and he has a lot to say about the B58's general design and construction, as well as how to extract big power from it.
This episode is an excellent dive into the world of Papadakis Racing, and there's a whole lot of in-depth knowledge to be found for anyone who's interested in making cars go fast, reliably.
If you haven't already, check out our episode with Stephan's driver ‪@FredricAasbo‬ here: hpcdmy.co/aasbo
Follow Stephan here:
IG: @stephpapadakis
YT: PapadakisRacing
WWW: papadakisracing.com
🧰 Learn more about Performance Engine Building by coming along to the next FREE lesson: hpcdmy.co/eby
#highperformanceacademy #learntotune #enginebuilding101 #dontletthesmokeout #wiring101 #gr86 #a90supra #sciontc #2ar #b58 #supra #motorsports #formulad #papadakisracing #papadakis #drift #drifting

[@BigAl22]

Two of the most knowledgeable people in the game, we love to hear it. More of this!!!

[@scotty305]

I've had the pleasure of working with Stephan once or twice. A few things I think I've noticed: 1. It seemed like he tried to control for variables, for instance try to only add one new part at a time or get a good baseline dyno run before making the planned changes. 2. On occasions where I happened to know about something and he was learning, he asked good questions to make sure he understood the new concept and then if possible he did his own testing to prove that it worked as expected. 3. He always seemed to have a backup plan ready to quickly swap back in case the new part or new method didn't work. He and his entire crew were always a pleasure to be around, I went out of my way to visit their shop area just to see what cool things they were up to.

[@nickacelvn]

Nice.

[@efernandez8499]

One of the guys that i adore and inspire me ever since the early and heydays of import drag racing thru the Formula Drift years.

[@army240]

Can't wait to listen to this one! I'm putting it on in the shop right now. Papadakis and HPA is like PB&J, already great on their own but awesome together!!!

[@KiG1208]

Haven't even watched yet but know it will be good once it involves Papadakis

[@hpa101]

He's a really interesting dude and this was a great chat, I'm sure you will enjoy it - Taz.

[@KiG1208]

@@hpa101 I sure did

[@MafiaboysWorld]

I'm like you Andre. Stephan was a pioneer of FWD but more importantly, his V6 RWD Civic was the pioneer, running 6s when all other imports (including 2JZ's and RB's) were still in the 8s, and he barely got going when he pulled the pin on that project. I really wished he stopped making cars go sideways in FD and he went back to drag and took that tube chassis Honda V6 to the final level. 😎👍 Sort of like what you should be doing Andre with DOCILE, retaking the Evo world record instead of playing Enduro Man with the SR86. 😛 (Back me up Taz and the HPA team. 😉😂)

[@hpa101]

Not sure about world records, but we've certainly got him on the burn with getting DOCILE running again at least. If you want to build a drag racing track local to us rather than a day or 2 away I'm sure that would help too haha - Taz.

[@MafiaboysWorld]

@@hpa101 Nah, I heard that Heathcote Park with their newly laid surface is ripe for an Aussie holiday. 😉👍

[@themrjones]

Andre is spreading the knowledge, great content.

[@hpa101]

Couldn't do it without guests like this, glad you're enjoying it all and cheers for the support - Taz.

[@terrancecollins2696]

Steph is the reason I was confident in building my 1JZ … his video of rebuilding the 2JZ was so straight forward made me really confident in my ability to do it myself and it’s 99% finished

[@raviolitrail]

His Rav4. Don't forget about that.

[@Realtime1501]

The original import expert

[@grahamerosewarne6656]

Awesome content as per pod casts. I truly appreciate your time and showing us things that we don't know. 💯😂 Aussie Fan 💯🇦🇺🤣

[@LT3Fluffy]

Starts at 5:00

[@Paper.Power.Politics]

I’m having a 1000whp ecoboost mustang! Adam Brunson from tune plus inc is doing the build! Gonna be a sick one for sure!!

[@clutchboi4038]

That sounds cool af. Im not familiar with the ecoboost. Will you be building the stock trans or does it have something better that can swap in?

[@clutchboi4038]

Make a video when it's done!

[@Paper.Power.Politics]

@@clutchboi4038 yeah gonna be special for sure. And yeah also building the 10 speed transmission , gonna literally be the same as 5.0 10 speed as in same amount of clutches because the ecoboost 10 speed has less clutches. So yeah transmission is also getting built to handle 1000whp+ . And yeah the ecoboost platform is pretty cool! Like for my build I’m using the 2.0 focus ST block which is gonna be sleeved with forged 2.3 internals. There are different variants of the ecoboost engines and guys take the best parts and kind of make a Frankenstein out of all tye variants. Like I’m using the 2.0 focus ST block instead of the stock 2.3 mustang block. There is another block which is from the Ford Edge TS block that some builders also use. I’m also using a 4 port head which is not the stock 2.3 head either. The stock 2.3 head is a single exhaust port head. So the whole build is custom spec. At end of the day it’s still a 2.3 ecoboost.

[@papapetad]

I particularly enjoyed that perspective on the balance between power/wheel speed/gearing/tyre wear/rev limit towards the end. I'm not a fan of stuff that just turns tyres into smoke in a couple minutes so I never took the time to consider those aspects as a whole. Credit where credit's due in terms of all the thought and processes that go into it. Very interesting podcast. Thanks

[@hyper8545]

Iv always wished Stephen papadakis would post more on YT 🤙👍

[@notsponsored103]

Keep em coming! Loved this one. I really like watching and learning from Stephan. This was a goodie

[@jdcustomz]

I still have Import mags with Papadakis, Jojo and Shepard.. killing it back in 2002. idrc, ihra and NOPI nationals.. even at our local track Tulsa International Raceway flashback!!

[@claudedottin1312]

Interesting on the nitrous part very interesting

[@martinrodger9565]

Brilliant discussion again. Fantastic series, guests and approach. Thank you.

[@hpa101]

Our pleasure, glad your enjoying them Martin and we appreciate the comment 😎 - Taz.

[@hernigti]

❤️❤️❤️ so glad that my comment on freds aasbo became a reality!!! I m excited before i listen

[@TurbineResearch]

Been looking forward to this for a long time !

[@ancientapparition1638]

got to meet him with a friend, super nice guy and he looks like hes tuning in his head in the pits when we were watching him work on the supra :)

[@Detroittruckdoctor55]

Im wanting to do semi trucks but starting with the basis with small cars.

[@brianbob7514]

really great interview, you guys are great. I thought that integrated exhaust manifold was going to suck on the B58. Cool that is was so compact though. amazing they got it to work for a season.

[@incolink]

His comments on Nitros leads me to imagine that it improves the efficiency of the engine .. Because turbos kind of use the wasted energy in the exhaust ..

[@joshvendryes7945]

New subscriber from Toronto Canada I'm only 26 I always liked cars racing cars now I own a 2009 Nissan Sentra seR spec v .. in the future I am planning on tracking the car and at least building it to a reliable 400 horsepower it is a four cylinder from what I know and a non turboed car I'm really looking forward to listening to more of your guys podcast to gain more information on how to build a nice reliable platform for individual like myself obviously I'm not pro but from a consumer standpoint as a hobby this is interesting and I really appreciate the podcast ..

[@hpa101]

Appreciate the comment and that's a great platform to learn and grow with. Hope you enjoy the journey, there is always something new to learn no matter what level you're at in this industry which is why people like Stephan and Andre love it too - Taz.

[@dogmoo]

How did you get around the FRM liners back in the day ?

[@stephenthompson9722]

Did anyone else see Cletus McFarland spray Nitrous directly onto their twin turbos on their drag car Mullet? I wonder how much of that was creating an increase of power therefore spooling the turbos quicker. Or was the nitros being sprayed onto the turbine wheel literally making it spin faster? Either way it works but not an idea safe setup haha

[@hpa101]

Mate, do us a favour and give the podcast a review on and apps you use other than YT to help us gain a bit more traction with it. In return, I will add your question to Andres show notes. When you hear it in a podcast, email us, and I will then also send you a free t-shirt 😉 This goes for anyone reading his, on the Apple platform you can even leave your questions/reviews there directly and we will see them + put yourself in the chance for some merch - Taz. PS: You can find all the platforms we're on here: www.hpa-tunedin.com/ PPS: You don't HAVE to do this, but just in case, now you know how you might be able to get a solid Andre answer, become HPA podcast famous AND get some cool threads for that next dinner party haha

[@myldstyle4344]

Carrol Shelby and Dom Torreto all in one guy.

[@hpa101]

hahaha brilliant! - Taz.

[@masturone8257]

Papadakis the only greek actually able to cash the checks his mouth writes ;-)