Oh man! good tyres!
 
265 on the rear would look very fat too! what profile did you get?

This is what I have now:
Rear - 265/35 R18
Front - 225/40 R18
My Nankangs were the same size on the rear, but 215/35 on the front.
EDIT: it turns out that 225/40 R18 is way too big at the front, I get significant scrubbing issues, especially at full-lock. That was the only RE002 size available that was close to what I had at the front before. Anyway, I have no choice but to remove the front RE002 tyres and get a different type of performance tyre in 215/35 R18 instead, or maybe 225/35 R18.

I've just bought a pair of 215/35 R18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric tyres for the front, to replace the RE002 tyres which are too big for the front in 225/40 R18.
Yesterday I made a for sale thread for the 2 spare RE002 tyres which are virtually brand new, and could be used on the rear of an SW20 with suitable rims.

Hey Rob, been reading through your thread for a while now...love your build and very impressed with the level of quality and detail, is very similar to what I would like to do to my car - just waiting for my funds to build up.
 
Just got a few questions if you don't mind answering...
 
How does the GT3076R feel after driving for a while now?  Any pros or cons about it?  
I would like either to get this turbo or the Gt35r to reach a goal of 300kw (or close to) but don't really want to sacrifice bottom end power, and have any really major lag.  Maybe too much wishful thinking?
 
Also I've been looking at the turbo kits the ATSracing and KOracing provide, they seem to be of fairly good quality, and was wondering where you got yours from?  
 
Finally, you may not be able to answer this one as you have a water to air intercooler, but would I be able to get away decent sidemount and make this power?  Just not to keen on cutting holes in my trunk. I'm in the process of upgrading my intercooler, and thought I'd may as well get one that could, in the long run, support about 280 - 300kw.  This car probably wont see any track work, and be driven maybe twice a week.
 
Thanks in advance!

MIDN1T3
Hey Rob, been reading through your thread for a while now...love your build and very impressed with the level of quality and detail, is very similar to what I would like to do to my car - just waiting for my funds to build up.

Thanks mate! It was a loooong and sometimes stressful process, but I don't regret it at all because I really love this car!

MIDN1T3
How does the GT3076R feel after driving for a while now?  Any pros or cons about it?  
I would like either to get this turbo or the Gt35r to reach a goal of 300kw (or close to) but don't really want to sacrifice bottom end power, and have any really major lag.  Maybe too much wishful thinking?

 
NOTE TO FUTURE READERS OF THIS THREAD: My turbo has since been changed to a GTX3076R.
 
When I was choosing my turbo, I was afraid of the lag and had the same mindset that you have right now. When I first started driving my car after it was fully tuned, the lag was every bit as noticeable as I thought it would be...however, after a few months I realised that I simply needed to adjust my driving style. If you're in the wrong gear so the revs are too low, the response is totally crap, worse than an NA haha, so the key is to always be in a suitable gear, this solves everything. If you're just cruising along with no desire to accelerate, you can use the same gears that you always have, but if you are anticipating that you will want to accelerate hard at any moment, you need to be one or two gears lower than you're used to. If you're cruising along normally and you suddenly need to accelerate, eg. to overtake someone, it's as simple as downshifting one or two gears to increase the revs to at least 4000rpm, then the accelerator pedal becomes almost like a wheel spin on/off switch! It's AWESOME! haha. The feeling when the boost comes on is just amazing.
So, you can avoid the lag issue by doing what I said above, but of course that doesn't help when you're accelerating from a standstill. In this case, you will inevitably experience all the lag. It's really not that bad though, in 1st gear it takes hardly any time to rev high enough for full boost. Plus, once you reach the redline, none of the subsequent upshifts will drop the revs below the point of max boost, so the lag only occurs once before the redline is reached.
I hope that helps! I always give a detailed explanation of this, because it helps people to properly visualise it.
 

MIDN1T3
Also I've been looking at the turbo kits the ATSracing and KOracing provide, they seem to be of fairly good quality, and was wondering where you got yours from?  

Actually I didn't use an off-the-shelf turbo kit, in fact hardly anything I used was in kit form. This did lead to lots of extra expenses here and there, due to custom work, but I like that my engine bay has some unique traits. Basically I just bought the turbo itself, and MRC (my mechanic/workshop) fabricated or purchased whatever else they needed to complete the setup.
I must emphasize, there are quite a few SW20s which have achieved similar power to mine at a lower overall cost, but I was willing to spend more to have something a little bit different to everyone else. I also prefer to get it right the first time, even if it means more money and more time just to get it all finished.
 

MIDN1T3
Finally, you may not be able to answer this one as you have a water to air intercooler, but would I be able to get away decent sidemount and make this power?  Just not to keen on cutting holes in my trunk. I'm in the process of upgrading my intercooler, and thought I'd may as well get one that could, in the long run, support about 280 - 300kw.  This car probably wont see any track work, and be driven maybe twice a week.

Dylan/dylmrt has about 250rwkw I think, and he had a sidemount intercooler when that tune was done. It may have heat-soaked after every dyno run though lol.

Thanks for the detailed response mate, really appreciated it!  Explaining how the power comes on was great, gave me a much clearer understanding of how the car might feel when driving with this turbo.  
 
I think have the same goal, about 280 - 300 kw but realistically I'd obviously be happy with your kind of power range. 
It was specially interesting to hear how a lot of components in your engine bay are custom made or fabricated, definitely adding uniqueness to the car.  I actually like your PWR barrel in the boot, doesn't look out of place at all and it probably doesnt affect putting stuff in the boot too much so kudos for that!

Unfortunately up here in Darwin, there are a limited number of workshops that I'd feel comfortable taking my car to and then they are again much limited in what they able to do...I think only 1 or 2 might be able to complete the same type of work that MRC did for your car.  I'm looking of going down the line of pulling my own engine out (I did my own swap so this if fine), sending the block/head interstate to get it built (I'd purchase all the goodies and then send them along with it), buying a GT3076r turbo kit from the States, getting a workshop up here to put assemble the turbo kit on the engine (if its too hard for me to do) and then I'd put it all back in the car, get the ECU wired up by the workshop and get it tuned.  Bit of dicking around, but I think it should work ok....hopefully.
 
Anyway, thanks again for reply - I'll stop hijacking your thread and will probably be asking you more questions when I start getting closer to building my car!

No worries, feel free to ask questions any time!
 
I just got back from 'test driving' my car after a full alignment by Heasman Steering, and my overall alignment and ride height is now perfect for me, and I have awesome tyres all round with no more scrubbing issues
PhilB Enterprises rolled my front guards on the weekend too. I'm so happy to have my suspension and tyres fully sorted once and for all!

SIDEMOUNT will not get you to 250kw i can guarentee that. you will probably get 220is max before heatsoak/inlet temps will rob you off power. if your after that much power id go water to air, most people have the interccoler itself in the engine bay which gives you really good throttle response as well. the heat exchanger position is personal choice.
 
cheers

purple5ive

SIDEMOUNT will not get you to 250kw i can guarentee that. you will probably get 220is max before heatsoak/inlet temps will rob you off power. if your after that much power id go water to air, most people have the interccoler itself in the engine bay which gives you really good throttle response as well. the heat exchanger position is personal choice.

cheers

 
What do you base your comments on??

ive seen first hand what high inlet temps using a sidemount can do to an engine and how much power is lost due to inlet temps skyrocketing, although i must admit the fan on the cooler wasnt working. but thats not going to help much when your pushing for 250-300kw.
have a look on mr2oc the guys there have done enough of testing to conclude its not the best approach.
but each to their own.