Dream Project: Synthwave Soarer

The car of choice for me is the Toyota Soarer Z20. It has a perfectly proportioned long-nose luxury coupe body, matched with the running gear and underpinnings of an A70 Supra.
The style is so perfectly 80’s that, in my eyes, it is on par with the Ferrari 512 and DMC DeLorean.
Unlike these two, it doesn’t suffer so much from that Italian/French/Irish unreliability - being a true JDM car means it was fitted with the finest parts Toyota could offer its home market.

Interior

A year ago I caught sight of a racing seat.
It was large, black, retro, and super-cool! During a work discussion, I remembered this seat, however I had no idea of the name or the brand so I searched CarThrottle with no results. I searched Google with little results - but I got there in the end.

To me, it looked like a seat that would perfectly match a Mitsubishi Starion resto-mod. Being rare, and having a preference for a Toyota over a Mitsubishi, I thought up what my perfect resto-mod car would be.
The seat was the Recaro RMS - a special made only for the Japanese market. It was so popular that it was on back-order for a while. The RMS was available in two options: Carbon Fibre or black Fibreglass.
Because the Carbon version is twice as expensive, and it was an unobtainable material in the 1980’s, I would opt for the Fibreglass version - the RMS 2700G.

For nostalgia and sleeper effect, I would leave the rest of the interior standard - or maybe install a reverse camera hidden in the mirror so I don’t accidentally reverse into any hidden objects.

Although I do like the Z20 factory gear knob, I might swap the gear boot with the stacked-square pyramid of the AE86.

Audio

Pioneer, XPlod, JVC and Fusion are the most common brands for boyracers to swap their audio with.
Amazingly, the Z20 Soarer had a factory optional Technics audio system which can still be found in many Soarers today - and there is a reason for this.
Anyone who listens to Vinyl records, or is an audiophile, would have heard about Technics - their equipment is worth many thousands today.

For the sound system, I would look for a model with the optional Technics audio system.

Engine

I did want to keep the original 7M-GTEU or 2G-GTE, however these are both ageing engines, both with their own limitations, while their output is not very impressive by today’s standards.

Out will go the 7M, and in will go a 1.5JZ - a 2JZ bottom end with the Yamaha-developed head of the 1JZ-GTE. I believe 250kW with more than suffice while still being enjoyable.

I would try to make sure that the factory boost gauge will work with the new engine setup.
In the particular car I stole the image from, there are bright cyan ignition leads - I think they match the cyan accents around the digital dash cluster quite well.
Other than that, I would try to keep it looking standard for maximum sleeper effect - if not, then I would just opt for a simple pre-VCT 1JZ-GTE.

Exterior

The Soarer in the photo above has some of the best aero I have seen yet - and it seems it might have been standard on the Soarer Aerocabin.
Over factory-standard, it consists of a small lip, side skirts, and a ducktail spoiler. The two scoops on either side of the number plate resemble a fighter jet’s intakes.

Some finishing touches I would do are polish the headlights and source some OEM monsoon shields - they were awesome on my R34 when it was raining.

As for the paint, I would choose Black/Gunmetal two-tone. Part of my inspiration is CyberPunk and part Synthwave music which has a darker theme than Italo-disco/Eurobeat that inspired the new genre. Plus the black cars had a black interior that matches the Recaro seats.

Wheels

One thing I just could not decide on is the wheels.
SSR XR4 5s
Work Equip 03
Volk Racing Turbo
Enkei Aeronatics

I just can’t decide. What I do like is the last of the MZ21’s OEM wheels - the rotated elegant spokes of the car above.

If not, I could settle for a set of period-correct Aeronautics, however these wheels only look good in white, while the Recaro seats only come in black - and I want the interior/exterior to match.

Suspension

The Soarer was the first Toyota to feature adjustable dampers using a system called TEMS (Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension) - the A70 Supra was released a year later with the same feature.
If I could not get the factory TEMS refurbished, then I could opt for a modern system such as Holden’s magneride. In fact, if the sky was the limit, I would go for a newer system because of the technological advances made since 30 years ago - but I would get it to work through the original TEMS switches.

Conclusion

That concludes my dream of building up a car inspired by a seat I saw a year ago.

Z20 Soarer in Black
Recaro RMS 2700G
1JZ-GTE
TEMS