We often receive letters from various students across the country who complain about their teachers, who have taken away their copies of Super Street. We've been told that we're a distraction. There are too many girls in the magazine. We're risque. Studying is more important. Whatever. Our goal is to corrupt the minds of the youth, and what good are we if we're stashed away somewhere in the principal's office along with the confiscated pagers, baggy pants, and banned NWA cassettes and not in the hands of some young boy who's just starting to grow funny hairs in those funny areas? You need cooler teachers. You need Joe Galante.
"Yes, I am a teacher. I teach high school Spanish," says Joe, as we get into a conversation about the whos, whats, whys, wheres, and whens of his '94 Supra. "I took a year off to finish this car, but they've completely flipped out. A lot of my students really dig the car, so much that I went and started an enthusiast club at school, geared specifically towards cars.
I wanted them to learn about cars, such as safe driving tips and the dangers of street racing." Not only does this push Joe onto the level of coolness that only substitute teachers can achieve, it also makes him that much more respectable as a tuner as well. In fact, his second job is building cars along with his business partners at Mospeed Productions and RYTEK Motorsports. Joe's Supra is their first big project and they've done an outstanding job of converting it into the widebodied piece of machinery that it has become today.
Purchased back in 1997, Joe admits that his goals for the car today are much greater than what he had originally intended. "I didn't even know that boost controllers existed, let alone what a turbo was," he laughs. When he discovered that he could use aftermarket parts to make the car even faster, he placed himself right into the mouth of madness and hasn't looked back since. The evidence is clear, and now, on its third stage of modification, the car has gone from wack to fully stacked. It's serious business here--custom widebody fenders have extended the front end 2.5 inches and the back a good 3.5 inches. There's a lot of custom bodywork; in fact, all of the body pieces have been molded onto the car, which includes a Bomex front lip and VeilSide's C-1 side and rear skirts. The trunk lid supports a custom-mounted C-West carbon-fiber wing and the rear turn signals have been altered by Clearcorners.com to light up red instead of amber. The driving lights are now powered by a set of Xenon Depot HIDs and extra light is provided with a set of PIAA 2100-X foglamps. Factor in the custom gunmetal metallic paint (with the blue and green pearl mixed in) and you're not only going to impress the girl's volleyball squad--you're going to upset the balance of the entire student body. They never warned us about this in sex ed--better use condoms!
Joe states that he is a firm believer in "subtle craziness." While he wanted the car to stand out like a zit on senior portrait day, he also wanted to keep it mellow. Well, I can certainly tell you that underneath the hood, it's hardly that. It's really crazy--crazy like a fox! The inline-six, 2JZ-GTE has been fortified with all kinds of chin-stroking, member-grabbing goodness. A mammoth T-78 single turbo upgrade comes from GReddy, as does the Type R external wastegate, 2mm head gasket, and four-row intercooler. The cylinder head has been ported and polished, and has also been given a three-angle valve job. Even a pair of HKS 272-degree camshafts and a set of AEM adjustable cam gears are being utilized to maximize power. In case there's a desire to get a little extra punch, Joe has a 100-shot single-fogger wet nitrous system from NX on tap--there's even a spray bar from NX that injects ice-cold air onto the intercooler, which helps to lower the intake temperature of the air going into the engine.
A recent tech story we featured in last month's issue ("Advanced Tuning," page 192) showed the installation of an AEM EMS, which gave Joe the ability to tune his 2JZ to the sweet song of 635rwhp at only 25psi. Additionally, he's using an HKS EVC-IV to control the boost settings. For fuel delivery, an HKS in-tank fuel pump feeds larger volumes of, well, fuel, to an anodized HKS fuel rail and a set of Blitz 700cc injectors. Meanwhile, engine temperature is kept low with a Fluidyne radiator and FAL fans--a must-have, especially for a turbocharged application.
Though Joe swears that he built the car for himself and not anyone else, I'm not so convinced. There are always ulterior motives for guys who own cars like this, especially if you teach. Maybe the gal who teaches French is really hot and he needs to impress her. Or maybe he's like me and cruises up and down the street after eighth period lets out so freshmen can give him the "big ups." I think if I were waiting on the side for my mom to give me a ride (What are you talking about? Your mom still picks you up.--JN), I'd check out those custom-made HRE wheels, which were tailored to match the widebody kit. Sized 19x9.5 for the front and 20x11 on the rear, it's even crazier to know that they carry a 2.5-inch and 4-inch lip, respectively --that's worse than Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, and Liv Tyler combining their own lips. To stop those massively-sized wheels is a set of 14-inch Stop-Tech big brakes, which consist of four-piston calipers, cross-drilled rotors, stainless brake lines, and beefier pads. Suspension mods are minimal, yet the HKS Hiper-Damper coilovers allow for the adjustability of ride height and comfort.
The Supra's interior is a Sparco catalog incarnate--Roadster seats, racing harnesses, Flash-5 steering wheel, and every panel, plus the rear seats have been re-upholstered with Sparco fabric. All that's missing is a Mike Morita bobbing-head doll on the dashboard. An Art Morrison rollcage adds a bit of safety and prevents any Red Asphalt-type accidents from occurring. The audio work is pretty extensive as well, using components from mainly Eclipse and Lightning Audio, which are more than I can shove into this paragraph, let alone this story. And lastly, if anyone is kept behind for detention or needs a secret make-out hideaway, they can swap spit or watch Zapped on his Sony PS2--you could even play Counterstrike on his laptop, after you've deleted his AEM EMS software files.
After a heated debate about what ingredients are included in the cafeteria's lunch gruel, I've concluded that Joe's students are lucky. Rewards for graduation include free trips to import shows across the Canadian border, not to mention free rides in one of the coolest cars on the continent. Now if only we could get him to look the other way so we could ditch class.