Warning: Like a fiend for nicotine, power figures can be addictive.

Thought it would be a jolly wheeze to see what the maximum potential of the car would be in it's current form. Okay with a couple more modifications to it's fueling.

To that end I fitted a bigger 100mm core intercooler (Misimoto R Line) and 450LPH fuel pump (Walbro).

Both jobs were a pain in the butt to do, Although probably not world ending and certainly do'able at home they were both awkward to get at and both needed 'special' love and attention to detail.

Intercooler. As a standard generic fit I could just about squeeze this into the front space 'as was' already cut for my old Japspeed intercooler. The fittings being slightly different I did have to drill a couple of holes in the crash bar (after making a bazillion measurements) and fabricating a couple of brackets from some flat Iron bar (they aint going nowhere). Biggest pain was the front bumper, after a trim and refit it wanted just a little more off.. five goes later and job done.
Of course the fitting of the intercooler didn't really help the horns much and having previously made a gorgeous bracket to mount my 'Scooby' horns on. It soon became apparent that they were not looking great being squished by the intercooler (these have since been removed for an alternative horn).

Fuel Pump: Although aware vaguely that there was a wiring mod, this was not initially done and we soon found out why it is required as the 450 lph pump can't draw enough voltage to pump the fuel.
So just a side note, if you’re installing a current hungry fuel pump I suggest the fuel pump be wired using a relay directly to the battery. The stock wiring and fuel pump controller cannot cope with the new current draw resulting in a drop in voltage causing lack of performance and further issues. Or in my case less HP than when I started!
Here is a good link for the actual process of physical fitting.
Here is a good link for the wiring direct feed.

Awaiting Dyno and the last view of the horns!

Results: Well things were not exactly running super smooth on mapping the car. There was a boost leak due to a few pennies worth of cable tie. The car then failing to deliver enough fuel and after the wiring modification, the car still refused to deliver enough fuel, with the injectors (850cc Denso's) being at capacity.
Having already eaten up a good chunk of dyno time for practically zero gain and all loss, we upped the fuel pressure. Now we were nicely back on track. However, this meant that the fuel map was no longer any good and the 'tweak' to the map was no longer an option. A full map it was to be then.

Dyno readout taken at hubs

So all in all a big bill, a lot of work and an actual 12HP more. Although for the increase in torque it was probably worth it (this is what I tell myself). People get so hung up on BHP it actually does not mean a lot when you get past a certain level. Or put as a very simple example: Two engines may have the same torque to pull up a 1 in 4 slope, but if one has more BHP, it will pull the car up the slope faster. Torque is a measure of the force available to accelerate the car.

Assembly is the reverse of installation - Left overs and a start up

Post after post of major works and dreamy excellence, just like the building of Lego one part slotting into the next, in almost perfect in design. 

Naturally this isn't so and there are a few items that caused some small difficulty along the way. 

MGT are not big fans of the Plazmaman inlet complaining about the restricted access once it is in place. Which could explain why the previous outfit Drift Street Imports left bolts off. One of the other things which didn't get put back on last time was the undertray. I somehow didn't think it would go back on this time either, as now have the RIPs extended sump, although Mark at MGT was messaging me the other day, saying he was cutting lumps out of it so it would fit!  

I think I will need a new turbo blanket, judging by the look of the other it appears a bit mishapen now and as I think they effectively 'bake' into place am not sure it is a reusable item. 

Below: This is the gearbox backplate. This needed some work as was 'clattering' against the new clutch. MGT thought that it seemed odd as some of the holes were elongated. However the car did start out as an Automatic and this would have been changed many moons ago.  

Below:  This is an image of the right hand boost pipe from throttle body. The clamp isn't really working there and it offers a potential for boost leaks. This pipe is being replaced. 

Below: Innovate LC-2 Wideband Sensor installed.  

If like me you ask, what exactly is a wideband? Broadly speaking there are two different types of O2 sensor available, wideband and narrowband. Both sensors have their place in tuning an engine, narrowband sensors are designed to be used in conjunction with a catalytic converter.

In brief a catalytic converter works on a saturate/starve principal where the fuel injection system saturates the converter then starves the converter, i.e. it runs rich of 14.7:1 (saturate) then lean of 14.7:1 (starve) and as such a narrowband O2 sensor only reads rich of 14.7:1 or lean of 14.7:1.

Narrowband O2 sensor are unable to determine exactly how rich or exactly how lean the engine is running making it useless for full power engine calibration (as under full power we need to run the engine much richer that 14.7:1 so we don’t melt pistons!).

A wideband O2 sensor on the other hand is designed to read a much broader spectrum of air to fuel ratios which makes it the ideal tool for engine calibration.

Below: One of the best ECU's available now. Sure there are others but this is pretty proven technology, mapped in the right hands can be highly effective and benefits from built in safety features.  

The Link G4 only comes as a circuit board and needs to utilize the original ecu case. As I had an Apexi Power FC which is still a desirable choice for upto 500 HP (so desirable) I had to dig out my old Automatic ECU (Mapped at Bells auto) which I originally had mapped to 320HP at the fly! 

Below: A picture of everything finally coming together. I could not resist this picture and sneaked it onto my Facebook page. Soon regretted it with the all the questions. People just do not understand 'art'. Although maybe I should understand the Facebook isn't private and it feels so ugly boasting. Am in this for me not the applause.  

Below: I would like to say this is the first fire up, it is actually the second (see rattling back plate). From here the next chapter starts. 

Thanks go to MGT Motorsport for the photos and constant technical explanations. 

Ms Skyline's Evil Clutches.. There can be no escape for the horses!

 The rebuild continues apace at MGT and the engine is temptingly close to installation. Apparently there are minor small complications where my attention to detail is not the same as anyone else's. I couldn't possibly comment without probably upsetting the whole world.

 Anyway. The clutch (always useful) is in. This is a Xtreme 230 mm organic sprung twin plate clutch, all the way from Australia (where huge chunks of Ms Skyline are from)

Clutch plates, The rest of the photo's show in order of installation. As a twin plate you get to see everything.. twice! But I have included all of the pictures as a fitting memorial to the new clutch that will (hopefully) not be seen again for a long time. 

A twin disc works by effectly doubling the amount of frictional area used when connecting the engine to the drivetrain, which doubles the amount of grip from the engine to the transmission (Same theory applies when people choose to use wider tires and rims, they want a bigger "contact patch" with the road). There are many ways a clutch can be designed to increase grip from the engine to the transmission, increasing the frictional area is only one them. Multi disc clutch setups are favorable (despite their high price) because they offer more grip without neccessarily increasing the clamping load of the pressure plate (which is very bad for the crankshaft).

On a regular single disc setup, the friction disc rubs on the flywheel's face, and on the pressure plate's face (two fricitional surfaces). The frictional disc itself is connected to the transmission via the input shaft, and the flywheel and pressure plate are bolted together (they are connected to the engine via the crankshaft).

On a twin disc setup, there is a center plate which rotates with the flywheel (effectly this center plate is an extension of the flywheel). You can consider this plate to be a second flywheel. Sandwiched in between the two flywheels is the first friction disc. On the other side of of this center plate, there is the second friction disc. After the the second friction disc comes the face of the pressure plate. Here is the order:

flywheel -> friction disc 1 -> center plate -> friction disc 2 -> pressure plate

This makes for a total 4 frictional faces (flywheel, two sides for the center plate, and the pressure plate). This is DOUBLE the amount of frictional surface area than a single disc setup.

To visualize how this kind of setup works, you have to keep in mind what is attached to what. There are only two rotating bodies here (think to yourself "engine speed" & "drivetrain speed"). The first body is the a splined input shaft from the transmission that is connected to the two friction discs (the friction discs spin with the transmission). The two friction discs spin together because they are both connected to the transmission's input shaft. The second body is the flywheel, center plate, and pressure plate which are all bolted to each other and spin together in unison with the engine's crankshaft. Any difference in rotational speeds between these two rotating bodies happens when the clutch pedal is depressed down (when the clutch disengaged) or if the clutch is slipping under power.

So clutch all mounted up and now time to 'insert' engine here

An engine is no good without a gear box

And below, the end of a days work.

All pictures kindly supplied from MGT Motorsport

Engine build up

Now the all the parts are here the car is going back together. Although as it is the 24th February it is not an ideal time to call an anniversary! 

Having the super shiny sump fitted at MGT Motorsport is a major lurch in the right direction though. 

A bead of the sticky stuff

And on she goes (never to come off I hope). 

MGT certainly do not hang around

Ric Woods Machined head with Tomie Pom cams in place

Looks more like an engine (as I know it) every minute. 

Much shining N1 goodness on show here

Even as I type pictures keep flowing in..

Custom made and red crackle coated front cover back on

6 Boost Exhaust Manifold welded back up

Should help keep everything in place and no leaks! 

Mark at MGT gave me a slight telling off for the cap head bolts holding the covers on (he wants everything 'correct' which is nice). The Nissan ones have a flange etc. so tighten up with equal force and although am sure these are lovely. Ms Skyline does like the odd sparkle and it looks like they did tighten up okay.

Cylinder Head Porting

Sometimes in an effort to understand things it helps me to write them down. Which kind of sums up the whole of the blog and a general lack of my listening to people! For instance there are things I will never understand, such as why is it that so many UK Nissan GTR drivers are such porky pigs?

One thing that I was keen to do but didn't really know why, was to get the cylinder head ported and flowed. I mean how can porting make such a difference to output?

Cylinder head porting refers to the process of modifying the intake and exhaust ports on the engine to improve the quality and quantity of air flow. As manufactured heads would not have the attention to detail that porting offers due to manufacturing constraints. Porting gives that attention and brings the engine to much higher levels of efficiency. The porting process is greatly responsible for the high power output.

Imagine the air around us, we breath it but do we feel it "as light as air" which is to say it has no substance as we move slowly through it. However engines operating at high speed need to force and suck air, pulling it in and spitting it out again, so in this instance, air becomes unwieldy, sticky and heavy.

Pumping air at high speed is a major problem and bottle neck, so head porting helps to eradicate this.

My head was CNC machined on behalf of MGT Motorsport (or on facebook) at Ric Wood Motorsport who specialise in design, development and build of race winning engines and components.

All of the pictures below are 'after' shots. When enlarged the quality shines out.

A small video of a cylinder head in action.

The whole process was proving to be the Achilles heel of the project at one point. MGT's usual machine shop being too busy and wanting a long lead time. Fortunately Ric Wood Motorsport stepped in and saved the day, although also rather unfortunately at a cost to the budget. 

Ideally I should have purchased a second hand head last Summer and just sent it up to MGT but getting work done wouldn't be the same without a healthy dose of stress.  

R33 Extended Baffled Sump

Yes I know with my sense of humour the word 'baffled' is too good to resist.. So that's it done out of the way...

As part of the forging process I thought I could do with a new sump. Some bright spark had jacked my car up on the original sump leaving a lovely dent in it. Amazing isn't it? Just goes to show just because you think you are a mechanic does not mean you have a peanut shell of sense around that tiny brain.

Anyway..

Because I am not too bright myself and have an irresistible urge to try something new, I started to look at baffled sumps.

This will limit how much the oil is able to slosh around and hopefully keep it where the pump can suck it up into the engine.  Simply put a baffled oil pan has chambers that make it easy for the oil to travel toward the oil pick up but difficult for it to get sloshed the other way. Also, they tend to increase the capacity of the oil pan so that more oil will be available in the whole system. 

In this instance it will be probably an additional 3 liters.

There is one supplier that I know of in the UK although was not sure of quality. There is also a well known supplier in New Zealand called the Rotorua Import Pro Shop or R.I.P.S for short. 

Well with a name as impressive as that it would have to be good and I am sure a lot of you out there in the tuning world will have heard the name. 

R.I.P.S extended baffled sump

My original dented Sump (need I rant again?). The sump is not in theory the hardest thing to change... After all it is held on with bolts. The only really annoying thing is that the engine needs to come out to do it.  



The oil pickup had a bit of debris, so was doing its job. The orange sealant type stuff remains a mystery though.

New and exciting package 

reveals....This! 

The R.I.P.S extended baffled sump




Now I think you will all agree that the paint finish is not all it could be, My first reaction was 'nice, but shouldn't it have some... you know... Paint? 
The Sump is actually supplied in an unfinished state.  

A view inside (for the terminally interested) you can see how the oil drains back through the Louvres.. (I am exhausted from spelling that).

A new extended pick up is included 



Back from powder coat 




Not Jack proof...Although quite the work of art. Shame no one will see it much!

Ms Skyline always likes to drink from a straw, it makes her feel sophisticated and does not ruin her lipstick. So there it is, another part sourced and another problem solved. Thanks to MGT Motorsport for the photos and hard work so far.