Japan Racing JR29

I had a desire for new wheels, nothing wrong with the old ones, but just fancied the change (like you do). 
Long story short, spoke to Driftworks about getting some nice Work wheels. It just was not happening though and there seemed to be a tremendous problem with getting the correct offset. Try a different offset and have all the risk myself? No, I don't think I like the word "risk"!

Que Japan Racing, a budget wheel manufacturer from Poland (not sure where Japan come into it). They have a clever business model manufacturing for many different brands of car with PCD, offsets, and diameters in many different sizes. I went with a spoke design (similar to a Works wheel). Not only could you have the offset machined but you also can have the PCD of your choosing. These were supplied through Auto Extreme. 

The downside to having the bolt holes machined is that Japan Racing machine the wheel blank after it has been finished painted so you end up with bare metal bolt holes. It's okay, but not ideal as in my opinion these will not weather as well as a fully finished wheel. 






















The wheels I ordered were flat black, I used the term 'were' as after attaching one to the car it looked wrong and had zero aesthetic impact, also the exposed bolt holes would eventually drive my OCD into overdrive. 

JR29 fitted to the car, just wasn't working for me

By chance, I spoke to a friend of mine on Facebook who has the Work style wheels. These were in (I can't remember what it is called now) GT Silver (I think). This is a black base with silver overlay. Inspired that the wheel could look good, I decided to change colour.  

Friends Car 

There are various mixes based on this theme with names like Hyper Black which in turn is similar to Shadow Chrome etc. 

I spoke to the Wheel Specialist in Maidenhead and went with Shadow Chrome. They actually turned the wheels around in a couple of days (which took me by surprise!). Their attention to detail is lovely with black weights for balancing etc. The finish is flawless. Basically, my new wheels looked better than new ones (if that makes any sense). 
These were finished off with a set of TGR Motorsport wheel nuts. Did get some internal drive nuts from Japan Racing, which were serviceable, but uninspired.  

 Assorted musings.

The wheels were very tight on the spigots, it was a real wrestling job to get them on with the nuts. 

Use copper slip when fitting wheels, it will help get them off at a later date. 

The PCD holes are tight, especially deep on the front. Internal drive tuner style bolts are a must-have. 

Wheel sizes with a PCD of 114.3
18 x 9.5 et 35 rears 
18 x 8.5 et 30 fronts

Tyres 
Yokohama Advan AD08r 
265/35 R18 Rears
235/40 R18 Fronts

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.

The art of Ms Skyline

A good friend of mine Caroline (Cazzer) decided to cheer me up with some graphics of Ms Skyline. She is still messing about with them but sent me a taste of what she can do. I love the effect so far, what do you think?

I can't help but look at her!

I always find it difficult to take a 'good' picture of the car, what with it being black it tends to reflect everything. When Cazza offered to create something interesting I was delighted and hope to be able to get it printed on some specialist paper (like a canvas or heavy type). So I can frame it for the wall.

Is funny, regardless of how cool (or even uncool) it is, I really don't have any photo's of my cars from history past. This is not going to happen with Ms Skyline.
I took a few pictures the other day and although (typically) at time of posting I forgot to bring my camera, will upload a few of the better ones.

Stop the press! I was just sent an updated picture with some of the missing detail in. I had better post it or Caroline will kill me.

Is all in the detail!