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by Mike Kojima
In our last edition of Project EP3 Civic Si, we thought we had fixed our car's bump steer and wandering steering with a roll center correction kit and a bump steer kit from Hardrace. Our car had serious issues since day one. When we first got it, no one wanted to drive it because the car would wander around on the freeway and everyone was afraid of getting pulled over for drunk driving.
So, we installed a bunch of suspension stuff and finished it with the Hardrace geometry correcting parts in the front suspension. With the car finally handling well, which is no small task with an EP3, we were finally having fun driving it hard. All was good for a couple of weeks, but then the wandering steering returned with a vengeance.
by Billy Johnson
Changing out the factory transmission fluid for a higher performance oil is a common solution to reduce the notchy-ness and improve shifting feel. This is especially important in the Getrag MT-82 used in the 2011-2017 Ford Mustang. While we already changed out the trans fluid in our test car, Tim at OPMustang.com said I "HAD TO" try the BG Syncro Shift II Synthetic Gear Oil. I wasn't really motivated, since the current Royal Purple Synchromax was already a big improvement over stock, but Tim offered to buy me a steak dinner if I didn't think there was an improvement, so I gave it a try.
Admittedly, none of us on Dai Yoshihara's Formula D team have much experience with alcohol. We all knew methanol was a superior fuel but highly corrosive. We knew it would require a lot of post event maintenance, which would include pickling the engine and fuel system by draining the methanol and running gas through the system to remove the methanol. However, we didn't expect to run into the issues that we did. We needed a solution and were recommended some things from other teams' crew chiefs that all came down to one thing.
Just a few short years ago having access to a borescope was a luxury that few racers, engine builders, and hobbyists could afford. You would typically have to spend a few thousand dollars for one. They were not that flexible, in that you would either not be able to record images or would have to spend a bunch of money for camera adapters.
by Nikita Rushmanov
When most people hear the word alignment, they think of two things-- lasers and alignment racks. There is a preconceived notion that in order to achieve an accurate alignment, you need a $50,000 alignment rack. That is simply not true. With a little ingenuity and math, you can achieve extremely accurate alignments without any expensive tooling whatsoever. When racers hear the word alignment, they think of strings and levels.
When we last left off with Project GD STI, we had just installed our drop-in ball bearing center section upgraded Precision Turbo. In our opinion, this is one of the best drop-in, non rotated mount turbos on the market for these cars, however, we wanted to be able to turn the boost higher. This brought the need for a tune utilizing Cobb Tuning's Subaru Flex Fuel System.
Just like Project DC2 Integra last week, we're taking our Project C7 Corvette out to Buttonwillow in 100% stock form for some lap testing courtesy of our friends at Global Time Attack. Unlike the Integra--who's too old to know what a CANbus is--we're installing an AEM AQ-1 OBDII data logger in the Vette before we hit the track. AEM's AQ-1 OBDII Data Logger is easy to install and logs engine data transmitted from the CANbus signal feed in the OBDII port of any 2008+ vehicle. The AQ-1 also has a 3-axis accelerometer built in so we'll be able log g-force data as well! Take a look at today's video to learn more about it and see how easy it is to install! And remember to swing by again next week for the results of our C7 baseline track test before we install all the Chevrolet Performance parts heading our way!
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Honeywell by Garrett has recently released a direct fit bolt-on intercooler solution for the EcoBoost Mustang, and we didn't wait any time to verify how it performs! We knew our friends at HPS Performance Products had been time attacking their EcoBoost Mustang, so it would be the perfect test bed for our intercooler test. Read on for all the details and DATA!
In our last articles about Project V8 RX-7, we left you last with photos of our new SSR Professor SP4 wheels and Toyo R888 tires looking flush, but we weren't ready to explain how we accomplished that task yet. With our Rocket Bunny aero kit giving us a huge space in the wheel wells to fill, we were going to take advantage of all of that.
Our car had to use all of the space for wide wall-to-wall rubber. More rubber means more grip, and with our LS3 providing the torque and power to use it all, we were obligated to do so. However, just putting wide rubber on a car not designed for it creates a few technical issues that, since we are MotoIQ guys, have to be engineered out of the equation. This means the typical spacer to fit and beat to match approach was not going to be a solution.
From custom fabricated control arms to revalved KW V3 coilovers with HLS, Mike Kojima goes under Project V8 RX7 to explain everything we did to address the new suspension geometry challenges we faced when adding 50mm to each corner with a Rocket Bunny wide body kit.
by S. Tate
Everything (and more!) that you wanted to know about upgrading your halogen headlights. We get down to all of the details in deciding which type of bulbs to use and all other factors that must be considered. We use our Project F150 as a test mule and show you how to do the installation.
by Billy Johnson
First iterations of new technologies are rarely flawless. When the Mustang ditched the solid axle in 2015 in favor of a 21st century Independent Rear Suspension, it transformed into a modern-day sports car with greatly improved ride quality and handling dynamics. Unfortunately, the new diff and subframe are mounted with soft, compliant rubber bushings that cause a significant wheel hop when launching the car and unwanted toe changes in corners. This affects drag and road racers alike. In order to eliminate these issues, we tested Steeda Autosport's Ultimate 'Stop the Hop' Package and Adjustable Differential Bushing Insert System.
by Vince Illi
HP Tuners has been at the forefront of automotive engine tuning and diagnostics for Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler vehicles for over a decade now. Their VCM suite is used for tuning by professional speed shops around the world. Furthermore, HP Tuners is one of the only aftermarket companies who has completely "unlocked" the Copperhead Powertrain Control Module (PCM) used in Ford's latest engines, including the Coyote 5.0 V8. Their VCM Scanner is available to consumers and can perform the vast bulk of factory-level diagnostic testing on a laptop computer—tools normally only available to Dealers using Ford's expensive Intelligent Diagnostic Scanner (IDS) tool.
Recently, HP Tuners partnered with E-Motion products to create a new handheld tuner device with a twist. The aftermarket is already flooded with OBD-II tuning devices that run the gamut from good to terrible, so HP Tuners wanted to set themselves apart by making something that could do more than just standard tuning.
We usually don't get excited enough about car care products to write about them, but every once and awhile, we get something in the mail that gets our attention. Tire treatments are something we could usually care less about. The market is saturated with all sorts of goop to put on tires.
by Nikita Rushmanov
Why do you need a 3D printer? A better question would be, why haven't you got one yet? 3D printing has long been hailed as the "next big thing in tech", and it's for a good reason. It allows you to manufacture parts for literally pennies, without any tooling and setup costs, which can't be said about other manufacturing methods, such as injection molding or CNC machining. In addition, with printing, you can make parts that just can't be manufactured by other methods. Because the object is built from scratch by depositing material where it needs to go, rather than starting with raw stock and cutting it to shape, you can build completely enclosed objects that have cavities inside of them. Even casting or injection molding can't match the geometric possibilities that printing offers you. A 3D printer is one of those tools that just seems to have endless possibilities. If you can dream it, you can make it.
A lot of people have asked this question before, and the jury has been out on whether this is something that is true or not. We have attempted to test to see whether certain brands of high-quality oil have a gain in power over others before with mixed results. Our dyno tests have always been inconclusive with the differences being too small to be considered or perhaps caused by variables such as differences in viscosity or sump level.
by Justin Banner
It's not the first choice of those who go autocrossing or tracking, but when a Fox-body Mustang is set up right, it can make for a potent road racer. Gregg Biddlingmeier's example is one of many he's owned and shows what these Fords are capable of with some planning, fabrication, and execution.
Have you ever looked at your service manual for a torque spec, only to curse, "What the hell were those engineers thinking?" We certainly have, but there is always a way to get things done by the book. The perfect example of an impossible torque spec is the driveshaft to differential flange on a 240sx. In this case, it's impossible to get a socket on the nut because there is not enough room between the flange and the differential housing. Additionally, the hex head of the bolt on the other side is jammed against the flange, so you can't torque that either. As a result of this, a lot of 240 owners we know never actually use a torque wrench on their driveshafts, instead opting to torque to "2 uga ugas" with an open ended wrench. To compliment this, we've also seen a few 240 driveshafts rattle loose, or in some cases come off completely, punching holes in the floor pan.
So what's the solution? Let us show you!
by Frank Ewald
There was something for everyone at Leavitt Machinery's Knox Mountain Hill Climb that recently took place in Kelowna, B.C. The spectacular views of Okanagan Lake surrounded by mountains truly set the scene for this event. The cars ranged from open wheel through fully caged track cars to street prepared and then vintage. These cars ranged from obviously well-used track toys to vehicles that looked like they would be more at home at a show and shine placement. Make no mistake, the drivers were all here for one thing: to find their personal best and, just maybe, become the King of the Hill!
In prior editions of Project EP3 Civic Si, we went over the history of the car- the worst handling Civic made with suspension geometry taken right from the Stream minivan. Well, so far we have gotten rid of squishy rubber and added sway bars with help from Whiteline. We also got rid of the flaccid shocks with a set of coilovers from Fortune Auto. Now we will address bumpsteer issues with Hardrace!
by David Zipf
There is no place like Indy. It's big, it's fast, it's narrow, and the track is like no other on earth. Even in this modern, high tech world, winning Indy is one of the toughest tasks in motor racing today. The cars may be much faster and more reliable, but winning Indy in 2017 is still just as tough as it was in 1911.
Over the past few installments of our EP3 project, we have been working on fixing on what is perhaps the car's major weak point, the handling. Previous Civics were known for excellent handling with 4-wheel multi-link suspension. The EP3 however, uses the suspension from a Japanese market Stream van in a really dumb case of parts bin engineering.
by Pablo Mazlumian
One of the problematic areas of the BMW 335's N54 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged engine is the ignition failing, specifically with the coils. And, unfortunately, a new set of coils and plugs can run you over $800 at the stealer. Today we show you how to refreshen those components with new OE replacements from Sparkplugs.com, and we save nearly $500!
So everyone into Hondas just about universally ignores or even hates the dumpy EP3 Civic. The EP3 represents, to most Honda fans the generation of Civic where Honda lost their brand identity and started to make cookie cutter shitboxes.
A lot of you might be familiar with AntiGravity Batteries as the supplier of ultra light and powerful Lithium Ion batteries used in Motorsports. Their batteries have been used by us in a few of our projects, and most of our personal race cars sport their batteries.
by David Zipf
Week one of "The Greatest Month in Racing" started with left and right turns, kicking off with the IndyCar Grand Prix last week. This week, the right turns are abandoned and the focus is on nailing down the fastest time at one of the fastest tracks on Earth. One week of practice leads up to two days of qualifying for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Oil.
Recently, Radium Engineering released a kit to easily install their Coolant Expansion tanks onto 2011+ Mustangs. We test it out on our Grey Project Mustang 5.0 and discuss how an expansion tank works!
What is burst containment for a turbocharger, and why is it important? A turbocharger is a system that has a lot of potential to cause a lot of bad stuff to happen to drivers, spectators, and surrounding equipment. Why, might you ask? Well, a typical turbocharger can spin at up to an unfathomable 200,000 rpm for a small frame turbo and a still amazing 90,000 rpm for a large frame turbo! That is a ton of potentially ass-kicking force. We will show you how much later and it's enough to make you cringe.
by Rathyna Gomer
To run sway bars or to not run sway bars? That is the question. In the drift world, there's been a reoccurring debate if there is any true benefit to running sway bars. Sometimes it comes down to the driver's preference and sort of drift "style" they're aiming to achieve. As the debate continues, we opted to run sway bars. Sensei Kojima tells me there's no other way!
Nerd's Eye View - Inside 10,000 horsepower!
By Pablo Mazlumian
How do they make so much power? We get a MotoIQ-exclusive, close-up look at the fascinating engine details of the 2012 Championship winning Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster driven by Antron Brown.
Now that we converted our EP3 Civic from 4 to 5 lug hubs and added big brakes, there was no going back. In order to drive the car, we obviously needed to do something about our wheel situation. Our goal was to stuff the biggest tires we could into the stock wheel wells. Unlike our hellaflush brethren, we want big and we want traction, not stretching a narrow tire on a wide rim and stupid amounts of negative camber.
by Aaron LaBeau
More than many other modifications on a project car, we suffer over wheel and tire choices the most. Mistakes are costly and easy due to sizing choices, but also aesthetically, it's really hard to get an idea of what a wheel will look like on your ride before it's installed. Or, you go down the road someone else has, making a guess on how much you want to trust someone else's judgement.
I pissed a lot of people off with my Japanese Cars Suck article a few weeks ago, where I expressed dismay at the boring state of the Japanese car industry. Japan Inc. seems to be producing either the uninspired transportation device or the trying too hard, over the top stuff that seems like something out of the Fast and the Furious or Transformers franchises.
In the last edition of Project EP3 Civic Si, we explained how we went about converting our car from 4 lug to 5 lug hubs. We did this for two reasons: one to take advantage of the larger selection of 4x114.3 bolt circle wheels available on the market and to take advantage of the larger RSX Type-S wheel bearings and axles to stiffen up the bearing system in anticipation of performance fixed caliper brakes and more power from a possible engine swap.
by Khiem Dinh
In our Turbo Tech series, we have covered a lot of segments of turbocharger performance. We have looked at various aspects of compressor efficiency and performance, turbocharger mapping, and turbo sizing and matching among other things. This time around, we are going to do some more calculations on the turbine side, calculating pressure ratio and wastegate flow along with estimating power gains from the Honeywell Garrett GTX Gen2 turbos over the first generation GTX. You better get your Excel spreadsheets warmed up.
The cars created by Moti Almagor of Blackbird Fabworx have always caught our attention. More for less has always been the theme his creations. The Blackbird Fabworx cars have always eked amazing speed out of stock, very low powered engines. Lightweight, meticulous care in chassis setup, balanced brakes and carefully thought out aerodynamics have had a harmonious interplay in developing incredible speed from very little horsepower.
Any car that has the newer plastic headlights will experience weathering and yellowing eventually. This is caused by UV light exposure degrading the protective coating on the surface of the lights. Once the coating is eroded, UV light makes quick work of the clear plastic underneath, and the light becomes cloudy and yellow.
As we finally start to mod our much-maligned shop EP3, the car that everyone loves to hate, we came to the realization that the car had pretty big wheel wells. To us, big wheel wells does not mean room for offset, slammed to the ground ride height or dumb camber but room for big grippy tires!
Having proper crankcase ventilation is critical on a performance engine, especially forced induction ones that have more blowby past the rings by nature. The pressure needs to be relieved. Excessive crankcase pressure can blow seals, cause severe smoking from the turbo and affect piston ring seal causing smoking and losing power.
by S. Tate
MotoIQ's latest project car is a (tow) truck! Let's get it introduced and find out what happens when we install a MagnaFlow four inch exhaust system.
By Eric Hsu
The external combustion anti-lag "rocket" combustor was used on the factory Prodrive built WRC STi Subaru cars to improve the EJ20 engine's inherent mediocre torque and engine response. The rocket is so good that a version of it is still in use today in the 2012 Japanese Super GT GT300 STi BRZ which also uses an EJ20. Last time I wrote a teaser article, but this time we'll take a look at some of the details of the rocket combustor anti-lag system as it applies to my buddy Ben's JDM Impreza STi Spec C street car over in the UK.
It is important that we start off this Tech Tip be noting that it mostly applies to Mazda 3 owners, but also likely applies to 5 and 6 owners as well. Mazda built the doors of all of these cars in a similar way. If you own one of these vehicles (specifically the first generation from 2004-2010 or so depending on the model), you WILL have to deal with this problem at one point or another. At some point your door handle WILL break, and you WILL have to replace it. This will be a 100% failure rate over time and if you fix it early, it will make your life a bit easier.
by Ramitha Edirisinghe
In Article 1 we went over the features of the AQ1. In Article 2 we showed the power behind the data logging. In this final section, we'll go through our installation of the AQ1 into the Jager Racing car, and some lessons we learned in the process.
We were pleased with our S54 3.2-liter in stock form, and the goal was to bring it up to V8 M3 performance. Was a 12% power improvement and 90-lb fat reduction enough? Find out inside! We test them to speed and in the quarter-mile. We also compare them from 30-100 MPH in third gear to compare low- and mid-range torque for you track guys! And why not--we even throw in a Mustang GT 5.0 in there...
A few months ago we did an article on 5 performance car engines that suck. This story was highly popular, and we have had many requests for more. So here we go, in more detail, the next performance car engine that sucks, the infamous Porsche M96 engine.
Most of us have a daily-driven vehicle that sees year-round driving. In an area where the temperature delta can exceed 100F in a given year, that starts to play a significant role in the vehicle's wear and tear, as well as fuel economy. We've compiled 10 things to consider when readying your car for the upcoming warm season. Doing these things will not only ensure better fuel economy and overall performance, but increased life of the vehicle itself.
Life would be a lot easier if we'd stayed with the stock headers, but when we tested our VAC headers in Part 3, the increase in power was too much to let go. Since then, we've tried different header-back systems but they either were too loud, droned at low RPM, or didn't fit all too well. Today, however, we think we've found something that works great and doesn't break the bank. Dynos graphs and video clips inside!
By Mike Kojima
If you have been following our previous articles of our build of the naturally aspirated K24, we built the engine with the objectives being to build an engine that could run reliably in a high downforce, high grip chassis, have a wide powerband and run on California 91 octane pee water gas.
We bring you a MotoIQ-exclusive tour one of the fuel system industry's greats. We get to learn some of Aeromotive's secrets to success, and even get to poke around some of its professional racecars!
by Eric Hazen
Subarus have roamed the streets, tracks, and dirt for decades, with hundreds of thousands of upgrades available for nearly every aspect of these beloved cars. Yet, one crucial part seemed to be passed over- the clutch fork! The clutch fork is Subaru's Achilles heel. The clutch fork's job is simple - disengage the clutch when you want to change gears. However, the stock part is prone to breakage and premature wearing of the pivot, especially when a performance clutch with higher clamping forces is used.
"Same level dry performance as a Michelin Pilot Super Sport". That is a HUGE statement by Continental when the PSS is hands down the segment leading benchmark. Continental is extremely proud of their brand new ExtremeContact™ Sport tire that was just released earlier this month as a replacement for their ExtremeContact™ DW tire. We logged nearly a thousand miles on the new Sport in both the wet and dry, and put it up against the outgoing DW in a back to back test at Palm Beach International Raceway to see if it lives up to Continental's claims.
Due to the high capabilities of the Viper, a huge strain is put on the factory oiling system on road courses and at the strip. This can cause oil starvation and a spun rod bearing. Using modern rubber can increase this risk, especially for 1996-1999 Gen-2 Vipers which have arguably the worst oil pan of any generation of Viper. To combat this problem, we upgrade to the larger 10-quart oil pan and windage tray from the 2000-2002 Vipers and install RareFab/Roe Racing's race-proven Oil Pan Baffle Kit.
You've been using the wrong tool to change your oil filter. Read our latest Wrench Tip to find out what you've been missing out on!
Photos Courtesy of Bren Tuning and Killer B Motorsport
Every production street car comes with internally wastegated turbochargers. There are many reasons for this, but what is given up in torque and power compared to an external wastegate configuration which dumps the wastegate flow separately from the turbine exhaust flow? Luckily for us, Bren Tuning performed some testing on a 2015 Subaru WRX using exhaust manifolds from Killer B Motorsport configured for both internal and external wastegate configurations.
by Karla Pestotnik
Any car can eventually get a pesky squeak coming from the drive belt area under the hood. For many 1999-2007 General Motors V8s, this has become an infamous issue. However, this common issue is often more than just a belt change; it can be a little bit more complicated. In our case with the LB7 diesel Silverado, it was multiple sources contributing to some head-scratching pondering. Since this is the dedicated tow vehicle for the Karla Pestotnik Racing team and a big event is coming soon, we needed to get to work to diagnose and fix the tow rig.
The goal of this series of write-ups is to show how powerful data logging can be for race teams, and how AEM's line of data acquisition products gives access to this to the grassroots racer at an affordable price point. In the first section we went over the various features of the AEM AQ1 and what they meant. In this section, we'll go over how the Jager Racing Team uses data acquisition to improve both Mark's driving and the development of the car. In Section 3 we'll go over lessons we learned while using the AEM AQ1, and how we installed the system on our car.
We have been following the Stoptech's team build of their NP01 in the MotoIQ Megashop for the past quarter. Although we stretched out the coverage for editorial scheduling, the actual build took about a month. Although the NP01 can be built relatively quickly as a multi-weekend project, we are showing the right way that Stoptech is going about it to build a first class, reliable NP01 that is going to win some races.
Having a dead battery really sucks. Not only can it leave you stranded, but you are also dependent on finding a good samaritan that is willing to give you a jump start. Not only is this bad because you are depending on luck, but it also exposes you to danger as you ask perfect strangers for help.
Autocrossing is a ton of fun. It's super cheap, you can take almost any car under the sun, it's fun, and the crowd is very friendly. Within 2 weeks of laying claim to a 2008 Mazdaspeed3, we were dodging cones. The Speed3 is a great Street Class car, with lots of grip, tons of torque, and low gearing to take advantage of that torquey, turbocharged Mazda MZR engine. In other words, a Mazdaspeed3 (or a Ford Focus ST, which is built on the same platform), makes for a great cone killer, with just a few simple modifications.
PRI 2016 was full of famous cars from the Street Outlaws show on the Discovery channel, and we took the opportunity to give you a closer look at several of them. This two-part series is full of info on these stupid-fast cars and crazy drivers you won't find on the show, and today we start with the nitrous and supercharged!
My dad's Ford F-150 Ecoboost is something I frequently drive, usually to pick up car parts and to tow one of the racecars out to the track. Similar to many folks who also own a racecar, the majority of my focus and money has gone into the racecar, not the tow rig. In actuality, I'm spending hundreds of more hours in the truck picking up parts for the car and towing the car to the track, than actually driving on the track.
In our previous installments of the Stay Crushing FR-S engine build, we have been accumulating the parts to build the supercharged FA20 engine. Now we have everything, and it's time to put it all together!
We were eager to get into our motor and install the Ford Motorsports parts that would basically enable us to rev to over 8000 rpm reliably and breathe better on top. The parts we accumulated would bring us to a spec about the same as the Ford Motorsports Aluminator performance crate engine and a little bit more than the Drag Racing Cobra Jet NA engine.
While on-board data logging has been used by professional race teams for decades, it has been simply too expensive for the average grassroots racer to afford. Recently, however, AEM came out with an awesome entry level data logging unit aimed at the grassroots racer: the AQ1. With an MSRP of $395, the AQ1 packs a lot of great features at a very reasonable price.
In the previous two installments of our engine build, you were able to take a look at the parts we will be using to build the bottom end and the cylinder head of our Ariel Atom. Notably, we went with a Dailey Engineering dry-sump system, since the Atom has a lot of aero-enhanced grip, and we want to avoid oil starvation.
by Erik Hazen
The people at Velox Motorsports are our kind of gearheads- engineers who believe aftermarket components should be well-engineered, functional, and shouldn't just look good enough for mass production. With the popularity of the FR-S and BRZ chassis, there has been no shortage of so-called "aerodynamic" products, that are mostly cosmetic and don't have any engineering behind them.
The lack of in-depth engineering within the aero parts industry triggered Velox Motorsports to design their own rear diffuser. They knew that they could improve on what was on the market currently. They wanted to maximize performance, leverage aesthetics, add to their already existing front splitter, and offer additional components not offered to the market previously.
If you have been a long time MotoIQ reader, then you have probably read about our tour of performance suspension giant KW Automotive's production and R&D facilities in Germany. KW has had a North American operation for some years now, but has recently expanded their facilities from their first location in Sanger California to a new location in Clovis California.
KW's old Sanger facility was mostly dedicated to warehousing and service of their suspension stuff. The new location is being put together to have additional flooring space for R&D, engineering and Manufacturing. This includes all of the KW Automotive brands consisting of ST Suspensions, Belltech, LSD Doors and of course, KW Suspension.
In the last installment of our FA20 engine build, we covered the parts that we were going to use for the insides of the "Stay Crushing" FR-S. With the components covered it was time to start on the engine build in earnest. We decided to begin with the cylinder head and enlisted the help of Tom Fujita at Portflow design to perform the core work on our head.
We are going to go out on a limb and make a lot of fanboi's angry. They will call BS and burn us in effigy. However we are still gonna express our opinions which were developed over the years in the school of hard knocks and talk about real issues we have seen when racing and developing many of our industries' favorite and even legendary engines. Now don't get us wrong, these engines can be turned into successful racing platforms when some major engineering and big dollars are applied but a lot of it is beyond the easy to figure out, easy buy and bolt on stage that most street tuners dream about.
by Mike Kojima, action Photos by GTA and Snap Studios
When Cole Powelson set out to build an R35 GT-R he initially didn't have the ambitious plans to build one of the world's fastest time attack cars. The 2012 GT-R originally was built as a modified but streetable time attack car which was run for fun. Then the car was repurposed and underwent a metamorphosis, eventually being rebuilt into the sophisticated machine that appears on our site here.
Do you want to see a future Formula Drift Champion? Look no further than Alec Hohnadell. At only 20 years old, Alec already has 3 seasons as a pro under his belt and is the youngest driver in Formula Drift.
The Ford GT was in our opinion America's first true exotic supercar. Inspired by Ford's GT40 race cars from the 60's, the Ford GT's performance as a street car easily eclipsed the race cars of yore. Produced from 2005 to 2006, only 4038 of the cars were ever built making the Ford GT a desirable collectors car that fetches several hundred thousand dollars on the used car market, up from the original asking price of $139,000.
Our DC2 Integra was a great find, in near unmolested close to stock condition despite being a GSR and being over 20 years old. Most DC2's of this era have either been mauled by a few generations of ricers, stolen several times or kept as treasured garage queens behind locked gates only to be driven to meets or other special occasions.
Setting the gap on your piston rings is an important step to building an engine that performs at its best. Getting your piston rings to have the optimal seal is perhaps the most critical aspect of good engine building. Of course you want to spend time assuring that your machine work and cylinder wall finish is correct for the type of rings used but a lot of people neglect blueprinting the ring gap.
My 2004 Mazda RX-8 is great to drive and I love it. That is, until it will not start, at which time like everyone else who has a problem, I wish that I had anything else. Of course, over the span of five years this car has only let me down twice. And both times it was the dreaded rotary flooding issue. Now, it's really not that dreadful; it is just very different than flooding a piston engine. Here is where I have to admit that I know that the tune up for my RX-8 should have probably happened a year ago. I am aware of purists who change the coils/wires/plugs annually. The mileage on my RX-8 certainly is not high enough annually to warrant that. Plus seat of the pants has shown me that it is running well – except for the past couple of months where my mileage has been dropping. Of course, I attributed that to the all city driving that the car has been doing.
In the last edition of building the naturally aspirated K24, we were showing some of the detail of building a solid dry sumped bottom end for an Ariel Atom track car with a lot of aero. In this edition, we will be getting rid of the K24 Z7's main performance bottleneck.
MotoIQ Video
Did you not make it to the 2016 SEMA show? MotoIQ has you covered! This year the show was full to the brim. So much so, that temporary halls had to be created outside the main venue in order to fit all of the companies displaying. We stopped by the booths of many of our supporters to give you an insider's look at their new products and technologies on display. Here are all the videos in one place, enjoy!
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com meets with Centerforce Clutch at the 2016 SEMA show to learn about their new products and discuss Dyad clutches, ball bearing pressure plates and weighted diaphragms.
Until now, Project M3's benefitted from increased power, braking, and handling performance, as well as nice improvements to the interior and exterior aesthetics. But keeping things cool under the hood is something we haven't touched on yet, and we do so today with an all aluminum radiator from Koyorad!
We hope you've been following our progress in updating the Spoon Sports USA Time Attack FWD Unlimited Civic here on MotoIQ. The idea behind this round of modifications was to mildly update the car, improve its safety and reliability, clean up the aerodynamics, and to try some new ideas that will be incorporated into a possible new build by Spoon Sports with the Type R Civic due next year.
Rathyna Gomer, MotoIQ Sales and Marketing Manager checks out what's new from Advanced Clutch Technology at the 2016 SEMA show!
Project: Fried Turkey
MotoIQ Staff Report
Well, the holiday season is upon us and we decided we were going to cook something MotoIQ style which means it has to be technical and dangerous. What better thing to cook than a fried turkey? Frying a turkey gets the job done in only 45 minutes and leaves you with a succulent and tasty bird with very little hassle and an easy clean up.
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com checks out Aeromotive's new products at SEMA 2016 including their updated brushless Pro Series fuel pump, updated A1000 fuel pressure regulator, drop in fuel cells and in-tank pumps. We also take a look at some of the counterfeit Aeromotive products being sold online and how to make sure you don't get fooled!
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com checks out the Precision Turbo booth at SEMA 2016 where he gets to inspect the latest Global Rally Cross and Gen III turbos.
In the last segment covering the engine build on our 5.0 liter Mustang, we addressed the top end with CNC ported heads and camshafts from Ford Motorsports. Now it's time to fortify the engine's bottom end so we can have a screaming high-revving naturally aspirated Coyote engine that is still reliable.
Our target for this build is to have a safe 8000 rpm redline, wheel horsepower in the high 400 range and run on 91 octane California pump gas with reliability and track car endurance. We feel that this stuff is all pretty easily done.
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com meets with Ravi Dolwani from CSF Radiator at the 2016 SEMA show to check out their new heat exchangers for the F80/82 BMW M3 and M4, Honda Civics old and new, the ND Mazda Miata and more!
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com checks out the Nitto Tire booth at SEMA 2016.
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com checks out the DeatschWerks booth at SEMA 2016.
by Sarah Forst
The car industry is back! The last decade has been a little like wheelspin at the line but we're finally getting some traction. The Las Vegas Convention Center was jam-packed with 60,000 weary enthusiasts drooling over the latest trends, crazy builds, and hottest products. Previously empty halls inviting a siesta were congested with manufacturers, cars that barely resemble their stock look, and the occasional fatigued booth model while attendees battled to swim upstream. Join MotoIQ for some autoerotica action!
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com checks out the Turbonetics booth at SEMA 2016 to learn about a true bolt on turbo option for the 2.3L Ford Ecoboost motors.
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ.com checks out the KW booth at the 2016 SEMA show to hear about their new products for classic Porsche 911's, the ND Miata and Cayman GT4.
If you're already planning to skip this article because it includes the word "Doodlebug" in the title, then I implore you to read on. What we stumbled onto is no kid's toy: some deranged individual took a cheap, Walmart bike and then strapped an actual go-kart racing engine to it, lost interest, and put it on Craigslist. And then we picked it up because if it's one thing a man needs in his life, it's an interesting story to have told at his funeral.
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ, meets with Blane Burnett of Holley Performance at the 2016 SEMA show to learn about a ton of cool new products coming out in 2017!
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ, checks in with BorgWarner at the 2016 SEMA show to hear about their new products for 2017.
Mike Kojima, Editor-in-Chief of MotoIQ, checks out AEM Electronic's new products at SEMA 2016 including their new CD-7 digital dash, AQ-1 OBDII, direct fit coils and even products for marine applications.
Our Editor-in-Chief Mike Kojima meets with the Turbo by Garrett team at the 2016 SEMA show to learn about their new products and technologies.
A few years ago we got to test a sample of KW Suspensions' electronically adjustable DDC coilovers while visiting them at their German global headquarters. We sampled a 3 series BMW coupe on twisty German back roads and on the Autobahn and came away favorably impressed. We were able to easily, and quickly, adjust the suspension from comfortable to firm to match our current driving modd and/or road conditions.
If you are a Honda fan or a follower of Time Attack then you are probably familiar with the Spoon Sports USA Civic, the little Honda that could. Last year the Spoon Civic with Formula Drift Champion Dai Yoshihara at the wheel, set the Time Attack world on its ear by surpassing the previously thought unbeatable FWD Unlimited lap record for Buttonwillow 13 CW.
Take a look at this crazy E30 BMW, and learn the story of how it went from a street-driven rust bucket of a 325i to the time attack and hill climb racer it is today. And it was all built by one guy with second-hand parts!
Our Project Mustang came stock with pretty decent brakes. From the factory our Ford features 4 piston Brembo calipers with 355x32mm one piece rotors. However, we still wanted to upgrade our brakes as our much wider tires, 20" wheels, upgraded suspension and engine would stress the brakes a lot more. Our Mustang also weighs a punishing 3700lbs with really cooks the brakes. The Ford factory has put larger brakes on some of the higher end SN197 Mustangs so we figured we should follow suit as well.
I am not a gamer, I have never liked video games and never gotten good at them. I have always felt that I don't have the time for them. I mean, I own a driving simulator chair with force feedback that my daughter plays with when she does Grand Turismo on our home big screen TV but I never got into it and when I have played it, I have always felt that it feels nothing like a car, not enough anyway where I could jump in and drive it.
The greatest man to ever lead a racing team is Roger Penske. NASCAR, Formula 1, Can-Am, Trans-Am, ALMS, IMSA, V8 Supercars, and of course IndyCar: All are series where Roger has fielded cars; cars that have won. In 2016, Penske Racing celebrates its 50th year and as the track that helped make Roger who he is, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum has a special exhibit on Penske Racing to commemorate this golden anniversary. Follow us on a journey of half a century of great American Racing.
We test a new exhaust system and drop some weight in the process. We've got dyno graphs and videos in this one. Plus, we check out dad's new 8-Series BMW and drastically change its looks with a simple wheel upgrade. Check it out.
Our friend Robert Kochis doesn't seem like a typical MotoIQ reader. He is a cool guy, not a nerd. He is into show cars. His daily is a stanced out 350Z that is slammed to the ground and has a ton of negative camber. His other car is a show FR-S with a Rocket Bunny type 2 aero kit. He vapes and has sleeve tats. He is even super insta famous as Stay Crushing.
We not only install one of the best short shift kits money can buy, but also test a lightweight clutch and flywheel--on the dyno! How often do we see publications spending the time doing that? Does it make a difference? We answer that here, plus we check out a supercharged E46 M3 racer that rolled into Modified by KC's shop that day!
So far we have tried some easy bolt ons like a manifold spacer, headers, high flow cats and exhaust on our 350Z all with good results. Naturally at this point it is time to change camshafts to get more bolt on power out of our VQ35DE engine. One thing that discourages many people from going this route is that changing cams on a VQ engine is quite a big job. Having two banks of cylinders and 4 cams is a lot of the reason. It's not super hard technically but it requires at least a couple days of wrenching and some care has to be taken to avoid problems.
Time consuming or not, camshafts are the next logical progression in the evolution of Project 350Z so we asked our friends at Jim Wolf Technology or JWT to provide us with some of their excellent C2 cams. We chose the C2 because they were probably the biggest practical camshafts that would work in the stock bottom end engine.
by Mike Kojima Photos by Andrew Perry and Mike Kojima
When Motovicity Distribution announced The HKS Speedring Time Attack at Cal Speedway, the unique draw besides the guaranteed purse for the winners was announcement that HKS would be bringing their Time Attack R35 GT-R to the states, throwing down the gauntlet and offering a $20,000 prize to any team that could beat the car.
Ever since we laid eyes on the conceptual drawings and parts of the NASA/Elan NP01 at the PRI Show 2 years ago, we have been enamored by it. Since we have loved the exotic cars in the various Prototype classes throughout history, we saw the NP01 as the affordable Prototype. The fact that it looks like a contemporary P class car seals the deal!
The Honda K series of engines is one of our favorites and one of the top production inline 4 engines ever produced in our opinion. Last year we built a turbo K24 Z7 for a giveaway by Motovicity. With the turbo project being put to bed we got another opportunity to build a K motor in the form of a naturally aspirated K24 Z7.
Hopefully, you've been keeping up with the steady progress of transforming my STurdteen into a reliable and worthy demo drift car. Powered by an SR20DET and with all of the new goods going into this build (see the new Turbonetics setup I went with here), I needed an adequate engine management system to handle engine control duties. The search for the perfect EMS didn't last very long because I soon discovered what I consider the best solution out there - the AEM Infinity Plug and Play EMS.
Check out Hypercar's maniacal tri-turbo system for the McLaren MP4-12C and 650S! As if these supercars weren't enough, HyperCar takes them to a whole other level. Check it out, as this story is chock-full of engine pictures, videos, and dyno graphs!
The good old stock SR20DE in our Project G20 Racecar has been doing yeoman duty, reliably lasting for the last few years racing in the MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship and doing many for-fun track days. The stock SR20DE in our Project G20 Racecar came from a Japanese engine importer and has never been opened up, other than to add big cams back when we used to run the car in N/A trim. For the past three years the engine has been turbocharged which has greatly increased the strain it's experienced.
We gave our M3 a quick and easy bump in power by swapping out the factory air filter for the industry-leading High Performance K&N air filter. We have seen some impressive gains from K&N products and feel there's no reason you shouldn't have one on every car you own! But how much power can really be gained over the OEM BMW air filter in this highly stressed and finely tuned 8,250rpm screaming V8? Read on to find out!
We've heard that a good set of harnesses can make a difference in lap times, but who wants to go through the ordeal of figuring out where to anchor them and cutting up a car's interior to install them, only to lose the use of the back seats? We test out Schroth's solution with their Quick-Fit Harness system.
by Daniel O'Donnell (With language assistance for Subaru owners in bold)
There aren't many more usable vehicles than a Subaru Outback (Scooby Vapewagon). Mild off-roading to your next rock climbing trip? Easy-peasy. Need to take your Australian Cattle Dogs to the vegan dog park? Donezo. Hauling your butch friend Karen and all her camping gear to Beaver Island for a weekend under the stars? Legally, only Subarus are allowed to perform that task. Yet with all these wonderful positives, there's one annoying issue that nearly makes all these points moot, over time Outbacks can develop terrible rear bump steer (totes gnar dorifto).
Today we get some preliminary testing of the Precision CEA 6870 Gen2 turbo both on the dyno as well as on the tarmac! If you like dyno charts and speedo videos, check this out.
In Part 3 of our SAE saga, we finally got our beast running and driving, then promptly threw the diff out like bad Taco Bell. We then jammed to get the chassis welded back together in time for a powdercoating appointment while we took our final exams. With the chassis at the paint shop, we pretended to be students long enough to actually graduate. We then hopped into my trusty old CRV and headed down to see what we got. If you've been reading our first three parts, you'll remember this was an ambitious redesign, with a split chassis, heavily revised suspension, and large weight saving goals. We also had a greatly expanded budget and needed to have a car that was not only fast, but looked good too, hence the powdercoating.
by Mike Kojma
Fuel Starvation is almost always an issue when a high performance car is driven on the track, especially on production cars modified for racing. Factory type fuel pickups are woefully inadequate for a car with modified suspension and sticky tires when driven on the track. Just about all of us have been victims of a sudden loss of power due to fuel starvation when cornering hard. A lot of us have had close calls because of this.
When building a race car, the only way to get true brake proportioning is to install twin master cylinders and a balance bar. If you are not familiar with this sort of setup, we're talking about having a master cylinder for the front brakes with a separate master cylinder for the rear brakes. The brake pedal activates both master cylinders at once through a threaded rod or balance bar. As the balance bar is turned, the brake pedal's fulcrum point moves right or left which gives the brake pedal more leverage on the front or rear master cylinder thus adjusting the proportioning.
Our Project IS-F is still around, it has been quietly and reliably racking up the miles doing daily driving duties in and around Orange County. Our car is driven at about 70% street driving and 30% highway driving. One thing we have noticed is that the car has a healthy appetite for tires even though the car is used mostly for family transportation duty. For instance, the factory Michelin Pilot Sports were gone after only 11,000 miles.
The newest middleweight sport bike from Ducati gained a few more cubic centimeters putting it awfully close to standard liter bike sizing. Of course, the bigger sibling Panigale 1299 has grown up to 1285cc. However, the 959 might just be the better buy with its upsized engine compared to the previous generation 899 and its price of $15k is right smack in the grouping of price on all the liter bikes on the market.
Joining the 2011 model year lineup from Nissan was this funky little subcompact crossover SUV. It had polarizing looks, but a spunky and fun personality universally liked. Underneath the quirky exterior laid a real performance foundation starting with a turbocharged 1.6L gasoline direct injection engine and handling more befitting of a sport compact. Throw in optional AWD and the Juke presented an interesting performance package.
The Mazda ND MX-5 is the latest evolution of the Miata chassis. We have found it to be an excellent handling car, one of the best and most well balanced cars we have driven. We have, however, found the car to be too soft in completely stock form to really be fun.
If you drive an older car with keyless entry, you will notice over time that the buttons stop working. The general solution is to simply replace the battery. But sometimes that doesn't actually fix anything. Other times only one button isn't working while the rest are. If this is the case, the real problem lies deeper and fortunately, it's an easy fix with some simple tools and about 5 minutes of time.
When we picked up our 1982 Suzuki FA50 last winter, we spent all our time and effort making the old bird run. And we succeeded! But before we put some real miles under this old beast, we need to make it safer. There are no mirrors and seeing as we will be slower than just about everything other than James May in an electric wheelchair, we really need to see what's behind us when we stop or turn. The front brakes are worn out, so we only have rear brakes to slow us down (and they are only slightly better). The tires are rotten. And we have no exhaust, so this thing is unbearably LOUD!!! So let's make our little bike safer, more reliable, and ready for emergency parts running.
If you are interested in the way a suspension company does R&D, take a look at how a typical test session for KW Suspension goes. We tagged along on the final calibration confirmation of KW's latest 3-Way adjustable Club Sport suspension for the BMW M2.
Modeling Braking: Braking Harder Means Less Brake Fade
Almost every novice to track day driving exhibits the same fault; they do not brake hard enough. I was guilty of this myself and I remember vividly plowing through many corners at my first auto-x killing a few cones along the way. Whenever I do driving instruction, I almost always have to tell the student to brake later and harder. It should be obvious that braking harder and later improves lap times. However, braking harder versus braking lightly and longer can also reduce heat buildup in the brake system reducing fade. To prove this theory, I made a little mathematical model.
Recently we were privileged to be able to take a look behind the walls of Garrett Turbochargers' research and development facilities. We were able to get an insider view of the intensive engineering inside a Garrett Turbo and viewed first hand what differentiates it from your typical aftermarket fare. We were very impressed by what we saw and we would like to share it with you by breaking some of what a World Class OEM supplier puts into the performance turbos any consumer can buy into easily digestible lessons that we will be presenting to you periodically. Perhaps the key part of any turbo is the compressor wheel. Let's look at what Garrett does to bring you one of the best compressor wheels on the market.
All wheel drive cars are traditionally hard on clutches. With tons of traction, launches involve a lot of clutch slippage. Fast shifting and even downshifting are all harder on the clutch due to the increased traction of 4 wheels. With this in mind building a daily driver heavy duty clutch for a street car is always a challenge.
It just so happened that our friends at ACT were wrapping up development of a clutch and flywheel combination for the late model VA WRX when we were at their office and we thought it might be a good opportunity to show what is deep inside ACT's WRX clutch which shares many design features with all ACT clutches.
I am old enough to have been around during what I consider to be the golden era of American road racing in the 80's. In this time we saw the rise of IMSA with the outrageous GTP prototypes and the exotic sort of production based GTO and GTU cars. SCCA had Trans Am and even CART Open wheelers were sporting awesome technology rivaling Formula One but with closer more exciting racing. I was lucky enough to have been a fan during this time and later on in the decade a participant.
Formula Drift returned to Wall Speedway for Round 4 and gives new meaning to smoking (in) a bowl. The 33 degree bank has a gravitational force that can pull a car onto its can opener guardrail and "speedbumps" in the infield crossover that toss a car so haphazardly it can cause the driver to over-rotate or lose drift. If timed perfectly, it can also launch a car into a wicked flawless angle around the final sweeper for a win. Who is going to take this battle?
Not only do we install a much needed twin disc clutch from Clutch Masters in this 700 WHP beast, but we feaure several more heavily boosted cars at Modified by KC that were in for some tuning. If you like boost, read on...
Fender benders suck. Even a light knock can craze paint, crack light lenses, and put holes in bumpers. While the damage usually isn't structural, replacing all those plastic bits can be a real hassle and it gets expensive fast. And then there's paint: not only do you lose your car, but a respray is never quite as good as the factory paint. Surely, if you have been in a minor parking lot scuffle, there's a better way of dealing with plastic damage than to chuck the bumper and start from scratch? Luckily enough, there is.
Last November we had the chance to drive and evaluate NASA's NP01 Prototype built by Elan. We loved the car and eagerly awaited its availability. Fast forward a few months and our friends at StopTech were able to get one of the first NP01 kits. Since StopTech's facility was undergoing expansion it was agreed that the car would get built at the palatial MotoIQ mega shop and that we could do a series of articles on what it takes to build a winning NP01.
by Dan Barnes
It was an epiphany when I walked into a race shop and saw the interior tin work of an under-construction Rolex GT car mocked up entirely in white illustration board, clecos and blue tape. I made a mental note: I can do that! I can even afford that! Now my projects turn out better with the use of old cereal boxes, scissors and tape.
by M-P Spierer
The cooling system in the FD RX-7 is widely regarded as its most glaring weakness. Many of the engine's cooling components are constructed out of plastic, the intercooler is wildly undersized, and the orientation of the radiator does not allow for proper airflow to the intercooler. In the next two installments of Project [Rotary] FD RX-7 we tackle these issues by implementing a 100% custom V-mount cooling solution.
In part one, we had installed Hellwig air springs, rear anti sway bar and Bilstein 5100 series shocks on our workhorse 2014 Chevy Silverado truck. We were super impressed with what the rear suspension did to make our towing experience more pleasant and much safer. However, due to time constraints we did not have time to do the front suspension.
There is always plenty going on at the palatial MotoIQ HQ. A lot of that involves race cars and high mileage street cars. This means that we're constantly dealing with dirty and grimy hands of the worst order.
One of our traditions while at the Long Beach Grand Prix, is to get a close look at the latest factory BWM racers with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team. The latest car that BMW is campaigning is an M6 in IMSA's GTLM class.
The current engines used in today's GRC Rallycross racers are some of the highest stressed production based engines in all of Motorsports. Only Import Drag Racing engines see more stress and perhaps no production based race engines not even Time Attack engines are stressed for as long a period of time as Rallycross powerplants.
Breathing through a 45mm restrictor that limits power to "around" 550 hp, the mountune Ford Duratec puts out 625 lb/ft of torque. Because of the restrictor, the Garrett Turbo pumps in 45 plus psi absolute of boost to make that power, generating an amazing 3200 psi of cylinder pressure. To put this in perspective, this is more cylinder pressure than the Audi LMP1 Diesel!
by Daniel O'Donnell
I had a dream. In this dream a man would drive a car on the track. He wouldn't own this car, yet he would have all the joy and happiness as if he actually owned it. His expenses would be low and his debt modest due to his loving girlfriend's trust and/or gullibility. This was a beautiful dream that would leave me slightly sad when I awoke. Surely I couldn't become this man. With my awkward personality and face only a mother could love, no girl would date me, let alone be foolish enough to let me drive her car at speed. But this my friends, is America. Dreams still come true and slowly, the dream has started becoming a reality. First the girlfriend, then the Miata, then the rollbar, seats and brakes to get it track ready. The last piece of the puzzle was improving the dumpster fire Mazda calls a cooling system in NA Miatas. With the help of Koyorad, my vision, foretold many years ago, is ready to be fulfilled.
There has been a war brewing in the past few years, not in the Middle East, but in the half ton truck market. In the past, a half ton truck was just that, a lightweight truck, one up from a mini truck that was capable of towing an open trailer with a little bit of stuff in the bed. A towing capacity of 5000 to 7000 pounds was the norm and old half tons were barely adequate for the upper ranges of that weight limit.
In case you missed it, the Indianapolis 500 celebrates a milestone this year. While the 100th anniversary of the great race occurred in 2011, the 100th running of the race is happening in 2016. The Indy 500 has been a racing institution for over a century and 2016 is arguably one of its biggest and most important years. With the largest paying crowd since The Split two decades ago, can the Indy 500 reclaim its place as the biggest race in the world? It all starts with qualifying and you can read about it here.
We first took a look at the famous and controversial Elan Delta Wing a couple of years ago. At the time the car was a super radical departure from the norm that made headlines all around the world. If you have been living under a rock for the past few years, the DeltaWing is the brainchild of Ben Bowlby whose design concept is that less is more.
In Part 3, we finally get this sucker running! So far in our SAE saga, we've showed you the design process that went into this car, as well as the work that it took to turn a pile of tubes into a rolling chassis. Today, we go from a rolling chassis to a running and driving racecar.
Vince, our FNG, drives a Honda S2000 that serves as his daily driver. The S2K takes him to work and school day in and day out. However the Honda also serves as a track day vehicle seeing duty at Willow Springs, Buttonwillow and Cal Speedway. After serving reliably for 80,000 miles the clutch suddenly went out on Vince on his way to work.
We're doing it people. The impossible is becoming possible. We're taking a car that I don't own or insure and slowly turning it into a track vehicle that is someone else's day-to-day responsibility. That being said, in order to keep up this ruse, I can't screw up its daily manners too much or the girlfriend might catch on to my plan. This was a big concern for me when I was planning one of the most important systems for the track, the brakes!
One of the reasons we bought a VehiCross, on top of its coolness, was the ability to tow another car. See, the VehiCross is not my only car. I have two others that are both in various states of disrepair and both are in Delaware, where I was born and raised. Currently, my two real projects are 650 miles from where I make my home in Kentucky and if I ever intend to drive these toys again I will need to get them here and get to wrenching. Now, we could hire a delivery service to pick up the cars and drag them down here, but that's a) very expensive, and b) difficult since, while both cars start, they barely run. So we decided to do the towing ourselves. First we installed a hitch, then we hooked up a car.
It's been a long time between updates on Project Evo X GSR. It hasn't been for lack of trying, the car has been through a couple of different owners and it's been hard to catch up with it. Well we have caught up with it at last and it's time for some long awaited parts to go in.
It's a good thing too, Whiteline has come out with some new parts for the Evo X in the meanwhile. When the project was more active, the only parts available were swaybars but since then they have come out with a roll center and bump steer correction kit, a kit to reduce front lift and add positive caster, an adjustable camber link and a full bushing set.
After some impressive gains from intake work in Part 4, we now turn our attention to the opposite side of the engine to improve the evacuation of exhaust gasses as well as reduce the cabin temperature of our notoriously hot viper. For as outlandish and attention grabbing the Viper's style was, the exhaust note did not have the same head-turning appeal. To remedy this we reached out to our friends at Corsa Performance for their 3" cat-back exhaust to give our viper a more sporty and refined tone. To further boost the volume and greatly knock down the calf-burning side sill heat, we installed a pair of compact Kooks Green Cats which are both environmentally and power friendly.
Hopefully you've already read our Turbo Tech: Size Matters article which gave a crude cheat sheet for sizing a turbocharger depending on your engine size and intended application. No real engine data is required to get you into the ballpark turbo size you would need. What if we do have some data though? A bit of simple math can let us plot compressor operating points more accurately on a compressor map.
How do you make a good turbo system even better? We did it by enlisting the help of Burns Stainless. Our subject car had a turbo LS engine. Although the car made lots of power, it had issues with lag, a drop in top end power, a ton of weight in the nose that negatively impacted handling and a propensity to burn up everything under the hood.
Spring in the midwest is a lovely time of year. A pat on the back is earned for making it through winter without committing suicide and this can be a big challenge in an area with snow, yet no mountains to make any use of it. Gray immediately turns to green. As if out of nowhere, all sorts of bugs and birds appear and try to have sex with one another. More importantly, racetracks open up and whatever project you've been procrastinating on calls out to be finished up post haste.
It seems like only yesterday but it was actually 20 years ago in 1996 that the Nitto 555 was first launched. Aimed at the center of the growing, red hot sport compact market, the 555 was the new kid in town, the performance leader of a new tire company that burst upon the scene right as it exploded into the mainstream. As Nitto's flagship tire, the 555 was a summer ultra high performance or UHP tire that offered excellent all around grip with good wear to boot.
The Porsche 987 Cayman has long been one of our favorite cars. Built from 2006 to 2012, the 987 features a midship mounted 2.7 liter flat 6 or a 3.4 liter for the S Model. The Cayman has always offered stellar handling, perhaps it was the best handling car of it's time.
Many Porsche snobs pan the 987 because it's mid engine makes it not a real Porsche in their eyes. Because of this the 987 can be found for pretty reasonable prices on the used car market. This makes it a great buy in the eyes of the enthusiast who really cares about performance.
With that in mind, our friends at Burns Stainless, purveyors of some of the finest header collectors, high quality bends and fabrication supplies for most of the hardcore race industry, have set out to build what is probably the best performance exhaust on the market for the 987 Cayman.
One of the biggest complaints about the Isuzu VehiCross, even when new, is its ride. It is very stiff; much stiffer than your average SUV. Part of the reason for this is the stiff springs and motorsports derived shocks (Isuzu did run VehiCrosses in the 1998 Dakkar Rally). While the ride is stiff, the handling is reasonably sprightly for a two ton, body on frame truck. The other reason for the stiffness is the very long, hard rubber bumpstops that help prevent body roll. While these work in keeping the trucks upright, the hard rubber makes for a jarring ride over speedbumps, bumps and potholes. Cutting down the bumpstops is an easy way of improving the ride quality on most Isuzus. However our VX has a third reason for a crappy ride: those awesome shocks are completely worn out from 170,000 miles of hard use. So to kill three birds with one stone, we turned to Old Man Emu's 3" lift kit.
Rathyna Gomer is MotoIQ's sales manager but in her other life she is a Pro-Am drifter. We are in the process of rebuilding her 350Z competition car and due to its complexity the process is taking a while. In order for her to have a ride for the 2016 season, we decided to do some upgrades to her practice car, an S13 with the venerable SR20DET. For a practice missile car, her S13 is pretty decently built but since it is a missile car, it has seen better days. The car has been worked over by a conveniently placed practice lot pole and by doing tandem with a random on a drift day. That and Rathyna's habit of doing body repairs by backing her car into the wall at balcony has left the old S13 in a state of ugly.
If you have been following our series in the transformation of our Fiesta ST from a street car to a race car, we have addressed a lot of the basics involved from getting excess weight within the rules out to building a solid cage, fuel system and safety systems.
In our prior driving of Project Fiesta ST on the track we noted that a lack of limited slip differential was a serious issue. The car wanted to spin its inside front wheel on corner exit but the electronic nannys, namely traction control, stability control and electronic torque vectoring would kick in.
With the stock power levels and tires, this would not be so bad but with stiffer suspension, much higher cornering speeds and more power, the electronics were overwhelmed and the car would do something like a terminal shuttering understeer, not conducive to fast lap times.
Today, boys and girls, we're heading back into the technical side of the Professional Awesome Evo. For your reading and viewing pleasure, we'll be showing all the secrets in the drivetrain of the fastest Limited Class time attack machine ever to compete at Buttonwillow Raceway.
Although the BMW E92 M3 is a fantastic car, one of the best performance sedans made, it does have a few quirks. One of them, like most late model BMW's, is that the car's systems tend to run hot. Running hot on the track is one thing, but when you peruse user forums you find that for some drivers the cars can even run hot during street driving!
by Jonathan Spiegel
In the first installment of this series, we took a fairly in-depth look at valve events, which, simply put, are the actions that are caused by the camshaft with regards to opening and closing the intake and exhaust valves. Ultimately, these events determine the power characteristics of an engine, because they control the amount of air/fuel mixture that the engine ingests at any given rpm, and they also control the flow of exhaust gases leaving the combustion chamber. Hopefully, Part 1 helped you to understand the processes involved in developing a camshaft design, so at this point we're going to discuss the terminology that directly describes the physical parameters of the camshaft itself.
You may remember when we were battling the power steering in our Project VehiCross, that the biggest reason we got so hosed (no pun intended) was I had no way of getting myself to the parts store for things like crush washers, coolant, or big buckets. With only one functioning car, we needed something else to get us around when we were wrenching on our daily driver. See how we rescued and resurrected a forgotten scooter that hadn't turned a wheel in over a decade.
Cleaning small parts can be a real hassle. If you're rebuilding, say, a carburetor, with lots of little jets, needles, and pins and screws, it can be very easy to break or lose something. Some parts refuse to come clean, even when scrubbed with strong solvents (brake calipers are a great example of this). So what's a car guy to do?
In the pages of MotoIQ, we have partnered with Pure Performance in Laguna Hills California for many of our BMW projects. Why? Because Pure Performance, eats sleeps and breaths BMW performance both on the street and through racing with customer cars and their own shop race car.
Of the cars we have around the palatial MotoIQ Megashop one of our daily drivers was in need of a clutch. The car is a B13 Sentra SE-R with a 200 whp SR20VE swap. This car is a workhorse, it is used as a daily commuter but it also sees a lot of track day use.
How do you make a really good air fuel ratio gauge even better? Well that's easy, improve it in just about all measurable ways! That's what AEM Electronics did with the new X-Series air fuel ratio gauge. The new X-Series gauge has a larger, easier to read display, is more compact and is easy to calibrate and the most interesting feature of all is its industry leading response time.
What do you do when you need to press in a bushing but don't have a press or vice handy? Read our Wrench Tip to find out.
We have been putting together the Suspension on Project VA WRX over the last few months with some top quality parts from Tein and Superpro. We were waiting on the few last brand new pieces from Superpro to finish our suspension setup. Well they have come in and now is our time to install and evaluate them.
Our VA WRX is becoming quite impressive thanks to the gains we have made in its performance. We are beginning to think that it will soon be knocking at and even exceeding the performance envelope of the much more expensive STI.
Since we have been working on the brakes and suspension of our STI killer VA WRX, it was time to take advantage of those parts with some bigger, grippier tires and wheels to accommodate them. We got the right hardware for the job with some wider wheels from ARK Design and bigger tires from Nitto Tire.
by Joe Lu
This non-descript looking building in Yokohama, Japan was recently a vacation destination for a MotoIQ contributor, and is much more than meets the eye. Aside from currently containing the Nissan Engine Museum, you're also looking at the world headquarters building that housed Nissan during it's formative years. Come check out what's inside those doors!
What's the best thing to do to re launch a performance brand in the USA? Go racing. That is exactly what Go Tuning, the official North American distributor of Spoon Sports parts has done in the world of Time Attack in a big way. In practice for the last Super Lap Battle, Dai Yoshihara, previous Formula D and MPTCC Champ peddled Go Tuning's Spoon Sport Civic to a blistering 1:46.3 second lap time around Buttonwillow's famed configuration 13 CW. This was faster than Chris Rado's long standing FWD Unlimited lap record in the high tech 1300hp F-Wing Scion TC, a record we assumed would be out of reach for a long, long time.
Modding late model Honda/Acura engines is somewhat problematic lately. Take for instance the late model K series engine. Once probably the best naturally aspirated inline four cylinder production engine by far, the K motor in it's latest variant, the K24Z7, is a neutered, decontented version of its former self. Found in the current 2012 and up Honda Civic Si and the Acura ILX, the K24Z7 still boasts a decent 205 hp and 174 lb ft of torque. This is slightly better power and much better torque than the much acclaimed bone stock K20A2 that everyone knows and loves.
Can the late model K motor be saved? We will give it a shot with help from the guys at Motovicity Distribution!
The most important part of your car is not the engine, suspension, or brakes. It's the TIRES!!! This is because your car can only perform as well as the capability of its tires. I'm often asked which tire is best and what size to buy. In this article I discuss my methods for choosing and properly sizing the right tires. I'm not into the "hella-flush" or "stance" scenes so this article is focused towards those who care about the PERFORMANCE of their car, whether on the street or on the track.
A few weeks ago we got to get a close look at the car that we think is perhaps the most radical and innovative drift car ever built, Mad Mike Whiddett's Radbul Mazda MX-5. After a 5 year absence, Mad Mike is back on the US drift scene with a car built for today's exceedingly competitive Formula D environment.
As the holiday music fills the air on every freakin' street corner in the United States, the weather begins to turn cold and the populace begins to cower in fear of the dreaded flakes of solidified water that fall from the atmosphere. If you're like most of the MotoIQ staff, you live in southern California where you have to drive hours to find a hint of the fluffy white stuff. Not all of us are so lucky unfortunately, and if you live in the northern part of the world, you will at some point have to deal with snow. And since we live in the age of the internet, there is tons of advice out there on how to prepare for winter, some of it good, some of it questionable, some of it horrible. So let's do what MotoIQ does best and cut the crap and help you prepare for the winter the right way.
Many of our MotoIQ Project Cars feature top of the line or even exotic suspension parts, exactly the kind of stuff you want to use in cars that see mixed track/street use with a heavy track bias. However, not all of our cars are set up like this, some of our cars are more street oriented and set up towards hassle free daily use.
With four project installments of our Project VehiCross, you would expect we would have done something insane to it. After all most MotoIQ projects don't stay stock very long and so far the only aftermarket parts this truck has seen are an air filter, brake pads, and tires. After ranting and raving about how terrible replacing a power steering hose on a VehiCross is, we promised we would start putting on some sweet aftermarket parts. We lied.
I had the recent displeasure of being rear-ended in the Vehicross. Luckily, the accident wasn't too bad (and we will get into it more in a later project installment), but the bumper cover did need to be replaced. We decided to replace our damaged bumper with a used one. The used bumper was in good shape, but we found a number of the mounting bolts were rusted onto what was left of the bumper support. We would have to remove these bolts without damaging the new cover. This would require a delicate mix of power tools, cleverness, and a basic understanding of heat transfer.
When TEIN released the EDFC controller nearly 14 years ago, the suspension tuning world hit a new level of technology. Now with its more current EDFC ACTIVE version, TEIN has stepped up its game again, and we got to install it on our 800 WHP Project MKIV Supra!
Our STI has been driving around as a daily for two years now with all of the typical bolt ons. It has been reliable at 318 whp with good driveability and fuel economy on regular pump gas, in other words a hassle free car that is very easy to live with. Of course if good was enough, more is better and we could not leave good enough alone.
When you talk about prototype racing, images come to mind of the exotic, fast and unaffordable P class cars that race in IMSA,the P1 and P2 cars at Le Mans or the Daytona Protoypes of Grand Am. A lot of us have dreamed of racing one of these cars. However, Prototype racing is one of the most expensive racing classes and is usually reserved for corporations and OEM manufacturers that pump millions into racing programs as either part of a huge marketing campaign or as an extension of an R&D program.
This is all about to change with the introduction of the NASA/Elan NP01.
What, I said, your brother in law wants to sell his Civic Si for $500? I was speaking to one of my friends who thought I might be interested in this deal. What's wrong with it? Does it run? Has it been wrecked? Is it stolen? No, my friend said, it's in great shape and runs fine with about 100k miles on it. Everything works, he just doesn't want it anymore. What's the catch? I asked. I dunno said my friend, it's a 2003 Si.
by Jeff Naeyaert
It's no secret the LS family of engines can have oil starvation issues particularly on the racetrack. In high-g turns oil is forced to once side of the pan leaving the oil pickup dry and thus starving the oil pump and the engine's components of oil. Catastrophic damage can result in as little as a few seconds depending on engine speed. We already installed an Improved Racing oil pan baffle, today we'll go one step further to protect our E-Rod LS3!
A few months ago, we shared the first part of the tale of how a small SAE team in Delaware began building their car for the 2014 season. We left off with a few CAD renderings and teaser shots of mills and saws doing mill and saw stuff. Well now it's time to get into the meat and bones of this build, which is of course the build itself! We pick up in October 2013, when the design process was still ongoing, but finalized enough to begin turning tube to car.
SEMA is an absolutely insane whirlwind of auto nocturnal emission that leaves most enthusiasts gobsmacked and run down. Of course we wouldn't want you all to miss the action! Live vicariously through our SEMA-ntics and check out all the action without any of the sleep deprivation.
Last week at the annual 2015 GTA Super Lap Battle at Buttonwillow Raceway, Chris Rado's long standing FWD Unlimited Time Attack Record was shattered by Dai Yoshihara driving the Spoon Sports USA Honda Civic to a blistering lap time of 1:45.585 seconds to Rado's 1:46.730 set in 2010.
If you are a long term reader of MotoIQ you have probably seen some of our stories on karting. We think that karting provides excellent low cost training for racing cars and for some of us it's actually harder than driving a car.
So we have several karts in our palatial shop, everything ranging from 100cc air cooled HPV karts to 125cc senior Tag karts. These karts are all pretty good and the 125's are really fast. So of course we had to do something even more extreme by building a shifter kart. Not just any shifter kart but an open class ICC kart.
We take the PTP lava turbo blanket and check out the temperature delta between the blanket itself and its surrounding components after a couple of 800 WHP runs. The difference is impressive!
by Steve Rockwood
Tires. Every road racer has them on his or her mind. If things are going well, tires are the car's only interface with the track, making tire choice the single most important decision a road racer can make. Unsurprisingly, their price reflects their importance: over a season, short of wrecks and major mechanical overhauls, more money is spent on tires than on any other item for the car. Better make it count.
Building a 2JZ-GTE is not new on the pages of MotoIQ. Pablo Mazlumian documented the building of a pretty healthy 2JZ in his Project Supra chronicles over the past couple years. We like the 2JZ powerplant. It is a strong, robust powerplant capable of sustaining well over 1000 hp and has been competition proven in everything from time attack to drifting. It is still quite a viable engine 23 years after it was introduced.
We continue to transform our 20-something year-old interior, bringing it up to 21st century specs as well as fix some boost leaks that send this 800whp rocket back to flying!
We have just about maximized the bolt on potential of Project 5.0 Mustang in our last installment with the addition of the Ford Racing Cobra Jet intake manifold. Now, in order to attain still higher power levels from our engine, we will have to dive into the internals
We are big believers in the benefits of parts designed by factory engineers with factory technical resources for factory race programs. Many of the parts we will be using for our build are straight from the Boss 302R Grand Am and Cobra Jet NHRA drag racing programs. Factory engineered and best of all factory validated and proven on the track is good enough for us.
In our last edition of Project VA WRX we showcased some of the preliminary testing involved for the design validation of our new big brake kit by Stoptech. A baseline for the stock brake system was established using Stoptech's test protocols. The brake testing establishes the brake balance, stopping distances and fade characteristics of the stock brakes so improvements can be measured and there is a record of the validation testing.
Earlier this year we were able to get a close look at the K-PAX Flying Lizard McLaren 650S GT3 that races in the Pirelli World Challange series in GT class.
If you are not familler with the GT class, the allowed body styles within this class are coupe, sedan and convertible. The cars permitted in GT are typically sold in the market as "sports" cars, "sport touring" cars, or performance versions of "luxury" cars. The GT class allows FIA GT3 homologated cars like this McLaren. Forced induction is permitted on cars that come equipped with forced induction stock, or on cars that SCCA Pro Racing has determined need help reaching the target horsepower range. Power output for the GT class ranges from 425 – 525 hp. The allowed weight varies depending on power output and tire size. All of the vehicles in GT are either rear or all-wheel drive.
Last time you read about our VehiCross project, we ended with a tease about how bad replacing a power steering hose is. Originially, this was going to be the closer of our previous post, but as the power steering hose balooned, it took on a life of its own. A few years ago, I replaced the same hose on my 240SX. It took a little more than an hour and was fairly easy to do with the most basic of hand tools. In the VehiCross, it took 11 hours spread over three days.
by Dave Coleman
This S13 project set out to do something that has never been done before. Build a civilized, mature, daily-drivable, air conditioned, totally-under-the-radar S13 that can still raise hell at track days.
As the 2015 WTAC has just ended with the Titlon Evo piloted by Garth Walden setting another world record by lapping Eastern Creek at a blistering 1:23.777 pace, let's take a close look at the world's fastest unibody car, the winner of the 2015 WTAC and overall world record holder, the mighty Tilton Evo. Currently the Tilton Evo is the epitome of time attack state of the art and showcases just what can be done when maintaining the standard unibody to a car built nearly to the fullest extent of the rules with almost no expense spared.
It's been a while since we have done much with our Project Focus ST but that is about to change. In the past installments we worked on upgrading our car's suspension. With the suspension done it's time to focus on other stuff. What a bad pun. The other stuff is going to be handled with the arrival of a big pallet of goodies from Cobb Tuning.
Our stuff from Cobb is mostly going to focus on getting more easy and plentiful bolt on power from the engine with their Stage 3 Power Package with a few other goodies to enhance the car's handling as well. Man we cannot get away from these focus puns.
by Ryan Basseri
Paddle shift conversions can be done a million different ways using various components, theories, hidden secrets and technology that is well above my pay grade. What you'll see here is not by any means the only way to do it, nor is it even the "correct" way to do it. I thought long and hard, weighing the costs vs. benefits, the pros and cons, and this is what I came up with.
We recently had the opportunity to drive Mazda's soon to be released MX-5 Cup car. The Cup car is a Mazda factory coordinated effort to build a spec racer based on the new ND MX-5. The car will be sold by Mazda to racers. Mazda has been working with many racing sanctioning bodies to make the new cup car a global racing platform, class legal worldwide.
We're back with our second report from the Italian GP week, including Formula 1 and WRC Rally car tech, as well as our experience at the AMG Driving Academy at the Franciacorta race circuit, driving some real fast AMG cars. Plus, we include an "on location" movie trivia question we're not sure anyone will get!
In previous installments of our Project Mustang we had installed most of the common bolt ons for our 5 liter Coyote engine. We had gotten a pretty decent boost in power but we had noted that our power would really fall off at higher RPM, more that what we thought a free breathing 4 valve motor should.
We're sent to Italy on a trip of a lifetime and get to experience the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Monza. In this first of a two-part series you'll see plenty of tech stuff, including Valentino Rossi's MotoGP bike, Magneti Marelli racing parts, the new Alfa Romeo Giulia, and more!
The Nissan VQ35DE in all of its variations is one of the best six cylinders on the market, light compact and smooth it has a lot of potential for modification. The VQ35DE and its variants in the VQ family is found in the G35 and 350Z. Although the VQ is a nice performance engine, in the US market it is only available in naturally aspirated form. Naturally aspirated limits your power, especially when you are talking about a streetable engine on pump gas.
In our search for more power we decided to try another direction: supercharging. For our test mule we used a G35 coupe which already had a lot of the basic bolt ons. To this we applied Vortech's bolt on intercooled VQ35DE kit. The Vortech kit is a relatively easy bolt on and has the advantage that if installed exactly as is, it is a CARB approved 50 state legal system with an EO number. This is a huge advantage if you live in California or any area that requires smog testing for registration.
Let's preface this article with the following statement: Yes, we know MotoIQ's readership are not NASCAR fans. But when we saw this motor sitting on a stand at the Chevrolet booth, we got intrigued. It turns out while we weren't paying attention, NASCAR teams have been sneakily turning their stock cars into full blown racing monsters! Chevy's NASCAR engine is really advanced, despite being limited by NASCAR's rules. Tanner Foust and Papadakis Racing realized the potential of these NASCAR motors and slipped a TRD unit into Tanner's old and very controversial Scion tC. Unfortunately the juiciest bits were hidden away, but we learned some rather interesting things while we looked around.
It's been a long time coming and we have been eagerly anticipating it but now its here. AEM has introduced a plug and play version of the Infinity ECU with a full wire harness to support engine swaps or to make switching to an Infinity ECU on a Chevy LS V8 powered car a piece of cake.
The Viper is a "racecar for the street" in more ways than one; and like a racecar, it does not like to sit in stop and go traffic and can run hot and overheat without proper airflow on a hot summer day. To combat this we upgraded the radiator fan on our 1997 Viper GTS with the higher flowing, larger fan from the 1998-2002 cars. In addition, we safeguarded the potentially flawed wiring and relay box by running standalone relays with dedicated power and ground wires. To further extend the life of the relays we used a trick pair of "NOsparc®" spark suppressors in the harness.
We get a lot of oils and lubricants to evaluate at the MotoIQ office and for the most part we have had good results with the latest high quality synthetic motorsports oils that come across our desks and into the crankcases of our various race and project cars. When it comes to quality oils we get pretty uniform results, clean burning, low deposits and good wear of the engine's internal components.
Choosing a tire is one of the most important decisions that anyone will make for their car. Since our M3 is a daily driver in Florida, wet-weather performance is very important along with excellent dry grip and stability for spirited driving, which is a prerequisite for an M3. To give our car a more sporty appearance, we turn to VMR Wheels for a set of competition inspired 19" V703 wheels to replace our standard 19" wheels wrapped in Continental's ExtremeContact DW tire. We then head to Palm Beach International Raceway to log some laps to see how the new package performs.
The BMW M4 is no slouch from the factory, but EAS takes this one to another level. In this feature we'll show you how much faster the new M3 is over its predecessor, as well as how much better it gets with a few bolt-on and aesthetic upgrades from EAS. Get ready to enjoy an abundance of dyno comparisons and some videos!
In our last edition of Project 350Z we started to assemble our VQ35DE and got the bottom end pretty much done. Now we finish off our engine and take it to Church Automotive Testing to get our factory ECU tuned using the UpRev Osiris tuning package.
It takes balls to tear into a brand new car and turn it into a race car but that's exactly what the owner of our Project Fiesta did after just a short few thousand miles of street driving. First it was the track day bug and now the car will be campaigned in our MPTCC race series in the TU class!
Our Ford Fiesta ST's conversion to a full time track car at SPD Motorsports is moving along and we are almost ready to address the motor with a bunch of parts from mountune. The craftsmanship and attention to detail of SPD's Scott Dodgion is superb. What is also cool is Scott's ability to do great work within a reasonable budget. We are getting excited as our car is getting closer and closer toward it's track debut. It will probably be one of the first racing Fiesta ST's in the country. Check it out!
by Martin Gonzales
In this latest installment of Project E39 M5 we will be outfitting our M5 with a set of KW V3 coilovers. We will not only be giving you our usual evaluation, but will also be spending some time explaining our basic theory of basic shock adjustments. It's no secret the grand majority of the MotoIQ staff are huge proponents of KW Suspension's products. Either from personal experience in their own cars or from simply test driving one of our KW equipped project cars. I fell in the latter category.
If you've been a longtime reader of MotoIQ, you may remember in 2011 we featured the University of Delaware's Formula SAE car. This was a landmark car for University of Delaware, as it was UD's first FSAE car to finish every event in an SAE competition. In 2012, we featured a coverage piece on the inaugural SAE Lincoln event. However FSAE coverage has been notably absent since then. It's time we fix that.
When we last left off on Project 350Z, we were in the process of assembling a group of parts to enhance the durability of our project car. As we stated before we were not looking at building the ultimate naturally aspirated VQ35DE but simply a more durable one that could hold up to a life of track days, drift days and stunt driving practice days. If we could get a little more power out of the engine while we were in there, all the better.
by Erik Jacobs
In this installment of Project SC300 we wrap up our fuel cell installation. But that's not all, the sway bar needed relocation brackets made, hoses had to be made, and, finally, the fuel filler assembly was fabricated and mounted. We also discovered more disasters along the way. Damnit!
In Part 1 of our Wheel, Brake and Tire miniseries, we ordered a set of SSR Professor SP4 wheels for our RX-7 from Tanabe and were patiently enduring the two month wait for them to be built in Japan. During that time we fitted our car with a Stoptech Trophy big brake kit (in Part 2) hoping they would clear the wheels. Right on schedule our wheels arrived and we were able to pick them up from Tanabe's facility in Torrance! In Part 3 we'll finally see how close all our guesses were to being "good enough"!
Our Project Z was a pretty good example of what a naturally aspirated VQ35DE could do. However, our VQ had become old and tired. It was worn out from a lot of minimal maintenance street miles, track days, drift and professional stunt driving practice and had started to develop some rod knock. Luckily we were able to stop before serious damage to the engine internals resulted. However an engine rebuild was in order.
Our objective in building this engine is not to build the most awesome NA VQ possible or even to get tons more power, but rather to perform an economic build to address some of the VQ's durability shortcomings, replacing stock parts when necessary with some good quality aftermarket bits.
Ever since our projects, Project FR-S and Project STI got the Stoptech Trophy kit on them and we felt how amazing and confidence inspiring those brakes were, we HAD to have them on the FD. After all, it IS our flagship project and that nickel finish is just way too bad ass and EXPENSIVE looking! Stoptech makes a Trophy Big Brake kit for the FD RX-7 and those are the brakes we alluded to in the last article that our wheels needed to clear!
Wall Speedway isn't called "The Gauntlet" for nothing. The guardrail here is an industrial strength can opener that shreds any fender, bumper, or tire that dares to get too close. Throw in some East Coast thunderstorms and you've got exhilirating battles. Fredric Aasbo took home his first top finish here last year. Could he make the Wall his bitch again?
by Jeff Naeyaert
Two installments ago we put the Rocket Bunny wide body kit on our Project V8 RX-7 and if you remember it was looking pretty damn stupid on the stock wheels and tires inboard at least 6 inches on each side. In Part 1 of this 3-part update we'll be feeding you over the next 3 weeks we get some ridiculously large tires for our FD and try to find some wheels to match!
The Evasive FR-S with its wild aero and wide body had been shipped to Japan for a time attack battle at Tskuba Circuit leaving the team without a car to compete in. Instead, for this years Pikes Peak Effort, Evasive teamed up the Mackin Industries to run their FR-S up the mountain in the Time Attack 1 class. We had previously worked with Evasive and Mackin on setting up this car at Super Lap Battle so it was reasonably dialed in. However, it needed another round of upgrades to tackle Pikes Peak. The work was done on a super low budget in quick order. Turn 14 Distribution was an essential part of the effort donating many parts and helping with the budget.
Lets take a look at what was done to the car prior to the event!
The McPherson strut suspension found in our Mustang has some good and bad points. The good points are that it is simple, lightweight, inexpensive to produce and takes up minimal space in the car. This in turn allows room for more narrow shock towers so the wider DOHC Coyote engine can fit. The bad points are few but perhaps the worse is that strut type suspension has some compromises when it comes to geometry, particularly when lowered.
The benefits of lowering a car can be nullified in a strut car if the car is lowered by more than just a little. Often lowering a strut equipped car makes the car handle worse, particularity in the front of a strut equipped car where over lowering manifests itself as increased understeer. Some lucky owners of cars where there is a healthy aftermarket have off the shelf solutions to fix the front suspension geometry. If you are a Mustang owner you are in luck as Ford Racing has a well engineered geometry correction solution available for you right at your local dealership's parts counter.
When we last left our Project SC300, aka "Damnit", we had just sat the new Fuel Safe/Radium Engineering fuel cell into the trunk area in order to mark out where we would cut. We had also removed the rest of the factory stock hard fuel lines to make way for our fancy new braided stainless lines that we will assemble ourselves. Now follow along as we mount the cell in place.
Fluidampr Case Study
Fluidampr performance dampers challenge the misconception that a viscous damper is only suitable for large, low rpm industrial and commercial diesel engines. Follow the design and development process, plus comparative testing of a new Fluidampr performance damper for the Subaru FA20 / Toyota 4U-GSE 2.0L opposed-four cylinder 'boxer' engine. The engine is featured in the popular 2013-present Subaru BRZ, Scion FR-S, Toyota GT86 and new 2015 Subaru WRX.
by GTChannel
Rob Choo installs a brand new radiator from KOYORAD on his personal Honda S2000.
by Bart Hockerman
We all know when Nameless Performance has an idea on how to increase the performance further on their designs they will put into motion a plan of attack and some awesome fab work. They are pretty much the most aggressive company I have come across in my years of dealing with manufacturers across the spectrum. Improving upon their design is one thing they are allowed to do when building parts per your order. You the customer get the most current fabrication of the latest, greatest part they can make at that time.
We've shown you lot and lots of brand new IndyCars lately, but what did the racing world look like 50 years ago? Lotus decided to enter the 500 in 1963 and they did so in their own unique style. We got a chance to look at some of the cars that not only turned Indianapolis upside down in the 1960s, but helped cement Jim Clark as one of the most talented and legendary drivers to have ever lived.
Not so long ago we evaluated HKS's new Max ST coil over suspension system on a Honda AP2 S2000. The S2000 is a pretty decent handling car from the factory that is pretty suspension sensitive, the AP1 in particular has a lot of toe change with suspension moment and some wonky suspension can make it quite a handful.
For our next evaluation we decided to try the other HKS coilover in the lineup the Max GT damper. While the Max ST is calibrated for the serious driver being set up like a hard core street and or weekend warrior track day shock, the GT is made for a mildly performance oriented driver that wants to lower their vehicle with a decent ride and have handling that is a step up from stock but with little sacrificed in the way of ride comfort.
As we all know, the key to making power is to create pressure in the combustion chamber - and to create that pressure at the right time. This pressure works to drive the piston down in the cylinder and cause the crankshaft to rotate. The more air/fuel mixture you can get into the combustion chamber, the greater your potential for creating more pressure, and more power.
by Nick Betz
If the engine as a whole is the heart of a car the cylinder head would be all the supporting parts that make the heart pump. Without the opening and closing of certain valves of the heart you can't get blood to flow into the atriums and out the ventricles. Just like the heart, a cylinder head has multiple valves that need to open and close at specific times to get air in to and exhaust out of the combustion chambers to keep the engine pumping.
We have been working with Motovicity for the last few weeks to demonstrate the building of a potent Honda K24Z7 motor, built completely from in stock and off the shelf parts available from Motovicity themselves. We chose the K24Z7 as it is currently the OEM engine for the Civic Si and is relatively difficult to modify due to it's emissions bound cylinder head. Our goal is not to build a dyno queen or a drag motor but to build a strong K motor all from off the shelf parts with the intention of getting the most power possible on pump gas with the widest most useable powerband.
In the last two editions of our series we focused on the cylinder head and bottom end of our K24Z7. We swapped to an earlier model K20Z3 head to get Vtec on the exhaust side and and removable exhaust manifold and installed Skunk2 camshafts, Kelford valvesprings and Supertech valves better suited for turbocharged use. For the bottom end we added lower compression JE pistons and stronger K1 rods, removing the problematic balance shafts while we were in there.
Now it's time to finish off our motor.
Since the first installment some time ago things have changed with the BRZ. KW has graciously supplied us with KW V3's for use on this Project BRZ. With that in mind the 2014 SCCA Spring Nationals was the last event for us on the Feal 441's. So we went out and gave them the last "Hoorah". We brought home a solid 2nd and 4th place finish at the ProSolo and another solid 2nd place finish for the National Tour.
By Mike Kojima
In the last edition of our series, we had focused on the engines top end switching to a an earlier model K20Z3 head with Vtec on both the intake and exhaust sides of the engine and a removable exhaust manifold all big steps in getting more performance.
Now We will be turning our attention to the engine bottom end, fortifying it for turbo power! Like the head, our goal will be to use off the shelf parts available in stock at Motovicity in the build. This engine is not some super esoteric custom build but one anyone could easily duplicate.
With the arrival of the BRZ/FR-S platforms here in the Autocross world they have taken hold as cars to have and enjoy. Everyone saw that the twins with very minimal preparation could do the job as good as or better than many cars that have had years of time money and tuning to the rules of the STX class.
As we left off in the previous installment, we'd completed our prototype suspension design, done some analysis on the springs and arms, and sent the dissected chassis off to the body shop to get some much needed love. Now comes the part that is almost as much fun as driving – bringing the design concept to life!
There comes a time in a project build when you just have to throw everything out the window and rewrite your storyboard. Over the years we've been bolting on parts to Project E36 323is and not seeing the gains we were looking for. Sure it's been fun but it's time to make some real power. We had plans for an M50 manifold swap paired with M3 cams, bigger air meter, headers and throttle body but as the old adage goes, there's no replacement for displacement, so that's where our journey has taken us.
IndyCar's new oval aero packages are here! In February Chevy and Honda both unveiled their road course aero kits, which have been used at the first four IndyCar races in the 2015 calendar. However Indy runs on huge superspeedways and if you know anything about IndyCar, you know the granddaddy of all IndyCar races is the Indianapolis 500. On Sunday May 3rd, the first public test of the new oval aero kits happened at the Brickyard and MotoIQ was there, spying on teams and getting the scoop on these new aero kits.
Canadians are known for their love of hockey. We are known for having a Tim Horton's Coffee shop on every other corner of some cities. We are known for putting the letter 'u' in words like neighbour and colour and doughnuts. We are known for being the small country above the United States of America – your northern neighbour with a much larger land mass yet a drastically smaller population. We are known around the world for being a country of polite and respectful people – accepted around the world in more places than American Express. Canadians are known for great Time Attack builds and drivers – whoa, you say! Things were going okay until that bit about Time Attack!
Tanner Foust is returning to Formula D and he bringing his GRC sponsors VW and Rockstar energy drinks with him. Unfortunately, Tanner is only going to be at selected events on the FD schedule that don't conflict with his other professional commitments. Tanner's return to drifting is also significant as he is teamed up with Star Driver Fredric Aasbo making a Rockstar dream team of drifting.
by Mike Kojima, Photos & Video by Jeff Naeyaert
Way back when the third and final installment of this build was part of our best of 2010 series. It's still a great article presented here for you to check out one more time. Follow the links, read all three parts and enjoy!
When we last left the Technosquare crew, they had completed the stroker 4AG engine's bottom end and assembled the cylinder head. Now it was time for the engine's final assembly and installation into an AE86 time attack car.
Click Here for Part One
Click Here for Part Two
You use your brakes a lot. But do you really know how they work? We test out Hawk Performance's new HPS 5.0 pads and DBA's 4000-series rotors and examine how brake pads and discs work together to stop your car!
When we last left our Project Ford Fiesta ST it was being converted into a race car by the capable hands of SPD Motorsports. As progress continues, SPD is working on installing a crash resistant fuel system using components from Fuel Safe, Deatschwerks, and Aeromotive. Other details like Lexan windows, brake ducting and the interior are coming together as well.
In our last edition of the building of Technosquare's monster Toyota 4AG, we mainly looked at the details of the bottom end. Now we will finish our tour of the bottom end and delve into the engine's cylinder head which is the heart of any high performance engine.
The 83mm x 83 mm stroker motor gives 1800cc. The 200 extra cc's makes a huge difference, fortifying the 4AG's notoriously narrow power band. The engine cranks out over 250 crank hp, more than the most highly developed Formula Atlantic engines of yore and 30 more hp than the previous 1600 cc version of this motor. Here it is, re released again for your reading pleasure!
In the last edition of Project Tundra, we had installed Hellwig's adjustable rear antisway bar in an effort to improve our truck's balance and limit body body roll to help keep our stability control from activating prematurely.
Now to finish up our chassis tuning we wanted to address a problem all trucks that tow have. With tongue weight in place the back of a trucks sags lower and the front lifts higher. This makes the handling a little squirrely at times, the steering getting light a lot due to the geometry changes of the front end when under droop. The heavily loaded rear suspension is also prone to bottom out with bigger enclosed trailers which can make things interesting and possibly damage the trailer jack.
To fix this by leveling out our truck without hurting our ride, we decided to go with a set of Hellwig Big Wig air bags. The air bags can increase the rear suspension's capacity by 2700 lbs and restore the proper ride height improving stability and laden ride. When finished towing, the bags can be depressurized for a stock ride height. and smooth ride.
Extreme Engine Tech: Technosquare's Monster Naturally Aspirated Toyota 4AG - Part I
The Toyota 4AG is a historic engine, one that was essential in launching sport compact car culture in the USA. In 1985 the 4AG first rocked the automotive world. It was the standard engine in the Toyota Corolla GTS, the famed Hachi Roku AE86. The AE86 was the last of the RWD Corollas and Toyota made history by equipping it with the revolutionary 4AG engine. Not to be forgotten, the AW11 MR2 mid engine sports car was also powered by the 4AG.
by Khiem Dinh
In Part 1 of Size Matters, we went over the basic concept of sizing the turbo for the application and desired torque curve shape to match the intended use of the vehicle. You know, because a couple million people a year ask what size turbo they should get for their _______ (insert application here, i.e. car, motorcycle, boat, scooter, lawn mower, etc). Once everyone gets a bit more turbo savvy, they learn of the concept of boost from a small turbo does not equal boost of a big turbo. Well, we're going to explain why.
by Mike Kojima
We decided to be different and tackle the Subaru WRX as our latest Project Car because it's big sister, the STI has been always getting all the attention. More people can afford the WRX which we consider to be a performance bargain and more enthusiasts drive them. We will be working with ARK Design to get this car going and make it more fun to drive.
One of the first things we did as is typical on most of our project cars is to work on the suspension first. Since we are still deciding on what to do for dampers on our project, we decided to start with changing the soft rubber suspension bushings with some polyurethane parts by Superpro.
If you have been following Project Tundra, you know we have been struggling with excessive activation of our truck's stability and traction control systems. The improved power of our supercharged engine and additional traction of our larger tires have been driving the electronic nannys of the truck's OEM systems crazy. We were hopeful that a new adjustable rear antisway bar from Hellwig would help.
Take a look as we enhance our E46 M3's appearance with a new carbon fiber splitter, carbon fiber rear diffuser, and a plethora of underside neon lights! (think about what day it is before you flame us).
Do you have broken exhaust hangers? Are you sick of them? Well then try this Wrench Tip to stop them from coming back.
In our previous installments of Project SEMA Scion Tuner Challenge FR-S we have been working on getting the performance of our sports coupe up to snuff. Now it's time to look at stuff that we usually don't care that much about: the looks stuff and cool JDM bits needed for car show points!
Since we figured that every FR-S at the SEMA show was going to sport the new Rocket Bunny wide body kit, we decided to do something completely different. We came up with a theme of restraint. At the risk that no one would get it, we decided to go MotoIQ style and come up with a look of a practical daily driver car, one that would look trick with a few high quality parts but not something that would scream look at me. Would the judges get it? Probably not but we had to do something radically different.
Project Fiesta ST's owner started to really get the track day bug after we did our initial round of mods by installing suspension into the car. He then shocked us by telling us he wanted to take the car off the street and turn it into a full time track car and eventual race car. He suddenly gutted a lot of the car's interior out of it and wanted a cage.
We decided that if the car was going to become a race car we had better go all the way and do it right. We enlisted the help of Scott Dodgion of SPD Motorsports to help us with his expertise in building real nice competition cars.
When we last left off, our Project Focus ST had gotten a new set of coilovers from ST Suspension and a few other bits from mountune. Well, the owner of our car has just gotten the track day bug and decided to take the Fiesta ST off the street and build a race car out of it. The car has been getting converted to a real race car at SPD Motorsports and part of that conversion has been upgrading the brakes to bigger units from Gold Coast Automotive with some electronic help from Ford Racing.
"No way is this thing gonna start the car" is the first thing we said when we opened the box containing the Ballistic Battery we had purchased from Pegasus Racing. Even though the tech guys at Pegasus had assured us that this battery could easily start and run the big 8 liter Chevy engine in one of our race cars, when we hefted it's 6.5 lbs, we knew that there was no way it could!
So as we alluded to in our last article, our powerful supercharged Tundra without a limited slip was continually activating the Trucks electronic nannies. With the more powerful engine, the electronic LSD was working the rear brakes constantly trying to keep one tire fire under control and with the added cornering forces that our bigger tires allowed, the stability control was grinding away at the front brakes in tuns all the time. The electronics were probably causing the brakes to be used at twice the normal rate.
We had tackled some of the issue by limiting body roll with a Sequoia front and TRD rear anti sway bar and turning up the stiffness of our King Adjustable shocks. Adding an Auburn Gear Limited Slip Differential also helped a lot to keep the electronics from grinding away at our brakes. However our brakes and rotors were shot with the rear brakes worn to the backing plates and we had to replace those ASAP.
We turned to Stoptech for some help in the brake replacement department with some new rear sport rotors and some less aggressive brake pads in the hopes of reducing brake dust and rotor wear for this brake service period
After ensuring we could stop our newly acquired fun-machine in a previous installment of Project BMW E39 M5, it was now time to let some ponies loose! Our goal; produce more power while maintaining the "quite refined" feel of our performance sedan. It's no secret the S62 power plant in the BMW E39 M5 was extremely muffled and restricted from the factory. With a price tag rivaling a large down payment on a house, those who could afford a new E39 M5 back in the day were more interested in impressing their power lunch buddies with the M badge rather than with the rumbling performance notes the S62 could belt out. So in the name of sales numbers BMW, like any other manufacturer, put a muzzle on the ol' girl leaving the performance enthusiast longing for more. But seriously though, what's the point of having a 400hp engine if you can't hear and enjoy it?!
Supercharging Project Tundra is one of the best things we have ever done to any project vehicle in the MotoIQ fleet. The TRD supercharger has proven to be totally reliable in thousands of miles from towing up hill in blazing heat to driving all over the place. It has also proven to be economical as our normal driving gas mileage has not changed at all. If anything the large amounts of power have had only one negative effect on the truck: no traction. To help deal with this we obtained the only limited slip diff on the market for late model Tundras, the Auburn Gear HP Limited Slip Differential.
Project Land Speed Racer 240SX: Chassis Prep and Roll Cage Fabrication
Some of the cars at Australia's World Time Attack or WTAC for short are so amazing and so exotic that for most of us, we can just look and drool. We were looking at cars to feature and we wanted to show what could be done for a moderate amount of cash by regular people. Clean solid work by smart people but nothing that needed open wheel or prototype levels of engineering and fabrication skill. In short, something that most of us or a good local shop could build with a regular person reachable budget.
How do you replace the spark plugs in a V-block engine when there are items like brake boosters, fenders, and other junk in the way? U-joints sometimes work, but when that fails (or you forgot to pack them when you moved), try this tip.
You've most certanly seen tons of headlight cleaning products on the shelf of your local auto parts store. But do any of them really work? On a whim we tried out the Mothers NuLens kit when we saw it on sale at our local parts store. Will the Mothers kit restore the faded headlights of our newest car purchase? Read on to find out...and see what weird vehicle we deicde to try this kit out on.
We've reached our power goal. Take a peak at how we did it, and be prepared for a smorgasbord of dyno graphs not only from Project Supra, but from other Supras and racecars tuned at Modified by KC as well!
One of the markings of a better shock company is if the company can service their product by offering rebuilding and revalving if the the customer needs it for their usage. We recently visited Tein Suspension since they are rebuilding and revalving the shocks on our Project Supra.
Our SEMA Scion Tuner Challenge car's progress is coming along nicely. With all of our other mods coming together we now will focus on getting serious power out of our FA20 engine with an HKS supercharger. With power comes heat and we will be relying on a CSF racing radiator to take care of our cooling needs.
In our last edition of Project 5.0 Mustang, we added some basic bolt on's being a cat back exhaust system from Borla and a cold air intake from AEM. We got excellent results for these mods. In this week's edition of Project Mustang, we are continuing to work on the engine with the addition of some long tube stainless steel headers from Borla.
by Mike Kojima and Khiem Dinh
During the summer CSF radiator launched a bold ad campaign with MotoIQ: the CSF Summer Challenge. CSF boldly challenged the entire radiator industry to s shootout to see who makes the most effective radiator with us conducting the test. CSF's only rule was that a radiator for the challenge had to be an off the shelf part built for a given car available to the general public, not a one off bespoke radiator designed just for the test.
As we wrap up the show's three-part coverage we're left with only one regret—that we couldn't show you more. Still, we've got plenty to see here in Indianpolis, Indiana, so please follow us once again as we walk through the greatest aftermarket car show in America. Big turbos, big brakes, and big engines here we come!
by Mike Kojima and Eric Hsu
The Team America crew has been busy and the car has really come together in the past couple of weeks. The goal is to be able to have the car dyno tuned and track session tested before it has to go into a shipping container and hopefully end up in Australia this time (if you have been following our story, two years ago, instead of going to WTAC, the car ended up in China for a few months due to the freight forwarder making a huge mistake).
Eric Hsu and Gary Castillo have been working around the clock to get the car done with everyone else on the team pitching in on the weekends. The major fabrication is nearly complete and the engine has been started and run. What's left is to finish up the top secret Andrew Brilliant designed aero package, do the final installation of the wire harness and to clean up and work on the cosmetics of the car like the Team America inspired wrap.
What is the Flog? It is the nickname that the Falken team has given their BRZ drift car. Driver Dai Yoshihara, commented when he first saw the completed car that it looked like a frog but with his Japanese accent it came out Flog and no one knew what he was talking about. Dai had to pantomime a sitting frog and say riibit, riibit before anyone could understand that he meant Frog.
The Falken Tire Subaru BRZ has been featured by a few other media outlets in the recent past but not like this. Let us take you beyond the pretty pictures for a look inside the car which has been one of the most anticipated builds of a drift car to date. One of the best looking cars on the Formula Drift circuit, the BRZ was built on a compressed time schedule by SPD Motorsports, the same folks who built Dai's iconic Discount Tire/Falken Nissan S13.
The saying goes "the right tool for the right job." And it is 100% correct. But what happens when you don't have the right tool? Sometimes you need to improvise. See how we make a piece of plumbing pipe do things it was never intended to do.
When we last left off, the GT-Lite Project CRX was being loaded onto the big orange transporter and headed to the Detroit area and into the capable hands of SANLUIS Rassini. We're about to take a trip into a place where absolute state-of-the-art hardware and software is used daily in the design and development of suspension systems used worldwide by most of the major OEMs.
Our first step in extracting more power from our FR-S's FA20 motor was to add an Unorthodox racing crank pulley which went pretty well. Now we are going to take another baby step along the path of bolt on modifications by testing out a Ganador Exhaust system from Japan.
In the last installment of Project Mustang, we freed up the engine's breathing with an AEM intake. Now we will work on the other end of the car by reducing backpressure with a free flowing ATAK exhaust system from Borla
Our Project Supra is back! We finish the fuel system, install a new AEM Infinity EMS, break-in the engine, refresh the suspension, make initial dyno pulls, and more!
Our Project Mustang has been doing just fine with its new suspension and tires which have drastically improved the car's handling. With the chassis doing a lot better and with the car's factory Brembo brakes adequate for now, we decided to do the classic Mustang thing and tackle the engine. Our first step will be the addition of an AEM air intake.
In previous installments of Project SEMA Scion Tuner Challenge FR-S, we've worked on improving the suspension, braking and improved the grip with a new set of wheels and tires. Now we will start focusing on getting more power out of the engine. We will begin with simple modifications and start to ramp things up in our quest for power.
Our first step is perhaps the most basic, adding a lightweight Unorthodox Racing front pulley. The Unorthodox pulley is not an underdrive pulley but a lightweight pulley that takes several pounds off the engine's reciprocating mass. Spinning up extra mass takes power and a lightweight pulley can free up some of that power to reach the rear wheels.
A big part of the driving experience is in your surroundings inside the cabin. With about an afternoon's worth of work, we show you how we tastefully transformed the look inside Project E46 M3's cabin.
A pass to SEMA is akin to an invite to the Playboy Mansion for most nerdy teenage boys. But just like any 14 year old geek, once there, they have no clue how to navigate. The grotto first, the game room, the Aviara- where to start? Luckily it gets much easier after some experience but there's still so much to see that leaves a lot that gets missed. Come along as we find the Rocket Bunnies among other things.
The 2014 Global Rally Cross season wraps up for the 3rd consecutive year in Las Vegas, but at the Linq Hotel and Casino for the first time. The Strip's reputation for being flashy and over-the-top could only be upstaged by one of the most exciting finales in Red Bull GRC history. Four drivers were vying for the top of the podium in the Supercar title- Joni Wiman, Ken Block, Nelson Piquet Jr., and Scott Speed.
In our last installment of build a SEMA car in two weeks, we went over our suspension refresh with parts from Whiteline and KW Suspension. Now we are turning our attention towards stopping power using brake components from Wilwood.
If you've ever had the yellow EML light come on, it usually has to do with the drive-by-wire system. In Project E46 M3's case, every time it came on, it would stall the car and render it useless unless you knew what to do to reset it. Check out what we did to get the car running tip-top again.
MotoIQ is teaming up with the good folks at The GTChannel to produce a Scion FR-S for the SEMA Scion FR-S Tuner Challenge. The Challenge will be between Speedhunters, Superstreet and GTChannel/MotoIQ to see which media group can build the best FR-S with the car to be displayed at the SEMA Show in the Scion Booth.
We figure that our competitors at Speedhunters and Superstreet will be putting out cars with a heavy emphasis on cosmetics, most likely with special bodywork done by Kei Mura of TRA-Kyoto fame or something like that. We also figure that Superstreet will probably outsource their build and will have a much bigger corporate fired budget than us. Speedhunters seems to be working on their build by themselves so hats off to them!
So far we have improved the handling and shifting on our Project Ford Fiesta ST with some stuff from ST Suspension and mountune USA. We are very impressed with the base car. If you are into tuning FWD Sport Compacts you can really appreciate just how good this car is from the factory. If you have built Turbo Hondas or perhaps a Sentra SE-R we equate the Stock ST to one of those cars with a T28.
The car is a lot of turbo fun but with solid OEM reliability, great handling and OEM refinement. On the track the car has proven to be exceptionally reliable putting down lap after lap with not a single problem. No overheating, no fade, no unbalanced handling and most of all, the brakes are up to snuff for track abuse even stock!
In Part 1 we gave you tips on how to make an older car a keeper with simple, universal upgrades that can add better performance and fuel economy to any ride. This time we finish up the two-part series with parts that add safety and further enjoyment. Honest.
Photos and Graphs Taken from "Performance Improvements of Turbocharged Engines with the Use of a PTP Turbo Blanket" by Steffen Bickle, Ronald D. Matthews, The U. of Texas at Austin
Everyone who has been reading MotoIQ has heard me say it time and again, heat = energy. Why is this especially important with turbos? Because the turbine wheel in the turbo takes energy out of the exhaust flow to spin up the compressor. The more energy available for the turbine to grab means there is more energy to spin up the compressor. Here is the proof.
Dave Coleman told you how to figure out how old your tires are by looking at the date code. He also mentioned that older tires tend to be greasy when you push them to the limit. However, there's one other thing he didn't mention that's rather important when shopping for used tires.
If you follow us on our Instagram or Facebook page (and if you don't why the F not? seriously, click up there on the top right of the page and connect!) you know we received one of the first batch of FD RX-7 Rocket Bunny kits to come into the states! If this seems out of character for us, it is—never in our history have we put a bodykit on one of our project cars—and for good reason, most of them look terrible, are molded poorly and are difficult to install.
It's time to think about suspension. Some of the most common handling problems that you are the most likely to see on modified street cars and race cars based on production chassis, especially in racing classes that do not allow relocation of suspension pick up points are bump steer and toe steer related handling issues. Bump and toe steer can have significant negative effects on a car's handling which is manifested by steering pull, twitchiness, instability, steering inaccuracy and unpredictability. All of these things are scary for drivers to deal with.
Tired of stripping old screwheads? This wrench tip will help you make stripped screws a distant memory.
Who among us has not identified a fluid on the driveway or garage floor by color, smell, or even taste? (Don't drink the Kool-ant...) At any rate, you know you're a true gearhead when the intoxicating scent of a fluid can conjure up memories of changing transmission fluid or bleeding brakes. The only way to consider yourself an expert is if you have a few stock ingredients in your garage pantry. And not just the ones required for maintenance or to keep your engine running, but the ones that you need to clean up after yourself too. Find out what Project Garage uses.
Although the Fiesta ST has fairly decent stock shift feel, which is quite positive for a cable shifter FWD car, we still thought that the longish throws could be shortened for a more performance oriented shift feel. Traditionally we have never been fans of short shifters that the aftermarket is full off. Your typical short shifter shortens the throws too much destroying shift feel as well as sometimes overstressing syncros, to the point of damaging them.
With this in mind we were somewhat reluctant to install mountune's short shifter developed for the Fiesta ST. If you haven't heard of the name mountune, it's because in this country tuning of Ford's FWD offerings has not been the popular thing to do. Not so in Europe where compact Fords have been a mainstay of the enthusiast market for 3 generations. In Europe the name mountune is closely associated with Ford Performance and with the new Fiesta and Focus ST mountune will become a mainstay for Ford performance in North America.
Project IS-F is a real daily driver, driven every day by a little old Asian lady back and forth to work. On weekends the car also hauls the family along, fast. The car gets a lot of miles on it and day in and out wear and tear.
In this week's update for the ARK Design Team America BNR32 Time Attack car, we address air management issues around the front of the car with a unique intercooler arrangement and some hopefully clever ducting.
An update has been a long time in coming but it is true, the ARK Team America BNR32 has not gone away or died, it's just that all of the principals have been busy with our other motorsports and industry jobs ranging from ALMS to Formula D. With all of us so busy working the car kept getting pushed off but lately Eric Hsu has been rallying the troops and work has been progressing on the car all summer.
If you love performance compact cars, then you should really be paying close attention and focusing your next purchase intent on The Ford Fiesta ST. The Fiesta ST is basically the same joint Ford, Mazda 2 platform that we loved so much as a B Spec racer. We felt the chassis handled well but was lacking power in gobs. Well Ford fixed the problem in a big way with the Fiesta ST by dropping in a turbocharged direct injection Ecoboost 1.6 liter engine with a six speed manual transaxle that delivers 197 hp and good mileage together in a package that leaves you grinning from ear to ear.
There's just something invigorating about the smell of race gas in the morning, the smoke produced by tires screeching, and the high pitched wail of a high horsepower engine going all out. And while I'd love to be on track owning that racket, I am just as excited to be covering it from behind a camera. From Formula Drift at Road Atlanta to 24 Hours of Nurburgring, my lame attempts at photography ("needs more blur"- thanks Jeff!) have taken me places I couldn't have dreamt about being so close to the action. And at the end of the day when I'm covered in rubber, drenched in either sweat or God's tears, and have claw hand from holding the camera grip for hours, I still have a smile on my sunburnt face.
You might have read our previous articles on how easy it is to set up the AEM Infinity EMS on the BMW M3 with great results in the heat of competition. Well the AEM Infinity is not just for BMW's, it works great on just about anything and we would now like to show you just how easy it is to set up on a Honda S2000.
It's been quite a while since I had the time to write my supposedly "monthly" column. Since we started MotoIQ In 2010 it's been a wild ride which has taken us around the world and on all sorts of adventures. I have been super busy as well. My normal day job here at MotoIQ is a pretty full time gig but I also do engineering consulting for several key OEM and aftermarket clients as well as several private motorsports ventures. Perhaps my biggest outside of MotoIQ job is doing chassis engineering for Falken Motorsports' Formula D team.
by Chuck Johnson
When last we left off, Project 240SX LSR was under the knife again, in the midst of an entire electrical system and engine management revamp. In this update, we'll continue to follow 5523 Motorsports, Specialty Car, and the rag tag Team MotoIQ as they continue the build with parts from AEM, Fastbrakes, and Earl's Performance Products.
Everyone "knows" that rod-ends and spherical bearings are best for handling, but do you know why that is? And those rock-hard bearings totall suck on the street, right? Well, maybe not... Project Mustang 5.0 tests out some of BMR Suspension's components and learns a bit about the streetability and performance of spherical bearings in the process!
When deciding the best way to power Daren McNamara's Formula D S14, Team Falken decided to plow into new territory with not just a turbo, but a turbo V8. Not your typical Chevy LS V8 either, but a blast from the past old school Small Block Chevy. In our last edition of building the ultimate Small Bock Chevy, we looked into the developments that had been made to the venerable 60 year old design to update it to modern standards, particularly the bottom end. In short, the improvements were mostly moving the cam upward to allow for more stroke and to shorten the pushrods for less flex, and a general beefing up of the lower end architecture to support today's power levels.
After Round 3 in Miami, Chris Forsberg in the Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z and Vaughn Gitten Jr in the Monster Energy / Nitto Tire Ford Mustang continued trading podium reigns with comfortable leads over the rest of the field. Would another competitor be able to crack the code and land the top spot? MotoIQ brings the action to you! And yeah, there's also plenty of photos of flying wheels, fires, and bumper cars.
by Per Schroeder
Autocross is rather unique in the motorsports world, in that you can have different drivers competing in the same exact car at the same event. It's a great test of how good of a driver you are against a real, live benchmark. Competitors can also share cars to save money, warm tires or just have fun. Co-driving an unfamiliar can teach you a lot about the sport and how to learn a new course quickly, but it also can be a great way to take a car for a test drive before you commit your cash to a project. Learn from the experts on how to make the most of your co-drive and learn a new car quickly!
If this past year's Speed Week taught us anything, it was that Project 240SX LSR's electrical system needed a complete overhaul. Our previous harness had been built in haste during the few days leading up to Speed Week 2012. At the same time, we also knew that if we were going to top the land speed record we set last year, we needed traction control, data logging, and the ability to control any parameter of the engine whether we were on the dyno or on the dry lake beds of EL Mirage or Bonneville. We found the answer to our needs in the form of AEM's AQ-1 data logger and Infinity 8 stand alone programmable EMS.
Today we bring you a very special Flashback Friday to Part 1 of Project Miatabusa. Why would we do this you ask? It must be because Part 17 is just around the corner! So for those who aren't familiar with the project here's a chance to start at the beginning. For those who are already familiar here's a chance to stroll down memory lane and get excited for the next installment.
The Small Block Chevy is a dead outdated hunk of iron that is best left to old guys puttering around restoring muscle cars in their garages, or is it?
The venerable Small Block Chevy was first introduced to the motoring public in 1954 and was installed on the assembly line until 2003 and is still in production as a replacement motor. This means that the good old small block has been around for 60 years, making it one of the longest lived and most produced engines of all time with over 100,000,000 being built to date.
Dai's super small block is in the process of being built for even greater power and reliability in 2016 but it's worth a look back to see the state of tune just a couple of years ago.
We eliminate Project Grey Mustang 5.0's rowdy and too-loud exhaust with an aggressive yet drone-free setup for Corsa Performance and find out a little bit about just how Corsa makes an exhaust that is both awesome-sounding and quiet at cruise.
Until now our FR-S had been running on Nameless Performance's very first prototype header, in fact, this was the very first attempt at a header that they had made. This header worked pretty decently and we have been rocking it for the last 10000 or so miles. However, since that time Nameless has been busy at work continually testing and improving their header design and recently released their final production version. The new header is radically different than the prototype we had been running and best of all it is now available for sale.
If you have been following the progress of Project 350Z as of late we have been testing and running the gamut of your typical bolt on performance parts to see what kind of gains could be expected for a well tuned but lightly modded VQ35DE. With an intake, exhaust, headers, intake manifold, cams and valve springs in place, it was time to get into the ECU and tune for our specific combination of parts.
To perform the final touches on Project 350Z we headed to Church Automotive Testing, a licensed UpRev Tuner to have our car dialed in.
Project Mustang 5.0 replaces its worn-out clutch-type limited-slip differential with a much more robust gear-type unit from Eaton and learns how LSDs work in the process!
by Wes Dumalski
You may have heard the expression 10 lbs of shit in a a 5 lb bag before. Well I am fairly certain the origination of that statement came from the first person to try and remove the intake manifold from an EJ25 and work on the systems surrounding and underneath! In our quest for more power and greater reliability we dive into the bowels (the heart would be the engine) of the boxer motor to upgrade our fuel system, improve the intake and intercooler efficiency and well… To reduce the amount of useless crap tucked in to the engine bay.
If you have been following the build of Project FR-S till now, you have probably noted that we have spent a lot of time working on our suspension and brake systems, laying down the foundation for a really good track car.
If you read our last segment about how our car performed in a track evaluation against both a stock and another well built tuner car you can see just how well our car really does work. Our car's big advantages were in the braking and handling departments with both of our resident pro drivers, Tyler McQuarrie and Dai Yoshihara, raving about how well our car works.
Could we make our superbly handling car even better? We are sure going to try and with some new developments from KW Suspension we think we can definitely make our car even better, especially as we start to upgrade our car with more and more power. Since we last wrote about coilovers on our car, KW Suspension has since come out with some 3-way adjustable Clubsport coilover. Are these the ultimate street capable shocks? Read on.
If you have been following the build up of our our Project FR-S and the Ticket to Ride FR-S you might have noticed that Project FR-S was lurking in the background in some of the photos of our Ticket to Ride Showdown story. We got a lot of letters asking about this and a lot of people were curious if we tested Project FR-S at this event. Well the answer is yes, we did put our car through its paces but perhaps not as carefully as we did the other cars in the shootout.
ARK Design makes 3 high quality exhausts for the FR-S/BRZ twins. The three exhausts are tuned to please everyone from the picky daily driver to the hard core street/track guy. ARK Design makes the Road Spec exhaust for those who want a mellow exhaust that is not too loud and with styling that matches the stock car well. The Super Flow exhaust is for guys who want the highest flowing exhaust, like people running forced induction, having internally built engines or Nitrous. Finally, there is the Racing Spec exhaust for those who want light weight, low backpressure and who are not too concerned about noise level.
This is not your everyday battery charger! After nearly throwing away two expensive batteries we thought were dead, and wouldn't charge on two other chargers, the Digital 1200 brings them back to life overnight.
We are reaching the limit of easy bolt on performance gains with Project 350Z. In looking over the offerings from MotorDyne Engineering, the folks that bought us the intake manifold spacer which made such an awesome difference. we noticed that they had a lower intake manifold plenum available for the VQ35DE that would work for both the Rev-Up and original intake cam only variable cam timing engines.
For those of you that have been following the build ups of the Motovicity Ticket to Ride Ford Mustang and Scion FR-S by Performance and Styling in Connecticut and SpeedForSale Motorsports in Georgia, you have probably been dying to know just how good these cars turned out.
Both of the Ticket to Ride machines are prime examples of what can be done to late model cars with just a few elementary high quality parts and we, like you, have been dying to test them out in a back to back shootout against the stock versions of these models in a battery of performance tests.
In our last trip to the dyno, we tested AEM's Short Ram intake on our 350Z. We were surprised to find a small but definite power increase over another leading intake that was already on the car. Since AEM makes a long runner Cold Air Intake as well as the Short Ram, we decided to test that as well as an interesting contrast between the two vastly different intake designs.
We have been working on getting more power out of Project 350Z's VQ35DE engine in our latest series of articles. With success coming bit by bit, we decided that we had to give the oiling system a little help. Some 350Z's with highly modified suspension and sticky tires have suffered from engine oiling issues when driven on the track hard. The oil had simply sloshed away from the pickup under hard cornering allowing the oil pump to suck air. Since engine bearings are made of soft metal and depend on a hydrodynamic layer of pressurized oil to prevent damage, any interruption of oil pressure caused damage very quickly.
What are the kinds of progess that have made turbocharging so usable this decade or so? Is it better electronic control of... stuff? Materials science? Ground-breaking inventions and improvements? How about all of the above!
With a more responsive suspension and more aggressive brake and pad set-up, it was now time to set the team at SpeedForSale Motorsports loose on the Motovicity Ticket to Ride Scion FR-S with the rest of the goodies they received with their free ride courtesy of HKS, AEM Electronics, Energy Suspension, Exedy and Sparco.
Designing and installing the turbo setup is one of the most enjoyable aspects of any build. There are many decisions to make when planning out a turbo setup and each decision has significant effects on subsequent decisions. It is a balancing act of desired goals and undeniable trade-offs. Many questions need to be answered like, am I looking to maximize mid-range response or top-end power? And, how much response will I be giving up if I choose one turbine housing A/R over another? These are questions that have different answers for every build. For this RX-7 we are trying to maximize response around a specific power limit without breaking the bank.
We are now nearing the end of our coverage of the Motovicity Ticket to Ride builds, but before we get to the results of our back to back shootout between the Ticket to Ride cars and their stock counterparts, we will take you through one more build. This time we make a stop in Alpharetta, GA to see how the team at SpeedForSale Motorsports was doing with their new 2013 Scion FR-S. The techs at SpeedForSale Motorsports are usually wrenching on chassis' like the MK4 Supra or R35 GT-R, so bolting on some performance to the Motovicity Ticket to Ride Scion FR-S should be a walk in the park.
In our last segment we brought the front suspension of our FR-S up to the latest top standards with new parts developed for the car since we started developing our project. Now it's time to bring the rear suspension up to snuff with some of the latest parts now out for the car. Since we started out project, Cusco and Whiteline have come up with more parts for the rear suspension.
Our suspension had first gotten done well over a year ago and we used Suabaru STI parts in the initial stage. We used Cusco adjustable lower arms and some Whiteline bushings and their first generation of rear swaybar. As we are running tires much bigger than stock, (265 vs 215), the additional grip was causing a lot of body roll even with our KW coilovers and upsized swaybar.
When we first got Project 350Z as a well used and beat up car, one of the mods the car came with was an Injen Cold Air Intake. Since Injen intakes have a pretty decent rep we simply left in on the car. However, when we installed the intake manifold spacer, we noted that the manifold was full of dirt and that our engine was a little low on compression for the amount of miles that it had.
With a few more ponies under the hood and increased braking performance, it is now time for the team at Performance & Styling to tackle the handling and power delivery of the Motovicity Ticket to Ride Ford Mustang. The goal of the Ticket to Ride builds has been to showcase the performance gains that can be obtained from readily available quality bolt-on parts. and we now take a look at some of the better options available to keep your Mustang under control. In part two of the Motovicity Ticket to Ride Ford Mustang Build we stay on target with a set of KW Varient III Coilovers, Exedy Clutch, STACK gauges, Whiteline swaybars, Watts link and more.
"So you guys are really going to test that thing?"
"Of course, we're from MotoIQ. Now make like a tree."
With five simple steps that will work for any car, we take a high-mileage minivan and make it run better on the dyno and in the quarter mile. Yes, really.
by Dave Pratte
If you've been hooked on the go-fast crackpipe long enough, you probably have a binder full of old race notes somewhere, even if it's just some basic tire temp and pressure data scribbled on a scrap piece of paper. Maybe it's in your trailer in a box labeled 'spark plugs', maybe it's in your home office in a folder labeled 'receipts', or if you're like me, your notes are in an old envelope in a duffle bag down in the basement.
The suspension on our FR-S was originally done over a year ago when we were prepping the car for the 2012 SEMA show. At the time the car was pretty new on the market and our choices were limited to a few prime items plus stuff we made work from the Subaru STI that shares some parts with the FR-S/BRZ. Since the time when we first built the car, Whiteline has come out with a bunch of parts dedicated to the FR-S/BRZ chassis that we have been eagerly awaiting.
Project Mustang gets a bunch of parts for the next season to improve throttle response, braking, and gauge information!
If you don't understand this secret code on your sidewall, you'll crash and die until you're dead!
In looking for more low hanging horsepower fruit for Project 350Z, we decided to try an intake manifold plenum spacer from MotorDyne Engineering. The 350Z's VQ35DE engine has a very thin intake manifold plenum that slopes toward the front of the engine to clear the low hood line. Although this is good for styling, the engine would prefer more plenum volume and the flow to the front most cylinders is somewhat choked off due to the low overhanging plenum wall.
We install a Magnaflow system in hopes to quiet the car down a little further, given car's cat-delete setup. Find out how the test goes--with video included!
By Billy Johnson, photos by Brian Humphries
Kook's Custom Headers might not be a household name in the tuner market, but they pride themselves as the pioneers in the stainless steel header revolution. Their headers are trusted in some of the most demanding environments in the world, where every last horsepower matters. Championship-winning NASCAR, NHRA, ADRL, IHRA, NMCA, NMRA, SCCA, and NASA teams go to Kook's Headers for their decades of experience and their high quality state-of-the-art products.
With the engine almost fully complete and near-ready for start up, now's not the time to skimp! Check out our new fuel and engine breather systems, ensuring we get the most out of this 2JZ!
To be honest we were not big fans of octane boosters. In the past, we have not been able to get good quantifiable results with them over the years. Older boosters ate up the fuel system or left weird deposits on the plugs and chamber. Engines that usually need higher octane are generally expensive so we have always just used racing fuel in them, Pump gas with conservative tuning for street cars and race fuel for race cars.
Meanwhile, Royal Purple had been bugging us about testing some of their new Max Boost octane booster. They told us that it would give us 3 points in octane for sure and burn clean. Not being too enthusiastic about octane booster in general we let it sit around for about a month.
Last time we saw Project Mustang, it was off getting some new suspension. With much improved underpinnings the stock wheels and tires were pretty wimpy. Our Mustang came with 255/40-19 tires on a 19x9 inch wheel from the factory, pretty small for a heavy and powerful car. With an improved Whiteline and KW suspension setup we wanted wider and more grippy tires to exploit all that our highly adjustable suspension has to offer. Well look out, HRE and Nitto are coming in to fix the situation, check it out!
With our last installment of Project 5.0 Mustang covering the correction of our Mustang's rear suspension geometry and the addition of larger adjustable anti sway bars by Whiteline, to complete our suspension, we badly needed a good set of dampers. Like a lot of other MotoIQ project cars, we turned to KW Suspension to provide us with a set of their Clubsport coilovers with front camber plates.
Check out why the Supra decides to chill behind an ETS intercooler. It's more than just about "bigger is badder".
While named "The Best Handling Car In America" in 1997, the E36 M3's only real drawback was a lack of power. We back to back test the stock S52's restrictive intake manifold with the inexpensive and popular M50 intake manifold, as well as add the Turner Motorsport Stage 2 and 3 systems to boost the naturally aspirated output of our 3.2L motor.
At the heart of any engine is the engine management system. We install AEM's latest and greatest and are blown away not only by the performance, but by all of the features that transform this car into so much more!
by Wes Dumalski
If you were one of the more than 40,000 sets of eyes that had a chance to read through our first PRI article, here is the sequel. In our previous article we slaved from 8:00AM to 1:30AM to bring you 16 pages of goodness! That meant a whirlwind tour through specific booths and a map of what we needed to cover from start to finish. It also left ZERO time to walk around the show and soak it all in on Thursday. So on Friday and Saturday we strolled to bring you what WE thought was cool, the things that caught our eye, our Nerd's eye....
In the past installments of Project 350Z, we took a look at getting the car's suspension and brakes up to snuff. With the car handling and stopping well, we turned our focus to freeing up some more power. Since the car is mostly a budget track day beater, we decided against forced induction options for now because making a high power forced induction motor reliable under continual hot lapping conditions is a somewhat expensive proposition.
To keep a decent budget balance, we decided to focus on some good bolt on's to see what we could get from our 350Z. For our first step we decided to free up the exhaust side of things with headers and an exhaust from DC Sports and free flow cats from Berk Technology.
The question everyone asks, "What size turbo should I get?" The answer is always, "What are you planning to do with the car?" As automotive enthusiasts, we all tend to be petrol heads and default to wanting as much power as possible. But do you really? As with nearly everything in life, there are compromises. We are here to show you a rough process for picking a turbo for your intended use along with some quick and dirty math for calculating potential power and compressor flow requirements.
Seems like this would be a re-hash of Project Silvia's suspension, doesn't it? Turns out turning a tight budget into a civilized daily driver that can play track warrior without a single setup adjustment requires a whole different setup.
In today's market it seems like the Sport Compact car of just a few short years ago is dead, as in really dead. Car enthusiasts at least in our Southern California locale are abandoning the segment in droves. By my definition a Sport Compact is a small front wheel drive sedan. You hardly ever see a fixed up car like this anymore on the street or at events. Is the segment a victim of a fickle youth market? Was the whole Sport Compact scene just a fad?
We think not and the New Ford Focus ST is just what the segment needs to breathe some life into it. Check out how we make it faster with some help from KW, Eibach, Falken Tires and Rotiform Wheels!
It's single digit temperatures outside and the car is under the knife for a HUGE round of modifications! It doesn't run, we have gotten 14" of snow in the last 48 hours and what are we doing? Why using our daily driver to tow it out of the garage to shoot pictures of our new goodies from Weds Wheels, Progress Suspension, Go Fast Bits, and Kartboy. We risk frost bite to bring you this latest installment of Project Gen3 STi, luckily for you the Internet is warm.
So we are pretty used to suspension kits that add coilovers to a car or add stiffer swaybars. Even adding stiffer bushings or increasing adjustability of damping and alignment has become pretty normal for MotoIQ readers. Well for the late model Mustang, Whiteline has come up with a suspension get that drastically changes the rear suspension geometry, even changing the basic design of it in the process. Top that with some pretty darned adjustable raceable suspension from KW and you can totally address what we feel is the Mustangs weak point, it's handling. If you are a suspension geek you have to check this one out even if you don't own a Mustang!
When it snows, many rely on big trucks or AWD vehicles to get them through it. We outfit our MPV minivan with Michelin's latest snow tires and pick a fight with a couple of large pick-ups and an AWD car to answer this question: "Can a 2WD passenger vehicle on snow tires get by just as well on snow and ice?" Find out how our minivan did...
Someone had the genius idea to move the PRI show from Florida to Indiana for 2013 right around the time the entire nation was giving Florida the middle finger for being one of the only states above freezing temperatures. Fitting given that this was my first PRI show, why send the midwest frozen tundra guy anywhere warm? Regardless, more than 1200 exhibitors braved the cold to display their wares and latest performance goodies at the show. Step inside for a taste of what MotoIQ's partners had on display and stay warm...
by Eric Hsu
Right around the corner this weekend on October 18-19 is the 2013 World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC). I bring to you in great detail the Tilton Interiors EVO 9. It was the fastest EVO at the 2012 WTAC...sorry make that the fastest UNIBODY EVO and 2nd overall fastest car overall at Sydney's 2012 World Time Attack Challenge last year. This car was one of my favorites at WTAC 2012 because it is the embodiment of a true Time Attack car without all the random crazy flaps, wings, and panels sticking out all over the place and the rear half of the car cut off and replaced with tubes. Sure you'd need some money to recreate the Tilton EVO, but was still 100% pure Mitsubishi CT9A EVO. After the jump is the way you'd have your dream EVO if you had the right combination of builders, crew, driver, owner, and of course money.
Story by Eric Hsu, Photos by Jeff Naeyaert and Josh Coote at MCA Suspension
The MCA S13 finished in 3rd place overall at the 2012 World Time Attack Challenge which is pretty amazing considering it's rear wheel drive. That's no simple feat in an event dominated by all wheel drive cars, big budgets, and world famous JDM tuners. What got the MCA S13 there was a great build by Murray and Josh Coote and their crew of friends with attention to detail exactly where it was needed. Of course great driving by ex-A1 GP Kiwi driving ace, Earl Bamber, doesn't hurt either. You've seen how crazy this thing looks and you've heard how fast it is. Now come and check out what's underneath the skin of the MCA S13 as I walk you through the car in detail. Best of all, IT DOESN'T HAVE AN LS ENGINE IN IT!
Nerd's Eye View: Inside Fredric Aasbo/Papadakis Racing's Amazing V8 eating 2AR Toyota Engine
A couple of years ago, a lot of knowledgeable people, myself included declared that the turbocharged small displacement 4 cylinder engine was dead in the sport of Pro Drifting. Dead, uncompetitive and obsolete. We sung the praises of the latest new generation of domestic V8's like the Chevy LS, the Chevy SB2 and the Ford Coyote. For a while it seemed so even though others like our own Eric Hsu predicted otherwise.
This year things are changing, turbochargers are coming back to the delight of fans and challenging the rule of the V8. One of the most intriguing and successful applications of new turbo technology is the Toyota 2AR engine developed by Papadakis racing and driven by Fredric Aasbo.
The 2AR is a 2.5 liter all aluminum inline 4 that is both lightweight and stout at the same time. Papadakis racing has proven that it can operate reliably for a long time at exceedingly high power levels. It's taken about 2 years for Papadakis racing to hone and develop the 2AR into the potent package it is today and the story and parts behind it are interesting indeed. Check it out!
With good handling and unbelievable brakes, our FR-S is really hurting for power. In one of our last stories we added an Innovate Motorsports supercharger and got a healthy boost of power across a really wide powerband, we gained power literally everywhere from idle all the way up to the redline. We still wanted more so the next logical step was to add an Intercooler and run a little more boost all with parts from Innovate Motorsports.
As a bit of great news we were informed that the Innovate Supercharger has earned a CARB EO so in addition to making nice power, the Supercharger is now 100% smog legal!
We are continuing to work on Project FR-S, refining it bit by bit in our efforts to build a car with real track weekend warrior performance without rendering it unstreetable. In previous installments we've made major changes to the car's various systems but this time we take care of a lot of the smaller bits we have added which have produced a surprisingly big change to how the car drives.
Let's face it, autocross is hugely popular. There is a statistic floating around that the SCCA Solo II Nationals is the largest motorsport event in North America. While I have not audited that fact, I can tell you that a LOT of people love the sport. In fact, my very first interest in automotive performance was an autocross event that I attended and competed in after being encouraged by a friend to give it a try. After that event out came the stereo and in went suspension modifications. That car was Project 200SX and the year was 1999. I have always had a penchant for the sport but after spending more time at the road course, life sideswiped me and my participation in AutoX events waned; that is, until recently.
Fuel systems upgrades vary drastically and sometimes only a simple pump or injector change will suffice. Other times, like in this project, it seems like every component in the entire system needs to be changed. Recently, in Part 2 of Project RX-7, we covered the engine side of the fuel system, where the injectors, rail, and pressure regulator were upgraded. Now it's time to discuss the remaining fuel system upgrades that we are so eloquently dubbing the "chassis side."
Paint used to be the preferred and just about the only method of refinishing a race car. Paint looks nice but it takes a long time to apply and costs a lot to do. In the sometimes rough and tumble world of Motorsports cars end up having to be refinished frequently.
A lot of guys don't care about how their track car looks and just bang her out so the wheels clear fenders when things get bent. However, sanctioning bodies like NASA and SCCA have appearance rules and if you are sponsored, sponsors expect your car to be presentable so the beat ass race car look wont fly.
Since painting can be a significant expense, any means available to reduce the time and money spent keeping a car looking good is a godsend. One of the ways to keep your car looking its best relatively inexpensively is through a wrap. Wraps used to be pretty hard to apply with mixed results but with new technology, they're becoming easier and easier.
Check out how we wrapped the Dog Car giving it a fresh look with the help of 3M and Skyprint media.
Modern diesels are light years ahead of their predecessors when it comes to power. No longer is the diesel owner subjected to white-knuckle freeway merges at school zone speeds, scary amounts of noise, smoke-screen plumes and honking horns as fellow motorists pass them with windows down. That doesn't mean there they can't be faster. This goes doubly true when you consider Project Golf TDI's sporty looks. Getting passed by Mom in the minivan with nary a glance was getting a little depressing.
There are three key ingredients for combustion in any gasoline engine: air, fuel, and spark. Parts 2 and 3 of this project will focus on the fuel component of this recipe. Rest assured, this won't be your typical run of the mill RX-7 fuel system.
What's the best way to measure the ratio of water to methanol for AEM's injection kit- by volume or weight. Can a Tsuru be imported legally into the US? What's the process and advantage of o-ringing a block?
With all the parts needed to move forward, Project Supra is now on pace to get fired up! Not only are previously featured parts installed, but we continue to add new stuff as well.
SEMA wasn't the only crazy car event going on in Vegas the first week of November. Round 9 of the Global Rallycross took place at the South end of the Vegas strip and MIQ couldn't miss the action. Though Toomas Heikkinen had clinched the championship in Charlotte, there was a battle going on for the other podium spots. Check out the action!
SEMA 2013 rode into the Las Vegas Convention Center last week bringing us the hottest trends, products, and vehicles to drooling gearheads. To put it mildly, SEMA is insanity. 4 short days and 4 long nights leave show goers exhausted (bad pun?) but there's no better car wet dream on the planet! Grab your box of tissues and check out our coverage. I've photobombed the OEM booths to bring you this year's factory certified trends.
We test a wheel and tire package with eye opening results! The M3 is now quicker, handles better, stops on a dime, and also turns more heads. Check out our numbers!
So enter Project Guest Garage brought to you by a Canuck friend of mine. Let's start with the details- 30' x 35' main building garage space (1050 square feet for you math geniuses), 672 square feet 2nd floor storage (6'2" ceiling), 13' cantilevered car port, and room for six cars nose to tail though it'll house four for now.
by Jonathan Lawson
Now we're getting into the exciting bits of Project E36 M3. It's been a joy to drive in mostly-stock form, but it's time to get into the real fun: Suspension!
The groundwork for our suspension project began a few months ago when I had a meeting with Brian Hanchey of Hanchey Vehicle Technologies (HVT) while we were at Kansas Speedway's GRAND AM race weekend. The prospects of our discussion had me bouncing off the walls with excitement.
As the SEMA Show approached, we knew we had to do something a bit different. We knew that the show would probably be flooded with tons of FR-S's and BRZ's. We also knew that most of these cars would be sporting either 5-Axis or Rocket Bunny aero kits.
At MotoIQ we are not the guys that build show cars so what could we do to stand out amongst the scores of nearly identically modified cars? We figured we would stick to what we knew best and try to build something functional and not worry about the looks, hoping that by following the old adage that form follows function, we could come up with something appealing in a shot time.
Engine swaps have been a staple of building cars as long as there have been cars. Put a bigger more powerful engine in a smaller lighter car and magic gets done. Today with advancing technology, performing swaps is getting harder and harder. New engines have multiplexed CANBUS controllers. The car's ECU might not just control the engine but the door looks, window switches, dash and yes, even the radio. Mess around with a swap now and not only do you have to understand how to tune a motor but also how to encode CANBUS data from smart switches. Working on this stuff is getting beyond the realm of the DIY guy. (And a lot of engineers!)
MotoIQ Video
When the nerd-herd decided to upgrade the brakes on our Project Scion FR-S, we of course turned to our partners over at StopTech and found they had their world renowned Trophy Kit available for the front and rear of our FR-S. So of course we had to get our hands on a set to put it through its paces and document the installation process. During the installation of the Big Brake Kit (BBK), StopTech was a huge help providing technical support along with some tips we found to be very useful...so we created a series of videos to help out all you DIY'ers out there.
Around here we appreciate quality and well thought out parts that fill a void in the marketplace. Regardless of company size or the expanse of their market reach it is refreshing to see a company and its collective mindset introduce a product that doesn't re-invent the wheel but goes a long way to making it much more efficient. In this case that company is GrimmSpeed and that product is their Subaru Top Mount Intercooler.
In our last suspension installment of Project FR-S we were rushing to get the car in rolling condition for the SEMA show. We had installed the stuff you could see, like lowering the car with KW Variant IIIs and installing the excellent Stoptech big brake system.
Now we are back to working on the car, focusing on the things you can't see. We knew we were going to be upgrading the wheels and tires for much bigger ones and we knew bigger tires were going to load the suspension a lot more due to greater grip. More grip equals more body roll.
You have probably seen photo spreads of this car in Speedhunters and the magazines. You might have ogled it at the SEMA show. In our opinion the Evasive Motorsports Scion FR-S is the most beautiful FR-S built so far. It's mean looking bodywork looks like it was taken right from a JGTC GT300 car. Although the car, like so many other FR-S projects rushed to completion for last year's SEMA show, certainly looks the part, many of you might dismiss it as being simply a show car.
Aspiring to achieve 100whp/liter from this 3.2-liter, we put more performance upgrades to the test on the dyno and in real world performance situations. If you like dyno graphs, acceleration times and videos clips, this is a must read!
By Martin Gonzales
There comes a time in every gear heads life when he/she must ask themselves, "Why in St. Kojima's name am I driving my track set-up to work?". If you can relate, then no doubt you've been victim to the track-bug's high octane venom. Which also means the vehicle you use for daily transportation has been molested and tinkered with to the point that it no longer has what little refinement it had when it drove off the showroom floor. All done in the name of faster lap times of course, but your vehicle is now serving as a constant reminder that there really is no such thing as an all purpose vehicle. Well, enter KW's Dynamic Damping Control (DDC) system.
Performance cars need performance oils and filters and our Ticket to Ride vehicles are no exception. We went with Royal Purple as our supplier of choice for the cars. We have had plenty of good experience with Royal Purple in our own racing and time attack efforts in the days of the XS Engineering BNR32 and with advances in oil technology we expect the latest offerings from Royal Purple to be even better.
by Mike Bonanni
The BMW M3 has long been touted as one of the best production sports cars ever and I would have to agree. From the current generation's 4.0L S65 V8 to the fine Bavarian leather upholstery, everything about the BMW M3 exudes perfection. This is why it made perfect sense to tear one completely apart. Enter Project #YAE92, and yes I do pronounce the hash tag. To make a long drawn-out story short, this project is the brainchild of two race car drivers; myself and a good friend of mine Jordan Yost. Both of us have had our ups and downs over the years trying to make it to the professional ranks of North American sports car racing, neither of us ever quite getting the opportunity we were after to go racing in the big name series like Grand-Am or ALMS. After another failed start-up race team Jordan and I worked on together for someone else, we decided it was time to throw a Hail Mary and start our own race team for once.
By Khiem Dinh
Did I mention there would be more hood hacking? Why yes I did. Somewhere along the other 18 parts of this project, I noticed the stock air box looked relatively well sealed along with having a location ideal for ram air. Ram air is used on practically every sport bike you can buy to coax as much power as possible from the engine. Even cars such as the Corvette Z06 and Dodge Viper use ram air.
For maximum reliability we chose to run accessory drive belts from Gates new racing RPM line. All the trick cooling tricks in the world won't help you if your drive belt breaks!
In our quest for an all-motor 100whp/liter, we install and dyno test a cat-back exhaust and under drive pulleys from industry leaders. How much power do you think these upgrades provided our M3?
Why are rotary engines often referred to as being unreliable? What is the advantage (if any) of using heat shields and turbo blankets on my engine?
Our FR-S is a difficult car to deal with in the engine department. The ECU with a lot of command authority has been driving us nuts. We have put several thousand miles on our FR-S over the last few months and it seemed like the car was once again dialing out a lot of our power over time.
We have gotten a few emails asking about the status of Project Trailer and to be honest we had kinda forgotten to write about it in the mad rush that life in our world is about. The truth is that our trailer works quite well and that we are pretty happy about going with a custom trailer built to our specs by Shadow Trailers in Cypress California.
By Sarah Forst
Sometimes you wander into a place that far exceeds expectations. Where you spend more time drooling over cars you'd love to get behind the wheel of. Cars you stared at only in old magazine pages taped onto your walls when you were a teenager. Cars that oozed sex appeal in movies. Cars so rare you never thought you'd be standing right in front of one. This is Classic Remise, a car museum / restoration garage / classic car wet dream / car enthusiast must see. And yeah, it even has a bier garden!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, where the hell is Project Miatabusa? I know, I know... After the death rattle, the Miatabusa got pushed onto the back burner for a few (dozen) months. Not (only) because of our self loathing for making the gear rattling error, but because all that life we'd been putting off to build the car started catching up with us. Within the Miatabusa team's downtime, one house was built, one house was bought, and one house nearly fell down a hill. These things can get in the way of progress.
The Miatabusa is at least up to the side burner now. A new design is 87% done in CAD, and huge bricks of Aluminum have been purchased to make the next round of parts. Meanwhile, though, here is one of the strange and diverse projects that have been keeping us from finishing the Miatabusa: a garden shed.
I'm an addict. A full-fledged, mainlining, E36 M3 addict, and I haven't been able to lift myself out of it since 1995 when the E36 M3 was released in the U.S. By the summer of 1999 I jumped in at the tail end of the production run. I'll save you from all of the boring in-between details for now, but after trying to shake the chassis out of my system, my fourth example now sits in our garage.
Every once in a while we do a behind the scenes story about some of our Motorsports adventures and stuff we do on the road. Although this might look like we're living the life according to what a lot of our readers think, when you try to perform on a high level, it actually takes a lot of blood, sweat, hard work, and passion to do what we do. We are often too busy making things happen in the Motorsports world to document our adventures but this time we decided to focus on one of our main projects for this year: Editor Chuck Johnson breaking the H/PS world land speed record at Bonneville Speed Week 2013.
In anticipation of more added power to the Motovicity Ticket to Ride FR-S from the HKS Supercharger it was decided to also upgrade the clutch. What we wanted is something that could take the abuse of the extra power and doing some occasional drift clutch kicking fun while maintaining as much daily driven ability as possible.
Project E36 323is: Building the Poor Man's M3, Part 5 - Intake and Software
By Jonathan Lawson
In Part 4 of our Poor Man's M3 project, we added a more serious soundtrack to our 323is with the help of a Corsa exhaust. A great side effect was that it also happened to give a boost to our horsepower output. That brought us from 141.1 wheel horse power (whp) to 146.8 whp, and it increased our torque output from 142.9 ft/lb to 149.5 ft/lb. Better breathing is always a good thing, so we decided to get a bit more flow to the exhaust with a Stage 1 Turner Motorsport Performance Package, which includes an aFe intake and Shark Injector performance software.
The DeltaWing is a love it or hate it sort of car. You can either love its space age looks or hate it because it looks like something out of a Speed Racer Cartoon. For sure the car is very different. For sure it's as innovative as hell but does it work? Does it have advantages over conventional wisdom? If you are curious come with us for a close look at this car. Our up close look at the DeltaWing left us with more questions than answers.
We have written articles about getting the paint on our various project cars protected with various films in the past with a great amount of success. Like all things protective film technology is continuously improving and we were lucky enough to sample one of the latest in protective films on our Project R35 GT-R.
Our friends at Service Group Distribution are into film technology and they are the ones that introduce us to new stuff. We got a call from them where they wanted to demo their new Premium Shield film for us. What better car to try it on than our new DBA GT-R?
Just about all of us can agree that the Scion FR-S is a pretty fun car, a car that has been a long time coming and that the market has been hungry for for years. Most of us will also agree that the FR-S is really hurting for more power. More power would make the car more balanced and better able to reach its full fun potential.
Well we are going to bring more power to the Motovicity Ticket To Ride FR-S in a big way by adding forced induction. We're not talking about your typical forced induction turbocharged power infusion either but rather with a centrifugal supercharger kit from HKS!
Our FR-S isn't the fastest thing but it has inspiring handling and best of all it's rear wheel drive. Some of our friends that have have been doing track days with the car have reported to us that the brakes are woefully inadequate for track use. Cracking and warping rotors, fade and even warping and leaking calipers have all been suffered by the hard driving.
By M-P Spierer
The 3rd generation Mazda RX-7, often simply referred to as the FD from its chassis code FD3S, is a world renowned platform for both street cars and race cars alike. Combine its weight, suspension geometry, driving position, and power potential and you have a 100% performance oriented machine. While it has become popular over the past decade to ditch the rotary engine and replace it with Chevrolet LS V8 as seen with our very own Project V8 RX-7, this project vows to keep it real with the triangles!.
Part 2 of "Inside 10,000 horsepower". Find out how they manage to transfer the power to the rear tires and make them stick to get from 0-100mph in 0.8-seconds!
By: Wes Dumalski
As much as we like fast cars and sano builds here at MotoIQ we also love tech gadgets! Messing with cameras, microphones, cell phones, instatwittergrambook uploads; all of these things are what we do on a daily basis to bring MotoIQ to the masses. It should go without saying that when new items hit the market that offer us the ability to do those things in a more efficient manner, our pointy nerd ears perk up and our fingers buzz the web in search of said future altering technical goodness. In this case the gadget of mention is the Igloo case for the iPhone. Click on is as we put the case through its paces…
If you are a longtime MotoIQ reader you will probably know that we are big fans of the WPC process and use it extensively in many of our engine build projects and wherever we need durability and lower friction of a part from transmissions to limited slip differentials.
Motovicity's Ticket To Ride Mustang Update- Stack Pro-Control Gauges
Having a lot of trick parts on your car means nothing if you blow it up because you didn't know critical parameters were going out of range. Of course we don't want that to happen to the Motovicity Ticket To Ride Mustang so we enlisted the help of Stack with a set of their Pro-Control Gauges to ensure we would not accidentally burn the house down.
What sets Pro-Control gauges apart from other gauges is their ability to control switched devices that can be triggered whenever a pre programmed high or low setting is surpassed. Fans, pumps, nitrous, the list of things that can be switched on or off by a Pro-Control Gauge is only limited by your imagination.
Our Project GT-R was originally going to be an early 2009 CBA model. We had acquired a low mileage first generation CBA and were about to start applying the normal MotoIQ tricks when we got to drive a 2014 model second generation or DBA GT-R at a dealer and were pretty amazed at the difference in refinement and performance that the newer car had over the old car.
The CBA was no slouch at all but the DBA was much faster, handled noticeably better and was much more refined from a NVH standpoint. Most of the differences came about during the car's mid cycle facelift in 2012 when the model changed from CBA to DBA. Even though most of the major changes happened in the switch from CBA to DBA, Nissan has been hard at work refining the GT-R and each model year comes with a list of continual refinements.
Ask Sarah: BOV's and Accusumps
Jury is still out. Let's debate whether blow off valves are necessary and if Accusumps are effective enough at protecting your engine from oil starvation.
We were lucky enough to get a close look at the only R35 Nissan GT-R being campaigned in a North American professional race series at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Although the the R35 GT-R is being raced successfully in other countries it has not had much exposure in the USA. Hawk Performance has teamed up with CRP Racing to change all of that by campaigning a GT-R in SCCA's Pirelli World Challenge series in GT Class with driver Tim Bell behind the wheel.
The WC GT GT-R is very interesting technically, the car has a front mid engine mounting configuration with a rear mounted transaxle and has been converted to rear wheel drive, much like the Sumo Racing GT-3 GT-Rs being campaigned in Europe. CRP has come up with plenty of innovations in an effort to bring the big GT-R up to speed. These things make for a pretty interesting car, read on and check out what's inside it!
Project E36 323is: Building the Poor Man's M3, Part 4 - Exhaust
Now that our E36 323is is hustling through the corners a bit more sure-footedly, there's one thing that seems to be missing. A soundtrack! While our car is not packing the most powerful engine in the world, it's still got a bullet-proof and (potentially) great sounding BMW M52B25 inline 6, yet it's almost as if the factory put the whole car on mute. The engine loves to rev, and is sewing machine smooth at any RPM thanks to the motor's inherent balance, but it really feels like it wants to sing a bit louder, and who are we to stop it?
Project EVO MR - Engine Bolt Ons Part 2
By Cheston Chiu
In the last edition of Project EVO MR, we were at Cobb Tuning SoCal in the middle of bolting on a bunch of parts. As you may recall, we are wanting to give our EVO a nice boost but don't want to get too much beyond the basic bolt ons because we don't want to stress our SST transmission too much. We want to be able to daily drive our car with occasional track use without problems.
So far we are working on getting the AEM intake, ARC intercooler, Cosworth intake pipes, AMS downpipe, MXP exhaust and the Cobb boost control solenoid with Access port all fired up before some tuning to make it all work. How much power are we gonna make? Let's take a look and see.
MotoIQ Garage Fabrication: Introduction to Fab
(and how to mess with your friends)
By Steve Rockwood
There comes a time in every car nut's life where no one sells that much-needed part and it must be fabricated from raw materials. Taking it to a local machine or fabrication shop is an obvious choice, and can definitely yield excellent results. However, many times the scheduling doesn't pan out, the work is unsatisfactory, or the fabricator is extremely proud of his work with pricing to match. Most of us, to one extent or another, begin to realize that making parts at home makes sense from an economic standpoint. Unfortunately, in many cases our first attempts at "fabrication" are met with booger welds, frustration, pain and unwanted fires. Enter MotoIQ's Garage Fabrication Tips: helping you make probably safe parts at home.
Project E36 323is: Building the Poor Man's M3, Part 3 - Brakes, Wheels, Tires
Next up on our Project E36 323is is giving it more grip and better braking. Stopping distances will almost always come down the moment you put good rubber on a car, but for short and repeatable braking, you want to maximize the braking system itself, and that's where the StopTech brakes come in.
When we last left off, we had just gotten a load of AEM stuff for the Motovicity Ticket To Ride Scion FR-S. For this week we will be looking into the suspension, mainly some sweet street coilovers from Eibach.
Eibach's new Pro Street-S coilovers are meant for durable daily driving use on the street. They are a monotube, gas charged damper with an all weather, durable stainless steel body. It is great to see this sort of quality on a basic street coilover.
An intercooler is essential for maximum performance on a highly boosted turbocharged vehicle (no duh right?). However, just putting an intercooler into the system does not guarantee it will cool down the charge air (air compressed by the turbocharger) efficiently. A number of variables contribute to the efficiency of an intercooler: size, design, end tank design, and volume of cooling air moving through the intercooler to name the big variables. You can try to calculate efficiency, or you can just measure it. Ain't nothing better than the real thing, so I opted to measure it using a portable thermocouple data logger.
TESTED: Achilles GS-328 Race Tire
I've driven on a lot of tires, some of them horrible, some of them great. All of them have been DOT legal. Until now. When we were approached by Achilles Tire to try out their new GS-328 racing slick on Project G20 Racecar, we predictably jumped at the opportunity.
Nerd's Eye View: Science of Speed S2000
By: Sarah Forst
Images by Sarah Forst and Wes Dumalski
Back in March while covering the Modified Streetcar Shootout, this S2000 was tearing up the track. The car was clean but sounded dirty and upon inspection under the hood, the engine looked like it was put together by techs in white lab coats. What struck us about this car was the very exotic appearance! Surely this one off piece of art must cost a bajillion dollars and be impossible to re-create! As we looked closer we were absolutely shocked by what we found within this build.
The Rest of the Story: Tony Angelo's Scion FR-S Feature
By Justin Banner
Project Honda Civic EJ: Building the B18C1 Part V
By Chuck Johnson
In our last installment of Project Honda Civic EJ, we thoroughly explored the Harlem Shake phenomenon and also partially completed the assembly of our B18C1's valvetrain. Now equipped with Skunk2 valve springs and titanium retainers; the cylinder head of our B18C1 engine is ready for completion. Next on this list? A set of Pro1+ camshafts, Skunk2 adjustable cam gears, and an ARP stud kit.
Nerd's Eye View: UMS Time Attack Evo
By Wes Dumalski
Like all car stories this one starts as a tale of insanity… The 2003 Mistubishi Lancer Evolution VIII you see before you was one of the first Evos to hit the States and ever since it landed it has been within the sites of Tony Szirka. While he did not own the car when it arrived, his hands have been on it ever since several Arizona based shops were unable to deliver on the previous owner's requests. Like many cars despite the fact that the title is held in someone else's name the car belongs to the one that works on it, slaves over it, and pours their heart and soul in to making it all that it can be, and in this case that person is NOT the owner.
The Project Evo X MR is back!
Tested: TiC WRX Suspension Components
Here at MotoIQ we really love our jobs; despite the pay or lack thereof we get the chance to play with some really cool toys, see some really cool cars, and test some cutting edge parts! One of the difficult things we face is having parts we really want to test that do not apply to one of our immediate project cars. When we have those scenarios we are forced to improvise by finding a guinea pig vehicle and having our way with someone else's ride for our own sick pleasure and for the sake of filling this web-site with real world content. In this case the bovine friendly folks at Turn in Concepts wanted us to put some of their latest products through the proverbial MotoIQ paces and report back with our rants and raves.
For this test TiC wanted our review on the CarLabs Development X Brace and Super Sexy bushing set for the 02-07 Impreza Sedan platforms.
Dora the Explorer has a magic back pack that holds just about anything she might need. I have a back pack too, except it's not magic or cool. I often wish it had the ability to come up with stuff I need, like a spare engine, corners of a car, a frame table and other things for tricky situations when I am out in the field.
Project E36 323is: Building the Poor Man's M3, Part 2
-Suspension Overhaul Completion
By Jonathan Lawson
The Assembly: Tony Angelo's Scion FR-S
By Justin Banner, Photos by TAngelo Racing
The Slasher: Traxxas Slash 2WD Short Course Racer
By Justin Banner
So, what do nerds do when it's too cold to race pavement or want a new challenge in Motorsports? They go RC Racing! I recently bought a 2WD electric Short Course Racer from Traxxas called the Slash. Follow along as I start to modify this little truck into the ultimate Open Short Course truck!
Quenching and Tempering: Tony Angelo's Scion FR-S - Part 3
DIY Tech: A guide for the rest of us: KW Variant 3 Installation
By Tatsu Tsuchida
When Mike Kojima extols the virtues of a particular coil-over kit, or discusses what spring rates it has, how the valving works in the shock body, or what sort of proprietary hydraulic oil makes the shock respond well to undulations in the road, I sometimes feel these concepts require an engineering degree. Much of it is over my head, but I know well enough that when a smart guy raves about some product I'm better off following suit than trying to understand it. We all know Mike and Daijiro's relationship with KW is a strong one, and Mike has put these KW V3s on the MotoIQ FR-S, so that's endorsement enough for me.
Project Supra Part 5: Thermal Coating, Wrapping, and Engine Assembly
by Pablo Mazlumian
A notable tradeoff to turbocharged power is the potential for more heat in the engine bay, leading to less-than-optimal power and increased turbo lag. Find out how we minimize these fun-killers. Our cylinder head and built short block also come together, and we show off the variety of MKC-tuned boosted cars.
Making the Fast Car Faster with a Wilwood Big Brake System!
Edik Stepanyan's Integra was already one of the fastest cars in the MPTCC series. To make matters worse for his competitors Edik has been hard at work during the off season dialing in the car specifically for MPTCC rules. In the previous year Edik's car was set up for NASA's H2 class which meant his car was not built to the full extent that the MPTCC's rules allow.
Project 370Z - Improving Grip by Tuning a Cusco RS LSD!
So far with our Project 370Z we have been focused on dialing in the chassis. After some track time, it has become apparent that the rear differential is the next handicap in achieving faster lap times. Although the Z has a viscous limited slip diff from the factory, our testing has found it to be highly inadequate. In fact it is hardly a limited slip diff at all, allowing a lot of inside rear wheel spin, even out of medium speed corners. In some street tire testing at Buttonwillow our lap time was being limited to the low 2:06 range for configuration 13CW.
Project Gen 3 STi - Impressions of the Turbosmart IWG75 and BPV
By Wes Dumalski
"Hey Bro, do you want to test some Turbosmart stuff?" The quoted text is from none other than Martin G from MotoIQ headquarters asking me if I would like to play with any Turbosmart products on our GR STi project. With this project still in the early and mild stages I first scratched my head wondering what I would be able to use and test. When I think Turbosmart I envision huge external wastegates on race cars and e-boost setups. Initially I wondered exactly what I could even use on the STi... Not wanting to miss an opportunity I perused their site and used their vehicle specific search feature to see what they had available.
Project Honda Civic EJ: Building the B18C1 Part IV
In our last installment of Project Honda Civic EJ, we had just begun the assembly of the bottom end of our B18C1 engine. With the bottom end complete, we could now shift our attention towards the assembly of our B18C1's cylinder head and the completion of Project Honda Civic EJ's engine build.
Project Supra Mark IV, Part 4: Turbo Components
Some of the most exciting products to feature are turbo components. We choose some of the best turbo, wastegates, intake manifold and exhaust manifold components in the industry in pursuit of a streetable 800 whp with our 2JZ.
Project E46 M3: Part 1 - Dyno and Acceleration Testing
It's raining BMWs at MotoIQ all of a sudden. Introducing our next project, a 2002 E46 BMW M3 with a six-speed manual gearbox, and an engine rated at 333 bhp and 262 lb-ft of torque from the factory 3.2-liter inline-six. It's dirty but it's also silver so who cares. In Part 1 of our project we take our bone stock M3 and already start running it through a series of acceleration and dyno tests in hopes of extracting a normally-aspirated 300 whp from the 8000 rpm 3.2-liter.
The BMW 3-series has been widely accepted as one of the best handling cars for many decades. That holds particularly true for the E36 chassis, which had some nice technological advances in suspension layout over its E30 predecessor, and could also still be considered fairly light and "tossable" by modern standards. Of course, ending production in the late-90s, the E36s have grown a little long in the tooth...
The Eliminator: Brian Fitzpatrick's Lucas Oil Competition Eliminator Rail
By Justin Banner
In the NHRA Sportsman category, there exists a heads up class that is unlike any. In this class, it's V8 vs I4 vs V6 vs I6, turbo vs nitrous vs NA, rails vs door slammers vs roadsters. That class is Competition Eliminator. While the start is much like bracket racing, where the slower car leaves first; that's where the similarity ends. From there it's heads up and the fastest car wins. It's like having your cake and eating it too! Today, we'll take a closer look into on of the few non-V8 cars in Comp Eliminator, Brian Fitzpatrick's Lucas Oil/Tap It Brewery Rail powered by a 2JZ-GTE. If you like drag racing where restrictions are little, you'll like Comp Eliminator and the Fitzpatrick Lucas Oil/Tap It Brewery Rail!
Project GD STI - Checking Out The Development of KW's New 3-Way Adjustable Clubsport Coilovers
A few months ago we visited KW Suspensions' factory in Germany to learn about the development of their new 3-way adjustable Clubsport coilovers. We feel that the 3-way Clubsport is a pivotal product for KW. It promises the flexibility in tuning of expensive elite Motorsports only shocks that are priced out of reach of most enthusiasts in a package that is 50% less than the custom uber dampers.
Project Supra (Extreme Engine Tech): Part 3 - The Cylinder Head
Project Scion FR-S: Suspension Part 1 - Getting the Basics with KW Suspension, Cusco and Race Comp Engineering
With the FR-S engine giving us fits we decided to turn our attention to something different on the car, the suspension. We were surprised with the FR-S, the ride in stock form was pretty darned stiff for a stock car, the car felt oversprung for the amount of low speed damping from the stock shocks but the ride felt harsh. The car was also really tail happy, fun to drive but not the fast way around turns, especially on corner exit. Perhaps the worst fault the car had was an odd shimmy on the freeway. The car felt like it was following the rain grooves much like a motorcycle does. It was a very unsettling feeling.
Project Garage IX: More Garage Tools
Equip your garage with all the tools that will help you perform a number of jobs. Project Garage gets fitted with specialty tools from soldering irons to pulley pullers to oil filter wrenches that will make completing many jobs a breeze and get you back on the road more quickly.
Industry Insider - Seibon Carbon
Seibon Carbon is what we are defining as a second wave Asian performance parts company. A few years ago, our booming performance industry was decimated by several factors, one of which was the economic downturn, another of which was a big influx of fly by night Asian companies that made cheap rip offs of established parts, distributing them with little overhead cost on Ebay and marketing them for free on Forums.
Project S13 Silvia: Shaving 2 Pounds off the Bouncy Bits!
Read this story if you want to learn all kinds of previously unexplained details about the K1 rod / JE piston long-rod SR20 party all the MotoIQ nerds are having, or if you just want to understand how the sentence "I am a mammal, and as such, I'm smart enough not to shit on my own dinner plate" pertains to the resurrection of Project Silvia
Project EVO X GSR- More power with Garrett, Full Race and Cosworth
In the last edition of Project EVO X, we upgraded the fuel system in anticipation of more serious mods. Well the time for more serious mods has come and we are going to see exactly what can be done to the 4B11 with bolt ons. In this go around, we are going to install some camshafts by Cosworth, Garrett's direct bolt in upgrade turbo and a tubular exhaust manifold by Full Race Motorsports.
Project LS S13: Part 1 - Getting the Chassis Ready
Our latest project started as an accident. The S13 that we are using started off as Chuck Johnson's, one of our writers, daily driver. It was a really nice S13 with a sano SR swap, built well with nice parts. Then a lady driving a late model Acura, amazingly with no insurance, decided to run a stop sign unbelievably in her own neighborhood smashing into Chuck and taking out the front end of the S13. Even though the damage was minor, Chuck's insurance company totaled the car. Chuck bought the car back from the insurance company and most of the good parts were swapped into our Project S13 LSR.
TESTED: Olsbergs MSE SuperCar Lites
By Efrian Olivares
Our previous look under the hood of the Olsbergs MSE SuperCar Lites car came at the open test held by Global RallyCross in Lake Elsinore, California. Drivers from any discipline were invited to submit an application to drive the car, from which GRC selected drivers to participate.
Thankfully, two friends of MotoIQ were selected to drive the car – Time Attack driver Mike Bonanni and Formula Drift driver Kyle Mohan – and ended up in the same test session on a cold Friday morning. You could say that both drivers come from very different driving backgrounds, and you would be correct.
Project Lexus IS-F, Improving the ride via the brakes with FIGS Engineering
In our last edition of Project IS-F, we had gone through our brake system with NS compound pads and slotted rotors from Project Mu, which replaced the stock, well worn OEM Brembo parts. We were pretty pleased with how the pads had a nice, well, Mu (or coefficient of friction in geek talk) and super low dusting with enough fade resistance so that we never noticed any in the car's daily driving routine. Please note that Mrs Nerd has been observed driving back from her lunch break rather quickly at times. She's a teacher so she absolutely can't be late and teachers only get 30 minutes to get some place, order eat and return.
Suck Squish Bang Blow: All You Wanted to Know About How Headers Work - Part 1
Headers are one of the most common and basic of your bolt on mods, however very little is understood about how they actually work. How and why headers work is an arena full of old hot rodders and internet keyboard guru's tall tales and myths. We can easily understand why this is true as there are not many accurate stories on the net on how headers actually work. Most of us know that headers can produce substantial amounts of power on a motor with very few negative compromises. Properly designed headers work well in producing extra power with without many of the typical negative side effects of power mods such as loss of low end drivability and mileage reduction. Headers are a rare, win-win modification with hardly any negative trade-offs. This makes them a mod that is almost essential for any engine build-up from serious to mild bolt on.
Nerd's Eye View - Olsbergs MSE SuperCar Lites
By Efrain Olivares
The cars of the Global Rally Cross series – the fleet of Ford Fiestas, a few Subaru STI's, a couple of Saab's, and a Dodge Dart – are no doubt some of the wildest racing machinery that you can possibly see in North America. The racing they produce is unreal, with these compact and subcompact cars banging fenders and flying through the air. However, to call up Olsbergs MSE and get into one of those Fiestas presents a financial challenge for most people. Enter the SuperCar Lites.
It's just another day in a gearhead's paradise as MotoIQ propels down the Autobahn in Germany, Salzburg, and the Czech Republic, then tours the immaculate BMW Museum outside Munich. Find out what driving is like behind the former Iron Curtain.
Project Scion FR-S Part 4- Exhaust and Tuning Frustrations
When we last left off, we had just installed some bolt ons onto our Scion FR-S' motor and picked up some quick power. Our stock power levels were 145hp and 119 lb-ft of torque and after a few weeks of driving our power levels had returned to 147 whp and 122 lb-ft of torque for a big WTF. Determined to keep adding power, we continued with our testing and tackle the rest of the exhaust.
Project S2000 - Testing Track Upgrades and Custom Brake Ducts
All of the stars aligned a few weeks ago and I took Project S2000 to the track. Centerforce clutch and AP1 flywheel – installed and broken-in, Hasport engine mounts – installed and broken-in, custom brake ducts – prototyped and test-fitted, K.R.O.P.S holding track day at Willow Springs – scheduled, other MotoIQ project cars going – check. Custom brake ducts? Let's start with those.
Project V8 RX-7: Goin' Legit (Project RX-7 vs the State of California)
Now that it doesn't look like the world is gonna end we need to get our RX-7 smog legal and on the road! Since the car has been down for surgery with the heart transplant the registration has long since expired. It's only a matter of time before we get busted by the fuzz for old tags and excessive hooning around.
Project Husqvarna TE610 Part 7: Baja Designs Racelight with Boatman H4 Conversion
By Dan Barnes
The TE610's stock 25/30W enduro light makes the bike legal for an enduro event and road use in all 50 states. At night, it helps other drivers see you. However, it does little to help you see anything else. Baja Designs is the leader in lighting technology for off-road racing, with a full range of LED, HID and halogen technology solutions. They can help the TE610.
Project EVO X GSR- Upgrading the Fuel System With Cobb Tunning and RC Engineering
When we last left off on Project EVO X, we had come close to maxing out the car's fuel system with our bolt ons up to this point. Since upgrading the turbo to Garrett's drop in GTX3071 is in the plans, we must first bring our fuel system up to snuff. On the EVO X this is a little more involved than earlier EVO's as the injectors we chose were not an easy drop in. Don't fear, it still was not that hard, check it out!
A Look Inside- Daigo Saito's Amazing Achilles Tire SC430
After two years of rumors and plenty of gossip, it finally happened, Daigo Saito, reportedly the best drift driver in the world arrived on our shores with not just a splash but a bang. Daigo, 2008 D1GP champ and 2011 Formula D Asia Champ came out of the gates hard at the Long Beach season opener with a third place. Daigo has fought hard on foreign soil maintaining a solid second place in Formula D standings for much of the year.
Text by Eric Hsu, MotoIQ Photos by Jeff Naeyaert, all other photos by NEMO Racing
Unless you've been living under a Time Attack rock, there's no doubt you've heard of the amazing NEMO Racing EVO. At the recent 2012 World Time Attack Challenge in Sydney, Australia, the NEMO EVO piloted by Aussie V8 Supercars driver Warren Luff, did it's best lap time of 1:25.020 which effectively destroyed the CyberEVO's record lap time of 1:28.851. That's 3.831 seconds faster than what was previously the fastest Time Attack car in the world. After the jump I break down exactly why this beautifully constructed EVO is the fastest Time Attack car in the world.
Evolution Dynamics Pikes Peak Edition Evo
By Sarah Forst & Wes Dumalski
F1 race car driver Stirling Moss once said "To achieve anything in this game, you must prepare to dabble in the boundary of disaster." Of course, he also broke both ankles and chipped four vertebrae after falling three stories down an elevator shaft a few years back so accidents can happen to anyone...
But how do you prepare for a floor routine that involves 14 somersaults 100 feet down a 45 degree abyss polluted with boulders? They don't call Turn 16 of the Pike's Peak course "Devil's Playground" for nothing. 12,500 feet up the side of the summit - just 1500 feet shy of the finish line - the corner features a steep unprotected cliff. Perhaps the asphalt leading up to the turn should be nicknamed Skidmark Alley.
Nerd's Eye View: 2012 LA Auto Show
by Khiem Dinh
I have to say, attending a Press Day at the LA Auto Show is really nice. The crowds are minimal and you have more access to all of the vehicles. Pop the hood, poke around the engine bay, snap a bunch of pictures, spend all the time you want and no one cares. It provides me the opportunity to bring you guys and gals geeky content like this. On with the show!
Project GD STI- Improving the Fuel System with Injector Dynamics and Other Details
When we had last left off on Project STI's engine, we had just upgraded the cooling system in anticipation of another round of tuning. What was supposed to be just some routine installation of a few parts to get a little more power ended up being something a lot more complicated, time consuming and involved.
DROWsports Grand Axis Two Stroke Powered Ruckus
The Honda Ruckus is a small 50cc scooter that has for some reason become the darling of the modified car crowd. You would never think that car people would have become enamored of a 100 mpg, 35mph small scooter but nevertheless the Ruckus is huge. MotoIQ has a project 50cc Ruckus that is probably the fastest stock engined Ruckus built so far.
Of course in our circle, if some is good, too much is always better. Andrew Horn, owner of DROWsports in Signal Hill is part of the MotoIQ crew and has helped us with many of our small powersports projects. We helped him with the construction in his quest to build the ultimate Ruckus, check it out!
EXTREME ENGINE TECH: 2JZ-GTE Engine Build; Part 2 - Modified Oil Pump and Crank Damping
While we await our cool turbo components, we tackle the oil pump and crank damper after recently discovering that our previous motor could have seized catastrophically!
Project Infiniti G20 Racecar: Transmission Upgrades
It seems that every time we try to do something to make Project G20 faster, we find a faster way to break something. This time around, we were certain that while the stock Nissan RS5F32V transmission in our G20 was made of sugar glass, that our modest turbo power levels, stock clutch, and not-so-abusive driving habits should make it last through a season. After three race laps, we were greeted with the all too familiar sound of a fork in a garbage disposal coming from the transmission. Someday, we'll learn a lesson the easy way.
Project Scion FR-S Testing GReddy's Cold Air Intake!
The Scion FR-S is a pretty exciting car to be involved in. It has single handedly given our industry a shot in the arm and parts are rapidly being made for it. Our FR-S is being worked on fast, so fast it is kind of a blur as we were cramming a lot in just a few days to get the car ready for the SEMA show.
In our last edition of the Project we tested the GReddy EVO 3 Exhaust and now we are going to test GReddy's cold air intake. In reality this happened on the same day but we didn't have time to write much about it during the SEMA and PRI shows so now we are trying to catch up!
Project S2000 - Making a More Responsive Drivetrain
The AP2 generation of S2000s were made a bit cushier and street friendly compared to the AP1s for the general American consumer. A larger displacement engine along with shorter gearing were specified to give more torque at the wheels which Americans desired. However, Honda also matched a heavier flywheel and modified the clutch system with both negatively impacting the level of track aptitude. Step 2 of Phase 2 is to shift the drivetrain bias more towards the track side of the equation compromising some everyday livability for better performance.
Project Nissan 370Z - Installing B&M's Short Throw Shifter
by Clint Boisdeau
I realize it's been a long ass time since I've published an update, but they'll start rolling out again somewhat regularly after the new year. The car arrived safely back to Design Craft in September from the giant shipping mishap to China. Progress has been slow with Team American members busy with the remainder of the Formula D season, SEMA, the holidays, and new jobs (for several of us ex-Cosworth people). I never did completely finish the coverage on what happened up until we rolled into the shipping container so part 9 will continue directly from part 8.
Project Mustang 5.0 Part 3: Optimizing Weight Transfer and Roll Steer
By Vince Illi
In the last installment, we tightened down Project Mustang 5.0's chassis with Whiteline sway bars and strut bracing, dramatically increasing its tarmac-holding capability and making the chassis much less prone to being "upset" in quick transitions such as slaloms.
The Ultimate Guide to Suspension and Handling Part IX: It's All in the Geometry - The Roll Center
In the first parts of our suspension series we have covered basic suspension stuff. Now it's time to bury ourselves in tuning suspension geometry. Geometry tuning is a step above the usual bolt on street parts. Making changes on this fundamental level is what racecar and suspension engineers do for a living, but we've found that with the more popular cars in this market there are parts available to help with these mods. Some of you are also advanced enough to experiment with this as well.
Sneak Peek: Craig Gibbs 1970 Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle, a timeless car that is popular to this day despite its early and rather, evil, beginnings. The Volkswagen was supposed to be the "People's Car" and hippies loved them. Then the car nerds got a hold of one and found out they made a great jack of all trades car. From Baja to Sand Drags, from drag racing to road racing. "Bugs," as they are affectionately known, are the most versatile cars on the planet. This story will be one of versatility, as you'll soon discover this Bug has lived many lifetimes even while under the care of its second owner, Craig Gibbs, Technical Manager from Garrett Turbo. Yep, it's got a turbo, too.
OFF-TRACK: Ruger 1022 Buildup - Making a Match Grade .22!
Judging by the people we hang around with in the car industry, it seems like about 90% of car nuts in our circle are also into guns so we decided to do a little write up on one of our gun projects. This is a purely for fun tech story and we would never politicize our interest. We are not doomsday preppers, nor are we fantasizing about smoking zombies, but we do like target shooting and higher performance in the stuff we do. We figured that our readers would like to see what we did to turn a Ruger 1022 into a tack driving paper puncher.
Project Scion FR-S Part 2- Uncorking the exhaust with Greddy
The more time we spend behind the wheel of Project Scion FR-S, the more dear it is becoming to our hearts. This car is really fun to drive. What really puts a damper on things is that it simply just doesn't have enough power. If power is the FR-S's weak point then that's what we are going to address first. To help us get more power, we turned to our friends at Greddy who supplied us with their new Evo 3 exhaust for our evaluation.
Nerd's Eye View – SEMA Edition 2012, Part II
SEMA isn't just for tuner cars (which we checked out in Part I). Some heavy duty race hardware shows up along with big budget OEM projects. The OEMs have gotten into the business of making tuner performance parts too and come to SEMA to show them off. Let's have a look at what can be built with big OEM and professional race team resources.
Project GD STI- Getting it Slowed Down with Stoptech
The Subaru GD STI comes with pretty good brakes from the factory, big Brembo 4 piston front and 2 piston rear calipers squeeze big vented rotors. In other words the stock brakes are already quite good, what would have been state of the art just a few years ago. This means we would have to be careful when it comes to modding them, it is easy to mess things up and actually do worse than stock with a poorly engineered brake upgrade. So why would we want to change them out with something else? The main reason is that since our car is going to see some occasional track use, we want to upgrade our brakes so we can drive our car to the track for an event without the hassle of having to switch pads at the track. The big brakes will allow us to run at speed on a streetable brake pad. Bigger more powerful brakes will also be easier to modulate. The third reason is admittedly that big brakes just plain look cool! We went with Stoptech as the brake system of choice for their combination of daily driveability and track performance. We selected Stoptech's Trophy STR big brake kit.
Nerd's Eye View: SEMA Edition 2012, Part I
Mediocre Photos by fresh Khiem Dinh
Crappy Photos by SEMA induced sleep deprived, overly caffeinated Khiem Dinh
SEMA 2012 is now in the books and it was PACKED. I think it might be some new record for the number of booths and cars in attendance. A previously unused parking lot was full of show cars and trailers. Registration had to be moved to make space for more booths. There was so much cool stuff that I'll have to do this in two parts. Part I will cover some parts and cool 'tuner' race cars. Part II will look at some of the professional race car builds.
SEMA 2012 Wrapup
SEMA 2012 invaded the Las Vegas Convention Center this past week. Every year, SEMA unveils the top cars, products, and trends to salivating auto enthusiasts. Follow MotoIQ around as we try to survive the hypermiler foot race during the day and the liver challenging networking at night. Get out your dirty sock - I'm about to recap SEMA for our MIQ readers.
Extreme Engine Tech: 2JZ-GTE; Part 1 - More Strength, Less Weight
Known as one of the badest blocks that ever left an assembly line, the 2JZ-GTE found in the MKIV Supra is known for its ability to handle horsepower. Unable to contain ourselves, we build one, and make it even stronger. We start by discussing our piston and rod selection. The goal? A streetable 800 whp, daily-driven!
Project Gen 3STi: Testing the COBB Intake with Some Anti-Bling
Welcome to WCOB radio... all Cobb Tuning All the time... OK so yeah... the last few installments of Project GR have sounded like the making of a Cobb Tuning radio station! Well quite frankly every time we get the car to a certain point power wise we talk to our friends at Cobb and they tell us we should "try the SF Intake, it's a trick bit of kit and you will love it..." OK so our arms get twisted and we wind up with Cobb's SF Intake and Airbox along with a slew of Cobb goodies to look the part. In this installment we will be testing the SF intake and airbox along with showcasing the e-tune possibilities with the Cobb AccessPORT.
Wrench Tips #32: Precision for Pennies
by Dave Coleman
Project S2000: Phase 2, More Grip
"Where has Project S2000 been" do you say? I've been having fun and driving the piss out of it. I had completed Phase 1 of the build which was to make a fast, reliable, and uncompromised daily driven street car that could be driven at the track without fear of breaking anything. Well, the car is no longer my daily driver, so I have decided to commence with Phase 2. A Porsche GT3RS is my philosophical car build benchmark; while it CAN be driven on the street, it's not exactly a car that you would want to daily drive as it introduces compromises to DD duties in order to improve track performance. Phase 2, Step 1 = more grip and protecting the engine against increased lateral Gs.
20 miles west of Salzburg, Austria is the Red Bull Museum. Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz has amassed a huge collection of F1 race cars and Flying Bulls aircraft. They are on display in a hangar that looks more like artwork, nestled at the bed of the Austrian Alps. This isn't just a car collection. It also houses an art gallery, lounges and bars, and even a Michelin starred restaurant. And the best part of it? It's open to the public- and free!
Wrench Tips #31: Cast Aluminum in a Can
Make your old cast aluminum bits look new again!
Dyno Detectives: Edik Stepanyan's Dyno Results
So, did he do it? Did Edik Stepanyan's DA Integra really pull too much power or was it a fluke? We go to Road Race Engineering to find out just what Edo was really pulling at Sonoma! What did Mike, Martin, and I see that day and what are the consequences? Read on to find out!
Ask Sarah - Dimples on Cars
Why does an "illegal" golf ball travel further than a regulation golf ball? Can this effect be applied to cars, for instance to increase down-force on a wing?
Project Land Speed Racer 240SX: All The Right Gauges
by Stephen Quinn - Photos by Joe Lu and Chuck Johnson
Project GD STI- Keeping Cool with Greddy and Koyo!
At this stage in the modding of Project STI's engine, it is time for us to lay down some base parts to support our plans for more power later. One of the weak points of the Subaru intake tract is its top mount intercooler or interheater as some call it. It is pretty ineffective at cooling the charge air as it sits in a heat chimney right over the engine. It is fed by a large scoop but air only flows through it at speed. This makes for irregular intercooler effectiveness. The top mount intercooler is a legacy of the car's rally heritage where the Subaru engineers wanted to move the intercooler out of harms way. Interestingly enough the last generations of Subaru's WRC car had front mounts.
Two Ways to Skin a Track: Hockenheim
While Jeff and Martin were on Eurotrip Part Deux (in South Park Kyle voice, "you bastards!"), they made a trip to Hockenheim to visit the well-known Hockenheimring for a track day with the team at KW Suspensions. This wasn't any typical track day; it featured lots of heavy duty machinery. Short of a fully-prepped race car, there are two ways to haul serious ass around a track: a high-end exotic or a vehicle designed as a dedicated track toy. Enter the Gumpert Apollo and the KTM X-Bow.
Project Honda Civic EJ: Building the B18C1 Part III
By Chuck Johnson - Photos by Joe Lu
Last we left off, we had just figured out how to improve the rod ratio of Project Civic's B18C1 through the use of a Nissan QR25DE spec rod from K1 Technologies. With the details of this rather strange relationship of Nissan and Honda componenets figured out, it's now time to forever join them in holy matrimony.
Project Camaro Part 1 - Improving Handling with KW Suspension & Whiteline with some Help from Wheel Warehouse!
by Merritt Johnson
When the Chevrolet Camaro was re-introduced into the sports car market it came as no surprise that the industry quickly became saturated with part upgrades for the new model. The upgraded Chevrolet Camaro had available options to satisfy all the muscle car enthusiasts, such as a 6.2L LS3 V8 engine and an aggressive appearance.
Project Nissan 370Z - Keeping it cool with a CSF radiator, HPS Hoses and a Nissan Motorsports Oil Cooler
The Nissan 370Z is a notoriously under cooled car. It has a pretty bad reputation for easily going into overheat limp mode very quickly under track conditions and sometimes even on the street during normal driving in extremely hot conditions. Nissan knows about the problem - 370Z press cars are fitted with oil coolers and diff coolers. Probably Nissan does not want to add to the price of the car and instead relies on cheaper electronic nannies like limp mode to control the engine's and driveline's temps.
MotoIQ Radio: Scoot TV's "Honest Mike" and Justin and Kerryann Discuss Light Weight Cars
By Justin Banner & Kerryann De La Cruz
Exciting show for you Scooter fans! We'll have Scoot TV's Honest Mike call in and we'll talk scooters, mopeds, and the future of small two wheel technology. Then, J-Ban and Kerryann will talk shop about lightweight cars and future automotive technology! Opinion bombs away!
Project Toyota Tundra Part 10- Suspension by King Shocks
When we last left off, we had installed bigger brakes as well as wheels and tires on Project Tundra. The big wheels left us with rubbing problems which we addressed by moving the fender liners and modifying the front crossmember. We wanted to get even more wheel well clearance so we decided to raise our truck slightly. The stock Tundra has a nose down attitude which looks a little funny so we wanted to raise the front of the truck by about an inch. We did not want to build a Metal Mulisha bro mobile, just raise our truck a little and improve handling if we could.
To do this we decided to get a set of King Offroad coilover OEM replacement shocks. The King shocks were designed to maximize performance on a stock truck at close to the stock ride height. The King Shocks were designed to run at the stock rear ride height while raising the front about 3".
Sneak Peek: Michele Abbate's 2012 Scion tC
What do you get with a tenacious young driver and a well built car? You get Michele Abbate and the Gruppe-S 2012 Scion tC! While she has proven herself as a driver thus far in the 2012 MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship, what did it take to make her 2012 Scion tC capable of getting her to this point? We dive in, head first, in this heavy-weight car and will also show you why it's actually more attainable than at first blush!
Project Husqvarna TE610 Part 6: Horsepower and Handlebars
This might be a record among MotoIQ projects for number of articles before engine work to improve performance. Reliability and durability were higher priorities, but the TE610's stock silencer is big, a bit heavy and leaves some performance on the table without being really quiet. Plus, we wanted to clean up some rideability issues.
Refresh Your Brakes With Stoptech's Sport Kit
Usually at MotoIQ we evaluate brake systems that make a big difference on our project cars, bigger rotors, calipers and pads are the norm. These are brake systems that are great for big power cars, with big sticky tires or cars that often see track use.
These brake mods are not for everyone. If you have a car that sees sporting driving but not necessarily track use, have mild mods or perhaps you don't do braking intensive driving events like drifting or autocross and don't want to have the expense of a big brake system but could still stand to upgrade your brakes, a simple solution exists.
Story by Eric Hsu, MotoIQ photos by Jeff Naeyaert, other photos by NEMO Racing
In Part 1 we covered a little of the history behind Chris Eaton and the NEMO Racing EVO, some of the build process, and the car's exterior features including the balls out aero. This time in Part 2, we'll cover what's going on inside and some of the awesome details that makes this EVO the fastest Time Attack EVO in the world.
Project Nissan 370Z- Kinetix Racing Suspension, Enkei Wheels and Continental Tires
In our last edition of Project Nissan 370Z, we installed a basic suspension with KW V3 coilovers and Whiteline sway bars. To continue to develop our car into a dual purpose track/daily driver we needed to add some more adjustability to the suspension, we had to get more negative camber in the front and less in the rear. We also had to get more rubber on the road.
To achieve this we added some adjustable suspension links from Kinetix and some super light Enkei PF01 wheels with Continental Extreme Contact DW Tires.
TESTED: HANS Adjustable and Sparco Harness
Racing is hazardous to your health. With a helmet on, one of the most immediate dangers to your continued existence on this planet is a basilar skull fracture. I, like most out there, prefer my neck to stay unbroken, so I went in search of an SFI 38.1 compliant device and harness built specifically for it. Luckily, HANS and Sparco had something available that had higher expectations than me.
Project GD STI- Keeping Cool and Protected with 3M Crystalline Tint and Protective Film
Project GD STI is a daily driver that we put a lot of miles on, from driving to our daily appointments, to the office and to the track on the weekends. Just in case you didnt know this, Southern California is a hot area, desert really, with a lot of sun exposure and all tracks around here are in the pit of the earth, really in the desert!
Project 240SX Land Speed Racer: The Sheet Metal Whisperer
Nerd's Eye View: 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish
On my last foray down to Cars and Coffee in Irive, California, Aston Martin brought out a fleet of cars along with the upcoming 2014 Vanquish. Better yet, Aston brought along a cutaway of the car showing off all the bits and pieces usually hidden by paint and interior panels. Some of the notable features are the aluminum frame, all carbon fiber body, and 6.0L V12 residing under the hood. It's the little details which ring up the price on this beauty to almost $300k. Here is a closer look at the nitty gritty stuff.
Tested: RS-R's Ran-Up Oil Treatment, Power in a Bottle
"Mike, MotoIQ has to try our Ran-Up oil treatment", RS-R's John Masuda would say to me every time I saw him over the past year. "It gives you 5-12 more whp in our testing and I really want you to try it". Yeah right I would think. Sounds too good to be true.
Turbosmart Time Attack FC RX-7
The FC is the middle child in the RX-7 family meaning it doesn't get quite as much love as the other two. The 1st generation FB was a pure sports car that really introduced the rotary to North America while the 3rd generation FD was (and still is almost 20 years after its introduction) sex on wheels. The FC was designed to be a little softer than the FB, but it was still a better performance car all around with an independent rear suspension and rack and pinion steering. Of course, you could also buy the FC with boost! For the 2011 World Time Attack Challenge, the boys down under at Turbosmart decided to show that the FC is a highly capable car even with a simple build.
Project Toyota Tundra Part 9- Installing TRD's big brakes & Volk Wheels
When we last left off we had just gotten our TRD big brake set and were anticipating installing them on our Project Tundra Supertruck. However our brakes were so big we could not fit them under our forged 17" TRD wheels. It was not even close. Checking with TRD we found that the smallest diameter wheel we could use was a large 20" in diameter wheel.
When we last left off, we had turned our STI into a G machine without giving up much daily driving comfort. Now it was time for us to turn our attention to the engine. The GD STI really responds to very basic tuning.
We have been reviewing the KIWI from PLX devices for the last few months. The KIWI is a device that allows you to wirelessly monitor your car's OBDII functions via your smartphone. There are plenty of options to do this if you have an iPhone but the KIWI works well with your Droid. Since many of us don't do iPhones, the KIWI is a product we have been waiting for..
Sneak Peek: Edik Stepanyan's DA Acura Integra
It's running away from you, that little, old DA Acura Integra. It's got to be cheating, there is no way your car, with a bigger engine and the same power to weight ratio is losing! Or is there? We take you into the machine that has nearly dominated both rounds of the MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship and shows that sometimes it is what is in the car that counts the most.
Nerd's Eye View: Ducati 1199 Panigale
I love sport bikes. Why? They are pretty much the only track-ready vehicle you can buy straight off the showroom floor. They come with fully adjustable suspension, sticky tires, lightweight this, titanium that… you get the picture. Sure, you can buy some very high performance cars, but the only one that I can think of that's street-legal and truly a track-ready vehicle is the 2008-2010 Dodge Viper ACR (which happens to come with fully adjustable KW Suspension, Brembo brake calipers and StopTech brake rotors). Back to the subject at hand, this is Ducati 1199 Panigale a friend brought over. Being an engineer, I like to geek out over stuff, especially high-end Italian machinery. Keep in mind this is just the base model Panigale (which retails for about $17.5K), but Ducati is to motorcycles what Ferrari is to cars; I wouldn't kick out a base model Ferrari 458 from my driveway. If you want to know the specs on the bike, you can do an internet search. I'm just here to point out stuff I thought was cool. So on with the close-up through the eyes of a nerd.
Rotary Radness, Mazdatrix's 13B REW/MSP Hybrid!
So far we have not focused too much attention on the Mazda Rotary engine on the pages of MotoIQ. This is not because we haven't wanted to but because no one on our staff has much expertise on the engine except for Eric and he has been pretty busy lately doing other things in the world of internal combustion besides messing on rotaries.
Event Coverage: Formula SAE Lincoln
By David Zipf
Photos by David Zipf & Luisa Sawyer
Last year we showed you what goes into a basic Formula SAE car (courtesy of the University of Delaware). At the time, a number of readers asked why there was no coverage of the actual competitions. Well I had planned to do so, but unfortunately I had my head so buried under that car that I never actually got around to seeing most of the events. This year I made a point of going to as much as I could to try and cover some of what goes on.
Project Miatabusa part 16: What's That Noise?
There's a complicated string of excuses explaining why you haven't heard from this project in a while. They involve lots of things that have nothing to do with Miatabusas, like buying 90-year old homes, filming zombie movies and machining medical devices, but there was one car-related issue that contributed to this big delay: a horrible, horrible noise.
By Eric Hsu
Mike did a great job covering the build while I was unable to write because I was busy managing the car, team, and build and actually working on the car itself. From part 8 and on, I'll be taking over Beyond the Dyno once again. The car is on the slow boat to Australia, but for now I'll cover some of the things the team and I were doing at Cosworth.
Tested: Trackmaster by Trackaroo
By Vince Illi
Data acquisition is a great way to become a better and faster driver. It lets you know what and where you need to improve and can help you determine exactly what the benefits and drawbacks of tuning are. That's why professional race teams spend thousands of dollars on high-end data acquisition equipment. Amateurs have access to less-expensive data acquisition equipment, but a budget racer might have to choose between a set of track tires or a data logging box.
In the last installment of Project GD Subaru STI, we set about replacing our car's worn out bushings, ball joints and tie rods with some trick stuff from Whiteline. We also reduced the anti geometry in our front suspension and raised our front roll center while making everything fully camber adjustable. For this edition we will finish our suspension by adding some high performance KW Clubsport coilovers, some chassis reinforcement and some Advan wheels with sticky Falken 615K tires.
Its been a long time since we last visited Project Tundra. Our super truck has been performing admirable duty around MotoIQ headquarters as our company workhorse. It has been towing cars around, toting go karts and hauling parts for the past year without complaint. Our Supercharged Tundra has been flawless in performance and reliability even getting slightly better than stock fuel economy.
On the other side of the world is a lush green island with some of the brightest minds and most creative people in the world. They gave the world the Beatles, the universal joint, the Rolling Stones, Cosworth, the Smiths, Aston Martin, the wind tunnel, James Bond, bangers and mash, stainless steel, Depeche Mode, black pudding and of course, fish and chips. England is the little island that's given the world quite a bit. Now (or actualy several years ago in WRC), they give us external combustion anti-lag technology. Well they haven't quite given it to the world yet, but here it is in the first working street driven Subaru STi that belongs to my buddy Ben who's the best engine calibration engineer that I know.
The GD Subaru STI is an iconic tuner car. The platform is highly developed and can easily generate supercar like performance for a really low price. It is a well developed platform which has been raced in nearly every form from road racing to rally. A lot of development means that there are plenty of high quality parts available off the shelf for the car making it an exciting candidate for project car greatness.
When we last left off Costa Gialamas and his crew were pounding away to get Matt's car done by the Formula D season opener at Long Beach. Due to some last minute delays in getting sponsorship dollars in place the work to construct the car had gotten a late start leaving the GTI Technical Innovations crew little time to build a complete car. It was a huge challenge to get a sophisticated competition car built in just a few weeks but Costa and the gang buckled down and dug in. Here is part 4 of the build.
By Mike Kojima and Eric Hsu
The clock is tearing itself through the calendar and there is only a week left before Team America's ARK Design BNR32 is scheduled to be loaded into a shipping container bound for Australia. Eric and the crew are determined to make it but personally I have my doubts. I have never seen a car this complex be built in such a short time for such a low budget.
Hooker Headers Nissan S Chassis LS Swap Headers and Motor Mounts
Hooker Headers has been a name that has been long associated with good old Detroit iron. Lately it seems that Hooker has noticed the trend of blending American muscle with Japanese chassis, especially the popular swap of putting an LS engine in the Nissan S chassis.
Improving a Pony Car's Handling - Part 1: Suspension Adjustability on a Budget
Apparently I'm weird. (I just told you something you didn't already know, right?) MotoIQ people think I'm nuts for driving a domestic vehicle with too many cylinders under the hood. Fellow Mustang owners think I'm nuts for racing my car around corners. Road Racers think I'm nuts for dodging cones in parking lots and calling it "autocross" instead of a "driver's license exam."
Project Frankenmiata - The Ultimate Coolant Re-Route
Our Frankenmiata makes almost double the stock power output, and can endurance race in 100+ degree weather with the coolant temp staying under 200 degrees. In more civilized weather, it often stays below 180. There's some magic in our cooling system that I'm going to reveal now for the first time. Of course, this is the first time because I've been too lazy to do it before, not because it's some big secret. Still, it sounds more impactful when I use that "first time" line, doesn't it?
Project Husqvarna TE610 Part 5: Dual Sport Adventure Bike Day Trips
The Husky has been getting more miles on it and has received a little love to make day trips safer, more comfortable and more convenient. A fresh battery, a new and improved seat and just a little bit of carrying capacity make the bike all-day capable, as long as there's gas in it.
When we last left off, we had just installed KW Variant 3 coilovers on our car with some superlight Volk G2 wheels and sticky Nitto NT05 tires. The wheels had a pretty awesome fitment filling the wheelwells nicely without being too radical for fully practical everyday driving. Now it was time to finish setting up the chassis. We wanted to make the car capable of doing some track work without sacrificing ride comfort, daily driveability or tire life.
Team America World Time Attack - ARK Design's BNR32 Skyline GT-R Part 6
By Mike Kojima and Eric Hsu
So much has happend on the car that it was a bit much to go over it all on one sitting so here is part 2 exactly one day later. We will take the story up where we left off before.
Engine Downsizing and Turbos: More MPG and More Power?!
In an extremely rare instance, government regulations have actually made two seemingly conflicting goals both better. "To have one's cake and eat it too" as they would say. With rising fuel costs and environmental concerns, regulatory bodies across the world are demanding reduced fuel consumption and lower emissions. Previously, this would imply smaller engines with reduced horsepower; two things counter to the wants of performance enthusiasts. Enter the modern turbocharged engine. Through turbocharging, engines can now deliver a wider torque curve, more power, and substantially improved fuel economy. The fuel economy gains are through engine downsizing and downspeeding. We're going to show you how turbos achieve all of these goals.
Extreme Engine Tech: Inside the Cosworth VQ35DE Rev-Up! (Part 1)
No, this is not the engine for the Team America BNR32 GT-R Time Attack killer. That engine tech article will be written hopefully by Eric in a few weeks. This is an engine build for a future MotoIQ 350Z project that we will launch sometime late this year.
Project V8 RX-7: Part 12 - The Intake & Moment of Truth! (VIDEO INSIDE)
Welp, the last day of Project V8 RX-7 Week is upon us! If you're a rotary zealot or Vh8er and we've been pissing you off all week, your suffering is almost over my friends! All we've got left is the intake and this son of a bitch should be ready to roll!
Project V8 RX-7: Part 11 - Finishing the Driveline
The end is in sight! Only a couple of things left on the TO DO list and the most glaring is our driveshaft and rear end. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a really big deal; you just get up under the car, take a few measurements and head to your local driveline shop where they can either modify your old driveshaft or build a whole new one. But we've got a few other things in mind!
Project V8 RX-7: Part 10 - Power Steering
We want power steering! Even though our RX-7 is pretty light at 2,843 pounds with 3/4 of a tank of gas (to be exact), doing 3 point turns in the neighborhood or negotiating parking lots sucks. That suckness is compounded by the smaller 330mm Sparco steering wheel we're using. Some argue you get better steering feel at higher speeds without power steering, but the best argument for NOT having power steering in your V8 converted RX-7 is that it's a buttload easier to just plumb a bypass line on your power steering rack and ditch the power steering altogether.
The title picture already gave it away, so I'll save the prose, it's time to build an exhaust! This isn't going to be a sissy grandma exhaust either like on Project G35 whose owner couldn't stand how loud the Berk exhaust they originally installed was… in fact, it's the same folks at Berk that are gonna kick it up a notch and help us make a super bitchin' set of pipes that'll make children cry and leave no question in any Rotard's mind that our dead Wankel was replaced with a big ol' hunk of American Iron aluminum!
Team America World Time Attack - ARK Design's BNR32 Skyline GT-R Part 4
Supposed to be by Eric Hsu, Really by Mike Kojima
In the last segment, Gary Castillo of Design Craft Fabrication was starting to work on the rest of the car's fabrication. With the clock ticking away and a lofty early June completion date looming closer, it was decided to let the gutting of the rear section of the car wait until next year. In my opinion this year will just be a development year for us to get some experience with the car and the World Time Attack format.
Project Gen 3STi: Testing the COBB Down Pipe and Exhaust
When last we left off we were singing the praises of AMS and the Cobb AccessPORT, what we left out was the fact that on the way home from AMS we were already making phone calls for more go fast parts. Yes, I had been in the car for all of 10 minutes enjoying the new found power only to realize that more power was just a phone call away. HMM what should I do next? Easy, free up horsepower through less exhaust restriction. The call was to Cobb and it was to discuss the downpipe in particular. I honestly had no plans to replace the stock exhaust as I am a stick in the mud when it comes to loud street cars and quite frankly every Boxer engine with a fart can sounds like Project 200SX with a blown head gasket... (No really they do).
When we last left off, Matt's crew chief Costa Gialamas had just begun the heavy fabrication and had just about finished the cage. The team's funding had come in quite late from title sponsors and with a late start there were only six weeks to finish the car!
In our last segment we had a look at the entirely new front suspension of the Team America/ARK Design's BNR32 Skyline GT-R. With a tight deadline, Eric can not get around to writing these updates so I am doing them for him. The car is scheduled to be loaded in a container to Australia by early June and the clock is ticking. I don't know how we are going to make it but everyone on the team is cranking in all of their free time.
Project Garage is faced with its biggest job yet- swapping in everything from one car to another. Is it up to the task? Can it stay organized and will it ever be as clean again???
Bash the Bling Barrier! Make carbon fiber parts that are both functional and flaunt-able for less then you might think.
By Alex Vendier
Getting together with some really simple tools and materials one can make useful and attractive parts out of carbon fiber without breaking the bank. Take a look here to see how it's done!
Company Profile: AMS Performance
By Wes Dumalski
AMS Performance... No we are not talking about the knock off CDM version we are talking about the original Automotosport hailing from Chicago Illinois. Truth be told I spent some time at the AMS shop last November and began working on this article. It should have been before your eyes long ago, I should have been able to belt out a piece regaling you with their amazing records in the drag racing, power output, and time attack worlds. I should have been touting their accomplishments in the EVO and GTR worlds. SHOULD is the operative word here. The reality was that I didn't want to write THAT article. Hell every AMS article talks about their accomplishments from 8 Second Evo's and GTR's, to one of the most dominant time attack cars in US history. And while those are the things that AMS is best known for NONE of them would be possible without a key ingredient. That's right I am going to brush those things aside and focus on what makes AMS tick.... PEOPLE.
By Mike Kojima, Photos by Dave Karey
What is as fast as a Smallbore GT race car and cheaper to operate than a Spec Miata? I recently got a call last week from Jackson Stewart, President of 999 Motorsports. Jackson had called to see if I was interested in driving their new Supersport race car. The Supersport is designed to be a user friendly and cheap to maintain purpose built race car that is fast enough to be fun but not so edgy as to be scary. A sort of poor man's Daytona Prototype. We eagerly made the trip down to Willow Springs to give the Supersport a spin.
Finally, we're going to start the fun stuff: upgrades! Having a bike fit you properly makes everything work better and is safer, especially in the dirt. In spite of its overall bigness, the TE610's cockpit is only of average size, and some details are more cramped than typical, so there was work to be done to make it fit this 6'4" guy.
When Car Parts Attack - Drag Racing Safety Equipment
Racers push everything to the limit and often times beyond in their goals of being the fastest. To be the fastest, you have to make power. The more power you make, the more stress you apply to parts causing them to fail. If you want to test the durability of a part, put it in a race car and take it out to the track. What happens when a part does fail? Often times, those parts are spinning really fast meaning they have a lot of kinetic energy. When these parts fail, that energy gets released in every direction. If safety precautions are not taken, a lot of damage and death can be the result. Drag racers are particularly apt at breaking powertrain and drivetrain parts, so we're going to examine a little bit of the physics and have a look at some of the safety measures.
By Duncan Ende
After a four week hiatus – which felt at least twice as long – the American Le Mans Series got back underway for round two on the historic streets of Long Beach, California. While this year's race was only the sixth running of the ALMS race in the famous street circuit, the Long Beach Grand Prix goes all the way back to 1975. It debuted as an F5000 race before hosting Formula 1 and Indycars, making Long Beach second only to Monaco when it comes to historic and prestigious street races the world over, in addition to being the greatest auto racing tradition in California. And on a personal note, as a Los Angeles native and resident, the LBGP is the closest thing I am ever going to have to a home race, so it was even more exciting to get back in the #25 Dempsey/Silicon Tech Racing PC car!
The team and I have been hard at work with ARK Design's BNR32 Skyline GT-R. You may remember this car as the old XS Engineering BNR32 GT-R, but that was the distant past. ARK Design now owns this car and it is being rebuilt from the ground up. Follow us as we convert this car from the glorified street car that it was to the world class Time Attack car that it will become. The team only has until June to have this car built, tested, and loaded into a shipping container for Sydney's 2012 World Time Attack Challenge with a limited budget and limited man power.
TESTED: 2013 Scion FR-S
By Jeff Naeyaert and Steve Rockwood
Nearly every mass-produced car we come across today is governed, designed, regulated, or otherwise manipulated by a committee. As a result, nearly all of them stink. When Toyota and Subaru set out to design the FR-S in 2007, the first thing they did was throw out the committees. Finally, after hearing about this car for seemingly a decade, MotoIQ gets a chance behind the wheel on the track and on the road.
We'll give you the low down on upgrading to an MSD ignition and external coil on a 200SX, converting to metric units on DashCommand software, and what's up with a coolant surge tank/swirl pot system?
Project Land Speed Racer 240SX: KW Suspension
By Chuck Johnson, Photos by Joe Lu
To accomplish our 200 MPH goal, we need a suspension system that can confidently dampen the imperfections of a blemished, dirt and salt covered racetrack. On top of that though, we also need a suspension system that can endure the hostile environments that come with land speed racing.
Project Miatabusa Part 15: AEM Datalogging (& Some RC Plane Parts)
As we inch ever closer to getting Project Miatabusa on a dyno, more and more unfinished business keeps revealing itself. Ok, the car starts and runs now, but it still has lots of disconnected hoses, gauges not working, and untested changes waiting to blow things up.
Testing the Nitto Motivo All Season Ultra High Performance Tire
by Tom Paule
"Hey, want to do some tire testing for Nitto next week?" is what the voice on the phone says. "Hey, want to come with us and shred some tires driving someone else's car" is what I hear. I'm at max vacation days at work, and this is a great excuse to get out of the office, so I say "I'm in – just tell me when to be there." and hung up the phone. The details were to spend a day at Cal Speedway to evaluate three different Nitto tires with fellow drivers Formula D pilot Mike Essa and the incomparable Tyler McQuarrie, putting the Nitto NT05s, Invos and all new All Season Motivos through some very tough courses to evaluate each at their limits.
The new Focus has finally brought Ford the sport compact they had been looking for since the introduction of the Focus over a decade ago. Eager to get a head start on the platform, COBB Tuning partnered with Ford to build up a Focus SE to turn some hot laps as a Modified class time attack car. Take a look with us inside the COBB Tuning Focus.
VIDEO: Blowin' Up Garrett Turbos
No this is not a problem with Garrett turbochargers but an example of Garrett's suburb OEM level engineering. A turbo can spin at up to 250,000 rpm. That's right two hundred and fifty THOUSAND rpm. A turbo is also a powerful turbine machine that can generate over 100 hp in some applications. When you combine revs and stress you potentially have yourself a pretty mean food processor spinning in your car. You don't want it spinning through your car.
Matt Powers' 2012 Formula D Ride Part 2
In our first article we showed you how Matt Powers Crew Chief and fabricator Costa Gialamas prepped the Nissan S14 chassis for its conversion to pro drift car spec. Now we watch as Costa shows the right way to build a cage.
In 2011 Walker Wilkerson blasted out of the Pacific Northwest and took the Pro Drifting world by storm. The 21 year old college kid sponsored mainly by his family was able to make his mark as a privateer in the most competitive and hard fought Formula D season in history. With his spectacular reverse entry driving style, Walker clutch kicked his powerful but pipey SR20DET powered S13 through the season.
Find out what happens when we make our own exhaust out of coffee cans, an intake from dryer hose, a roll cage from PVC pipe, inject whipped cream in our engine instead of nitrous oxide, and more!
Check out the CyberEVO the way nobody's covered it before. If you're an EVO owner, you can see how the Cyber team built this car and pretty much repeat what they did. There's nothing too drastic on this car and it's really just a combination and the total package that makes the car as fast as it is.
Project Gen 3 STi: Testing the COBB AccessPORT
As it turns out owning a project car is not easy! First and foremost these are real cars owned by real people that pay for them with their own money. Life as well as vehicle practicality and reliability have ways of getting in the way of project car progress and/or completion. Take our Gen 3 GR STi project for example... We had had the car repainted, put back to stock all just so we could start fresh. OK so that is a total lie, the real story is that the previous project car was sold by the owner after blowing up it's totally stock motor on more than one occasion...
Revenge of the Nerd - The Consultant, Helping Fast GT-R's go Even Faster!
I am lucky enough to get to work with some of the best people and companies in the industry as a consultant, usually in the field of suspension design and set up. A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from the folks at Greddy Performance Products and KW Suspension to help with an effort to break the 1/4 mile record for a street driven full body R35 Nissan GT-R.
Company Profile - Radium Engineering
noun: obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit.
Shit, I could use the above to describe just about every article I have ever written. But the reality is that when I first laid my eyes on the offerings of Radium Engineering, PORN was the first thing that came to mind. In the current sea of inferior parts to lay gaze on the products that Radium proudly engineers, prototypes, and builds here in the States is nothing short of inspiring!
In 2011 Matt Powers battled to seventh place in the Formula D points standing in his Nissan S14 240SX. The old 240 had served Matt well being his street car and gradually evolving from a street drift, to amateur drifting, to Pro Am and finally Formula D pro competition.
Project Miatabusa #14: The Home Stretch!
Hope you enjoyed yesterday's tasty donuts. Now here are a bunch of details that have delayed the making of stinky donuts
Project Miatabusa Part 13: Sweet Sounds and Donuts!
Project Miatabusa has been dragging on for a long time. So long, that our comment section is filling up with impatient demands to hear this baby run and see some donuts. Well ok, then...
Physics Lesson - Calculating Torque and Power From Datalogs
The motion of cars is ruled by physics, so using some basic physics and data enables us to calculate cool things. Everyone likes cool things right? The modern automobile has electronics that gives us the ability to gather useful data letting us calculate useful things. In this case, we're going to calculate torque and horsepower making ourselves a virtual dyno.
The Ultimate No-Budget Race Transporter
By Alex Vendler
You won't believe how cheaply you can outfit a used box truck to become a really useful race transporter. Master of the outside the box freebie, Alex Vendler, blows minds with his ghetto fabulous race car transport rig. For less money than an equivilanty sized enclosed trailer you can have so much more. Read on....
We Can Rebuild It!
By Frank Ewald
It was the last day of the Ontario Time Attack season and the competition was at the Shannonville Motorsport Park's Long track. We'd been up the night before adjusting the timing and finally getting the car to perform, as evidenced by the fact that Katie had just caught and passed a Corvette. Then she pulled off to the side and parked. No noise. No smoke. It was just a graceful glide to a stop...
Annie's Civic had seen tons of street and track miles, over 200,000 miles since she had completed her B series swap years ago. Her clutch had begun to slip probably 3 years ago and she had been nursing it along for this long as she was too busy with other car projects to take care of it. With this many miles we felt that it was probably prudent to open up the transmission just to inspect the insides and take care of any issues before bolting it up to her renewed engine pushing much more power.
By Aaron LaBeau
Without a doubt the stage of adding all the little components to a major modification is the part where you can really blow your project over budget. It's also one of the most frustrating aspects because every unique piece must work in conjunction and be reliable. We did our homework and researched what we thought the best parts for the value were while noting our strict requirements for this project. We'll try not to make this article a boring parts list.
In the first segment of Project 370Z we worked with AEM to evaluate the awesome ETI cold air intake. Since our car is going to be focused on streetable track performance, we next turned our attention to the suspension. The first and most critical parts of any track worthy suspension build are the swaybars, dampers and springs.
Project Garage, Part VII: Garage Tools
A good garage space is useless without an effective collection of tools. From sockets to ratchets, screwdrivers to wrenches, check out what keeps Project Garage stocked with everything it needs for all kinds of car projects.
FIGHT ON, SC - Building Formula D Driver Robbie Nishida's Bridges Racing Achilles Tire Lexus, Part 1
By Bob Hernandez
Entering its ninth season, the competitive ranks of the Formula DRIFT pro series are pretty top heavy when it comes to talent, and we're not just talking about the rock stars in the driver's seat. Many accomplished fabricators, engine builders, and all manner of car constructor have gravitated to the sport as it's grown in popularity. A team lines up the right elements – that is, an adaptable ace driver in a well-built, well-prepared car under savvy team management – and they put themselves in a favorable position to nab podiums, victories, even championships.
The team and I have been hard at work with ARK Design's BNR32 Skyline GT-R. You may remember this car as the old XS Engineering BNR32 GT-R, but that was the distant past. ARK Design now owns this car and it is being rebuilt from the ground up. Follow us as we convert this car from the glorified street car that it was to the world class Time Attack car that it will become. The team only has until June to have this car built, tested, and loaded into a shipping container for Sydney's 2012 World Time Attack Challenge with a limited budget and limited man power. One last thing: this will be the last time you will see an RB26 in it and the last time you'll see this car blue.
Basic Drift Chassis Setup Part 3
Alignment is one of the most important things in getting your drift car to handle correctly and a subject that is mangled quite a bit on internet forums. It is important to make your alignment adjustable. In the case of you having a popular car like a Nissan S chassis you can get adjustable front tension rods, rear toe, traction and camber links all off the shelf from companies like SPL Parts and Battle Version. If you have cars with MacPherson struts in the front, you can often get camber plates. Ground Control Suspension has camber plates for many different cars.
Project S2000 – Hondata KPro Gives More Power and Better Power
Power delivery is an important characteristic in being able to go quickly; just ask any motorcycle racer where they only have one tire contact patch to put down the power. The S2000's one fault is a poor power delivery curve due to the VTEC engagement. I hate the VTEC engagement and the resulting torque spike which hurts drivability. It is not fun being WOT coming out of a corner and having the torque spike hit. Therefore, my goal was to reduce the spike by changing the VTEC engagement point to smooth out the torque curve and I needed a way to tune the car to meet my goal. The Hondata KPro system met my requirements for the job.
More so than with any other vehicle I've experienced, it's proven necessary to strip all the covers off the Husqvarna TE610 and inspect everything, top to bottom. Every detail is an opportunity for a problem, and buying a brand-new bike would only have gotten us off the hook for a few parts and maybe an oil change. No one part of it took much time or money, but it all needed to be done.
Project Starletabusa #3: Sitting in the Cheap Seats
Project Starletabusa grows a pair! Of seats that is. Take a close look at one way to end up with some pretty nice lightweight sport seats for next to nothing cost wise. Look here if you want to learn about foam, fabric and hog rings. Even if your car already has nice seats here are some good tips on how to make them a bit better.
We had last left our Project 350Z with much improved braking at the track with a big brake kit and other parts from Stoptech. After her last on track foray at Buttonwillow, Sera reported to us that her 350Z was having trouble laying down power out of the turns. On the gas her car wanted to drift immediately which was limiting how hard she could apply the throttle on corner exit. The corner exit drift was not smooth but twitchy as well. When drifting with stock tires, her car was not so bad but with the forces generated by big sticky NT01's the suspension's bushings were getting overworked causing toe changes, hurting the car's stability.
Angry Hamster EVO II: Holy Crap, I Drove it
(and now I'm deaf)
Project Infiniti G20 Racecar: Even More Power
In kid's soccer, everyone gets a trophy, regardless of finishing order. No winners, no losers. Motorsports, on the other hand, is completely defined by whether you're winning or losing. Unfortunately, our normally aspirated SR20 was not so mighty when compared to the other MPTCC cars, so we forced some air down its throat in the hopes of finally getting some hardware.
Turbo Tech: Compressor and Turbine Map Details
We have previously covered compressor wheel technology and also how compressor and turbine maps are generated. Now we are going to dive a little deeper into the details of the compressor map and all-mysterious turbine map. Furthermore, we are going to see how compressor wheel and turbine housing A/R changes affect turbine flow and efficiency.
Back on December 10 last year, I took a short trip with Tarzan in his right hand drive PT Cruiser to Fuji Speedway so he could spend the afternoon testing the Greddy 35RX on the world famous Fuji Speedway. Greddy's goal was to hit 338kmh at the end of Fuji's front straight. But would Tarzan be able to do it with the new Bensopra body kit? A short feature on the car and that afternoon at Fuji with plenty of pics after the jump.
I've heard of spraying a head gasket with copper spray. Is there a greater benefit to using a solid copper head gasket?
When we last left off, our Project Trailer was just starting to take shape with the main layout of the framework in place. As the project progresses, Shadow Trailers is continuing to add features to make our trailer more convenient for us to use. Check it out as our super single car hauler comes together.
Project Frankenmiata: Failure is ALWAYS an Option
Wanna see what happens when an engine eats a screw? Wanna know how to fix a head gasket with JB weld? Wanna know what a Mexican Dodge Stratus and a U.S. Subaru WRX have in common? Ever wondered if an engine with a thrown rod can still be driven? Start reading.
In our last edition of Project 350Z, we upgraded our Wheels and Tires to Motegi TrakLitesand Nitto NT01's. When Sera went back to the track she reported much more grip and good basic balance, which complemented the Whiteline Swaybars and KW Clubsports we had previously installed. Now it was time for a Stoptech big brake upgrade.
Since we opened up the back part of our exhaust with Greddy's 85mm in diameter RS catback exhaust system, it was natural to next look for a better downpipe. After evaluating what was on the market, we decided to use the AMS Wide Mouth because of several unique design features which we felt made it stand out above the rest.
Project Starletabusta- Looking Back at Some Backyard Bodywork and Paint
By: Alex Vendler
DIY Paintjob? It can be done but it's really not for the weak or the impatient. Here our Starlet takes on a new skin and it's owner loses some of his during the process. Read on and see where he went wrong and right.
Become an Automotive Tomb-Raider of the Highest Order.
A simple how to on getting the most out of the self service automotive junkyard. Why you can't afford not to shop at these vast expanses of car part opportunity.
By Khiem Dnih
It started off like any other chat conversation (note: actual words may have been modified from the original text in order to fit the screen and time allotment)
Khiem: Yo Martin, what's happenin man?
Martin: Workin. What's up with you?
Khiem: I need to take the S2k out for a track day in cold weather.
Martin: Oh yeah? I need to take the SE-R out. Speed Trial USA has a day coming up at Streets.
Khiem: Perfect! How much power does that SE-R make...
As outlined in Part 1, if a Husqvarna TE610 matches the description of the bike you want, then there really isn't any other bike that does. Things didn't go the way I expected when I got the Husky home to my garage and started going over it. The plan was to get the bike home, change the oil, clean the air filter and chain, and go ride. But with the grease and dirt removed, I could actually see the chain guide. There was work to do.
Project 370Z: Part 1 - Testing the AEM ETI Cold Air Intake
(Video Inside!)
Part 2 of the Garage Revolution's Time Attack FD is after the jump. Since Jeff took over 800 pictures of this car, we had to pick the best of them and split the story into two parts. If you want to build the ultimate time attack car, study the following pages carefully and absorb the buffness that is the Garage Revolution FD RX-7.
Project G20 Racecar: AEM AQ-1 Data Logger Install
My memory is horrible. Outside of which landmarks to aim for, my recollection of what I just did to nail that last corner just right is downright absent, and I couldn't really even tell you if it actually was nailed just right. Peak coolant temp on that last session? Hell if I know, seemed fine when I bothered to look at it. A/F ratios? The guy behind me said I shot flames on decel, so rich would be my guess. Intake temps? No clue. The fact is, there's a lot going on inside a racecar, and it requires a whole hell of a lot more of my attention than I can give. Enter the AEM AQ-1 Data Logger.
Project Evo X GSR- Testing the Greddy RS Catback Exhaust System
Project V8 RX-7: Part 7 - Bringing the E-ROD LS3 to Life! (Almost)
Now that we've checked "mount the engine and transmission" off our E-ROD LS3 swap checklist we can turn our attention to all the little things needed to get our RX-7 on the road. What's left? We need a fuel pump, cooling system, shifter, driveshaft, exhaust and we still have all the wiring left to do. In this episode, we figure we can tackle the fuel and cooling systems as well as the wiring before we put you to sleep. Let's get to work!
TESTED: Goodyear Eagle RS Competition Tire
The most important part of a race car, and likely the largest expense you'll have in any given racing weekend, is tires. As a result, I want to make those expensive gumballs last as long as possible without going slow. In the never ending game of rubberized trade-offs, we installed a set of Goodyear Eagle RS DOT R-compound tires on Project G20 Racecar.
Building the Long Rod Nissan SR20VE Engine
By Mike Kojima and Chuck Johnson
We last left off our SR20VE engine repair job with Port flow Design fixing our head. Read about that here! Since our broken valve chopped up one of our pistons, we decided to go through the engine's bottom end at this time. Since we have been editorially discussing the effects of running a longer connecting rod at MotoIQ lately, what a better place to try a longer connecting rod than our race motor! Check out Khiem Dinh's excellent article on the subject here!
If you were at the Long Beach Grand Prix this last weekend, you would have seen Brandon Davis win the World Challenge Race in his GT class ACS Express Ford Mustang Cobra. Brandon, the 2009 WC GT Champion, drove a controlled race and careful drive to victory. We were lucky enough to be able to get a close look at the car during last year's Sonoma segment of the Redline Time Attack series and can now share some of the car's details with you. A lot about the car is secret but we gleaned a lot from looking closely at what we were allowed to see.
The 2011 Formula D pre season is heating up and we are getting in a bunch of last minute coverage on some of the new builds that we can get access to. Last week we showed you an early look at Dai Yoshihara's Team Falken/ Discount Tire car coming together at SPD Metal Works. Now let us take you on a technical tour of the completed car as we caught up to it at Falken's pre season testing at Willow Springs Balcony.
For an earlier view of Dai's car under construction check here!
The Ultimate Handling Guide Part VIII: Understanding Your Caster, King Pin Inclination and Scrub
Understanding what caster does and how to use it is a powerful tool in the box of a suspension tuner. Since caster is not adjustable on nearly all FWD cars and usually not adjustable for many late model cars as well, we saved its discussion until now. Discussions of caster pertain to the front suspension only as caster comes into play as steering angle is induced.
Dave Coleman gave you a sneak look inside GM's Pratt and Miller built C6.R GT1 cars when he was at LeMans. We also happened to get a close look at the ALMS GT version of the cars when we were in the pits at the Long Beach Grand Prix in April. Although the Le Mans GT1 and ALMS GT cars look identical to the untrained eye they are actually pretty different machines under the skin.
Text by Eric Hsu and photos by Jeff Naeyaert.
Finishing in 3rd place at the 2011 World Time Attack in Sydney, Australia makes the Garage Revolution FD3S RX-7 the world's fastest time attack RX-7. Without a doubt, this car is also the world's nicest RX-7 road race build to date having been designed and built around sound race car principles and not the usual JDM hype. Even the engine program was developed in house on GR's own in house engine dynamometer. After the jump you can see for yourself that no detail was overlooked.
A Tech Look Under the Scion FR-S!
Recently the Scion FR-S or Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ has been officially unveiled to the motoring public. Most of the stuff about the car on the web has been pretty pictures and cool videos of Ken Gushi sliding around in the rain. Now that the first close to production Scion FR-S's have been officially rolled out and press embargos have been lifted we will give you a technical look at the car's underpinnings with some engineering commentary.
Wrench Tips #30: Finding Oil Leaks Using Fluorescent Goo
Finding the origin of an oil leak can be a pain in the ass. By the time you even notice you have a leak, the stuff has spread itself all over the engine leaving little hint as to where it came from. If you could turn back the clock and watch the stuff leak out, it would be easy, but how?
Turbo Tech: Generating Compressor and Turbine Maps
Compressor and turbine maps are the spec sheets for a turbocharger. They characterize the performance of a turbocharger allowing engineers to properly choose the correct combination of wheels and housings for their particular application. Compressor and turbine maps for a turbocharger are the equivalent of a dyno sheet for an engine; the maps and dyno sheet provide performance information over a wide range of operating conditions. In the same way engines need specialized equipment to get a dyno sheet, turbochargers also need specialized equipment to generate compressor and turbine maps.
Project Frankenmiata: Salvaging The Chassis
Like every good story (assuming Star Wars is every good story), this one started in the middle, ran through to what seemed like a pretty satisfying end, disappeared for a while, and is now starting back up at the beginning. Confused? That's how we like it.
Well over a year ago I put this little "coming soon" lie up next to this story in the Frankenmiata geek hub. And then I pretty much forgot about it. You can thank the persistent nagging of our fine reader 8695Beaters for getting me off my ass to finally explain where this car came from.
Doin' WORK! The Jim Wolf Technology Nissan Valve Tool
When working with Nissan Dual Over Head Cam (DOHC) Heads, removing the valve springs and keepers can be quite a challenge. That's where the Jim Wolf Technology Nissan Valve Spring Removal Tool comes into play! How does it work and how much easier does it make working the Nissan DOHC Heads? "Doin' WORK" will show you how!
by Alex Vendler
It's happened to all of us. You park your car and head to your destination only to return and find that another motorist violated Newton's law about two objects inhabiting the same space at the same time. Crunch. Now what? Insurance kills you if you make a claim, and modern base/clear paint jobs can only be repaired by painting the whole panel. That's 4 figures minimum if you use a decent body shop.
Welcome to Project Starletabusa!
Teaching a junkyard dog some new tricks. Giving this long forgotten gem some much needed star power using a Miatabusa drivetrain and more. One man's journey to create a unique street/track weapon on a tough budget.
Basic Control Theory and Engine Management Systems
The modern internal combustion engine is a marvel of engineering. Compared to engines of the early and mid twentieth century, today's engines are more powerful, more efficient, and orders of magnitude more reliable. These breakthroughs are mainly due to one thing: the engine management system.
Killer B's, Honda and Mazda to Release B Segment Racers
We can just about all agree that racing is fun. We can also agree that racing is also very expensive. It is the expense of racing that deters most of us with racing ambitions from actually taking part in wheel to wheel racing. Well the SCCA, NASA and several manufacturers of sub compact cars, known as the B Segment have gotten together to support a new affordable racing class.
Say I would like to accelerate to a specific speed while going up a hill with a moderately steep grade. Which gear is better for fuel economy and which is better for the longevity of the engine?
The 2012 Mazda3 is the first for the manufacturer to get a taste of SKYACTIV technology--Mazda's philosophy of optimizing engine and drivetrain efficiency, body rigidity and overall vehicle weight reduction to achieve 40mpg on regular ole unleaded gasoline and at the same time be a fun car to drive.
Project Civic EJ: Fast Brakes Rear Disc Brake Conversion Kit
After completing the install of the front Fast Brakes big brake kit, we knew that we had to do something about the drum brake lameness that was taking place on the rear of Project Civic. Project Civic had been retired to commuter car only status almost a decade ago and since then had only the basic maintenance performed. We were pretty suspicious that the rear drums weren't contributing any work in the whole braking equation since there seemed to be an abnormal amount of front brake bias. Never mind that the rear drums and shoes had not been replaced ever even after 260,000 miles of use.
How To Degree Cams
By Aaron Bonk
An engine works best when the right things happen at the right time. Say your spark fires before your pistons are in their right spots—you might embarrass yourself on the dyno. You might even end up with a scenic view of your bottom end. The relationship between an engine's crank and its cams is no different. The rise and fall of its pistons has to sync with the opening and closing of its valves, which happen to be controlled by its cams. This is even more important to pay attention to once aftermarket cams, adjustable cam gears or other mismatched components are introduced as well as once an engine's block or cylinder head have been resurfaced. All of this should be enough to make you want to degree your cams.
Basic Drift Chassis Setup Part 2
In part one of our series we spoke about the importance of good suspension which is probably the first major step in setting up a car for drifting. Although the suspension is really important, perhaps just as important is a good limited slip differential.
Physics Lesson - Friction
Fric-tion [frik-shuhn] frik-shuh n
Project Defiant1: KA24DE Built Part DEUX! The Devil's Details!
Does building a successful engine require thousands of dollars? Not always! Sometimes picking up the throwaway engine is the key to saving on building a great engine! The KA24DE doesn't have the JDM factor, but it does offer more cubic inches, a stouter block, and a powerful aftermarket! Is the garage built KA24DE the key to Defiant1's 350 Crank Horsepower goal? How did I start? Read on to see "the Devil's Details!"
Project Evo X GSR- Testing the K&N Cold Air Intake
We have a bunch of mods planned for Chris's car, the first being a Typhoon cold air intake by K&N. The Intake worked so well that we decided to make it our first MotoIQ Certified Legit evaluation. The K&N Typhoon intake came with a dyno sheet that proudly proclaimed guaranteed power. Glancing at the dyno sheet we could see that the intake increased power by 20 hp near peak RPM. That seemed like a big gain so we had our concerns, this was a lot for just an intake, was it true or BS? We were going to find out with testing that was a little more in depth than just strapping the car to a dyno for a few quick pulls.
Our Project Nissan 350Z needs some new shoes. The stock Nissan alloy wheels had developed a crack rendering them unsafe and the worn generic tires that the car came with were on their last legs. It was time for an upgrade. Since we wanted a specific offset and width for this medium powered car we called upon Motegi Racing to provide us with a set of their TrakLite wheels.
Project Infiniti G20 Racecar: More Power!
Road racing is a thrill that has few equals in the wide world of wheels. Drag racing, unless you're talking nitro cars, is a thrill that quickly loses its lustre. Losing a drag race while road racing, however, is an exercise in abject frustration. Nothing will make you hate your car more than nailing that apex and throttle point perfectly to extract every ounce of momentum coming out of the corner, only to watch your opponent sail right past you on a long straightaway and park it in front of you in the next corner. Project G20 Racecar's tired engine, with over 130,000 miles on it, was destined to only let us down. We needed to fix it.
Project Miatabusa Part 12: Why You Can't Make Aluminum Exhausts... And Why I Did It Anyway
From exhaust port to tailpipe, project Miatabusa's exhaust system fabrication has stretched well over a year and has followed a circular evolution from brilliant hack job, to exotic race tech, and back to brilliant hack job. From custom-fabricated race header, to a lightweight aluminum tail section, to scavenged RX-8 silencers and hangers made from an S13 power steering cooler, the exhaust system is as awesomely eclectic as project Miatabusa itself.
Project Honda EJ Civic, Footwork by Enkei and Nitto
Our project Civic has been getting a lot of attention in the suspension department and we had to make sure we upgraded our wheels and tires to something more aggressive to take advantage of our chassis work.
What would you think of a clean green car with the fuel efficiency of a hybrid, the performance of a relatively peppy gasoline engine and without the lifecycle costs to the environment of its battery pack? The car would be cheap to operate and relatively exciting to drive. Would you buy one if you could? If this sounds like you next car purchase, this technology is coming just around the corner in the form of Mazda's new diesel technology called Skyactiv D.
Tested: Fluke Thermal Imager
Heat, it's a quantity we have to deal with in motorsports yet we often don't have a clear picture of it. Thermal management is critical to performance and reliability of any race vehicle; everything from brake fluid temperatures, to rear differential temperatures, to making sure hot parts in the engine bay don't melt other components. One tool that can be used in product development and race track setup is a thermal imager. I had access to a Fluke Ti32 thermal imager and put it to use.
Vegas revved up for another exciting SEMA convention and it seems like the auto industry is taking off again. This year, ten of us MotoIQ editors hit the show like a piston slapping a valve; of course, we only damaged our livers…
Wrench Tips #28: Quality German Hose Clamps for CHEAP
Project V8 RX-7: Part 6 - Installing the E-Rod LS3
In our last installment of Project V8 RX-7 we took a look at the T-56 Magnum transmission from Tremec we'll be using for our swap, now it's time to bolt it up to our E-ROD LS3 and get this engine in already!
Sarah, please help me! There is tar or something gooey and black all over the front and bottom half of my car. How can I get this off my paint?
Got a difficult tech question? Email Sarah at email@example.com
MotoIQ Certified Legit!
Let's face it.... There are a lot of shit products on the market and we here at MotoIQ make no bones about the fact that we hate crappy parts and knock offs. In a straight out rebellion against said polished piles of crap we have come up with a designation of sorts. When we find a product we like, one that is cutting edge, works well, makes sense, bests others in performance etc.... we will bestow it with the honor of being MotoIQ "Certified Legit".
Project Miatabusa Part 11:
Shorai Lithium Iron Battery (and Lots of Plumbing)
Shorai doesn't technically make any automotive batteries, but they have a full line of motorcycle batteries. I can't think of any reason why a motorcycle battery won't work in a car, and certainly not one powered by a motorcycle engine and charged by a motorcycle alternator. Shorai's direct replacement battery for the Hayabusa (theoretically all we would need to start a Hayabusa engine) weighs only 1.7 pounds!
Wrench Tips #27: Restoring Plastic is (Sometimes) Easy!
Basic Drift Chassis Setup Part 1
If you have been following my series, "The Ultimate Guide to Suspension and Handling" on MotoIQ you have been getting a step by step education on the theory of suspension. Due to overwhelming demand, I have decided to take a step back from the theory side of things and give some simple and practical advice on how to set up a drift car due to the literally hundreds of requests I have gotten on this.
Building the B18C1 Engine Part 2: Improving Rod Ratio
When we were contemplating the buildup of our E-ROD powered RX-7, we planned to bolt up the same T56 six speed transmission that we had in the car when it was LS1 powered. This plan went to crap shortly before we decommissioned the 7 for the E-ROD swap when while driving under normal conditions--nothing abusive or even brisk for that matter--the transmission got itself jammed in 3rd gear and no amount of muscling could free it.
Wrench Tips #26: Back Purge Your Welds The Cheap Way
Back purging is simply using a second bottle of inert gas to flood the inside of the tube and flush out the oxygen from the backside of your weld. Here are some back purging tricks that let you use less of your expensive shielding gas.
Project S2000 - Guest Test Drive
By Vic Y.
I am what you'd consider an auto enthusiast, with a few track days and quick karting times under my belt. I love taking advantage of the fun roads in the Hill Country near Austin (but probably not often enough). On the technical side, I come from an engineering background and the backing of a dozen auto RSS feeds. When the random opportunity came up to visit Khiem in Los Angeles (and drive his tuned S2000), I couldn't turn it down. Having originally driven the car in stock form back in Austin before it made the cross-country trek on I-10, it was good to be reunited with an old friend (and Khiem too).
Tested: Palmer Performance Engineering's DashCommand
Technology is amazing. Back in the heyday of the import scene, people who had serious setups – or wanted to look like they had serious setups – had rows on rows of gauges. The closer the resemblance to the cockpit of a Boeing 747 your Civic's dash looked, the more street cred you had. These days, however, products like Palmer Performance Engineering's DashCommand takes those rows of gauges, and puts them into a device that fits in the palm of your hand.
FACT: most of the time, the turbo is not the source of the problem. Out of all of the turbos that get swapped by dealers and shops (think diesel big rigs, work trucks, construction equipment, etc), an average of 90% of them have absolutely nothing wrong with them. Of the remaining 10%, about 5% or so of the failures were due to user error.
Our friend Pro Drifter Walker Wilkerson was having a problem. As of late he has been plagued by drivetrain failures in his Fatlace Nissan S13. Part of the reason has been that because he competes in Formula D against the big V8's of other pro teams, with a small displacement boosted SR20DET, Walker must do a lot of clutch kicks to keep the pipey turbo engine in its powerband.
Wrench Tips #25: How to Clean Up That Nasty Butyl Tape Vapor Barrier Goo
It's worse than Aunt Jemima's. That nasty butyl tape goo that's used to hold the plastic vapor barrier sandwiched between the interior door panel and the the door itself. The goo gets on your fingers and tools and follows you around for weeks. Try to clean it up with Simple Green or even brake cleaner and it will laugh at you. It turns out there is a simple, if a little tedious, way to clean this stuff off your doors.
I just recently completed Eibach lowering springs and anti-sway bars upgrade on my 08 Infiniti G37S Coupe. My question is when and where should I use threadlocker (red/blue) or Loctite? Different sources say different things, but is there a rule of thumb for applying these adhesives?
Formula SAE: Part 2, The Little Team That Could
Last time we took you through the hand built chassis and suspension of the 2011 University of Delaware Formula SAE car. Formula SAE is a collegiate competition for engineers where schools design and build race cars and then try to "sell" their design to a mock spec series. The cars are raced, but they are also picked apart by industry engineers and promoted to industry investors.
Project Miatabusa, part 10:
Tubular Subframes and Engine Mounts, Oh My!
In July, 2010, we posted Part 2 of Project Miatabusa and proclaimed, in a very carefully worded headline, "the engine is in!" "In" was the operative word. Not "installed", or "mounted" or anything nearly as accomplished as that. In fact, we had kinda faked it, hacking away with a plasma cutter to see just what the engine wasn't going to get along with. Now, finally, the engine is actually mounted.
Project Nissan 350Z Part 2 - Installing KW Clubsport Suspension and Whiteline Sway Bars
By Mike Kojima
A lot of times a pre made exhaust just wont do it. You might have a car that no one makes an exhaust for. You might want to make a big diameter turbo exhaust for a car that never came turbocharged. You might want to make a special exhaust for your own special requirements.
Project S2000 - Track Testing Revised KW Clubsports and Earl's Oil Cooler
The last track outing for the S2000 showed a few deficiencies still existed in the setup. The most problematic from a reliability standpoint was the scorching oil temperature. From a speed standpoint, the car was still very loose (last track update). Going back to the beginning of the project, you'll remember that we switched the tire sizing from a stock staggered setup (215 widths up front, 245 on the rear) to an even, or non-staggered, setup utilizing 245 width tires front and rear (Part I).
Project MKVI Golf TDI: Introduction and Suspension Upgrades
Diesels aren't for everyone. It takes a special breed to sacrifice comfort and performance for efficiency. They're noisier than their gas counterparts, they make less power, you can't find fuel for them everywhere, and they're dirtier. Anyone who has been behind a diesel Chevy Celebrity wagon, breathing in clouds of diesel stink while crawling up the onramp at 23mph will attest to these sentiments. Fortunately, VW didn't give up on improving the quirkiness of Rudolph Diesel's sparkless engine. The TDI Clean Diesel engine found in our Project MKVI Golf TDI has none of these vices. It is the everyman diesel.
We had been bolting stuff onto our web guy Frank's Infiniti G35 sedan, including a really cool prototype exhaust system from Berk Technology. All this did was cause Frank to complain about how loud the car was. Did we even know this guy anymore? Anyways, to appease Frank who also happens to be the best web guy we know by far, we had to do something about the noise.
Project Miatabusa Part 9: We Finally Found a Starter!
Somewhere in the great wide world of starters, there's surely something that will fit in the notch between the Hayabusa engine case and transmission case, line up with the Miata flywheel, have the right tooth pitch for a Miata, and have an unshrouded pinion, right? Sure, but where?
In a flashback Friday we're taking you back to when we turned our Tundra into a "Huge fast house" and showed an Evo driver who's boss. We have been building our Project Tundra into the ultimate towing machine over the past year with the help of Toyota and TRD. Toyota and TRD's accessories including the supercharger are great in the fact that they do not affect your warranty and can even be financed at the dealer at the time you purchase your car if you are so inclined.
Global Time Attack Round 3 - The Chicago Recap
Unless you have been the victim of blunt force head trauma lately, you likely are aware that Global Time Attack is one of the newest time attack sanctioning bodies. What may not be realized is that with the recent announcement by Redline to cancel it's remaining 2010 events GTA has moved in to the limelight as the sports premier organization.
Project Lotus Elise Part 1 - A proper introduction to the marque.
ACBC -- These letters adorn the hood of every Lotus offered for sale worldwide.... These letters are an homage to Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman, the British Designer who founded Lotus Cars. Often times when people talk about car design they rarely speak of company ideology as designs of modern day production cars tend to include a series of compromises in performance for the sake of civility and creature comforts. The lack thereof is precisely what drew us to the Lotus marque. Quite simply the original founder's innovative and influential designs in the motor sports world are in place on every car Lotus produces. Enter Project Elise.
Project Infiniti G20 Racecar: Keeping it Running
Engine problems are not a good time, and there is usually a period of denial where you keep flooring your already toast motor, thinking it'll somehow "clear up" and fix itself. Eventually, you hear the bang, and you're greeted by the sound of once meticulously formed pieces of metal, now turned slag, bouncing around under the car. Then the smoke. Lots of smoke. Sweet Mary, this car's on fire smoke.
It's amazing how fast you can exit a vehicle that's on fire.
More Power for the APD Acura TSX K24 A2 Engine! Video Inside
By Jonathan Donner
In the continuing development of the HPD sponsored, APD Motorsports Acura we will focus on the next stage of engine development of the car.
By Ron Bergenholtz with Mike Kojima
Bergenholtz Racing has always been a fan of Drifting since the very beginnings of its introduction at Irwindale. We have always enjoyed the entertainment value as well as had the utmost respect for the skill of the Joons (Ron's nickname for driver Joon Maeng). We knew we wanted to get involved, and in a big way. In 2007 we were first able to enter pro drifting with our long-time sponsor Apex Integration USA.
It's no secret, we hate towing, however if you are going to race or drift, there is no escaping it. Towing is a necessary evil that has to get done if you are going to have fun at the track. Trailers are a pain in the ass as well. They are hard to drive with, making your vehicle's stopping distance get dangerously long, are easy targets for thieves and have a nasty habit of breaking in far off places where you especially don't want problems.
Project Miatabusa Part 8: Miatabusa Gets the Shaft!
The idea was to take the Hayabusa's relatively fragile transmission and replace it with a shaft that holds a Miata flywheel. That's pretty simple to say, but actually doing it...
What are you waiting for? Holy crap, click on this thing!
Project EVO X, Keeping the SST Transmission and the engine oil cool!
In the last editions of Project EVO X we worked to get our car's handling and stopping power up to world class standards and eagerly attended our first track event. However we were really disappointed when our car went tilt after just a few laps at Streets of Willow Raceway. When the SST dual clutch transmission in the EVO X MR gets too hot the engine's ECU automatically makes moves to protect the transmission and the car goes into limp mode killing all measures of speed until the temps drop. In our hot Southern California climate, this happens so fast that it's a frustrating experience and probably not good for the transmission either.
Does the idea of a super efficient, reasonably performing, fun to drive car with low operating costs sound appealing to you? If the car is green as well does that seal the deal? Are you one of the few people with a clue that realizes that a hybrid isn't all that green? Well Mazda has an answer to all of this called Skyactiv technology in all of its clever jinglish. Skyactiv Technology is a fresh holistic look at how cars are engineered.
Don't Trust Strangers! How Dynos Lie and When to Believe One
Ah yes, the dyno plot and power numbers. The dyno plot is the subject of many forum pissing matches, the holder of false prophecies, the teller of partial truths… Reading the forums, you would be led to believe that everyone had their car dyno'd on a "low reading" dyno. Well, except for in South Florida; there must be some magic octane booster in the air down there. Dynos are a great tool for tracking performance changes, but trying to compare across different dynos on different days with different cars is borderline meaningless. We're here to tell you why. We'll also tell you the best case for getting results you can compare.
Wrench Tips #24: Silicone Hoses for Adults
Lately I have been searching for information about "water to air intercoolers." I have seen these in some of your articles but not much information is mentioned.
Formula SAE: What a Few Car College Gear Heads Can Do In Their Free Time
A good percentage of MotoIQ's staff and readership is comprised of Mechanical Engineers. That title isn't given to just anyone, you have to work through a (minimum) of four years of hard college work full of long lectures, late nights, and a hermit-like social life. So what does a car geek do when he's tired of working the books and nerdulator? He (or she) finds the campus Formula SAE team and wrenches of course!
What The Hell Happened to Project Silvia?
A simple head swap gone horribly wrong drags Project Silvia out of retirement and into the modern tuning world.
Project EJ Honda Civic: Skunk2 Pro-C Coilovers
by Annie Sam
My Koni Yellows coupled with the Ground Control coilover kit served me well for street use, and I think I got more than my money's worth out of these shocks over the last eight years. Now that I am no longer a starving college student, my grown up self decided that I should upgrade to a grown up set of coilovers. After a little bit of research, we decided to go for a set of Skunk2 Pro-C coilovers for Project EJ Civic.
We have been witness this year to the sheer power and speed of the K&N Infiniti G35 driven by Paul Brown, which is currently tied for second place in Redline's Pro Track Challenge. What is unusual about this G35 is that it is a corporate car owned and constructed by K&N as an in house engineering effort. Usually cars like this are regulated to dressing up the floor at the SEMA show then making rounds at car shows but in K&N's case it is heartening to see the car out on the track kicking ass and taking names!
Project 200SX: Time Trial Bound - Part 1
Track Photos by Tom Hitzeman
Let's pretend you spend years of your life, thousands of your hard earned dollars, a pint of blood, a gallon of sweat, and countless four letter words building a car. It goes through various stages in its life, and the end result of the project is a car destined for the track.... Two possible outcomes for this somewhat common scenario.... You either become a hard parking car show stunta with a track worthy car or you actually take it to the track. Obviously we chose the latter. The next question was if our last name isn't Johnson, Coleman, or Kojima.... How do we enter the competitive world of motor sport?
The answer..... Time Trials.
Project S2000 - Oil Cooling
Tracking the S2000 and monitoring the oil temperatures has taught us one thing: it runs hot! Even with the reduced coolant temperatures afforded by the Koyo radiator, the oil temperatures were still too high for a car to be tracked for long-term reliability. This is occurring at completely stock power levels even (the more power an engine makes, the more heat it makes and consequently needs to reject). High oil temperatures lead to reduced oil viscosity and faster oil breakdown. Low oil viscosity can mean inadequate oil film strength and thickness with the end result being metal-on-metal contact between engine components. While low oil viscosity may not grenade your engine immediately, it will lead to accelerated wear of components.
Air tools are not just about busting nuts. Pneumatic tools are more efficient than electric tools- they can exert more force using less energy and complete jobs more quickly.
Introducing Project 240SX- Land Speed Racer
The project mission is simple: Build a bad ass S13 240SX, conquer a land speed record, and join the infamous Bonneville 200 MPH club.
Crankcase Ventilation Explained - N/A Edition
by Ben Fenner
If you're reading this you've likely asked a question about crank case ventilation, catch can placement, correct PCV hose routing, or similar. Grab yourself a beverage of your choice, sit back and relax. Keep reading to have all of your questions answered.
Does Length Matter? - Part Deux
In part I, we looked at the effect of connecting rod length on dwell time of the piston around top dead center. This was determined by plotting the position of the piston in relation to crank angle. Using some physics and calculus, we can also determine the velocity and acceleration of the piston in crank angle. If we assume an angular velocity (or revolutions per minute), we can determine the velocity and acceleration in the time domain which is what everyone is more familiar with.
We had just installed a freshly built SR20DE engine for the Dog Car. This is the B14 Nissan Sentra race car that we have been campaigning for many years in road racing and time attack which had been sitting dormant since 2006. With the advent of Redline's MPTCC race class we decided to dust the car off, freshen it up and have Formula D drifting ace Dai Yoshihara campaign the car in the TU class.
The Physics of Tires - Project Ford Mustang 5.0
By Vince Ili
In Part I of his Ultimate Guide to Suspension and Handling, Mike Kojima says that one of the biggest ways to improve a car's handling is to improve its tires. I experienced this first-hand recently when I upgraded the wheels and tires on my Mustang.
But how do tires improve your car's handling and performance? In order to discuss that, we need to talk about a little thing called traction, also known to us engineering geeks as friction.
KW has been looking at their product line up and has made a decision to start adding some applications for some of the classic Japanese exotics from the Japanese supercar heyday of the early to mid 90's. KW has already come up with coilovers for the MK IV Supra and the NSX. The FD RX-7 is on the R&D schedule and we helped with the R&D for the latest Japanese classic addition, the Nissan Z32 300ZX.
Inside Look: Dino Crescentini's StopTech Porsche 911 GT3
Carroll Shelby once said that to make a small fortune racing, you must first spend a large one. Of course, Mr. Shelby was also the spokesperson of some snake oil company that combines the last letter of the alphabet with the shortened version of the word maximum when Global Motorsports Group (GMG) became more than a twinkle in its founders' eyes. Founded in 2001 by James Safronas and Fabryce Kutyba, GMG started its existence in a 1200 sq ft facility, and has since grown to fill its current 15,000 sq ft stable with high-end hardware that features charging bulls, prancing horses and a slew of crests from Stuttgart. One of the many purebreds GMG looks after is the Pirelli World Challenge GT #4 StopTech Porsche 911 GT3, driven by Dino Crescentini, CEO of Centric Parts and StopTech.
Walker Wilkerson has suddenly burst upon the Pro Drift scene. At the Long Beach season opener, the 21 year old College student made a sudden appearance on the 2011 Formula D tour in his striking lavender hued Nissan S13, qualifying well and beating out many seasoned pros. In his rookie year, Walker has surprised many drift fans by getting several high qualification rounds and decent finishes thus far in the season and looks to be a shoe in for rookie of the year honors.
Does Length Matter?
Someone recently asked, "Why a longer rod?" Someone else answered, "Longer dwell time." I never really thought about it before, so I thought I'd look into it. Using some basic math, we can prove that a longer rod does indeed create a longer dwell time around top dead center.
We like turbos at MotoIQ. Why? In the phrase made famous by Tim Allen, "more power!" In order for a turbo to cram air into an engine, it has a pair of wheels and a shaft spinning at incredible speeds. Depending on the size of the turbo, they can spin anywhere from 100,000 rpm (big turbos) to 300,000 rpm (small turbos). 300,000 rpm equals 5000 revs a second. Put another way, if you rolled a compressor wheel on the ground, it would go about six football fields a second. That's about 1.7 times the speed of sound. Wrap your head around that!
We had never heard of Norwegian Fredric Aasbo before Formula D's Long Beach Round last year. Suddenly out of nowhere a red privateer Toyota Supra driven by a guy whose last name we could not pronounce almost stood on the podium bettering the efforts of many seasoned and well backed Formula D veterans.
Project V8 RX-7: Part 4 - Dressing the E-Rod
By Jeff Naeyaert
So we've got our E-Rod kit, unpacked everything and laid it all out, but curiously missing are all the spinny things that go on the front of the engine—more specifically, the alternator, power steering pump, a/c compressor and the other pulleys and tensioners necessary to keep everything playing together nicely.
We first spotted Team Professional Awesome's EVO VII at last year's Redline Time Attack at Cal Speedway. To be honest, it was not the car that first attracted us but the name of the team. After looking the car over, we knew at once that this was a well constructed and balanced car.
Basic Electrical Troubleshooting
In my ongoing quest to make people less scared of automotive electrical systems, I'd like to talk a little bit about two common electrical troubleshooting tools and how to use them. First, though, we'll need to quickly review electrical basics...
ST Suspensions' BMW E36 M3 Street Suspension Reviewed
When Formula D and road racing pro Mike Essa needed a street suspension for his daily driver BMW E36 M3 he was not looking for the latest and greatest track shredding stuff, just something where he could comfortably run a lower ride height with firm control that could replace the old 140,000 mile worn out stuff on his car.
Compression Ratio - A Look From The Thermo Side
You want more power and probably better fuel economy due to ever increasing fuel costs. The government wants lower emissions. So how do you achieve all those? Increasing the compression ratio of the engine is one method.
Project Infiniti G20 Racecar - Making It Stop, Every Time
By Martin Gonzales & Steve Rockwood
Loud engines, big horsepower, gratuitous tire smoke, and high cornering speeds are why we love and watch motor sports. Most people, when they watch racing on TV, listen for the engines, stare at the gruesome crashes or marvel at the speeds drivers carry through the corners. However, much like the scrappy player on a basketball team that gets all the rebounds and never scores, brakes just don't get the attention they deserve.
Project Honda EJ Civic: Initial Driving Impression
By Annie Sam
Standing in the hot pits of Buttonwillow Raceway Park, I could still recall the first time that I had taken my little Honda Civic to the racetrack back in the winter of 2002. We were at the Streets of Willow, in Lancaster, California. Nine years and 200,000 miles later, my baby was battle scarred and war torn with years of daily abuse, adding to the list of things that plagued the back of my mind as I prepared for my hotlap at Buttonwillow. Slipping clutch? Yes. Faded front brakes? Yes. Nonexistent rear drums? Yes. Blown shocks? Probably. Be sure to check out the video at the end of the article!
Our friend Sera is a stuntwoman by trade who does a lot of driving for movies, commercials and TV. If you see a woman driving in a car commercial, chances are it's Sera. She also does track days with NASA and is into drifting. She had bought a Nissan 350Z to use as a car to do some track days and also for her to practice her stunt driving and drifting. The trouble is as soon as she hit the track, she encountered some problems.
The Ultimate Guide to Suspension and Handling: Part VII - Tuning your Toe
Previously in our series we were talking about general tips for you to follow when tuning your suspension. In our last installment we talked about adjusting your camber to gain more grip. Today we will talk about an easier and more basic adjustment that has a great influence in handling, adjusting your toe settings.
By Jim Wolf
Oh my God, what a mess this has become! As race engine development moves forward, aftermarket fuel injectors seem to be moving sideways. About ten years back a trend started to modify stock injectors for higher flow rates. This was done by either drilling out the spray orifices or removing the spray plate all together! While some of the companies attempting this seemed to be making a serious effort, actual flow testing in many cases would indicate otherwise. No doubt someone will eventually figure out how to do this accurately, but in the mean time, they at least need to be willing to do actual flow testing, static and dynamic on each injector (no duplicated flow sheets please). Add this twist to the already diverse methods used to state injector flow values and you have a bit of a mess to sort out.
In the last edition of Project V8 RX-7 we looked into the bottom end of our EROD LS3 engine to find that the modern Chevy V8 is a far cry from the old small block Chevy of years past. Lately on some forums that cater to import performance, there has been a huge backlash against the LS swap, particularly into Nissan S chassis and RX-7's. All sorts of bleating noise from uninformed sheep decry putting "NASCAR" engines and the like into the S chassis. Purists claim that putting in a domestic engine somehow is making their favorite cars all the same and causes them to lose their soul and other things not defined by logic. Such is the garbage cluttering the net these days. Like many FFF facts on the interwebz, their are many fundamental inaccuracies to these statements.
When we last left our project we had just installed some Cosworth M2 cams and had tuned around that with excellent results. Some time ago we had installed an AEM water injection system and warning monitor system and had been running the water, mostly just for thermal control when running hard. We knew to get best results we would have to tune our ECU to take advantage of the detonation suppression capabilities of water and to nullify the water's quenching properties which reduce power.
AQ Motorsports STI Getting the GTX Upgrade
By Khiem Dinh, photos by JC Meynet
Heading into this year's racing season, JC Meynet needed more power than his trusty two year old Garrett GT3582 could provide. What was the answer? A GTX3582 of course! There are a few reasons why the GTX upgrade made a lot of sense, but most importantly it had to deliver on the power. To find out the reasons, keep on reading.
When we last left off on Project Tundra we had installed a TRD cold air intake and TRD exhaust system. We were enjoying the high quality, warranty friendliness and smog legalness of our TRD factory engineered performance parts. However being how we are we still wanted more. In our search for the ultimate tow and work vehicle, we obtained one of TRD's awesome supercharger kits.
My race in the inaugural MPTCC race ended with a bang in the practice before qualifying as my SR20VE decided not to cooperate in a big way. Tearing down my engine afterward I found that one of the exhaust valves had lost its head. Fortunately the valve head did not bounce around in the combustion chamber and cause more damage, probably because I had shut the engine off and pushed in the clutch the second I felt the power fall off.
Project EJ Honda Civic
You're probably wondering what this busted ass Honda Civic is doing on the virtual pages of MotoIQ. I mean, it's far from the flawless presentation of MotoIQ's usual project cars and lacks the engineering luster to be excusable like Coleman's innovative crap cans. Instead, this Civic's clear coat is peeling off and almost every panel has some kind of battle wound on it… but every gear head has a story about the car that was their first love.
Project Hyper-Miler Part 1: Introduction
Let's face it: the days of cheap fuel are over. Whether you want to blame Wall Street, the government, democratic demonstrations in the Middle East, OPEC, hippies, China, or the soccer mom next door; the fact remains that if your buddy tosses you a five spot for gas money, you're more likely to punch him in the face than thank him. And everyone understands a punch in the face.
Ask Sarah: Hi-po Eclectic Pistons
I was at a car meet and overheard someone talking about hi-po eclectic pistons or something like that. I didn't want to ask him about them because everyone else seemed to understand what he meant. Are these high performance pistons? How are they different from regular pistons?
- Jassen
Turbo Tech: Compressor Efficiency and More
Compressor efficiency is a term thrown around whenever people mention forced induction, but what does it really mean? How does it affect an engine's performance? And what role does air temperature play in all of this?
There has been a lot of controversy burning up the forums about the issue of V8 swaps, particularly the GM LSX series of engines in drifting. Digging through some data, we thought it might be cool to show you the differences between these engines. Here is the dyno results from Matt Powers' Turbo KA24DE, Dai Yoshihara's Turbo VQ35DE and Matt Powers' GM LS7.
We last left Matt Powers in the middle of retrofitting his car for the 2011 Formula D season. We dropped back in on Matt earlier this week to see how he was doing and were pleased to observe a bunch of progress being made.
Our orignal article is back! Team Falken's Dai Yoshihara will once again be driving his Chevy LS powered Nissan S13 in the 2011 Formula D season. The car has been undergoing a complete rebuild at SPD Metalworks, a rebuild so intensive that it is basically going to be an all new car. A lot of the rebuild was needed to bring the car up to 2011 Formula D specs.
Fastbrakes is an Arizona company whose claim to fame is making affordable brake upgrade kits for many cars and having applications for niche models like the Nissan Sentra SE-R. Since some of us race SE-Rs as they are a cheap and sturdy platform, we have a lot of experience with Fastbrakes' upgrade kits for the car.
In the 2010 Formula D season, GSR Autosport/Nitto Tires driver Mike Essa grabbed plenty of Media attention with his shrieking V10 M5 powered E92 BMW. The BMW was probably the best sounding car in Formula D and looked pretty killer as well. The car's baller profile, killer looks and glorious sounds made Mike a darling of the media. Now Mike is building a potent Z4 for the 2011 season.
We spend a lot of time at Costa Gialamas's shop GTI Tech Innovations. Costa is Dai Yoshihara's Time Attack crew chief, Matt Powers Crew Chief and is also Stephan Verdier's Crew Chief. Costa is also one of the fabricators that MotoIQ uses on our various projects including some fab work on refitting the Dog II.
We have been around while Costa has been hard at work building Stephan Verdier's Rallycross Subaru STi over the past few months and we thought that it would be cool to share some of the build details with you. Look for a full feature on this car later.
By Costa Gialamas
If you have been following our adventures with Dai Yoshihara in the Middle East, then you have probably read the story of how we converted his mildly built time attack car into a Formula D drift car in just a few days, sending it to Abu Dhabi to compete in a Formula D expansion event. You can read about our adventures from building the car to where we last left off here.
Some images and a summary of Cosworth's newly released VR38 stock stroke internal engine components. If you plan on modifying your GT-R for serious use, you need to read this. Dyno queen owners and show car owners need not read.
Our Friend Matt Powers has been rebuilding his S14 Nissan 240SX for the 2011 Formula D season. If you don't know Matt, he was one of the top seeded guys in the 2010 Formula D points standings without huge dollar backing and our favorite underdog. Matt is solidly backed by Need For Speed and Nitto Tires but his yearly budget is still a fraction of what some of the other top teams spend.
It's been a while since we tested our last power adder on Project Tundra, a TRD cold air intake. Not that we had any complaints about our truck's power. Project Tundra continues as always in service as our main office truck, hauling parts, towing our project cars around and serving as our mobile headquarters at events where it can haul scooters, photo gear, a race car, tools and parts. Like our staff, our Tundra is always working hard.
Read more about Project Tundra Here!
For our next round of tweaks, we obtained a set of Cosworth M2 cams for the MIVEC variable cam timing version of the 4G63 found in our EVO IX. Camshaft design is very tricky with many of the aftermarket offerings not being engineered to control spring surge induced valve float.
Read More About Project EVO IX here!
What are the pro's and con's of using gapless piston rings in a street motor?
Frankenmiata: Dyno Secrets Revealed For The First Time!
Secrets? What Secrets? How about the secret to how we found 45 hp completely by accident? Or the secret to how we made 20 lb-ft of torque for $8.32?
In our last edition of Project G35 we set out to improve our handling with some suspension by KW. To keep things in line with having a balanced performance daily driver we next turned our attention to the brakes.
One of the bad things about having an unusual car like our Lexus IS-F is that it is, well, an unusual car. The IS-F is the first attempt by a rather young maker, in this case Lexus to build and market a true performance car. Lexus has a reputation for luxury with value and rock solid reliability, not a performance and racing pedigree.
Project Garage Part IV: Air Compressors
Many times I've struggled with stubborn bolts, cursing car manufacturers wth a number of expletives in languages I didn't know I could speak. Stripped, rusted, or fused, these bolts can make any breaker bar retire early and hit happy hour. Unfortunately if I ever wanted to mod any of my cars, my only other option was blowing off some steam… well, hot air really. My air compressor is not only convenient, but necessary.
Technobabble - Redefining Monkeypower
Automotive terms and definitions have a long history of being stupid and arbitrary, and I have no intention of changing that, but if we're going to be stupid, let's at least use monkeys.
We had to back up a little and relaunch our engine series getting help from our friend Naji Dahi and his company Looney Tuning. We have known Naji many years from road racing as Naji is an avid racer. Although Naji races Nissans he has gained a good reputation as a tuner for EVOs and WRX/STIs.
Over the past few months in-between other projects we have been tinkering around with AEM's water methanol injection kit on our in-house Evo IX project car. You can read about the kit here. A few weeks ago we installed AEM's new injection monitoring system which you can read about here.
Since the long stroke QR25DE does not like high rpm, we have chosen to limit its maximum revs to 7000 rpm and make power by adding turbo boost. Jim Wolf Technology designed our turbo system to produce power over the widest possible range of RPM rather than peak power. The JWT system was also designed for simplicity, lightness and reliability over maximum power.
Follow our project here!
We have always been fans of the GST Motorsports 1996 GC8 Subaru Impreza L. The car with driver Jeff Westphal is the current reigning Redline Time Attack Super Modified AWD Champion. The GST car has been around forever and has been in a continuous state of development since 2006.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT... Video: GST Motosports Record Breaking Run at Cal Speedway with Data!
When hanging out at Costa Gialamas' shop, Gialamas Technical Innovations, we picked up on some really good ideas Costa uses when fabricating. Costa has many years of fabricating experience in both the Motosports and Aerospace worlds. This is not a story on how to build an exhaust, instead it's about some tricks we have seen Costa use that can help speed your fabrication. Check these few simple tips out!
With the specter of high prices once again looming over our heads, we bring you yet another fuel sipping project; Project Aprilia RS50. You might wonder what an RS50 is; it is really a very unusual machine. It is a street legal, two stroke 50cc GP replica bike.
Ignition Timing is expressed as the number of degrees of crankshaft rotation in advance of Top Dead Center or TDC, when the sparkplug is fired. This kicks off the explosion of air and gasoline that pushes the piston down to drive the crank. Since even explosions take a few milliseconds to develop, the engine's ECU usually commands the sparkplug to fire a few degrees of crank rotation before TDC.
For more engine basics click here!
Hi Sarah,
I'm debating going carbs or ITB's with EFI. What is the advantage to using carbs over EFI? How do ITB's perform over a single TB?
Turbo: Once Round the Block
by Eric Hsu
Two videos after the jump of the development process of the 1986 Cosworth GBA 1.5L V6 engine. The video also covers the development of the ECU and car, but what interested me more was the 4 cylinder Cosworth BD that was built as a tester on the engine dyno and its failure mode. This was before the time of CAD, FEA, CFD, and all that computer mumbo jumbo. 25 years ago it was all about your past experience and empirical testing which is a lot closer to how things are done in most parts of the tuning parts market today.
When our friends at K&N heard that we had gotten an IS-F, they got excited and insisted that we try out their Typhoon high flow air intake system as they claimed that they had gotten excellent results in their testing.
Not all of the cars in the MotoIQ stable are cutting edge performance machines. Sometimes we do have to have cars that are practical. Our current office car is a 2004 Infiniti G35 Sedan. The G35 is an excellent car for daily driving, it gets reasonable mileage in the low 20 mpg range and has 4 doors and plenty of inside room for taking the staff to lunch or meetings. The automatic transmission for dealing with bumper to bumper daily commuter traffic makes jumping into the G35 to go somewhere a no hassle proposition.
AEM Electronics - Universal High Flow Fuel Filter
AEM Performance Electronics is pleased to introduce its Billet Aluminum Universal High Flow -10 AN Inline Fuel Filter (part #25-201BK).
We have been friends with Synapse Engineering's chief engineer Peter Medina for a long time, since before he started the company and even before he had the ideas that launched its product line. Many years ago Peter came up with an original twist for pneumatic controlled devices, a piston actuated control valve. Not just any piston actuated control valve either, Peter's valve had an actuator piston with two substrates, basically two individual pistons coaxially divided on one piston head, basically a stepped piston.
AEM Water/Methanol Failsafe Device Evaluation
We are very familiar with water and water/methanol injection; many years ago, we were one of the first to tune with modern water injection systems and took advantage of water's ability to inhibit detonation and provide charge cooling in forced induction engines. With water you can run more timing, more boost, leaner air fuel mixtures, a combination of all three or just use water to gain a measure of safety and to control engine temperatures for track use.
Wrench Tips #22 - Making a Clean Splice
Splicing two wires together is the most basic of wiring tasks, and yet most people seem to do a crappy job of it. Those standard insulated butt connectors are crap. They're bulky, offer no strain relief to deal with bending and vibration, and it's hard to tell when they're crimped enough not to fall out.
Project CRG Go Kart: From Basket Case to Bitchin
Lately the MotoIQ staff has been Karting a lot to get our speed fix for few bucks. Running MotoIQ is an expensive endeavor and we have had to mostly give up racing cars for now to keep MotoIQ growing and strong. Looking for cheap used Kart parts on Craigslist one day, we happened upon an ad for what seemed like a lost cause.
A trick, tiny, high flowing, new wastegate from Turbosmart Australia. I used a pair on the Sierra Sierra EVO. Good enough for Sierra Sierra, plenty good for you (or those of us with normal cars). The tiny package size means you can fit this wastegate in almost any engine bay.
I saw your EVO project at SEMA 2010 this year- the white car with the KW suspension and carbon Seibon parts. I was just wondering who makes those fenders and also those sideskirts. I would appreciate your help on this as we would like to purchase them for our time attack car in Holland.
Many suspension experts have touted the value of relocating the cars battery in an effort to improve weight distribution of the chassis. Many experts claim that battery relocation is the cheapest and most efficient way to make the biggest change in chassis balance.
One of the current rages in the turbocharger aftermarket is the billet compressor wheel. The traditional compressor wheel for most turbochargers is made of cast aluminum. Cast aluminum is a reasonably good material to make a complex part as a compressor wheel out of economically in large scale production. However, cast aluminum is not as strong and does not have as good mechanical properties as billet aluminum.
Project Sipster Part 5 - Safer Sipster
By Dave Coleman
We are not the manly men that inhabited the earth back in 1981, fearlessly cruising the streets without airbags, side impact beams or any hint of structural integrity; in all honesty, driving around in this little box kinda scares us. Since making an old car actually crashworthy is beyond even our powers of exaggeration, we're avoiding the whole crashworthiness issue by making the car easier not to crash. Handling and good brakes are our airbags.
By Mike Kojima, photos by Jeff Naeyaert
Would you be interested in a low mileage Subaru only driven on a few weekends a year by a Grandfather? Probably not unless it was this one. JC Meynet First bought the STI in 2006 because he wanted a practical 4-Door sporty car to drive his grandkids around in. The STI stayed stock for 30,000 miles and a year until, JC a former motocross racer tried his hand at autocross and Redline Time Attack in Street class. It was then the bug of speed bit and the car began its transformation into the Redline Time Attack Modified/ Super Lap Battle AWD Limited and NASA TTU class monster you see here.
Aerodynamics is the final frontier of tuning for production car tweakers. In years past many hours were spent messing around with engines, then suspension and brakes. Finally the tuning of drivetrains was perfected. All was good for a few years. About the only attention that anyone paid to aerodynamics was to perhaps purchase and install "Aero" kits ranging from hideous "Combat Style" to more tasteful JDM stuff from companies like C-West and Varis.
As with anything, a strong foundation is the key to success. For a good handling car, that means a super rigid chassis. The S2000 is blessed with a very stiff chassis from the factory, but when you chop the top off of any car it will be less stiff compared to a car with a roof. The S2000 doesn't have the bad cowl shake that is the tell-tale sign of a not-so-stiff convertible chassis, but there are a few creaks from the soft top roof as the chassis flexes.
Project Garage, Part IV: Getting Organized
Finding time to work on your car projects is much easier if your garage is organized and efficient. Let's see how to find space for everything we need.
By Vince Illi (AKA Dusty_Duster)
I'm weird. You see, most car guys don't like electrical work. In fact, most loathe it. (A friend of mine once told me he'd rather replace a head gasket than crimp four wires together.) But me, I like electrical work. I would rather rewire an entire dashboard than remove an intake manifold.
Not one to bring a knife to a gunfight, Ken Block has the ultimate weapon to bring to the show, his Ford Fiesta rallycross car. This car is a marvel of technology with a multitude of state of the art systems. It's something for the car nerd to drool over, drool for a long time.
The Ultimate Guide to Suspension and Handling: Part VI, Adding Negative Camber
In the first 5 parts of this series you learned some basic steps to improving your car's handling. The first four steps involved the use of basic performance suspension parts available for most cars, the parts that most people with an interest in handling obtain. Been there, done that? Then it's time to head for more advanced suspension tuning, involving the alignment, chassis stiffness and suspension geometry.
Wrench Tips #21: Always Use Lube
In a Time Attack car, the brake system is just as critical for a winning car as the engine. The same is true for a street car but under differing parameters. A successful race car has to slow down rapidly and repeatedly from high speeds. A street car has to do the same but for 100,000 miles with little maintenance.
I am wondering about gauges and their importance; specifically, oil temperature versus oil pressure. If you had to choose between the two, which one would you pick? And does it matter for a street car versus track car?
Wrench Tips #20: Tape Your Nuts
If you've never had to start a bolt that was out of reach, you've probably never owned a wrench. Here's a simple trick to make those hard-to-reach bolts easier to start...
In our last installment we left you deep inside KW Suspension's wonder factory. So far none of us has fallen into the shock fluid, turned purple and round, been sucked into TV's or mauled by squirrels. Now lets rejoin the tour!
To Read Part One Click Here!
When we last left off working on Project Spec-V, we were modding our engine and suspension for maximum power and road holding. Since we have will now have power and cornering capability, we now turn our attention to the other important part of the performance trifecta, the brakes.
Project Miatabusa Part 5 - De-powering the steering rack the right way
That's right; this installment of Project Miatabusa has nothing to do with putting the engine in the car. This may be the only Miatabusa strory where I don't mention the 11,000 rpm redline at least 3 times. Don't get used to it.
We were stoked when we got a call from KW Suspension asking if we would like to visit their facilities in Germany a few months ago. We felt like how Charlie in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory must have felt when he found that golden ticket for a tour of a wonderful place. If you don't know who or what KW is, they are the makers of some of the best suspensions available for both the tuner and the professional racing market.
So what was the cherry on top of our Nissan SR20DE horsepower upgrades? S4HL Camshafts from Jim Wolf technology. What are cams? First, let's start off with the term "cams". Cams are actually the lobes of the entire assembly, which is more formally known as the camshaft. But, for this article, we'll stick to calling them cams, as that is the casual term for the part. So, let's give a little introduction on the basics of cams.
Read More Racing Tips From Annie!
While awaiting the development of some ARK parts for our Project 3rd generation STI we decided to prep the cooling system in anticipation of the future installation of power parts. Turbo cars run hot and when being track driven most have problems staying cool, especially on our Southern California tracks which are mostly located in the desert. We turned to Koyo Cooling systems for one of their race radiators for our car.
The old engineers joke that "speed doesn't kill, rapid deceleration does" applies to all vehicles capable of attaining dangerous velocities. Since we have been concentrating on improving project STi's acceleration and handling, we have definitely achieved the ability to reach deadly velocity on the track. In our first foray onto the grounds of Willow Springs raceway we noted that perhaps we were starting to drive beyond the capabilities of the stock brakes due to the higher speeds that we were able to attain on the straights.
To read the rest about Project Subaru WRX STI click here!
I have a 1996 Mazda Miata with a Jackson Racing MP45 supercharger and an ECU controlled Aquamist water/methanol injection system. The water tank I use is about 3/4 gallon in size, so when I fill it up with straight windshield washer fluid (no additives, just water and methanol) I'm running the tank dry well before my 30 min. track session is complete.
Wrench Tips #18: Cut a Slit to Tweak a Tube
My involvement this year supporting Dai Yoshihara and James Deane with Falken Motorsports in Formula D drifting has been a wild ride. It was a very interesting learning experience as I finally discovered what the dynamics of a really good drift car are and how to set up the chassis to deliver the performance a driver needs to do his job. Modern Pro drifting is probably the greatest challenge for chassis set up out of any sedan based motorsport and the SPD Metalworks crew works pretty hard to get the car just right for any given course.
Bitchin Camaro: A look inside Conrad Grunewald's pro drift car
Unlike the Song by the Dead Milkmen, Conrad Grunewald's Hankook Tire 2010 Formula D pro drift car really is a Bitchin' Camaro. Conrad like many top pro drifters comes from a road racing background. He won the 2002 Skip Barber Mid West Championship with further success in Grand Am cup and Rolex GT racing before starting his career in Formula D. We first ran into Conrad when he was the driver of the Technosquare built Tanaka Racing Z06 C5 Corvette drift car.
Wrench Tips #17: Election Day Ductwork
Project Miatabusa Part 4.3 - How to Almost Make an Intake Manifold Using Nothing But Sufboard Technology, a Rubber Mask Kit, Some Home Insulation, a Condom, a Chunk of IKEA Furniture and the Sidewalk in Front of My House.
Detonation is perhaps the deadliest sin you can inflict upon your motor. It is usually caused by gluttony, another bad sin, gluttony for more power. Detonation is the result of going too far in the quest for power. Pushing things to the limit when eking the last bit out, too far for your fuel's octane, too far for your fuel system flow capacity, too much heat for your cooling system to dissipate, the list goes on and on. All of these can lead to a quick end to your motor. Really bad detonation can destroy any engine very quickly, about the only way quicker would be to dump out your oil while it's running full tilt.
A 70mpg, 7-second 0-60 daily driver for $7,000? It seemed like a good idea at the time...
I am not Jesus so I don't have to forgive you if you mess things up when setting up your car. I am talking about sin, pure dumb unforgivable sin. No it's not the one that's talked about in the New Testament that gives clergy fits to explain to lay people, its a big mistake, one that nearly all enthusiasts are unknowingly guilty of that is the most common mistake when modifying a car's suspension. It's a sin which so thoroughly screws up handling that it gives engineers fits when trying to explain why this is so to automotive enthusiasts.
We have brought our high tech Aprilia SR50 scooter from a fairly low powered urban runabout, whose direct injection stratified charge 50cc two stroke was designed as much for greenness as for performance to a practical suburban commuter whose acceleration and 55 mph top speed are fast enough for serious riding in cut and thrust morning commuter traffic.
MotoIQ Staff Report
Besides its lavish brothels where you can legally get some uh diversions from racing, Pahrump Nevada is known for its state of the art track: Spring Mountain Raceway. We are getting to know our new Traqmate GPS data acquisition system a little better and got to use it again at Redline Time Attack's stop at Spring Mountain.
Data and Cool Stuff Inside!
We have been familiar with the ACT clutch line for many years. One of the race cars in the MotoIQ stable has been running an ACT clutch for the last 7 years which is probably over 20,000 racing miles with no problems at all. This is real racing mileage on a track, punishing use probably 5 times tougher than street driving. Perhaps the motorsport that is the hardest on clutches is drifting. Our friends on the Formula D circuit Joon Mang and Tanner Foust use off the shelf ACT clutches in the brutal, abusive clutch kicking world of Pro Drifting. For street use, ACT clutches are known to be great at holding torque with good smoothness and light pedal effort.
VIDEO: Dai Yoshihara helps us test the ContourHD and Traqmate GPS Data Acquisition System!
We tried out our new ContourHD cameras and Traqmate GPS data acquisition system on Dai Yoshihara's Team Falken Chevy LS powered S13 drift car at Formula D in Vegas... Unfortunately for us, it was hot. Really hot even in the Nevada night. The heat on track was causing problems with the car's electrical system, the rear mounted battery's electrolyte was boiling even with heat shielding! This was causing the vehicle's line voltage to fluctuate wildly and in an effort to reduce electrical load, we disconnected the system after just the first couple of Dai's practice runs when he was trying to familiarize himself with the deceivingly technical Las Vegas course
Project Miatabusa Part 4.2 - Hacking the Hayabusa Harness
Nothing on Project Miatabusa is finished, but plenty is happening. Prepare yourself for a barrage of updates on our unfinished business.
Project Miatabusa Part 4.1 - It Goes to 11(,000 rpm)
Well you read about MotoIQ's new race series in yesterday's news. Today we will give you a sneak peak of a draft of the rules. Note this is a draft and the final details are yet to be worked out but we wanted to get something out to potential competitors as soon as possible. Give us some feedback in the comments section.
In keeping with the theme of making this car as reliable as possible, we've added ARK Design's newly released MFD2 (Multi-Function Display). The benefit of the MFD2 over the previous MFD is the ability to plug straight into the OBDII port whereas the old MFD required splicing into the ECU harness. We hate electrical work, and this makes it about as plug-n-play as you can get!
Read the Project S2000 Series Here!
How To Rebuild Brake Calipers
By Billy Johnson
Rebuilding the brakes is not as challenging as it may seem. There are only a few more steps beyond simply changing out brake pads and rotors. This is an information only step-by-step guide, undertake it at your own risk. If you do not feel comfortable with the below steps, I would suggest getting help. If you are remotely mechanically inclined and do oil changes and maintenance yourself, it really is not that bad at all.
Every car with aspirations of track driving needs accurate instruments, the EVO is no exception. Factory gauges are very inaccurate, often lagging far behind what is actually going on. In the case of the EVO, most of the important gauges are simply missing. The EVO only has a water temperature gauge, ridiculous for a high performance car. We installed an ARK Designs MFD To fix this.
Go fast Bits G-Force boost controller!
Our mates overseas at Go Fast Bits have been hard at work perfecting a new feature packed boost controller called the G-Force that has hit our shores! This cutting edge unit has all the bells and whistles any boost junkie could ask for. We recently put the G-Force through it's paces on Project 200SX in an effort to share our feedback with Go Fast Bits themselves..... Here are our impressions of the unit they sent us.
VIDEO: Whiteline Adjustable Swaybars Explained
Whiteline has put together a short video discussing their adjustable swaybars and sizing. Check it out!
Project Miatabusa Part 3 - Attack of the Weight Weenie!
Our Miata's stock 1.8-liter weighed 296 pounds. The Hayabusa engine, without gearbox or header, weighed 135 pounds. So it looks like we should have 161 pounds shaved right off the bat. But on top of that, we've managed to save another 73 pounds just by discarding the parts of the car that are really only required by the kinds of people who wouldn't put a Hayabusa engine in their Miata in the first place.
The Rockstar/Scion TC built by Papadakis Racing and driven by Tanner Foust is one of the most feared machine/driver combinations on the Formula D circuit. Tanner is currently sitting in Second in the 2010 Formula D points chase in a good position for the championship.
If you have been in the game of modifying cars for 10 years or so and got your start modding compact cars, you probably remember the good old days when adding a cold air intake was probably the first or second engine mod you did to your car. In those days a really well designed intake could add as much as 10 or more whp to your car's output and even the most basic poorly designed ebay intake usually added at least a few dyno verifiable horsepower. A cold air intake was considered to be a good bang for the buck modification and thousands were sold. Even the most mechanically inept were usually able to install an intake with a few simple hand tools.
In the last installment of our build, we delved into building the bottom end of our VG30DETT engine for the goal of reliably achieving 550 plus horsepower. In this segment we will look into what was done to our top end including the cylinder heads to support this power level.
See part one about the bottom end here!
We all make mistakes, especially when we are starting out as beginner enthusiasts. Cars can be very unforgiving machines, especially modified cars that have been tweaked for more performance. Unfortunately many seemingly minor mistakes can have very devastating and costly consequences.
For part one of the series click here!
For part two of this series click here!
For part three of the series click here!
In our last edition of Project Tundra, we discussed why we selected what is now our favorite truck of all time. We basically needed an office hauler, capable of carrying parts, carrying our staff and towing race cars all over the place under all conditions. It had to tow like a diesel and be reliable like a daily driver.
Read More about Project Tundra here!
Hi Sarah,
I got 8 quarts of Royal Purple 5w-30 and it's been sitting for at least a year and a half. Is it still good?
Thanks -Will C.
Check out Project Scion and her sister car taking 1st and 2nd place at Watkins Glen in World Challenge Touring Car class! Congratulations guys!
Now that you have reduced body motion and improved steering response, and tuned out under or oversteer to improve the chassis balance, our next step is to reduce weight transfer. Weight transfer is the movement of weight from the inside to the outside wheels of a car under cornering.
When we last left off on our QR25DE project, Jim Wolf Technology was well on the development path for our motor with new rods, pistons and the removal of the balance shafts. JWT still had a few more tricks up their sleeves to help the motor make more power and to improve its reliability that we will get into in this installment.
By Khiem Dinh, Photos by Jeff Naeyaert
Although the Honda S2000 is one of our favorite all time cars, one of the parts we like the least about the car is the brake system. Although they are perfectly adequate for street duty, the stock brakes do not match the excellent handling ability of the car and are not up to snuff for track day use. S2000s that are tracked heavily, especially on non-staggered setups running 245 or 255 width front tires, are prone to cracking front rotors. The added traction from the wider front tires means more braking power and therefore more heat the front brakes must dissipate. This added heat is simply beyond the capacity of the stock brakes' design, leading to oft cracked rotors.
To see what else we did to project S2000 click here!
Those in the know are very familiar with the Performance Friction company. Performance Friction brakes are found on most of the paddock at the highest levels of pro racing. IRL, NASCAR and ALMS teams go to Performance Friction as the brand of choice for their brake system and friction material needs.
Performance Friction is also a brand of choice in the tuner market. Many of the top Time Attack cars run Performance Friction pads and brake systems as well as a legion of club racers. Performance Friction pads are also a favorite among the staff at MotoIQ. We are enamored of the performance and consistency of the product.
Wrench Tips #16: The Homebrew Rubber Lathe
It's no secret that driving your car at speed on a road course will bring to light all of the car's weaknesses. After sorting the motor and suspension we decided to take Project 200SX to a few track day events to put the car through its paces. While the car has proven dead reliable we certainly found its shortcomings.
In our last edition of our ongoing series on engine tuning and theory, we explained how the 4-stroke cycle works. Now we are going to break down a couple of common and very important terms that you will hear all the time when discussing engines that you must understand if you are going to successfully tune or select parts for your motor. This information can also help prevent you from getting ripped off by bogus speed shops. This can also help prevent you from being steered wrong by SPE's, FFF's and other lameo guru types that inhabit various forums and online resources.
Holy crap, this is gonna work!
Wanna see this abomination in person? We're dragging it to the MX-5 Miatafest at Mazda R&D in Irvine, CA this July 17. Cliky the linkey for more info: http://mx5miatafest.com/
Wrench Tips #15: Grip Dip For Your Screw Tip
By Mike Kojima, Photos and video by Jeff Naeyaert
We had heard rumors that Rhys Millen was working with Hyundai and Red Bull to build something fantastic, an unlimited class supercar for Pikes Peak. Since we are on the Formula D Circuit with Rhys, we asked him what was up and he invited us to his shop for a closer look and to go testing with his team as he rolled the car out for the first time at El Toro.
Video inside!
Team Falken Drift Ace Dai Yoshihara is currently developing a Nissan 350Z roadster for competition in Time Attack street classes. Unfortunately the 350Z roaster did not come with Nissan's excellent performing Brembo track package brakes. In the cars maiden outing at the Buttonwillow Superlap Battle, the car was hampered with multiple problems with the brake system on the car. The car had been fitted with an aftermarket prototype performance brake system for the SEMA show. The car was plagued by cracking rotors, fade, long pedal and the rotors separating from the hat section...
It's no secret that the staff of MotoIQ is really into Rays Volk brand of wheels. You will find Volks on nearly all of our racing projects and most of our personal street cars. No, it's not because we get an endless supply of sponsored Volks, we pay for our own. It's not because we are fans of the styling either although we do like it. It's not because we are fashion snobs that want the latest high status wheels on our cars either. In typical MotoIQ fashion, we really value function over form. We like Volks due to their performance.
Take an in depth look at one of the most powerful engines from the 1980's Formula 1 turbo era.
By Martin Gonzales and Mike Kojima
What is as important to your engine's health as your heart is to your own body? If you guessed the oil pump then you are absolutely correct! Like your heart, your oil pump circulates the engine's life blood, oil, around to critical components like your engine's bearings and valvetrain. These parts like parts of your own body would only last seconds without a continual supply of pressurized oil.
Now that you have reduced body motion and improved steering response, we can work on the next major area of improvement, improving chassis balance. The goal for most of us is to have a car with neutral balance. Neutral balance, where all four tires slide the same amount, is the fastest way around a corner most of the time.
Wrench Tips #14: Put Your Studs to Work
Being able to quickly attach a bung for a wide band 02 sensor is a big pain in the ass. I know a lot of you have probably tried to help a friend tune their car. No matter how many times you told them to have an O2 sensor bung welded into their exhaust before they show up at your place, then they arrive and you ask them where it is, they blankly look at you and go "what?" I know this happens to me all the time.
The typical new tire introduction goes like this: The new Pazoosy Jaberwoky XR 745 Ultra R Super Star uses triple-inverted diagonal ply Inconel belts and a directional, asymmetrical tread pattern to optimize wet and dry grip, minimize road noise, increase your fuel economy and magnify your sex appeal. The sad truth is that neither the author, nor the PR team that fed him that line of technospew has any idea what triple-inverted diagonal ply Inconel belts are or what they do.
During my trip to Germany to the 24 hours of Nurburgring last week I hung out with D Sport Magazine's publisher Mike Ferarra who was also traveling with us. Mike holds the same ideas about the green revolution as I do, perhaps even more extremely, hence last months "Green Sucks" issue of D Sport. Sharing rants, I realized that I forgot to finish my thoughts about being green here.
In parts one, two and three of our series of the inner workings of clutches, we covered how the three main parts of the clutch, the pressure plate, the disc and the friction material work. Now that you probably have more than enough information about how basic clutch systems work, we will go on and explain the workings of some of the more exotic clutches and delve into the world of flywheels a bit. Finally we will talk about a little bit of clutch trouble shooting.
By Sarah Forst
Hi there,
I have a problem with my car and I'm too embarrassed to ask my friends. My problem is that I usually over-torque bolts/nuts on my car and I need your help. One of my strut tower nuts is over-torqued and when I tried to remove that nut, it started to round pretty bad. I even went to Sears to buy a socket set that removes rounded bolts/nuts but with no success. The nut looks pretty bad. What can I do? Thank you for any help.
Thanks to our friends at Volk Wheels, the technical staff at MotoIQ had a special opportunity to get a close insider's look at BMW's uber-trick factory works BMW M3's that Rahal-Letterman racing campaign in ALMS's GT class. If you do a google search on these cars, you will not find much information on them because until now, no one that cares has gotten a really close look at these amazing machines. Most reports have pretty pictures of the cars and stuff about the "Story of Joy" marketing campaign that the cars are promoting but in typical MotoIQ form, we will take you inside like no one else has before.
Check out this sweet video of our Project Scion shot at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Great in car camera shots show exactly how hard it is to drive on a street course. Looking at how little the driver can see to aid in positioning the car and even work in traffic will give you reasons to respect what Dan Gardner and Robert Stout do! This video is a must see. If there is interest we can post some more raw in car video at a later date.
By Mike Kojima
AEM gave us their latest version of a water methanol injection system and we agreed to install it on Project EVO IX. The AEM system uses a powerful high pressure, 6amp, 72 watt 150 psi pump. This is important because on a turbo car, the water system has to work against the boost pressure so a 20 psi windshield washer pump will actually not pump any water at all at 20 psi of boost unless the water tank is boost referenced. The pump also features chemical resistant fluroelastomer EDPM seals and a santoprene diaphragm so as not to be phased by ethanol or methanol in any concentration.
When we last worked on Project EVO X we installed a very comprehensive yet very streetable suspension system from KW and Whiteline. In continuing our theme for building the ultimate EVO X without compromising its daily driveabilty, we now turn our attention to the brakes, wheels and tires.
For more on Project EVO X Click Here!
By Martin Gonzales & Steve Rockwood
Last time you saw our G20 we were pounding the final nails on the coffin of its daily driven days with the addition of a roll cage. This time around we'll be going over a number of safety improvements to our cage and will also get into the final prep and finish of the interior.
Although Nissan hyped up the Sentra Spec-V as a performance sedan in its marketing campaign, in truth the car was a little more than a piece of basic transportation with a few performance enhancing bells and whistles. The car was cursed with a crude beam axle rear suspension and a McPherson strut front suspension whose geometry was designed around efficient packaging and relentless understeer rather than performance. Because of this, the Sentra is at a significant disadvantage in the handling department when compared to its FWD rivals, mainly Hondas, the Scion TC and even the Infiniti G20. Despite of all this, we at MotoIQ are always up to an engineering challenge and we set about to rework the SE-R's suspension to attempt to make it a little more competitive.
To read more about Project Spec-V click here!
By Christian Krahenbuhl
This is the second of four EFI articles from Cobb Tuning. This article will provide a more precise focus on modern EFI Systems; introducing you to various closed-loop control systems and explain how some of the basic calibration/tuning feedback systems are used. We will again introduce you to the new terminology and rhetoric used by tuners, engineers, & engine calibrators. This article will use more advanced animations and hands on exercises (with a spreadsheet) to educate you as to how calibration of modern EMS is done. We will breakdown the EMS into sub-systems; we will look at separately understanding and calibrating the Fuel System, the Ignition Advance System, the Boost Control System, the Camshaft Phasing System & Other Control Systems.
Read Part 1 here!
Technobabble - Rotard Heaven
For about a decade, the rotary engine looked ready to take over the world. Dozens of companies were developing the powerplants in an effort to exorcise the rotary's demons and realize the potential of its simple concept and compact proportions. Almost all of them failed, and the whole exercise was relegated to a historical footnote.
Here, in a small museum about an hour south of Frankfurt, is a glimpse into just how big and complex that footnote should be.
Normally we don't do Project "previews" here on MotoIQ, but normally Mike hasn't ground down 1 of his only 2 typing fingers in a power sanding accident rendering him unable to write and normally the FedEX guy doesn't bring us as exciting stuff as he did last week! So here it is, an introduction to Project V8 RX-7!