Thursday, June 17, 2010

Auto Salon Aussie Car,Perfect Performance Cars modification engine

While you have to be different to want to modify a car, there are varying levels of "uniqueness" that each person brings to the scene. I mean, it's not the act of a cold, calculatingly logical person to invest tens of thousands of dollars into a means of transport, making it more expensive to run and making it far more uncomfortable and too powerful to drive on the street.

Theo and George Spartalis are not ordinary, and their cars are certainly far from average, often seamlessly integrating show quality build finish to hardcore race-style performance engineering. Both of these very special brothers shine on like crazy diamonds in the coalface that is the tuning scene and this wild S15 is Theo's opus, his toy, his pride and joy. Rather than keeping it placid with big rims, dumped stance, some styling efforts and around 250kW at the wheels, the Spartalis brothers took their inspiration from the most hardcore drag and circuit racing Silvias in Japan.

Theo made a pilgrimage to Japan a few years back, where the sight of the HKS Kyushu S15 running 10.4 on drag radials and using an SR20 pulled the strings in his mind, while it was witnessing the GT300-class C-West S15 JGTC racers (now Super GT) that stamped those formative lustful ideas and dreams into a cold, hard, wanton desire to build his own SR20DET-powered S15, something that could run a number at the drags or blast an enthralling lap out at a local circuit.

Cars modification engine
To achieve this, he scored himself a 2001-vintage Spec R S15 Silvia import and set about building a car that bridged JGTC circuit influence with some drag racing hardware and a pinch of road car smarts. At first, having spent well over $120,000 and three months in construction, it was a capable all rounder with over 400kW at the treads from its highly engineered SR20 (without nitrous), though it soon copped evolutionary upgrades to assist in its chase for a time slip and the world record for fastest SR20 on radial tyres.

At the start of the original build, Theo wanted the car to blend JGTC and drag styles into a road car and then take it from track to strip to street. However, his desire to run a fast time overcame the short-term circuit aspirations and any shred of road usage for the car, and so it slowly turned more into a strip-focused monster, though Theo reckons it can be re-tuned to smash lap records fairly easily and cheaply.

Before this latest round of modifications to really push it into drag car territory to run a number that Theo would be happy with, it had run a best time of 10.24@138mph on radials and 9.23@148.5mph on slicks, though these passes had been plagued with the kind of teething problems associated with massive feats of engineering like what this car packs. They had suffered all kinds of set-backs, from faulty battery charge warning lights, to shearing billet driveshafts, to a programming glitch on the MoTeC accidentally advancing the timing to nearly 27degrees (which would be enough to kill any normal motor)!

The whole build was excruciatingly difficult as the detail had to be off the clock. It had to be supremely well engineered, but finished to a standard that wouldn't be out of place on a brand new supercar or works-built factory racer. Still, running that first nine second pass made it all worthwhile for Theo, and he's rightfully proud of the advanced workmanship that is packed into the fatter-than-a-sumo two-door, the highlights of which are the seamlessly integrated C West GT widebody, the seam-welded chassis, the R32 Skyline GT-R rear-end, the carbon brakes from the USA and that ludicrously large T51R turbo.

Cars modification engineActually, that monster S13-generation SR20DET (used for simplicity's sake) is one area that has copped plenty of revision and updates over the tenure of the S15's life though most of that work has focused on attaining reliability rather than going for sky high dyno figures. The way the car gets out of the hole (off the line) and how strong it is in the mid-track has more to do with Theo's desire to run an ace time than outright grunt ever will (though that would net him a sweet mph figure).

The first thing most people spot in the engine bay is that monster HKS T51R KAI turbo, the snail pumps 30psi worth of boost into the now-2.2-litre SR20, though that's managed by the HKS 50mm external wastegate, TAL blow-off valve and Blitz Dual SBC boost controller. You can't run such a large huffer without the appropriate preparation being done to the bottom end, and on the GT Autosound S15 there's enough hi-po hardware in there to make a Silvia junkie drool with excitement.

In the block lies a Tomei stroker crank that has bumped capacity up to 2.2-litres and can spin far harder than the Nissan effort, while Power Enterprise bearings now handle the rpm, heat and stress from the manic motor, being able to turn to over 11,000rpm! While shopping at Tomei, Theo picked up a quartet of their matching 2.2-litre con rods to suit the motor as well as a set of oversize 87.5mm pistons that were then also Nikasil coated for extra strength and installed with unbelievably exotic titanium piston rings that are both lightweight and strong. There's also a Trust sump and oil cooler to ensure the motor's longevity.

Having experimented with both standard and heavily modified heads, Theo has settled on this expensive, labour-intensive set-up that is reportedly worth around $12,000 and packs exotic, intricate detailing like CNC porting, JUN billet plenum, Tomei valve springs and Manley titanium and aluminium valves. On the front of the motor, there is a Nissan VQ45 V8 throttle body and Tomei cam gears, while ARP head studs have been fitted to stop the top-end lifting off the long motor when that massive T51R gets a'spoolin'.

With the switch to methanol, the Sard 1000cc injectors currently doing duty will be joined by a second set. Theo had been running American-made Rochester units, but found them to be less than reliable on such a monstrously worked motor, something that can spell disaster and tens of thousands of dollars down the drain if it all goes wrong


Cars modification engine
There's also twin SX fuel pumps that basically shower the 2.2-litre four-cylinder with C16 race fuel and twin VL Turbo fuel pumps for the nitrous system. Up the front, a custom radiator and cooling system reduce weight and handle the increased pressures in the system, while the whole exhaust was also custom made from scratch to suit Theo's exact specifications. Ignition is handled by twin MoTeC CDI ignitors as well as high-rate MSD coils and leads, ensuring massive amounts of spark get to those plugs and burn the huge amounts of fuel flowing into each combustion chamber, something that will be even more important with the switch to methanol as it takes double the amount of alcohol to provide the same amount of propulsion as conventional petrol.

Helping keep the detonation at bay is the Trust front-mount air-to-air 150mm-thick drag-spec intercooler. This unit sacrifices ultimate long-distance cooling efficiency for almost no pressure drop at all across the massive core, something that Theo's able to cope with seeing how the car's really only running at full-tilt for a maximum of 10.24 seconds at a time.

All that work adds up to 490 rear-wheel kilowatts without nitrous through the auto gearbox (and well over 500 with a manual), but has seen as high as 600kW at the wheels on the bottle, though this was running a very conservative 18deg of timing. Some of the reasons Theo wants to change the to methanol is because alcohol will burn much cleaner than C16 race fuel, run the motor at a much cooler temperature and allow almost 35 degrees of timing, which should add around 200hp to the car's prodigious total!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Auto Salon Aussie Car Sport | Auto Cars Wallpaper

Right from the moment you laid eyes on it, this AP1 had you, didn't it? Go on, even you turbo-junkie, died-in-the-wool brand whores will have to admit that this has to be one of the meanest, angriest S2000 Honda you've seen, and also one of the best. This S2000 is built to circuit specifications, with thorough lightening of the chassis and body, along with a million adjustable suspension components and an engine that revs like a jet turbine.

To be able to lap Tsukuba in under the one-minute barrier, the line between all-out motor sport engineering and traditional street tuner modifications blurs. Every single piece of the motor's systems has to be scrutinised to check for inefficiencies, wasted power, less-than-perfect balance and possible weaknesses, because while they're all very minor on their own (perhaps contributing maybe one percent, if that), when you go right through a vehicle with a race engineer's eye you'll find quite a few of these issues and suddenly you've got a huge gain on your hands.

A couple of numbers concerning the highly worked F22C engine stand out on the info sheet the Japanese tuning legends provided us: 12.9:1 and 235. That is the sky high compression ratio and amazing amount of kilowatts this naturally aspirated 2.2-litre car puts out, which is about as far removed from your average street-driven AP1 as Jupiter is from Black town, and what an F22C it is! Auto Salon Aussie Car Sport One of J's Raising's own crate motors which cashed up punters can buy for an eye-watering 798,000 Yen, plus shipping! it is a finely balanced, high-revving, quad-throttle masterpiece that encapsulates all that is great and good about manic track-prepped Honda four-cylinders. In short, this thing is the alpha male of S2000 engines and you can't help but realise that the second you clap your peepers on it.

The custom intake and quad throttles feed obscene amounts of air into the completely rebuilt in-line four-cylinder, which has benefited from judicious reworking of Honda's already excellent engineering to provide a fantastically response power plant that can withstand the brutal forces dished out from regular track work. The sump is now a J's Racing design that stops engine-destroying surging, while there are fluid coolers not just for the motor, but the gearbox and diff as well, all to ensure that they don't overheat and damage anything. Then there are the Megen heavy duty engine mounts, Sam co radiator hoses (that resist blowing off) and an Aussie MoTeC M400 ECU, which will keep a very strict electronic eye over proceedings.

Everything has been carefully tinkered with, as J's Racing went about changing and honing only what they needed to, though they saw fit to develop a new exhaust manifold and featherweight titanium exhaust system for the two-door flier. But, it's not just about power, with the efficient delivery of each of the 235kW the car puts down of utmost importance.

Auto Salon Aussie Car Sport To this end, J's Racing had Exert build them a custom-specification Hyper Single clutch, while the boys in the back room changed the final drive ratio to a shorter, more accelerating 4.4:1. They also packed in one of their own 1.5-way limited-slip centres for increased traction and a set of hardened gearbox and differential mounts to erase the slop of the standard rubber units and assist power delivery. It was those excessive tolerances that provided the impetus for a lot of the suspension work that went on under the sexy bodywork.



After having the shell spot-welded for strength and a thorough roll cage welded in, a set of J's Raising's own CRUX Colver's were fitted, shod with pillow ball upper mounts for a solid mating face, as the noise and harshness damping effects of the stock rubber pieces were not required on this track-only brute. J's also fitted a 20mm roll centre adjuster to let them get their geometry bang on perfect, along with a set of pillow-mount tie rods to eliminate the S2000's cursed bump-steer (where the toe angle changes as the suspension moves up and down, slowing the car in the corner and making it unstable).

Further limitations were eradicated with the removal of the OEM suspension arms, which were replaced by J's Raising's own SPL rear pillow-mount arms, along with the J's Racing sub-frame reinforcement kit in both the front and rear ends, which reduces twisting and takes the last ounce of slack in the OEM road set-up and drop-kicks it out of the park. Make no mistake: this S2k is stiffer than one of the Sydney Harbour Bridge's support girders.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Honda Accord Crosstour shows tiny problems in the IIHS rollover tests

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted rollover tests on several vehicles and the Honda Accord Crosstour was among those that didn’t do well.

Already, many observers expect this model to get an early refresh. The suggestions include a new face and a titanium-reinforced roof. In the latest tests, the IIHS didn’t exactly roll the vehicles. Rather, the IIHS pushed a metal plate against 1 corner of a roof at a constant speed. To get a good rating, a roof must withstand a force of 4 times the vehicle’s weight before reaching 5 inches of crush. To get an acceptable rating, the minimum strength-to-weight ratio that’s needed is 3.25. A poor rating is given to those that have lower than 2.5. Vehicles that did remarkably well are the Grand Cherokee, Highlander, Liberty, and Venza, which all withstood forces of almost 5 times their weights. The Crosstour can withstand 2.8 times its weight while the Endeavor and Pilot can endure only 3 times its weight.

Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini made strong gains in European auto production in April


For the month of April, luxury carmakers (including Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz division, BMW brand, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini and Land Rover) made strong gains in European auto production.

The 2010 results are expected to come out favorably against the April 2009 period when sales dropped due to the global financial crisis and Europe’s incentive program that favored small cars. With the recovery in the global economy and the ending of government subsidies, the factories in Europe are boosting production to fill orders for high-end models. Notably, the April output for the Mercedes S class rose to 6,012 units from 675 in 2009. The Land Rover Range Rover Sport increased by 157% year on year. Production was also boosted for the all-new Rolls-Royce Ghost, according to estimates from J.D. Power Automotive Forecasting. Overall, European production rose by 8% in the month to 1,367,512 and 28% to 5,746,227 through April. It should also be noted that April was the first month when the year-on-year production growth rate was a single-digit percentage (instead of double digits).

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