Saturday, July 24, 2010

J's Subaru 1.5R

It was previously tuned by a pro. tuner. J's ride arrived with erratic idling, with the aircon on, the ride sounded like it has high-lift cams installed, rather, it is more irritating to know that the ride is worse than stock after it was tuned.

The wiring looks like the tuner is out for some quick cash, nothing quite like it was done with consideration to the asthetic effects. Knowing that wires are pretty much conceal in the ECU compartment, I still felt that pro. should maintain the market's standard and do the wiring in a professional manner.

Well, time is money of course, I personally prefer to spend that additional 1.5 hours to clean up the wiring and return the luster to the ECU compartment. Making sure all wire are properly soldered and insulated against the elements.

After setting up Unichip parameters, I fired up the engine. The entire car sounds completely stock. Idling is stable, no fluctuation whether it is with the aircon on or off. I noticed J's dissappointment when the car sounds so stock. lolz...

J, like I said, I'm sorry, if the car is gonna be loud, please operate the muffler. I wouldnt screw up the mappings to produce that fierce sound. lolzz....

Perfect idling.

Tuning is simple enough for me. My style is simple, do not let the car 'season' by itself, while some would beg to differ, I personally prefer to not allow the ECU to relearn in any way, but the way I want it to be. More horsepower and more torque, while all else remains intact. Better fuel consumption and better drivability.

Simple? well, J's a happy man now..... This ride comes stock with variable cams, producing one of the finest TS in Subaru's range thus far.

Tuning this ride does bring back memories, happy ones, good old days....

Lets NOS this ride yah?

lolz...

stay happy, drive safely,

2am Racing

Monday, July 19, 2010

WRX with FP green turbo

WRX with FP green turbo

We all know what the FP green turbo can do with a 2.5L wrx boxer engine. With AVCS cams and a top mounted intercooler, this ride can easily push the turbo to produce significant difference in horsepower and torque for this ride.

This turbo is suitable for people who already owns a turbo charged ride, played enough of low end torque and response, and lost enough on the highway to taxis and 350-zees. Its that lack of high-end power which causes most seasoned turbo charged rides to fore-go the low end torque and go for something more rewarding during inpromto races.

FP green is an excellent selection. Owner bought it off a previous owner who de-modded his ride and sold it to him at a steal.

Turbo installation took 2 hours to complete and after a quick tune up with desch-works 850cc injectors newly installed, we fired the engine and we're off to tune the ride. Idling is perfect in all situations, with aircon on and off, the idling remains stable at 800 rpm.

For all this while, I've been wondering what the word FP stands for... I guess today, I finally found out. Fake Power! Maybe farking power is a better terms in most cases, but if this secondhand FP turbo has problems with its compressor blades/fins, this turbo is shit. The inablity to spool and compress air efficiently have caused the turbo is be inefficient and boost levels are unacceptable.

Owner damn borling lor... lolz... The anti-climax, low sex drive turbo really pissed everyone off.... No doubt at the current boost level, the damaged FP turbo is already showing signs of its original prowess, the teasing aint helping the punctured excite. Its like grandpa swinging his dick and telling us how big and power he used to be, his performance in the past is not gonna make any granny high and that how we felt.

Well, goodday to all, the damaged FP turbo bored us all, still, all smiles, he got the refund for the turbo and we're off...

stay tuned... I've got good news coming soon....



2am racing

Monday, July 5, 2010

Subaru STI boost up

Subaru STI boost up



Got an assignment to tune up a Stock Subaru STI that morning, and after a quick exchange of contact and stuff, we fixed up an appointment to Dyn's ride tuned up and good for the road.

Ride arrives sounding like a rocket or something. Hmm, I notice he still has the stock bonnet. Bright yellow in colour and excellent looking body kits. Popping the bonnet, we saw a massive top-mount intercooler and a turbo that smiles. I managed to talk to his turbo, after a quick hand shake and stuff, turbo told me he is also stock. Right. I might have seen him somewhere before, though in my memory, turbo does look kinda innocent for starters.

Gear 1, Dyn's STI sprints forward. Turbo kicks in as early as 2500 rpm and pulls right on to red line. At 1 bar of boost, the engine shows signs of detonation. I started scratching my head, then my balls, my balls says the turbo's stock. lolz...
Gear 2, Turbo kicks in instantly, and have breath to pulls all the way to redline. What in the world did this owner did to his ride? Hmm,...stock... lolz...

What we did on this ride is to tune up the ride to spool up quicker than before, ensuring engine is still happy and boost enough to tell the owner, your stock injectors are now maxed out. Of course, if more horsepower is desired, we can recommend upsizing the injectors, and going for forged internals.

Tuning this ride is simple enough for me. This ride now packs with much more torque than before, no more detonations and stuff, and loads of bhp to play with. Definately, if owner sticks to his high boost all the time, the low boost will now feel like granny on sticks.

After 1.5 hours of tuning, this ride's performance is safely improved with loads of low-end torque and enough breath to pull to redline. I'm respecting the owner's choice to keep the vehicle's parts discrete, and again, turbo is stock, nothing's modified on this ride, just a little tune up and stuff.

Verdict:
K'dyn Subaru 2.5 STI
Shoik!


Power Express
2am Racing

Friday, July 2, 2010

Nitrous Oxide Know-How Advanced


Nitrous Oxide Know-How Advanced

Here's an article from Wikipedia on Nitrous Oxide.

I promised Kelvin to write a more layman termed article on NOS, here goes, if you have burning questions to ask, pls drop me an email...

Some of the most commonly asked questions about NOS:

1. Engine lifespan?
2. Is there a Blue flame coming out from the exhaust?
3. How does this compare to a Turbo Kit?
4. How does the system work in layman terms?
5. Detailed Price Breakdown
6. Wet, Dry or Direct Port?

1. Engine Lifespan?


With reference to the wiki article, under the paragraph Reliability Concerns, the first sentence spells it all. "As with all modifications to increase power, the use of nitrous oxide carries with it concerns about the reliability and longevity of an engine"

This not only refers to NOS, it refers to all modifications, no matter how small or big it would be. And in all modifications, some are easy enough to understand, while others like NOS and Turbos, are slightly more complicated

Golden Rule: A good-rule-of-thumb for most cars would be to run higher octane fuel and cap the increase of BHP to a maximum of 50% of your stock bhp. You'll be safe.

In layman terms: Pump better fuel when you wanna play, increase bhp to maximum 50%

On days where you dun intend to use NOS, pump normal fuel, keep NOS De-activated. Car is now stock.

Now you know how to protect the engine using the Golden Rule

* To turn on NOS, you have to open the bottle valve, switch-on the Arming Switch, and press the activate button. All 3 must be true before NOS can be activated.


2. Is there a Blue flame coming out from the exhaust?
If you have a modified exhaust, decatted and operated. Yes. Otherwise No. Yes, it looks nice. If you're seeing the blue flames, installing a carbon fibre exhaust guard will keep the bumper looking good. :)


3. How does this compare to a Turbo Kit?
In comparing, lets take a Toyota vios and TC it, while the other vios, we'll NOS it.

a. which is usually faster if both cars have the same bhp? - NOS. Bottle pressure in NOS remains constant while turbo runs out of breath or lags depending on the turbo selected.

b. which has better Fuel consumption? - NOS. Turbo spools all the time, and if you pump 98 on turbo, you can't downgrade it to 95

c. Refilling - Turbo is better, since petrol stations is everywhere, 10 mins to top up petrol. NOS, you'll need to come over my workshop for 10mins refill

d. Engine longevity ? - Same. If turbo have been tuned properly and NOS follows golden rule.

e. Trade-in? - Both kit can be sold off to another owner at 50% off market rate. If you have bought your NOS Kit from us, we'll buy-back at $675 ($450 USD@1.5).

f. Which is cheaper? NOS.


4. How does the system work in layman terms?
In layman terms, turbo uses exhaust gases to spool up and force air into the engine. NOS uses bottle pressure to inject liquid Nitrous which converts into oxygen before entering the engine, it cools down the intake manifold and a denser cold air enters the chamber producing power.

NOS kit can be further upgraded after you bought it.


5. Detailed Price Breakdown (SGD)
NOS Kit $600
Shipment to Singapore $285
Import Tax 7% $62
Labour chgs $250
sub total : $1197

Cold Ait intake Pipe :
HKS Open pod filter $45
Cold air intake $80
Labour chgs $50
sub total : $175

Total $1372 SGD


6. Wet, Dry or Direct Port?
We use only Wet Kit which is safer than Dry and doesnt require modification of any stock engine components.


Overall, NOS has a class of its own, it stands together with Turbos and Superchargers. While Turbo uses boost controller, NOS uses Jettings.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Nitrous Know-How, The Basics

Nitrous Know-How, The Basics

The principle is simple: Air and fuel plus ignition equals horsepower; therefore, more air and fuel equals more horsepower. It's the equation that nitrous systems manufacturers use to help produce incredible power gains-in some cases up to 400 extra ponies-in everything from sport compacts to dedicated race vehicles.

Still, many performance enthusiasts don't fully understand how nitrous systems make extra horsepower. More importantly, they don't understand how to tune their nitrous system for optimal performance.

To help you get the most from your nitrous setup, we'll show you some nitrous system basics and share some basic tuning tips.

The rules of using NOS is simple.
1. Don't be greedy.
2. It needs to be refilled.
3. If you cannot activate NOS after 3000 rpm yourself, use Unichip.

FAQ

1. NOS is very hard to find when you open the bonnet
2. You can DIY remove the kit in 15 mins yourself
3. It typically last 4 drag races (100bhp NOS)
4. It is cheaper than Turbo
5. Your car is stock if NOS is not activated
6. It takes 10 mins to refill the tank
7. Each refill is 70 bucks
8. NOS Will not activate it unless you press the trigger
9. It installs on any car
10. No tuning is required for 20~30% increase in bhp
11. It is addictive
12. It is used in the movie too-fast-too-furious
13. Fuel consumption is not affected
14. Sound and looks remains the same

How to blow your engine
1. Pump more NOS than I told you to.

What people like about NOS
1. Cheap
2. Damn fast
3. Short turn around time
4. Have lots of cheap accessories with NOS
5. Show-off especially with purge valves!

What Workshops hate about NOS
1. Troublesome to refill NOS
2. Low profit margin
3. Hard to tell people not to increase too much NOS power

What people hate about NOS
1. Tanks is empty when they need it
2. Keep them thinking about it everytime they drive
3. Choosy about cars to chiat

Price for a basic kit $1380, 4 hours of your time and endless hours of fun

I was on NOS, it was my first modification, nothing came close literally!

This is highly recommended for people who doesnt want to spend money on their rides. Its power when you want it.