GTi-R is up in ARMS!

Been a while since my last post!

Going to try and fire this up again.

I'll start with this:



I've been told by the Tomei Distributor that this is the first of the new design ARMS turbines in Canada. It's the M7960 series for the S13-15 cars. Should be great on the GTi-R platform, except for the fact that it won't fit in it's OE form.

So, it's now the first Modded M7960 in Canada!!

Peeled it apart:


Made a new notch in the CHRA to align and lock the compressor housing:




Rotated the turbine housing and there it was, re-clocked ARMS turbo for my GTi-R:



All I need to finish up now is a relocated wastegate actuator bracket and a bent actuator rod....

MOER CASTER!!!!

So, in the continuing battle of building a 20 year old hatchback into a supercar slaying track killer, I've come up with an idea. No, an EXPERIMENT.

Lightness and handling are a great equalizer on the track. Lightness is easy to achieve, remove everything that makes it comfortable/tolerable, there, done.

Handling on the GTi-R is touchy. Prone to overcome front grip with a fantastic 60/40 weight distribution and a ridiculously big front anti-sway bar.

Ive looked after Camber with dual camber bolts in the rear knuckles, and Cusco camber plates in the front.

And then there was Caster. Currently, the car needs caster. So, i have installed the Whiteline Anti-lift/Caster adjust bushing in the front lower control arm. That gave me +1.0deg of caster. I want more. (On a side note, Caster helps in straight line stability, but more important to me, adds camber as the wheels turn).

Now on to my experiment. The car needed ball joints anyhow, and being JDM, a direct replacement is unavailable, unless you get a full lower control arm ($$$!!) So I got one from the local NAPA for a 1991 Nissan Sentra.

Turns out, the Sentra's ball joint is an near twin. Everything measures the same except for the widest part of the cup assembly. It measured at 0.050" bigger in diameter then the GTi-R unit. So I had this thought, and off I went to Madco Machine Inc to have the cup turned down. The tricky part, I had them machine it into an eccentric.




Here's a bit of a better view of the eccentric, the black is the OE 'paint'.






More to come....

Stickshifts and Safetybelts.....

Are the days of the clutch pedal numbered??!?

After a weekend of driving miscellaneous vehicles, I've decided I hate paddles almost as much as a full auto trans.



Having spent the better part of the day driving around in a 2007 Acura RDX, I can say it would be a load more fun with a stick. Highway driving was ok, and joining traffic from an on-ramp was fun, but within stop-and-go traffic, in big city streets it was a pain. Good thing for the full auto option.... Finding the shit paddle, the wiper control or the signal light switch at the same time, near impossible while negotiating turns and stop lights.....


I'm sure the "Tiptronic" style shifters would be even worse, had there not been a full auto mode. Great for the race track, but most likely seldom used on the cars it comes equipped on. All the concentration, control, fun of slamming the clutch down, picking the next gear, rev-matching, all gone.. Though some of my issues have been addressed by the engineers over at Nissan with the introduction of the new GT-R, which will rev match, though it does it for you. Where's the fun in that??



Worst example from the weekend, the new 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. Not only is the shifter in the most unusual spot (though similar to a column mount, but it slides up and down on the dash), but I felt that I was reaching around the steering in order to select the lower gears. It was also a little too conservative with the rev limits it allowed for down shifting, reducing the usefulness of engine braking.







Give me that third pedal and a H pattern box. It'll keep me feeling involved in the drive. Full auto's make me drowsy....

AutoX clip

Lap in my GTi-R May 1st:

Some tips...

Here's a decent little read with some truths to it..

http://74.102.31.226/articles/jp702howtomodgtir1.html

As I recap the 2009 WRC season, I thought I'd share a little WRC GTi-R history. Recounted from a Canada GTi-R post:

To be blunt, the Nissan Pulsar GTI-R's record in the world rally Championship was something of a failure. The GpA cars, run by Nissan Motorsports Europe, based at Milton Keynes , made their World Championship debut on the 1991 Safari Rally driven by former World Champion, Stig Blomqvist and British Champion David Llewellin .

The cars were never able to match the pace of the potent Lancia Delta Integrale or the Toyota Celica GT-Four and although Blomqvist struggled to finish fifth, his team-mate retired early following an accident. As the season progressed three main weaknesses were identified. The first was the Dunlop tyres were no match for the Pirelle or Michelin rubber. The second major flaw was that the Nissan suffered a weight penalty compared to its lighter rivals. Thirdly, the engine overheated and simply wasn't powerful enough.

Best results of the year in the series were a ninth for Llewellin in Acropolis and an 8 th and 10 th for the team in Finland 's 1000 Lakes. NME then entered a car for Llewellin in the final round of the British Rally Championship round as a shakedown for the Lombard RAC. The Welshman won and the team had high hopes for the final event of the year, the RAC World Championship round. Although both drivers won a stage each, neither reached the finish, the Swede sidelined with suspension problems and the Welshman took an early bath with electrical failure.

Rather than a re-design for the following season to combat major design faults, such as the position of the intercooler which tended to fry head gaskets, NME announced an even more restricted programme for 1992. The team had actually run the majority of daylight stages throughout the 91 season with lamp pods still attached, despite the weight disadvantage, in an effort to improve the engine cooling!. This rather drastic effort didn't really cure the problem of the intercooler on top of the hot engine. What it really needed was to be re-located down towards the bumper as in the Mitsubishi Evos .

Llewellin was dropped from the 92 driver line-up and replaced by Tommi Makinen and Francois Chatriot with Blomqvist making an occasional guest appearance. The Pulsar's best ever finish in the WRC was in the 1992 Swedish Rally where Blomqvist made full use of his local knowledge to finish third, setting five fastest stage times in the process. Interestingly the team ran the event with Michelin tyres despite being under contract with Dunlop and with the cars covered in their logos !.

There was another reason to celebrate because Gregoire De Mevius won the 1992 GpN World Championship (for production cars) driving a GTI-R prepared by Nissan Belgium . At the end of the year the entire GpA GTI-R project was abandoned and NME turned their attention to the 2WD sunny GTI.

JDM 4WD shootout featuring the GTi-R. Man can it launch!!!