ARTICLES

It all started on Valentine¡¦s Day morning. A call from our resident
informer, NismoSSS, and I was jumping up and down! ¡§Brader¡K mau
tengok RB26 dalam S11 hatchback tak? Ada satu projek kat Penampang.
Mari ler¡K.!¡¨ So, by 11.30 we meet up in town. After some coffee and a
bowl of Soto Makassar (btw, the best soto ever!), we were on our way
to Penampang. Arriving at the workshop, I can see the car on the
hoist. Looks like a normal car. But wait, what¡¦s this???!!! GT-R rims
and brakes!? Hmm something serious must be cooking inside! The Nissan
S11 was released in 1979. Export models were know as 200SX and 180SX
hatchback. This is where Sylvia started.

I was amazed by the works done to the car. It¡¦s extensive and not
cheap. Eventhough the car is cheap, about RM5000 only, but the mods
must be around RM50000 by now. Ok, we¡¦ll start from the engine bay.
The heart of it all is, of course, RB26DETT from a R32 GT-R. From
what the owner told me, the engine has been balanced and reworked to
take at least 2.0 bar of boost. WOW! Inside the head it¡¦s full Tomei.
Camshafts, springs, valves, the works. The owner was reluctant to say
the size of the cams but my bet would be 280degree intake and
292degree exhaust.

The block had to be bored to fit in oversized pistons from JE and HKS
rods were used along with counterbalanced full crank, also an HKS
item. Nismo BLACK Bearings were used. The gasket was 1.6mm, another
HKS item. The head has been ported and flowed, Gone were the 6
throttle setup in favor of the custom plenum, looks like Greddy
plenum. 6 x 1000cc injectors, a custom fuel rail and fuel lines were
there to replace the standard items. The throttle body wasn¡¦t there
but I believe it¡¦ll be something like the Veilside 100mm item. On top
of the engine, a 3 x twin ignition booster (like the HKS Twin Power)
were visible and connected to the coils. Running at such high boost,
HKS cams pulley were used to control the timing. Billet oversize and
undersize pulleys were used to replace the stock pulleys. They look
very nice in anodized blue and red.

Moving on to the turbos. It¡¦s still a twin turbo setup but far more
extreme than the stockers. The turbo were custom made but from what I
gather, it had the same spec as GT2835 Pro from HKS. Now, a single
GT2835 Pro is rated at 450ps. Twin? 900ps? Maybe. º The turbos were
mounted on yet another custom made exhaust manifold. Boost is
controlled by HKS external wastegate measuring 80mm. yep.. That¡¦s
rite, 80mm!! Dump pipe were 3.5 inch into a full 4 inch piping to
rear muffler. Excess boost is release to the atmosphere via a twin
blow off valve, looks like a Blitz item but no signs of blitz on it.
It might be another custom made item. The forced air were fed into a
Blitz triple core bar & plate intercooler. The thing looks small,
just a bit bigger that the stock R32 intercooler but if you look from
the top, it like 3.5 inch thick!! At the back of the intercooler,
there are some pipes which I believe is for water spray. The radiator
was also a mix-match custom made item. It¡¦s a dual core with twin F-
win high speed fans.

For an engine like this, the fuel system must be extreme too. My
guesses were correct. To support the 1000cc injectors and high boost,
the original fuel tank was dumped in favor of a 20 litre custom fuel
tank. The fuel was pumped by twin external fuel pumps, believed to be
Bosch item, into a surge tank. Now, in the surge tank, the fuel will
be mixed with some additive, much like an octane booster, before it
is pumped thru the filter, and fuel lines. Everything was steel
braided and the fuel line was 1 inch straight pipe. An in-tank temp
sensor measures the mixture temperature to maintain optimum mixture
setting.

At the time of my visit, they just finished testing the driveline
setup. So, I asked the owner is it full time RWD? He just smiled and
says, you want to look under the car? So, he hoisted the car up and I
got the chance to look closely at the driveline setup. I can see the
rear differential being a GTR item along with all the ATTESSA items.
Hmm.. ATTESSA?? In RWD setup? Looking at the gearbox, what!!!?? 4WD
setup!! Basically, everything from a R32 GTR driveline was there. The
clutch is another NISMO item, triple plate drag spec. The rear
differential has been strengthen using NISMO LSD inside and the HICAS
has been locked using TOMEI HICAS lock kit ( I want this!!). The
brakes were genuine GTR items with 4 pots at the front and 2pots at
the rear. Disc were aftermarket items, cross drilled and slotted.
Brake pads were Endless Drag Pads. At this time, the rims were
genuine R32 GTR 16x8 with Falken Avenis on it. The car is still
waiting for some parts to complete before going for a respray. By the
time it is completed, it¡¦ll have Advan NEOVA 235/50/16 on those rims.

Inside the car basically is not what you want for everyday use. But
hey, it¡¦s a drag car. Everything not related on going fast has been
gutted. I can see a BRIDE Brix seat inside the office, probably will
be in the car soon. A collection of gauges in on the dashboard and on
the floor, a clear indication what the car was still in development
phase. HKS Exhaust temp and Oil temp were mounted on the pillar. The
dashboard was R32 GT-R with Veilside face plate. 320km/h, 11000rpm,
front torque meter and fuel meter and temp. The ECU has been ditched
for a stand alone management. HALTECH E6K was used for the time being
but the owner indicates that a newer version is on it¡¦s way. Some
other HKS gadgets were in the car but not hooked up. I looked at one
of the bigger gauge on the dashboard, boost meter measuring 45psi¡K
erk¡K that¡¦s around 3.5 bar!

The chassis has been setup to take on the power. A full 10 point roll
cage has been installed. The suspension was APEX-i drag item. Under
the car, some undercarriage strengthening has been carried out. The
car has been spot welded and some tube frames were installed to make
sure the chassis doesn¡¦t flex. The doors were trimmed and the glass
should be replaced with Lexan by now.

All in, I believe the car should be able to break low 11s, high 10s
on street tires. If it¡¦s on semi or full slicks, I¡¦m thinking low
10s. Can¡¦t wait for it to complete! The owner was saying another
month to complete and he¡¦s thinking about flying the car to Sepang
to ¡§teach those guys a lesson! Never mess with NISSAN!¡¨ hehehe.. I
completely agreed with him. Leaving his workshop, I was smiling and
feeling good. I didn¡¦t know what¡¦s coming. I thought that car was
extreme but little that I know, I¡¦m on my way to another shop, to
ride in a, what could possibly be a 10 sec car!

It turns out this workshop is owned by the brother of the S11 owner.
HAH family business 101. hehehe.. arriving at the workshop, I can
see it's quite big, located at an open space about 1 acres of land
and have 2 building, with ample parking spaces. There's one office
building and another open air area where all the work is done.
Entering the premise, immediately my eyes were glued to a Nissan
120Y, silver color. My god!! That's full drag slicks on that car!
14inch wide! Wooooo! The car was featured in Majalah EVO, look at the
last page. That's the CAR! Inside, it got a full roll cage setup with
the front interior still intact with 2 Bride Seats and a collection
of gauges on the dashboard. The engine is a full tuned SR20DET, G-
tech rated at 650ps. I can't say much about this car because the
owner wasn't around when we visited and the mechanic wasn't too keen
about me writing an article about it too. Hehehe but if the car
makes it to Sepang, I will have the exclusive! yeaaaa! I didn't get
to ride in the car because of 2 things, owner wasn't around and the
turbo was on its way to Garrett for further tuning.

Another car that I see is an original Mitsubishi Mirage 4WD. The
4G61T has been dumped in favor of a 4G63 VR4 RS engine. Anything not
related on going fast also has been dumped, so no a/c, no p/s, no p/w
and all that. I didn't get the chance to see the interior or the
engine but hey, it's a Mitsu. It's like been there done that kinda
thing. But I know one thing, looking at the 4 inch thick intercooler
and Haltech sticker on the rear mirror; it's by no means this car is
to be taken lightly! Hmm.. ok so these guys are serious tuners.

Moving along, we meet with 2 of the owners. So we got some
information from them regarding the Sunny 120y and the Mirage.
Looking around the workplace, I can see some engines on the floor.
1JZ-GTE, which is soon to be mated inside a w123 Merc, some FJ20,
4G63 VR4 and Evo but no SR or RB!?? Hey what gives? One thing I do
know is that there are 4 CA18DET engines laying around one corner of
the shop. CA? hmm.. maybe there's something I didn't know. " guys,
meet Lee (Not real name maaa), he's the driver and Haltech tuner for
all our cars, and also the owner of this U11 Bluebird Coupe," said
the workshop owner.

WOOOOO what's this? I didn't notice the Bluebird until the guy
mentioned it. On the front bonnet written, HALTECH 46psi. huh??
46psi???!! 3.1 BAR!?? So, I was thinking must be RB26DETT in here. So
the owner went on and pop the hood open. ARGH!!! CA18DET??!! It can't
be! But it is. It's a CA18DET engine in there and it has been fully
tuned to run at least 10secs passes. On this day, the owner didn't
have the G-Tech available so we weren't able to get the 1/4 mile
times and the power rating. (please see the picture uploaded!)

Ok, starting at the engine. As I mentioned, it's a CA18DET. The
internals has been fully balanced and blueprinted. The pistons were
JE pistons, slightly oversized that the original pistons. The con-
rods were Ni-Cro items from Tomei while the crankshaft has been fully
balanced and lightened. Interestingly, the bearings weren't Nismo
items, but rather a product of Australian Company, King's if I'm not
mistaken. The block has been bored to take on the larger pistons.
Even so, the capacity of the engine was increased only slightly,
about 1867cc from the owner's calculation. The head has been ported,
polished and gas flowed for maximum efficiency. Trust 2mm full metal
head gasket was used to lower the compression along with ARP head
bolts. The valves, springs, seats and everything in the head were
titanium items of unknown origin. He didn't mention any brands but
the pulleys were HKS and the cams were also HKS items, again he
didn't tell me the degrees. Judging from the sound of the engine when
started, my bet would be 280degrees intake and exhaust. Another piece
of unknown origin is the ignition booster, which was connected to the
coils. Plugs were Denso Iridium, with heat rated 9. The water pump
and the oil pump were also customized items, based on Nismo specs.

The fuel setup is as serious as the S11 RB26DETT. There's 2 fuel
rails connected to the intake manifold. Each rail carries 4 x 550cc
Nismo injectors. So, 2 x 4 x 550cc. it's like having 4 x 1100cc
injectors. The fuel were pumped via twin Bosch Motorsport fuel pumps,
from the 20litre fuel cell, into a surge tank before going through to
the fuel pressure regulator, then into the rails. Everything earl's
steel braided.

The intake plenum has been modified for better flow and a customized
100mm throttle body has been fitted to it. The intercooler is a 4.5
inch thick bar & plate item, also customized. The turbo was bigger
that those on the RB26DETT. I believe it's comparable to that of
Garrett T78. Hmm.. T78 is rated at 600+ps, I wonder if this car makes
that much ps. A race-style HKS blow off was mounted on the
intercooler piping to release excess boost. Also connected to the
turbo manifold is an 80mm wastegate. Serious wastegate for serious
boost!

Inside, the interior has been stripped. Interestingly, there's no
roll cage. The owner told me that he didn't fit in the roll cage just
yet but the car has been fully spot welded for extra rigidity. Good
idea! The dashboard was taken from an S13. Bride Brix seat was the
driver's seat with original S13 seat for the passenger. The rear and
side glass were replaced with plastics. The front visor is still
glass but dual layer type. There were some gauges like exhaust temp,
oil pressure and others, on the dash, but one that caught my eye was
the boost meter, measuring 0 to 4 bar. Argh!! Can't believe it! Also,
there's a digital AFR meter directly on top of the console, to
monitor the air/fuel mixture.

The engine management was Haltech. Since the owner himself is the
tuner, so he completely tuned the car to run a maximum 3.1 bar of
boost with 97+ octane fuel added with octane booster. I didn't
believe him at first until he offered be a ride in his car. After we
had some drinks at the local mamak, it was time for a ride. He
started the car and I was thinking, do I really want to ride in this
car? From the sound of it, this is one serious drag machine. The
suspension has been setup for drag. The rear tires were semi slicks
item from Silverstone. The fronts were Z-rated street tires with GTR
brakes and rims. At least I know the car can stop with those 4-pot
brakes.

After about 5 minutes of warm up, I jumped in the passenger seat and
getting ready for the ride. The owner got in the car and drove it out
of the workshop. "this meter has to read below 3.0 before we can
whack the car" he said, pointing at an HKS meter, but I don't get
what it's for. Maybe it's the oil pressure meter. So, we drove around
for a while and got out to one long straight, known as Jalan Lintas
Tuaran Bypass. It's about 400+ meters straight. He set the car at the
side of the road and waits for the traffic to clear. Once the lights
went red, he drove the car to the middle of the road and did a burn
out!! Woooo damn nice! So, everybody else kept their distance and
dare not to come close. This was 4.30pm on the afternoon! "ready??"
he asked. "let's go!" I said. So, he revved it up to around 5000rpm.
Green light, and suddenly I was hanging on for dear life! The thrust
was so tremendous that I almost fainted! He revved to around 10000
rpm before changing gears. By end of 3rd gear, the speedometer was
showing well past 180kmh!! There's no wheelspin on the launch. All
grip! I can see the front end lifted a bit at launch but the driver
was calm enough to control it. Traffic light to the nearest U turn is
about 600 meters and I think we've covered that in less than 15
seconds if not lesser! WOW!! What speed such G-force such balance!
Great!! "satu lagi run?" he said. "BOLE!!" and this time I was ready
for it. Again, after the U turn, he did a bit of burnout and waited
for the traffic to clear. This time, it's better than the 1st. The
grip was better at all gears and I think it's faster too. I glanced
at the boost meter as it peaks at 2.5 bar.

"how was it?" the owner asked. "I've sat in a 11 sec car before but
this one is better than that! I really think it's a genuine 10 sec
car" I said. I was all smiles and happy. So, we drove back to his
place and it was time for NismoSSS to go for a ride. Hahahaha.. good
luck I told him. I jumped out of the car and NismoSSS went for the
ride of his life! After he came back, we thanked all the people there
for their hospitality and their passion for Nissan. I only hope that
the Bluebird will be featured in Sepang Drag Race soon.