Toyota Vios Turbo

Stage 2 Turbo - Work in Progress 1

2011-12-07T08:13:00.001+08:00

It's been a month since I had time to update the blog, sorry about that guys.

You know life is not just always about cars.

Yesterday I dragged my sorry ass over to the exhaust shop to snap some pictures of the work in progress with the car.

The Garret intercooler has been fitted along with the end tanks

The Owen Developments turbo is now in it's rightful place

The exhaust manifold is now a different design with a larger diameter pipe

The S90 Racing throttle body is now fitted to the Golden Eagle intake manifold

We will be using a dual muffler setup for the exhaust

Close up shot of the dual mufflers

The 3 inch collector pipe before the exhaust flow is being split into the 2 mufflers

Stage 2 Turbo - Owen Developments Custom Turbo

2011-10-18T01:20:00.003+08:00

A couple months back, we placed an order with Owen Developments, a leading turbocharger specialist from UK for a custom spec turbo.

We were told that they are currently on back orders so we had to wait patiently. When it finally arrived and the moment I laid my eyes upon it, I knew it was worth the wait.

Based on the Garret GTX series, here are some key highlights of the turbo:

* Owen's conical compressor wheel nut
* Owen's competition spec bearing cages and bearings
* Owen's competition spec cut back blade
* Owen's competition spec internal heat shield

And of course not forgetting the Tial V-band turbine housing, offering a 33% weight reduction over the standard housing, smaller sizer factor while eliminating the need for bolts and gaskets totally.

It's pretty damn challenging trying to fit this fella in to the already cramped tight engine bay down there okay.

Of course, this is not the only reason why we went with the Tial V-band housing. We're trying to spin a big ass turbo here on a 1.5 daily drive, and having this housing helps tremendously in the spooling area due to it's design.

Once the car is back from piping works, we'll fit in a Tomei fuel pressure regulator and we should be ready to fire up the engine.

Full frontal view of the turbo

The Tial V-band turbine housing

Full frontal view of the turbo

Forged & fully machined compressor wheel at its full glory

Fully built, machined and balanced by Owen Developments, UK

Stage 2 Turbo - SARD Denso Fuel Injectors

2011-09-03T18:39:00.003+08:00

These are 800cc, top feed, low resistance fuel injectors from SARD and they will be replacing the FIC injectors.

With the new horsepower we're aiming for, the previous 445cc FIC injectors will not be sufficient.

Pictures are pretty self explanatory, and they seem to go very well with the GT Auto fuel rail too.

800cc on a 1.5 daily drive you ask? Well, now you know why we went with the Autronic SM4 instead.

Stage 2 Turbo - JUN Lightweight Flywheel

2011-08-20T14:46:00.002+08:00

Things just got better with the arrival of the lightweight flywheel from JUN this morning.

A one piece forged build made from Chromoly, JUN claims the flywheel is 200% stronger than normal while weighing in only at 4.6 kilograms.

It should go well with the ACT clutch kit and the Quaife Helical LSD later when we pair the engine back with the transmission.

Meanwhile, some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Work In Progress

2011-08-12T18:09:00.005+08:00

Still work in progress, but the cylinder head cover looks kinda odd with the new color.

What you think?

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Preparation

2011-05-29T00:25:00.007+08:00

We're currently preparing the groundwork for the engine rebuild, the engine block is now mounted on the stand awaiting us to start work.

The Golden Eagle sleeves has been honed, and you might also notice that the pistons are not the same set of Ross Racing pistons that I posted up earlier.

They are now replaced with a custom set from Ross Racing as well with revised compression ratio, and coated piston crowns.

Ready to rock and roll

The heat treated crank, pistons, rods, main caps and bolts

Honing job completed

Close up shot of the cylinder sleeves

Ross Racing pistons with customized compression ratio

Coated piston crown

Stage 2 Turbo Project - S90 Racing Throttle Body

2011-05-20T01:15:00.031+08:00

Originally this post was suppose to go up back in April, but then I realized it was still saved in my draft folder until today.

Moving forward with the stage 2 engine rebuild, now that we're ditching the drive by wire system in favor for a cable driven throttle, we're upgrading the throttle body into something more reliable.

The S90 Racing throttle body will be a perfect companion to the Golden Eagle intake manifold that we would be using.

Made from CNC Billet Aluminium, this throttle body will be able to withstand up to 3 bars of boost without any issues.

The ball bearing shafts will aid in the respond of the opening and closing of the throttle plate, while the 70mm over sized body will be more than enough to allow compressed air to flow through the manifold.

Packaging box

Package contents

Side view of the throttle body

Frontal view of the throttle body

Rear view of the throttle body

Scammer - Shame On You

2011-03-17T14:10:00.009+08:00

Just yesterday, some lame scammer made a pathetic attempt on trying to get hold of the www.viosturbo.com domain by sending me this email.

One look at it and I knew immediately this guy is a time waster. Anyhow, I replied him politely.

And guess what? The moron must be thinking he could pull a fast one by replying me this.

Is he fucking kidding me? WHO THE FUCK is HAITONG anyways?

So this was my reply to him.

I mean John, for christ fucking sake please go sign up for some English classes first before you make another attempt in the future!

And what kind of fucking name is John Wang anyway?

You're a fucking laughing joke and disgrace not only to your family, but to all Chinese. Your attempts are not creative at all and its been used many times in the past by lots of people.

Read this, this and this please.

Had you been a little bit more creative and imaginative, all these wouldn't have come to an end so soon and we could play a little longer.

Oh God I am laughing so hard now I think I'm gonna puke.

So John, to you and your bunch of dumb, pathetic, unimaginative bunch of Chinese scammers, all I can say is:

"Ah ahahahahahahahahahaha.........!"

Been Busy

2011-03-05T17:54:00.006+08:00

I've been getting quite a number of emails and messages lately asking what's happening with the build as there wasn't any update ever since my last post.

I'm sorry folks, I was busy with work and haven't had time to update the blog.

Couple of things has happened since my last update, the first engine which has been built with the CP forged pistons and Crower billet rods was sold to a friend of mine and is currently undergoing transplant into his car.

He will be running the built bottom with his existing turbo kit but with a Haltech Sport 1000 replacing his E-Manage. Once the car is done I will have it featured here.

Secondly, we're revising our setup again. Yes, AGAIN.

Toby has decided to make some last minute changes to the engine configuration, mainly the pistons and turbo.

I can't reveal much at the moment, but we're aiming to make at least 400 wheel horsepower so we're revising the engine compression ratio and the turbo as well.

Stay tuned.

JUN Auto Releases High Lift Camshafts for Toyota 1NZ-FE

2011-02-05T14:07:00.003+08:00

(Source: JUN Auto)

JUN Auto has finally announced the release of the high lift camshafts for the Toyota 1NZ-FE engine in their website.

The link to their news release can be found here.

Though JUN mentioned that the camshafts can be used with the stock ECU, but that is only for the Toyota Vitz (NCP13) owners.

For other models you would still need to use an engine management for optimum results.

The current model released by JUN is the street specifications of 252 duration with 9.0mm lift.

If you are interested in getting a more aggressive profile such as the 256/272 duration with 9.0mm/9.5mm/10.5mm lift, you will still need to get in touch with GT Auto as they are the only people carrying them at the moment.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Crankshaft Nitriding & Journal Polishing

2011-01-10T23:38:00.005+08:00

Most stock OEM steel crankshafts have been induction hardened, which is actually a low cost process in which the surface is heated by a high frequency alternating magnetic field that generates heat in the crank's surface quickly before being quenched.

Because of the uneven heating and cooling due to cost saving reasons, the crankshaft hardening process creates a lot of stress within the crankshaft. While it is an ideal hardening process for stock applications, but it is really less then favorable for high performance/racing applications.

Hence, we had the stock 1NZ-FE crankshaft sent overseas to be nitride coated and its now back and ready for us to assemble it along with the engine rebuild. Nitriding is a chemical hardening process in which the part is heated in a furnace, the oxygen is vacuumed out, and nitrogen is introduced which penetrates the entire surface.

The result? An extremely hard surface which will give us a peace of mind when we increase the rev cut to well over 8,000+ RPM, allowing us to stay at the redline level without any worries even under hard boost.

If you're wondering what was the material used, its titanium aluminium carbon which gives the black surface you are seeing in the pictures. Read more about it here.

The color of the crank is now different

A closer look will give you a dark bluish purple look

We also took this opportunity to have the crankshaft journals micro polished, a process where the surfaces are made clean and smooth so that it reduces the friction, allowing the rods to spin a lot more easier and faster.

The end result? A high revving friendly engine to go along with the other parts :)

Surface of the journals are now clean and smooth

Close up shot

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Golden Eagle Intake Manifold

2010-12-27T21:18:00.007+08:00

Christmas just got better with the arrival of the intake manifold from Golden Eagle Manufacturing.

Thanks to GT Auto, as Golden Eagle's authorized dealer they've worked together to developed this intake manifold for my car.

This is still a prototype.

The design of this intake manifold is not final yet as we'll be testing it and to keep refining the design until we get it right.

So I guess you won't find this intake manifold up for sale anywhere yet but if you're the adventurous type and would like to give it a try please do get in touch with us.

Or if you're interested in getting one when its ready, you could get in touch with GT Auto to place an early pre-order and get a discount off the list price when its up for sale!

And to copycats out there, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The intake manifold

We're quite impressed with the quality of the finishing

An peek into the inners of the intake manifold

The flange is made for the 60mm throttle body that we'll be using later

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Golden Eagle Head Gaskets

2010-12-27T21:02:00.001+08:00

Now that we're using the 77mm over sized pistons from Ross Racing along with the newly sleeved engine block, we also got Golden Eagle to custom make these head gaskets for us as well.

They are multi-layered and is 1mm in thickness, just as we requested.

And Golden Eagle were kind enough to even threw in 2 steel tags for us as souvenirs!

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Golden Eagle Sleeves

2010-12-27T20:42:00.008+08:00

Just as I was walking back from lunch with Toby and Thomas, we saw the DHL delivery truck parked right outside of GT Auto's shop.

I knew it had to be more goodies from Santa, and it turned out to be the engine blocks that we've long waited for.

We previously sent two engine blocks some time ago to Golden Eagle Manufacturing in California, USA as GT Auto is their authorized dealer in Malaysia.

Golden Eagle did a splendid job in getting the block bored and sleeved, the installation job was clean and neat and the new liners look very strong and sturdy.

Golden Eagle's HD sleeves comes with a lifetime warranty against cracking and is rated to withstand up to 1200 horsepower. The sleeves has a 500% increase in contact area compared to stock liners allowing better heat dissipation.

With them installed we should have a peace of mind and need not to worry about cylinder wall cracking when we get ready to crank up the boost later.

Both the engine block returned

Close up shot

O ring groove for the copper bus wire

Copper bus wire

Now that we have all these in hand, its about time we start preparing for the completion of the stage 2 turbo project as there are more goodies arriving.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Autronic SM4

2010-12-17T17:18:00.002+08:00

Yes we're ditching the Haltech Platinum Sport 1000 ECU for this big guy here.

The SM4 is currently the top of the line engine management offered by Autronic where GT Auto is currently the sole dealer for Malaysia.

Some of you might have heard about how this company got started as the founder Richard Aubert is also the co-founder for Motec before he formed Autronic.

The reason why we went with the Autronic SM4 is very simple, response time and VE (volumetric efficiency) tuning.

Nothing comes close to the response time the SM4 provides, not even Motec. Not to mention the amount of compensation algorithms and tables that is working behind the scene.

I know die hard Motec fans out there will beg to differ though, but thats what Toby of GT Auto commented after tuning both of them and I'm sticking with his advice.

Coming Soon - Suzuki Swift Turbo

2010-11-27T01:53:00.005+08:00

A new project from GT Auto, check out www.swift-turbo.com for more updates in the future.

Ross Vios Turbo

2010-11-17T11:05:00.007+08:00

We have a new member in our family, a 2008 model white Toyota Vios manual fitted with GT Auto's turbo kit belonging to Dr. Ross.

Recently completed in GT Auto, with the Garrett GT20 turbo the car pulled over 157 PS with over 22 kg-m of torque at the wheels at a mere 0.6 bar of boost.

And still this is all done with the exhaust silencer installed! Nothing beats the benefit of having a manual transmission for maximum torque delivery.

This new turbo kit from GT Auto features an improved design where the intercooler piping routes are much more shorter.

Not only the response is quicker now due to the faster build up turbo spool, the engine bay also looks much more cleaner and stealthier.

If there is anything that you would like to ask about this car, besides myself you may contact the owner directly at ross@viosturbo.com.

Besides the tuning of GT Auto, other highlights of the modifications includes the fitting of an E-Manage, AEM water/methanol injection kit, HKS SSQV III, Turbosmart Ultra-Gate38 external wastegate and the Wilwood Dynalite 4 piston brake kit.

Meanwhile, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Power: 157.87 PS @ wheels

Torque: 22.79 kg-m @ wheels

Boost: 0.6 bar

When you see this sticker, you know whats under the hood

Would you believe that this 1NZ-FE is forced fed if we didn't tell you?

HKS SSQV III

AEM water/methanol injection nozzle

The Turbosmart Ultra-Gate 38mm external wasteagate

Wilwood Dynalite 4 pistons brake kit

Runstop rear conversion kit

M7 Super Street GT muffler with titanium tip

The AEM water/methanol tank

Body hugging buckets from SSCUS

Momo Tuner steering with Elevo quick release kit

Top right: GReddy Informeter Touch

Mid right: Shadow oil pressure and boost gauge

Lower center: Pivot 3-Drive, Pivot Speed Meter & Shadow Voltage Meter

Lower left: Apexi turbo timer

Stage 2 Turbo Project - ACT Clutch Kit

2010-11-01T02:58:00.064+08:00

With the amount of horsepower projected by the stage 2 turbo kit, the stock clutch from the TRD Vitz RS Turbo transmission would not be sufficient to take on new found torque ratings.

So we placed an order with ACT for a set of their 6 pad clutch kit and it took them more than 4 months to deliver it as they are currently on a long back order.

Featuring a 40% increase in clamp load, the kit is rated to have a torque capacity of around 300 Ft/Lbs or 40 kg-m at the crank.

ACT claims that the kit will still give the driver a stock to moderate pedal feel thanks to the spring centered disc design.

We hope it'll be able to cope with the new turbo kit or else we'll just have to stock a couple of the clutch kit on standby until we find a better one.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

GT Auto's guest data entry clerk updating the clutch kit in the stock system

Close up shot of the box

Part number for you guys to refer in the future

Contents of the packaging

The pressure plate

The 6-pad spring centered disc

The release bearing

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Ross Racing Pistons & Crower Rods

2010-10-18T22:58:00.008+08:00

Update (30/05/11): This set of pistons has been replaced with a custom set from Ross Racing as well with revised compression ratio and coated pistons crown.

If you are wondering why would I have another set of pistons and rods with me here, it is because we're actually building up two engines at the moment.

Engine one will be running CP forged pistons and Crower rods with custom regrind cams.

Engine two will be running Ross Racing pistons and Crower rods, together with the JUN 272 camshafts and Golden Eagle sleeves.

The major difference between the pistons from CP and the new Ross pistons is that they are custom made to 77mm with gas ports so that the rings will stay sealed when we rev the mutha f**ker over 8,000 RPM.

And with the new pistons we're also bringing up the engine displacement to 1.6 litre as well.

The items arrived today along with a whole bunch of others goodies while I was hanging around so here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

There are some rods from Oliver as well

The humor side of Ross Racing

Deep dish design

We did not teflon coat the piston skirts this round though

Notice those gas ports up there?

There is a reason why we stood with Crower rods

The individual packaging of the rods

You know their shot peening process is of quality when the surface looks like this

Stage 2 Turbo Project - JUN Auto Camshafts

2010-10-09T00:01:00.000+08:00

Ever since JUN Auto's visit to GT Auto back in March 2009, JUN President Junichi Tanaka promised that they will immediately start researching parts for the 1NZ-FE engine when they return to Japan.

Well they made good their promise and released connecting rods for the 1NZ-FE engine back in April 2010. The news to the article can be found on their website here.

Now, as a result of partnership with GT Auto for the past few months they have now again developed parts for the 1NZ-FE engine.

This time its performance camshafts, and they come in 3 variations:

- 256 duration, 9.0mm lift (street spec)
- 272 duration, 9.5mm lift (NA spec)
- 272 duration, 10.5mm lift (turbo spec)

And best of all, VVT-i feature of the engine is retained even with the camshafts fitted.

Toyota Vios Turbo will be fitting in the 272 turbo spec camshafts as part of the stage 2 turbo project.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - GT Auto Fuel Rail

2010-10-04T02:50:00.002+08:00

With the FIC fuel injectors in place, the stock fuel rail will no longer be sufficient to hold enough fuel supply to the new injectors.

GT Auto made this fuel rail for me and it is a direct plug and play to the cylinder head without any modifications required.

And best of all, it can be easily configured to fit both return or returnless fuel setup.

Just a note, besides my car they could also custom make the fuel for any car models.

Close up shot of the fuel rail

Frontal shot of the fuel rail

Rear shot of the fuel fail

Injector seats

Fuel supply inlet/outlet

Stage 2 Turbo Project - TRD Final Drive

2010-10-01T00:02:00.003+08:00

For the past couple of months, we have been trying very hard to get hold of the TRD final drive set for the car but with no luck so far.

I was hoping to be able to get the 3.772 final gear set so that we could increase the top speed of the car. Especially now that the car has a lot more torque, I prefer to have less gear changes by going with a taller drive ratio and highway cruising will be just sweet.

I guess lady luck has been smiling at me.

We have given up and decided to go ahead and dismantle the transmission that I bought previously from the TRD Vitz Turbo half cut to install the Quaife LSD.

The moment we cracked open the gearbox something caught our eye. The color of the final drive looks somehow different. We took a closer look at it and to our surprise, the gearbox was already fitted with a TRD final gear set!

Much to our amazement, we immediately calculated the gear ratios and it is indeed the 3.772 final gear set that I have been looking for all along!

A quick calculation with the Quaife Speed Calculator I can now cruise the highway doing 110 km/h with less than 2800 rpm.

Not too shabby eh?

The Quaife LSD

The TRD final gear

GT Auto Special Tuning Package

2010-09-17T03:14:00.058+08:00

This Toyota Vios turbo is currently pushing out a healthy 241 PS and 28 kg-m of torque at the wheels.

Originally bought with an auto transmission, it was swapped with a manual transmission and other than that, the entire engine is completely stock.

I just love how it felt to prove them wrong when I hear people telling me that the 1NZ-FE engine is weak and by turbo charging it the engine will be destroyed in a very short time.

As a frequent guest at the Sepang International Circuit, this car has been running well over 3 years with the turbo kit fitted without any problems at all.

The mechanical work was done by the owner's preferred mechanic, and once it was completed the car was immediately sent over to GT Auto to install their special tuning package which consists of:

1. Installation of the AEM water/methanol injection kit
2. ECU remapping for the Dastek Unichip Q+

Just a note, prior in sending in the car to GT Auto the owner has sold off every single piece of voltage stabilizer products he has in the car after realizing they do not contribute to a single horsepower at all.

And yes, GT Auto has finally gave in to remap the Dastek Unichip due to overwhelming requests from a lot of customers locally and overseas.

The AEM water/methanol injection kit has allowed GT Auto to squeeze a peak gain of over 60 PS and 6 kg-m of torque at the wheels!

Let me repeat, its a gain of 60 PS and 6 kg-m of torque at the wheels.

If you would like to know more about the car, you may contact the owner directly at steven@viosturbo.com or just drop me an email.

Alternatively, you could inquire GT Auto directly by sending them an email to inquiries@gt-auto.net if you prefer.

Carbon fiber bonnet

The custom intake manifold fitted with 4 additional injectors

The AEM water/methanol injection nozzle

The AEM progressive controller

The newly designed 200 PSI pump

1 gallon tank with built-in low level sensor

Blue: Without water/methanol injection kit

Red: With water/methanol injection kit

Peak gain of 60.15 PS

Peak gain of 6.29 kg-m torque

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Beatrush Direct Brake System

2010-09-13T22:21:00.001+08:00

This direct brake system from Beatrush will prevent your brake master cylinder from flexing when you're hard on the brakes, resulting in a firmer and more direct feel when you're braking.

So if you're one of those drivers who brakes often and really hard, this is something for you.

Packaging box

Package contents

Part number for you guys to refer in the future

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Beatrush Under Panel

2010-09-09T05:02:00.007+08:00

When I reached GT Auto this morning, I saw the DHL van parked right in front of their office. I knew it has to be something that I ordered arrived.

The moment I saw the packing with Japanese scribbles all over it, I knew the goods either had been from JUN, Moonface or Beatrush.

Turn out I was right, it was the under panel that I ordered from Beatrush.

There are 2 main reasons why I purchased it:

1. To generate additional downforce during high speed cruising
2. To encourage the flow of hot air out from the engine bay

(Source: Laile Co Ltd)

We'll see how well it performs when its installed. Meanwhile, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Packaging box

Package contents

Part number for you guys to refer in the future

A New Chapter Begins

2010-09-05T22:05:00.001+08:00

I've recently picked up tuning with GT Auto, and I'm looking forward to the day where I'll be putting my car on to the dyno rollers.

Quality vs Quantity

2010-08-26T01:41:00.002+08:00

A friend asked me today whether do I read the locally produced Hypertune magazine as he is a big fan of it.

My answer to him was a simple NO.

"But why?", he asked.

I had lots of thoughts going through my mind at that time but at the end I decided to be nice so I just shrugged my shoulders and said:

"I just prefer something that has a lot less pages but with a lot more substance, that's all."

"So what car magazines do you read then?", he asked.

And I told him if he really wanted to know he could read up my blog when he gets home tonight.

Just some of the car magazines that I read

So my dear friends and readers, if you ever have time to pick up one of those magazines that is shown here, I guarantee it will open up your eyes and horizon and you'll never want to pick up one of those local copies again.

A little pricey maybe? Yes, but you get what you paid for.

Its all about the quality, not quantity.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Ceramic Coating

2010-08-17T02:11:00.004+08:00

The items are finally back from Ceramico this morning, its about time as I had them sent over for ceramic coating last week.

This form of thermal barrier coating is used commonly in automotive applications where they are specifically designed to reduce heat loss from the exhaust systems.

Ceramic coating also has a positive effect of reducing engine bay temperatures when applied to the exhaust manifolds, turbo housing, turbo down pipe etc.

Another positive side effect would be the hotter gas trapped within the manifold will have a faster flow and it helps in the spooling of the turbine.

Even if your ride isn't turbocharged, ceramic coating your exhaust manifolds will still help in a great degree as you will notice a drop in the engine bay temperature and your intake air temperature will be colder, thus reducing power loss.

Definitely a must item in my lists of mods.

Turbo manifold, turbo housing, down pipe, screamer pipe etc

Turbo manifold

Turbo housing

Down pipe

GT Auto Stage 1 Special Turbo Kit

2010-08-01T01:46:00.008+08:00

Back in December 2009, GT Auto installed their Stage 1 Turbo Kit into this NCP42 Toyota Vios where I posted up the teaser pictures here.

The car produced an impressive 145 PS and 18.26 kg-m of torque to the wheels. But the story doesn't end here.

Fast forward 6 months, this car is now fitted with GT Auto's Stage 1 Special Turbo kit which produces 201.79 PS and 23.91 kg-m of torque on the wheels!

And this is achieved while both the engine and automatic transmission is still in stock form.

This turbo kit is certainly the strongest kit currently available in the market today for Toyota Vios.

If you would like to know more about the car, you may contact the owner directly at hadi@viosturbo.com or just drop me an email.

Alternatively, you could inquire GT Auto directly by sending them an email at inquiries@gt-auto.net if you prefer.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

If you ever wondered why is there a gap in the dyno chart, that is because the Okada Project Plasma Direct ignition coils were interfering with the RPM signal of the Dynojet.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Quaife ATB Helical LSD

2010-07-14T01:02:00.003+08:00

The Quaife LSD finally arrived this morning thanks to David, I quickly took a couple of shots before I pass it over to GT Auto for installation.

ATB stands for automatic torque biasing, which means the LSD unit is constantly diverting torque between the two front wheels at all time.

Made from CNC billet steel, the LSD unit is maintenance free and they backed it up with a life time warranty. Yup, no kidding.

If you so happen to be able to break it, just send the unit back to Quaife and they will replace it with another one no questions asked.

Click here if you want to find out more about it, meanwhile here are some pictures of the LSD unit for your viewing pleasure.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Garrett GT2871R

2010-06-23T01:53:00.006+08:00

If you're wondering whether I'm ditching the previous GT2560R turbo again after the GT2554R, the answer is yes.

This just arrived today and like a kid in a candy store I can't stop playing around with it.

Rated up to 460 horsepower, we are planning to sacrifice some power in the low end in exchange for massive mid to high acceleration.

So what about the low end then?

This is where the two bottles of nitrous oxide comes in to the picture. We'll be spraying at the low range RPM to help build boost just in case I need to launch from standstill.

And yes there will definitely be issues with the traction and therefore this the reason why the Quaife ATB Helical LSD should be on its way now from United Kingdom.

When the LSD reaches I will post it up here, until then here are some pictures of the turbo.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Moonface Racing Tie Rod Ends

2010-06-09T01:27:00.003+08:00

As part of the suspension system upgrades, I've also ordered the tie rod ends from Moonface Racing in addition to the roll center adjusters.

Bump steer is not uncommon for cars that has been lowered, as we're changing the suspension geometry the factory tie rods will wear out over time due to the extreme angle after lowering.

So with these fellas we're suppose to experience a more linear steering feel and a sharper cornering characteristics.

Well, only one way to find out later when the car is ready to be fired up.

Packaging box

Part number for you guys to refer in the future

Package contents

The tie rod ends itself

Killing Boredom

2010-06-02T23:33:00.021+08:00

Waiting for the project to be completed can be very boring, especially when there is nothing you could do to speed up the process.

Out of boredom and curiosity, I took the Benz out today and strapped it on the rollers for a dyno run at GT Auto.

Well, nothing to shout about on the power it made. It cannot get any sadder to see a 2.4 liter V6 engine to produce such pathetic figures, sigh.

It is even lower than my stage 1 turbo kit, this car is definitely going nowhere with such a heavy body.

And now you know what wonders can a simple bolt-on turbo kit do to your Toyota Vios, the Benz actually has no chance at all against the Vios turbo.

But looking at the flat torque curve did somehow put a comforting smile to my face though.

Thomas was looking for the RPM signal

A very sad 137.13 PS / 17.89 kg-m

So you must wondering why would an European car appear here?

Well that is because GT Auto will be offering ECU flashes for European cars very soon. And this Benz could be one of the project cars.

Stay tuned.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Intercooler Upgrade v3.0

2010-05-25T23:50:00.001+08:00

Yup, we're upgrading the intercooler again. And this time we're going with a bar & plate intercooler core from Garrett itself.

The end tanks will be fabricated along with the car when it is sent to get the new pipings done.

The core itself

Close up view of the core

The Evo 3 intercooler which has a new core is now up for sale, please get in touch with me if you're interested.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Moonface Racing Roll Center Adjuster

2010-05-22T18:03:00.008+08:00

The roll center adjuster from Moonface Racing arrived finally, adding on to the list of mods that will be going in to the car as part of the stage 2 turbo project.

Contrary to popular belief, by lowering the car we should be able to increase the stability of the car during cornering due to the lower of center of gravity.

The actual fact is when we lower the car we're also changing the geometry of the steering control arms and instead of reducing body roll, we're actually introducing more of it.

And at the same time, introducing bump steer.

Bump steer is caused by bumps in the road or track interacting with improper length or angle of your suspension and steering linkages. You can often feel the bump steer as a jerk in the steering wheel to the side when you go over a bump or uneven pavement.

(Source: Techno Toy Tuning)

The main goal of this kit is to bring the suspension geometry back into factory spec after lowering the car, reducing body roll, increased turn in speeds and eliminating bump steer.

Packaging Box

Part number for you guys to refer in the future

Package Contents

The roll center adjuster itself

Sneak Preview - Haltech IQ3 Display Dash

2010-05-14T23:50:00.009+08:00

Gone are the days where the dashboards are full and cluttered with gauges because when you're driving really fast you won't even have time to pay any close attention to them anyways.

The future now lies within a digital display cluster that is able to display everything that you ever need to monitor into a single integrated dash.

I was at GT Auto today and they were fixing a car belonging to a friend of mine, who eventually took my Haltech IQ3 display dash for his car and I had to reorder another unit.

Here are a couple of pictures of the IQ3 in action with a video as well showing master tuner Toby Lee doing some setups to the standalone ECU and its awesome!

Stage 2 Turbo Project - TRD Quick Shift

2010-05-12T01:56:00.006+08:00

The TRD Quick Shift Kit arrived today, don't think I'm going to elaborate more as it's pretty self explanatory.

Seriously, TRD can do a better job at the packaging

Part number for you guys to refer in the future

Contents of the package

Why the 6 speed stickers?

Lever unit

Honestly the shift boot looks like shit

Garm's Yaris Makes 357 Wheels

2010-05-08T15:20:00.014+08:00

In a post back in January, Garm's Yaris made 310 horse on the wheels. Well you know what ladies and gentlemen, those numbers are now history.

Boosting at 24 psi, his car is now making 357 horses at the wheels with a custom intake manifold and a water/methanol injection kit, all on pump gas.

The car clocked 12.8 seconds at the drag strip, check out his video here.

If you guys would like to know more, the link to his thread can be found here.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Intercooler Upgrade v2.0

2010-05-05T23:17:00.009+08:00

(Update 29/05): Sold, thanks everyone!

This intercooler is now up for sale, please contact me if you're interested.

Previously we were pondering whether should we upgrade the intercooler since we're going for a larger turbo and higher boost.

The Evo 3 intercooler that I'm currently using has some damaged fins and the core is not in the best condition, and thanks to Firdaus and Zaid I was able to lay my hands on a Evo 3 intercooler with a brand new core.

I am happy that I could stick back to the same intercooler size not only because of the ultra lightweight design and also because of the efficiency it has.

Thank You To All My Supporters

2010-05-02T03:09:00.003+08:00

I've been getting a lot of people who wrote to me to show their encouragement and support, and I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.

Your words are really touching and it has given me a lot of motivation to continue what I'm doing now, I am truly blessed.

I am happy that this blog is able to inspire more people to start taking performance modifications seriously, and I really hope to see lots of successful projects in the future.

Thank you to all my supporters, you know who you are.

Sincerely,
Chew Soon

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Haltech IQ3 Display Dash

2010-04-24T23:15:00.006+08:00

(Update 14/05): Sneak preview of the Haltech IQ3 display dash in action can be found here.

It was Toby's birthday today and we dropped by GT Auto to celebrate his birthday by bringing him to lunch.

Half way eating through, his phone rang and right after he hung up he said to me: "Woi, your IQ3 display dash has arrived."

Once we got back to the office, I was pestering him to open up the box so that I could see it with my own eyes.

The IQ3 was developed by Racepak specifically for Haltech to be used with their range of standalone engine management systems, it replaces all your gauges with one single digital display panel and it sources all its information directly from the Haltech ECU via a simple 2 wire CAN connection.

Information such as tacho, speed, water temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure, air/fuel ratio, boost, battery, air intake temperature can be displayed via the IQ3.

We're also planning to wire two pressure sensors to the nitrous bottle so that it can be monitored via the IQ3 as well. It also features a low glare LCD display with programmable shift lights and warnings.

With this unit now, I will be able to keep my dashboard gauge-less and for the wiring that is needed to link this unit to the Haltech Platinum ECU is just a simple V-Net cable.

So for those of you who wants a gauge free and with zero clutter dashboard, this display dash is for you.

Don't mind the JUN rods, they aren't mine

Frontal view of the IQ3 display dash

Rear view of the IQ3 display dash

Side view of the IQ3 display dash

Sample image grabbed from the Haltech website
(Source: Haltech Website)

This is how it should look like when its done
(Source: Haltech Official Forums)

Sneak Preview - Ohlins DFV

2010-04-23T01:12:00.005+08:00

DFV is the acronym for the dual flow valve system, which is the latest innovation from suspension giant Ohlins.

It took them 6 years in the making to come out with a suspension that retains both comfort on the street with full racing capabilities.

Google is always your friend if you want to find out more about Ohlins and their DFV system.

And if you are wondering how much do they cost, the price starts at USD 3,000 and above.

JUN Auto Releases Connecting Rod for Toyota 1NZ-FE

2010-04-15T00:20:00.005+08:00

Back in April 2009, I mentioned in one of my post that the president of JUN Auto Junichi Tanaka and chief engineer Keiichi Hatanaka paid a visit to GT Auto while they were doing up my turbo kit.

Right after they finished snapping pictures of my car, they told us that once they get back to Japan they will start the R&D of forged internals for the 1NZ-FE engine.

Well, apparently they weren't kidding when they said that. They just released their I-beam connecting rods for the 1NZ-FE 5 days ago.

Although their list price is more expensive compared to my rods from Crower, they are definitely cheaper than the rods from Pauter.

Check out their link here.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Haltech Platinum Sport 1000

2010-04-12T23:34:00.005+08:00

Historically, standalone engine management systems are often seen as expensive and hard to tune. But that is the past, standalone ECUs has come a long way since then.

As part of our stage 2 turbo project, we're ditching the E-Manage unit and going full force with a standalone ECU from Haltech, Australia.

What you see here is a unit from their latest range of Platinum series, the Haltech Platinum Sport 1000. What we particularly liked about this unit is that it supports variable cam control such as the VVT-i.

For public information, GT Auto is the only recognized sole authorized dealer for Haltech in Malaysia as listed here in Haltech's website.

If the Haltech unit that you purchased was not from GT Auto or any of their recognized resellers, then you won't be getting any support nor warranty from GT Auto and Haltech so please be careful that you're not getting your unit from the parallel/grey importers.

Dyno Dynamics at GT Auto

2010-04-10T02:11:00.014+08:00

If you are one of those who is always in a constant debate with others claiming that a load based dynamometer is more superior than an inertia based dynamometer or the other way around, look no further.

You can now go to GT Auto and find out for yourself once and for all with their newly arrived dynamometer from Dyno Dynamics.

This newly arrived dynamometer will soon be shifted over to their new extended premises very soon, and will be a great addition to their current dynamometer from Dynojet.

We're thinking of giving her the nickname of "heartbreak dyno".

Why? Well come on over and you'll know what I mean.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Intercooler Upgrade

2010-04-10T01:22:00.011+08:00

Update: Items sold.

Choosing the right intercooler size will make a lot of difference when it comes to the drivability of the car, and often bigger doesn't necessarily means its better.

Here we are with 3 rather large intercoolers, end up with the wrong size and it'll give you a whole new experience in turbo lag.

By the way all 3 intercoolers you see here are for sale at GT Auto if you are keen.

Top: 52cm x 23cm x 7cm

Middle: 51cm x 30cm x 7.5cm

Below: 44cm x 30cm x 10cm

Core thickness size of an iPhone

Bar & plate core design

Damsel in Distress

2010-04-06T23:12:00.002+08:00

This Lancer Evolution 3 has been parked in my car porch for 2 days already due to a flat cell.

She is running on a Autronic SM4 standalone ECU and puts down a solid 650+ horse to the wheels on race fuel while 500+ horse on pump gas.

Some of you would have probably figured out who does she belong to, definitely not me :)

Sneak Preview - Cylinder Head Porting

2010-04-02T13:44:00.007+08:00

Finally the cylinder head has returned from CNC porting overseas, I popped by GT Auto this morning to snap a couple of pictures before I took off quickly.

From the tag on the DHL box, it seems like the head was sent to someplace in California, USA.

I still do not have the specifications yet, all I know is that the head was CNC ported, had a 3 angle valve job done, the valve springs & retainers were all replaced with titanium items.

Sneak Preview - Camshaft Welding and Profiling

2010-03-25T17:19:00.003+08:00

The camshafts are almost done, a sneak preview of them all the way from US.

Apologize for the bad quality though, I think they took the pictures using a mobile phone.

Slow Progress

2010-03-21T16:41:00.003+08:00

I've been receiving a couple of emails and some comments asking about the progress of the engine rebuild.

Unfortunately I do not have much to report at the moment partially due to my busy schedule but mostly because the cylinder head has yet to return from CNC porting overseas.

I dropped by GT Auto yesterday with a box of doughnuts to catch up with Thomas & Toby and we refined a couple of things on the list we felt isn't really necessary such as the aluminium radiator.

We can only wait patiently for the cylinder head to return before we can move on with the rest of the build.

Engine block wrapped in a black plastic

A Peek in to GT Auto's Storeroom

2010-03-04T17:33:00.027+08:00

Let me entice you with a little peek in to GT Auto's storeroom where they keep all their drugs, poisons and weapons of mass destruction.

Every time I step in here I will have a very strong urge to part away with all of the money in my wallet as I'll start behaving like a little kid in the candy store.

Gentlemen, welcome to Disneyland.

David: You know Toby you're the best, I mean it. I really do.

Toby: Mmmm, go on.

(Yeah keep trying bro, flattery won't get you anywhere)

There is a leak on the roof and whenever it rains they'll use the trophies to hold the dripping water

Remember the nursery rhyme "How much is that doggie in the window"?
(Just substitute the word doggie with turbo)

What are we having a snail fest?

Reminds me of the famous Indonesian Kalimantan bananas

AMS intake manifold, you know you want one.

Turbosmart external wastegate, I have one too.

Jun Auto's president Juinichi Tanaka was here before

Ross pistons & Jun camshafts, and some Clevite bearings behind

ARP bolts, screw one of them onto your girlfriend and she'll never leave you

Endless brake pads, endless stopping power

ACT clutches, use them if you don't want to have an overdeveloped left foot

Spark plugs & Innovate Wideband kit, without one your car is virtually blind

Damn, with these I can change my plugs every 3 months

PWR aluminium radiator, it'll give your engine frostbites

What the hell is a transmission doing here?

VTEC just kicked in yo!

According to Toby, just one sip of this and you can actually go on for 3 days without any sleep
(I heard the actors of Zombieland actually used it)

AEM Fuel/Ignition Controller (F/IC)

2010-03-03T01:38:00.017+08:00

Enter the AEM Fuel/Ignition Controller (F/IC), a new generation of advanced piggyback controller which has a unique feature of O2 sensor remapping allowing OBD2 vehicles like the Toyota Vios to be mapped without issues of the stock ECU relearning over the piggyback tune.

If you recap one of my posts on the Innovate Motorsports Wideband, I mentioned about the issue of OBD2 compliant vehicles' ECU relearning over the piggyback tune during closed loop operation.

Besides the HKS F-CON iS and the Greddy F-Manage, the AEM F/IC is another piggyback which allows you to perform closed loop mapping by altering the O2 signals to the ECU.

Now your tuner is able to fully map the car from 0 RPM all the way to the redline irregardless whether your car is in open loop or closed loop, something which the E-Manage is not able to do at the moment.

This is a much more advanced piggyback compared to the old school E-Manage that you're probably familiar with.

The F/IC comes with an onboard 25 psi MAP sensor and with the F/IC-8 it not only can recalibrate your speedometer, it even has the ability to drive up to 8 additional injectors while allowing your MAF sensor to be removed altogether without tripping the check engine light.

AEM F/IC-6 & F/IC-8

You may read up more on the AEM F/IC directly at AEM's website here.

Paul Oleandi of Dezod Motorsports, coined the 'Sciontologist' by Modified Magazine who made fame by tuning out heavily modded Scion TCs, gave the AEM F/IC a thumbs up via his review here.

There are only 2 units available from GT Auto at a very special price as they are looking for OBD2 cars like our Toyota Vios to install and test it out.

If you are interested, please feel free to contact Thomas Ho from GT Auto directly through his mobile at +60196625384 or just drop by their shop in Bandar Sunway to find out more.

Don't miss out the opportunity folks!

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Garrett GT2560R

2010-02-25T09:42:00.015+08:00

Update: Item sold.

This turbo is now up for sale at RM 3,200, please get in touch with me if you're interested. Only 1 left in the entire Malaysia.

We have decided to ditch the Garrett GT2554R turbo that we originally intended to use in favour for a larger Garrett GT2560R turbo.

This new turbo has a higher output rating of 330 horse compared to the 270 hp GT2554R, and they both share the same dual stainless steel ball bearing cartridge design and water cooling housing.

What I found it to be interesting is that this turbo is also known as the GT28R in some part of the world. Sometimes all these turbo names just confuses the hell out of me.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - CP Pistons & Crower Rods

2010-02-23T00:32:00.012+08:00

The replacement pistons finally arrived as the previous pistons provided by CP was actually a high compression design, bummer!

However the Crower rods doesn't need to be changed though, lucky me.

Anyhow we'll be fitting in the pistons and rods this week and we should be able to slap the engine back together and move on with the rest of the project.

Guess I'll be practicing engine warming for cold starts in the morning in the future!

The box looks different from the previous design

SC7445 - 75 mm standard size
SC7446 - 75.5 mm oversized
So don't mix it up folks

Finally they got the specs right this time, deep dish design

9.0 compression ratio

Teflon coating on the piston skirts

Crower packaging

Crower billet rods

Marangoni Yaris - 318bhp Rear Engine Project

2010-02-22T11:50:00.013+08:00

Yes ladies and gentleman, this is yet another 300 horse Toyota Yaris featured by Redline Magazine back in September 2007.

The car puts down 318 horse and a staggering 300 ft-lb of torque to the wheels, which is roughly around 41 kg-m.

However, the power does not come from the 1NZ-FE engine but a tricked out 3S-GTE engine transplanted from a Toyota MR2.

Although I am no fan of engine transplant (because I felt somehow its like cheating) however I think this is something worth checking out if it suits your style.

Please click here and here for more information on the project and pictures of the car, meanwhile here are a couple of pictures and a video for you to check out.

By the way, Marangoni is a tyre manufacturer from Italy in case you don't know.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Manual Transmission

2010-02-05T13:33:00.004+08:00

The manual transmission arrived finally, we'll be dismantling it for a rebuild once the Quaife LSD arrives as well.

Hopefully there will be a buyer for the remaining TRD Vitz RS half cut where the gearbox was sourced from.

The engine block is also back from honing and we'll be fitting in the pistons and connecting rods soon.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Cylinder Head Porting

2010-02-02T12:27:00.004+08:00

The engine has been dismantled and we are preparing the cylinder head to be sent overseas for CNC porting.

The camshafts will go through a regrind for a more aggressive profile, and the valve springs will be upgraded as well.

The cylinder head will be returned once it is ported and flow tested.

I took a shot of the cylinder head while they were dismantling the engine, and was surprised to find it in squeaky clean condition.

TRD Vitz RS Turbo - Half Cut

2010-01-28T14:54:00.010+08:00

While searching around for a manual transmission, we came across this rare unit of a scrapped TRD Vitz RS Turbo from Japan.

Together with David we picked Toby up from GT Auto this morning to check out the unit, we fired it up and the engine came to life.

We decided to purchase the gearbox.

Now with the transmission sorted out, we're one step closer and we will be looking to throw in a final gear ratio set, a 1.5 way LSD and a short shifter.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Nitrous Oxide

2010-01-18T15:46:00.009+08:00

I was at GT Auto last Saturday and had a brief discussion with Toby, he thinks he could put down around 250 PS to the wheels with the Garrett GT2554R turbo.

Personally I'm quite skeptical as the compressor map from Garrett's website indicates that the turbo is rated for a maximum output of 270 PS on the crank, but since Toby said so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed.

A 250 PS daily driven car should be a lot of fun to drive, but knowing that we're planning to swap in a manual transmission (if we're able to locate one) we're thinking of pushing the envelope a bit further by going 300 PS on the wheels.

Even with the oversized pistons fitted in, the engine will probably only have a maximum of 1600cc displacement and going with a larger turbo will definitely introduce some lag which I'm not really a big fan of.

If you ever know Toby personally, you'll probably heard one of his famous tagline which goes like this, "No lag, no power."

Well, if I still want the power without any lag I guess the only option left would be good old nitrous oxide.

So, here I am with 2 bottles of laughing gas.

I think I've gone mad.

New Domain - www.viosturbo.com

2010-01-14T10:50:00.006+08:00

This blog is also now accessible via www.viosturbo.com, and I can be reached through email at contact@viosturbo.com.

Thanks,
Chew Soon

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Started

2010-01-11T12:20:00.016+08:00

Dropped the car off GT Auto this morning and had a brief discussion with Toby, after that I hitched a ride with David and headed off straight to the office.

Finally we're starting the long awaited stage 2 turbo project, the car will be off the streets for the next couple of months and we'll be lucky if Toby can return the car to me by March or April.

Lots of other stuffs will be going in as well such as a standalone engine management, a manual transmission, boron nitride spray, port & polish and a Racepak IQ3 dash display. We're also planning to use Haltech's full range of sensors independent to the car's stock sensors for increased accuracy.

The car would also need some work done on the aerodynamics, there was a couple of times the car was doing over 200 km/h and there wasn't enough down force to keep the car planted to the ground so I had to back it off.

Damn depressed they put my car next to a Skyline

Makes me feel like a little lamb :P

Master tuner Toby Lee

One of the main man behind GT Auto

The car might have a chance to be featured in an Australian car magazine if everything goes well as planned.

310 WHP Toyota Yaris

2010-01-07T12:29:00.010+08:00

For my year 2010's first entry, this post is dedicated to Garm from Micro Image to show my support, respect and admiration for the amazing work that he has done to his Toyota Yaris.

Pushing out 310 HP and 273 lb-ft of torque to the wheels, the entire engine has been stripped and rebuilt with forged internals and is running a standalone engine management system from AEM.

273 lb-ft is around 37 kg-m, with that kind of torque and power to weight ratio I cannot imagine how would it feels like to drive this car out on the streets. But definitely it will be nothing short of spectacular.

I've obtained his permission to post up some pictures of his ride here, please check out his page if you wish to find out more about the project.

There's a video at the end of the pictures.

Alpine IMPRINT Sound Processing

2009-12-29T15:24:00.026+08:00

I have always been a noob when it comes to audio systems, especially in car entertainment systems. There would be days where you would just want to drive slow and enjoy the scene with some nice music playing through your audio system.

And this is the time where I would start to get really upset because the stock sound system from Toyota just plainly couldn't cut it. Add on with the vibration and wind noise coming in from all over the areas of the car, it makes you feel like you just want to drive to the nearest petrol station and torch the mutha fucking car.

So I drove to my audio guy and I told him I want all the vibration and wind noise gone from the car. Then for the next couple of months I learned new terms like Dynamat, chassis foaming, heat insulation, under body spray etc.

Great! So now that the car has a lot less vibration and wind sound, I can now crank up the volume and listen to some music right?

NOPE.

Instead of the singer's voice all that I could hear was her trying very hard to murmur something as though someone has shoved the damn microphone down her throat. Well, I couldn't quite make it whether its a microphone or a banana but yeah so much for the factory sound system.

I am determined to remove that damn microphone (or banana) from the singer's throat so I turned to my audio guy again and he recommended me this - Alpine IMPRINT.

In a nutshell, this is a technology which requires a microphone to be placed in six different locations inside the car, hook up the sound processor to a computer, closed all the doors and let the system tune itself out.

Alpine Imprint Audio Processor

Placement of the microphone

Measuring in progress

Measurements of all 6 locations completed

Frequency & Time Response Graph

(Before & After)

Think of this as a standalone engine management unit for your audio sound system if you will. You are able to tune every single channel and frequency there is available.

There are inherent acoustical challenges in every car and they are all different. For example, your window will deflect the sound produced by your speakers. The car's cushion will absorb some of it, couple it up with wind noise, cabin size and location of the speakers, the sound produced will not be optimal.

(Source: www.alpine.com)

Alpine's IMPRINT technology basically overcomes this by measuring the car cabin's acoustic response with a omni-directional microphone at 6 locations to provide time and frequency corrections. The end result is optimum sound quality regardless which location in the car you're sitting at.

I know there are still a lot of audio fanatics out there who still might not be able to accept this new way of tuning sound systems, however this technology has been around for some time and its not something new. Home theater audio systems has been using this technology for more than a decade, its only recently the technology has been made available to the automotive industry.

Alpine is not the only company that uses the MultEQ from sound technology giant Audyssesy in their Imprint architecture, Toshiba, IMAX, Onkyo, Denon, Integra, NAD, Marantz and Jaguar also uses their technology just to name a few.

I fired up a CD and I was in audio nirvana. It has a very nice wide sound stage and the clarity is amazing. I can now hear things I couldn't hear in my car before. With human effort it will take a lot more compared to the what the software can achieve in under 30 minutes, and the results won't probably come close.

Now I am a happy man because there isn't any banana or microphone stuck in anyone's throat anymore.

Chassis Foaming

2009-12-26T01:38:00.004+08:00

One of the long due modifications that I've been wanting to do was chassis strengthening, and with the upcoming long holidays the timing was perfect for me to send in the car.

I left the car at the shop around 10.30 AM and collected it around 6 PM, this time I wasn't able to snap any pictures during the foaming process because I was away attending other matters. All that I was told is the A, B, C pillars and the entire undercarriage had work done to it and I was asked to give it a test run before settling my bill.

The car already had Dynamat insulation done to it previously, so I wasn't expecting any changes to the sound proofing but boy was I in for a surprise when I took the car out for a spin.

The cabin is a lot more quieter than before, and I was greeted with a soft "thud" instead of the usual loud "bang" when I went over road bumps. Somehow, the car actually felt softer. Also, body roll was reduced significantly.

Rather than writing a long grandmother story style review here this time, the advice I would give instead is to choose the shop that does the work for you carefully. Make sure you find someone who really knows the ins and outs of the whole thing including your car before committing.

Just trust me, it works.

I was told the foam will take a couple of days to fully harden and by that time I will be able to experience a lot more then what I'm going through now.

The foaming material that was used are imported directly from Germany, but unfortunately all that I could snap with my camera was this piece of foam that they kept on behalf of my request as I was curious to find out how it feels like and how it looks like.

Tough but yet light

With the chassis foaming now in place, what is left to be done will be the underbody spray on the fenders and some rubber strips to reduce the level of noise wind on the rear passenger doors and then we can pretty much be done with the sound proofing works.

At the same time if you're wondering whether I had my work done in a shop in KL with the word "Auto" and "Foam" associated with it, the answer is NO. Nothing personal against that shop, but I reserve my comments on the pricing and the material used.

Proton Exora Turbo - The Real Making

2009-12-25T02:50:00.007+08:00

Universiti Putra Malaysia and Proton Holdings Berhad might have made some headlines by revealing the Proton Exora Turbo prototype couples months back earlier, well someone has just beaten them in producing an actual daily driven street car.

Here is a real making of a Proton Exora turbo inside the garage of GT Auto. The reason why this post is here is because this car will be running on the AEM Fuel/Ignition Controller (F/IC).

This unit is a very good alternative to the HKS F-Con iS, and if you are driving an OBD2 vehicle you will want to take a closer look at it as the unit is also capable of O2 remapping as well.

Besides the AEM F/IC and the HKS F-Con iS, another alternative way to tune OBD2 vehicles would be this or you can just go with a standalone engine management and lose your OBD2 compliance altogether.

That is all I can reveal here about this car and if you're curious to find out more about this Exora Turbo, talk to my friend Xenon or just point your browser to his site at CamproTurbo.com for more information.

Some of you might already know him as he drives a Proton Gen2 turbo himself. You have more reasons to talk to him especially if your car has a Campro engine and you have the intentions to fit in a turbo kit.

Stealth hidden intercooler

Close up shot of the intercooler

Engine bay

NCP42 Turbo Teaser Pictures

2009-12-12T16:35:00.015+08:00

One of the things that I like about my hobby is not only that you'll make a lot of friends along the way, you get to inspire others to follow suite as well.

Here are some teaser pictures of a NCP42 Toyota Vios belonging to a close friend of mine, and is currently undergoing a turbo kit installation in GT Auto.

His setup is very similar to my current stage 1 turbo kit with some variances, and the car also has a AEM water/methanol injection kit fitted as well.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I just can't stop stressing how good it will be for the car if you can just fit a water/methanol injection kit to your ride, especially if its turbocharged.

In a couple of days this car will be rolling out from GT Auto's dyno machine, and we'll be seeing it huffing and puffing on the streets very soon.

Intercooler

Aluminium piping

Titanium muffler

Finally

2009-12-08T22:54:00.005+08:00

At last, Toby has time to do my forged internals.

I can't wait, stage 2 turbo here I come!

Traction Issues

2009-11-16T21:35:00.010+08:00

It has been raining almost everyday here in Kuala Lumpur, and with all the ongoing roadworks around the city centre its certainly isn't very pleasant to drive around with all the stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic.

Some of you already might have know that the current NCP93 Toyota Vios is equipped with an electronic throttle or better known as the drive by wire system (or fly by wire), which I agree it is actually a very good design for fuel efficiency and other neat stuffs like anti-lag and traction control.

Most will probably agree with me that the drive by wire system in our car is certainly not the smartest, and the comments I often hear are "dumb", "laggy" and "slow" etc.

And hence there are after market electronic throttle tuning products like BRM21 HAC and Pivot 3 Drive Throttle Controller.

Because the opening of the throttle plate doesn't correspond directly with your pedal position, with all the rain going on I'm actually getting wheel spins from time to time during traffic light take offs and its getting really annoying.

Couple of times the car next to me actually thought that I was trying provoke him in to a traffic light challenge and he starts spinning his wheels as well. This is the time where some sort of traction control will be really appreciated.

The sad part is that the JDM Toyota Vios doesn't come equipped with traction control unlike the USDM or European Yaris whereby traction control and vehicle stability control is offered be it standard or optional.

Also if you were to plug in an OBD2 scanner and you'll discover that our cars are actually equipped with speed sensors on all 4 wheels, and from there you will be able to monitor all the individual wheel speed.

Yes, no doubt I love the kind of torque the car is producing now but power is really nothing if you can't transfer them properly to the wheels and control it.

So I'm pondering now perhaps its time to ditch the car and get myself a proper sports car with a full time 4 wheel drive system like the Evo or Subie?

Yes most probably, but before doing so I will still continue to complete all the current pending mods that are lined up on hand.

Sigh, don't think the current 205/45 profile tires has sufficient grip
*depressed*

Innovate Motorsports Wideband Controller

2009-11-03T12:21:00.028+08:00

For any natural aspiration to turbo conversion project, a wideband controller is almost a must have item for the absolute serious tuners and enthusiasts.

Most natural aspirated cars comes factory fitted with a narrow band sensor where it could only read air fuel ratios between 14.5 and 15.1, which is pretty much useless for turbo cars whereby the air fuel ratio ranges are much more wider.

Toyota Vios turbo has been using the LC-1 wideband controller from Innovate Motorsports since the very first day it left GT Auto's garage, and the reason why we chose Innovate over other brands like AEM, DynoJet and Zeitronix is pretty much self explanatory here.

The test conducted by Ford Muscle clearly shows that the Innovate LC-1 wins hands down in terms of accuracy and response time over others, put aside the other features such as the logging capabilities of the software.

Besides that, the thing we like about the LC-1 is that it has 2 programmable analog outputs, a feature very useful for tuners to tune OBD-II compliant cars where the ECU relies on 2 narrowband sensors to adjust the air fuel ratio during closed loop operation.

OBD-II car owners should take notice what I am about to post next.

With the analog output feature, we're able to fool the stock ECU to keep the fuel trims in check by wiring an analog output to simulate narrow band reading to the ECU so that it does not correct any adjustments made by the E-Manage piggyback unit during closed loop.

Think of it as an O2 remapping device if you will, and the only other devices that we have seen in the market which has similar capabilities is the AEM F/IC piggyback, HKS F-Con iS and the F-Manage from Trust Japan, whereby even the mighty R35 GTR's ecu was also defeated by it.

As far we know, Innovate is the only producer of digital wideband controller in the market which is capable of auto self calibration, whereby the rest are all analog based and had to rely on the factory sensor calibration. This is a major factor to consider when deciding on your purchase of a wideband controller because when the sensor ages, so will the accuracy of the reading.

So if you were somehow unlucky and purchased a unit which is not capable of calibration, you wouldn't have any idea when the sensor is going bad. There won't be any compensations for changes in temperature, altitude and sensor condition.

In simple terms, your engine is basically blinded but with its eyes wide open. In this case, you might as well just throw it away and run your car fully map based, lose your fuel economy rather than risking an engine blow.

LC-1/XD-16 kit package

XD-16 gauge showing stoich during idling

Motul 300V

2009-10-20T23:08:00.014+08:00

Motul 300V is Motul's premium top of the line fully synthetic engine oil with Double Ester Technology, and the entire range of oils were co-developed with the engineers of NISMO, Motul and Honda Mugen Japan GT Teams as well as the Subaru World Rally Team.

This is the oil not only I will swear by, so will GT Auto and their record setting Evolution III drag car, holding the fastest 0-400m drag time in Malaysia.

So, who else uses Motul 300V oil exclusively as their engine lubricant you ask? Just to name a few:

PRODrive
Formula Renault
Subaru World Rally Team
Japan GT Nismo
Honda Mugen Team
Ferarri 550 Maranello
Le Mans 24H
Formula 3000
FIA GT
French GT
Porsche GT

I could keep adding on to the list, but you get the jizz.

Toyota Vios turbo has been using it since day #1 and until anything better comes along, Motul 300V will be the only oil that will be going in and out of my engine.

Pricey maybe some will say? Yes, but you get what you paid for.

Motul 300V 5W40

Revised Suspension Settings

2009-10-04T23:21:00.005+08:00

Couple of days back, I had my HotBits DT1 shockers sent back to Speedworks for a full service and I took the opportunity to have the suspension setup revised.

After 6 months of driving and testing with numerous setups, I discovered that the best setting to my likings for the spring force would 60-kg/cm for the front and 40-kg/cm for the rear.

So I had Speedworks revised my shockers together with the new spring setup and now its working flawlessly. The damping and rebound on the road is just nice and exactly to what I wanted.

As usual, not a single cent was paid for all the work done as the shockers are still under warranty, and on top of that I was given another 3 months warranty extension starting from the serviced date.

40-kg/cm force springs

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Garrett GT2554R

2009-09-26T19:17:00.033+08:00

Update (01/08): Item sold.

This turbo is now up for sale at RM 4,200, please get in touch with me if you're interested. Only 2 left in the entire Malaysia.

The stage 2 turbo kit is finally coming in to picture with the arrival of the most important component which is the turbo itself.

This little baby here is rated to produce up to 270 HP and is suitable for engines with the displacement from 1.4 liters and above. With a dual ball bearing design, we would expect minimal lag from this turbo even on the small 1NZ-FE engine.

It is quite common for ball bearing turbos to spool up at least 15%-20% faster than similar sized journal bearing turbos while giving better damping and control over shaft motion, providing enhanced reliability for everyday driving.

This GT2554R turbo uses a dual stainless steel ball bearing cartridge and is the smallest ball bearing turbo available from Garrett. With the ball bearing design, we won't need to supply as much oil as needed compared to journal bearing for lubrication of the turbo.

It also shares the same oil and water cooling housing design as my current GT2056 turbo, however the major differences between the both of them would be the bearing design and the power output.

We'll see how well this turbo performs when it goes in.

Stay tuned fellas.

Medklinn Mobile

2009-08-31T20:32:00.014+08:00

What I am about to introduce here has nothing to do with the performance of your car, however this product worked so well I wanted to share it with everyone.

Meet Medklinn Mobile, a car air sterilizer/ionizer that plugs right in to your ciggarette lighter socket.

I got it for my car for the following reasons:

Despite my best effort there are still tons of dust particles inside the car and I can't take it anymore
Durians, if I ever brought any in to the car it'll take forever for the smell to go away

In order to deodorize and detoxify the air inside the car, this device works by flooding the entire car's interior with massive amounts of negative ions to remove offensive odours and pollutants such as pollens, dust particles and exhaust fumes.

To be really exact, it actually emissions up to at least 2 million negative ions per second in order to achieve that effectively.

So do not confuse this with some voltage stabilizer products that also doubles as an air ionizer.

This is not a voltage stabilizer, this is the real deal.

The Star Online actually did a cover on this device 2 years back then and the article claims that the average number of germs on your steering wheel is actually more than double the numbers of germs residing in your toilet.

So did it work for me? Hell yeah. Not only I noticed that my dashboard and audio head unit now has a lot more less dusts, I actually brought different types of food in to the car cabin to see how well this device works, including durian.

And indeed, it worked well.

If it can actually neutralize durian smell, it certainly would have no problems with any others.

So I wind down my window and threw the Ambi Pur out from the car as I no longer need it to cover any smell in the car since I can actually remove it now.

This device requires no maintenance, costs RM 300 and is backed with a year of warranty from Medklinn.

The content of the package

Close up shot

Emits a cool looking blue neon light during operation

Stage 2 Turbo Project - Toga Bearings & AJUSA Head Bolts

2009-08-22T21:35:00.024+08:00

The bearings and head bolts arrived yesterday, collected the package and had them sent over to GT Auto this morning.

When I showed it to Toby and Thomas they looked at them and gave me a weird and puzzled look.

Toby : Oi, what is this? Juan show him the ACL bearings!

Thomas : Eh? The bolts not ARP wan ah?

HELLO UNCLES! If ACL had produced bearings for the 1NZ-FE don't you think I would have bought it? And that goes for the ARP bolts as well DUH!

Then they proceed to show me a set of ACL bearings and ARP head bolts and boy I was so disgusted! :P

Anyways we opened up the package to examine the bearings and they seem to look fine. The Toga bearings are tri-metal cast copper lead with electroplatting babbitted overlay and they come with a 3 year/60,000 KM warranty.

AJUSA claims the head bolts to be higher grade than stock bolts, but they definitely don't measure up to ARP. However, they are indeeed heavier than the stock bolts.

Well we won't know how true those claims above are until it all goes in to the engine.

AJUSA head bolts & Toga bearings

The bearings are individually stamped

AJUSA head bolts

Open Challenge To Garage R

2009-08-19T12:53:00.006+08:00

So AsiaOne published an article about Garage R and their recent 8.8 seconds quarter-mile achievement.

While many quickly jumped and applauded them for their achievement, I sincerely believe that before Garage R starts making claims in the public media to be the fastest Evo in Southeast Asia they should probably first make a trip down to Malaysia Sepang International Circuit and refresh their 9.4 seconds that they've clocked here previously. (although the article actually claimed a 9.1 seconds which I don't know where they got it from)

Taking into consideration that the venue used in Carrerista Jamboree for the drag event when the record was made is not even a proper built circuit, then throw in an uneven and bumpy road surface I have reasonable doubts that the timing could be anywhere near accurate.

I know some of my Singaporean friends or readers might start flaming me for this post, comments are welcomed but I just want to clarify that I am not dissing anyone here but to cast a shadow of doubt on the claims made by Garage R, thats all.

I mean yeah Singapore Motor Sports Association can sanction all they want but the fact is that the road was uneven and bumpy and the record wasn't made on a proper drag strip.

So, Garage R. Why not you make a trip down to Malaysia and do your 8.8 seconds here? Don't you want to refresh your old 9.4 seconds record that you set here last time?

You have fans here as well, I am sure your fans will be more than happy to see you participate in the upcoming Sepang Drag Battle.

If you can't make it in October, there is another round in November.

Cheap Horsepower

2009-08-09T03:27:00.015+08:00

One advantage of turbocharged cars is that they can generally be modified to produce substantially more horsepower by just increasing the boost.

On any given turbo, generating additional boost is simply matter of having the turbo to spin faster which is primarily controlled via the waste gate.

When the Vios turbo first came out from the tuner back in April, it was only boosting 0.4 bar as we needed to observe the engine operations and it was only putting down 130+ to the wheels.

We then raised the boost to 0.6 bar and we gained an instant 10 horse making it 140+ at the wheels.

In June, we upgraded the stock coils to Okada Projects coils and we gained another instant 10 wheels pushing the final output to 150+ wheels with no change in the boost.

This also tells us that upgrading the ignition system is also beneficial as well, as we can see there are lots of products in the market such as the HKS Twin Power, MSD coils, Okada Projects etc but personaly I think CDI is the only way to go if you're planning to make some serious power.

Blue: 0.4 bar, Red: 0.6 bar

Green: 0.6 bar with Okada Projects coils

Currently, we're suspecting there is a leakage somewhere as we can hear noises from the cabin when the car is in boost.

We will find out soon enough when the car goes in for a full engine rebuild.

(Update 21/08): Turns out the exhaust gasket was cracked due to excessive installations and removals. Got it fixed and we're good to go again.

FWD Parking

2009-08-07T18:31:00.004+08:00

I came across this video and I can't help but wanting to post it up.

Rear wheel drive car drivers please do not attempt this at home.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - 1NZ-FE Forged Pistons & Billet Conrods

2009-07-23T15:35:00.020+08:00

(Update 23/02): We ordered a replacement set as we found out they were actually high compression pistons.

I recently ordered a set of racing pistons and conrods for my car, and the Malaysia Customs had a problem with that.

And since I am a law obeying citizen I am more than willing to pay for taxes of any goods that I import, but hell I am not going to pay for something that is not reasonable.

I mean, they even wanted to charge me taxes for the shipping fees as well.

Without sharing all the glory details, I've managed to obtain my goods without paying a single cent at all and there is nothing they can do about it.

All I can say is that Malaysia Customs are not only stupid, they're fucked up as well. And I will say this once again.

Malaysia Customs are not only STUPID, they're FUCKED UP as well.

So to those who asked what killed motorsports in Malaysia, now you have the answer to it.

OK rants aside, lets get back to business.

It will take at least a couple of months for the forged internals to go in as they are oversized pistons so we need to bore & hone the engine block, not to mention converting the fuel system to a return setup, wiring for the standalone engine management etc.

On top of that, my tuner is so tied up with all the upcoming race events until end of the year I doubt they will ever have time to start work at least until early next year. *sobs*

I am also currently deciding whether should I ditch the automatic transmission gearbox and chuck in a manual gearbox with LSD.

CP packaging

CP pistons box

9.0:1 compression pistons NOT!

Teflon skirt coated

Crower packaging

Crower billet rods

Garrett GT2056

2009-07-20T18:46:00.014+08:00

Lots of people have been asking me how does the GT20 turbo that I am currently using looks like so I decided to snap a few pictures and post it up here.

This GT20 turbo that I am using now is considered a rare turbo as it was a custom made model by Garrett Thailand as it has additional water lines feeding to the housing.

It was hand carried back by GT Auto's Toby all the way from Thailand.

There are only 2 units available, one went to my car and the other one went to GT Auto's staff car.

This is not my car here, it belongs to one of the staffs working in GT Auto.

The car was involved in a minor accident the other day and the hood and bumper was removed for repair works so I managed to snap some pictures of it.

Now do not let the size of the turbine fool you. This little fella here is rated to produce up to 260 PS.

Garrett GT2056

Water & oil feed

Sepang Drag Battle 2009 - Round 3

2009-07-19T15:42:00.033+08:00

Yesterday while waiting for my car to be washed at Sunway I walked over to GT Auto's garage to grab lunch with both the master tuners Thomas and Toby.

The crew hasn't been sleeping for more that 48 hours as they were busy preparing the race cars and not mention the countless hours on the dyno machine tuning the cars.

So the following conversation happened while we were having fried kuey teow at the Sunway foodcourt.

Me : Eh bugger, you don't need to sleep ah? Wanna become god issit?

Toby : I still got 2 more cars waiting lah, how to sleep?

Thomas : You don't know meh, he drinks race fuel wan. No need to sleep keh.

Me : Like that when only you got time to do my internals and standalone?

Toby : If you can wait, year 2010 lor.

Me : Mahai, want so long meh?

Toby : Your pistons and con rods arrive liao meh?

Me : Yah, but currently stucked at the customs. Monday need to go settle.

Thomas : So tonight you going Sepang to see the drag battle ah?

Me : Wanna go but no kaki leh.

Toby : Tiu we both here not considered kaki ah?

Me : You didn't say you guys planning to go also?

Thomas : Ok lah, tonight you follow us to the pit lah let you experience a bit.

Me : Can can, I call David also.

We were then handed a pair of official GT Auto crew t-shirt and off we went to Sepang. I was pretty excited as how often do you get to be at the pit as a guest crew for the tuner of the fastest drag car in Malaysia?

We were stationed at pit 17, and we have our 10 second street legal Mitsubishi EVO 9 that won the previous round in the drag battle competing in class A and a new Honda CRX in Class C.

Unfortunately, both cars wasn't able to get any standings as our EVO9 was spitting out transmission oil and the CRX was having problems with the toe & caster setting resulting our driver wasn't able to full throttle due to unstable launching.

Oops

2009-07-15T18:10:00.007+08:00

(Update 23/07): Issue resolved, not a single cent paid.

The pistons and rods that I ordered has been shipped and online tracking indicated they touched down Malaysian Customs few days ago.

Then I was informed by FedEx yesterday that the goods are currently being held at the customs until I clear the pending taxation of 40% of the total cost of goods which 10% is sales tax.

Malaysia Customs gotta be fucking kidding me, now I gotta bring my lazy ass to Sepang on Monday morning to meet up with the officer and try talk my way out.

So to those who asked what killed motorsports in Malaysia, now you know.

Oops!

Defi Link Meter Advance CR

2009-07-05T02:30:00.004+08:00

A friend of mine whose also driving a Vios turbo as well sent me these sexy pictures of his recently installed Defi Link Meter Advance CR gauges.

These gauges are so damn sexy not to mention poisonous and I am struggling so hard right now trying to tie myself down so I can't make my way down to the nearest store to pick up a set.

The new Advance CR gauges now comes with 2 opening and closing ceremony to choose from and also a remote controller for ease of operation.

The video of the opening and closing ceremony will be posted up soon, stay tuned.

Water temp, Oil temp, Oil pressure & Boost

Amber red illumination

Blue illumination

326 WHP Toyota Echo

2009-07-02T10:31:00.005+08:00

I came across this video in YouTube and I thought of sharing it here with everyone.

I'm suspecting that this Toyota Echo is located in Puerto Rico as we can hear people speaking Spanish in the background.

I don't have anymore information about this car other than this video claiming that the car is boosting 23 PSI which is around 1.58 bar and puts down 326 PS to the wheels.

Anyhow it does look and sound fierce when the guys are doing a pull on the dyno.

Okada Projects - Dyno Results

2009-06-26T11:31:00.021+08:00

The dyno results for the Okada Projects Plasma Direct coils is finally out, the results are more than what we expected as the dyno machine was able to pick up the gains both in horsepower and torque.

It took us less than 10 minutes to swap the original coils out with the Okada and we took this opportunity to throw in a new set of plugs as well.

Autolite Iridium plugs

We did a base run and the car pulled 143.34 PS and 18.53 kg-m of torque at the wheels. With the Okada Projects coils fitted in, it gave us 153.01 PS and 19.45 kg-m of torque.

Blue: Without Okada coils

Red: With Okada coils

A first glance at the dyno chart it seems like the overall gains are not so impressive as we only gained around 9.67 PS and 0.92 kg-m of torque.

However we noticed that the gains are available throughout the entire powerband starting from 3,500 RPM all the way to the redline.

What caught us by surprise was not only the torque curve has been flatten, there is a peak gain of 14.22 PS and 2.02 kg-m of torque nearing the 5,000 RPM range.

In the past, the original coils simply just couldn't maintain sparks that were strong enough at the high RPM range to achieve a flatter torque curve. Seems like the Okada coils were able to get the job done.

Peak gain of 2.02 kg-m torque

Peak gain of 14.22 PS

Overall I'm quite impressed with the Okada coils, and would certainly recommend it to anyone whose interested in it. However, you would still need to find a good tuner who knows how to tune your car properly in order to enjoy the gains.

Besides the gain in power, the coils could also serve as a nice dressing item in your engine bay as well.

Stage 2 Turbo Project - FIC Fuel Injectors

2009-06-22T22:55:00.009+08:00

Or better known as Fuel Injector Clinic, this company from US produces one of the best aftermarket injectors available.

The injectors cleared customs yesterday morning and arrived at my doorstep this afternoon while I was away in the office.

These are ball & seat type saturated high impedance injectors and they are rated to flow 445cc/min. They require no modifications and are a direct fit to our 1NZ-FE engines, and FIC was kind enough to throw in a set of plug & play adapters free of charge as they were late in shipping the injectors.

Together with the forged internals when they arrive, we should able to make some serious power when we crank up the boost.

Packaging box

Contents

Close up shot of the injector

A more refined atomized spraying pattern allows a cleaner burn resulting in a crisper throttle response and increased fuel efficiency while still being able to produce serious horsepower.

The main reason why I went with FIC is due to they have one of the finest spraying pattern compared to other aftermarket injectors.

The pictures below were taken from FIC's website, whereby it shows to same high flowing injectors with the second one customized to have a much finer spraying pattern.

Small cone angle & dense fuel stream

Wider cone angle & atomized fuel stream

Stage 2 Turbo Project - AEM Water / Methanol Injection Kit

2009-06-21T00:01:00.011+08:00

I've heard a lot of good things about water/methanol injection systems for forced induction cars so I decided to get a kit for myself to test it out while waiting for the forged internals to arrive.

The car is still lying at the garage now as Speedworks only managed to sent the coilovers back from servicing yesterday.

There are reasons why I chose AEM over other brands like Snow Performance.

The tank low level indicator feature and the progressive pump is standard in the AEM kit whereby Snow Performance requires you to purchase them separately.

1 gallon tank with progressive pump

Together with the Okada Projects coils, hopefully it'll give us some good results when the car is ready for dyno tune.

Stay tuned.

NOS Wet Kit Dynoed

2009-06-17T17:35:00.005+08:00

During my posting of the Turbo vs NOS write up, the NOS kit that was available for sale in GT Auto was picked up by a friend of mine and the car has been finally dyno tuned.

The car is now pushing out 144.38 PS and 20.95 kg-m of torque to the wheels from the previous 118.61 PS and 15.24 kg-m.

The dyno chart speaks for itself, as you can see the gains are very significant at the point where the nitrous engages. It takes less than 200 rpm for the car to gain 36 PS and 7 kg-m of torque at the wheels.

I was given the opportunity to test drive the car and when the nitrous starts spraying the car pulls crazily like a raped ape.

This car is running E-Manage blue piggyback without the ignition harness. The owner is now planning to upgrade to Haltech Platinum Interceptor so the ignition timing can be altered to extract more power.

The owner is also considering fitting an AEM water/methanol injection kit very soon and with the injection kit the gains will be even higher.

Stay tuned.

Okada Projects Plasma Direct

2009-06-16T13:54:00.012+08:00

(Update 26/06): The dyno chart can be found here.

Dropped by GT Auto this morning to collect the Okada Projects Plasma Direct that I ordered 2 weeks ago.

Was planning to have them installed together with the forged internals when they arrive but since tuner said its alright as they are direct plug and play so we went ahead with it.

Packaging box

Instructions manual & serial number plate

Close up shot

After the installation, all that was left is just this nice looking sticker and a serial number plate

230 PS NCP91

2009-06-15T14:32:00.012+08:00

Famous Japanese tuner Phoenix's Power tuned a 230 PS NCP91 pushing out 29.1 kg-m of torque.

Modifications

TD-04H turbo

1 bar boost

Forged pistons and rods

HKS F-Con V Pro

1JZ 370cc injectors

Source: http://www.phoenixs.co.jp

200 WHP Toyota Vios

2009-05-31T18:57:00.017+08:00

Ladies and gentleman, I present you a 200 wheel horsepower Toyota Vios. This is one hell of a Vios as the engine internals are upgraded and it runs a GT25 ball bearing turbo boosting 1.1 bar.

The fuel system has been converted to a return setup, and the stock injectors has been upgraded to use a set of Bosch 440cc saturated fuel injectors.

The pistons has been changed to a set of forged CP pistons running 9.5:1 compression and the connecting rods are upgraded to a set of Crower forged billet rods. Reinforced AJUSA head bolts and head gasket are used and both the rod bearings and engine bearings are from Toga.

Best of all this car runs a standalone engine management system named Vipec. For those who are familiar with the Autronic will probably have an idea how Vipec works.

This Vipec has a lot of features such as built-in MAP sensor, traction control, VVT-i control, boost control, antilag, progressive nitrous injection, wide on throttle shift and the list goes on. The highest end model even supports drive by wire.

This car puts down a staggering 193 PS and 275 N-m of torque to the wheels, and since this is a manual transmission if we do a backward calculation of 15% power loss the engine is churning out 230 PS and 325 N-m of torque at the crank.

So if you're driving on the highway one day and you hear a hissing black Vios behind you, my advice to you is best that you give way.

This is one nasty Vios you don't want to mess with.

Engine & Drivetrain
CP Custom Forged Low Compression Pistons (9.5:1 CR)
Crower Billet Forged Connecting Rods
AJUSA Multi-Layered Steel (MLS) Head Gasket
AJUSA Head Bolts
Toga Engine Bearings
Toga Rod Bearings
Custom Semi-Closed Deck Engine Block Guard
TRD Engine Oil Cap
TWM Short Shifter
TWM Desert Eagle Shift Knob
Custom Stage 2 Racing Clutch

Induction & Exhaust System
Garrett GT2554R Ball Bearing Turbocharger
OEM Cast Iron T25 Turbo Manifold
Custom Stainless Steel Turbo Manifold Shield
Custom T25 Downpipe
Custom 2" Straight-thru Midpipe
OEM 2" Operated Exhaust Muffler
HKS Reloaded Pod Filter
HKS SSQV Blow-off Valve
Volker 7ZX-8 Iridium Spark Plugs
OEM Delta Fin Front Mount Intercooler
Custom Stainless Steel Intercooler Pipings
Custom Oil Catch Tank

Fueling & Cooling System
Sard Fuel Pressure Regulator
Walbro 255LPH Fuel Pump
Bosch 440cc Saturated Fuel Injectors
Custom Fuel Return Line System
Custom Fuel Rail
OEM Steel Braided Fuel Hoses
TRD 1.3 Bar Radiator Cap
NTCL Low Temp Thermostat
Custom Extra Radiator Fan
GDL Oil Cooler

Suspension, Brakes & Handling
BC Coilovers w/ Camber Kit
Drift Racing 6 Pot Brake Kit
ProRS Stainless Steel Braided Brake Hoses
Ultra Racing 4 Point Front Strut Bar
Ultra Racing 4 Point Front Lower Arm Bar
Ultra Racing 3 Point Front Fender Bars
Ultra Racing 2 Point Rear Strut Bar
Progress Rear Anti-Roll Bar
Momo Race Steering Wheel
Advanti Ultra Light 16' Wheels
Federal 595RS-R Semi-Slicks

Electronics
Vipec V44 Standalone Engine Management
Greddy Profec B Spec II Boost Controller
Apexi RSM w/ G-Sensor
Apexi Turbo Timer
Defi BF Gauges (Boost, Water, Oil Temp & Press)
Pivot Raizin VS

Performance (Wheel)
193.7 PS @ 5,200 RPM

275 N-m @ 4,700 RPM

HyperRev Magazine

2009-05-29T16:08:00.002+08:00

I was in KLCC earlier for lunch today and I dropped by Kinokuniya to pick up a copy of the HyperREV magazine.

You know you want this, just drop me an email :)

Billion Radiator Hose Kit

2009-05-26T20:59:00.006+08:00

Just managed to get my hands on the Billion radiator hose kit this morning.

Using dual silicon rubber layers, Billion claims the hose to be 10 times stronger and more durable than conventional rubber hose kit.

The kit comes with 3 pieces of hose and 3 pairs of clamps and they are a direct fit replacement for the factory hoses.

Will have them fitted when the car goes in for the second stage turbo kit.

The packaging in box

The contents of the package

NOS Wet Kit

2009-05-16T09:07:00.018+08:00

(Update 17/06): The dyno chart can be found here.

A very good friend of mine recently installed a wet kit to his car, as he is a very low profile guy so I would not mention it here what car it is. (but I could always mention it elsewhere hehe)

I can only tell you that this car is a total sleeper as the exterior is completely stock standard, one will never expect it actually has a nitrous oxide system under the hood.

As per my previous post on turbo vs nitrous, nitrous actually gives you the best bang for your dollar.

Here are some pictures of the NOS kit installation in progress, no engine bay pictures though as that would give away the identity of the car.

Stay tuned for the dyno chart and detailed information of the installation.

Twin nitrous bottle setup

(Is he crazy or what?)

Nitrous & fuel solenoids

Fogger nozzle