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Cam Gear & Dyno Tuning Results @ Croydon Racing Development


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Originally i was going to add feed back in regards to various questions regarding Markos GTR,

BUT then as i was scrolling through the various responses i noticed a response from

A MATE ? who was questioning plug changes/engine oil quality versus tuning a vehicle that will make over 500 hp at the engine or any engine for that matter was validated.???????

Answer to question : Spark plugs are designed with different heat ranges to accomodate

for varing cylinder temps so installing for example a plug ( eg NGK platinum/iridium heat range 6) in a Nissan GTR which will make over 550 hp is generally considered to be incorrect.Installing a heat range 8 will be generally a better alternative .

Also questioning the validity of the engine oil quality/ oil level especially when the engine is fresh and possibly using thin running in oil should go without saying.An engine tuner is going to spend the next few hours running this thing on the dyno. That in itself should have some logic to it????

As an experienced engine tuner these are the type of questions i need to ask along with others before tuning ANY engine with substance Especially when the engine in question was built/assembled/ installed at other premises.

As to my MATE, I was curious to find out who he actually is so i ran through the computer

and dug out some invoices which in turn jolted my memory about a particular situation where a " mate " had his engine built somewhere else and brought the car to our shop for running in/tuning the engine.

I will say only this . That particular mate that comes to mind had the same questions asked

to him , and as was the case , oil /filter was replaced and plugs changed.His oil filter was also cut open to reveal a substancial amount of foreign matter collected in it (metal filings,machine shavings,gasket sealer).

As for the costs/ work done , as they say there are always two sides to the story.

Difference here is though that i have the complete details of the work performed and correct costing. But as the saying goes THERE ARE ALWAYS TWO SIDES TO A STORY....

As for Markos GTR , his workshop had the experience and foresite to ring me and ask before hand what engine oil and plugs would be best for his engine combo/power output.

This is by no means an attack on anybody and not written to be offensive in any way.

Just my 2 bobs worth i guess.

Jim Souvas

Tech Engineer

CRD

Answer to question : Spark plugs are designed with different heat ranges to accomodate for varing cylinder temps so installing for example a plug ( eg NGK platinum/iridium heat range 6)  in a Nissan GTR which will make over 550 hp is generally considered to be incorrect.Installing a heat range 8 will be generally a better alternative .

Hey Jim on the spark plugs (i own Andrew's car now) when we were tunning it with the higher boost its was really breaking up using the heat range 8 plug's we threw in some 6 and it was perfect, have you seen that before?

The only negative thing about colder plugs is that they tend to foul up some times when driven around town fairly conservitavely and for most of the time most guys will probably hardly ever use the engines full potential thus the second set of plugs for Andews car after 2000km.

But under full power on the track a colder plug is definately more stable than an NGK 6.

My understanding is that Andrews vehicle would see a fair bit of track use /club days so hence the decision to run the colder plugs.

For daily use and the odd squirt here and there sixes are fine .030 to .035 thou gap i would recommend thou.( less chance of ignition breakdown/spark scatter/pinging )

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Jim Souvas

Tech Engineer

CRD

The only negative thing about colder plugs is that they tend to foul up some times when driven around town fairly conservitavely and for most of the time most guys will probably hardly ever use the engines  full potential thus the second set of plugs for Andews car after 2000km.

But under full power on the track a colder  plug is definately more stable than an NGK 6.

My understanding is that Andrews vehicle would see a fair bit of track use /club days so hence the decision to run the colder plugs.

For daily use and the odd squirt here and there sixes are fine .030 to .035 thou gap i would recommend thou.( less chance of ignition breakdown/spark scatter/pinging )

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Jim Souvas  

Tech Engineer

CRD

Atm its pretty much a street car but i intend to do some light track work in the near future!

We found with the 8's running 22psi it would just break up we were going to go 7's but none around so we just used some 6's which seemed to work great!

Anyway i have booked some time with you on Saterday for some dyno runs to double check everything ;)

MIK just out of interest did you buy Pauls car http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...hread.php?t=989 with all the mods already done? http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=28909 From memory it had a UAS tune when he sold it what happened to that tune have you got before and after dyno graphs of BELL Vs UAS tunes??

Marko,

Your too right about CRD, people say they charge alot, but you get the job done once and properly! My friends wrx is pulling close to 200kw atw with a stock engine, all work completed by CRD, with zero problems to date. Glad your happy with the power output, I got a chance to stay there all day with my mate getting his car done, and I can tell you zero corners are cut by any of the mechanics at CRD.

Nick

Jim,

If you wanted to know who I was, you just had to ask... It's no secret :)

As for your post, I agree, and at no time did I question changing the oil at the intervals we did. If anything, I would have like to change it more often (perhaps add in another oil change at 1000kms?)

I do remember you suggesting the change in heat range of the plugs to NGK 8's during the run-in tune, which I went along with because I thought you'd know best. But I was also told to change them again when I brought it back for the final tune, which I declined. Perhaps if I changed them then, it would have saved me another engine build? ;)

It's understandable I guess, but you seem bitter that I chose another workshop to do the engine build. Unfortunately the $10290 (tuning was extra - I still have the quote) you quoted me to assemble the engine wasn't within my expected budget. You know perfectly well that I would have loved you to have built my engine, but again, the costs were just too high.

In the end, adding in the cost of the second build, it ended up costing about the same (a little less actually)... So I guess you could say: "Do it right the first time" (My favourite saying actually). But fact of the matter was, I had spent more than $14,000 on engine parts, and paying $10000+ to get it built just didn't seem right to me....

Oh and with the prices I quoted before, I was wrong on the first payment (I was at work when I posted, so didn't have the invoices on me)...

The first tune was $1675, not $1800 as I first said. Apologies.

The second tune is unknown. The bill I paid was $1295, but that included oil pressure gauge diagnosis. I was going off memory for the price of the tune that I was presented with. I remember it was as much as another full tune, which I refused to pay, and you relented and brought it down to the $650 ($500 for cam gears and $150 for boost controller - Thank you for being reasonable) which brought the total to $1295 for that visit.

Which brought the total to $2970 for tuning and new oil pressure sender + install.

When I buy another GTR, I will most probably take it back to you for tuning and possibly engine building... Now that I know the cost associated with getting you to do the good work that you do, I just have to make sure that I budget enough for I'm not left speechless when I get the bill :confused:

Cheers,

Andrew.

My brother has kept me involved (Marko R1) with his engine build/tune and I believe that he has achieved a fantastic result. Sure it has cost some money but realistically you must consider what power you are after against the cost of total works. If you dont have the money to do the works and try to do it on the cheap you will only come halfway. I would love to build a similar engine to my brother but I simply cannot afford it at the moment. As we have the same colour car, I might just swap our number plates & wheels over for a few days!

Who cares what some of the tossers say on this forum about what you have done & what you have achieved but at the end of the day you have satisfied the only important person here, YOURSELF! Enjoy.

  • 1 month later...
guys,

Jim will be fitting a 'custom crd' catch can to my setup next week as he recommends this item when running anything over 300awkw.

marko.

Hows things going?? I heard there may be a problem??

Hi guys,

These chinese whispers are true...

I was always expecting that I will need to attend to the 'weak point' of the car but no sooner than 6 months (I was hoping this anyway)

Cause? could be a no. of things:

- bad batch of fuel

- overheating due to lack of capacity of standard radiator

- blocked injector

etc....

I was quite lucky to catch this out in its infancy, the compression dropped in cylinder 6 down to 79, othe 5 cylinders were reading a consistant 140+.

As the engine is undergoing a total recondition with forged pistons, billet con rods, honing of cylinder bores, crank balance etc...my mechanic will be testing the other items for malfunction.

I can't wait to have it run-in once again :(

Marko.

Hows things going?? I heard there may be a problem??

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