Tech Talk: The Nissan GT-R - Japanese, but not as we know it

What we have over here folks is a Nissan GT-R. This is actually one, if not the fastest point to point cars that has ever been built and we all know about its Porsche 911 Turbo eating capabilities. We also know that its 3.8liter V6 engine makes around 520bhp in stock tune and this figure is actually some figure that was cooked up by Nissan for its brochures as almost everyone who's driven one thinks it has about 50bhp more.

It is also mass defying in that you would never believe that a 1,730kg car can actually take corners better than a 200kg lighter Mitsubishi Evolution instead of feeling like the Mitsubishi with 4 extremely fat people inside it. It is heavy, but it still wipes the floors out of more exotic supercars. Japanese witchcraft I tell you.

But I recently was having a look-see at a 2008 UK Spec Nissan GT-R at my friendly neighbourhood Japanese performance car specialist, LMY Automobile and Services Sdn Bhd and I somehow think that this car, while an icon and an incredible machine, feels over-engineered on some points whilst being underdeveloped on some others.

Now some may ask what the actual difference between a UK car and a JDM one is. The main difference is that the trip computer in the meter console (not the main display in the middle of the dashboard) is in English instead of Japanese and the stereo system's FM radio mode reaches from 88.0mhz to over a 100mhz. If this was s JDM model, the radio would only reach 88.9mhz. Other than that nothing's changed basically.

The cars are still right hand drive like the JDM versions and still require the expensive 100RON petrol (as stated on the fuel flap). So those that have purchased a JDM GT-R or a UK GT-R, be sure to use the highest octane rating available if you can't find the required happy juice. Of course, if you're in Malaysia, the highest readily available petrol is Shell's V-Power Racing, but this runs a rated 97RON, which is still down on the necessary octane rating required by the GT-R.

Some Malaysian registered GT-Rs here have shown lean fuel maps on the dyno because of this especially after their owners start plonking in aftermarket exhaust systems and the usual customary air filter add-ons. You could get it re-mapped to ensure that your investment does not go 'boom!'. LMY offers this service for the GT-R, allowing Godzilla to gulp cheaper RON95 safely, but this is another story altogether.

We all know the Nissan GT-R is on many a motorhead's wishlist but the reason I have decided to highlight this detail is that I happen to believe this car has a contradiction. Firstly, it is built out of lightweight materials like aluminium and carbon fiber. Take for example the carbon fiber driveshaft pictured above. The items were bloody light. I could pick it up with one hand without breaking a sweat.

You could also feel that the bonnet, doors and boot are made of aluminium, and the engine bay in a carbon fiber surround. But even with all the lightweight materials used the car weighs in at a porky 1,730kg. And whilst the extra weight does not blunt any of its supercar devouring performance, you can see where the extra weight comes from just by looking at the engine bay.

Note that the GT-R is built unlike any other Japanese supercar. It may look and feel Japanese, I somehow believe that it was actually designed by some Europeans or it was designed with Europe in mind. Just take a look at the engine bay and take note the double firewall and then the fully covered area between the firewall. This area houses brake servo components as well as the battery. Note that everything is hidden from view. Like Nissan does not want anyone to take a look at the brake servo or even the fat battery they stuffed in between the firewalls.

The thing that irks me the most is that in a car that is about ultimate performance, Nissan went and threw some make-up on the car. It's like a pretty girl who decided to put on some foundation to hide some imperfections when she actually has none. Its like Cindy Crawford trying to cover up that mole on her face when no one actually cares if she does or not. This is a Nissan GT-R. No one cares about whether the battery shows its ugly design or not. Even the limited run (and hideously expensive Lexus LFA) does not have such a visible secondary firewall and that it does not even cover up the brake fluid bottle like the GT-R. So why did Nissan do this with the GT-R? To make the car look pretty in brochures and in the showroom. But who the heck actually cares about how the engine bay looks in the first place?

This is a GT-R. Nissan actually does not need to cover all of these bits up with all those extra plastic bits that would add about a couple of kilograms up top and up front in the GT-R. I mean, if I was an anorak, I'd take this into account. Let's take a picture of a 2006 W220 Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG. This is an over 2,000kg Leviathan that is powered by a stonking bi-turbo V12 engine. Now notice that the Mercedes Benz actually costs a whole lot more than the GT-R, is an established luxury car marque noted for its engineering and it still does not cover everything up. As I said, no one would actually take notice of the 'ugliness' of the GT-R's engine bay. It isn't a pretty lithe little coupe in the first place. It is a brutal, very Sumo wrestler type of car. It isn't a fragile piece of origami in the first place.

And on another note, the engineers have decided to go all tight with the packaging underneath. The reason this GT-R had to visit the specialists at LMY is that it was suffering from a rattling transmission. It turns out the GT-R is suffering from a rattly bearing in the front transmission transfer case. Do note that the GT-R has the transmission located at the rear and a prop-shaft sends the power to the box at the rear which sends the drive out to the rear wheels and then another prop-shaft to the front. And as a result of brutal usage of the 'launch control' to, errr, launch the car at junctions, traffic lights and track days, the transfer case bearing had gone bust.

Now look at the transfer case. It is sandwiched between two catalytic convertors. Everything is so tightly packed here and I somehow believe that the heat from the two fat cats would in some way affect the components therein in the long run. Problems with heat soak is even more prevalent in the hot and humid tropics where this UK spec GT-R happens to call home these days. In fact this is why I think the transfer case bearing decided to call it a day so soon (the GT-R here has less than 30,000miles on the clock).

So while the engineers were busy over-engineering up above with all the double firewall and decorative coverings, they may have not done so elsewhere. But regardless of what I've just said here, it does not change anything about what the Nissan GT-R is. In fact these contradictions actually make the GT-R something more epic. Like an Italian supercar with its flaws and idiosyncrasies, the Nissan GT-R actually has a soul somewhere under all that technology. Japanese witchcraft. Remember that fact.

With thanks to LMY Automobiles & Services.

The Impreza 1.6TS after almost 7 years and a Volkswagen Golf 1.4TSI

It has been almost 7 years since I bought the little Scooby and right now it is acting its age. It had a whole lot of stuff done to it. Some maintenance (a top overhaul and a radiator change) and some modifications (shocks, pulleys, wheels, exhaust etc.). Whatever it is the car has performed admirably although it is currently in need of some new spark plug cables - it is misfiring currently and not surprisingly the official importer does not keep stock of the part. Singapore is the closest source and I therefore would be driving around with a stuttering car.

Anyway, some of you may ask how fast is a 1.6liter normally aspirated Subaru with 5 speed manual All-Wheel drive? 0-100km/h in about 8 seconds and about 200km/h. Most normal 1.6TS would do it in 12.5seconds and max out at about 175km/h. So it is an improvement nonetheless. NOT 0-100km/h in 5seconds like a WRX STI but note the standard car weighs 1,250kg (1,390kg STI) and mine has a lightened flywheel, crank pulley and it is 70kg lighter too. So it is a decent B-road blaster in my not so humble opinion.

Anyway, I recently drove a Volkswagen Golf 1.4TSI recently and I am not really impressed. UNLESS your intention is buying an affordable German hatchback and not a GTI. Stay tuned folks.

Proton Wira 1.6XLi Important mods - Phenolic Spacers, Metal Gaskets & Aluminium Crankshaft Pulleys

I recently fixed up a dark purple 1998 Proton Wira 1.6XLi automatic that belonged to my late father. It basically needed some TLC after being left under-utillized (since his passing). It was leaking engine oil as its fiber based cylinder head gasket deteriorated over the years. The only mods done to it was a set of 15inch wheels and 195/50/15 tyres.

The thing about fiber based gaskets is that they never last. The fiber would actually slowly deteriorates over the years and the residue actually gets eaten during combustion or if you're unlucky, like in this case, the fiber pieces get into the cooling system and clog up the cylinder head and radiator. It caused the car to overheat after being used for about an hour. Everytime you get into a traffic jam the temperature would slowly rise. So there was a need for a cylinder head rebuild. And a thorough flushing of the radiator.

So once your mechanic pulls off the cylinder head to rebuild, the best option for anyone who wants to keep the engine running well longer than any fiber based gasket is to opt for a metal gasket. This is actually an extra RM200.00 option over an above the RM200.00 needed to buy the fiber gasket/overhaul set. I opted for a slightly thicker 1.5mm Mitsubishi metal gasket set as I wanted the car to be reliable with a slight skimming of the cylinder head. Please also note that the Mitsubishi 4G93 gasket can be used for the 4G92 1.6 engine too.

There is a 0.8mm option for those who would want to increase the compression far beyond the standard 10.0:1 compression ratio. With the skimmed head, my mechanic reckoned that the CR was now 10.2:1 and not something in the 11:1 CR. That higher ratio would be good (and is what my Subaru Impreza 1.6TS now runs from its standard 10:1) for making the engine produce more horsepower and throttle response than what my rebuilt head would produce, but I was aiming for reliability here instead of all out horsepower here. It IS just a Wira 1.6.

But I wasn't without my mechanic's usual bag of tricks. He had something up his sleeves in the form of phenolic manifold spacer for the 1.6liter 4 cylinder engine. It is basically a piece of heat resistant fiber that blocks off the engine heat from the intake manifold. It is that white piece sandwiched between the inlet manifold and the cylinder head in the photo below.

Here's how it works - from GrimmSpeed.com (a US based site where I bought a set of spacers for my Impreza 1.6TS(which is another story for another time)

• The intake air in your engine travels through the airbox into the turbo, then into the aluminum intake manifold. The air exits the intake manifold and goes directly into the engine.
• While the intake air is within the intake manifold it picks up alot of heat from the aluminum intake manifold. This added heat reduces air density thus reducing engine power capabilities.
• In stock form your engine has a steel gasket between the intake manifold and engine which allows the heat from the engine to quickly transfer into the intake manifold. By replacing this steel gasket with the GrimmSpeed™ Phenolic Spacer you are greatly reducing the transfer of engine heat into the intake manifold.
• Phenolic Spacers are able to withstand 500+ degrees F. Subaru engines run at the hotter end of operation around 200 degrees F, so the Phenolic Spacer is well within its max running temperature. GrimmSpeed™ has tested that it is also safe to run race fuel, E85, and methanol with the Phenolic Spacers.
• The Phenolic Spacer will conduct 300-900 times less heat than the oem steel gasket.

AND...it basically does this:

• Greatly reduces the transer of heat from engine to intake manifold thus reducing heat soak.
• One of a kind true Phenolic material, not cutting board material like others.
• The cooler your intake temperature is the denser the air is which leads to more power
• For every 5 degree reduction in temperature, increases power by 1%.
• The cooler and denser the intake air that the engine sucks in, increases the amount of air that can be mixed with fuel thus increasing efficiency.

So the Wira's mechanic, a chap named Henry Khoo, the proprietor of KS Auto in Ulu Klang has actually conducted some research and came up with his own set of phenolic spacers for most of the cars in Malaysia. Custom cut of course. And it is on this Proton Wira 1.6XLi.

Now add this and an AROSPEED lightweight aluminium pulley (costing around RM250.00 and over 1.5kg lighter) things get pretty fun. Yes, this aluminium pulley is actually a very, very good mod for the Wira. It actually releases extra power that was lost from the heavy standard crankshaft pulley. The lightweight aluminium pulley decreases rotational mass making the engine rev faster than before. It basically shifts the power band a little lower and is actually very good to have in the Wira 1.6 automatic. This is because the 4 speed automatic's gearing is a little screwed up. There is a noticeable gap in the powerband that is (slightly) corrected by the pulley. As the revs come in quicker, the powerband feels smoother. But do check out the spelling for 'hardened' is only spelt 'harden'. Grammar isn't a priority around here, especially even when the Malaysian Ministry of Defence uses Google to translate Bahasa Malaysia into English. So what is a little mistake on an aluminium pulley?

Now everything else for the time being was left stock with the exception of an Ultra Racing 4 point front strut bar (which does offer some improvement in terms of handling - but not a lot). But I do believe in keeping things simple with an urban runabout. You need the reliability and the ease of driving in city traffic. This Proton Wira 1.6Xli exemplifies it. Quite well actually as the standard 0-100km/h time for this car was 12.5seconds or thereabouts. The standard car did this with about 110bhp and it is actually pretty good for a 1.6liter car which only weighs 1,090kg (according to the manual)This one now does it in the low 9seconds (with some other smaller tweaks to the stock fuel regulator, air-flow and ignition timing) . All for an investment of around RM1,500.00. Which is pretty good for a lightly modded automatic. 

Indonesia's Daihatsu Sirion .....

...is actually our Perodua Myvi. To those that aren't aware of this fact, The car is either brought in as a whole from Perodua's plant in Rawang, Malaysia or partly assembled in Indonesia by Daihatsu from parts brought in from Malaysia. It is basically our 1.3liter Perodua Myvi with a Daihatsu badge stuck on it. There is no other difference from the Myvi we have over here. All you have to do is go to daihatsu.astra.co.id and you will be able to see the difference. Or lack of it.

But anyway, this isn't the issue which actually makes me a little cheated. It is the fact that Daihatsu actually offers a 16 inch wheel option for the Sirion over there in Indonesia. The 1.3liter Daihatsu Sirion can be had with large alloy wheels whilst the people in the country that actually made it gets stuck with measly 14 inch wheels. This is even though we also get an uprated 1.5liter version too. I mean the Myvi can really move with the 1.5liter engine and it is still coupled with smallish 165/65/14 tyres.

Some of us actually think that the Myvi is now overpowered for some Malaysian road users especially since it comes with skinny tyres. I personally believe that the 1.5liter Myvi should come with the same tyre option as the Perodua Alza - the 185/55/15 tyre and wheel combo instead of the skinny 14 inch setup. If you actually did a lot of travelling, one will see 1.3liter MyviS doing over 150km/h and if this is possible for the 1.3liter, the 1.5liter Myvis are going to go faster. Much faster.

Now the obvious answer Perodua will give those that question why they aren't indulging their customers and giving them the option of larger wheels I think they'll just say that 14inch wheels are adequate and that Malaysian customers usually like to buy their own wheels. Yes they do but there are those that like to buy things all complete too.

If Daihatsu can give such an option in a poorer country like Indonesia why can't Perodua (or Daihatsu) give such an option to people here especially when we tend to buy them by the thousands? Indonesians aren't buying the Sirion in large numbers as I did not see many on the road. In fact, I only saw one (I will get to that somewhere below). It is because of this I believe that Malaysians are being taken for a ride (errr...literally).

Don't believe me? I have a scan of the Autocar Indonesia that I managed to purchase when I was over at Jakarta recently. It actually featured the Daihatsu Sirion test drive by Indonesian journalists over in Malaysia. They started out in Putrajaya and ended up at AFamosa in Malacca. One of the cars in the magazine featured the large 16inch wheels (the white one in the scan above).

Why can't Perodua give such an option to Malaysians? A large engine sometimes deserves larger wheels to compensate. It also gives customers more choice. Doesn't it?

I also have a photo of the earlier Indonesian Daihatsu Sirion aka Myvi that actually came with a manufacturer bodykit and the 16inch wheels. This was actually the only Sirion I managed to catch a glimpse of during the whole time I was in Jakarta/Bandung (a good 6 days FYI). Favourite small cars seem to be the Suzuki Swift, Nissan Juke and the Mazda 2.

Happy New Year People!!!!! And a Picture of a Ferrari Dino to end 2011

2012 beckons! I hope it will be another fruitful year for all of us.

Anyway, I do not wish to be retrospective as too many other websites, facebook and twitter postings would want us to sing Auld Lang Syne and other nostalgic stuff. I did nostalgia recently already remember?

But let's end 2011 with a photo of what a new 'small' Ferrari will never ever be like again. Small and totally curvy for the sake of being curvy. The Dino 246GTS. Spotted around Petaling Jaya early this year and that little car sounded great too. Oh yes, it wasn't equipped with a V8, but a 2.4liter V6. It was actually marketed as 'almost a Ferrari' back then as this was supposed to be the budget line for Ferrari. But everyone calls it a Ferrari Dino. It is actually worthy of the name, even without the supposedly required V8 engine that a Ferrari should have.

But it is small, and if it's small you don't really need such a large engine. Especially in those days. Check out how small it looks next to a Suzy Swift. Dainty isn't it?

Happy New Year people.

I Cover the Century Ultramax and Century Battery Assist Launch

A few days ago I received an invitation to attend the launch of Century Battery Malaysia's new Ultramax battery as well as the Century Battery Assist – Which is Century Battery's new Emergency Battery Assist Service. It was to be held on the 15th of December 2011 at a top secret facility somewhere in KL. I decided to attend.

Well, actually it was held at KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performance Arts Centre) in Sentul East (which is actually a glamorous name for someplace Off Jalan Ipoh). It just felt like someplace mysterious to be as if you look at the photo below, it does look like some military bunker of sorts.

But anyway, once I entered the KLPAC's lobby cum event location it looked....

...like any other launch event. Which is good. Obviously.

Maybach bites the dust....Again

No one wants a Maybach actually. They'd rather buy Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Aston Martins and even Perodua Myvis. Which is why parent company Daimler AG, more famous for owning Mercedes Benz is ending the brand in 2013.

Read what I think about this whole thing here. Posted over at MyAutoBlog.org.