A good customer of ours came in to get his 2012 GT-R tuned on E85.  For those in the SoCal area that do not know, yet, there is a new gas station that serves E85;  located in Fullerton, Ca.

Propel Clean Mobility Center
1124 E Chapman Ave.
Fullerton, Ca 92831

Find one near you: Station Locator

Here’s what he’s had done previously here with us:

- SPE650
- TiTek 90mm Cast Downpipes
- TiTek Race Midpipe
- TiTek Race Exhaust
- SprayItRacing 1000cc Injectors
- SPE Tune

A little background on E85 for those who are not familiar with it;  E85 has a number of advantages over regular pump gas.  The advantages consist of higher octane rating, reducing engine heat and wear, and increasing performance.  E85 does have it’s downfall, though.  It has 33% less energy content than regular gas.  Meaning you have to use more of it.

With his GT-R, our customer also brought in dual SprayItRacing 265LPh fuel pumps and a Zeitronix Ethanol Content Analyzer.  The fuel pumps are needed to support E85.  The Zeitronix Ethanol Content Analyzer helps monitor the percentage of ethanol you have in your car.  He also purchased the flex fuel sensor along with the ECA.  Our technicians had to custom fabricate AN lines and fittings to make the flex fuel sensor work with the ECA.

The dual SprayItRacing 265LPh fuel pumps getting ready to be installed.

Tidying up the AN lines for the flex fuel sensor.

Flex fuel sensor tucked away and ready to do its job.

Installing/mounting the ethanol content analyzer;  deciding where to mount something always seems to be a pita.

And of course, you’re going to need a new map made in order to run E85.  The top dynograph is of the SPE650 on 91 octane; the bottom dynograph is of the SPE650 on E85.  You can see a significant difference in power and torque.

We gave our customer a few days before giving us feedback on the new tune on E85.  His response was very positive.  He explained how the car was much faster and now has a much smoother power delivery, which is always a plus.

Please feel free to hit us up to get your GT-R switched over and tuned on E85! Contact Eugene (eugene@sp-power.com) for any questions.

Thanks!

- SP

Recently we had the opportunity to check out the Rally Fighter.  The vehicle features an LS3 6.2L v8 making 430 Horsepower @ 5,900 rpm.  The Rally fighter is made in house at their Micro factory located in Phoenix Arizona.  Turn around time to make a Rally Fighter is about 2 weeks, and get this it’s legal in 50 states!

The Rally Fighter chassis  is made from a tubular design.

The Rally Fighter features a rear-wheel drive and is driven with an automatic transmission.

The interior was designed by Mihai Panaitescu.

Exterior design was done by Sangho Kim, side vent Raphaël Laurent,  kick plate by Anthony Franze.

-SP

Click on thumbnail image for lightbox gallery

Here’s an old picture for you guys. An R34 GT-R in midnight purple II for you to drool over.

-SP

A little background on CRP Racing – Owner, Nick Short, has been around racing for 25+ years.  He started his company back in 2001 with lots of experience on his hands.  Known for working on Corvettes, Porsches, and BMW’s, Nick and his team were happy and excited to be in partnership with Nissan to debut the two Hawk Performance GT-R’s at World Challenge.

[ Both CRP Racing and Nissan are excited to be entering a new era with the Nissan GT-Rs in World Challenge.  "Nissan is looking forward to partnering with CRP Racing to campaign the Nissan GT-Rs in the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge GT class," said Ron Stukenberg, Senior Mgr., Motorsports Marketing Communications at Nissan.  "Both CRP Racing and the Nissan GT-R have a long history of winning races and we anticipate that success will carry over to the Pirelli World Challenge series."

 Nick Short - "We're very happy with this new collaboration between CRP Racing and Nissan North America to develop the Nissan GT-Rs into a race winning package.  We now have two great partners in the Hawk Performance Group and Nissan, which will allow CRP Racing to show its true potential as a car builder and a race team." ... ]

Read more about the partnership here.

As mentioned earlier, CRP brought in both of their GT-R’s for us to further calibrate.  SP Engineering’s senior technician Naoto Negishi, being a former employee of Sakata Motorsports, has vast experiences with many Motec systems; with skills ranging from ECU calibration to data acquisition and race support.  Naoto has completed years of tunes with 100% satisfaction from motorsport teams and drivers from all around the world.  SPE’s COBB tuner Kristian Wong, helped out alongside with Naoto in the tuning process for the CRP GT-R’s. Fuel mapping, ignition mapping and boost control strategies were reviewed and fine tuned. With our new engine calibration, both GT-R’s smoothed out the power-band it had previously lacked;  It’s like discovering nutella going well with crepes.  You want more of it, no matter how much it will cost you in the end.

We couldn’t stop there.  Next, we further calibrated the Gear Change Ignition Cut function in the M800. The Gear Change Ignition Cut function enables the driver to make gear changes full throttle without the use of the clutch, allowing the rear mounted 6 speed dog-gear Hewland gearbox to be utilized to its fullest potential.

With the power-band and upshift portion of the calibration sorted, it was now time to turn the attention to the downshift strategies.  The CRP R35 utilizes dual OEM drive by wire throttle bodies controlled by a Motec DBW4 module allowing for full control of the DBW motors.  With this combination we are able to program a down shift “Throttle Blip” which simplifies the drivers tasks; essentially eliminating the need for the driver to perform “heel & toe”.

SP Engineering will be providing full tuning support at the next World Challenge race event (04/27/12) at Miller Motosports Park in Tooele, Utah. The tasks for Naoto at this event will include proper function confirmation of the above mentioned calibrations, tuning of the traction control system and overall data acquisition and data analysis alongside with Nick.

Both GT-R’s are running our SPE750 turbos which feature high-temp coated and machined manifolds and the internals are replaced with true Garrett ball bearing type cartridges;  The same turbos are used in the Mine’s GT-R package.

We hope for the very best for CRP Racing in the future with the rest of the World Challenge series.   A special thank you goes out to Nick for giving us this opportunity.  Nick, we hope to hear from you guys soon and good luck!

-SP

(click on the thumnail image for lightbox gallery)

The R888′s being mounted onto the Advan RZ-DF’s!

We also equipped the car with our TiTek blue race lug nuts.

Thanks for looking!

- SP

click on thumbnail image for lightbox gallery

We’ve had our hands full here at SP Engineering in the past year. Working not only on one, but two fully built GT-R’s; Belonging to clients in UAE, Dubai.  Our customers approached us, wanting a pair of R35′s that not only performed outstandingly, but stunned the viewers (you) eyes.  They wanted the whole package and it was up to us to get the job done.

Some background on this pair of GT-R’s;  Both GT-R’s were purchased brand new as 2011 models.  From there, the duo was brought to SP Engineering where they would receive their fully built make-overs .  Let me clarify what we mean by “fully built”… Every single part on these R35′s has been modified and tuned to SP Engineering’s standards – Engine, transmission, suspension components, interior, exterior, and then some.

Performance wise, these R35′s are relatively identical.  The two GT-R’s were to be equipped with our SPE1000R package.  That’s where the similarities end, though.  Aesthetically, each GT-R has its own style to compliment their owners character to give them that authentic look and feel. We’ll go into more depth on that topic later.

The SPE1000R package takes the Nissan GT-R to a whole new level.  It redefines the concept of drivability by offering a 1250 hp street machine.  Our balanced and blue printed race motor and turbocharge system will outperform anything in it’s class with proven 8 second quarter mile times at 160+ mph. The GR6 transmission is upgraded in-house with a stronger gear and clutch system to accommodate the 700 hp increase over factory.

A few behind the scenes images from the build process on both GT-R’s.

The Vr38 long block awaits its next set of parts to be installed.

Some additions have been made to the long block.  Now bolted up are the transmission, turbo manifold, front axles, blue Samco hoses along with some wiring.

This is the Top Secret Gold GT-R’s engine with blue Samco coolant hoses.

Once the VR38 motor is equipped with all necessary goods you can see how massive the motor really is.

The heart of the R35 in its new state making its way back where it belongs.

The GReddy DCT Transmission Cooler seems to be a popular choice by our customers.  I agree, it does its job.

Out with the old, and in with the new.  Brand new CF hood from some place “secret”.

Out of all of the air filters out there on the market today, we’ve decided to go with our trusty GReddy Airinx filters to  help filter in the clean air with ease.

Toppin’ off.

The fancy footwork from underneath…

HKS Hypermax III coilovers and Swift 34mm sway bar.

Here is a view of what you don’t normally see when a car is out on the streets.

Top Secret Gold GT-R reaching for its 1250 hp tune.

Good God, the Wald front bumper is orgasmic.

Piecing her up, getting ready for the dyno.

No tune, no life.

Once we have completed the motor work and exterior, it was time for the interior to get a makeover.

Interior teardown, ready for some goodies!

Got some mail order Bride’s from overseas. Hehe. xD

One of the main exciting modification done inside the Top Secret Gold GT-R was the MCR CF Shift Paddle Kit mated with a Personal Grinta steering wheel w/ yellow stitching.

All together, we have installed Bride Stradia II seats, Personal Grinta wheel, custom mounted HKS EVC6, AFK, and TiTek CF interior piece kit.

Here is a close up of the TiTek CF interior piece kit.  They say “It’s the little things that makes a difference”.  This piece kit definitely defines that phrase.

Napping before bumper installation.

The final product of the Wald equipped GT-R; Perfection.

- SP

-SP

-SP

We set out for Las Vegas on Thursday evening. We spent the night “resting” in Sin City to prepare for the next big day. We got up early the next day and made our way over to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For those who are wondering why we went all the way to Nevada to hit the track, it’s because it is very difficult to find a well prepared drag strip and one that allows us to ran such times without a parachute on the west coast . With that said, we want to thank Las Vegas Motor Speedway for opening their door to us.

The team getting together to discuss our game plan. Knowing that we didn’t have much time at the track, we decided to just go for it. Simple enough, right?

Here’s an engine shot of Hing’s car. We have shared Hing’s build on our blog before, the newest being the GReddy Intake Manifold and Throttle Bodies.

His car is equipped with our SPE1000R package that is just shy of 1200 whp.

The techs are doing a final check on the car to make sure everything is in good working order and making adjustments to the tire pressure and the new KW 3-way Clubsport. More on that in another post.

Once everything is dialed in, the car is lined up for it’s first pass down the track.

Hing’s office for the day. Hing was very excited to get back into the driver seat.

Here’s the man himself, Hing. He’s surveying the track and putting himself in the zone.

The first run got us a 8.837 @ 164.61, setting a new world record! We were very happy to say the least but we knew there was much more potential left in the car. We lined up for our second pass and that was when we hit our first snag. The rear driver side  OEM axle broke on that run. We expected that to happen eventually so we brought along a set of spares. We had ordered a set of DSS axles but they didn’t arrive on time for this outing.

The techs got busy right away to replace the broken one with a new one.

Once the car was fixed, we continued our search for a faster time. This time around, we managed slightly better with a 8.827 @ 165.25 mph. When we went at it again, the other rear axle broke. Thankfully it was the passenger side this time. The techs went at it again and got it replaced in no time. Time was running out and we made our last pass, the fastest of the day, 8.793 @ 167.68. We raised the bar by almost 0.20 seconds!

We were pleased with our results. In half a day’s time, we managed 3 consecutive runs that beat the previous quarter mile record.  Our hard work throughout the years have finally paid off and the numbers don’t lie.

The SP team wants to thank Hing for his continual passion for the GT-R. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. It’s our customers who allow us to do what we do. We also want to thank Kenji Sumino at GReddy Performance and Chris Marion and Mike Kojima at KW Suspension for their help and expertise.

Knowing us, we are never fully satisfied and we will definitely be back out to the track in the future. We still have a few tricks up our sleeves. 2012 is going to be a huge year!

-SP

Check out www.JayLenosGarage.com as Jay talks with the Bossman and tests out SP Engineerings SPE750R package.

-SP