Project Pathfinder Part 10, How to Build the Nissan VG30E

By Mari Umekubo

We are getting quite excited as Project Pathfinders motor is now up and running. We are out to show that a solid and reliable naturally aspirated Nissan VG30E can be just as strong or stronger in the power department as the VG33R supercharged motor in the  Frontiers with vastly superior fuel economy.  We also want to show that we can get the pulling power of a small V8 out of the VG. Last month we covered some tricks that Dan Paramore of DPR used to make our heads flow.  This month we will dive into the shortblock of our super Pathfinder.

To read about our VG30E headwork click here!

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FrankenMiata - Making it Handle With a Hacksaw

By Dave Coleman

The secrets of the the FrankenMiata's handling have been hidden for too long. Time to reveal everything. How we stiffened the springs without lowering the car; how we used bumpstops for free travel; how we stiffened the sway bars, and knew how much to do it; and where we set the alignment. All without spending a penny.

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AEM's Plug and Play ECU for the Chevy LS1, a Swappers Delight!

By Mike Kojima

Being able to have full control of engine management is a huge advantage when putting together one of the new generation hybrids.  We found a great remarkably simple solution for tuning with AEM's plug and play EMS for the LS1. The LS is fast becoming the new hybrid swap replacing K motors in Nissan S chassis and finding homes in the engine bays of 1st and 2nd generation RX-7's.

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Project Honda Ruckus Part 7: Building the Engine

By Jeff Naeyaert

In our efforts to build the ultimate Honda GET 50cc engine for our Honda Ruckus, we have learned a few things with our first iteration of our modded engine, lessons to make our second one better we hope.  In our quest to get even more power out of our little Honda we are going to build another engine, this one is going into another Ruckus in our stable. Our goal for engine number 2 is to surpass the 58 mph of our first engine and reach 60 mph with the Honda engine that came with the Ruckus.

To read about our previous engine build click here for part one and here for part two.  To see all of our Honda Ruckus stuff click here.

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Project Scion TC Part 4: Suspension and Brakes

By Mike Kojima

With our cage and safety equipment done on our Scion TC race car, it is time to do stuff to increase performance!  The suspension on a road race car is critical for it to be competitive and we need to so some serious stuff on our car.  Since our Scion TC is being built in it;'s first stage for NASA's PTD class, we have some interesting factors that we have to consider.

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Project Ducati Hypermotard Part 1

By Jeff Naeyaert

 We would like to introduce our first motorcycle project, Project Ducati Hypermotard. The Hypermotard is the opposite of a Supermoto bike.  Where the Supermoto bike is a Motocross bike modified for the pavement, the Ducati Hypermotard is more like an ultra high performance street-touring bike modified for dirt use with some full on road racing technology thrown in.  Its like the parts from a Honda CRF 450, a Ducati Monster naked street performance bike, a Ducati Multistrada sports touring bike and a Ducati 1098 sports bike were thrown in a pot to create a very unique bike that doesn’t really fit into any category other than its own.

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Project EVO VIII part 4, Getting More Trackside Grip, Killing Some Slip

By Mike Kojima

After enjoying driving our much-improved EVO VIII for a few months we were again motivated into another round of mods by the need to fix a necessity, a slipping clutch.  We also wanted to improve our suspension for more aggressive driving.

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   Project Pathfinder Part 9, Headwork

by Mari Umekubo

As we have reached the limit in bolt on potential for Project Pathfinder we now delve into building the ultimate tow motor.  The ultimate tow motor is probably the ultimate off road motor and perhaps the ultimate motor for a heavy clumsy SUV.  Our motor will be built to emphasis low-end torque, better for pulling, good fuel economy and the ability to run on lower grades of gas.  Since we're dirt cheap and as this is just our tow/daily transportation vehicle, we placed additional emphasis on staying away from exotic and expensive parts, instead rummaging in our spare bins of factory Nissan parts.

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Project Scion tC at Thunderhill Video!

By Jeff Naeyaert

Check out this cool video of our Project Scion shot at the NASA Six Hours of Thunder hill.

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Project Pathfinder Part 8, Cams, ECU, Headers

By Mari Umekubo

The stock VG cam shafts are very mild.  At the advice of the guys at Nissan Motorsports we added a set of their #2 off road cams to Project Pathfinder.  The cams have 264 degrees of duration and .430” lift with a 106 degree intake and 116 lobe center as opposed to the tiny stock 248 degrees duration and .374” lift with 114 lobe centers.  This is quite a difference and the cams really woke Project Pathfinder up.

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