Project Low Buck Nissan SR20DE Part 2

By Mike Kojima

In our last edition of Project Low Buck SR20DE, we stated our goals to obtain a decent amount of naturally aspirated horsepower and good track day drivable reliability from an underdog plain jane SR20DE without braking the bank. Fulfilling these goals would also create an engine with excellent street driving characteristics as well. All of our engine work will be done on the cheap with a tight budget in mind but with plenty of attention paid to minor details that can really help an engine live under the stress of track day pounding, perhaps the most abusive environment that a grass roots enthusiast will subject his engine to

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Project Acura NSX Part One - Building the Bulletproof Transaxle

By Billy Johnson and Mike Kojima

Now  the Acura NSX is becoming affordable on the used car market and there are many fine examples for a reasonable price for sale at any given time.  Although the car is still quite modern, some of the technology has become a bit long in the tooth and needs some upgrading to stay in line with current supercars and even what can be done to some of the other Japanese exotics in the aftermarket.

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Skunk 2 Releases Pro Series Intake Manifold for EVO VII, VIII and IX

MotoIQ Staff Report

If you are tuning your EVO VII-IX you were probably wondering what was up with the designers of the 4G63’s intake manifold. It has a tiny plenum for the amount of power that the engine is capable of producing, even with the stock turbo. At MotoIQ, we saw significant gains in power on our project EVO VIII with an experimental crudely made modified stock manifold with an enlarged plenum. We also saw significant bottom end losses and increased lag so we axed that project.

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Technobabble: How to Fix a Headgasket with a Garden Sprayer

By Dave Coleman

In August, when the car first started mysteriously losing coolant and fouling spark plugs, I had a rally coming up. I only had two months, at that point to get it done. By the book hours most repair shops use to charge labor, 2 months is plenty of time. But if I changed the headgasket, I'd have to pull the cams to get to the head bolts, remove the front cover, pull the head, see what was warped and fix it, clean things off, and put everything back together in the right order. I'd have to actually get a service manual. And find my torque wrench. And clean my workbench.
 

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Project EVO VIII Part Two, Improving Braking and Handling

By Mike Kojima

At MotoIQ headquarters, it’s no secret that we love the EVO VIII.  To us it’s one of the best-balanced all around car we have ever driven for any price.  It has reasonable power with tons of upgrade potential for its well developed bulletproof 4G63 engine.  The killer engine is one thing but the best thing about the EVO is its handling.  The EVO just flat out rocks, there are very few cars that are so easy to drive hard at the limit.

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motoIQ Tech Exclusive! Stillen’s Gen 3 Nissan 370Z Air Intake, Tested!

By Mike Kojima

Stillen’s air intake came with some large power claims and we were skeptical.  We had tested several other 370Z air intakes and had noted either small or no gains at all.  The stock 370 has a really efficient air intake to begin with.  The engines intake plenum is fed by two generously sized throttle bodies leading to twin intake tubes, twin mass air flow sensors, and two large airboxes with big filter elements both sucking cold air from in front of the core support.  It doesn’t get much better than this.  Our opinions were solidified by the fact that some air intake companies have given up on the 370Z after not getting any power gains or these ones that have made it to market have gotten very small gains if at all.

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Project Infiniti G20 Racecar - Roll Cage By Martin Gonzales and Steve Rockwood Accidents, the downers of all motor sport related activities, and reminders that things don't always go as planned.  Though spinning out of control or taking Dukes of Hazard jumps are not part of anyone's dreams of racing glory, it doesn't mean shit has to happen before preparing for the worst..

 

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motoIQ Tech Exclusive! We Evaluate SPL Version 3 Rear Multi Link Arms

A MotoIQ Staff Report

If you drive a Nissan S13 240SX, S14 240SX, S15 Silvia, Z32 300ZX or R32 GT-R and do some serious track work, you have probably been frustrated by the lack of adjustment range of the stock links. You have also probably experienced the awful twitchiness of the rear suspension. This is largely due to the huge amounts of soft squishy rubber in the many bushings of the multilink rear suspension.

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Project EVO IX Part One: Really Simple Bolt Ons

By Jeff Naeyaert

The venerable Mistsubishi EVO is a known commodity in the tuning world.  It seems that wherever you look you see EVO’s and it also seems, at least in our Southern California locale that a stock EVO is about as common as a Ferrari Enzo.  The EVO IX was the final evolutionary development of the superb, destined to become a classic CT9A chassis which includes the EVO VII, VIII and IX.  The features that define an IX are the changes made to the legendary 4G63 engine to make it even better than its predecessors.

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motoIQ Tech Exclusive! Building the Bulletproof Transmission, Secrets of the Pros By Mike Kojima The transmission was much weaker than the Civic transmission and hampered the efforts of the Nissan camp in getting the Sentra SE-R into the record books in competition.  The SE-R did manage to get into the 10’s then even the high 9’s in import drag racing at a high cost in broken transmission parts. Nissan transmissions might last one or two passes, a point that Honda’s didn’t reach until they were deep into the 9’s and even the 8’s

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