Slower-Phy?

I had a chance to take some quick snap shots of the Sylphy when I was @ TCEAS doing my rear disc brake and beam conversion. This is what happens when the major criteria in a car's design is NVH, comfort, cost and less cost.

The G11 Sylphy rear beam. The much maligned Scott-Russell lateral link fitted to the N16/G10/B15 is MIA which is a good thing for starters. The beam, arms and shock absorber mounts are all in one piece and integral with the beam. Can't do much here in terms of adding aftermarket anti-roll bars and chassis bars. Any upgrade on stiffness would mean upgrading the entire beam assembly. Ouch!

The lines in blue are hydraulic brake lines. Closeup of the hydraulic brake lines. The trailing arms have a bend so Nissan had to mount the brake lines on the straight beam itself.

Holy cut-outs on the beam Batman! Got flex?

No these are not reversed super aero brake cooling ducts but merely the platform to locate the rear coil springs and damper/shock absorber.  The Sylphy is the only current market 2 litre car still on rear drum brakes. Some 1.5 litre cars have better rear disc brakes.

Here's an ESM picture of the G11 rear beam and suspension. Don't ask me where I got it from :)

These are bout the pictures I managed to take. Other "interesting" design decisions include: PCD denoted Pitch Circle Diameter and is the distance between 2 opposite wheel or rim lugs and is a good indication of wheel bearing size and hub or upright stiffness. The Japs have settled for 2 sizes. 100mm PCD 4 bolt pattern for smaller cars (A and B segment ie. Myvi, Vios, City)  and 114.3mm PCD with 5 bolt pattern for larger C and D segment cars (Civic, Altis, Lancer, Accord). The 2 litre Sylphy is approaching D segment in size but uses the 100mm PCD 4 bolt pattern. Erm. Obviously the designers are not worried about caliper piston knock pad under performance or track driving conditions. Stop Tech has a good explanation on what piston knock back is here.

And finally (I forgot to take a picture but you can check it out on the web or better still go ask a TCM salesman. I am very interested in the answer) the Sylphy's speedo goes to only 190km/h max. JDM meters on a Bolehland car? I find it hard to believe. When I asked my TCEAS technician he just shrugged his shoulders and mentioned "CVT". You make the judgement. I admire the frankness and honesty.

Interestingly Impul in Japan (not the MYDM ripoff) has a 170hp engine package including throttle body, cams, pistons and even ECU upgrades. You read it from me first here. :) While the MR20DE engine like any other modern 2 litre engine shouldn't have an issue with such a power output I would really like to see how the flexi, truck like suspension and CVT gearboxed Sylphy cope with the additional power and stress. The brakes are also going to have a field day! As I mentioned in an earlier post, what a crying shame from the same company that spawned the 200ps 1.6 Pulsar VZR N1, Skylines, Sylvias and now R35 GTR. Bolehland Nissan performance driving enthusiasts deserve a better car!

MYDM N16 Manual Transmission Horror!

I mentioned in an earlier post that the Slowtra's gearbox model is the RS5F70A. This is because the European Nissan Almera N16 ESM (Electrical Service Manual) states this particular gearbox for both QG16 and QG18 engines. Well I was Wrong!!! At least for our dear Bolehland domestic market 1.6 manual Slowtras. Here's why I say so.

Picture below of RS5F70A gearbox from Euro N16 FSM

Picture below of the RS5F30A gearbox used by Euro N16 Almera 1.3, 1.5s and the Proton Saga BLM. Yes the Proton Saga uses this same gearbox.  Don't believe so? Check here.

Below are actual pictures of my gearbox.

Here's a hint. Count the number of bolts on the case cover (red box). The RS5F70A has only 5 bolts. The RS5F30A has 6 bolts. My gearbox has 6 bolts. Does this mean my car uses the 30A gearbox? Well I'm still not sure but having seen lots of pictures online of 70A boxes I'm 101% sure it definitely ain't the 70A. The number of strengthening ribs around the driveshaft appears to be different from the 30A from what I can see on my box versus the ESM. Aichi Machine Industry also list another gearbox used by Sentras (not stated which model or gen though) called the F52A but that has 6 gears and is likely used by USDM B15s.

One joker in Autoworld forum even told me to go ask the technicians in TCEAS. Like I haven't asked before desperately trying the local forums. D'oh! Well the technician in the TCEAS spare parts centre which I usually go to didn't know and asked me to go ask the service technician. Which I immediately did so only to be told to go ask the spare parts centre. When I further probed the service technician he said he didn't know and that he wasn't familiar with manual Sentras. Most customers are auto! All this from the largest TCEAS in Butterworth. Err.. Think I better stop here. Oh and they (the TCEAS technicians) don't wear white uniforms. What a joke! I just wish I can get hold of the parts catalogue and ESM for MYDM TCM N16s.

So why am I so preoccupied with what gearbox I have? Well the 30A gearbox is rated to a max of 150Nm of torque and the 70A gearbox 200Nm. So you tell me which gearbox is stronger and able to withstand the rigors of positive crankcase pressure? On top of that there are plenty of LSD (no not the drug) options available for the 70A. I am now on the lookout for a good to excellent condition preloved RS5F70A gearbox. There's also the other matter of whether the 70A box and mine are sharing the same mounts. Might have to source for that too. Bummer!

Black or White? Ultra Racing Front 4 Point Lower Arm Bar and Room Bar

These arrived together with my rear beam but I simply ran out of time. Besides I didn't really dig the white powder coating. White is about the worse colour for something meant for the bottom of a car and exposed to all the road grime, dust, dirt and anything else you can think of.

The lower arm bar is as its name implies, ties the front lower arms for a more rigid assembly. So why is rigidity so important? Well anything that flexes too much including a car's chassis, bushes, tyres, etc. becomes a sort of a spring by itself except that unlike a car's suspension system this spring is uncontrollable which is not good for handling. Per Mike Kojima "The lower control arms front mount in our car (N16/B15) hangs out in space unsupported. This causes the lower control arms to move under hard cornering load causing steering inaccuracy and tire contact patch loss."

The room bar is the bar linking both the B pillars behind the front seats and also serves to improve the car's chassis rigidity.

All Ultra Racing bars are made from steel as opposed to lighter aluminium. Ultra Racing claim via its website that all brackets are 4mm to 5mm steel while hollow steel tubes and oval tubes are 1.2mm to 1.6mm thickness. Ultra Racing also claim that as steel is stronger than aluminium for the same size and thickness and that in order for aluminium allow to be as strong as steel it has to be at least double the thickness thus the weight saving is not so apparent anymore. You be the judge but I know which material I would prefer if I had the choice. Let's just say that the top Japanese manufacturers such as Okuyama Motor Sports aka Carbing offer their bars with aluminium alternative.  

I have sent my Ultra Racing bars to be painted matt black and should get them back for installation in about a week. Stay tuned.

Clutch Hose Upgrade - Installed

I had my G Spec Performance braided clutch hose installed together with my rear beam and disc brakes. The clutch hose is meant for the QR25DE but fits the QG no worries. The only difference from stock is the longer length which is not a problem. Picture below of stock clutch hose.

The airbox had to be removed to facilitate installation of the clutch hose. Picture below of the installed braided clutch hose

A teflon hose with stainless outer braid is not as flexible as a rubber hose necessitating a longer length. And make sure you properly bleed the hydraulic clutch cylinder after changing the hose. My Motul RBF600 brake fluid also doubled up as clutch hydraulic fluid. I'm thinking of sending my stock clutch hose to an AN fittings and braided hose supplier for replication complete with aluminium alloy end fittings. Any takers?

Brake Upgrade Part 1 - Rear Disc Brakes and Beam Upgrade

Going fast is not only all about building horsepower. A car will also need to be able to stop as well if it is not to turn into a flying coffin. By some strange logic TC decided to equip the second or arguably the fastest Sentra variant in Bolehland with rear drum brakes. Drums are cheap to manufacture and the brake shoes are even cheaper. However they're mostly useless for hard and performance driving on something as big and heavy as the Slowtra. I decided to upgrade the rear brakes to disc brakes as the first part of my brake upgrade.

The rear beam on drum braked N16s do not come with the mounting bosses for the disc brake caliper so to upgrade to rear disc brakes one has to either try and weld the bosses on the beam itself or source for a used beam complete with rear disc brakes. I did try the third option which was to buy everything new but TC wanted to charged me in excess of three thousand smackers just for the beam alone and we haven't even started talking about the calipers, rotors, etc. Clearly going for a used beam is the only economical option. Oh and here's what you need for a rear disc brake upgrade:

1. Rear Beam from an N16 variant complete with disc brakes (caliper, brake rotor/disc, pads, brake hoses), axles, hubs, etc. The complete assembly. Even the dust boot on the drum is different from the disc brake so hardly anything cept the some bolts are reusable. I've decided to upgrade my brake hoses to PRO-RS items. Everything else is stock Nissan
2. Rear handbrake cables. The drum and disc brakes use different handbrake cables.
3. About 1 litre of brake fluid. I'm using Motul RBF600

It took me quite some time, ok more than 2 years in my case to finally find a decent condition rear beam.  Blame that on other life priorities. TCEAS in Bayan Baru did managed to source for me a beam two years back but that didn't really fit my grade. The calipers and pads are all stock items. No point going for performance items yet as I'm on stock front brakes and upgrading to rear pads with a higher coefficient friction will just spoil the braking balance. Besides I have part two, three, etc. to write :)

Pix below of my rear beam after unpacking. Even the service centre manager helped to unpack the goods. Thank You Sir! The beam has been repainted and likewise the calipers. I choosed silver for the calipers for the oem look. Don't really dig ricey red. The long dangling things are not "tentacles" but are the handbrake cables.

I also had my "works engineer" who sourced me the beam to upgrade the stock bushes on the beam trailing arms to Superpro items. Thank You Ah Tiong (Hoong Hooi Motorsport). Ah Tiong even painted the calipers when his regular painter declined due to "too much work". The stock bushes cannot be physically removed from the beam as its shell had to be reused for the Superpro. This means using a burner or welder to burn away the bush. The shell was then spot welded to the trailing arm and the Superpro bush fitted. Pix below of the Superpro rear beam trailing arm bush.

So why all the hassle on the bushes? Picture below of the stock rear bush tells the whole story.

The stock soft bush is great for NVH as it allows for lotsa movement in all planes but this detrimentally impacts handling during hard braking and side load (cornering). The Superpro minimizes this. There is also the harder 90 durometer Superpro bush if one aspires to build and all out race car like the Dog III. I'm using the standard variant part number SPF1942K. The harder variant is SPF1942-90K. If you're interested in the bushes please contact me.

It took most of the morning to remove the stock beam. The exhaust heat shield had to be removed to access the handbrake assembly.

The PRO-RS rear braided brake hose installed to the caliper first. The mech managed to install the hose at the wrong side despite clear labels marking which side and which end. Luckily I spotted the mistake.

 
These are the ABS sensors for the rear wheel. Since the Slowtra does not have ABS these were removed. Per my TCEAS technician my beam's JDM as these use a different sensor compared to the MYDM N16 Sentra. There are two sensors (one per side) and part of the cabling is secured via brackets to the beam trailing arm.

The sensor goes here if  you're curious. I just grabbed a socket wrench quickly to help the mech to remove.

Picture below showing the drum brake beam vs the disc brake beam

The disc brake beam actually has a larger diameter compared to the drum brake beam. 65mm vs 55mm. IMHO the disc brake is able to generate more load and stress to the beam hence the need for a stiffer and stronger beam .

Picture of below of the beam installed on the Slowtra together with brake hoses.

Rear caliper and rotor.

All MYDM N16 and USDM non-Brembo equipped B15 variants run a 258mm diameter X 10mm thick solid rotors with same pad shape and size. Rear caliper has a single piston of 33.96mm. Compare this to the drum with a 203.2mm inner diameter and 17.45mm single piston. Clearly my stock 7/8" master cylinder is maxed out! Luckily brake pedal travel is not compromised and pedal feel is excellent with the PRO-RS braided brake hoses. Took quite some time to properly bleed all the brakes as I also had my front brake hoses upgraded to PRO-RS items. These might not stay too long on my car though as I have other plans for my front brakes.

Here's how the rear disc brake looks behind the wheel. Took the entire day to install and bleed the brakes. I also installed my braided clutch hose and changed the Slowtra's engine oil and oil filter.

Driving back home the improvements were immediately very obvious. The rear end felt more firm and planted. The brakes were so much better in terms of feel. Better stopping power was also noticeable. I'm not done though. I have a DBA 4000 series rear disc on order which should be arriving from Down Under in January. Have not decided on what rear pads to use yet. There's plenty of choices avail from EBC to Hawk to Carbotech so no worries there. And why am I only talking rear brakes when an FF car requires 70-80% front braking action? What about the front brakes? My front brakes pads are on its last legs but I'm not changing coz I'm planning to revamp my entire front brake config. And I mean it. Please be patient for Part Two and Three. I promise it won't take two years :)

The Cost of Inflation! PRO-RS Brake Hose Kit

I first bought the PRO-RS stainless steel teflon braided brakes lines in anticipation of a rear disk brake upgrade for the Slowtra bout 2.5 years ago. The brake lines were sold when the project stalled. I've since bought back the same hoses but the price has gone up by ~ 8%. All I can say is Ouch!

Anyway here are the latest pictures. Packaging looks exactly the same as earlier.

Two of the hoses. These are for the rears.

The hoses look very well engineered. The centre tabs are for mounting and correct routing. Incorrect routing is often the most common cause of braided brake hoses rupturing or breaking into two as the hose will rub against the shocks or wheel rim eventually leading to wear of the hose outer braid, etc. and ultimately failure. PRO-RS braided brake hoses feature a stainless steel outer braid while the hose is teflon lined. Teflon is a material that has less flex and expansion compared to rubber thus eliminating the spongy brake pedal feel. The latest specification hose feature a transparent outer plastic sleeve which should help to better protect the hose from abrasion and dirt. Each hose is labeled for correct location of mounting. Excellent feature I must say as this eliminates the blur mechanic installing the hose in an incorrect location problem

Closeup of the end fitting. This end fitting goes to the brake pipe/line on the car. The other end is a regular banjo and mounts to the caliper. PRO-RS claims that its end fittings are Trivalent chrome plating goes to further elaborate that Trivalent chrome provides a safer and environmentally acceptable alternative to traditional chroming process of Hexavalent chromium. It decreases health hazards from airbourne chromium. Waste treatment and disposal costs are reduced because the process uses no Hexavalent chromium, no additives with strong oxidants, and has an extremely low metal concentration which is up to 95 percent lower than Hexavalent chromium. To my eyes the plating looks better than traditional cadmium plating and looks similar to the plating used on my G Spec Performance clutch hose.

IMHO from previous experience this is really one of the best bang for buck mods you can do for your brakes. Highly recommended. Oh and why did I buy the PRO-RS braided brake hoses? Well my rear beam + disk brakes and other yummy mods have already arrived as I type this post.

Pro-Bolt 2010 catalogue

Pro-Bolt's latest catalogue is avail in softcopy via CD. The CD is posted direct to your doorstep FOC. Excellent service. For those who rather have something to read during trips to the toilet the catalogue is also available in traditional hardcopy.

Picture below of the CD. The CD contains the catalogue, price list and some pictures & logos.

The catalogue itself. Disclaimer - Extremely poisonous and will lead to a lightened wallet apart from car.

The catalogue can be found here. Pro-Bolt supplies WTCC Champions Seat Sport and Lotus Cars. They also supply Formula 3, World Rally and numerous national Rally Cross Teams throughout the world. Excellent pedigree I must say. I've ordered a full titanium bolt set for my strut bar and now contemplating if I should convert my suspension arm and brake caliper mount fasteners to Ti.

Battery Musings

I took out the battery a couple days ago to clean the tray and replace the stock bolts with some lightweight aluminium versions. The stock battery tray is held in place by 5 M8 X 25mm bolts. Pix below of stock battery tray after some cleaning. Boy was it full of sand and other road grime.

I promptly replaced the mild steel stock bolts with some aluminium items

Saves some weight and looks trick eh? But there's a problem. The stock bolts have flat hexagon heads while the aluminium bolts have socket cap heads which have a higher height and protruded from the well. This resulted in the battery and its plastic tray unable to seat properly as everything was resting on top of the 5 bolts. So I had to remove the aluminium bolts and put back the stock items. Sigh :(

Battery reinstalled with blue anodized titanium nuts. I'm currently on my second Delkor maintenance free battery. The first one lasted me close to three and a half years. Highly recommended. The Helix Cap 33 has been ditched. Anybody interested? Comes with trick real carbon mounting bracket.

This also got me thinking if I should replace the mucho heavy NS70 sized battery (>20kgs) with an Odyssey item. The Odyssey PC680 weighs 7kg only while the PC925 weighs 11.8kg but has more reserve capacity. Apart from saving lots of weight saved, the extra engine bay space reclaimed due to the smaller sized Odysseys will enable me to run something like an ITG Maxogen carbon airbox. Pix below of the stock and very restrictive resonator piping. One end leads to airbox while other end leads to the wheel arch fender.

Time to start saving more money..

Brake Dilemma

The European Nissan N16 Service Manual states the following brake specifications:

Master Cylinder Diameter: 15/16" (23.8125mm) - For QG15DE, QG18DE and YD22DD engines

I was pretty happy as 15/16" size is common to the SP and set about designing a Wilwood BBK (Big Brake Kit) along similar piston sizes as what was initially done for the SP (~1.38" diameter per piston for a 4 piston caliper). Then one day while cleaning the master cylinder on the Slowtra I saw the following embossed on the Slowtra's master cylinder - 7/8". This immediately registered horror and then disgust as 7/8" is only 22.225mm which is smaller than 15/16". If the total caliper piston area of  your upgraded BBK is too large for your master cylinder the term "pedal to the floor" will definitely ring a very painful, expensive and dangerous bell!

A quick check with the TCEAS parts center confirmed my nightmare. The MYDM N16 1.6 SG Manual comes with a smaller master cylinder compared to the SG-Lousy and 1.8 XG-L variants. Bummer! This means I would need to "upgrade" my stock master cylinder. And how much would a new master cylinder cost me? "RM1070 after discount" said the enthusiastic TCEAS technician. RM1070 just for a master cylinder!!! Once I pick myself  up from the floor I quickly said "Thanks but No Thanks" and have decided to look for an excellent condition pre-loved 15/16" or even 1" master cylinder from my regular contacts. Picture below of the Nabco master cylinder on the Slowtra. Talk about spec and cost cutting :( The N16 Service Manual also lists a Tokico master cylinder which is different so be careful what you get.

Rejections

Modifying the Slowtra is going to take a lot of customized fabrication and even more R&D than the SP due to lack of parts, interest, etc from the regular speed shops and parts makers especially in this part of the world. While this can be frustrating it is not going to deter me. Oh.. and did I mention this time I'm going positive crankcase pressure for the Slowtra? The QG engine hates to rev so a snail would be a better option. I initially played with the though of an SR16/20VE transplant but have decided to persevere with the QG. Call me a sucker for punishment.

In the meantime here are 2 rejection emails for your amusement

From Impul Japan:
Mr Andrew Saw

Thank you for your inquiry.

We are sorry but we do not have N16 Sentra in Japan so we do not have any parts set for the vehicle. We have some reinforcement parts for Bluebird Sylphy but do not know if they are installable on Sentra or not because we do not have an actual vehile to try.

We are sorry.

Best regards,
.........................................
HOSHINO IMPUL Co., LTD
Marketing and Sales Promotion
Tel: +81-(0)3-3439-1122
Fax:+81-(0)3-3439-5522
http://www.impul.co.jp/

Interestingly Impul has ECUs and even a build engine (camshafts, pistons, etc) for the Sylpy making 160hp (claimed). NA Bagus? Sylphy owners you heard this from me. But we have a Malaysian Impul Sentra right? Errr... please don't even talk about it.
 
Another rejection this time from Okada Projects USA. Okada has upgraded ignition coils called the Plasma Direct for the Toyota Vios/Yaris/Vitz so I was kinda hoping they would be able to do something for the Slowtra. Kinda wishful thinking huh?

Hello Leng,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Unfortunately we do not have any products suitable for Nissan QG18 engine and B15 Sentra.
Best Regards,

Akira Sato
OKADA PROJECTS U.S.A., Inc.
23891 Via Fabricante Suite 614
Mission Viejo, CA 92691
Tel: 949-583-7800
Fax: 949-583-7810
http://www.okadaprojects.com/

Clutch Hose Upgrade - It's Here

My clutch hose from G Spec Performance arrived just in time for Raya hols. Pixs below.

Please don't ask if the clutch hose is available for auto N16s. I'm 99.9% sure it's the same as my stock clutch hose and there will be no fitment problems. One end fitting is a banjo while I'm pretty sure the other end is an NPT though I'm not sure on the thread size. Shame the end fittings are just steel and not anodized aluminium. Now thinking if I ahould send the hose to have a version with alloy end fittings done up. The Slowtra's engine bay looks kinda dull without coloured AN fittings :)

Diet ICE?

I've decided the primary objective for Slowtra at least for the remainder of this year and next would be to at least lose its nick. Fast is the opposite of slow and there are 2 ways to be fast. One is to build power and the other is to lose weight for a better power to weight ratio. As many would have read from my earlier posts the N16 Sentra is already a big and flabby car and this got worse with all the mucho heavy ICE gear and sound deadening. The ICE is especially bad with more than 25 kgs in the boot itself.

In a bid to lose weight, the Slowtra lost it's spare tyre, car jack and tool kit. I know many will be shocked and say this is impractical but hey it costs zero ringgit and I'm desperate to lose some weight. The spare, jack and tool kit easily weighs more than 20 kilos and I can put everything back should I drive really long distance.

The next step is to simplify the ICE. I've decided to ditch the Focal 27KX subwoofer and its customized enclosure, the wiring, bracketry, etc. The Steg K series K202 amplifier powering the sub had already been sold to a Bro. This leaves the TRU amp and the Focal 165 K2P 6.5" 2 ways in the front door and its tweeters on the A-pillar as the only ICE gear left in the Slowtra. Told you I was desperate. The amount of weight lost is as follows:

• Focal 27KX - 7.2kg
• Steg K Series K202 amp - 3-4kg
• Sub enclosure, panelling, acryllic windows, VDH speaker cable for the sub, etc - ~5kg (I didn't weight but I'm pretty sure this is very under estimated)

Total weight lost from the simplified ICE setup is easily more than 15kgs and possibly close to 20kgs for a combined total lost of ~40kgs (Simplified ICE + spare + jack + tool kit). Driving home the butt dyno immediately registered power differences of several horsies especially during 3-4th gear acceleration. Of course don't expect similar sound quality but hey even with my full ICE setup my home system blows it away in terms of SQ. So long as it delivers "decent" sound quality for my daily driving I can live with the revised ICE. Plus don't forget by the time the engine and exhaust mods get thrown in I'll be enjoying the exhaust note more and possibly some psssh sounds rather than the ICE. Oh and competition spec brakes deliver a nice squeal every time you do a slow stop. Need I say more?

Pix of the revised simplified ICE setup. Really neat looking and I get my boot space back. Problem now is how to fit a rear strut bar?

And this is not the end. I'm looking to ditch my TRU amp (~4.8kgs) for something much lighter like the Alpine PDX series of Class D amplifiers. Class D is more efficient than traditional class A/B leaving to smaller more compact circuitry with less neat for heat sink area. This leads to much smaller and lighter amplifiers albeit at the expense of sound quality but as I mentioned the brief now is for less weight rather than outright sound quality. The Alpine PDX-F4 weights nearly half my TRU Billet Series B2110 at only 2.87kg. Anybody want a mint condition preloved TRU Technology amp?

Nose Job

My Impul Front grille arived last week but I could not fit it then as the Slowtra was at the painters for a beautification job. After 4 years the Slowtra's front bumper, grille, bonnet and fenders were littered with lots of road rash and love bites. Decided to repaint more than 60% of the Slowtra and the resulting work took nearly two weeks. Got the car back today and immediately drove to TCEAS to get the Impul grille fitted.

Pix below of a pristine and virgin looking front bumper and bonnet till the next meeting with pebbles especially from lorries. Grrrr... My painter's the same guy that's been doing the SP previously. He knows my requirements and standard so I wouldn't simply settle for anyone else.

So why did I decide to go for the Impul grille? Well I was thinking about replacing the stock grille as it had way too much chrome in it and besides you can't really repair the chrome bits damaged by pebble hits. The stock grille also costs substantially more than RM500 so rather than get a replacement might as well settle for the sportier Impul grille which retails at RM800 but I managed to get some decent discount. The Impul grille is also much simpler to maintain and repaint when necessary. Pix below of the humongous box the Impul grille came in. The part number is IMN16 04FGTS for those with a part number fetish. Just tell TC you want the Impul N16 or Sentra grille would be simpler.

The TCEAS technician took about 15 minutes to remove the stock grille (loosen 7 nuts) and install Impul grille (only 6 nuts to tighten). Factor in extra 15 minutes as additional time take to view, discuss and comment about the Nismo and cf parts on the Slowtra. Pix with the new grille fitted. The Impul badge really looks a mismatch with the Nismo logo on the bumper lip.

Closeup

I took the Slowtra home, gave it a good wash and promptly removed the Impul badge. The badge is fastened to the grille via good old double sided tape making it easy to remove. Lost a couple grammes of weight too! Looks loads better to my eyes with the Impul badge removed.

Closeup

All in all I'm pretty satisfied with the cosmetic upgrade. The Slowtra now looks to my eyes cleaner, sportier and less "Ah Pek" like.

Clutch Hose Upgrade

I've ordered a stainless steel braided teflon/kevlar lined clutch hose from G Spec Performance in the States. I originally wanted to order from Techna Fit but the guy that I emailed told me he can send the hose via mail then never bothered to reply my next email on shipping cost and payment arrangement and another email reminder. Great customer service Not!

The clutch hose is meant for a USDM Sentra B15 with QR25 engine and different gearbox but my research tells me all USDM B15s and likely MYDM N16s use the same clutch hose. Guess I'll know in a couple weeks whether I'm correct.

Wassup with the Dog III?

Mike Kojima's excellent articles on the Dog III project can be found at Moto IQ's website. I won't be doing any further writeup on the Dog III as no point talking on the same thing. The article from the man hinself can be found here. The Dog III is proving to be a real inspiration for me to take the Slowtra towards a more performance oriented level.

Motul RBF600 Factory Line Brake Fluid

The brake fluid in the Slowtra is as old as the car itself so I guess it's time for a change after 4 years. Having used the excellent Motul 5.1 brake fluid previously on the SP I've decided to go for the same brand again. But this time round I'm trying the RBF600 having heard numerous praises and accolades mentioned on this brake fluid over the years. Unlike the 5.1 which is more for daily driven ABS cars the RBF (short for Racing Brake Fluid) 600 is a 100% synthetic Dot 4 race/performance brake fluid for race conditions but has proven to be long lasting as well.

So what's the deal with all the DOTs? DOT or "US Department Of Transportation" is used to classify the various fluids in the market. DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 brake fluids are glycol based while DOT 5 is silicone based. The higher the DOT number the higher the boiling point of the brake fluid indicating the ability of the brake fluid to withstand higher temperatures. However please do not use silicone (Dot 5) based brake fluids unless mentioned ok to use in your car's user/owner manual as these can damage the ABS system and even the brake seals in your car. Interestingly enough the boiling point of the RBF600 exceeds the Motul 5.1 despite the lower DOT rating. Confusing huh? The wet boiling point of the RBF600 is listed as 216 degrees C/420 degrees F while the dry boiling point 180 degrees C/356 degrees F.

Motul sells the RBF600 in 500ml bottles so I promptly bought 3 bottles to be on the safe side even though most brake fluid drain/refill operations will use bout 2 bottles. Apart from brakes, brake fluid is also a very good hydraulic fluid and can be used for the clutch system which is where I'm intending to use my excess fluid. Beauty shot of the brake fluid below

The brake fluid is waiting to go in together with a whole host of other stuff when I can find some time.

Impul Slowtra

Yes your eyes did not deceive you. These are pictures of a new N16 Slowtra. Impul is a popular Japanese Nissan tuning house and founded by ex-professional race driver Hoshino Impul. Impul has links to Nissan and currently runs a SuperGT team campaigning a GT500 class GTR. Quite why they (Impul and TCM) see fit to launch a hotted up Slowtra nearly 10 years after its launch and replaced by the G11 Sylphy or B16 Sentra in many markets defies logic but hey who's complaining?

The "mods" are limited to new subtly redesigned bodykit, new sportier front grille, Impul shocks and finally a "power' mod - the Impul Blast II exhaust muffler which should give bout 1-2hp and better response at the expense of more noise. Rims/wheels appear to be 16" Impul FS-16 which is from Japan but if you ask me I'll take my Rays Gramlights anytime anyday ;). The other mods are made in Bolehland including the exhaust muffler. The Impul Slowtra is not cheap and is listed as:

• 1.6 MT Comfort - RM94.5K
• 1.6 MT Luxury - RM98.5K
• 1.6 AT Comfort - RM98.6K
• 1.6AT Luxury - RM102.6K

Yes you got that right. Nearly RM103K for a 10 year old 1.6 Slowtra. Ouch! Details are at Impul Malaysia nee TC nee Nismo Malaysia's website http://impul.com.my/

Luckily the parts can be purchased separately. The bodykit goes for RM3K, grille - RM800, shockers - RM2.5K, 16" Impul FS-16 wheels - RM4K, stainless steel Impul Blast-II exhaust muffler - RM1.8K. Whether the parts are worth it or expensively crazy you decide. A little bird did tell me the parts can be had with a 10% discount. Anybody managed to get more discount please do let me know. Am really interested in the exhaust and grille. Heck I've just called Alan and ordered the grille. Stay tuned..

It's Good to be Back!!!

I can't believe my hiatus from blogging has been nearly 2 years. 1 year 9 months to be more exact yet it feels just like yesterday as time has moved so fast. I originally took the hiatus to move into my new house and also to concentrate on my studies. Well I'm currently in my last semester and should be done by October. This means more time for hobbies and toys and the sadly neglected Slowtra. Woohoo!!!

Much has changed with my life, hobbies and toys in the intervening 21 months. As mentioned I moved into my new house and also finally got hitched. There has been changes to my career though mostly on a positive note. My wife's health hasn't been the best either so more TLC and time spent there. Then I got really crazy with my hi-fi. Not not the ICE variety but serious 2-channel home hi-fi. Anyway this blog's bout the Slowtra so lets not go there :) The Slowtra has registered 72+K kms to-date and continues to run without a hitch. The only "mods" have been new tyres and a new windscreen wiper. Oh and recently changed my rear Nismo shocks as the right hand (driver's) busted a seal. As you know the Nismo S-Tune is not rebuildable so decided to get a pair rather than only one damper to ensure the handling is balanced. Will blog bout this later.

I've been thinking bout the new direction for the Slowtra in the past 2-3 months and have decided to take it more towards the performance edge. Am still not building a "Dog" level racing car but the mods moving forward will be more towards a harder performance edge. The ICE is being slowly reduced to a simpler setup. I've removed one Steg amp and the sub is sitting in my boot unused. Anybody want a mint condition Focal 27KX sub? Have got a couple of real performance mods lined up in the roster so stay tuned. And yes, it's really good to be back!!!!!