Archives

All posts for the month September, 2011

Today we are wrapping up a clutch install on a beautiful orange Lotus Elise. The owner brought his car to us after hearing we have a Lotus Certified Master Tech on staff here at Forged Performance. That, along with our extensive track experience and track day car set-up knowledge makes us a favorite amongst the people in the Lotus community. The car owner also wanted us to perform some maintenance work and install upgraded motor mounts as well. Here is a quick rundown of the parts we installed:

• ACT Street Clutch and Lightweight Flywheel
• Powerflex Motor Mount Inserts
• Oil Change with Motul Chron 300V 10W40
• Replace Serpentine Belt
• Full Brake Flush and Bleed Using MOTUL RBF 600 Brake Fluid

Sunday was day three of the yearly Z Nationals event held by Z1 Motorsports. This event draws Nissan and Infiniti owners from around the US for all the right reasons, as you saw by my previous coverage of the Dyno Day and Car Show this event is filled with highly modified cars. Not only does Z Nationals give car owners a chance to participate in the car show and get some dyno numbers but also, have the chance to really get out and destroy some tires and brakes on track. There were many cars that looked absolutely stunning parked at the show and then less than 24 hours later were getting debris tossed at them on the track…and I can truly respect that.

We left our shop dark(can’t call it bright because the sun hadn’t risen) and early Sunday morning with our two car hauler strapped to the Forged Performance tow pig F-450. After stopping for a quick breakfast we rolled into Atlanta Motor Speedway and unpacked the Forged Performance race prepped GT-R and GT3. Both cars quickly drew a crowd as they were being pulled out of the trailer and I had heard a few whispers about how fast they were. Seams like our cars are get a well deserved reputation! After we got settled in the pits, chairs set up, cooler unloaded and made sure we had plenty of E-85 on hand we made it over to the drivers meeting. Shortly afterwards we realized we had taken over the right hand side of the large coverage garage in the pits with Forged Performance Shop cars, employee cars, friends cars and customers cars that all came out to play on this beautiful Sunday. After making sure everybody around us was set-up properly and well taken car of it was time to head out for a few laps.

The majority of us had never ran this NASCAR track with it’s unknown infield sports car section. Instructors went out first for some sighting laps to assess the track conditions and preview the course. Sharif returned and declared the track fun, but incredibly dirty. Apparently, the NASCAR officials at the track don’t consider the infield and apron a high priority when it comes to sweeping. Gee, I wonder way…ha! Rocks and gravel went a’flying and cars were peppered with massive amounts of debris on the first few laps.

Fortunately, it did not take long for the debris to find it’s way off track while the cars stayed on track. And this is actually a REALLY fun circuit. Sharif said he prefers it over Nashville Super Speedway which is also a NASCAR track that is popular for the track day crowd, and infinitely better than previous year’s Talladega Gran Prix. “The track is a lot of fun, but the real fun starts with the backside entry onto the longest straight which begins with a left hand 24 degree tight banked oval. In the higher powered cars, keeping your right foot firmly on the ground takes some serious insanity but it’s doable, and the feeling of 2.5+ g’s pushing you into the seat and braking from 160mph down to 60mph is intoxicating”, said Sharif Abdelbaset the GM here at Forged and our resident hot shoe. “The rest of the track is merely a prelude to that banked oval, and I can’t wait until next year.”, continues Sharif.

This day completed Z Nationals 2011 and another track event for the Forged Performance Team. I can assure you that we will be participating in many more track days between now and this time next year, we will always cherish our time spent at Z Nationals. This event is always one of our favorites because of the great people and awesome atmosphere surrounding all three days. I truly hope you enjoy my video coverage and we will see you at Z Nats 2012!

~PLEASE WATCH IN HD~

This past weekend was the annual and legendary Z Nationals event where Nissan and Infinity enthusiasts from all around the United States converge on our home turf. There was absolutely no way that Forged was going to miss this event. Saturday morning a group of Forged Performance employees, friends and customers met up at the shop to make our way to Z1 Motorsports where Saturday’s activities would be held. Z1 is the host of the Z Nationals event and although they are a competitor, they welcomed us with open arms and we appreciate the warm hospitality. We left the shop around 10am with a very impressive crew of five heavily modified GT-R’s, two 370Z’s, our 2011 STI and our Porsche GT3. In route to Z Nationals we got plenty of onlookers and camera phone picture takers following us for miles, but when you see multiple race prepped caged cars with heavy aero modifications and Hoosiers driving down the interstate it tends to draw a crowd ;)

Photo credit goes to my good friend Changaroo Photography for the rolling picture. I was busy with my hands on a steering wheel!

We eventually made it to the event and Z1 was packed! We barely managed to make our own parking spaces anywhere that wasn’t blocking others in. This is not my first time at Z Nationals so I always have high expectations of very large attendance numbers and high quality vehicles and this year topped all others. By lunch time they had to cut off the event and make people park across the street from the entrance to Z1 because there just was not any more physical space for more cars. As I walked around taking photos I was blessed with being able to spend time with many friends and meet new friends a long the way. The event was a huge success with a record number of cars and people participating in the show and there were non-stop dyno pulls adding to already great atmosphere of the event. As a true car enthusiast the sound of boost and high RPM dyno pulls just never gets old. I spent most of my time being social but I did manage to do my job and take some photos. I hope you enjoy the coverage of the Z Nationals Dyno Day and Car Show hosted by Z1 Motorsports. Again, the entire staff of Forged Performance gives a hearty thank you to Z1 for making this a terrific event and we all had a great time. Friendly competition makes us all better, and Z1 Motorsports is a class act. Make sure to look out for another thread coming soon with video of the Z Nationals Track Day at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

We just wrapped up an in depth R35 GT-R build here at the shop which consists our in house assembled Forged Performance FP1 VR38 Shortblock and FP Spec Turbo Upgrade. Sharif had the car strapped down to our Dyno Dynamics a few days ago for break in and initial tuning and the car responded and performed flawlessly as expected. The end result of the 93 octane pump gas Road Race ECU calibration was an impressive 704whp at 22 PSI! Soon this pump gas monster will spend some more time with Sharif on the streets of Marietta, Georgia for some street tuning to make sure it not only makes great power but also has the stock like driveability and seamless power delivery that our ECU calibrations are known for. You can expect a full build thread with a ton of high quality photos coming soon, but for now check out the video I put together while it was on the dyno earlier this week:

~PLEASE WATCH IN HD~

Today we had a customer bring his low mileage, mint condition 2011 G37 IPL from Chattanooga Tennessee to our Marietta Georgia location to have some first-round bolt-on modifications installed. The owner purchased his car back in December and has managed to keep it absolutely spotless yet bone stock. After almost a year he decided it was overdue for some personalization to set it apart from the rest of the stock G37′s on the road. We installed the following:

• Stillen Gen 3 Dual Intakes
• Stillen Grounding Kit
• Samco Radiator Hoses
• Greddy Oil Filler Cap
• Greddy Radiator Cap
• JDM Tail Lights
• GT Spec Strut Tower Brace

Because this specific ECU ROM file is not yet supported, Sharif downloaded the factory ROM file and it’s being processed by UpRev as we speak. In a week or so, we’ll invite the customer back for an FP Spec Custom Dyno Tune.

dsc_4939

dsc_4941

dsc_4947

dsc_4994

dsc_5048

dsc_5054