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All posts for the month February, 2012

This past Saturday, the Forged Performance Motorsports Team made our way back to our home track, Road Atlanta. After a couple months away for the off season, it felt like an eternity since we last participated in any performance driving activities and we were going a little stir crazy! I personally had received an awesome Christmas present from Sharif, a brand new Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VRII camera lens that was just begging to be put to use trackside. I was extremely excited to be out there gripping my Nikon D700 and watching high performance cars from many different manufactures blast by me!

This weekends event was held by the PBOC Motorsports Club which is group dedicated to racing and drivers education and is open to Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari’s, Legends and more. We brought our Forged Performance sponsored 2010 GT-R and a FP prepared 2012 Nissan GT-R’s out to do some additional track testing in preparation for the One Lap of America event in May. Both GT-R’s are currently here at Forged being prepped for this event and as many of you know, Sharif will be co-driving the 2010 GT-R with Catesby Jones this year. This made it easy for both owners, who live in Florida, to jump on a flight to Atlanta and catch a ride with us to the track. Remarkably, these two cars still feature stock turbo set-ups with power, suspension, and brake modifications. The white GT-R also has some assistance in the downforce department thanks to some goodies from Aeromotions via their S2 Active Rear Wing and Front Splitter.

After a quick warm up session, it was clear that the owners of the GT-R’s were going to make these Porsche, Z06, and Viper guys really work to keep Godzilla in their rearview mirrors. While there was plenty of fully race prepped exotics and large displacement American supercars, the GT-R’s were getting point by’s from 99% of the cars on track and being driven to the absolute limit, while remaining safely on track the whole day. While I did witness a few incidents involving cars, walls, and tire-stacks, everybody was able to go home in good health, even if their ego’s and vehicles were a little bruised. Spending our Saturday at Road Atlanta for the PBOC Event proved to be a very productive day. We made some minor suspension adjustments through out the day which resulted in a more stable set-up and enabled more in-car confidence from the drivers and after some minor changes to tire pressures and shock settings both drivers were very pleased. Stay tuned for future updates on both cars as they continue their preparation for the OLOA Series!

Although Dubai is known to many as the leading financial, business, and tourism hub in the Gulf States region of the Middle East, it’s also quickly becoming the epicenter of high horsepower GT-R builds, thanks in part to Forged Performance’s efforts over the past several months. Our largest client in the UAE recently decided to open his own workshop so he could better take control and manage his GT-R project and also help other locals with their GT-R builds. This is my seventh trip to Dubai in eight months, and was planned literally 3 days before I was supposed to leave.  Ali called my cell phone on Friday evening and said, “Sharif, I have 12 GT-R’s here ready for tuning and I need you here yesterday!”  I had just sent one of our fabricators and technicians, Chris, to Dubai to build 4 GT-R transmissions with a full array of Dodson parts in his checked luggage in advance of my arrival, but I wasn’t supposed to leave for another week or so.  With the GT-R’s stacking up for tuning like 747′s staging for takeoff at LAX on a Monday morning, they desperately needed me to get started on the tuning.

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Affectionately called FORGED3 by my staff, Ali’s new workshop is already jam packed with GT-R’s and an occasional domestic machine.  Ali has built a great business in a short period of time by focusing on delivering powerful and flawless GT-R’s to his customers many of whom are his close personal friends and Sheikhs.  Our role in this process has been to provide parts, engines, transmissions, technical support, training, and of course, tuning services for these phenomenal builds.  Ali has always been a great friend and despite the long 12-14hrs days, we always manage to have a great time, especially when it involves poking fun at his friends, Chris, and even ourselves!

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It would take several pages of posts to recap all 12 GT-R’s that I tuned on this trip but instead I will give you the highlights. In the first two days, I managed to tune 4 GT-R’s stock turbo GT-R’s and two built GT800 Forged powered GT-R’s. On Ali’s Mustang Dyno, the stock turbo’ed cars hovered around the 550whp mark while the GT800 cars ranged from 750whp@25psi (stock heads and pump gas) to 923whp C16 fully built from top to bottom.

Let’s face it…1000whp isn’t cool anymore. It’s been done at least a dozen times by many tuning shops including Forged Performance.  And every tuning shop has it’s big gun; the Barrett .50 caliber, the Venti-Mega-Uber car that must embody all that is great at that shop.  That car is Ali’s carbon fiber clad GT-R Alpha12 with 4.0L longblock and nearly ever modification know in all the lands. No expense is spared on this car. I previously tuned it at a mere 1022whp Dyno Dynamics last year which was featured in Speed Hunters , but it was time to reset the bar in the Middle East.

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OEM wheels fitting for tuning purposes…no hating please. :)
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With the car loaded with C16, and broken in the day before on pump gas, in one hour and just seven quick dyno pulls I had Ali’s GT-R singing to the tune of 1275whp with boost hovering in the 36-37psi range. I am writing this while still in Dubai, and we plan to make a final pull without the hindrance of a heat soaked engine. So who knows, there might even be a little more in it??

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Ali hates having his picture taken but made this exception after seeing the big numbers from the dyno.

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The second powerhouse build featured a Forged Performance FP1R Long Block, FP Spec Kelford Camshafts and our big valve cylinder head package capable of revving to 8500rpm. Much like Ali’s build, no expense was spared in this build. Utilizing an upgraded MASSIVE Jun GTX35R Twin Turbo Kit, Jun Intake plenum among many other go-fast bits those big turbos spun the rollers to the tune of 1137whp on C16 at just 30psi of boost pressure all the way to a prudent 8200rpm redline.  I also also tuned it to an impressive 930whp on pure pump gas at 25psi.  These turbos don’t even begin to wake up until about 28psi so I was surprised with the very solid pump gas numbers.  On our next trip, we plan to take both of these cars to the drag strip and complete some additional testing. It won’t be long before this GT-R leaves the UAE and returns to it’s rightfull home in India.

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Poor Mandy has been working almost 30 days straight 12-14hrs each day to help get all these GT-R’s in order.  Here, he is piecing together and repairing the badly behaving GT-R engine harness. Mandy is a champ, and always happy with a big smile on his face.  This GT-R almost cost him his marriage!  Just kidding Mandy!!
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I will try to get dyno graphs up, but the printer isn’t working, nor is a way to save it electronically. I wanted to thank Chris@Forged, the rest of the Forged team back in Atlanta, and of course, Ali, Joker, Tarik, Mohammed, Saaoud, Khalid, Ahmed, Zayed, and the countless others that have helped and extended the warm hospitality during our visits.

Stay tuned for an epic video recap that I am sure you will all enjoy! For the next trip…I have only two words for you all: Yas Marina

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We recently completed a fully built and sleeved VR38 FP1-R 4.0L engine and FP Spec Stage 3 Transmission for a customer of ours. This particular GT-R owner resides in Puerto Rico and while shipping his car to us was not an option for him at this time, he did entrust our highly skilled technicians and staff to assist him in the build of his high power street car that will soon be roaming the roads of PR. The engine build started with our very own Forged Performance FP1-R 4.0L Shortblock that is assembled in-house utilizing a brand new OEM VR38 block casting. Next the OEM rods and pistons were replaced with Carrillo H Beam Rods and our own Forged spec Arias Extreme Duty pistons. The block is precision machined to accept a new cast iron cylinder liner which insures this block is more than ready to handle power above and beyond the 1000whp mark. For the top end of this monster, the Forged Performance FP1-R Head Package was chosen which consists of fully ported and polished cylinder heads, assembled by our in-house experts. The heads utilize full Ferrea Valvetrain with oversized valves. Tomei 272/272 cams were chosen to replace the OEM 238/248 camshafts and have proven time and time again to produce impressive horsepower gains across the entire powerband. The owner will have this indisputable combination installed along with a Greddy Twin Turbo Kit. We have no doubt this GT-R will be rock solid and make enough power to take your breath away.

In order to put this type of power to the ground, the owner also wanted us to build a transmission for his GT-R. After having many in depth conversations, it was clear that our very own Forged Performance FP Spec Stage 3 Transmission was the perfect fit for this project. This build is just chock-full of Dodson Motorsports goodies and assembled in-house by our professional and experienced transmission builder. The following components are used in our FP Spec Stage 3:

• Sportsman Clutch Assembly
• Mechanical Circlip 1
• Mechanical Curclip 2
• Oil Pump Upgrade
• O-Ring Kit
• HD FWD Gearlock and Circlip
• Input Shaft Seal
• High Temperature and Strength Pan Filter Kit
• Transmission Filter
• Upgraded 1st Gear and Input Shaft
• Willall Racing Transmission Fluid

Stay tuned for updates when Sharif visits Puerto Rico to give this GT-R his magic touch via his very own Forged Performance Custom ECU Calibration. Here are some photos of the engine and transmission build process:

We recently had the pleasure to work on another exciting GT-R project. Although this GT-R previously made very good numbers, the owner decided it was time for the next step. For this round, a set of HKS GT800 turbos, larger intakes, FMIC, and intercooler piping were added to the current list of power adders. After a few quick days of installation, it was time for Sharif to work his magic. The end result was 705 whp on E85 on our Dyno Dynamics. These are the highest numbers we have recorded on the factory internals on a GT-R. This customer’s goals were a bit more aggressive than what we usually see, so it was pushed a little further. As you can see the torque is still kept to a nice, safe level. We are currently at the limits of the ID1000cc injectors and twin Deatschwerks 300 pumps, so we will be installing a complete fuel system, new rails, and larger injectors this week to accommodate the E85. Before anyone asks, a built motor and transmission are in the very near future. The modification list and pictures are below.

• HKS GT800 Turbo Kit
• HKS Resonated Midpipe
• HKS M45 Spark Plugs
• HKS SSQV BOV’s (with purple inserts)
• GTC 102mm Catback Exhaust
• AMS Alpha Induction Kit
• AMS FMIC Kit
• Deatschwerks 300lph fuel pumps
• ID1000cc Injectors
• Cobb AP
• Forged Performance Custom ECU Calibration

This past racing season Sharif had the pleasure of meeting Bill, a local E92 M3 owner at Road Atlanta during a HPDE Event. Bill was thrashing his stunning M3 around the track and noticed the car could use some improvements in the OEM braking system. The E92 version of the M3 is equipped with a naturally aspirated, high-revving 4.0L V8 that produces more than enough power and the high tech OEM suspension is capable of carrying this generation ///M around the Nürburgring right over the 8 minute mark. Overall, it is a top-shelf motorcar that is perfectly at home cruising to work on a Monday morning or driving full tilt all weekend at a racetrack. Bill quickly learned while on the track, the weak point was his car’s OEM single piston brakes. After speaking with Sharif track side, the decision was made for Bill to drop his car off to us before the 2012 tracking season started in order to resolve this issue.

Our plan was simple yet very effective; make sure the M3′s brakes were finally up to par with the rest of the vehicle’s high performance capabilities. We reached out to Stoptech to assist us in achieving our goal and they answered with their Big Brake Kit for the front and rear. The front is packing massive 15 inch rotors and 6 piston calipers while the rear is equipped with 14 inch rotors and 4 piston calipers. This combination of extensive surface area and fierce bite means this M3 will no longer have issues getting out-braked by the those pesky Porsches this season at Road Atlanta. Bill plans to actively participate in HPDE events in 2012 and I am sure he will keep us updated on his progress and how well his M3 performs on track.