GT-R

All posts tagged GT-R

The Forged Performance team celebrated the end of our official track day season with what is always the biggest track day of the year: Thanksgiving weekend with the Chin Motorsports at Road Atlanta. We played host to 14 GT-R’s and had a really great turnout of customers, friends, and family. As many of you know, Forged Performance a veritable fixture at Road Atlanta and we spend more days on this track than any other circuit in the country. It’s our home away from home and always delivers an exciting weekend for those that attend.

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What is most rewarding as a company, is to see a dozen Forged prepared GT-R’s making hundreds of flawless laps without any issues whatsoever. The care and dedication that our technicians have for these cars is second to none, and we never forget that our customer’s lives are in our hands when these machines are pushed on a racing circuit. With speeds exceeding 160 mph, we take no chances when it comes to maintenance and safety and our drivers are rewarded with hours of safe and fast laps.

On Sunday afternoon, a surprise visitor showed up in the Forged paddock: Mike Skeen! Mike is a Forged’s professional test driver and coach and also races professionally in some of the top series in the nation. He couldn’t resist hoping in a couple of GT-R’s and making a few laps with some lucky customers. If you ever get the chance to ride with Mike Skeen…do it. It’s an eye opener for sure! In the photo below, Mike is murdering the OEM brake rotors on Jack Wong’s Alpha 9 GT-R:

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As we wrap up 2014 we feel blessed and fortunate that continue to do the things we enjoy most and share these successes and learnings with our customers. We look forward to 2015.

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Check out the entire photo collection from this event on Facebook:

Earlier this year, Scott sent us his GT-R for a full track makeover including JRZ coilovers, upgraded wheels, tires, sway bars, control arms and some bolt on power adders. After doing a number of track days and enjoying the car for almost a year, it was time to bring the car back to Forged for a few more upgrades.

Coinciding perfectly with our final track day this year at Road Atlanta, Scott will be joining about 10 of customers for a weekend of track fun to test out the new upgrades.

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For this round, we installed a set of Cobra Misano Lux seats in black leather and suede. This seat features a super lightweight design, using a carbon fiber back and very aggressive shoulder and thigh bolstering. The seat also sits very low in the cabin which in addition to the extra safety that provides, it also gives the driver some extra clearance for his helmet. I can’t say enough good things about this seat. By supporting the driver, a properly installed seat like this gives the driver much better feel and control of the car. We also installed the 6 point add on to complete his Schroth Harnesses.

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And naturally, no track day GT-R would be complete without a pair of AutoTecknic Carbon Fiber extended shift paddles. Once you drive a GT-R with these extended paddles, you will wonder you survived without them. A must have for all GT-R owners.

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The LONG awaited Volk TE37 Ultra has finally arrived. This is the latest iteration of the legendary TE37 racing wheel, and at last in a proper 20X10 and 20X12 size for the Nissan GT-R. Supplies are extremely limited and unless you preorder it is unlikely you will get a set from the first batch. We have two sets unspoken for, so call us now to place your preorder. We have one set available in Matte Blue Gunmetal and one set in anodized Bronze. Price for either complete set is $4758 shipped! Call us for LOWEST price at 770-792-0202 and press 1 for the sales department.

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Each day, Chad and the media team take photos of our customer project builds every step of the way. Many of you heard of “Forged2″ affectionately known as F2…our expansion building just one mile drive down Cobb Parkway. At this semi-secret location, we perform all of our transmission assembly work as well as parts production and fabrication. After sending these photos to the customer, I thought it would be neat to share with the forum and give a peak at what we’re up to at F2.

This customer’s 2012 GT-R is getting a NHRA spec welded in 6 Point Cage, along with our Stage 4 Transmission, Jun GTX35 Twin Turbo Kit, and our FP1R 4.0L Racing Longblock. Here is a sneak peak of the transmission and cage work. We will be done with this car in 10 days.

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Upgrading Dodson main shaft vs. OEM Shaft. This shaft is significantly stronger than OEM and prevents deflection and bending as the gears load and unload with power. The shaft is supported by bearings on either end and 4th gear, located towards the center of the case tends to be a weak spot as a result of this flex. Notice the oil journals.

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For 2012+, Nissan made the great decision to upgrade their selector rings. As many of you have seen first hand, the 08-2011 selector ring was easily damaged causing overselection and tearing up synchros and shift forks.

MY2008-2011 Selector Ring

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MY2012-2013 Selector Ring

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PPG 1-6 Gearset Installed

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Dodson Billet 1st Gear Shift Fork

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Here are some photos of our master fabricator and motorsport crew chief, Daniel, wrapping up the cage. After plates were made and tubes bent and tacked inside the car, the cage was removed for full radius welding. Then a good portion will be painted prior to putting the cage back in the car.

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We’ll post up some more pics tomorrow of the FP Spec Dodson Sportsman Clutch assembly and all that goes into that as well as the cage fully painted and maybe, just maybe, installed.

Edit: OK, here is the Promax clutch and upgraded front drive clutches and case. Ready to be married up to the rest of the transaxle.

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Thanks for looking and let me know if you have questions.

One of the most impressive features of Nissan’s R35 GT-R is it’s outstanding OEM braking system. With driver at the wheel, hauling it’s 4100lb mass down from 160mph is no easy task. Nissan engineers clearly took this into consideration when designing the OEM system with large Brembo 6 piston front calipers; 4 piston out back, and equally large rotors to absorb and release the enormous amount of energy created by this level of deceleration. When fitted with OEM run flat tires and pads the GT-R can be coaxed into 1.2g’s of deceleration or greater at full braking load. Naturally, one would assume that the Alcon Super Kit would be the last thing the GT-R would need. But given the amount of time I’ve spent behind the wheel of a GT-R on track, I can say this would be an incorrect assumption.

Even I was skeptical at first until Ryan Doi, fellow GT-R owner and head of the sales team at Forged, announced that his Alcon Super Kit had just arrived. The entire operation at Forged ground to a halt, as Ryan passed around this enormous CNC machined masterpiece of a caliper that simply dwarfed the OEM Nissan Brembo Caliper it soon would replace. We immediately set aside some time to fit the kit and see just how well the Alcon Super Kit would perform. As the largest Alcon GT-R distributor in the nation, Forged Performance has plenty of “foot” time with the Alcon Rotor Upgrade kits for the GT-R’s which have proven to be superior to the other offerings on the market. No whirring noises, better longevity, and less judder are some of the key benefits. I am still on my first set of rotors even after a dozen days on track!

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Those that push the GT-R to the absolute limits on track, know that the GT-R OEM braking system even with upgraded pads and lines, is fabulous for a few laps but in short order braking consistency goes down while drama in the braking zones goes up. A superior braking system should shine in overall braking consistently, offer a linear and predictable braking feel, an elimination of pad knock-back, and a greater capacity to dissipate heat. In a nut shell, a racing driver wants their brakes to work predictably, and repeatedly lap after lap after lap. When I press harder on the brake pedal, I want the car to decelerate at a faster rate, and when I ease up on the pedal I want a clean release and reduction in deceleration. Unfortunately, this is where the GT-R brakes fall short and protest. Those of you that have seat time in a Porsche GT3/Cup know what predictable and repeatable braking feels like. Ultra linear, with no brake fade and a positive feel in the pedal.

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The Alcon Caliper is CNC Machined from a single block of billet aluminum and developed using Finite Element Analysis and Alcon’s Optimized Structure Caliper Architecture resulting in a stiffer caliper design The 6 Piston caliper design front and rear use differential piston bores for optimum torque delivery and better pad wear. The massive 15.75” x 1.42” (400mm x 36mm) front rotors and 15.16” x 1.30” (385mm x 33mm.) rear rotors offer a significant increase in swept area along with greater mass, both of which contribute to increased thermal capacity and a higher level of available brake torque over the standard brakes.

So with high expectations in my head, Ryan was kind enough to let me do a half-dozen laps at Atlanta Motorsports Park in his daily driver GT-R while he attended the Nagtroc GT-R Beach Party event in Florida (life is tough working at Forged). Fitted with a fairly mild endurance compound Pagid Yellow pad I took to the track using the out-lap to bed the brakes in and get an overall feel for the brakes.

It took just a couple laps to easily rip off a pair of 1:28 laps around AMP’s highly technical circuit and the brakes were literally night and day better than the OEM caliper setup on my daily nearly identical GT-R. Superior pedal feel, immediate and consistent braking action and most important to me was the complete elimination of pad knock back that many of you are familiar with. I could easily modulate the brakes while staying out of ABS and the brake torque was tremendous delivering 1.6 g’s of braking force. Ryan flew in the following day and flogged his car on Sunday and was breaking deeper and harder with each successive lap. I for one, am sold, and will be installing an Alcon Super Kit on my GT-R just a soon as I get my hands on one. And with plans to test out several custom pad compounds, we are looking forward to taking this system ever further.

And Ryan was pretty happy with his decision and his smile cannot be masked by his helmet.

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