DSG - DENT Sport Garage » Bill

Wrapping up a long week

Bill — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 02:15:02 +0000

We had a nice long week with a number of very gratifying jobs. Thursday was spent finishing the install on and then tuning Dan’s Evo 8. We installed an AMS 750R turbo kit as well as an ACT uprated clutch. We had to make a few modifications to the intercooler piping and exhaust but besides that the kit was top notch. The fabrication was excellent (which has become rare for production pieces) and the kit was very complete. The car ended up making a little under 400 horsepower at the wheels and should be awesome to drive!

AMS robotic welded exhaust manifold

Modified lower intercooler piping

While Nick and Alex were working on other projects, I got to work on the GC8 rallycar. Before we send the lightpods out for painting by paintmaster Modestas, I got the Hella beams mounted up with the proper hardware.

Ready for Action!!!

On Friday, Nick and I were running solo as Alex and his wife went to visit relatives in Chicago. We had an STi suspension install which consisted of Race Comp Engineering Springs, Ohlins dampers, Group N STi Top Hats and some rear camber bolts. Its nice installing all new parts in a strut assembly, especially in New England where the salt eats away at everything exposed. The Ohlins are a great option for someone looking to keep a very road worthy (in both winter and summer) strut assembly, yet be able to take the same setup to the track.

Ohlins Inverted Adjustable Dampers

A customer brought his Integra Type-R in for some head work. Nick is in his element taking the head off any Honda and had it out before I even knew what was going on.

When the work was done, I went ahead and commenced work on the Maxi. After ordering a new chain and tensioner for the SR20 from CIP Motorsports, I talked to Tomo at Tomei and ordered a set of adjustable cam pulleys. He talked to one of the camshaft engineers in Japan and they sent over the camshaft specifications which I needed for degreeing the cams. My cylinder head and block have been decked before (the head more than once) and with 280 degree, 12.5 lift cams, the position of each cam is essential in relation to the crankshaft.

Tomei Adjustable Cam Pulleys

New Timing Chain!!

Finding Proper Piston Top Dead Center

Friday and Godzilla

Bill — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:44:01 +0000

The last couple of days went pretty well at DSG. We had an STi in for an upgraded engine after the original suffered a spun rod bearing. The new engine consisted of a new factory shortblock with upgraded CP forged pistons. In our opinion, this is the best option for upgrading either a 2.0 or 2.5 liter street engine up to 400 hp. In addition to the shortblock upgrade, we installed equal length headers and deleted the factory Tumble Generation Valves (TGVs). Matt retuned the engine with the new setup and the car runs awesome.

The early part of this week was spent working on an 09 Nissan Skyline GTR.

We have done work in the past on this car but not to this extent. As far as modifications go, the car has intakes, downpipes, midpipe, wastegate actuators and an HKS EVC-R. This time it was brought in for a Tanabe cat-back exhaust install and flame throwers installed in the exhaust. This customer has brought all his cars in for flame throwers, but the electronics on the GTR are an unknown quantity to us and the only knowledge we had of them was that they were extremely complicated. There isn’t much information available publicly so after failing to find any detailed wiring diagrams we were forced to go through a good amount of the engine and chassis harness.

Factory engine harness pulled out

Being an avid Nissan finatic, it was great to see the GTR engine somewhat exposed. There are many details on this car that are amazing.

The harness and electronics ended up being very similar to most other modern Nissans. The intake manifold had to be removed to access parts of the harness. Our goal in doing this was to minimize the modification to the factory harness which ended up working out very well.

The GTR features a full flat bottom underside mostly made out of carbon reinforced plastic with a diffuser that is made of carbon fiber. The new Tanabe Exhaust looks great as well.

After installing 7 sets of flames on various cars, I have to say the GTR Flames with supplied kit from Hotlicks Exhaust are the best yet. They actually look and sound like a B1 Lancer taking off on full afterburners. They also look and sound like the original Godzilla and his blue fire lazer beam.

Wednesday’s Activities

Bill — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:40:44 +0000

The day started out with the usual undrivable car movement, mainly to get the rallycar on the dyno for calibration of the Vipec. After a few more small leaks were fixed, we got the car on the dyno and started work on the day’s projects.

One of our Subaru customers, Tom, brought in his brother’s car, an IS300 for a timing belt, water pump and all associated parts. As far as timing belts go, Toyota inline sixes are great. Bill has a good amount of experience with IS300s so he took the helm.

We got our first snomobile in the shop today for some fabrication work after Mike had a tough impact on trail. Bill was excited to take the challenge of straightening and reinforcing the frame on the Ad Boivin sled.

Chris’s silver WRX that was started on Tuesday continued to shed rusty bolts throughout the day. Nick worked like a champ on the clutch while Alex finished the timing belt. The exhaust needed some special attention which Nick also tackled with ease.

Tim showed up early afternoon to watch Matt tune his Super Production STi. The gains from the added half liter of displacement, STi turbo and Vipec V88 Ecu were just what Tim needed. Matt had the car at different levels of steady state on the Dynamics Dyno, then got the antilag system calibrated. Tim’s experience in rally is very evident in the build of this car. All the right bits are there to make it competitive and reliable without spending extra money in places where its not needed. We are all excited to see how he does this year with the new setup. After an upcoming test, Tim and the Wazoo Rally Team are heading to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the first round of the Rally America Championship.

Blue is 2.0 WRX-TD04-32mm Restrictor Red is 2.5 STi-VF39-34mm Restrictor

This time of year is progress time for the DSG race cars. Alex is usally done working on his car for the winter about this time while I am usually right in the middle or just starting to build steam. I’ll leave Alex to tell the Pleasure Evo’s winter massage therapy. As far as the RS Maxi, she had a tough year of limited traction and cylinder head woes. Both of these are currently being addressed. The cylinder head is more or less ready for more action after a late season renovation. The only thing left in that department is degreeing the cams, along with a new cam chain tensioner. The Tomei 280 Solid Lifter Cams will recieve Tomei Adjustable Camgears and with the help of some dial indicators, piston stop and some quiet time, I should be able to get them dialed in. Tomei started building race motors for Nissans back in the 70s and even built the motors for the famed Silvia Super Silhouette of the 1980s (driven by Kazuyoshi Hoshino!). They have been very supportive of the DSG 240RS and even the company President has shown interest in the car’s progress. We are all very proud to work with a company so rich in motorsport heritage!

The rear subframe is being replaced with an S14 unit and with some special CNC’d aluminum bushings from Kuah at SPLParts in Texas, the S14 subframe will fit perfectly into the Maxi’s S13 chassis. A few other small changes are being made. Scot sent the Maxi’s Stance GR+ 3 way dampers out to Stance in Illinois to get revalved for the softer springs we are currently using. Modifications to the fuel cell/system mounting and radiator mounting will top off the list of winter revisions to the 240RS09 Maxi.

Amuse Titanium Exhaust for E92 M3

Bill — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:53:36 +0000

Installation of a Power House Amuse titanium exhaust on E92 V8 M3.Â Factory mid-pipe required new flanges to be welded on and adapted to the bespoke Amuse flanges.Â TheÂ Amuse exhaustÂ was 46 pounds lighter than the stock muffler/resonator sections!!

For photos click here

DSG 240RS Maxi recieves a new color

Bill — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:21:25 +0000

Modestas Latoza masterfully painted the DSG 240RS Maxi in Waltham on Saturday.Â Tom the tri-axle driver and myself helped prep the existing paint which consisted of 7 shades of white and then we sat back and watched Modestas work his magic.Â The Maxi deserved a spa treatment after three years of abuse and one crash.Â Abuse will be the name of the game at GT Live in Virginia.

Photos

240RS Update 06/14

Bill — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:22:34 +0000

The rear sway bar setup is complete. Bladed arms are from both IMGAB in Sweden and the Titanium alloy ones are made in-house. There are both hard and soft bars in yellow and green respectively, for both the front and rear. Tim at TIP Engineering is responsible for the re-mapping of the suspension setup. New spring rates, Ohlins damper re-valving (AMF Motorsports) and ARB rates were all spec’d by Tim on paper. Every possible number was taken into consideration by Tim (down to the weight of each individual unsprung part). This is completely new and previously, there was only a front anti-roll bar. The improvement should be huge. There is much more spring and damping to accommodate the added downforce and tire. As far as straight line speed, the power to weight ratio with the new turbo will be greater than both a Mclaren F1 and a Ferrari Enzo. It is quite exciting for me but I really have no idea how I will manage to drive it. Whatever:)

240RS New Spec and Renovations

Bill — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:11:03 +0000

I finished the endtanks for the intercooler and they might need a little tweaking but they’re OK. I’d love to get some better metal fabricating tools…someday. I also got my dual wall 2.5″ stainless bellows (from coast fab)for the wastegate return and the twin scroll housing for the GT30. Now I can fit the exhaust and then send the housing/manifold to swain for coating.

Checkout the details on Fresh Alloy Forums.

240RS on Sport Compact Car Cover

Bill — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 01:02:48 +0000

The Dent Sport Garage 240RS Maxi is featured in this month’s Sport Compact Car. Coverage from October’s GT Live event in which DSG’s Bill Washburn battled the ASM car in a deluge of rain. SCC brings us there, recounting the battle between big budget and big dreams. Next year we hope that the respected ASM comes to the event ready with no excuses to test their build and driving talent against ours, rain or shine! Thanks for a great race ASM, and a great article from SCC.

-DSG