TurboAWD Cars

April 26, 2006

It's Alive! The GTR is up and running again. Since the last update, the major modifications done was the changing of the engine block to a Nismo GT block. It's the same block that they used on the JGTC races. It's extremely rare and Croydon Racing was lucky enough to get two and I was super lucky enough to get one of them. We also were able to get custom brakes from Project Mu. Project Mu, through Autoplus, was gracious enough to provide 6 pot calipers and 355mm rotors up front and 4 pot, 4 pad rear calipers. Dynoed and tuned, I am having a a blast with the GTR. Pictures can be found at the GTR Gallery

I have changed the body kit on the 997S. I have installed the front and rear bumper from RUF and also the RUF rear deck lid and spoiler. The rear deck lid and spoiler is completely in carbon fiber and a work of art. The exhaust system has been changed to PSI Motorsports system and it sounds awesome at wide throttle while very civil around town. Supercharger has arrived and I am just waiting for the opportunity to have it installed by Raymond at AutoPlus.

December 5, 2005

It's been more than a year since my last update. Things have been incredibly hectic here. Several important things have happened with regards to the cars and hopefully I can get into each and every one of them within the coming weeks. First off I have already sold my Evo 6 and Supra. Don't ask why hehe. But I was able to get a replacement for those, a brand new 2005 997 Porsche Carrera S. Pics are at the Porsche page.

I shall be working on other updates within the next few weeks.

September 15, 2004

I have uploaded two videos of the GTR dyno runs in the Video Gallery. I have also uploaded some clearer pictures of the GTR showing the Top Secret front bumper, Mines carbon fiber side mirrors, Nismo LM GT wheels, and the Nismo hood. Pictures can be found at the GTR Gallery.

August 30, 2004

What an amazing few days it has been. The guys from Croydon Racing Developments are off to Australia today after around a week or so of testing and tuning here in Manila. They will be back in a few weeks time as there are still some bits and pieces that need taking care of. I'm sure a lot of people are curious as to what results the GTR achieved so, time for updates.

GTR - We were able to achieve an amazing max power of 857hp at the wheels at 2 bars of boost. The wastegate was preventing us from boosting any higher. Next time we dyno the car, we will be looking at around 3 bars of boost, so the power should still increase dramatically. Andrej and the guys took the car out for a test run Saturday night, suffice to say that everyone was pleased with the results. Jim informed me that the car did 220km/h in 3rd gear at 8000rpm, all while attracting the attention of almost every bystander and passerby in the area. 220km/h doesn't sound bad, especially considering that the car revs till 10,500rpm and with 3 gears to go, I'm sure it'll do more than 300km/h easily.

As for me, I drove the car around the block once. The clutch and sequential tranny wasn't as hard to use as I thought it would be. I guess a few days of driving the car will be all it takes to get used to everything.

I posted some pictures at the GTR Gallery. I will have some videos of the dyno runs and test runs in a few days time.

Supra - We did a preliminary dyno tuning of the car. Nothing extensive, just enough to get the car running. There are still some pieces missing, so the full dyno tuning will be done when the guys return. We still need to break in the motor anyway.

Some pictures at the Supra Gallery.

I'd like to thank Jim, Dan, Mark, and Andrej of Croydon Racing Developments for making the trip out here. You guys certainly did a wonderful job in the cars.

I have moved some of the older news items to the News Archive.

August 25, 2004

The guys from Croydon Racing Developments have just arrived in Manila to finish all the work in the GTR. They will be here for around a week or so, and we hope to have the GTR completely tuned by then. It's just a shame that the drag race scheduled for this weekend was postponed. We would have loved to see the GTR makes its first few quarter-mile passes.

July 6, 2004

IT'S HERE!!! Finally, after two years of waiting, several delays and obstacles encountered along the way, the GTR is at last in my hands. My appreciation goes out to Tomo Q Corporation for the sourcing out of the vehicle, Skyline Motors for the incredible LHD conversion, Croydon Racing Developments for the outstanding engine work, and the countless number of people who have made this project possible.

I have mounted the Nismo wheels already, and they do look quite nice. The pictures are at the GTR Gallery. Since the GTR Gallery page is getting quite long, I have moved some of the older pictures to the GTR Archive.

May 11, 2004

I got some more pictures from CRD today. I would like thank web designer Purple/Blue of Australia for taking time to take a lot of beautiful shots of the GTR. I also heard rumors that videos were taken of the break in runs on the dyno. I hope those rumors are true and I can get copies of the videos. =) Pictures are at the GTR Gallery

I must say that CRD has done a very good job on the GTR. We do not know the final horsepower results yet, but the installation work and the detail done on the car is perfect. I especially like the detail work done on the boot area where the fuel cell and electrical works are located.

Want to guess which picture is my favorite so far? The shots where my GTR is beside Mario's insane high HP R33. My car may not be that worthy to be in the same shot as Mario's car, but what the heck. I'm going to print that out poster size and hang it in my office and bedroom. =)

May 6, 2004

I got a call from Lance of Croydon Racing informing me that they might start the engine up today. Unfortunately, he also wants to collect on the balance I owe them. Today, I am officially flat broke. =)

Lance did send me a picture of the finished engine. I hope to get more in a few days before they ship the GTR out. I posted the pics on the GTR Gallery. If you will notice on the picture, becuase of the custom ignition system, the beautiful JUN spark plug cover is not installed. I hope to remmedy that when the car gets to me.

Lance also faxed to me the work that has been done on the GTR and I must say it was quite a very long list. That I have posted on the GTR Specs Page.

I will post more pistures once a get them.

May 4, 2004

Some updates on the GTR, the engine will fire up to life on Wednesday May 5. Estimated departure date from Sydney will be May 17 and ETA to Manila, Philippines is on June 8. For now I have uploaded some pictures of the engine, including pics of the coating on the turbos and pics of the custom CRD 9 litre sump underneath the engine. Pics are at the GTR Gallery.

April 27, 2004

The dash on the Supra is finished. Installed are the TRD 10,000rpm tach and speedometer, and the 4 Sard gauges. Pictures are at the Supra Gallery.

April 4, 2004

The Supra engine is almost done. We redid the cylinder slightly and all the parts are ready. It is now only a matter of putting all of them together and installing it in the car. I hope we can get it done soon. I have posted some pictures of the engine parts, the cylinder head, as well as the Bride carbon kevlar bucket seats at the Supra Gallery.

March 26, 2004

I haven't had much time to update the site recently; have been incredibly busy with other matters. However a lot of significant progress has been made in several of my cars.

GTR - A lot of the parts that I have ordered have arrived from Japan. These include the Nismo strut bar, Nismo 320KM/H gauge cluster, the Nismo carbon fiber hood, and the especially nice Nismo RB26 crate engine that I will keep as a spare. Pictures are at the GTR Gallery.

Supra - After several months of waiting, the Supra has finally been painted. The color is now a nice looking bright red. The TRD body kit has also been installed and the Bride carbon kevlar bucklet seats have arrived. The only major thing left would be to finish the engine work. Pictures are at the Supra Gallery.

February 5, 2004

Just got an update from CRD. Posted some pictures showing the JUN Auto Drag rear member installed inlcuding the HKS Drag coilovers. Also, a picture of CRD test fiiting the JUN engine to see if the twin turboes will clear the brake master cylinder. Pictures are at the GTR Gallery.

January 14, 2004

I just got back from the 2004 Tokyo Auto Salon. What a show it was! Among the highlights include a full carbor fiber Evo 8 by HKS, the very creative Gran Turismo 4 simulators, the crashed Option/Jun Stream Z Project (crashed while attempting to hit 360km/h), a carbon fiber GT wing that electronically adjusts itself depending on vehicle speed, a lifted 4x4 Mini Cooper, and of course the dozens of custom Skyline GTRs, Supras, 350Zs, and other high performance Japanese vehicles. I have posted preliminary pictures in the TAS2004 Gallery. I will be posting more in the coming days as I still have around 600 megs of pictures to sort out first.