"The solution was the new upgraded race-style pressure plate with more clamping force. The new pressure plate not only totally eliminated the slipping problem, it also eliminated the need to heat up the carbon disk prior to launch which was required with the old setup. Surprisingly the pedal effort is only slightly greater than the previous street plate and the feel is actually improved."
Transmission"With over 22,000 miles on the original gearbox I figured it was time for some freshening up and I sent it off to the master of all DSM gear boxes Shepherd Racing. John Shepherd had just broke the record for the world's fastest AWD DSM with an amazing 8.13 at 176 mph in his 1991 Eagle Talon drag car so he knows how to hook up off the line. His Evo transmission program updates all the synchros and gears to improve shifting and power handling capacity. When I got it back it shifted much smoother and faster than ever before."
Nitrous"Following the lead of my fellow tuner Gadiel, from Puerto Rico, who has had great success with the use of nitrous to aid in off-the-line acceleration. I added a ZEX wet nitrous kit which is using a 35-shot fogger in the intercooler pipe. The nitrous is used at the launch to help spool the turbo and allow launching at a lower rpm than is otherwise possible with a larger turbo.
"When I saw the Big Valley STi making some passes down the track at Raceway Park in New Jersey I was very impressed with the smooth launching of that car and decided to apply the use of nitrous to improve my 60-foot times and possibly delivering less shock to the driveline."
Results"With all the proper ingredients finally in place the car started to really come alive and it hit 746 whp on the Pruven Performance dyno. This netted me an 80 whp gain over the old GT35R setup and there was more power left on the table. However, once you reach the 700 whp-plus level it is my firm belief that it is better to tune at the track. The dyno pulls are so quick at that power level that it is very difficult to get a good loading on the car and an accurate tune. At the track the first pass with the new setup yielded a 10.2 at 144 mph, which is a very promising start. Sadly, on the next outing a rocker arm broke in half during the 1-2 shift at 9800 rpm so the engine now has to come out.
"Buschur Racing recently tested a 2.3-liter stroker kit with the GT40R and they have reported excellent results. It seems the additional displacement really helps the turbo spool much earlier and harder. The Buschur Racing stroker kit consists of a 4G64 crank, which has a 100mm stroke, stock length billet rods and special Buschur-spec pistons, which utilize a custom wrist pin height. The plan is to dial in this new combo and go deep into the 9s. Stay tuned."