We Just got back from Round 4 D1 drift competition at Okayama Circuit. Okayama International Circuit is a 3.7 Kilometer circuit that has been in existence since the early 1990s. It is located in a very beautiful low lying mountain range about 200 km outside of Osaka. It is regarded as a dangerous track for spectators by many in the industry because of its lack of big barriers and shallow buffer zones around the turns. Zep Racing rents 2 garages that hold 4 cars total here to test demo cars and the rates sound very reasonable.  As for the event it rained off and on all day until the best 8 and then the sun came out. The crowd was good and we were surprised at how many showed up because the weather forecasts said there would be rain all day. The usual players were here but there were some new cars as well.  Conditions were wet and difficult. It would rain and then dry up a little so the track condition was constantly changing. There were a lot of course outs and many bumpers and side steps were lost in the battle. There were so many pics that I wasnt sure what to as they all came out really well.  For those of you waiting for the dvd we thought it would be better not to give a play by play. Instead here are the pictures. The videos are up here.   

You need to upgrade or install Adobe Flash Player

We have been doing a lot of updates to the site as perhaps many of you have noticed. We have a new rims and tires section to deal specifically with rims and tires. We have also added a new search program to allow for better searching as well as an advanced search that will allow you to filter by car, brand or product category. You can even set those and enter a key word to search within those categories. There is also a brands page that we are constantly updating with information on the makers here in Japan. There is a tuning page in which we try to explain the parts that used for tuning in order to help newcomers to the scene make educated decisions on products and tuning. Our friend at APP also stopped by the other day and wanted us to upload some pics that they took from Odaiba Tokyo Drift event. APP for those of you who dont know is a really great company that makes brake and clutch lines as well as oil coolers and other tuning products. You can check out the set below. There are many more changes and modifications in the works and lots of new parts going in daily. As you can see we are very hard at work here doing our best to be the best!! If you need anything dont forget to contact us as we always listen and do everything we can to get it done!

You need to upgrade or install Adobe Flash Player

Installing SARD Memory Race Gauges

 
This is my reference guide for installing a set of SARD memory gauges, applicable to just about any car. I’ve just installed them into my drift Z20 Soarer, which see’s action all over Europe in several drift series. My car is pretty hardcore motorsport spec & the gauges are there to help me keep check of important stuff & to assist with baseline set ups for mapping & data logging to my Greddy Profec E-01 controller.
 
 

The Gauge Set I’ve installed

 
Oil Pressure: Without oil pressure you have a very knackered engine, oil pressure drops with rising temperatures

Oil Temperature: Most oil gives up at about 140c above that you risk damaging your engine, likewise so do low oil temps

Water Temperature: Critical to a healthy engine, high temps can cause detonation

Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGTs): Critical for tuned cars, EGT’s reflect directly to engine fuelling ratios & timing, aluminium starts melting above 900c

Fuel Pressure: Handy to keep a check on your fuel pump system, low pressures can cause leaning out & engine death

Boost Pressure: For monitoring turbo boost levels at the manifold

Each Sard gauge comes with it’s own pressure or temp sensor, a wiring harness, fittings, wiring bits, just about everything you need bar tools. The gauges feature a last seen memory function, adjustable warning point & warning light, external output eg to an external warning light, sensor feed output ideal for data logging or going to an original gauge or to your ecu & nightime lighting. In addition each gauge then has its own 2 or 3 wire sensor input harness that also plugs in the back, just plug & play.
 

Installation
 

Wiring
Each gauges has a common wiring harness to supply power & outputs, this plugs into the back of the gauge.

Orange: 12v Permanent Battery Live for the memory function

Red: 12v Live ignition switched on

Black: Earth/Ground

Yellow: Illumination connect into lights on switch

Green: Sensor Output * Optional to use

Brown: Warning Light Output * Optional to use

Deciding where to put them?

Simple for me, the most important when on track is water temperature, oil temperature & oil pressure. These I’ve mounted in my main dashpod next to my Profect E-01 unit. The EGT & fuel pressure gauges are more for reference & tuning so they’ve been mounted to the sides in my old air vent pods. I can clearly see them form my driving position still. You could mount yours anywhere you like, they come with external brackets, or you can flush mount them into a hole like mine. Gauge pods are also available such as pillar pods or dash top pods the choice is yours.
 

Fitting the sensors

The sensors are standard fitments (usually) either 1/8th tapered thread, or M10×1 it’s important they are fitted in the right place. So a little understanding of how your engines systems work, if in doubt ask!
 

Oil Pressure: Measured after the oil pump, where the feedline goes into your engines bearings, common place is tee’d into the factory oil sensor port, though you can simply swap the sensor & use the SARD one, as the gauge wiring has an output you can feed to your stock sensor output wiring. Do not measure the pressure after your oil cooler, or on a return line as thats not engine bearing pressure, after all its the oil pressure that keeps your engine bearings floating on a bed of pressuried oil & not contacting each other.
 

Oil Temperature: Ideally measured at the sump, as thats where the oil is picked from & fed to your engine, however this’ll mean removing your sump pan & in most cases a bit of a pain for many. Most common measure at the oil filter or pre oil cooler, most aftermarket oil cooler kits or sandwhich plates come with blanked ports for exactly this job. Oil acts an internal engine coolant, with excessive heat & it no longer is a lubricant 120-140c is maximum oil temps you’ll ever want to see, high spec race oils can go higher but not by much.
 

Water Temperature: Measured at the engine coolant outlet, either on the water hose, outlet casting, or a blank plug port or swapping out your existing sensor port,  the gauge has a sensor output if you swap out your factory sensor.
 

Fuel Pressure: Measuring the fuel line/rail pressure, if you have an after market regulator they usually have a blanked port for sensors. Don’t measure at the rail as you’ll see fluctations with each injector pulse & dont measure post regulator as thats the pressure back to tank & not much use.
 

Exhaust Gas Temps: Ideally measured pre turbo, as this is best for accuracy, post turbo you’ll be seeing a reduction in temps of up to 100c as the turbo absorbs heat itself, hence why things melt under your bonnet! You’ll have to tap a boss into your maniold or on the turbine housing exhaust port (exhaust inlet side)
 

 
Tip: Label Everything!!!

Do it now, label each gauges harness wire up, each sensor harness, why you ask? as when your buried under your dashboard, lying on your back swearing as the cluch pedal pokes you in the ear again, as you pull the wires through a firewall grommet you’ll soon find they all look the same!
 

Wiring

A factory wiring diagram or manual & a multi meter will be handy for finding the wires you need, one is battery voltage always on, next is ignition switched on, then lights on. Always us a good earth or chassis grounding point. No harm in wiring the group of gauges to common feeds so four yellow wires into one etc. Make sure all positive feeds are protected from shorting out, so insulate your connections. I have a simple rule, Positive output is always a female shielded connector, very difficult to short even if you try. Use heatshrink to stabilise your connections & keep them neat. Zip tie bundles of harness wires up out of the way. The gauges come with sufficient wiring connectors to make your basic connections, follow the instructions for a good contacts.
 

Wires through firewalls

You’ll need to feed your wire harnesses through a bulkhead hole or through your firewall, always use rubber grommets or find existing blanked ones & use them. Its called a firewall for a reason so keep it sealed. If you need to cut a hole, make sure there is nothing important on both sides before you start drilling, you’ll often find brake lines & fuel lines mounted on firewalls so double check your clear.
 

Gauge mounting

Once you’ve decided where your gauges are to go, so that will involve some thought not to have your steering wheel in the way! & you’ve cut your holes out, use a hole saw as seen in the pictures. The gauges should be a neat snug fit, use the rear brackets supplied to hold them in place. Make sure nothing is loose or likely to fall out even if you had an accident.
 

Checking your gauges

Before I fitted mine fully, I checked each gauge worked individually, which meant running the car up or each system individually. Once satified I then fitted them in place.
 

Getting started

Each gauge comes with a little chrome needle, for setting up the gauge warning points. You simply press the the lower button twice & hold it in for a couple of seconds & the gauge will display its preset warning level, if you want to adjust this simply use the needle on the middle rotory knob & dial it round to the right place. The gauge will flash at you appoach with 10degs of the settings & will have a constant red above your preset.
 

I’ve set my warnings to the following settings
Water Temp 120 degs C

Oil Temp 120 degs C

Oil Pressure 3 bar

Fuel Pressure 6 bar

EGT’s 850 degs C 

Boost - Depends on what fuel I run

You need to upgrade or install Adobe Flash Player

RHDJapan.com brings it to you fresh from Tokyo. Here are some clips of the qualifying rounds for the Drift Competition D1GP in Japan. It started to rain as the last round just before the seeded drivers went up to drift. Unfortunately the challenge was cancelled at that point due to the rain. We are going again tomorrow so stay tuned.  D1GP from RHDJapan

We will be going​ to D1 tomor​row and the next day. We will be uploa​ding pics and video​ foota​ge of the event​.​Stayt​uned!​!​!​4/​24/​2008Websi​te has some modif​icati​ons done.​ We have added​ rss feeds​ to the lates​t produ​cts for all vehic​les and in the main lates​t produ​cts secti​on.​ This will allow​ you to see all the new produ​cts for your car only witho​ut comin​g to our websi​te.​ Wait a secon​d,​ we still​ want you to come to our websi​te!​!​ (​^​_​^​)​ We have also added​ shipp​ing disco​unts for multi​ple purch​ases so you can see how much you can save by purch​asing​ more than one item.​ Our shopp​ing cart has been optim​ized to give a bette​r faste​r feel.​ We added​ the shopp​ing cart at the top right​ so you can see the shopp​ing cart and item total​ every​where​ on the site as well.​ Fixed​ the buy now and add to cart butto​ns.​ We have also made it easie​r to check​ shipp​ed price​s on produ​cts while​ not being​ logge​d in.We will be doing​ more addid​tions​ to the site very soon so stay poste​d for even more JDM fun!​!​!​ Thank​ you guys!​!​

Zep has been developing a new set of EP82 and EP91 Starlet race suspension for quite a while now and they are just about ready to go on sale. Zep will be fitting them and going to Okayama Circuit to test them for the final time.  Zep says that ONLY if he is able to beat his record lap time of 1 min. 50sec they will go on sale. This is why he is considered the best Starlet tuner in the world. He will only sell his parts to others after they have been fully tested. We look forward to another great product and successful run at Okayama. 

I just got back from our shop this weekend. It was a great time, lots of cars and lots of fun. The weather is really good this time of year, not too hot not too cold and the cherry blossoms are blooming. I got a video of one of the BNR32s we have for sale. This car is insane and super rare. Most 1000ps RB26s run big singles, and thats cool. But twin IHI Ball bearings push this bad boy up just as good. Here is the car and the Link to the listing 

In the April 2008 Option Two magazine there was a highlight on Trust’s new short port surge tank for the S14 and S15. The article says that the surge tank was revised and developed for racers with turbine upgrades who are looking for MORE high end horsepower.The surge tank features 1.6 more capacity over the stock surge tank and because there are N15 throttle users out there Trust has made a N15 throttle version as well as a stock throttle version. In real world application this all translates to a 22.3 ps increase on the S14 with a TD06-20G with boost at 1.4kg. As you can see on the dyno chart, the major increase is between 5000 and 6500 rpm but overall power is increased from 4700 to 7700 rpm. This is great news for those of you looking for an easy power boost because it doesnt get much easier with this and the price is very attractive at 81,900 yen MSRP. We will be sure to be getting this one up in our site for immediate sale!!

GReddy Short Port Intake Plenum Stock Throttle S14 S15 SR20DET

GReddy Short Port Intake Plenum N15 Pulsar Throttle S14 S15 SR20DET  

You need to upgrade or install Adobe Flash Player

The winter has finally broken and spring time is around the corner. The plum flowers are blooming and soon the cherry blossoms will be in full bloom. If you have had the chance to see them here in Japan you know how great it really is. If you have not been to Japan now is the chance to be here during one of the greatest times of the year for Japan.

In the April 2008 Option magazine titled Tuning Trends 2008 I was surprised to see that 4 of the cars in the 11 car spread were VQ35 power plant vehicles. Or of the 24 pages 11 pages were devoted to VQ35 powered Nissan cars.  With this V6 motor now over 10 years old there are plenty of big HP parts out there now from many Japanese makers for anyone to get in on the racing action. This is good news for people out there who don’t want to bother with motor swaps or grey market imports. Option magazine seems to think that the tuning trends for 2008 will be big Nissan V engine HP racing. It seems logical if you look at the new cars out there for tuning and drifting. The GT-R is too new and expensive to void the warranty on so soon. That and because of the type of technology employed on the GT-R there are some here in the tuning world questioning if the new GT-R will ever get the support that its older predecessors have gotten. Well, only time will tell I suppose but for now there seems to be a trend and Option seems to be doing just what they do best, reporting the JDM new as it happens! If so count me in on the Top Secret G37 Body Kit when I get my G37 Coupe!

You need to upgrade or install Adobe Flash Player