15
September 2008
I will forward
you my promised Dyno-article in the next Newsletter, but right now I want to
share a bit of History with you. I hope this does not bore you excessively J
Back in
September 1993 Eddie & I opened our shops in the same building in Lafrenz.
He became a renowned Diesel Pump specialist but sadly passed away a few weeks
back.
Initially
American V6 & V8 motors were the rage, though I quickly got rid of the
diesel types.
We did
conversions on most cars even putting mid mounted 3.8
Buick motors into Combis.
I then saw
a big market in modifying normal car engines with the Hilux 2.4 L being a success story on its own. I
also moved premises to Krupp Str at that time.
Through the
years I have had various agencies, K&N being the best seller up till today.
Sadly
K&N’s are often confused with budget type filters, which often don’t
filter...
Then we had
KC Daylighters which were excellent, but now
got surpassed by LightForce which have a better
light/bigger range and do not crack housings. This stems from a lifetime
fascination with Lights.
Even though
most cars do not have points anymore, the Ignitor
is still a hot seller.
A Year or
more back we added the MileMarker Hydraulic
winch to our line and find that sells excellently to our neighbouring states
where Winches are a necessity & not an option.
Nick’s Racing stems from my involvement
in Motorsport, through many years culminating in a specialised Racing V8 motor-building
shop in
In 2004 I
had a dynamometer installed which has made the Unichip a
household name.
At the
moment the most popular vehicles are the 4.5
Cruiser and bullnose Hilux with a smattering of Golf’s etc. following that.
With the price of fuel who does not want a job guaranteed to save you fuel whilst increasing performance. All this
is done by just setting the car up right. Cost 2 to 3 thousand N$.
We often
fit speed limiters to Rental or Courier vehicles, or increase the limiter such
as on the new Landrover Defender from 120 km/h to 160.
(We could remove it completely but won’t advise to do this).
Some cars
really impress by what they pick-up just from a chip, such as the BMW 335 turbo.
Right now
most work I get in is to tune an engine right. This is no magic; it simply
entails setting up the fuel mixture, timing and other engine management
parameters right.
I also do
Diesels now and get excellent results on them with the BT50 and 3L D4D being
constant customers.
A sideline
is the UltraOptec range of scopes,
which are value-for-money binoculars, Telescopes as well as Gerber Multitools etc. Basically a hobby where I sell what I use myself.
Of course
we still build performance Exhaust systems
in house, as well as stock a range of cams for most vehicles. I still Port heads myself.
A few years
ago I stopped doing conversions, as it is too time consuming.
Then I
discontinued my line of V8 parts, although I still build complete Engines until I have sold my stock
as a job-lot.
The
traditional engine modification as in doing Heads, cams etc. is also slowing
down due to the fact that it is expensive to do a modern multivalve V-type
motor, as well as this trade having gotten a bad rap due to unscrupulous
fly-by-night operators.
So where
are we heading off to ?
Difficult
to answer, as the automotive industry is Dynamic and I guess the current drive
is to be green.
We have
experimented with E 85 and tried our
hand at lean-burn engines, but in the end neither I nor the customer will
obviously fund these projects.
If you had
told me 10 years ago I’d be tuning Diesels, I’d have laughed at you.
So if you
want to try something that falls within my capabilities, why not contact me
?
I really
enjoy my work, but as can be expected there are a few things that bug, but the
first one is:
The guys in
the trade are more busy putting down their competitors, that referring them.
Doctors seem to have no problem referring their patients to specialists, and
neither do lawyers shirk in calling in an experienced Advocate when the time is
ripe.
The 2’nd
irritation comes from people that have their car “modified” somewhere else and
then expect me to wave some magic wand over that job to make it work. Why not
sort your job out with the person who did that ? If I get a tough steak at
restaurant A, I expect them to sort it out and not take it to restaurant B for
tenderising.
Of course
bringing in an unprepared vehicle for a tune-up is the best way to waste your
money, as I will first have to fix those problems, such as wheel alignment, a
leaky Exhaust or radiator or best yet a slipping clutch. If I run a car on the
Dyno, I do need fuel. I would think this is logical.
Since no
trade seem to have an effective network in
If a car
has simply been tuned incorrectly somewhere else, it is a simple job for me to
re-tune that vehicle. We do this often when cars have been Unichipped in SA and
do not meet the owner’s expectancy; 500 to 1000 N$. When an Exhaust has been
built incorrectly, it is often easier to just build a new system than to patch
the old one. But when a head has been ground to death, the only option is to
start with a new head.
If you want
to bring a standard vehicle to me, put in over 50 % fuel, although I only need
10L or so, and on a front wheel drive check the wheel alignment. Of course the
car must be maintained and have no problems as such. If you want me to tune
your hot-rod or if your car has problems, let me know what these problems are,
to see if we can solve them.
To further
understand what my background & knowledge base is, do peruse my Website
please J http://www.nicksracing.com/
I think to
log off with this unknown (at least by myself) quote "You have a choice to choose
anything you want in this world. Why don't you choose joy ?"
Joy
could be driving a well set-up vehicle that does not bankrupt you at the pump.