Flying Colours

One day i suddenly feels that I want to freshen up a bit my engine bay. Since I'm kinda in the mood for DIY session, I've decided to re-paint my valve cover from matte black to red. Remember to sort out the necessary things first, such as sand papers, gasket sealant, new valve cover gasket / plug seal (if needed) and the paint itself. I've painted the cover before (originally it was in silver) and nothing other than paint stripper can do better when it comes to removing paint. After the paint is removed, give it a wash. Sandblast the cover surface to smooth out the old paint that might still sticking Make sure you sand all the corroded spots too. Ensure the cover is free from oil before you set it dry.

Spray a thin layer (or two) of undercoat and don't apply it too much. Choose bright colour or else your paint will look horribly dull (unless that's what you're aftering).

Ok, here comes the important part. You have to let the paint dry. Wait at least about 20 mins each time you apply a layer of paint. It is better if you have a hair-dryer. The heat helps the paint to stick better. Apply a thin layer of paint. Let it dry. Apply another layer. Again, let it dry. I did five layers. Let it dry overnight.

Sandblast the DOHC 16 VALVE wording. Don't forget to sandblast the oil cap fitment area too. You don't want the paint to chirp and fall inside your crankcase. I've decided not to apply clearcoat as I don't want it to look too glossy.

The Sibling; SR16 Neo VVL

The variable valve timing (VVT) war in automotive industries back in 1990's created quite a number of decent engine from different manufacturer with their respective names, designs and claims. Generally VVT split into 3 categories:

• cam phasing (valve timing)
• cam phasing + switching (valve timing and lift)

But despite those variable-names-given, they actually are using more or less the same mechanism. Example; B16A VTEC has 3-lobe camshaft while 4G92 MIVEC had only 2, but cam engagement method for both system are same; oil pressure-triggered.

Nissan introduced this infamous Pulsar VZ-R equipped with Neo VVL SR16 engines; a 1.6L 16-valve 4-banger that rev to 8000rpm and manages to deliver 173 hp (129 kW) and, it came with blue coloured cover rocker. The tri-lobe camshafts design is very similar to the one found in Honda VTEC. One difference is that NEO VVL engages the intake and exhaust cams independently. The intake cam engages somewhere around 5100rpm and the exhaust cam engages at 6500rpm.

From 1997 to 1998, Nissan produced 500 limited edition SR16VE N1 engines which came with the sportier VZ-R N1. They had further upgraded camshafts (high cam duration up from 280 to 288), ported head from factory, increased engine compression, enlarged intake manifold, 8 (yes, eight) injectors and a larger 70 mm throttle body. These engines made a killer 197 hp (147 kW) and tagged with red coloured cover rocker. One thing really caught my intention is, these engines were chain-driven. It's rare to see one especially in a 1.6L Japenese engine which most of it were belt-driven at that time. This minimized the maintainance cost as the chain lifespan is way much longer than belt; period.

SR16 VVL camshafts

Don't Forget the Old Folks

Found it on the net, apparently there's one crazy mofo running 4G92 MIVEC in a rear-wheel'ed 1976 Lancer A72D. The owner claimed it managed to do 13.35 km/L (31.4 mpg), while achieving speeds of 200+ km/h and clocked 0-100 km/h run (2000 rpm launch with slipped clutch) in 7.6 seconds. Beware, in-term of power-to-weight-ratio, this merely 40-years old car probably can smoke a factory-spec CTR (but only in straightline of course).

Lotus Cheap Performance Solution? Campro CPS explained..

After many years of delaying and misadvertising regarding Campro (namely SP4's) engine, our beloved Proton FINALLY came out with the long-awaited valve-lifting engine; Campro CPS. A short brief about CPS which was developed and patented by Lotus Engineering, this engine uses two technologies to achieve the new higher output; camshaft profile switching system which enables a higher valve lift and an electronic VIM (Variable Intake Manifold). A longer intake manifold is used at low RPMs to achieve slower air flow; this promotes better mixing with fuel. The short intake manifold allows more air in faster, which is beneficial at higher RPMs. Variable intake manifold benefits more low-speed torque than high-end power. Therefore it is very useful for saloons, which are heavier and heavier these days. The Siemens-VIM module is built from a durable hard plastic which able to reduce heat soak from the hot engine and light in weight.

The result is 125 horsepower (93kW) at 6,500rpm and 150Nm of torque at 4,500rpm . Since the Campro CPS engine output is higher than the non-CPS Campro, it has an additional water-to-oil cooler near the oil filter placement. It was reported before that Campro has a beyond-normal oil temperature issues if it is driven hard for a while; so an oil cooler is considered as a good add-on from Proton for the CPS. The service center says Proton recommend 10W-30 oil for CPS even though the manual booklet stated the common 20W-50. Are Proton too busy promoting the CPS until they forgot to update their recommended oil specification? Only god knows. Running thick oil in a new engine isn't clever. Tight tolerance engines need thin oil. Please don't say our ambient temperature is hot so we need a thick oil. Death Valley in California is hot, even hotter than our temperature here but nothing 30-weight oil can't handle.

Unfortunately, the vtec-like feature is only on intake side while the exhaust side is still using the conventional camshaft. Compared to the systems in the Japanese models, Proton’s CPS VVT feature is a simpler mechanism without infinite variability; using an obselete 2-step concept, imagine like switch; it either on or off. The effectiveness of the cam-lifting feature is arguable. This is because the serious Campro torque-dip problem was solved solely using the IAFM* module alone (* the vacuum-operated version of VIM). If you compare the power figure for Campro AIFM with Campro CPS, there's not much different in torque delivery, at least, not much to shout about. The only noticeable thing is CPS able to hold the power for much longer and yeilded an extra 15 ponies. Nevertheless, when compared to the base-Campro, the torque distribution from CPS is way better, or at least it look so on the dynosheet. The torque is higher, flatter and stays longer in every rpm range which surely tells that this is a rev-happy engine. It also gained the loss of high end power caused by the AIFM module. I'm not too confident this engine will perform well in Proton's upcoming MPV, the Exora, but it should perform lively in the lighter Satria Neo.

Mind Your Head'er Part 2

My custom made header is giving me such a headache since it hung a bit too low from the ground. Entering basement car park is a nightmare. After numerous scratches and curses, I have decided to get a basic 4-2-1 configuration header, which will give me plenty of ground clearance so I don't have to look like a retard when driving over our non-standardize speed humps.

I hate chromed headers as the decorative layer tend to chip or peel off over time, but yet cant afford for a decent Japanese stainless steel header as they come with a hefty price tag, even for a old rusty used one. To my surprise, the newer batch of Hotbits header for 4G92 is made from stainless steel (but I've no clue what grade they are using). I called Speedwork to quote the price and it was within my budget range. So i went to the Jln 222 PJ branch on that weekend.

Installation took around 1 1/2 hour. One very good tip to remember, make sure you wipe off your finger print on the header before you start the engine. Once the print heated, there's no chance it will come off. You've been warned. After few minutes of spirited run, the header turn into gold'ish colour which really stand out from the crowd of dull black colour all over the engine compartment. The performance of this header is great at low and mid range while my old custom made header was better at high end. Town driving has never been better but a bit out of oomppphhh once the rev is over 7k. I think the 2" collector which is a bit small is quite restrictive for top end power. Nevertheless, in term of performance, price and quality-wise, I think this is a good upgrade. Not the greatest but surely much better compared to the factory manifold.

Deadly Strips

The factory undercarriage sealant serve to protect the metal from rusting and also acted as sound insulator. As this rubber'ish seal aging; detoriated and harden, you may notice louder road/engine noise inside your car. Apart from applying another layer of sealant, the cheaper way is using bitumen strip. Bitumen strip are effective reducing noise, absorbing vibration and sound deadener. The downside of bitumen strips are, they are heavy and once they stick, it's going to be pain in the ass to remove them.

I bought 2 rolls of bitumen strips from a seller in LYN automotive garage sales forum. 1 roll is roughly about 10 meters long and 7.5cm width. Pasting at the spare tire area require less than 1 and half roll. The effect is quite noticeable especially the reduced interior vibration. I plan to stick this thing inside my door and under back seat sometime soon. For you peep who is very concious about putting additional weight into the car, this stuff probably will contribute an extra 3 - 4 kilos. But, if you drive the car as a daily commuter every now and then and wanting to have better driving experience, the additional weight from this bitumen strip is something you can compromise with.