After tuning the engine, M-Engineering turned their attention to the transmission controller making changes for faster shifting and to revise the part throttle shifting to reduce the stock transmissions annoying tendency to aggressively upshift and lug the motor. The new transmission programming also allows the transmission to kick downshift more aggressively and to also more and faster downshifting under deceleration, matching the vehicle’s speed better when braking for a turn or a stoplight. The feel of the reprogrammed transmission is such that the car feels more springy and lively and is much closer to always being in the right gear, much like the feel of the PDK transmission in Porsche GT models. The launch control was also updated to Nissan’s latest LC5 version which slips the clutches a little more off the line for less shock to the drivetrain and tires. The launch rpm was also raised to 4200 from 4000 rpm.
Interestingly our car starts and idles well from a cold soak. This is one of the only tunes that runs perfectly on E85 when cold of any of our cars! This speaks a lot about M-Engineerings tuning skills. They normally tune plenty of exotics and those owners probably don’t tolerate any hard starting or warm-up running issues. Also, semi-automatic transmissions are pickier and are harder to drive if the engine is prone to stall when cold. You can’t just push in the clutch and rev it to keep it lit or to clear it out.
The changes to our car are amazing. With the stock untouched engine, our car had way more grip, and brakes than the engine’s output making it, well kinda boring. With more than 230 extra whp, our car has come alive and it feels much faster and the fun to drive factor is much higher. It actually feels like a whole different car. The wide powerband means that power is available right away from almost any speed. With stock GT-R’s being capable of high 10 low 11 second quarter mile times we feel that our car can be solidly in the 10’s with no changes. Just drive it to the track, get in line and rip off a fast time then drive home. Technology is amazing, who could imagine that you could make this much power with bolt-ons just a few years ago. You would also have to work very hard to make 650 whp and to build a 10-second car usually meant a drag racing dedicated race car. The fact that our car can turn a fast quarter mile, brake and corner at a world-class level and is comfortable in daily driving is also amazing.
Our next step is to get into the engine and transmission to build a fully streetable 1000hp plus supercar killer, stay tuned.
