# Litchfield GTR Pistons coming soon



## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

To go alongside our upgraded GTR connecting rods we have been working with Industry leader Capricorn to produce a new engine block design and custom pistons 










For those that have not heard of Capricorn they are suppliers to many of the OE manufacturers including Aston Martin, Porsche and were recently featured in the BBC program “Making a Supercar” where they showed how they make the McLaren MP12 pistons and blocks. They are also responsible for engineering behind some of the biggest names in motorsport including Nismo  and the piston’s found in the Red Bull F1 cars.

Capricorn Group - Successess Formula 1, World Rally Car, NASCAR, DTM, MotoGP










The GTR project started in January last year and has seen Capricorn receive a GTR block and pistons from us to be sacrificed by sectioning to see how the internal strength would cope with increased power. Ever since our last visit to their UK factory in November to go through the final drawings we have been extremely excited about receiving the first of our parts and the potential they will allow us to unlock :chuckle:










At the end of January we received the first prototype set of the new 95.5mm GTR pistons for testing  These have been designed to work perfectly with Nissans standard block so they clear the delicate oil squirters at the bottom of the block and take Nissan’s original piston rings to insure they give the best seal against the Plasma Coated cylinder wall.










The new pistons feature:
•	Unique GTR specific design that maintains the piston oil cooling system as per the factory specification and positioning. No modifications required!
•	Manufactured from proprietary high specification aerospace alloy which equals the strength properties of high expansion race alloys (AA2618) yet with the expansion of lower strength piston materials (AA4032) offering the best of both worlds.
•	Designed using latest predictive techniques such as Finite Element Analysis and Thermo-Structural Contact Mechanics – a custom design capable of much higher loads with no increase in weight!
•	Fully machined from a pre-forged high fatigue billet – the same as current F1 technology!
•	Custom anti fiction skirt finish 
•	Ultra high strength pin and clip
•	Manufacturer in the UK to the tightest OE quality control standards










These new pistons have been installed into one of our spare engines and are being tested thoroughly. Once we are happy with their performance these will complete one of our new engine packages for customers looking for 750+bhp.










More information to follow soon 

Regards

Iain


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

Fascinating. So these are effectively billet, rather than forged?


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## B'have (Dec 28, 2011)

Superb! When the block was sectioned and stress tested, were there any figures produced to define the maximum torque an oem rod can endure?


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## GTRNICK (Apr 29, 2005)

Nice to see these products are being used in the GTR 

Capricorn have been making the aftermarket 3.8 kit for the porsche turbos for years and it's a good kit!!!


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

PROPER r&d.

Now that's how it should be done!


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## MiGTR (Jul 31, 2007)

^Indeed. Super exciting stuff!


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## Anders_R35 (Jul 20, 2011)

Great work Iain, how much of a weight saving?


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## Turbotwo (Jan 28, 2011)

Adamantium said:


> PROPER r&d.
> 
> Now that's how it should be done!


+1..at the very least.. 

Top engineering without the GTR tax..


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## Blade (Feb 12, 2003)

Outstanding work.

Look forward to the results


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## ANDYR35 (Sep 1, 2008)

Amazing stuff and as has been said........some proper R+D. Great to see!


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## Steve (Sep 21, 2001)

Yep was at Iain's this evening picking up Scarlet after some more work !!! Was very very tempted but am going to look at the bigger picture after speaking with Iain, who again knows his stuff and even though it was 6-45pm had all the time in the world to take time to explain things to me 

Thank you Iain

Steve


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## Stevie76 (Dec 17, 2009)

None of this is making it any easier to leave my car alone!


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

Much as the whole stages of tube packages annoy me, if usure about modding it does break it down into useful chunks of progress. You an decide by power or by money and see how you feel at each stage.

With my ew car, my aim was stage 5. Iain has some incredible turbos which seem to have no downside to them (other than cost - but thats not Iain's fault), I really struggle to see t point having more than the kind of power they can make, but having seen this level of R&D, I really want to have engineering o hs level in my car.

I'm a sucker for something that's well made, even if the stock item works perfectly.


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## Arcam (Jun 30, 2009)

Steve said:


> Yep was at Iain's this evening picking up Scarlet after some more work !!! Was very very tempted but am going to look at the bigger picture after speaking with Iain, who again knows his stuff and even though it was 6-45pm had all the time in the world to take time to explain things to me
> 
> Thank you Iain
> 
> Steve


So poor Iain did not get home till gone midnight then :runaway:

Lovely components BTW Iain ... see you at the Ring in a couple of weeks :thumbsup:


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## DRAGON (Nov 12, 2003)

Adamantium said:


> I really struggle to see t point having more than the kind of power they can make


That is not the attitude to have!! You always need more power, when the hayabusa pulls up to you at 100mph you'll be thank full of that extra power


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

Arcam said:


> So poor Iain did not get home till gone midnight then :runaway:
> 
> Lovely components BTW Iain ... see you at the Ring in a couple of weeks :thumbsup:


Cool, at least one other GTROC member going then!

Should be an epic trip with Iain and Bilstein going too.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

DRAGON said:


> That is not the attitude to have!! You always need more power, when the hayabusa pulls up to you at 100mph you'll be thank full of that extra power


Been driving for 17 years and that's never happened to me before. It sounds as good a reason as any to spend thousands of pounds.


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## Steve (Sep 21, 2001)

Arcam said:


> So poor Iain did not get home till gone midnight then :runaway:
> 
> Lovely components BTW Iain ... see you at the Ring in a couple of weeks :thumbsup:


Na, he just kept on talking & talking :runaway:


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## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

I made the fatal mistake of asking you how your r33 was going  lol

I'm glad you like the parts guys lots more to come. We did some testing on a engine with our internals on wednesday and it did ok 










This is compared to Ecutek's Std GTR and you can see the rollers stuggling to hold onto the torque low down :chuckle:

Regards

Iain


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## kennyc (Aug 25, 2005)




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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

Iain, what boost is that running?


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

Litchfield said:


> I made the fatal mistake of asking you how your r33 was going  lol
> 
> I'm glad you like the parts guys lots more to come. We did some testing on a engine with our internals on wednesday and it did ok
> 
> ...


Nice increase!
Why is the standard car rated so low? What make of rolling road?


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## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

Peak power was at 1.57bar so pretty low considering the capabilities of the turbos. We were doing TCM and clutch testing not mapping for power but it seemed rude not to give it a run 

David, Ecutek's JDM car made 480bhp but the red marker line on the dyno graph is at peak power for our car not the standard car. If you look at the standard cars graph it made 480bhp around 6,300 rpm and peak torque of around 460lbft.


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## [email protected] (Feb 1, 2012)

Litchfield said:


> Peak power was at 1.57bar so pretty low considering the capabilities of the turbos. We were doing TCM and clutch testing not mapping for power but it seemed rude not to give it a run
> 
> David, Ecutek's JDM car made 480bhp but the red marker line on the dyno graph is at peak power for our car not the standard car. If you look at the standard cars graph it made 480bhp around 6,300 rpm and peak torque of around 460lbft.


Iain, 

Those are some very impressive figures ! Well Done Mate.

Be good to see how we all get on at Marham  especially comparing your 860 to a SVM 850R ......

Let the good times roll !


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## GTRNICK (Apr 29, 2005)

That must pull like a steam train Iain lol


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## Steve (Sep 21, 2001)

ahhh back to steam LOL


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## martin320 (Aug 29, 2009)

Nice to see some actual graphs of the power that it makes, unlike other tuners who are not as transparent.Well done, The whole Litchfield setup is very impressive..


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## Steve (Sep 21, 2001)

martin320 said:


> Nice to see some actual graphs of the power that it makes, unlike other tuners who are not as transparent.Well done, The whole Litchfield setup is very impressive..


+1 LOL


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## Anders_R35 (Jul 20, 2011)

Which turbos are these, they seem spool happy?

Anders


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## Stevie76 (Dec 17, 2009)

I want a spin in that car....the torque curve looks great...the shove in the back must be quite something:thumbsup:


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

Iain,

1.57 bar?????

somethings not right here.

They seem to spool faster than stock, it looks like they are not giving up any torque at the very bottom but they go on to make almost 400 bhp more than a stock set up and at only 1.57 bar?

I assume this is running race fuel or perhaps methanol?


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## Guy (Jun 27, 2001)

Aren't you supposed to paint the car a bright colour, then leave it stationary for a year whilst still posting about it daily - isn't that how car tuning works in the UK???


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## Steve (Sep 21, 2001)

Guy said:


> Aren't you supposed to paint the car a bright colour, then leave it stationary for a year whilst still posting about it daily - isn't that how car tuning works in the UK???


Meeee Owww Guy !!! Scrathy Scrathy


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

That's harsh but please don't change the tack of th hreead, we are all friends here!

Iain, care to comment on the fuel used? Can you give us an idea of what it would do to the ignition advance and hence torque/power if it were used on v-power or super, as that's what people interested in this will be running day to day.


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## bobel (Jul 26, 2010)

That torque curve looks amazing, best I've seen on any aftermarket turbos yet, I assume these are the new version that will be getting released soon Ian, great work :bowdown1:


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2010)

Hats off, Iain... 
No SVM car out there of over similar 30 builds can beat "those figures", 
860bhp at 1.57bar.. incredible 
Even F mans, is only slightly over and he is current uk record Holder!! On Big Heads,cams/valves/Race fuel ..Hopefully you can show @ Maram 
Looking good..Keep it UP 
kk


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## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

Guy, this car could not be more understated, black with standard wheels. A sleeper! :nervous:










Adam, it was not on race fuel or even V power. I went to Ecutek and wanted to put Vpower in but did not realise the Shell garage around the corner from them is now closed so had to put BP Ultimate in. I am not trying to down play things but it was really only there for testing of some of the new torque maps and understanding some of the new load settings in the ECU on more powerful cars :blahblah: 

How quickly the torque comes in is slightly misleading (and the same for the standard run) as the dyno holds the car around 1,500rpm before releasing it which tends to get the bigger turbos started slightly early than they would on the road. It the same reason the boost curve has a couple of wobbles as dynos retarders try to maintain their desired acceleration rate. The boost curve is perfect on the road 

Below is a copy of the graph with boost and fuel










As you can see from the boost map we target 1.4 bar low down and increase it to 1.56 further up. 










This is partly for traction reasons but mainly because I prefer the way the GTR drives with this type of profile. At the time of the test 1.56bar is as much boost as the standard ECU will allow us to run and keep all the turbo dynamic compensation maps happy. We can run more boost than this but we lose the ability for the ecu to trim the wastegate depending on the conditions, fine for competition use but not sensible for day to day use. Ecutek know what they need to do and have it on their to do list as soon as they complete some very cool TCM work which should be next week 

We are going to Maram for some fun and support any of our customers that might be going. We are going to take our MY11 car which currently has its engine out to have the similar bottom end but will not have the same head work and slightly smaller turbos. Should still be around 850bhp though. I will come over a say hello Kev :thumbsup:

Regards

Iain


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

Astonishing power for 1.56 bar Iain, congrats! 

Is that a Dyno Dynamics RR, just for the record?


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## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2010)

see you there  (take you in hulky)
It will be fantastic for all to see a true comparison at last, 
Your Companies offerings against mine (i think several 850R in attendance) will be good in a friendly encounter how guys formats and products play out in the real world (on the tarmac)
Ecutek v Cobb  strutting there stuff cant wait lol
kk


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## ROG350Z (Jun 15, 2008)

Brilliant Iain, can't wait to see how different ECUTek Stage 2 and MY11 Gearbox is - next weekend woo hoo.

See you Saturday and don't you dare let me test that 870 ;-)


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## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

David, Ecutek's dyno is a Maha but usually produces similar figures to a Dyno Dynamics. 

See you next weekend Rog.


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

Litchfield said:


> David, Ecutek's dyno is a Maha but usually produces similar figures to a Dyno Dynamics.
> 
> See you next weekend Rog.


Thanks for the info. 

WITHOUT wishing to re-open that hoary can of worms again, it is worth noting that this dyno registers the stock car at 480hp, so logically it is likely that at, say Surrey Rolling Road's Dyno Dynamics, where a stock CBA registers 500-506hp, your car is _likely_ to record more, which is frankly, astonishing, especially on BP Ultimate! :smokin:


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## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

Maybe, but I learnt along time ago not to predict dyno numbers  It might be that the Ecutek fans cool the intercooler better or any number of changes between the two runs. 

I'm sure i'll run my car at Charlie's and Ecutek at some point with a similar engine and then I'll have a direct comparison of the two dynos at higher power levels.


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

Cool. And just to check, this car is still 3.8?
What else have you changed, or is that for a future thread?


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## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

I wasn't planning to do a thread on this car but will probably do a thread on my car when it is finished. 

I***8217;m going to test a conversion with fewer changes to the cylinder head to see the real benefits of the various parts. For example this engine uses dual valve springs from Ferrea but Eibach think they can do a really nice single spring as a mild upgrade and we have a long history with Eibach 

This car has:

Litchfield Blue printed 3.8 block
ARP Head Stud Kit
ARP Main Stud Kit
Cosworth Head gasket
Litchfield pistons
Litchfield Rods
Nissan bearings and gasket kit
Litchfield High pressure oil pump

This will make up our standard short engine conversion and it has been balanced with everything together as a rotating assembly so it is Very smooth. This car also has:
CNC Cylinder head
Titanium retainers
Upgraded Valve spings
Larger Ferrea Valves
Litchfield Road Cams


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## GTRNICK (Apr 29, 2005)

:thumbsup: Nice spec!

What sort of power do you reckon it will handle?


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## Turbotwo (Jan 28, 2011)

[email protected] said:


> Even F mans, is only slightly over and he is current uk record Holder!! On Big Heads,cams/valves/Race fuel ..Hopefully you can show @ Maram


What and where is Maram ?


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## MiGTR (Jul 31, 2007)

Turbotwo said:


> where is Maram ?


Somewhere near Manipur I believe.


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

Turbotwo said:


> What and where is Maram ?


Kev's spellling is a bit off.
It's Marham.
An RAF place in Norfolk that is hosting a 30-130mph date logging event in a few weeks.


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## Steve (Sep 21, 2001)

Yeah, I did 175mph V max run in BEUT there about 6 years ago against a race preped TVR Cerbera (and beat the lil sh*t!)


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## David.Yu (Jun 28, 2001)

CT17 said:


> Kev's spellling is a bit off.
> It's Marham.
> An RAF place in Norfolk that is hosting a 30-130mph *date* logging event in a few weeks.


You mean it's a speed dating event? 

I wish I was going now, sounds like an epic event, but I've got way too many events in March as it is...


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

It's going to be very difficult to resist buying those turbos.


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## Turbotwo (Jan 28, 2011)

Adamantium said:


> It's going to be very difficult to resist buying those turbos.


Totally Agree..


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

Iain, I keep coming back to these turbos.

A few questions.

Are they available yet?
What's the max they can theoretically flow?

Assuming it's 1000bhp, is there a slightly smaller version that will spool even faster?

Do they use custom downpipes? If so does that mean catless and therefore a lot more noise?

Thanks in advance.


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## ROG350Z (Jun 15, 2008)

Adamantium said:


> Iain, I keep coming back to these turbos.
> 
> A few questions.
> 
> ...


Stop, stop it now dammit. I have had the quote and it is not in this years budget. Stage 4 will suit me nicely for now I feel. Need to spend money with Colin first and learn how to drive better! Jo has assured me 5 days with Colin is worth 600 extra horsepower...… ;-)


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

Have you done one day with him? Ive just booked on to the first day.


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

I just did three days and the half day over grip limit handling course in the caterham to finish.
Great stuff.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

Did the caterham skills help you with the gtr?

For me the gtr is so much bigger, more substantial and more expensive that I have a mental barrier stopping me from sliding it, like it's unnatural.


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## CT17 (Mar 25, 2011)

I've not had time to put that skill to use in the GT-R yet, but it does unstill a good sense of what to do in a slide to keep a car going where you want it too.
Particularly as the GT-R has a RWD bias.

Plus it's flippin good fun sliding round!


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## sin (Dec 3, 2007)

Adamantium said:


> Did the caterham skills help you with the gtr?
> 
> For me the gtr is so much bigger, more substantial and more expensive that i have a mental barrier stoppibg me from sliding it, like it's unnatural.


Adamantium, i did the over grip limit course. This was the course that gave me the most confidence to push the GT-R harder than i did. Its not just the skills that you learn but all the physics behind it so you understand whats happening underneath. Coming from the hot hatch generation (gti, xr3s etc) i was never that confident with rwd. That changed in a few hours with Colin.

Its a must do for any one who is unsure about rwd.

Sorry to hijack this thread.


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

I think I understand the physics. I have a background in physics, engineering and vehicle dynamics, but it's theoretical, and not related to my skills behind the wheel.

In a go kart I'll happily drive around everyone and slide if desired, but when there's two tonnes of momentum in a slide, I'm less inclined to go for it.

Sounds like I have to do these two courses.


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## Litchfield (Feb 26, 2008)

We have had a lot of customers who have had this driver training and all have said it was superb and made a big difference.

Adam, I'll run through all the turbo work we have been doing when you come in for your Camera install tomorrow.

Regards

Iain


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## Adamantium (Jun 24, 2002)

Excellent.

If we fit sone tomorrow but dont remap, do you think my warranty will remain in tact?


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