Engine and Gearbox Oil Change

I am a bit particular about my car engine and gearbox internal parts. I can't say the same for my car's cosmetic (interior or exterior), because that is the easy part, you got a scratch at your bumper or a dent on the body, it is visible and you know what is the implication and how to cure it. Unfortunately, for internal mechanical parts, you don't really know the exact history, current condition and any indication of incoming problem. That is why, when it comes to engine and gearbox oil change, I'll have a *headache* in getting the right product. If you buy the wrong one, it might actually accelerate your gearbox internals wear-and-tear or maybe causing the engine's hydraulic lifters to trap air (which can be caused by engine oil that is too viscous) and reduce your car performance and starts making those loud annoying tick-tick sound especially when the engine is cold.

As you should already know, my Evo II GSR engine is from a halfcut, that is most likely well exposed to harsh weather and maybe suitable enough for micro-organism to breed in it as it was kept in the warehouse for god-only-know how long. Now, you can imagine the condition of the engine and gearbox oil, we can safely assumed that the oil is very dirty and badly oxidized.

[1st oil change]
As a start, for my 1st oil change on the 4G63T engine, most probably the final step in the engine's transplant process before cranking it to a new life (with its new lucky owner of course, hehe...), I supplied the mechanic with 4-litre of Castrol GTX 20W-50 (mineral) and 3-litre of Pennzoil SAE 80W-90 Multi Purpose Gear Oil (Limited Slip Differential) (GL-5). This is to make sure the engine starts with a fresh oil and doesn't choke itself.

If you do noticed, these are cheap oils and not really suitable for a high performing turbocharged engine. No worry, I just want to use it for 300-400km and replace it with a better oil. This is to make sure I can clean out any debris or water before it overloaded the load-carrying capability of the oil and causing any damage to the internals. I can actually use engine flushing oil for this purpose, but I heard bad things from people doing it, maybe it dislodged too many debris at one shot and causing blockage. This is a risk I am not willing to take, especially when I have a safer option.

[2nd oil change]
As planned, I sent the car to Karamjit Motorsports for an oil change after driving it for around 350km. This time, I opted for Castrol Magnatec 10W-40 (semi-synthetic) and Castrol LSX 90 (compatible with LSD). It will be for another 2000km before the next oil change is due.

[3rd oil change]
Fast forward, after the car accumulated another 2000km, another engine and gearbox oil change was done using Castrol Edge Sport 10W-60 (fully-synthetic) and Castrol LSX 90. I am quite confident that at this time, most of metal debris or water that trapped inside the engine or gearbox are already flushed out. This round, it will be for 5000km before the next oil change.

Unfortunately, I found out that the Castrol Edge Sport 10W-60 is too thick for my engine. Actually, this engine oil is for competition use where super-extreme temperature is expected. Although the 4G63T engine does produce lots of heat, I don't think it will ever reach the temperature needed for the engine oil to properly flow. This is not a cheap engine oil, this one cause RM145 damage to my wallet, so maybe I will just continue to use it for now and hope for the best. In an article from an oil expert, using engine oil that is too thick and not suitable for your engine, can cause your ride's lifters (a.k.a. tappets) to trap air due to lack of oil flow and low oil pressure. That is why you need to use the right engine oil for your car. Temporarily, I'll do an extended warm-up for my car, to make sure it reached the optimum oil pressure and temperature before starts driving it.

[4th oil change]
After 2 months of hard driving, the car accumulated another 5000km, quite fast right? Maybe due to my work nature that is hopping around attending meetings and project sites. So, just several days ago, I sent the car for another service. It seems that most of early Evo owners are using either 10W-30 or 10W-40 engine oil and Redline/Motul gearbox oil, so I bought Castrol Edge 5W-40 and Redline 75W-90 for the oil change.

Although the cost is a bit high, I really don't want to skimp on it, oil to cars is what blood to human. If you are wondering what is the cost of my recent oil change (excluding labour charge):

a. 1 x Castrol Edge 5W-40 (4L)= RM145



b. 2 x Redline 75W-90= RM90



c. 1 x Mitsubishi Oil Filter for 4G6x= RM18

TOTAL= RM253.00

After several days of driving my car using these expensive-but-quality products, I can really vouch for its effectiveness. My car's engine feels smoother and quieter as I suspect that the engine can rev easier due to thinner oil running on it. This is not a placebo effect as I can really feel the car is revving faster and I'm being push much harder to the seat when boosting.

My gearbox also seems to produce less whine at high speed and less noise. Although it is normal for LSD gearbox to generate a bit of chatter, as it means that the gearbox is working properly, I get less noise when using Redline compared to Castrol LSX 90. If you want to buy one, make sure you buy the correct oil. Redline has a non-slip (NS) 75W-90 oil for gearbox without LSD as to allow the synchromesh to reach equal speed faster, in other words, you get better acceleration.

Part 2: Mitsubishi Evolution X

Let me continue my post on the latest Evo X.

At the price of around RM328,000.00, you can get one of this in Malaysia with proper support from Mitsubishi Malaysia, no need for grey imports which usually lack in support. Although this car is known for its reliability, warranty and support provided by Mitsubishi should make life easier in case something happen to the AYC, S-AWC, Sport ABS or any other gadgetry on this car.

Interior, the car dashboard seems to be a bit plasticky but it shouldn't be a problem as the fit & finish is far from inferior.

The steering wheel has a nice grip to it with several control buttons on it so you can just concentrate on the road. This is important when you are traveling at warp speed with this very capable car.


Nice steering wheel

Another thing that surprised me is that this car is equipped with a 12-speakers Rockford Fosgate audio system. This is super-nice although it must have added some weight to the car (who cares when you have lots of horsepower at bay). I didn't have the chance to test it out, but I am confident that it will be able to produce spectacular noise with this setup.


Tweeters are mounted at the right place which should enhance your listening experience

Check out below for more pictures:

Twin-clutch SST gearbox - The gearbox even do 'throttle blip' for you


Even the carpet is nice - Maybe I should buy a set for my Proton Perdana, can it properly fit?


Nice BBS wheel with a mean-looking Brembo 4-pot caliper

Mitsubishi Malaysia, if you are aware of this blog, really hoping that you can also lend me this car for one whole week (not less and not more), together with fuel vouchers and new tires. I will try to do an honest review, although not as good as an automotive journalist, but it should be good enough for car fanatics such as me.

Keep on dreaming...

Exhaust Design for Turbo Cars

I had decided to post this due to the importance of this knowledge. Most drivers still believe that 'backpressure' is good for their cars. Please take note, NA or turbo, you do not need backpressure, end of story.

If you can't make a decision whether to go with a 3-inch or 2.5-inch Turboback exhaust (TBE) or Catback exhaust (CBE) for your turbo ride, have a look at below excerpt.

I did mine with a 3-inch TBE based on this excerpt and very2 happy with the decision. Turbo spool is faster than ever before and I can really feel the car reaching maximum RPM quicker.


Apexi boost meter - Get faster turbo spool with 3-inch TBE or CBE

(CAUTION: Don't ever try to increase your boost from standard without proper fueling as that is a recipe for disaster. Just get one of those Walbro or Bosch fuel pump with higher flow rate and you are doing a big favor for your engine. It is also advisable to upgrade your fuel pump before doing TBE or CBE as you might encounter 'boost creep' and 'boost spike' after your exhaust piping upgrade.)

The following excerpts are from Jay Kavanaugh, a turbosystems engineer at Garrett, responding to a thread on http://www.impreza.net regarding exhaust design and exhaust theory:

Howdy,

This thread was brought to my attention by a friend of mine in hopes of shedding some light on the issue of exhaust size selection for turbocharged vehicles. Most of the facts have been covered already. FWIW I'm an turbocharger development engineer for Garrett Engine Boosting Systems.

N/A cars: As most of you know, the design of turbo exhaust systems runs counter to exhaust design for n/a vehicles. N/A cars utilize exhaust velocity (not backpressure) in the collector to aid in scavenging other cylinders during the blowdown process. It just so happens that to get the appropriate velocity, you have to squeeze down the diameter of the discharge of the collector (aka the exhaust), which also induces backpressure. The backpressure is an undesirable byproduct of the desire to have a certain degree of exhaust velocity. Go too big, and you lose velocity and its associated beneficial scavenging effect. Too small and the backpressure skyrockets, more than offsetting any gain made by scavenging. There is a happy medium here.

For turbo cars, you throw all that out the window. You want the exhaust velocity to be high upstream of the turbine (i.e. in the header). You'll notice that primaries of turbo headers are smaller diameter than those of an n/a car of two-thirds the horsepower. The idea is to get the exhaust velocity up quickly, to get the turbo spooling as early as possible. Here, getting the boost up early is a much more effective way to torque than playing with tuned primary lengths and scavenging. The scavenging effects are small compared to what you'd get if you just got boost sooner instead. You have a turbo; you want boost. Just don't go so small on the header's primary diameter that you choke off the high end.

Downstream of the turbine (aka the turboback exhaust), you want the least backpressure possible. No ifs, ands, or buts. Stick a Hoover on the tailpipe if you can. The general rule of "larger is better" (to the point of diminishing returns) of turboback exhausts is valid. Here, the idea is to minimize the pressure downstream of the turbine in order to make the most effective use of the pressure that is being generated upstream of the turbine. Remember, a turbine operates via a pressure ratio. For a given turbine inlet pressure, you will get the highest pressure ratio across the turbine when you have the lowest possible discharge pressure. This means the turbine is able to do the most amount of work possible (i.e. drive the compressor and make boost) with the available inlet pressure.

Again, less pressure downstream of the turbine is goodness. This approach minimizes the time-to-boost (maximizes boost response) and will improve engine VE throughout the rev range.

As for 2.5" vs. 3.0", the "best" turboback exhaust depends on the amount of flow, or horsepower. At 250 hp, 2.5" is fine. Going to 3" at this power level won't get you much, if anything, other than a louder exhaust note. 300 hp and you're definitely suboptimal with 2.5". For 400-450 hp, even 3" is on the small side.

Part 1: Mitsubishi Evolution X

Okay, for this post, I am not going to write about my car, but another car, which I can only dream of having one at the moment.


Mitsubishi Evolution X & me

Considered as a very fortunate day for me, I encountered this Mitsubishi Evolution X at Karamjit Motorsport workshop. I sent my car for a 5000 km service when this beauty in red arrived silently, without any lumpy exhaust sound or violently shaking the ground with it 280 horsepower (officially stated by Mitsubishi but I think the real figure is around 340 hp) in the engine bay. Quite silent for a car with this level of armory. It can be considered as an assasin in semi-disguise.


Karamjit Motorsports (satisfaction guaranteed and the price is very reasonable - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me)

I was very excited to found out that this legendary car arrived with a legendary driver, Karamjit Singh (FIA WRC Champion 2002 - Production Car). Either the car or the driver is very formidable on its own, so, when you mix it up, I don't even want to think about it. If you are driving the latest Nissan Skyline GTR and you meet them on a straight, YES, you may have a chance. BUT, a big BUT, if you meet them on corners, trust me on this, 'don't even try', even if you are driving a Ferrari/Lamborghini/Koenigsegg/McLarenF1/F1 cars... I'm not joking... this is serious... please don't even think of it. You may ask, how do I know this? I'll let you know on my future post.

Karamjit explained that the car was given to him for a day by Mitsubishi Malaysia for him to test and review. Lucky guy and also lucky me as I have the chance to take a closer look at this car with my own sweet time.

I believe that Mitsubishi has done a very good job with this car's design. It looks clean, handsome, sporty, elegant and the same time brutal. I don't really know how they manage to do this, but they have done it, in spade.


Front view (please make way for it when you see it in your car's rear view mirror)



Rear view (dual exhaust outlets-should be nicer if it is spread further apart, at the edge of each side)

What do you think of the look? Nice right.

To be honest, I don't really care about the look of this car. Mitsubishi can put on 3/4/5 or whatever number of exhaust outlets they wanted to but the thing is, I am really concern about the powerplant. The new all-aluminium 4B11T engine that actually replace the legendary iron-cast 4G63T engine. Can it deliver the same thrill and reliability? Hopefully so, because they are replacing an engine that can withstand more than 1000 horsepower and proven itself after near 20 years of serving.

This new engine, not only turbocharged but also features MIVEC that should helps a lot at higher RPM range. I think it will work like this:
Low RPMs- Mountains of torque delivered by the turbo (TD05H-152G6-12T in action)
Higher RPMs- Mountains of torque delivered by the cam timing change (MIVEC in action)
Results: Huge torque on-standby at any RPM

Nonetheless, I will be following 4B11T development closely to see if it can justify replacing 4G63T. For now, I will be enjoying my 4G63T, although without MIVEC, it is fast enough to give me a scare especially when the road is damp or wet.

I will try to post the 2nd part by tomorrow, for now, I need to get some sleep, feel really sleepy and dizzy, ZZzzz...

The Beginning...

The beginning of an adventure of me and my ride... a Proton Perdana (2004) powered by the legendary turbocharged engine- a 4G63T from the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution II GSR (1994).


Proton Perdana V6 (Originally powered by a 6A12NA)

The original engine in my car is a 6A12NA (Naturally Aspirated) with a 4-speed automatic gearbox (that is prone to failure). As expected, it tooks only 2 years for it to fail after I bought the car (brand spanking new) from Proton Edar. Straight away, I replaced the gearbox with a 5-speed manual gearbox (Code: 222-VVVF) from a Mitsubishi Eterna halfcut to make sure I don't get a 2nd headache. Torque increased can be felt as there was no more 'torque converter' in action.


Lots of Proton Perdanas (mostly powered by 6A12NA, 6A12TT, 4G63 & 4G63T engine)

In my younger days, frequently I imagined of owning a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR (Godzilla). Until today, I don't think I can really afford it. Maybe I can buy the car and pay the monthly installment without any problem, but the maintenance will cause me *huge headache*. Better if I save up first and buy the latest GTR in future.

In the meantime, to fulfill my hunger for monstrous torque and breakneck acceleration, I decided to drop in this legendary engine to my car.

4G63T (from the Mitsubishi Evolution II GSR)
Horsepower: 260 BHP at 6000 RPM
Torque: 309 Nm
0-100kmh: 5.0 seconds
Top speed: Limited to 180 km/h (but I remove the speed cut and able to reach 240 km/h before I backed down on the throttle, *gulp*)

After two months of driving my car with this new powerplant, I can say that, I had made the right move of choosing it over 6A12TT (from Mitsubishi Eterna Twin Turbo). At the same time, my engine comes with a LSD gearbox (WPWE) which helps to propel the car to a blurry speed in just several eyeblinks.

YES, it is that fast, sometimes a bit scary but that is part of the thrill in owning a 4G63T. The beginning of an EVOlution.