No more 280hp limit in Japan!

[Doug Rodrigues]

I should mention something about Japanese workmanship with their engines: Many years ago I made my living reboring gas and diesel engines, grinding crankshafts and fitting cylinder liners to trucks and heavy equipment. Anyone who has done that type of work knows where quality and also trash comes from. I hate to say this, but comparing American made parts to Japanese parts....American parts are trash. That's just an objective comment made from measuring thousands of pistons prior to reboring an engine. For example, there is nothing more expensive in the way of stock pistons than Buick factory pistons. They cost approximately 7 times more than the cheapest generic Toyota piston...for example. Prior to reboring an engine block, all pistons have to be measured. With American pistons, the sizes usually vary by at least .0015 (one and a half thousands). Out of 8 pistons, every one of them is different. The taper and the cam ground are all different. Some of them may not even have a taper on the piston skirt! The cylinders have to be bored to fit the pistons: The largest piston to the largest hole...the smallest piston to the smallest hole, for example, so that all have the same oil clearance. On most American assembly lines, the engine assemblers usually have a pick of four variations of what is supposed to be the same piston size. Why? Because of the lack of quality workmanship for whoever machined the pistons or bored the engine block. Sometimes dull cutters can really screw-up a cylinder bore, size wise!


Okay, some of my customers wanted to save money. I would buy the cheapest aftermarket Japanese made set of pistons....my costs sometimes would be about $6 per piston! Can you imagine that? Six bucks for a piston! You know what....those cheap Japanese made aftermarket pistons were always perfect in every detail. Not one flaw...every measurement exactly alike. I have never found any Japanese made engine part that wasn't perfectly made. Can't say the same for American products. The European products?....the only good engine parts were for Jags. The rest must be American made.

Oh yeah...I drive a Mercury AND a Nissan. I'm positive that the Nissan will out-last the Mercury, but the Mercury is more fun to drive.

[udelblue]

v12! i heard v12 engines (enzo) have lots of reliablity issues? BTW come from a domestic family and since i got my first import i will never go back. There are lots of people who have been in the same position and most from what i hear stay with imports .

[feenix z]

this thred got a little of topic, but seriously. I asked my dad once long ago why we never buy anything but honda, he told me because they were more dependable than anything comming out of Detroit. I began looking at my friends (with domestics) and their repair bills, thats when I began hugging my accord every night before I went to bed.

And just because the new Ford Lightning is going to have 500 hp doesnt mean its going to be super fast. Look at the v-10 dodge pickup, that has 500hp, but it still can just bearly out accelerate a Honda S2000 and it sure as hel cant out handle it. Just thought I'd let you know.

[JDM_s14]

Originally Posted by YellowITR479

I would definately keep my eyes on Nissan and Toyota.

have u seen the new r35 concept car...look pretty nasty