When I started this project..
One of the sticking points of the narrative was to use these Phase2 Motortrend and Syko Performance as much as possible. The main reason is that these 2 companies were major factors in Project Leopard. With so much available nowadays, competition is everywhere. I wanted to use these companies and their parts as to show they stand the test of time amongst the new generation of IG fabricators and online shops. The biggest factor was that Marco was good friend’s with the people in these companies and that was a direct connect to them.
It’s good to note that I DIDN’T ASK FOR A HAND OUT. I contacted both companies, introduced myself, the project and the vision. I said why I wanted to work with them. No hand outs or begging for free stuff.
Phase2 Motortrend
Once I decided to go with Tomei for my turbo, I noticed their wastegate acuator was blue, I decided to go with that theme.
This sent me down a path of trying to use blue components for the engine bay. I looked at Phase2 and they had quite a few parts that were blue.
Pulleys and Cam gears
When Marco got the pulleys, he said something wasn’t right and returned them. I never found out what. The cam gears, Marco found out that the cam gears didn’t work with the Tomei poncams, so that was out.
Fuel Rail
The biggest one to me was the fuel rail. I was trying to keep the fueling system with the theme, but also with in a good price range and a mild upgrade. Well, Phase2 said they wanted to test the fuel rail with my Greddy intake manifold and Marco was suppose to pick it up and test it. None of that ever happened.
Fuel Injectors
Part of using the P2M fuel rail was to keep the fueling side close to OEM as the fuel rail is side feed. I was trying to get 550cc or 740cc injectors from P2M, but they were out.
Even though I tried to keep it P2M, it just never seemed to align. I ended up going for better quality parts anyways. Radium fuel rail with Bosch 1000cc injectors.
Brake cylinder heat shield.
Syko Performance
I’m not going to lie, I really wanted to just use Syko parts. The elbow was made for the M30 to clear the steering rack, so that was a no brainer. But the isolators were supposed to be better than OEM. Again, having a direct link to Syko was awesome. I’ve even had direct contact with whoever is running the IG account.
Syko Mounts
Marco showed me he had a set of Syko mounts. He had them stored for my project. At some point, he lost them because he texted me saying he can’t find them. Towards the summer of 2022, Marco said that he was waiting for Syko to make mounts and it should be 30 days and well, that never happened because 3 months later, I pulled my car from the SR20store and one of the reasons Marco cited why my car can’t come back to the show was he didn’t want my car to be sitting around.
Syko Elbow
I was really excited for this part. I know it was a big deal for M30s, so to have a cool piece was great. My new builder, Rival Autoworks, found an issue with the Syko Elbow… the internal wastegate hits the inside of the elbow.
The Syko elbow was only used on an OEM set up, including turbo. This is an upgraded turbo and so Marco said they’ve never used another turbo before.
After talking to people about it, they said since the valve is only gonna be open for a few seconds, it wasn’t really an issue. Nonetheless, we are gonna modify it.
Unfortunately, when I tried to contact Syko Performance about it.. they NEVER responded.
So this is where I get upset about customer service. I’ve had a long conversation with Syko Performance and they go dead silent when I ask about the Isolators… but even worse when I am trying to solve this issue of clearance. Now this issue could help their product. This is a chance to figure out and improve. I wasn’t asking for a refund, I was trying to get them to fix the issue, but also improve their product.
Thrice Engineering said they could figure it out and they did.
Conclusion
I really wanted to use these companies for Project Leopard. I wanted to show that these established companies and names were still viable in the current scene and with heavy competition. I wanted to build a relationship and use my car to showcase their products and maybe help with F31 parts. I get they are busy and maybe the F31 wasn’t priority, but just basic communication and would have been great.