A comfortable car to drive with modern technology
At the Tokyo Auto Salon 2024, legendary tuners showed their strong love for old cars. Among these, AMW focused on the 1974 Nissan Cedric 2-door hardtop by VeilSide. When it was built, it was one of the cars that were filled with the strong desire of representative Yokomaku to “put Japan’s world-class tuning technology to work on an old car”.
VeilSide has risen to the status of top tuner
If you know much about tuning, you must also know about VeilSide’s glorious history of glory in the past. It is a well-known story that the representative of Yokomaku has broken many historical records in the drag race, which he is particularly particular about. He also devised his tuning to increase the potential of the car beyond the rest, and rose to the position of the top tuner in the tuner’s battle organized by magazines, as well as in Japan’s top drag races such as RRC and Big End, which were held at Fuji Speedway.
VeilSide was a Nissan Skyline GT-R (BNR32) user, and was famous as a tuning shop that drew out the maximum potential from the RB26DETT, the most powerful power unit in Japan. However, it is not widely known that the origin of the tuning shop is deeply related to the tuning of the L-type engine and that Yokomaku’s skills and instincts as an engine tuner were cultivated on the L-type engine. When asked about Yokomaku’s younger days, before he had even set up his shop, he replied.
“At the time, street Zeroyon was just getting popular. Everyone who liked modifying cars spent their days getting into drag races. I was also researching how to extract more engine power from the L-type engine, which was said to be the strongest power unit at the time, to drive faster than anyone else, and I was obsessed with winning. I learned mechanical tuning, studied carbs, and built injection and turbo versions.”
“During that time, I broke countless engines and there were many times when I didn’t get the results I wanted. I learned the basics of various engine tuning techniques from this L-type, made a lot of mistakes, and developed a lot of emotions and feelings other than technique and experience, such as frustration, bitterness, pain, enjoyment, and fun.”
The 230 Cedric has been given a special thought
Because of his passion for tuning the L-engine, Yokomaku became famous on the street Zeroyon circuit and established Yokomaku Racing Service, the predecessor of the current VeilSide, at a very young age. He also spent his days at a tuning shop immersed in L-engine tuning and used his own experience to provide information to owners looking for speed.
Because of this, the 230 Cedric with the L-engine tuned this time was an opportunity for Yokomaku to get in touch with cars and power units for the first time in a long time, which is why he also has special feelings about it.
By the way, why is the driving VeilSide a Cedric? This is a bit of a question, but Mr Yokomaku tells us why.
“My father drove this car when I was a child, and I had a vision of one day buying a car of the same model and making it into a comfortable car to drive using modern technology. I bought it about 10 years ago. After I bought it, I kept it in the garage and finally decided to get serious about building it, so I started restomodding it for this year’s Auto Salon to pursue the ideal I had in mind.”
The body color is Millennium Jade
Based on the 230 Cedric two-door hardtop, this model has a cooler, more American styling than the 330 Cedric that followed.
The theme in building the car was that it should be easy to drive in town and enjoy driving without stress, without thinking about competing. As it is an old car, it has been restored and given what is commonly known as fine-tuning.
As for the specifications that are of interest, the finish is so superb that you wouldn’t notice it if you weren’t told, but the front and rear wings are wide wings with the original lines. The front and rear fenders have been fitted with wide fenders while maintaining the original lines. As expected of a company that specializes in bodywork, the precision of the fitting is superb. The bonnet and boot have also been painted, so it’s hard to tell at first glance, but they’re made from carbon fiber. The exterior color is also a specialty of the Yokomaku representative and is Millennium Jade from the R35 GT-R T-Spec.
“The subdued color suits the old car well, doesn’t it?”
He told us.
It sounds like a musical instrument
As for the engine, which is their specialty, it is a fully tuned L28 modified 3.2L, but instead of the old-fashioned peaky specification, it is an injection carburetor specification for comfortable street driving and is managed using a Link CPU.
The engine itself is fitted with 89mm prototype pistons, connecting rods, and a crankshaft made by OS Giken, a 46.5mm intake, and 38.5mm exhaust with a high cam with wide overlap, big valves, reinforced valve springs, and titanium retainers. Combination. The head cover is based on a JMC with a VeilSide Yokomaku SPL process. A JMC head cover and custom-made tappet cover are fitted to it.
The key point of this L-type engine is that the intake manifold is made a little longer, but more importantly, the amount of effort put into the exhaust manifold was extraordinary. The theory is to stick to equal lengths in the normal way of making them, but the VeilSide Yokomaku representative was conscious of the echoing sound of the tacho leg in terms of making a good sound.
It was also produced with a focus on the fact that by matching the frequency of the sound one cylinder at a time, it would sound like a musical instrument. The aim was spot on, and the exhaust sound is said to be the most pleasant sound possible. The 6-1 rows in the assembly are also unique to the VeilSide tuning, as the internal structure is spiral-shaped, which speeds up the flow and allows the exhaust to exit smoothly. He explained that this was a technique used in the drag era to improve efficiency and this time it was applied to the part that produces a good sound.
He does all the research and even carries out the actual work
There is not enough space in this article to list all of the things that Representative Yokomaku is passionate about the 230 Cedric that he has lovingly built. As well as tuning, the restoration work alone is also done with a focus on new parts, collecting what can be bought, and if something is not available, selecting only the best from reproductions. He even researches every single bolt and carries out the actual work himself, which is impressive.
The representative of Yokomaku concluded with this story.
“We don’t want to compromise. When we do something, we think it through to the last detail and work to get to the point where there is nothing more we can do. I haven’t done a lot of restoration work so far, but I don’t think the type of person like me should get involved in this field, because there’s no end to it. Because there’s no end to it.”
But even so, the 230 Cedric built by Legend Tuner Yokomaku was even better than we had imagined.
translated by DeepL