The Forgotten Warrior

With the new-age Impreza WRX's extra pork and slightly dulled performance, it's no surprise that the hi-po market has swung a little more attention in the direction of the Nissan 200SX. This sweet SR20DET powered Nissan coupe has been slogging away with reliable, grunty performance and enjoyable RWD handling ever since it was released in back in '94. And, with more oo and ah-ing over the current S15 200SX, it is inevitable people will begin casting their minds back to the S14 - which is mechanically almost identical.

And that's where Andy Chen of Melbourne's Access Auto Engineering is sitting pretty - he's already done many of the hard-yards on Nissan's being-reborn flier.

Having picked up this update S14 in 1997, Andy immediately set about giving the subtle coupe curves a few more lines of aggression. A full fibreglass body kit was ordered in - complete with front spoiler, rear wing, side skirts and aero mirrors. However, standing back and admiring the new body structure, there were now two glaring areas that had to be fixed - body ride height and the stockie 16-inch rims.

Being an authorised A'PEXi distributor, Andy installed a set of fully adjustable coil-overs. With the ride height set to Andy's taste - so the front new bar wasn't going to clout every driveway - the inside of wheel arches were then beautified. Filling them out very fatly are 18 x 8.5 and 18 x 9-inch Wise sport rims, clad in 245/40 and 265/35 Falken rubbers.

And now Andy set to work giving the SR20DET enough beef to set those rear Falkens on fire.

First came the parts that are a prerequisite for making power - a free'd up intake and exhaust. Andy removed the factory airbox and intake duct and connected an A'PEXi pod filter to the factory airflow meter. A flexible cold air duct ensured that the engine wouldn't be inhaling its own body heat. A'PEXi was again the name trusted to relieve factory exhaust backpressure - there's a full A'PEXi 3-inch system with a titanium muffler and a (locally-inserted) 3-inch high-flow Supercat.

Pretty well anyone can do what had been done so far - but here's where Andy really started to elevate the SX into Supercar territory. Firstly, the factory ECU was discarded to make way for a Wolf 3D programmable management system, with boost increased via the use of a separate A'PEXi electronic boost controller. With 1.2 Bar pumping through the stock Nissan turbo, the airflow and heat demands now placed on the factory intercooler were too great, necessitating a monster A'PEXi GT-Spec front-mount air-to-air core. Fuelling was also bumped up to a set of A'PEXi 550cc injectors.

Immediately wanting to follow this up with the next level of performance, Andy must have been inspired by one too many Gran Turismo games, and went for a monster 'turbine kit' - an A'PEXi 650hp job! With the monster turbo and external wastegate bolted to the side of the otherwise stock SR20, Andy soon realised the outcome of such a combo. The turbo wanted to boost ultra-hard - but the stock internals wouldn't have been able to hack it. What's more, the dam thing didn't come up onto boost until around 4500 - 5000 rpm! As Andy says, it was absolutely no good on the street.

Certainly, Andy had now learnt his lesson - he knew the importance of a good 'street package'.

So he removed the 650hp kit and eased back to a small - but effective - upsize over stock. The SX now spins an A'PEXi turbo - about the same size as a Subaru VF22 - mounted on an A'PEXi manifold. Due to the problems that were experienced tuning the Wolf system, a Microtech MT8 unit now took over the reins. As before, no airflow meter was required because an internal MAP load sensor was utilised.

In search of still more power and the mechanical strength to withstand (perhaps!) another turbo up-size, Andy opted to tear the motor down and stuff it with some rugged stuff. Locally made forged pistons were slid into the bores and the factory rods were lightened and balanced. Interestingly, a pair of mild A'PEXi cams was also slotted into the DOHC head. Andy says these are a great cam for the street - not too lumpy. At about the same time, the previously fitted aftermarket clutch - which was now starting to slip - made way for a Nizmo full-faced device.

Knowing first-hand how easy it is to get massive power at the expense of drivability and reliability, Andy is extremely please with the balance of performance of his SX. Making 200kW at the wheels running everyday PULP and on 1.2 Bar boost, it might not be a drag car - but it can sure give such cars a scare when they're not in a drag racing environment (ie jungle juice, VHT'd track, full-bore launch etc). And - unless you want to be King Doorslammer - that's the whole idea, ain't it? Without having ever taken the car to the drags, most people around the Access Auto Engineering workshop are predicting around 12.4 - or better - over the quarter mile (though that'll probably be on slicks).

And there's no stripping of interior trim to make up for less-than-Herculean power. Andy has ensured he's comfortable in his everyday streeter, with an Alpine flip-out TV/deck, Phillips amplifier and a full set of Phillips speakers; splits in the front and full-rangers in the rear deck. Andy needs his bass to pump, so there are also dual 10-inch subs in the boot.

A'PEXi gauges also give the low-slung cabin a high-performance feel - there's an elegant pod on the passenger crash panel, housing an exhaust gas temp meter and a boost gauge. On the opposite side of the car, you'll see an A-pillar pod holding oil pressure and oil temperature gauges. Andy likes to feel safe an' secure, so there's a Nizmo semi-race set for the driver as well as a racing harness. The rest of the interior is stock, except for an effective silver highlight along the console - this helps to lift some of the drab grey feel.

Braking is one area where he's yet to really do the biz. The slotted A'PEXi front discs and GT-Spec brake pads all the way 'round make an improvement over the stock ABS, but Andy has major plans. He's gonna fit a truly massive A'PEXi R-Spec disc and caliper set - a set-up designed to slow proper race cars!

Once he gets some slow-ass new-age Rexie projects out of the way, he'll get down to it!

Contact:

Access Auto Engineering
+61 3 9873 0133

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