Motor Magazine
by "Motor"
Australia's most highly respected motoring magazine
Bigger intercooler plus tweaks to intake,
exhaust and mapping reap 255 kW reward |
|
Almost 12-months ago, and Hawley and Morely are standing next to a bog-standard
Nissan 200SX at Shepparton’s DECA facility in Victoria, chatting about why
we both reckoned it was good enough to win Performance Car of the year.
A brilliant balance of power, precision, comfort and handling we thought,
and darn good value into the bargain. Would we change anything if we
owned it? Maybe a bit more rubber, but it needed bugger-all else. Don’t think there was even a consideration of upping the horsepower, but then that’s an idea way outside the purview of a PCOTY judge. There’s other people whose job it is to make fast cars into tyre-fryers. People like the chaps at APS, where too much turbo boost is just never enough. Well, it had to happen. APS have turned on the 200SX, and the result is an engine kit that significantly boosts power without being totally stupid, and doesn’t cost the earth. It’s called the JR Spec package, in honour of one Jim Richards who has had a hand in its development. There are three levels of tuning (and expense), going through numbers one to three. We’ve driven spec level JR2, which costs $4,950 not including installation. But before talking turkey about what the bits and pieces actually are, let’s cut to the chase and discuss a few very beautiful numbers. For starters there’s power. Lots of it. Nissan quotes 147 kW at the fly for the standard car, but when this baby went on the APS dyno it showed 116 kW, meaning either (a) the 200SX has a surprisingly efficient drive train or (b) Nissan under-sells its power output. Whatever. By the time the APS parts have been fitted there’s fully 180 kW heading south, and that’s measured at the rear wheels. APS is figuring the conversion is good for a flywheel figure of 255 kW, developed at the same 6400 rpm as the standard 200SX. That’s an awful lot more mumbo than before, especially when vehicle weight has not been altered a jot by what’s happened under the bonnet, remaining at around 1400 kg (with its bigger wheels). So it is perhaps no surprise that the good news numbers continue on the drag strip. How does zero to 100 km/h in 5.45 seconds, and the standing 400 metres in 13.55, sound? In both cases it’s about a second quicker than the standard 200SX, and up there with some of the best around. It’s not quite as good as the power-to-weight ratio would indicate, but there are a couple of very good reasons for that. Number one is that by popping the clutch at about 3200 rpm there’s monster wheel spin happening out back, and not a little hopping of the rear axle. Give it too little and it’s well below its best torque band and the whole thing bogs down. A bit more traction and things could be sweeter. |
Wheels and exhaust
tip have more flash than that bloke named Gordon |
