If you've been wandering around www.emergent.com.au you will find one other site dedicated to the 200SX (if you haven't click here), and I maintain that one as well.  It has to be more "generic" and of general interest, but a few people have asked what exactly has been done to my car.  Well here goes...

By the way Top Nissan Sites rate the FAQ as one of the top 10 Nissan-specific sites worldwide.

This page is in roughly reverse chronological order.  Some of the projects are big enough, or have enough photos to warrant their own pages.

May 2005 - Arrigato my friend.

On May 20, 2005 I handed the keys of the car over to it's new owner.  I hope he has half as much fun with the car as I have.

What's next?  You will just have to watch and see...

April 2005 - All fixed and ready for sale.

I put it off for a long time, but the other day I put the plates into storage, and the 200SX is now in all the papers.  $A22,000 and it's yours.  You can even take a pick of some spares you think you might need.

September 2004 - All things must have an end

For a lot of reasons I don't really have time to go into, my 200SX is now for sale.  The price is available on request by email, and really does not even cover the cost of all the work carried out over the years.

I am particular about who the car will go to.  It is a very capable, and seriously quick package which will require care and respect.  The car is road legal, can be registered in all states of Australia (presently it's registered in NSW), and probably in other countries as well.

Delivery can be arranged at the buyers expense to any realistic destination.

July 2004 - Coolness!

The car has been off the road for a while following the demise of the front electric fan; and because of illness and injury on my part.  But after almost six months sitting idle, it started first time (on jumper leads).  Unfortunately I managed to wreck my filter in the meantime, so I need a new one...

August 2003 - Sit down and hang on

With some help of Pat Felstead I have a Sparco Evo race seat and genuine Bride S13-S15 mount.  The nice thing about this is that everything just bolts up.  It's amazing how much of a difference a firm-fitting seat will make.

April 2003 - Some extra instrumentation

My most recent acquisition is a set of 52mm electroluminescent gauges and a carbon fibre housing.  The two gauges I chose were 30psi boost (I'll move the little HKS unit to the new car as it's more subtle) and electric oil pressure.  Since the pressure sender screws in place of the original switch on the engine block I will need to create a small circuit to drive a tell-tale light as I can't get enough clearance to restore the original switch.  I am thinking of a pair of analogue comparators and high-brightness LEDs to give a "soft" and "hard" warning.  Should be piece of cake.

October, 2002 - Water Spray

It's no secret I like my toys...  And since others are catching (and exceeding) my power numbers I need to do something.  One way to make more power is to get more dense air in.  To do that we cool it.  How?  Spray water on the intercooler!  I used the eLabtronics controller, and added a second pump to the standard washer bottle.  The controller takes up about half the glovebox, but Jess still has enough room for her stuff, so all in all, a good result.

Jan 2002 - 218KW

Well it had to happen... The turbocharger was only going to take so much punishment before it let out a bang and the car became more or less normally-aspirated. So I booked the car in for a rebuild. In a moment of weakness a GT28/T04 was ordered. This would mean some retuning of the Haltech and EBC, but this will also get around the way that the T28 simply can't move the air required. Beyond about 1bar (14.7psi) we're just outside the efficient range, but I digress...

Just before Christmas, the fuel pump decided it would self destruct (I don't think the events are related). So, at the same time the turbo went in, an R33 GT-R fuel pump was fitted to the tank (more flow, and costs less than a Genuine S14a part!). When I saw the dyno sheet, I was expecting about 200, but the peak of 218KW at the wheels just left me speechless!

Jan 2001 - 186KW

A bigger intercooler has been a long sought-after component.  It went on next (photos coming soon), and in the same visit to the workshop a newly developed Electronic Boost Controller.  Can't say too much about this yet but it seems to work well and offers an alternative to the Japanese units.

A Haltech E6K ECU replaced the factory unit,  It took a few days to get right because of a faulty unit, but already I can tell you the it's worth it.  The car pulls like a train even on low boost settings.  Just have to figure out why the fan runs on high speed all the time now...

Next thing on the agenda was an enforced brake upgrade. A set of DBASport rotors replaced the worn out originals. These work better and weigh less than the orignals

October 2000 - White lines

MRT fitted a set of front & rear adjustable sway bars and a strut tower brace to the car recently.  If I had to name one change that transforms the car this would be it.  Gone is the traditional understeer, replaced with a very crisp turn-in and generally improved drive.

Carbon Fibre Aerodynamics

February 2000 - 130KW

Can an exhaust system take a week to build?

The car always stopped OK, but it didn't inspire too much confidence.  I replaced the stock pads with a set of Pagid RS4-2 Semi-race pads.  It's hard to believe the difference that this makes to the car.  At this point, we entered the Dutton Grand Prix Rally

For competition, I also run Yokohama A032R tyres on a set of factory rims which I picked up for not a huge amount of money through the trading post (Use the web, it's worth the effort)

April 1998 - New Audio

One of the first things I noticed about the car is that the "Premium" sound system was absolutely appalling...  Hyper Sound in Blacktown tore it all out and replaced it with a Sony head unit and changer, Rockford Fosgate splits in the front, and a 10" Image Dynamics Sub in a custom enclosure in the boot.  Before you say "But you can't hear the sub in a closed boot", let me assure you it works very well indeed.  The end result was not cheap, but cost a lot less than systems I've heard that don't sound as good.

November 1997 - Gauges and Pod

Every turbo car needs a boost gauge right?  So how come the 200SX doesn't have one?  They are not hard to fit once you know how.  My FAQ has instructions on how to install one and save the $100 the store will charge you.  I didn't want to put a pod on the steering wheel or A Pillar, and since I'm not a smoker I replaced the ashtray with a panel that houses the gauge.

Next was a TRUST pod-style intake, supplied by Evolution-R in Melbourne.  Better throttle response was the result, but I need to arrange a cold-air feed for it.

Here's a dyno chart taken from the car at this point (click the image to make it larger)

August 1997 - Delivery

I bought the car new in 1997.  The Racing Sparco Pythons were supplied by the dealer.  Within a month it was taken to Selbys (now part of whiteline suspension) for new springs to get the "floating feeling" out of the car.