JET200 has come a long way since I bought it back in August 2003, but the modifications have never stopped. With the car running again, we thought we would look back at the history of the car. In part 1, we check out the cars initial stages of modifications.
Although I bought the car stock in August 2003, this is how the car looked within 2 weeks, and continued to look until the end of 2005
In this day and age, many car enthusiasts don’t own their cars long enough to do an oil change, so owning the same car and continually modifying it for 8 years is quite uncommon. The way I see it, giving the car a makeover is just as good as buying a new one, but doesn’t cost as much! But, after what I’ve been through with JET200, I’d like to think I could never sell the car…..ever!
So here goes. In 2003 I was living in Perth, working at a Subaru dealership. I had gotten rid of my MX-6 turbo, my first car, almost a year earlier and had the itch for a new car. I wanted an R32 GT-R, but at the time insurance and finance was going to be too much, let alone the running costs! I looked at a modified WRX, applied for finance, but the car was sold out from under me. With some money in the bank, I started looking for a new car. One of my friends at the time, Nathan, said I should buy his mates 200SX. I took it for a spin and loved it. After doing some research on the car to find out more about it, I realised this was the car for me. RWD is more fun and the Silvia is cheaper and easier to modify and fix than a WRX. There also wasn’t many modified S14s around back then either. I didn’t buy the series 1, obviously, but I did find a 1998 base model with 68,000km on the clock and the owner was desperate to sell it to move overseas. I checked it out and the body was straight and the interior clean but it had bald tyres, damaged rims and some paint flake on the front and rear bars. This didn’t bother me though as I knew new wheels and a kit would be on the car straight away anyway. It did, however, have a 3-inch exhaust system from after the dump pipe and a Selby front swaybar. Bonus! I managed to get the car for a steal of $16,500 and the journey begun.
I had organised the first round of mods before I had even picked up the car. I can’t remember if perfectly, but I’ll try. I drove the car straight to Formaz to pick up a pod filter and a bleed valve. The first weekend was spent making up a tidy stereo install, as a street car needs beats!
A nice neat stereo install. A street car needs beats!
A few days later the HKS SSQV blow off valve ( yes, they were still cool in 2003 ) and Hybrid intercooler kit arrived so I headed over to Formaz where I fitted it all up myself. With the new front mount on I was then able to get the bodykit fitted, so it was off to The Spoiler Shop to make the car the first S14 in Perth with a Vertex Kit. While the car was in the shop I picked up some 18-inch Lenso wheels with tyres from YHI and the car was nearly there. After picking up the car I then fitted up some lowered King Springs before fitting the wheels. Back then the phrases offset and hellaflush were unheard of! The last stage of its transformation was graphics. The guys from Red Earth Creations came up with the design and I picked the chameleon with the intention of making it blend in with the factory blue from certain angles, giving a more integrated look, and at the time, it worked a treat!
And this is how it looked in under a month of owning the car, although it may have changed wheels a coupe of times in the following 2 years.
Painted dash plastics is so....well, 2003!
So now that the car looked good ( for then anyway lol ), what came next? Well, in December 2005 I moved to Queensland but the car remained behind for a few more months. During that time the guys from Ovaboost Performance fitted up a Walbro in-tank fuel pump, APEXi S-AFC and a Malpassi fuel pressure regulator. This netted the car with a healthy 200rwkW. Nothing crazy by todays standards, but pretty good back then. The car then came over to Qld in June 2004 and I joined the Club Empire car club. The car then hit the streets of Qld every Thursday and Saturday night. I had a lot of “fun” and met a lot of new friends during this time. My next goal with the car was to try and make it the most powerful stock turboed/engined SR20 that I could. The goal was 300rwhp. Seems easy enough, but that was the sort of power Silvias with aftermarket turbos were making back then. So, I started adding parts in my quest. Nismo 740cc injectors, APEXi Power FC, Z32 airflow meter, catch can, tuned length manifold, custom screamer pipe and a GReddy Profec B Spec II EBC. With a dash of toulene for safety, Mick from Subzero tuned the car to make a tad over 300rwhp on 20psi. That sort of power on a standard turbo made it very responsive and it was deceivingly fast on the street, taking many unsuspecting scalps.
This is how the engine bay looked in April 2005.
On the dyno at Autosalon Gold Coast 2005 proving it made the power on a stock turbo. There where many non-believers in the morning, and none in the afternoon.
Proof that it made the power.
With the car making great power on a good budget I decided to make the rest of the car match it. An oil cooler, rear swaybar, rear subframe bushes and some gauges helped make the car a bit more track ready, and to prove it, I entered the 2006 Autosalon Street Car of the Year competition. Every other car there had massive power and huge modifications, they were the best modified cars in the country! But I wanted to prove my 10K budget build could punch above its weight, and that it did, taking out 7th out of 13 cars.
The drive from Liverpool to Wakefield. They tested fuel economy on the way and JET200 came second behind Steve Gosbee's MX-5
Convoy!
My first time around Wakefield. Was goign well in practice but had a big loose on the timed lap through the kink. Trying too hard I guess.
Believe it or not, but our 10K budget build 200SX beat Nico's NSX in the competition.
JET200 on display at Sydney Dragway during the competition. After this at Drag Combat the car ran a 12.8!
Well, I was very happy with the cars performance at this stage but where to go next? The big turbo upgrade was calling and drifting was becoming a distraction………. check out part 2 for the next stage in the history of JET200
