Tonight was definitely an interesting night. For the past few weeks, I've had a friend that's been wanting to race. He recently acquired a red 200sx that had a JDM motor swap or some such. The motor is a 2.0 turbo, and the car weighs in at about 2500 pounds after the new motor. The car also has full coilovers, a boost controller, and an FMIC. My car is still stock except for a cone filter on the stock intake and has the t56. So I'm sitting at home with my roommates, watchin the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie and having a good laugh. I forgot that I was textin this friend, and finally check my messages. They were a challenge to race. I was about to answer his messages, but he was already callin and askin for interstate runs. I said sure. I've offered to drive down to Bloomington for some runs, but considering it's a 2 hour drive, he's declined to save us both gas. It just so happened he was in the neighborhood. About half an hour after the call, he and his friend met up with myself and my roommates at a local McDonald's and do the pre-race rundown. He had his friend ride with him, my rommies rode separate. I was to honk 3x then we'd take off. We started at a 40 roll and did a couple. Did a couple 60 rolls. And in the midst of all this a 15 or 20 roll.


40 rolls...all ended about the same. We'd be even until about 70-90 mph, then he'd start gettin me. At about 130, he'd have me by 2-3 cars.

60 rolls...again, all of these ended about the same. At about 130, he'd have me by a couple cars.

15-20 roll. This one I'm fairly proud of. I started pullin and kept my ground for quite awhile. But at about 120 he had me by a car.

I cannot fault this loss on anything but the fact that his car is pretty quick. All of my shifts were dead on, and I gave her heck all the way through. I even made sure that most of my runs didn't require a shift immediately. I'm not ashamed of losing...those cars can have a wicked bite to them. All in all, this was a good night, and some really good runs. This week, I'll be getting a good tune up...and in a couple weeks my new intake and exhaust shall be in, so I'll have more info on a rematch soon enough. Though it will most likely be a track run. Either way...I'm definitely lookin forward to it.

No matter what there are always faster cars out there so don'r fret over it.

On a side note though seems that on your 15-20 run your torque got you a better jump which means if you ran a 1/4 mile drag race you would most likely be the victor.

Yep, those LT1's are torque monsters and can really rip it up from the slower rolls. Very nice runs, there is no shame in losing!

I'm not frettin too much over it. It's kinda funny...did those runs last night, and the first set of parts I ordered came in today. Thermo and K&N intake. I expected to lose from the beginning. That kinda made me wanna race more. I love fast opponents more than I enjoy winning. I was pretty excited when I did the low roll though. The torque on these is pretty mean.

wow! a motor swap!!!! whooopdeeee do!

Like they said tho, theyre always be fast cars...but think about whos put more money and work into their cars too, and whos really gettin more bang for their buck?

Do a few mods to yur and challenge him again
a good set of tires, and a few mods like the ones youve been lookin at and you'll prolly get him


like he said too, youd probably get him in the 1/4 anway...

Haha when compared to a regular 1.6 motor those cars come with, it's stupid fast. The guy bought the car as is for about 5k. It came with the coilovers and motor swap, along with the boost controller. Personally, I think he got a pretty good deal. My mods just came in today, and the exhaust is getting looked at tomorrow. He and I are both going to wait til the track for the next challenge. I already have new back tires. Falken 329 ziex z rated. I've been told these aren't so hot at the track, but I like them and hopefully they will last.

A 200sx with a 2.0 motor is a nice setup to start, but it would not surprise me he has a 15+ # turbo in it. Those are crazy fast when you do that. My buddy had one with a 30# on it. That was almost scary for how light the car is. then again, he had about $20,000 in it.

At least he was cool about it. Get new tires, the intake, and exhaust on it and you should be set. Change all the fluids to synthetic and get about 10hp more (proven). Also, have you put a short throw shifter in it? A better clutch? I did both of those and noticed a big difference on how the car performed.

Matt

Those cars are fairly common over here in Okinawa...in fact, I've worked on one. An interesting problem is that they keep losing their fuel pumps and like to rot all the rubber hoses. They are scary fast even stock and were meant to be by Nissan. If that guy has overboosted the engine it will be even faster, but also capable of blowing itself up if you race it enough times and that isn't so bad.

If your car is taking him out of the hole, then your engine is definitely making the right torque, but it is falling off rapidly at high rpms. What's probably happening to your engine is the lifters are floating on the cam above 5,000 rpm, so there really isn't very much hp being made where you need it and where his engine is turning on. You need an AFR Hydra Rev Kit to keep the lifters on the cam. This kit is worth 40 hp at 6,000 rpm and more the higher the engine is revved. That would be enough to beat the crap out of him...well, that and some 1.6 roller rocker arms. Don't forget to have the fuel cut outs reprogrammed to something around 6,100 rpm.

If you still have the stock cast iron exhaust manifolds, have them Extrude Honed--GM says that single change is worth 10 hp. Think about it--25 hp would make a huge difference in the way your engine responds. With the AFR Hydra Rev Kit, the new found rpms will work becuz the lifters will stay on the cam rather than bounce over the top of the lobes.

After you beat him, tell him you found a bad spark plug.

Thanks for the info. That sounds like a really good idea...but I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon. I'm gonna do an engine rebuild in the future, so it'd be counter-productive to do a lot of work now that's need to be replaced later.

All those parts can be used on the new engine. While the thing is apart, try and get the heads, intake and exhaust manifolds port matched, that will always make some more hp. Also, if the machine shop can do it, or you can find somene who knows what they are doing--try a little pocket porting on the heads. Or, do it yourself, it's actually pretty easy to do and there are a lot of books out there on the subject--even the Internet can help you. Pocket porting is worth about 10 hp as well.

The rods weigh 798 grams on avg, lighter 6.0 rods will make about 10 more hp at the rear wheels and lower reciprocating weight (you must balance the crankshaft to use lighter rods and pistons). Of course, the new rods will also cost more than you want to spend, but it is something to think about.

It's fun to start adding hp and this is real hp, it shows up at the rear wheels and will help you to contain those pesky Ricers. Funny thing about this type of hp is that gas mileage goes up as well...if you can keep your foot out of it.

The plan for this car is to do a 383 or 396 stroker once I do the rebuild. Would I be able to reuse the rev kit on a higher cid motor? And ricers...won't be a problem soon. Least not the biggest problem ever. I'm not trying to make a "rice killer" or anything, because there will always be a faster car. Car is currently at an exhaust shop getting the Borla on and cats off. After the optispark, wires, and plugs are replaced I'm putting on my K&N, Jet Mass Air, and new thermo. Next is headers and I should be good for awhile. I may pick up an LT1 or LT4 manifold from a junkyard and have it ported out. But I'm off subject.

Yes, the rev kit and roller rockers will transfer over. Yup, sounds like Ricers won't be much of a problem.