Fast Fours & Rotaries Magazine

If Nissan's marketing department needs a kick up the date for its bland marketing of what has to be the best value rocket currently available - the 200SX - then so too do the mainstream motoring magazines who reported its quarter-mile as a "respectable" 14.7 secs.

Thanks to Simon Gishus and his outer eastern Melbourne Nizpro company, plans are afoot to improve Nissan's already exciting package. Through negotiation with Nissan dealers, a "power-up" package is currently in the design phase and is destined to become an optional factory extra - but with fitment and warranty handled by Nizpro.

Simon's plan is simple: improved power, handling and aerodynamics should make for a vehicle capable of a top speed of between 260 and 270 kph, the quarter mile covered in 12.8 to 13.2 seconds, and all packaged in a neatly-styled coupe.

But first things first, Simon needed a base line to work from, so he wheeled his as-yet untouched development base-model 2500 km-old 200SX over Calder Raceway's quarter-mile. After being told "the spectator's parking is over there!" Simon carded a 14.4 then a genuine 14.04 @ 96 mph on only its second run! No special tricks, just standard boost pressure, standard tyre pressures, a good launch, half-a-tank of fuel and all the MoTeC telemetry gear in the boot! Amazed? So were we! Since the run the car's recorded 147 hp on a chassis dyno and according to the horsepower calculator is making 200 bhp - the standard factory figure!

A price tag of around $8000 is Simon's target for the upgrade kit, a tidy little sum which will net 200SX owners an aero package (with a rear wing that works), trick steering wheel, carbon fibre gearknob, dropped suspension, custom Jamex springs and matched-rate gas shock absorbers. Optional will be 17-inch rims and rubber.

Under-bonnet hardware starts with turbo mods, increased boost, a vastly larger intercooler, engine management mods, an oil cooler and cold air duct. A special three-inch mandrel-bent stainless exhaust system will compliment specific Genie turbo headers. The extra mumbo will pass through the standard driveline that is purported to be bullet-proof. With a start like this, we'll be sure to keep you posted on its progress.

You may have seen this car before. Remember that standard looking 200SX in Vol 8 No. 4 that Simon from Nizpro had big plans for? Well, it's had a few tweaks since then and is back to prove itself. It was also featured last month outlining Nizpro's plans to produce a limited run of 25 200SX-Rs, as they have badged them with the 'R' derived from "big brother" Nissan Skyline GT-R), much like the RX=7 SP, with the ultimate goal of competing in next year's 12 Hour race.

This car had one destination laid out for its punishing life - to be THE BEST! Nothing was forgotten in its development: from the carbon fibre front and rea spoilers and Nizpro sorted suspension to the impressive claimed 230 kW engine. Where so many people let horn looks over-ride a well-balanced genuinely quick car, this car was designed by Nizpro in Melbourne for one thing - lapping quickly and reliably. In only a few laps around the Creek, it seems they're well on the way to getting it right.

Simon from Nizpro's last words as we left the pits were "Thrash the shit out of it! If it is ever going to break then we want to know now." No need to ask twice! Mark's eyes lit up as he squeezed the throttle for the first time. "It has great midrange." Said Mark. "Overall it hasn't got much more power - if any - then the Federal or BD4's car. But overall as the package it is an outstanding car."

And it would want to be too. With the price of modifications edging towards $20,000, the customer would want to see some sort of substantial improvement over the factory benchmark. Through turn one at 190 km/h on road tyres was a moment clearly etched in my mind as Mark explained how, "you can really feel the wings working." Thank God for that! Some of this extra sure-footedness can also be attributed to the Nizpro-tuned suspension which includes adjustable shocks and has the car sitting 1 ½ inches lower then standard.
 
The Nizpro machine also had its 7000rpm rev-limited removed which made the car more useable around Eastern Creek. The 200SX's standard gearing found, at two corners in particular, where an extra 1000rpm could be put to good use.

MoTeC EFI and a Garrett T3 turbo forces air in at 15 psi after its passed through the Nizpro marketed intercooler, which is more than five times the length of the factory model. As with all examples here, ignition remains standard but the exhaust is a stainless steel system with tuned length extractors to the turbo then a three-inch model mandrel bent pipe (with muffler and catalytic converter) split into twin two-inch tips.

All up, Nizpro's spicing up of the 200SX is a fantastic all-around package that is hard to beat. Racetracks usually find weaknesses in cars and Eastern Creek showed Nizpro's 200SX-R is a very strong car.