The 4 stages of the JET-200 Development

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Jet 200 as you knew it... get ready for the next evolution.

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With the important things done first, engine, drivetrain and suspension, I wanted the car to look the part too. I hooked up with Origin Australia and ticked everything in the catalogue. Origin Streamline front and rear bars and side skirts, +50mm widebody rear guards, S14.5 +20mm front guards, Type 1 carbon bonnet, carbon boot lid lip spoiler, carbon door trims and aero mirrors.

Peter from Bodyform took on the job of fitting the kit and moulding the rear guards before the car was off to Xsquisite Customs for panel and paint. It was at this time that the idea was put forward to try and get the car ready for the 2007 Summernats, which was only 4 weeks away! Thanks to my, and Xsquisite Custom’s, relationship with Motoractive we were given a spot in the Meguiars Great Uncover inside the elite pavilion at the Summernats. Talk about pressure! The car also needed some wheels to match its new House of Kolor paint job and I wasn’t taking any imitation freebies on this one. I orded brand new Volk GT-Cs to my exact specification. 18x9+12 front and 18x11+12 rear. Got dish? Plenty.

After plenty of long days and a few all nighters, the car rolled onto the trailer at 3pm Thursday to make the trip to Canberra. The car scene was in for a treat as the first JDM-style car to ever be unveiled at the Summernats was ready. Nobody had seen it or knew what to expect but it certainly didn’t look anything like it used to. The car was well received and its two-tone satin and gloss finished helped set a few new trends in Australia. The car also won best engineering in street class at the Summernats. Mission accomplished.

After enjoying the car for a little while it seemed to good to last, and it was. The car started pressurising the cooling system due to what seemed to be a blown head gasket or lifted head, so the car was loaded up onto the trailer and taken back to Millennium Motorsports in Qld. The head was removed and no major problems would be found, this time anyway, so the head was skimmed and put back on with a new head gasket. $1000 later the car was running again, but not for long. Back on the dyno the car started experiencing valve float or hydraulic lifter pump-up, considering it had new springs and lifters in it I wasn’t impressed. Then, on one dyno run the head made some funny noises so we backed off. The noises got worse on back off so we shut it down. Lucky we did as the car dropped a valve due to a broken retainer. Surprisingly the rocker arm hadn’t broken but the valve hit the piston and was bent inside the head. Luckliy it happened at idle so the piston and head were fine but I did need a new valve and guide.

I wasn’t too impressed at this stage, as you tend not to be when your expensive 3000km old engine breaks. I decided the valve float rubbish needed to go so I bit the bullet and ordered Ferrea double valve springs, titanium retainers and some Tomei Pro-cams. Time to do it right. With it all back together I was psyched, but on start up the engine didn’t sound good. I wont go into what happened next but I ended up limping the car 1000km overnight back to Sydney in frustration.

I then decided to take the car to the place my close friends had been hounding me to go to for the last three years, Croydon Racing Developments. It was in June July 2007 I started my relationship with Jim Souvas and the boys at CRD, a relationship that is still going strong now.

In my quest to increase the driveabilty of the car I ordered a smaller and proven plenum from GReddy. I took the car to Hypetune to have one of their 70mm throttle bodies fitted along with some new intercooler piping. I also bought a new 4.1:1 R200 diff to shorten the diff ration from the ridiculous factory 3.7:1 and installed a Nismo 1.5-wat Pro TT model LSD, which is by far the best diff for street and circuit use I’ve ever experienced. The next step to getting JET200 running right was to re-set the shim clearances in the head and fit a stronger wastegate spring. With all of the work done it was onto the dyno and time for the master to get to work. Within minutes Jim had the car making the same power as before on 7psi less boost! He then re-set the rev-limiter from the old 7700 up to 8800rpm. I expressed my fear but Jim simply smiled and told me to relax. The result. 333rwkW on 21psi and 340rwkW on 23psi. I was stunned.

Lets compare it all again. Previously it came on at 4800-4900 and revved to 7700 rpm with peak power at 7200 and made 290rwkW on 22psi. Now it came on at 4500, revs to 8800 with peak power at 8000pm with 333rwkW on 21psi. The changes we made and the re-tune totally transformed the car beyond what words can describe, but I’ll try. The car used to drive like a 400kW car that only made 290kW, but now it drove like a 250kW car that makes 330!! The diff ration and new powerband made the car a dream to drive and very, very quick. Period.

With the car now a weapon and some upgraded brakes installed it was all coming together but as usual, something went wrong. An old problem came back, the pressurising cooling system. Here was my predicament. I had 4 weeks to get the car ready for the reality TV show Blood, Sweat and Gears and I left for the US in 2 days. I ripped the motor out and got it the boys at CRD. When I returned in 3 weeks I had a freshly re-assembled engine waiting for me. Jim found what the problem was all along. The oil pump wasn’t machined with the head so the deck wasn’t level causing the head to warp. A simple mistake that no good engine builder should ever make. I was rather annoyed about the money to spent to fix it the first time! Jim also installed new 0.5-inch head studs and gave the engine a health check. Back on the dyno, all good. 330rwkW all day.

After fitting some Toyo semi-slicks the car was off to Blood, Sweat and Gears In Victoria. On the first day of competition I lined up on the runway and had the opposite problem to the rest of the competitors, too much grip, and snapped both driveshafts, causing me to miss two events and pretty much putting me out of the competition. Thanks to Luke Fink I got the shafts fixed that night and after also fixing a broken crank angle sensor I cam back and won the advanced driving course, motorkhana and came 2nd I the go-to-whoa. I may not have won the show but I re-gained my dignity.

The car was now driving the way it always should have. I hit the track again for some fun but two more broken driveshafts was the least of my problems. Half was through a day of fun at the track the oil pump destroyed itself. I shut the car down as quick as I could, thanks for warning lights on the Haltech digital dash, and got it towed home. In complete frustration I left the car at home for the Christmas break before pulling out the engine in February 2008. Jim pulled down the engine at CRD and the standard oil pump had pretty much disintegrated. A standard oil pump isn’t designed for 8000+ rpm, especially when it turns out the crank wasn’t balanced.

The boys at CRD decided JET200 was the perfect test bed for some new Nitto Performance Parts so the engine build was put on hold to wait for the parts. While this was going on I decided to strip the engine bay to be painted and then one thing lead to another. Before I knew it the interior was stripped, the windows were out, the kit was off and the car was undergoing a full makeover! In July 2008 my S13 took centre stage, being built in a month and providing a heap of fun. Poor JET200 was put on hold until stage-4 began.

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