When we last visited the wonderful world of 2Fizzle, a much-needed turbo upgrade and troubleshooting diagnosis were at the top of the "must do" list.Marco Vargas and Gary Narusawa from SR20Store (see "Boosting My Mobile", Dec '05) were able to get the SR20DET running fine after tracing problems to a faulty coolant temp sensor, a loose main ground and a turbo that had finally called it quits. But after a new turbo was bolted in, the stock injectors and factory boost settings made it nearly impossible to do any high revving without potential damage to the engine.
We immediately looked to HKS for guidance and Father Andy Cheng blessed us with a high-flow fuel rail and 740cc injectors while More Japan offered up a SARD Type R fuel regulator that allows for governing of fuel pressure and a stable delivery of fuel under various loads. However, the HKS fuel rail is not just a simple bolt-on affair; installing it requires you to switch to 6-AN stainless line and fittings, so I got in touch with my old friend, Stuart Trotter at Techna Fit, who supplied some often out-of-stock pieces to make the fuel rail work.
After the fuel system was upgraded, the car was once again rendered non-operational simply because the factory ECU is incapable of working properly with the bigger injectors. An aftermarket fuel management system is highly recommended and we felt that HKS' F-Con V Pro would work best, especially since we're working with a lot of HKS gear. But to make sure we spread the love as far as we can and keep you waiting for the good stuff, we'll highlight the V Pro tuning in the next installment, taking you from baseline figures to hopefully B-A-N-A-N-A-S figures after throwing in a pair of Stage 2 HKS 264 camshafts. But this story isn't over yet...
It's All About the Shoes, Money
What's the first thing most of you do when you buy a car that begs to be fixed up? That's right; you lower it and, if funds allow, add wheels. Riding OE high is ultimately, well, the most comfortable for the street, but we don't care-stiff suspensions tuned for the circuit, pissed-off girlfriends and back pains (Ha, who's the old man now? - JN) are all worth sacrificing comfort. And since I do plan on taking this piece of Fizz out to the track for some weekend road racing, a tuned suspension is a must. I was able to piece together a street kit that absorbs the harshest bumps and dips Los Angeles has to offer, using Tanabe's Sustec D-D coilovers (Tanabe recently updated this to the Sustec Pro S-OC) and tension rods from Peak Performance, a company that's made huge strides by equipping several Formula D cars with quality suspension components. I also decided to make the switch to five lug, seeing as how there would be more wheel options available to me, not to mention Peak also makes a five-lug conversion kit for the older Nissan 240SXs that were orginally equipped with the four-lug hubs.