You're lying awake in bed. Moonbeams are streaming in through your open window and - out of the blue - a gust of wind blows the curtain. Within seconds the room grows insufferably cold. Your bedroom mirror ices up and you notice yourself breathing out steam. Something's not right; but all you can do is hold tightly to the top of your blanket, paralysed with fear. Then the floorboard next to your bed creaks and you can't help feeling the presence of someone - or something - alongside you. And then, "ARRRHHHHHH!"
Oops, enough of our nail biting haunted tale, we'd better get back on track now. This is a story of GGHOST - the inimitable 200SX owned by Bady Moussa. It's got nothing to do with ghosts of the spooky kind. Mind you, some people might think what's been done to this Nissan is a bit scary...
When Bady himself had his first encounter with after-life spirits, they instructed him to perform some mild mods on his 1996 Nissan 200SX. Bady - who was quickly becoming a slave to these spiritual messages - equipped the vehicle with a high performance exhaust, intercooler, blow-off valve and air filter. But that chilling mysterious voice kept on chanting to "go a little bit quicker, go a little bit quicker, go a little bit quicker........" (eventually tapering off). Bady then took his haunting to Con of Sydney's C&V Performance; "I must be able to run low 11s - maybe 10s," he pleaded in delirium. An order like that is enough to make the fastest 200SX in Australia. Indeed, though, this was the level of performance necessary to ensure that Bady could rid himself of the hee-bee-gee-bees and resume a normal life.
Like a man possessed, Con immediately set to work on the project, fully stripping down the potent little SR20DET motor. It was then given a rebirth with Carillo rods, Aries pistons (giving around a 7:1 compression ratio), an O-ringed block and a Trust 1.2mm copper head gasket. The 16-valve, DOHC head has received only mild porting, uses standard cams and valve gear while a catchcan takes hold of breathed oil. Casper was very happy with all that was taking place.
A monster turbo is a prerequisite for 10-second ET power, so a Mick's Metal Craft custom exhaust manifold was bolted to the side of the head. A big ball-bearing Turbonetics T4/T5 turbo was then located, together with a Turbonetics 45mm external wastegate. Turbine and wastegate flows lead into a 4-inch straight-through exhaust with a Magnum rear muffler and custom tip. It's quite a loud system, but it doesn't wake the dead. With air being drawn by an A'PEXi filter hanging out the front, around 18 psi of boosted induction air is then put through a Trust air-to-air intercooler and custom plumbing. A soul-pleasing Trust blow-off valve is tee'd in along the way.
Con installed a larger 70mm throttle butterfly to accept airflow into a standard intake manifold, which is hung with four "high mount" VL turbo injectors. Another set of four 200SX injectors squirt from their factory location, with fuel flow provided by dual 500hp pumps arranged in parallel out of a surge tank. The standard pressure regulator is retained.
Note that GGHOST also receives an injection of nitrous. A 40hp shot is put in just prior to the throttle, primarily to help it "jump off the line" - though the nitrous stream continues throughout the whole rpm range. This constant feed of gas also gives extra-chilled intake air - just like the air described in our opening ramble... A simple in-cabin switch activates the fogger nozzles.
Of course, an induction and injector set-up such as this would have severely spooked the standard Nissan ECU. A programmable EMS management system (running off a MAP sensor) is now wired under the dash. Initial tuning of the ECU with the new engine saw around 280kW recorded at the back wheels (on 22 psi but without nitrous). However, dropping the boost to a very safe 18 psi and using the nitrous shot sees a worship-worthy 320kW... And this turbo is designed to push anywhere up to 35 psi!
A powerhouse like this is certainly capable of running 10s, but Con said Bady would never be able to do those sorts of times reliably - not with the standard 5-speed gearbox still in place! Accordingly, the driveline sorting was left to Northmead Auto Centre, where the car scored a "tweaked" C4 auto trans with a B&M shift kit. A 4500-rpm stall converter sandwiched in between keeps the SR20 where it's got the bulk of its massive torque. The tailshaft and diff - amazingly - are standard. Nobody has read them the last rites yet...
Immediately after the engine was built (but just before the auto went in), Bady's midnight friends were also calling him to participate in the Sydney car show scene. At that stage, GGHOST had just received its present body kit - which "really spun everybody out". It's a custom Wanted Body Kits design, whose installation was finished off by Bady's cousin David. Included in the one-off package is a rear wing, front bar, heavily modified bonnet and side skirts. In its first showing, the SX rolled on "basic" wheels and carried a near-stock interior. After unexpectedly winning a trophy, however, Bady "got all excited" and upped-the ante on the interior, paint and wheels.
Indeed, the white-cloaked-ones were leading him in the right direction...
A lucky break came along when Dupont said they'd like to sponsor the car. Bady whole-heartedly agreed and had the most wicked paint job of all-time layered on. The factory green (Emerald blue) quickly got peeled back in favour of a totally custom job, incorporating a candy green bottom section, airbrushed (graduated) nose flames and a checker board hologram on the rear flanks. You're looking at around $13,000-14,000 worth of paintwork! Oh, and it's also the logic behind the GGHOST plates. The factory green paint has (obviously) disappeared - hence the name Green GHOST.
Once the final colours of the paint job could be seen, Master Auto Trim (who performed all the interior work at cost-price in exchange for promotion) could then select a colour scheme for in-doors. Terracotta orange leather got the nod, with the flame theme carried over to the door trims and parcel shelf. In other areas, the leather has been perforated or creased - to give a classy soft look. This high quality leather also extends to cover the Recaro front body-holders, in addition to the custom-contoured rear bench. As you can probably see, it's full leather "from top to bottom".
Other items (which almost seem insignificant, in contrast!) include an A'PEXi rev/speed meter, an exposed shifter mechanism (for a spooky look), plus a Momo wheel, gear knob and pedals. Autometer gauges let Bady check out the state of oil pressure, water pressure and engine revs. A Blitz 80mm boost gauge is also snuggled into where the air vent usually is on the driver's door. Mick's Metal Craft were again called upon to fabricate a custom rear strut brace, which is visible through the rear glass.
As you might expect, with all of this gear added, GGHOST is a little heftier than other after-lifes. Bady elects to strip out the interior whenever he ventures to the drag strip. He also replaces the boot lid, bonnet and front bar with the lighter-weight standard items - which take the car down to around 1400kg. The suspension set-up is also changed. Out come the Cusco struts and swaybars and the standard suspension goes back in. Bady says the softer rear-end helps the back dig in (upon launch) and get the power down. Once it gets boogying, its acceleration is almost surreal.
At the time of writing, a tasty set of 19 x 8 and 19 x 10s were almost ready to go on - most likely clad in Pirelli P-Zero rubber. In any case, however, these wouldn't give anywhere near enough traction to demonstrate the 200SX's immense power. Track duties see two spare wheels used as front-runners and 28 inch Mickey Thompson slicks under the rear.
This is - as anticipated - Australia's fastest 200SX. On its modest 18 psi boost (with nitrous), Bady has run a PB of 10.27 seconds at 134.8 mph. Scary fast! Con tells us it can go even faster in its current set-up - all it needs is a roll cage. By regulations, any car breaking into the 9s automatically requires a roll cage (which there presently isn't). However, Bady is now contemplating selling his monster (probably for around $65,000, enquire through C&V if you're interested). You see, ever since the 10-second car has been screwed together, he's been able to sleep uninterrupted... If he doesn't sell it, he will probably put a roll cage in it - just to see how fast it can go in its current guise. After that he'll sleeve the block, insert head studs, slot in new cams and a new intake manifold.
This will see GGHOST running deep into the 9s - enough to spook even the most ice-cool AutoSpeed readers!
Contact:
C&V Performance
+61 2 9690 2000
Thanks to Con and Vic, Danny, David, Tempe Tyres, Master Auto Trimmers, Dupont and North Mead Auto Centre.
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