Justin's always loved S15s and without giving too much away; He currently has an insane s15 that has been in the works for years still getting pieced together at the moment. Like this s15 isn't nuts enough as is. But this car owes its thanks to Justin's other S15, Justin being without his s15 for so long had created a racing itch that needed to be scratched. This itch lead him to purchase this car off his mate and expose its true potential and to remind himself why he loves racing and why all the time and effort going to his lead s15 will all be worth it.
The s15s story actually starts with Justin's mate George back in 2014. George decided he wanted to go an alternate route for the s15 platform, a route that isn't taken very much at all, a Drag set up. We all know the s15 and S-chassis' in general has been done to death with the drift set up. It's understandable of course why thats the case. Most of the time if somethings popular its because its efficient at doing such. But a drag build is a far less common route and making a Drag s15 that kept the SR20 is a fantastic thing in my eyes.
Getting down to brass tacks. A fair chunk of the work was done to the s15 before Justins ownership, the version it is now has been refined since then but carried a lot of the original concept. George And his mate Petros had built the car from the ground up at PS Racing ( where Petros works ) with the goal of a well balanced street/drag car. The SR bottom end was left completely untouched and the head received all the goodies from the Tomei catalogue. Tomei solid lifters, Tomei upgraded valves and valve springs. Tomei 272 Cams and Tomei Cam gears to round off a very nice head. With a big turbo parked next to the freshly built head, The Sr20 spun up a very respectable 35o kilowatts to the wheels on E85. With the auto box dialled in and the 2 way Diff out back George took the s15 to the strip. The car ran an 11 flat which was a frustrating time as you'd expect, so the car got a rear set of IDS Drag coilovers and dialled in the suspension for it only to not see the strip again. Not claiming the 10 second time slip it deserved.
Come March 2020, Justin takes the keys to the 15. George happy to sell it off to him knowing he will give the car the love and attention it deserves. The Car goes back to PS Racing where Petros ( who is a mate of Justin's too ) updated the fuel system top to bottom. Ethonal that has sat for some period of time can do nasty things. A surge tank in the boot preventing the watering hole running dry and ID 1650 squirters and a Turbosmart fuel reg to quench the cylinder's thirst up front, plus new braided lines throughout the car. The gearbox got dropped and received a complete rebuild as well as a new torque converter. The engine was still in great condition and didn't need any attention proving how well it was built and tuned to be running on big power for that many years.
The refining continued in the bay with a complete custom dump pipe and exhaust system fabbed up thanks to the chaps and Powatone. They also made the intake and intercooler pipes to route the charged air track together and to top it off, a custom catch can. Justin dropped the front turbo housing, rocker cover, strut brace, the Mishimoto Radiator as well as all the fresh piping off to the powder coaters to have it all dusted black for a murdered out bay look.
With the engine bay now looking neat, Justin turned his attention to the exterior of the car. The car got sent off to get resprayed in it's factory Pewter grey, fixing all those little tell tale signs of the cars age. The 15 got some returning home gifts after paint. Being a brand new pair of headlights, making the front end pop. Plus some big meaty Mickey Thompsons that were wrapped around 15 x 8 Jegs Spike wheels at the back and some pizza cutter Jegs Spike wheels up front; to really give off that aggressive drag rake look. Yashio style rear tail lights and a ducktail spoiler rounded off the sleek but aggressive exterior look on the car.
Interior was the final area to address on the list. To keep Justin in place when he's launching from the tree, a pair of Recaro Pole position seats trimmed in leather and black suede. B&M pro ratchet shifter for getting through the gears and a Haltech IQ3 digital dash to show all the info coming out of the Elite 1500. Now back to the Dyno to get retuned, The car spun up the same power again; being 35o watts but on 3 less PSI this time. With everything set in place. Car is looking fire and mechhanically sound and then some. Only one thing left to do now.... Get that 10 second pass !!
With the magical 10 second pass on Justin's mind, he heads up to Sydney drag-way one Wednesday night in March, for the Aeroflow 'RACE 4 REAL' event. With the car dialled in and ready to race it was the moment of truth. Staged on the start line with the transbrake engaged and boost building up... Justin watched the tree lights fall, Releasing the transbrake and having a good launch, car hooking up well with the Mickey Thompsons. Clicking through the 3 gears for a smooth first pass and trapping and 129 mph. But was it a 10 second pass ? Yes ! yes it was. A 10.5 second pass. Mission accomplished. Lowering the rear tyre pressure, on the 3rd pass Justin's managed a 10.4 @129Mph !! The s15 has a time slip it deserves now and Justin could now return to just enjoying it for its good street car purposes.
A proper return to glory story just had its happy ending chapter written. Justin bringing this car back to life and better than before, and to go race it is a sacred desire for a large proportion of the modified car community. And to see it be so successful is a great reminder on why we do it.
Engine
- Stock Bottom end 2 Litre SR20DET with built head. 353 kw @24 psi
- Tomei Valves, Tomei Solid lifters, Tomei springs, Tomei 272 Cams & Tomei Cam gears.
- Garret GTX3076 with Twin 38mm Tial wastegates
- 6boost High-mount manifold
- Custom 3.5 inch exhaust system with
- Plazmaman Intercooler, Plazmaman Intake Manifold,
Custom intercooler and intake piping
- Mishimoto radiator
- Turbosmart Race port BOV
- Custom catch can
Engine management
- Haltech Elite 1500 ECU
- Haltech IQ3 Digital dash
- Turbosmart eboost 2 boost controller
Driveline
- Built C4 3 speed transmission
- Built 2 way diff
Wheels
- Jegs Spike wheels
- 15 x 8 rear, 17x 4.5 front
- Mickey Thompson 255/60 r15 radial tyres rear
Mickey Thompson 26/6.00 r17 front
Brakes
- r33 4 pot front Calipers,
- Gktech ABS delete kit
Fuel system
- 1650 ID injectors
- Turbosmart Fuel pressure Regulator
- Surge tank in boot
- 460 Walbro pump in surge tank
- Running on E85
suspension
- Import Drag solutions Coilovers
- Adjustable rear Camber and Toe arms
- DC Sport strut brace
Body and Paint
- Aero 2 piece skirts, aero rear pods
- yashio style taillights
- dmax rear spoiler
Interior
- B&M Pro ratchet stealth shifter
- 2 genuine Recaro Pole Position seats in leather and black suede
- Haltech IQ3 dash
Instagram:
Photos @ehrenfynmore
s15 @juza101
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