$60,000 EXA Turbo!

EXADean · Post by **EXADean** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:13 pm

Name: Dean
Location: Sydney
Year/ Model: 1984
Colour: Factory white
Period of ownership: 12 years

Performance: Around 200kW at engine at 1.3 bar.

Engine Mods: EVERYTHING!!! 1.6-litres, E16 crank, shot-peened turbo rods, forged 7.4:1 pistons, O-ringed block, copper head gasket, heavily ported head, heavier valve springs, mild cam, three-angle-cut valves, match ported intake and exhaust manifolds, ExtrudeHoned intake and exhaust manifolds, 5mm oversize throttle body, 550cc injectors, adjustable fuel regulator, Bosch fuel pump, Garrett T25 turbo, water-cooled, custom cross-flow front-mount intercooler behind front bar, Samco hoses, alloy piping with 90-degree mount, Haltech E6A tuned on Silverwater Automotive dyno, HKS racing by-pass valve (venting through K&N), custom stainless drop-pipe, resonator, 2.5-inch exhaust, HKS Hiper muffler. Spent $11,000 on engine!
Battery moved to boot, radiator reservoir relocated to left side,
Standard gearbox - however I spent $3000 on a spare with a 4.2:1 (vs 3.9:1) Nissan Motorsports diff and custom-fitted N13 LSD. (Cannot run speedo though and needs custom driveshafts - put into too hard basket for street car).

Interior Mods: Full Recaro MOMO make-over: Red Recaro SRD seats (ala Integra Type R), MOMO seerring wheel and gearknob, interior condition is immaculate, car has sat in a garage under a car cover for much of the last 10 years. MB Quart speakers, Rockford Fosgate amp, Sony CD deck which, along with HKS exhaust temp and boost gauges are colour matched to the factory gauges. Everything works perfectly, from the demister to the air-conditioning. HKS electronic boost controller with overboost trigger near handbrake (from 1.0 to 1.3 bar). Levoc full-auto turbo timer.
ET Pulsar driver's footrest, with Levoc pedals. ET Pulsar centre console housing graphic equaliser and spectrum analyser.

Exterior Mods: Debadged (as we know, there are many of them!) destickered (ditto), tinted lights, lipped guards, MX-5 quarter-panel indicators, SVD stickers, red stripe (ala Porsche 911 GT3 RS), new bumpers, colour matched mirrors, bonnet vents, pop-up surrounds, wiper jets (and wipers, though not sure about them).

Wheels: 17x7 MOMO Tuner, 215/40 Falken.

Other: Full brake conversion: Prairie front vented and ET rear discs/arms and sway bar conversion, with ET master cylinder. Lowered King springs. Fully engineered as is. Spent around $60,000 over a 10 year period, lots of trials and errors and fixes, wrote off two previous white EXAs before finally finishing this one. 131,000km original, about 500km since engine built. Planning to feature in magazines and sell.
Power output is around 150kW at wheels on 1.0 bar, so have estimated around 200kW at the engine on 1.3 bar. Welcome to torque-steer country!

Future Plans: Sell, looking around $16,000 - about a quarter of what's been spent. Not using it anymore, seems a waste.

Pics: http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/EXADean/

Ben Hewitson · Post by **Ben Hewitson** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:31 pm

oh my.

dahurldog · Post by **dahurldog** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:34 pm

wow

$16000???
$60000!!!!!!!??????

Insane!

BennyET · Post by **BennyET** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:11 pm

jazza_1984 · Post by **jazza_1984** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:34 pm

thats awesome

raddavey · Post by **raddavey** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:27 pm

That's a lot to spend on an n12. Hell any car really

150kw atws but it has a t25 turbo?? I think the turbo is at if not over its limit.

Panda_ET · Post by **Panda_ET** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:38 pm

its only running 1bar tho about its maximum 1.3 is goin over the limit.

aaaaahhhh momo tuners that takes me back to the day ................

Post by **The Renegade** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:02 pm

WOW.

My car looks shit now......

angel · Post by **angel** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 12:12 am

with such awesome mods to the car, it would be ashame not to strap on a big ass turbo and pump a dick load of psi through it, with a good tune of coarse

oh, and the car is beautiful, well done.

exanator · Post by **exanator** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 12:24 pm

that is the best example of a n12 exa ive ever laid my eye's on....omg im in love!!!!!

honestly any real exa lover would purchase this beautiful machine...........

Ben Hewitson · Post by **Ben Hewitson** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:38 pm

exanator wrote:honestly any real exa lover would purchase this beautiful machine...........

i'd buy it..

Red Rocket · Post by **Red Rocket** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:43 pm

$60,000 ??? WTF.... mate if that's true then you must be crazy, you may as well keep the car... selling it for $16,000 just doesn't do it justice. You must have "more money than cents (sence)". It's a clean looking car but I have to be honest, for the money spent, it should look and go alot better then that.

ET 4 EVA · Post by **ET 4 EVA** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:29 am

holy shit 60000!!

man imagine if you had saved that you would have enough money to buy a brand new car from the dealership imagine what 60000 gets you

Ben Hewitson · Post by **Ben Hewitson** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:52 am

you got to remember that the cars been modified for about 12 years and theh owner would probably have built it from the ground up in the days when things were more expensive..

when i blew a T02 turbo for the first time it cost me $900 to repair it because that was a cheaper option than buying a T25. we are definately lucky that we are all able to purchase turbos for under $250 and cars for under $3000 these days. dont forget these EXA's were about $15,500 to $17,000 when they first came out.

you lot live in a cheap and easy world of eBay nowadays. back when i started modding cars you wouldn't baulk at paying $3000 for a DCOE setup on your car. now you could have Quad throttlebodies, extractors, engine work, massive head and cam plus a microtech for that $$s

EXADean · Post by **EXADean** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:07 am

Guys, thanks for the positive comments. And yes, agreed, it's a lot of money to spend, as my dad has been telling me all this time! And friends. And myself! So it's nothing I don't know. But to suggest 'it really should look and go a lot better'?... It's not a drag car, it's not a show car, it's a bit of everything and a complete package road car and represents exactly how I wanted it to be; basically a modern day representation of an EXA. Of course with $60k in my pocket I'd buy an Evo 9, but remember $60k is over 10 years not a lump sum - about $6k a year. So I'd have just finished paying off a 1996 Evo 1!

But it doesn't take much to rack up, look at these bills:
Engine build (incl ECU, i-cooler etc); $11,000
FITTING engine to car (mounting i-cooler and piping, harder mounts, wiring, fuel lines, dyno time: $16,000!! (popped my eyes out too)
Seats: $2500
Wheels: $2000
Stereo: $3000
Gearbox: $3200 (with LSD and Nismo ratio - unused)
Car: $7000

That's $45,000, not including brakes, suspension, boost controller, steering wheel, and all the little bits I bought from Nissan to keep it looking new (like bumpers). Plus engineer's certificate, it just keeps going...

But my main defence is that without doing all this work I wouldn't have learnt all I know about cars and given me the skills and knowledge - so it's paid off in other ways, including my career. I was Editor of a modified car mag for 6 years.

It only runs a T25 because I hate turbo lag: I wanted it driveable and less laggy while still making power. Someone else can fit a larger turbo and aim for a power figure if they want.
Yeh, about 1.3 bar is its limit. The engine spent a few weeks on an engine dyno before being returned to the car so it's fine at 16-18, and good for short bursts at 19-20psi.

Yes, i could keep it, but that's exactly what I've done for the past two years since getting it rego'd and I've done 500km and had it sit under a car cover - I'd rather see someone else enjoy it, or take it further. My job also gives me access to other cars so when an Evo 9 or Lotus Exige is sitting in the garage, it's a tough argument to drive the EXA!
But I'm moving overseas soon and rather than put it in storage, thought I'd gauge interest for sale and being an observer of n12turbo.com for years, wanted to share it here first!