[Nafe]

Originally Posted by Varvs

the S13/180sx is no powerhouse, making only 150kw at the fly from the factory. the reason they are so popular though is that due to the turbo, it is easy to extract a comfortable amount of power with good response.

with a turbo back exhaust, aftermarket side mount IC and an intake filter upgrade and a $20 boost tee I have a heap more power and a much more fun car. if i went up to a larger turbo, even only slightly, i could be seeing another 10-30kw depending how risky I like to run.


with NA engines, you start with the basics (intake, exhaust, headers) but once youve done that, and perhaps a remap, there isnt a lot of modifications you can make that are inexpensive and easy to do. Cams, cam gears and headwork are all very expensive and dont net as much power as the bolt ones you can apply to a turbo engine.


a turbo model will make this much easier to tune and play around with. the NA is just to test the waters to see if the market is there, and it definitely is. watch them release forced induction models next refresh.

Please don’t explain to me how to produce more power from n/a and turbo engines. I am not an idiot. My first drift car was a turbo s13. My last drift car was an r32 with an rb25det. Neither particularly standard. I have been playing with import cars for the better part of a decade. I know very well how easy it is to produce power from turbo engines.
I would be disappointed getting 10kw out of a turbo upgrade.

My favourite drift car was my ae86. This was natro with alot of engine work. It had a stroker crank, high comp pistons, light weight mods, big cams, alot of headwork, extractors, computer, etc. So I also know how “challenging”/expensive results can be from N/A engines. And some rough plans I had in mind for my 86 were cams, gears, remap, intake, headers.

None of which is relevant to my post? My post was in regards to people saying “it needs more power”. As I said, you may think it does. But I may not. I don’t think it’s fair, or even possible, for any of us to say it does or doesn’t yet, because none of us have driven the car. Saying the N/A model is just to test the waters is a call only TMCA can make. They built it N/A for a reason. There may or may not be FI variations in the future, but it wasn’t built N/A to test the waters.

Balsak - 200hp can be enough to drift with. My AE86 had lower power to weight ratio and I drifted that car often and had a great time in it.