Words: René Vermeer Photos: Shaun Constable
Ah, kids these days — 23 years of age and bored with 500kW at the rear wheels, in a lightweight, Japanese tin can. Jayden Douglas was featured on the cover of NZPC 290, which just seems like yesterday; since then, he has grown bored with his 500kW powerhouse — some people are just built differently. While most of us are happy street sharking in our peasant-spec 200–300kW ‘high-powered’ machines, there’s the odd Wild Thornberry that needs to more-than-double that. As we discussed in Jayden’s last feature, this S15 was largely built by someone else, with Jayden purchasing what was his dream car, then dialling it in to his taste. We can’t help but think that, this time around, Jayden wanted to make the build his own, with an engine so vastly different in power that, finally, this S15 wouldn’t be shadowed with the subconscious knowledge that someone else had swung the spanners.
“Enough power is never enough these days and I get bored really quickly, so I just wanted to keep pushing it. I had no plan in mind when removing my old motor. I didn’t plan to go overboard, but I think I got a bit carried away. However, a 3.2-stroker was always something I wanted to do,” Jayden told us.
With close ties to Ethan at Hi-Power Performance, Jayden wouldn’t enlist anyone else with the carving of this new path he was about to embark on. Initially, he wanted to purchase a billet block — which he still does, by the way — but as this build was done during the peak of Covid lockdowns, he didn’t want to wait a lifetime for parts and the block itself. Ethan was confident he could piece together something capable of the numbers Jayden was after with a cast Nissan block, so an entire catalogue of parts was ordered. The first task was to increase the capacity to 3200cc, over the RB26’s 2600cc. For this, a Spool stroker kit was purchased, containing drag-spec rods and everything else needed to give Jayden the capacity he was after to spool a much larger turbo.
With little to no information on installing a Honda engine into a Daihatsu of this model, Suresh and his mates took on the project themselves. But, due to the size of the B18C engine compared with the factory motor, a fair bit of custom work was needed — the first being the engine mounts. Then it snow-balled, as Suresh explains: “The first step was customising the engine mounts. Which led to customising the axles, modifying the brakes, then installing the wiring loom and ECU. After all of this hard work, we decided to turbo the engine before dropping it down — this then led to fully forging the motor.”
An older, more archaic BorgWarner S366SX-E turbo was used to get the RB26 up to the previous power figure. This time around, Jayden wanted room for much more and opted for a Precision 8385 turbo, which sits on top of the same 6Boost manifold run previously. You just need to check the spec sheet to see that it’s capable of some serious power, with the compressor being 17mm larger than before. The car previously ran a five-speed RB box, but there was not a single chance that would last longer than the first pull on the dyno. To combat this, Jayden opted for a six-speed TTi sequential gearbox.
He tells us: “I’ve always wanted to go sequential, even on my last set-up. So when I started deciding what motor I was going for, I sold my old gearbox and looked around. I chose TTi because they are local and easy to deal with.”
Now featuring a mechanical fuel pump, 2600cc injectors, enough gearbox to last a dyno session, and enough turbocharger to reach the moon, the S15 was dropped down to NDT Developments. Brian is by far one of New Zealand’s best RB tuners, so there was no denying that he’d be pushing this package to the limit. On 32psi of boost, the RB32 produced a staggering 758kW to the rear wheels with ease — a power figure most of us wouldn’t see even in our competition drift, drag, or circuit cars.
“It’s definitely not the sort of power you can use on the street, but it’s fun. I just put my foot down and see what happens — being rear-wheel drive, it’s a lot more fun! I haven’t had many teething problems so far; it’s just me wanting to upgrade things, so for me it has been a pretty reliable set-up so far,” Jayden says.
We’ve learned from what we’ve seen of Jayden’s social media platforms, his motorsport fabrication background, and his role as pit crew member for Fanga Dan, that this is definitely not the last time we’ll be seeing Jayden’s S15. A forever-evolving project wilder than most, it’s one we actively follow and one we’re constantly simply blown away by.
“Next thing for the car will be a MoTeC ECU, EGT ports, and a new full wiring loom, then I will be sending the car to 895kW-plus (1200hp),” Jayden tells us with a smirk at the end of our discussion.
We aren’t sure if there will be a billet block for this S15 anytime soon, but it will no doubt in time join the ranks of tough New Zealand street cars, with a billet heart. Jayden, on behalf of the readers, you’re an absolute mad dog — and we love it!
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This article originally appeared in New Zealand Performance Car issue 299