After seeing the CZ200S in detail inside and out, it was time for the interesting bits under the hood. The stock aluminum hood hides the first stage of tuning that HKS has done to the new 4B11 motor. Looking at it, however, you would never think it could actually produce the quoted 579 hp at 7440 rpm because most of the interesting and main parts of the modifications are hidden away.
The first thing HKS did was to open up the engine and take a good look at all the components that make it up. They came to a conclusion that the aluminum block was strong enough to take some serious power, but the internals would need a bit of an upgrade to sustain high levels of stress and last in time. So a set of forged oversized pistons were made up and fitted along with a quartet of prototype H-section connecting rods. The stock crank was deemed solid enough, plus they also wanted to see just how much abuse it could actually be subjected to before something showed signs of stress or wear. The head was not touched but was bolted down onto the block together with a HKS 1.2mm metal head gasket to ensure the best possible seal.
Based on the GT3240 turbine, HKS came up with a special application for the 4B11, a kit designed to bolt onto the stock headers. We saw the complete kit on display at the Hyper Meeting event, where we went to check out NOB drive the CZ200S around the track. An HKS GTII external wastegate takes care of boost control, which is limited to a massive 28 psi on its highest setting. An HKS downpipe joins with the prototype titanium Silent Hyper exhaust system, which does sound pretty mean out on track, despite what the name suggests.
An aluminum intake pipe connects to the compressor and allows it to suck in air cleaned by the HKS foam filter. Once compressed, the charge is sent over and across the engine by the impossibly long piping down to the front-mounted HKS R-Type intercooler. Form here, another HKS bit of piping connects to the stock inlet plenum. The awkward positioning of the 4B11 makes it very hard to work around the long piping, as it sits exactly 180 degrees rotated compared to the old 4G63. A higher flowing pump supplies the HKS billet fuel rail and then the four 1000cc/min injectors which have to work hard to provide enough fuel for the hair-raising 28 psi of boost. An HKS F-Con V Pro ECU takes care of engine management, while the V-Cam controller has been programmed to provide optimal valve timing for a good spread of torque. This peaks out at 491 ft-lbs of torque developed at 4700 rpm, allowing the EVO X to shoot out of second gear corners with impressive urgency. To handle the increased output of the engine a HKS twin-plate Light Action clutch has been fitted and joins the HKS prototype 6-speed strengthened transmission, which for obvious reasons, we were not given much additional information on.
Seeing the car perform at the Hyper Meeting event at Tsukuba proved that HKS’s work has really paid off as the car was constantly lapping under the revered 1-minute barrier. So far, the record set by Taniguchi is of a 59.495-second lap, done on the Advan Neova AD08 street tires. With a set of semi-slicks, we are sure NOB could easily take the CZ200S into the 58-second bracket, in the current state of tune. HKS will be working hard to come up with many more tuning parts for the 4B11 in the course of 2009 and we are sure this EVO X will get significantly quicker. So much for thinking the 4B11 can’t live up to the 4G63. It’s companies like HKS that allow our passion to evolve as cars progress, so hats off to them for never stopping their search for perfection.