2 A.M. at the "Skunkworks"

By Shell Black

Most people, even SE-R people, are enjoying their Saturday nights. If you happened to drop in on Jeff Naeyert's house as I did one night at 2am you would find SR20DEs a plenty and activity involving sockets. Tim Boles and Jody Misenheimer (up from Austin, TX) were installing a Bluebird DET that evening and I wanted to see the progress. Digital camera in hand I found a lot more "projects" than I had expected, all running simultaneously in this suburban Dallas garage. This is one garage that is completely SR20DE dedicated as you will soon see.

Click on the picture on the left to see a larger version of it.

Jody's car
	Jody (Top), Tim (Right) and friend wrestle with the new Bluebird DET block.
	The recipient car - Jody's former low 14 ET NA car needs a new powerplant
	This is the NA block that propelled Jody to the low 14s. Then that awful noise showed up at the Texas Rally V. Jody's original block had been slightly over-bored and has higher compression.
Racecar
	Another project car in the driveway. This vehicle is under "conversion" to hopefully be a 13 sec NA car. Is that a Primera manifold I see?
	This is all business. The interior is completely stripped. Notice the ECU pretty much in the stock position where the center console used to be. The stock gauge pod remains.
	Interesting wires there guys. All I can say is that bulge in the wire on the rotor side is a resistor and the wires are made in Germany. No emissions hook-ups (EGR) and a Primera exhaust manifold.
Jeff's GTiR
	This picture didn't take as well as I had hoped, but that is Jody's head seen through the hole Jeff cut into his SE-R so his GTiR motor's intercooler could breath. Now you know why I gave Jeff his nick-name "scoop."
	Jeff's transplant GTiR block awaiting a new turbo. Click here for pictures of this engine install, one of the first "skunkworks" projects.
Extra Engines & Projects
	One of two extra SR20DE blocks to be found in the garage. This one is a prime example of a very dead engine. Looks like not changing your oil has reground the cams to almost no duration.
	Must be nice to have yet another whole motor in your garage. On the floor is another Primera exhaust manifold. On the shelves in the garage you will find all sorts of parts: starters, alternators, manifolds, tubing, you name it!
	Jeff not only grinds B13 calipers but he has also been trying his hand at porting. This example is pretty darn good. As you know, Jeff can weld (he makes rear strut tower braces) and also has a forge at his house.
	This dead mount was repaired with "flexane." The material itself is not flexible. As you can see there is some OEM material remaining, resulting in a near solid mount. In the background is a Bluebird DET intercooler.