by "CrudeTech" (crudetech)
Published 04/17/2017 at 18:00
by "CrudeTech" (crudetech)
Published 04/17/2017 at 18:00
Tags: crudetech
; build
; story
; 180sx
; sr20det
; s13
STARS: 11
I love spring, for one very good reason. It’s racecar season. To celebrate that fact, I woke my rough looking 1992 Nissan 180SX from hibernation. Here’s what happened since.
It’s my second year with the racecar. You can find a list of all the previous stories here .
March 30th was a great day for me. After buying my brother breakfast to lure him into giving me a ride, we went the appartment complex where the car is stored, pulled it out of the underground parking area, and I got to drive home.
It ran like crap. It also ran like crap when I drove it there last fall, so no big surprise there. It started like a charm and idled like a new car, but any sort of load was met with a whole lot of nothing, and weird noises.
The task at hand was clear: get the old girl ready for the tune, and get it tuned. The preparation was easy: oil change, new fuel filter, and an overhaul of the fuel system. That one is critical, because these old Nissans were always limited by it.
Cracking open the fuel tank revealed a great piece of news. The fuel pump had been upgraded previously. A Walbro 255 unit was already in there. Dollars were saved.
Next up: a small, but very pricey adjustable fuel pressure regulator. The factory unit on these cars is not adjustable, so there is no way to compensate for the higher output of the fuel pump. After an hour of drilling and plumbing, my fuel system upgrade was complete.
The car was ready for its tune, so on one cold, grey morning, I hit the road. Now the shop I went to is located near Montreal, Canada. My hometown of Ottawa, is located two hours west. To get there, I had to baby my wounded car for two hours, on a hilly, bumpy highway. Did I mention the car has really stiff coilovers, a lot of rattles and a terrible sound system? Not fun.
After a stressful 2 hour drive, I managed to make it to the shop without any incident. Another hour or so of preparation work by the tuner’s expert hand, and the car was ready to lay down some numbers.
The tuner had to do a few runs to dial in the car’s brain and to get it to work right with the upgraded fuel system and turbocharger. After a few runs, and witchcraft from the tuner, I had a final number: 286.3 hp and 267.8 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. It might look underwhelming on a computer screen, but to compare it to a new car HP rating, we have to factor in drivetrain loss. Using a conservative number of 15% loss, we end up with a hair over 330 HP at the crank. That’s plenty for my taste.
On my late night drive back to Ottawa, I ended up burning double the amoutn of fuel I had used to get there earlier that day. I blame it on my newfound horsepower. Turbochargers are instruments of mayhem.
I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my 180SX, for the first time since in my time owning it, is running right. I have to figure out what to attack next. I am torn between creature comforts like seats and A/C, or the much needed body work.
I know where my next paychecks are going.
"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
04/17/2017 at 18:33, STARS: 0
RB swap? I’m pretty sure it’s an RB swap.
"DasWauto" (DasWauto)
04/17/2017 at 19:05, STARS: 0
SR20.
"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
04/17/2017 at 19:12, STARS: 0
I was jokingly guessing at where his next paychecks are going
"feather-throttle-not-hair" (feather-throttle-not-hair)
04/17/2017 at 19:15, STARS: 0
My buddy and I were just trundling around in his 1997 240SX last night. Such a great chassis, those S13 and S14's.
I have a couple of other friends that swear the KA is just fine, but ugh. They need engine swaps to wake up IMHO (or at the very least some boost.)
Nissan knows how to make a nice RWD chassis though. Kind of a lost art.
"Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies" (jordanwphillips)
04/17/2017 at 19:17, STARS: 0
That’s an SR20.
"avalonian" (avalonain19)
04/17/2017 at 22:04, STARS: 0
Comfort definitely
"CrudeTech" (crudetech)
04/18/2017 at 12:36, STARS: 0
RB25NEO sure is tempting. All that silky smooth torque for much cheaper than the older, less refined RB26DET
The thing is, I already have a working engine. Comfort is not there yet.
"CrudeTech" (crudetech)
04/18/2017 at 12:38, STARS: 0
Can’t say anything about the KA. I never tried one. It has more displacement, but it doesn’t have the mischevious turbocharger hanging off the side. And it has a distributor, instead of the individual coils on mine.
But yeah, the S13 is fun, light, simple, and it looks so 90s. It’s perfect.
"feather-throttle-not-hair" (feather-throttle-not-hair)
04/18/2017 at 13:55, STARS: 0
Yeah, i’d like to try an SR20 powered one some day. I dont think anyone I currently knows owns one, despite having like every other engine ever in their cars. Here are some pictures of their cars for fun.
Pretty standard KA powered S14.
This is the same owner, but this car is RB25 powered.
And here’s the guy who I was hanging out with the other night. His car is LS1 swapped.
I also work with/am friends with this guy and his 1JZ powered S13 drifter.
"CrudeTech" (crudetech)
04/18/2017 at 18:49, STARS: 1
I like the SR’s charater. It’s not refined, it doesn’t feel like it, it doesn’t sound like it. It’s coarse, loud, and fun.
And it makes a whole lot of power. The guy who tuned my car has the fastest 1/4 mile SR in the world (stock chassis, H pattern transmision), and he loves them. Cheap to build. plenty of fun, pretty solid from the factory.
He’s not a fan of JZs (too expensive to swap), or LS (too expensive to build properly)
Keep in mind he’s a Nissan guy, so for him, it’s SR or RB.
"feather-throttle-not-hair" (feather-throttle-not-hair)
04/18/2017 at 19:14, STARS: 0
I hear that. Stuffing an engine from a different manufacturer in there rubs me a little bit wrong, but not really enough to bother me in a real meaningful way.
I do kind of wonder if those big long straight sixes make the car a little less tossable. The SR20 has a bit of a special place in my heart, growing up in the early 90's, i loved the B13 Se-r, though of course that’s down a turbo/facing the wrong direction etc etc. Still, its a pretty legendary performance engine in my mind.
It’s also the most “technically correct” engine for the car IMHO, though i guess you could also make the argument for the poor old CA18, not that anyone would want that.....