Thread: New guy on the block seeking guidance

Hey all. Let me start off with a picture of my car of 3 months, a 1996 200sx se-r that I lovingly named "Jade". Excuse the cell phone pics, I'll upload better quality ones later on and such.







Now, let me start by introducing myself. I am a complete car newb and not afraid to admit it. I never really had a interest until Jade was brought into my life... and I got some motivation.

But, we'll start on that later...

My first car was a 1988 Toyota Camry Station Wagon. Reliable as hell and quite the workhorse. Loved that car to death. Got in my first accident in it. (Only 1 in all). Did my first oil change. Changed my first ignition switch, and all that stuff. I've always been a "look up how to fix something by going online then fixing it only when I need to" kinda guy. Anything a little on the hard side I simply wouldn't do and just bring it to my grandfather (Whom is head mechanic at some shop) and he'd just fix it for me... much to his disapproval since I wouldn't be trying to fix it myself first nor did I try and help to learn something.

Anyways, my brake lining ended up popping and I had a pretty bad oil leak. During this time my grandfather decided to give me Jade. (after about 4 years of begging.) As far as I know other than my grandfather I am the 4th owner. He said he brought it in 2003 with a blown transmission and put a new one in (It's automatic unfortunately. Planning on changing to standard someday but nowhere near soon) and it has not been in any accidents which is good and it's relatively clean I'd say.

Anyways, he gave me the car under the condition that I scrap my beloved Camry, and also anything that happens to the car or if I wanna add anything to the car then I better do it myself and don't ask him. As soon as I got Jade and was first introduced to a "Governor" on the highway I initially became inspired. What really gave me this new found inspiration was when Jade wasn't shifting lazily and her acceleration was greatly decrease. I immediately started to freak out and thought it was the transmission. After thorough inspection of the engine I REALLY realized how god damn dirty it was and opened up a air filter for the first time. After a quick call, I ended up going to pep boys and changing it myself for $10 dollars. I started to realize that all this automotive stuff is not impossible and it is something that is possible to do by someone who hasn't been into it since they were kids. (Computers were my thing, really.)

Now, onto the advice seeking... the mileage is fairly high at 146,475.

I... am not sure about what kind of engine it is... but I will post some embarrassing pictures:




....Yeah. So. I have quite some work to do and here is where my questions start:

First and foremost, what kind of engine is that? I simply have no idea. Furthermore how exactly am I supposed to clean this thing? What supplies do I need, and how am I supposed to start exactly? Also, how exactly do you service an engine and what does it entail exactly? The only thing that I know of, is doing an oil change... but what else am I supposed to do exactly?

I also would like to do some mods, but mostly along the lines of improving fuel economy. The first thing I've been getting told is to get a cat back exhaust and an intake immediately.

However, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for at all. Not only that, but what are good brands that are fairly reasonably priced. I want a good one, but I don't really wanna spend an arm and a leg. (I'm a pretty poor college student with a semi-decent job as a RX tech.)

As far as catbacks, what brands could I get that are still quite? I'm not much of a loud engine kind of guy, and would like for it to remain on the quite side. Not only that, but my neighbors would have a fit. Haha. I think I read a write-up here about a guy who installed a performance exhaust that was still really quite. Is there any more information of this?

As far as other mods. I was on ebay and I saw this:

eBay Motors: PERFORMANCE CHIP NISSAN 200SX 1989-1998 1997 1996 (item 280304002044 end time Jan-28-09 18:46:23 PST)

Do these things actually work? Is it worth buying?

I also saw this: eBay Motors: Nissan 200sx Gas Saver 96 97 98 1995 1996 1997 1998 (item 120369593404 end time Jan-29-09 19:30:40 PST)

Does this work as well? Any and all advice is appreciated in advance. Hopefully I'm allowed to keep updating and posting my progress.

Pretty cool forum and I am proud to join the club.

Welcome!

Those eBay products do nothing for you. Steer clear!

That motor is a Lowport SR20DE. Manufactured from '94.5 to '98. There are many variations of that motor, as you will surely see by searching around the forum.

Oil changes, spark plugs, belts, tranny fluid changes, just general maintenace, makes these motors last forever.

Biggest thing on the B14 (your 200sx SE-R), is to ensure you spend a lot of time with your suspension and brakes, just checking things over. Stuff like replacing struts, tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. will make the car handle TONS better than I'm sure it does, right now.

If you wanted to cruise into aftermarket to improve over OEM handling, you could search around the forum and see what is the best used suspension setup for your particular car.

For modifications, (since you posted eBay stuff), I would first start with a decent header, exhaust, and intake. You'll notice QUITE the difference.

Thanks for the welcome, dude!

Avoid those two gas saver products? Affirmative. I knew it was too good to be true. Haha. So the tornado and the "performance chip" were bogus, huh? Is there anything actually like that? Or, are they just ripping people off?

Any decently priced exhaust, header, and intake you would recommend? Oh, and I think I read something about people putting on NX2K brakes on a B14? Any set ups like that I could do when stuff like this is concerned?

More browsing to do. LoL.

Welcome Malchorian!

You know we have quiet a few things in common, I'm a computer guy myself, but got into modding cars after getting my Sentra SE-L.

I am huge on having good gas mileage, and a big lover of torque/power.

I started out with installing a WAI (Warm Air Intake), to doing a SR20DET (stock turbo SR20 from Japan) swap.

Now before I started working on my car, I hated working on cars. Then in like March of 2007 I found a new hobby. So don't doubt yourself, just have willingness to learn new things and to do things yourself and not running to a shop

If you want ideas on what mods you can do, check out my build page here.

If you want the engine to look clean get a Powder Coated sr20de valve cover

Oh forgot to mention, here are a few sites that you should look into reading so you know what is going on. I spent hours on these web pages learning new stuff every time

SE-R.net
Engine Specific: Engine/Fuel/Intake

http://www.geocities.com/n_dahi/

Here are a few things to get some more MPG's and power.

Intake
WAI (Warm Air Intake) is good if you don't get much rain, but CAI (Cold Air Intake) will give you more power.

If you decide to stick with a WAI, look into a JWT Pop charger or BPi Flow Stack.

Header
This will help you with making your engine breathe better along with an intake it will make a great sound and lots of power. It should also bring some good MPG's to you

SSAC 2.5" header is the best bang for the buck.

Exhaust
This should be the last thing you should consider doing. All it will do is make your car louder and not give you all that much power NA. Read more here

But if you decide to go with an exhaust, VRS or a new forum member "bluebomber" with Over Kill Engineering Motorsports.


Cams
Won't help you much with gas millage but you can get a decent amount of power for the buck is a 91 Intake Cam. Basically it is the intake cam from the 1991 Nissan Sentra's with SR20DE motors.

compression test it if all well BOOST IT!!!


Welcome to the best nx/sentra/200sx forum alive!

Welcome to the forum! Looks like that bad boy could use a good cleaning! I use this stuff called Awesome from the dollar store. Dilute it and spray it on and let it sit for a few mins and the dirt just rinses off! If you dont dilute it it WILL take paint! (found that out the hard way lol). Other that that just read up and learn as much as you can! Good Luck!

Well the first gas saver, the chip, will probably lean out your engine to the point that it will overheat. Plus it might burn your ECU.

As for the tornado, you want 0 turbulence inside your manifold. Those are restrictive also, so it's not uncommon to get worse gas mileage with it.

Basically both of those products are snake oil, general rule is, if it sounds too good to be true, it's not true.

Look here for more information:

Car Bibles: Product Reviews

As for NX breaks, the front NX break calipers will fit on your car.

Welcome to the forum man. First thing I would do is ditch the chrome trim on the fenders and thorougly clean the engine bay.

Next, do a full tune-up. New cap, rotor, wires, oil filter and oil, flush tranny and replace filter and fluid, flush radiator, PCV valve, and advance timing.

Then, I would get a pop-charger and re-paint/powder-coat the valve cover and exhaust manifold heatsheild. If you remove the valve-cover you might as well throw a highport intake cam in their for a little more HP.

After, that I would get some NX front brakes and work on the suspension. For suspension go with RM, Hypercoil, or Ground Control springs and KYB AGX's or Koni struts/shocks.

You can also pick up a SSAC style header for cheap in the classifieds or eBay. As for exhaust if you want quiet, look for a HKS cat-back.

Alot of info, I know, but do a bit of searching and you will see what we are talking about. If you need some help finding info after searching, hit me up and I will try and help you out the best I can.