Thread: rally season on a refreshed SR20DET

I'm pondering on this for a while now. I don't own a turbo SR20 but there's something that kept me bothering for a while now.

First, e-bay is a great source for great products. But hey, if I would decide to go turbo, get the SR20DET and also want it to be reliable, what do I have to do?

For instance, a Walbro fuel pump, a Nistune ECU to set the fuel pressure, I also would get a T25 or T28 turbo, upgraded injectors/370cc injector if I'm not mistaken and then the internals of the engine like the big and small bearings that drive the pistons (sorry for the bad lang here) but just strengthen the engine with the e-bay offerings, like if I would rebuild the engine but then stronger. Of course not to forget the intercooler and probably some other stuff I 'm not able to pronounce in English right now.

So everything is built up to spec, every manual read, I've used a proper torque wrench, proper fluids, of course renewed all smallish thingies like vacuum, whole engine up to spec.

What kind of break in do the rally/race guys on a ''brand new'' engine which they know it has a decent ECU program?

What are the dangers that might show up at the corner and how to avoid them?

If the engine breaks down violently, what is usually the problem that got overlooked?

Or maybe I'm trying to be too sufficient, how the heck racers run in such an engine knowing it will be pushed to the metal soon, but of course it should hold the race or preferably a whole season?

Slow down young grasshopper slow down. First what engine do you have now? I assume you have an NX? You should look around this site, also. Most of the people on this board have been at the same place you have been. We anticipated guys like you coming askiing the same questions we did. So there are "how to's" and "need to know" information is all over the place on this site.

Just a tip now Ebay stuff mostly sucks, lots of fake parts that break and don't work. There are lots better options for parts out there, you just have to take a bit of time and read around

Well, usually I'm slow with things like this. To be honest I just have a stockish SR20DE and my first bolt on just arrived the e-bay header. But that means I won't need to open the engine, so I guess that is a safe e-bay buy.

I also usuall don't post in the turbo section but I'm asking because friends of mine break the SR20DET within 2000 miles and are not sure how that is possible. The brands/stuff I remember are Walbro, Cometic, Nistune, upgraded injectors, Garret, strengthened rods, bearings, the whole engine package. And the engine went violently, one bearing became audible doing 60 on the highway and when the engine was opened again all cylinders damaged, the SR20DET is pretty useless now.

So I wonder how the race guys break in an engine for rally/race because I assume they don't have the possibillity to drive their car on the road for a usual break in period.

And I'm also asking because I might want the SR20DET in my Nx. There are a lot of bearings but the people that upgraded more SR20DET well over 240whp did the job and say they did it properly. I have no reason to not believe them, there is living proof (running SR20DET's). Also Dutch people need to rely on e-bay, Nissan performance parts is kinda not available overhere.

Please let me know how this could have happened and how to break in a track car that is not allowed on the road.

You can break in a race engine on the dyno if you'd like.

Break in procedures: Are for pansies.

Break it in driving it like you stole it. If it doesn't break in 10 minutes of driving, it'll never break on you.

It makes no sense to compare rally/race break in... and dont worry, they can break in engine on road. I would even not compare this to your car, really make no sense to me.

If you want car, contact Greg at G Spec Performance
He is fine, have all kind of parts and sending overseas.

I understand that I'm still grasshopping. But what happened overhere to a friend of mine makes me wonder, I mean several thousands of bucks in it and 2000 miles of pleasure.

How often does that happen and is it always possible after opening the engine to pinpoint the problem? I mean did the owner drive it poor or was it a poor build?

Car is now taken apart for sale, it's a sad story.For those who are interested, this was the car I'm talking about, there you also can see some of the stuff that was used.

Jeroen330's verkooptopic SR20DET in onderdelen.. (bijna) alles gaat weg

i totally agree cliff.

some people area all about the break in, some arent.

if it was such an important thing to do there would be a break in panflet with new cars.

but then agian it depends on the motor. if your building say a flat head yeah id break it in, but if its a 90's and up performance motor with uptodate parts your good to go.

stratton.

There is.


I'm not saying you should be anal about braking in an engine, but there is a break-in period and recommended break-in procedure. There are four camps and my opinions as to their reasoning. I'll put them in order from worst to best as well.

• No break-in. Recommended by people because they are lazy/ignorant.
• "Baby it" break-in. Recommended by OEMs because they know most consumers won't be able to understand nor implement the high load/engine braking method and they don't want to recommend the "drive it like you stole it method" for obvious reasons.
• "Drive it like you stole it" break-in. Recommended by people who misunderstand the high load/engine braking method, or who are too lazy to explain the high load/engine braking method, or those who are ignorant.
• High load (no more than 2/3 max rpm), high engine braking break-in. Recommended by engine builders and techs to properly wear and seat the new piston rings against the honed cylinder walls. Also quickly settles bearings and seats the valve train.
  

It doesn't take long to break in an engine properly, just a little education and attention to detail. It takes maybe two to three times as long as bedding in brake pads. An hour tops.

I like your ninja edit for the fourth bullet. Singling me out are you?

Technically, the OEM break in period doesn't exist anymore, since MOST drivetrains are "broken in" before leaving the plant.

You could also say that the "drive it like you stole it" bullet should be combined with the high load break in.

In my experiences of building motors, if you "OEM" break it in like a grandma, the car's going to treat you like you're a grandma. Break it in with my method, and if you've assembled the car correctly, the motor will not fail on you. Those that have had motors built by me can attest to that. You really only need a few heat cycles at most to seat rings properly against a newly honed cylinder wall. If you're RE-building a motor, and the cylinder walls are in great shape and you don't re-hone them, you really don't need much of a break in period there either.

This is even more true in boosted applications. I recommend around 30 minutes worth of good hard driving to seat those rings, and then boost shortly after since boost helps to seat the rings due to the increased load.