Thread: SR20 = Still awesome

Hey Guys,

I'm in the middle of my 2zz swap on the MR2 Spyder I bought and from reading the Spyder forums and such I can say for sure that the SR is one awesome engine! Handles boost, lasts forever, rarely breaks...these 1zz/2zz Toyota engines are completely different. I've heard good things about the K-series engines as well, but can't beat price/performance of an SR. Nissan did something right w/this engine.

Just had to rant a bit. I'm tired of reading posts about these Toyota engines :/

-G

SR20VE - hell yeah

SR20's sure are fawking awesome engines. (in all forms) A last bastian of hope that when given the proper components and engineering, such a marvel can be accomplished and then mass produced in its awesomeness. Sometimes, an engine can be designed and built by men and fall apart on a mass production level. The amount of power, neglect, and nasty abuse the engine can take is pretty remarkable with very little quirks. It is not fault-less, but it is very fun and has given MANY a members on this past and present quite a shit-eating grin when exiting the vehicle they just piloted.

The 2zz is fun but it is definitely a fragile little bitch compared to an SR. Once your swap is done though you're going to love that car.

The SR20 has impressed the hell out of us... It takes track abuse MUCH better than even the mighty miata engine in our personal experience. Although both the miata engine and SR20 engine both last forever, the sr20 keeps its compression and leakdown longer (meaning maintains the same HP longer). 25k track miles and still the same dyno numbers is freakin unheard of and being a 'poor' racer, we like those #s!

Cavern (Jon Via) on G20.net has his P10 caged White Wonder powered by the same unopened VE that was swapped in '03-'04. Unopened, no head work. Tracked every year, run hard and still 12-13 years later has compression #s at 225-230. None of us running NASA AZ all these years have seen anything like it. Now he thinks the engine is starting to get tired lol. Damn thing still kicks ass tho, don't know what his definition of tired is. Frickin' VE has 9 lives for all it's been through. Made me a believer.

Maybe you start to lean toward a K swap instead? Too costly?

We will never do a 'k swap' into a p10, p11, b13, b14 or b15. Why would we do that when the SR20 has done so well for us and is way cheaper to replace than doing a 'k swap'

Chris, I was speaking about the MR2-S that gomba is building.

You have to look at it from the perspective of engineering. These engines were built with such strict tolerances on clearances, bearings, p2w, valve shimming even though they are hydraulic lash adjusted. When taken care of, these engines do last and last no matter what you do to them. My first se-r i ever bought came from an enthusiast and he tracked the car its entire life both road course and autox, original motor had 233k miles on it, it had rod knock due to the bottom pan being crushed into the pickup tube. Put a $475 jmd motor in it and beat the living shit out of it and put 55k miles on it in 2 years, 500-600 drag passes on it running low 14's n/a and it never missed a beat before i sold it. Even did a 3-2 mis shift and shattered half the rocker arms, put new ones in and fired right up and kept running the same times at the strip. I purchased a 93 se-r that had 275k miles and it was also the original motor and was super clean and ran like a top. You just dont see many engines now a days make it 200k-300k besides your toyotas and hondas. Most domestics, the motors failed well before that.

Even as technology has advanced, you have to look at it this way, most 2.0L engines out there barely make any more power than the SR20DE did, The k series is impressive and yeah I wish Nissan would have kept with the SR20VE 20V and just updated the emissions on it and kept with that instead of the QR, Think of where Nissan would be if they would have kept the VE line.