Thread: Built VE that has held up?????

No doubt - a VE will idle like an electric sewing machine all day long. The problem is, you need to wind that sucker out for it to wake up. When I was VE'd (is that a word?), I realized I would drive for weeks and barely ever get on the big cam in daily driver mode. Maybe it's because I'm uh.... experienced (that's spell O L D), but I don't want to be the guy turning heads when I get on the loud pedal.

I've owned multiple VE and turbo SR20's and for my money, if you're looking for daily driver friendliness, a small (T25/T28/2560r) turbo absolutely destroys a VE every which way. Torque trumps rpm's all day long when it comes to flexibility. And we're blessed with the availability of factory parts, (which equates to amazing reliability), for crazy cheap prices. Show me another normally aspirated platform that gives you the ability to buy a factory cast iron manifold, downpipe, injectors, etc for lunch money that easily doubles the horsepower?

As far as cheap, cheap, cheap goes. I'm right with you. Don't be a bitch. Spend the money for a good tune, a good clutch, gauges, all new hoses, etc etc. Don't be that guy with the cheap couplers that blow off all the time, and eBay slim fans running off a toggle switch drilled zip-tied under your steering wheel.

You want a G R E A T daily driver? Then you need torque, and that means boost. Just do it right... you're already half way there with a bluebird/avenir/gtir manifold & j-pipe.

/rantmode off.

C

Chris are you talking to me buddy.. lol

91mm crank will add some power all over the place, but the cost of the crank is about the same as an imported 20V engine and transmission combo so that is off the table for 99% of the owners here. Cam gears will help move the power to where you want also.

86mm X 86mm engine is 2.0L. 86mm stroke means the piston will travel 21.50 meters per second at 7500 RPM. (and 24.37 meters per second at 8500 RPM)

88mm X 91mm engine is a 2.2L. 91mm stroke means the piston will travel 22.75 meters per second at 7500 RPM. (and 25.78 meters per second at 8500 RPM)

Typically, the Tomei guide recommmends to give further caution to engines that operate above 23.00 m/s (meters per second). A faster piston speed increases the chances of engine failure.

As a reference, a Honda CBR engine has 48.5mm stroke which turns to 14,000RPM meaning 22.63 m/s
The older style F1 engines that revved to 19,000RPM, with a stroke of only 40mm were 25.33 m/s

If you made it this far and the numbers have not been annoyingly confusing, congrats you may like N/A stuff. If not, like most folks, it is a millions times easier to bolt turbo stuff on to a stock engine and go. Sadly for fools like myself and others, there are other N/A options out there. But you need to use your brain, calculate some numbers, and spend some money.

Cool info Kyle, I found this to help us lazy folks

Piston Speed Calculator - Universal Entry

Totally agree with @Chriscar as far as the gobs of useable torque you get with boost. My VE dyno numbers were usually around 200-210whp but torque was only in the mid-upper 140s. I think highest dyno ever was 148ft lbs. That's still more than some of the competition, but you really needed to wind the gears out to get the most out of the VVL. Love the torque of a properly boosted SR20.

After reading this, all of which is extremely informative, a VQ35 swap sounds really good about now.

Guys im just being honest, i just happen to notice none of the big VE guys are posting, I just like to talk about facts. Im glad you are enjoying the post.

That because the big builds are not daily driven...lol They are either trailer queens or drag cars,or experiments that get taken apart or blown up testing

I am following this thread also because I want to build a 2.2 or 2.3 NA motor,but it has to be a durable,daily driver type build. I put minimum 15-20k on my daily cars every year

I saw a B15 Sentra SE w/ the VQ35 swap and it was a monster! I think he was running low 13's with just a couple bolt ons. Love the VQ35DE except for the timing chain guide issues

I agree eggman. I dont want anything I cannot come from Tn to your place in (if i want too) drive to work and enjoy. I dont want something that is a ton of money and sits because its broke half the time and costs a fortune to fix.