Hey, gang--

Mother Nature hasn't been too kind lately. Today was the second day I've been able to do work on my turbo conversion. The photos follow...
http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/naked4.jpg
The intercooler is located, the front bumper has been cut out on the backside, and in all, I've dismantled the nitrous setup. Not bad for 1 day's work.

http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/oldmanny.jpg
First to come out was the intake manifold and direct-port nitrous setup. This now belongs to Ryan in CT. :) The first time I removed the intake, it took me 6 hours. Today, under 1 hour. Old dog, old tricks method...
http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/newmanny.jpg
Going in will be this JDM intake manifold off a Primera engine. No EGR or crap like that. I powdercoated the manifold a cast aluminum color, and it looks even better in person than it does in this pic. You can also see the 370cc/min injectors, in the rail. I bought them used from David Lau (PNWSER), but they look brand new. Thanks, David! :D
http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/paceheader.jpg
Next out was the trusty Pacesetter header and 259cc/min stock injectors in the rail. The header now belongs to Brandon in Columbus (NismoPC). I will coat it with POR-20 and get it up to him in the coming week.
http://www.sr20deforum.com/gregturbo/bareengine.jpg
My engine bay now looks like this. Just the block and head, really. Now that all the nitrous stuff is out of the car, there's much more room to deal with. I'm trying to find a place to mount that MSD Digital 6 (right) somewhere else, but I cannot find a suitable place. Anybody got any suggestions.

And there you go. That's how I spent an absolutely beautiful 75-degree sunny day here in WV.

Hey, that intake manifold looks great! I've been toying with the idea of removing my intake manifold to clean it up, but I'm sure it would take me 6 hours like it did your first time(would be my first time) and it's hard to find that time.

Looking good!

haha greg, you are at the beginning of a long journey. mine WOULD have taken me only a day or two, had i known that the outlet pipe on the Avenir turbo would not have fit. oops.

took me 4 days, from putting the car up on jacks, to taking it off the jacks.

i only actually worked on it for 3 days though, about 6-8 hours per day.

you will be quite happy with the finished product though, turbo is way more fun than Nitrous. no refilling does make it harder on your tires though, i am due for new ones this week, put more wear on them in the last 200 or so miles than i did in the last 5000, at least!

just put the digital 6 up on the firewall, right next to where cruis control would be if you had it. top and center, prettier that way too.

Psst, Steve!

I do have cruise control. :D

That big-ass vacuum line that runs to the brake booster just gets in the way. Although... I may be able to move it a little bit. I might try that later this week.

-GP-

pics arent working for me?? :confused:

It's fixed now. :D

-GP-

oh, you do have cruise control!

i thought the addition of cruise control would double the price of the already spartan classic, making it cost-prohibitive. :p

my dumbass needs to speak less and look more though, i will admit that.

just get a metal line bender from lowe's or home depot, and make a new one, or modify that one so that it goes under the little lip on the firewall directly below where the line goes now. or be ghetto and replace it entirely with rubber vacuum hose. of course, it already has about 6" worth of rubber vacuum hose on it now, so i dont see how it would affect it too much if it were entirely rubber.

also, the little thing coming out of the block for the PCV system will interfere with the wastegate acuator, so you need to convinve it over a little. good thing is that it rotates in the block, so you should be able to rotate it most of the way out of the way without having to bend it.

any questions you may have as you go, just post them here, i have done this turbo swap twice now.

Oooo. Nitrous is soo purty.:D

your car looks like mine did about 2 weeks ago. haha.. Take the brake booster line off, and re-route it. The MSD box will fit nicely right behind it.
Travis

I've been thinking about making a bracket and installing my MSD box in the void between the firewall and windshield, where the wiper mechanism is. there is some room. here's a pic with the plastic panels removed:

http://www.monkey-r.com/uhoh.jpg

andris

Tip of the day: Stick a big screwdriver in the hard line that goes into the block under the stock oil separater catch can thingy. Bend the hard line toward the driver's side and up.


Terrin
92 SE-R

Originally posted by SERprise In WV
http://www.sr20de.org/images/images/Sentra%20SE-R%20%28Classics%29/paceheader.jpg
Next out was the trusty Pacesetter header and 259cc/min stock injectors in the rail. The header now belongs to Brandon in Columbus (NismoPC). I will coat it with POR-20 and get it up to him in the coming week.

Woohoo! Hey, where's the rest of it? :p Especially the trusty ball socket spring loaded connection.

Greg, have you or anyone else thought about replacing the lower section with a flex pipe like the stock flex pipe? Just wondering. Cause I was considering it.

Thoughts are welcome.

This is a little off topic but I was blown away by Andris' engine bay! I've never seen this layout before with the turbo in the corner of the engine bay and the crazy looking manifold that runs across the front of the engine bay! Wow!!! Is this the first/only layout like this on an SR20? Also, the manifold sure looks like a work of art-does it have equal length runners? What kind of power is that beast putting down?

[jaw on floor]

nah, Zak Nilson and Aarron LaBeau already have FMAX versions very similiar to this manifold. the manifold costs somewhere around $1400, IIRC.

Originally posted by Brock Stepan
This is a little off topic but I was blown away by Andris' engine bay! I've never seen this layout before with the turbo in the corner of the engine bay and the crazy looking manifold that runs across the front of the engine bay! Wow!!! Is this the first/only layout like this on an SR20? Also, the manifold sure looks like a work of art-does it have equal length runners? What kind of power is that beast putting down?

Hehe , well I have no problem at all admitting that I'm far from original in doing it this way. I believe the first manifold using this type of turbo location was Rob Legere's from way-back-when. The second I know of is a Paulus Lee/AEBS unit built several years ago (which I happen to have in my living room right now; they've also done a couple of drag manifolds like this). FMAX was third with their stage 4 kit that Zak and Aaron LaBeau have (a beautiful kit). And then me, a distant fourth. I work at hotshot and I just threw this kit together in a very short period of time. It is a one-off that is not destined for production or anything. It is a very lopsided setup comprised of things i had or could get for free. It is built for roadracing and will have its maiden race this weekend. The turbo is very unorthodox; it is a straight T4 (big!) that i thought would be a laggy pile of crap, but has proved itself otherwise. It has a divided-housing 62 ( i think) trim turbine in a .58 a/r housing and a 60-trim to4E compressor with regular journal bearings. It is sort-of mismatched, and won't support more than about mid-300's in power. The manifold is roughly equal-length, but i didn't spend much time worrying about it because each pair of cylinders never meet, and each pair is pretty equal.

The final outcome of this combo has pleasantly surprised me. The large turbo with the small exhaust a/r, combined with the long-runner manifold is smoooooth. Everyone who has driven/ridden in it says it feels like a rediculously strong NA car. there is no harsh boost onset, little lag, very linear power band. One interesting characteristic the huge turbo exhibits is that it isn't "laggy" in the sense that it doesn't build boost until really late; on the contrary, it actually makes positive pressure before 3k. It just takes a little while to rise to full pressure. The cool side-efect of this is that it makes good power all over the place, but there is no harsh hit of power to break the tires loose. The turbo flows so much air that it will top out 370cc injectors and stock maf (for now) at only 9psi! (monitored on a multichecker) It feels really strong at 9psi. I haven't dyno'd it yet, but it has been really fun so far. I leave it to someone like rob to speculate on power levels.

There are more pictures of the car and the buildup at www.monkey-r.com

If you have more questions/people want to talk about it, start another thread so we don't crowd greg's thread :)

Andris Laivins

Here's the Fmax kit I have in my car. Andris is totally the man though, because he built his himself! See if this gives you any ideas about where to put the ignition box, Greg.

http://www.xaqtly.com/car/pictures/image/engine.jpg

Originally posted by SERprise In WV
I'm trying to find a place to mount that MSD Digital 6 (right) somewhere else, but I cannot find a suitable place. Anybody got any suggestions.

Greg,
I mounted mine in the driver's kick panel,just moved the hood release into the fuse box area.
Travis