Hi all-

I recently purchased a 91 SE-R from original owner with 120,000 miles. Before I begin mods, I'm trying to plan ahead. I've been scanning SER.net, the mailing list, and this site for over a month. It appears to me that I may be better off going turbo than bolt ons, but my turbo knowledge is limited. Ideally, I'd like to get in the low 13's (or maybe high 12's?) on street tires and still be a RELIABLE daily driver on 93 octane pump gas. I'd like to do this for $1500 or so if possible.

Here are I few of my thoughts/questions that I would appreciate your thoughts on. I know some of this is repetative old hat for you all, but I would truly appreciate the help:

1. Are my goals at all reasonable for my price range?

2. Are there any good spots where an overview of turbo options/info exists that I might want to check out?

2. I know I can buy a DET and swap it in.
-Am I correct in understanding that no US nissan came with a DET?
-Which cars (Japan or US market) came with a DET and which years? Are there differences between the various models? (compression ratio, horsepower, intake, turbo, etc.) Which is most desirable?

3. I could swap the turbo portion of a DET onto my stock DE. Is this correct?
-Assuming this is correct, This would provide more potential horsepower than simply swapping the entire DET motor because my DE has a higher compression ratio, correct?

4. I have heard of the F-max kit but think it is out of my price range. Are there any other kits within my range?

5. Are there any other common setups that people are piecing together from junkyard/aftermarket for this pricerange?

6. I would really appreciate a nice list of everything that is involved in a turbo conversion...hoses, guages, manifold, sensors, etc.

Once again, I really appreciate anyone who can take the time to give their input.

Thanks,

Josh
91 se-r

I don't know if anybody's going to give you a complete list, although look at some of the other threads in this forum.

Anyway, $1500 is not a lot of money to work with, when you're talking about a turbo conversion. In order to have any sort of turbo power for that much money, you have to do *all* the work yourself, probably make some of the parts yourself, and get parts like the turbo, the manifold, intercooler etc. as cheaply as you possibly can. For that much money, I think a DET swap is out of the question, it'll cost more than that.

One golden rule of doing car-related work: Add up the costs of all the parts, then add the labor. Make sure you factor in little things like bolts, trips to hardware stores, tools, etc. When you get that total, triple it. That's about what you're going to spend. Oh, and make sure you have another car you can drive around in the meantime, because I guarantee something will happen that will make your car undrivable for a longer period of time than you expected. Maybe a part won't fit, or something will break, something like that.

To quickly go through your list:

1. Sort of, but not really. Depends on how cheap you can get parts and how much work you can do by yourself.

2. Here, SE-R.net, the SE-R mailing list archives.

2. (again? what the?) No US Nissan came with a DET. Lots of cars came with a DET in other countries. You can either get a Bluebird DET or a GTiR DET. Either one of them will cost you more than $1500, just for the engine, most likely. But the GTiR is probably the better of the two... and will cost more also.

3. Yes that is correct. But the difference in HP with a low compression motor vs. high compression is only about 10-15 HP. You are better off going with a low compression motor because you can turn the boost up higher without detonating, which more than makes up for the difference in HP between low and high compression motors.

4. No.

5. Not common setups, no. For that price range... you just have to piece together whatever you can and hope it all works. :)

6. Sorry, I can't help you there. Far too much information. But check the archives for that. Look at other threads in this forum, too.

Zak pretty much hit it on the head with a hammer!!


have you seen that guys engine bay..wooo eeee!!

anyhow... 1500 isnt very ideal to get into high 12's...

you might wanna double that >and have a really solid car!!!

Zak is right on the money. You're probably looking at about $4000+ to get into the low 13's (if that) and be reliable. Have you even considered things like clutch, ecu, tranny work, exhaust, suspension, etc... This shit adds up quick. Best of luck though.

Only 1500 to work with? And you wanna hit 12's?

-100shot of nitrous
-slicks
-act clutch
-I/H/E

1500 won't even buy all that new, you'd have to wait for either real good group deals or buy most if not all of those items used.

Hope you've realized 1500 won't get you as fast as you wanna be.