# Sticky  DIY: GA16i Eurocam install is here!



## sonicgundam (Aug 15, 2007)

Ok, so I know I have had the cam for 3 months, and I know i have waited WAY too long to put it in, and I am dreadfully sorry. to be honest, i was scared hah. having never done anything like it, i was a little afraid of bending my valves, or blowing up the engine.

But, yesterday, a friend and i spent a couple hours, and did it, and everything went spledid, besides the absence of tools because a certain family member decided to use them earlier in the week, then left them in the vehicle and locked the door, and were not present at the time. another headache for another time however.

So, here we go.

What you will need:

1. A torque wrench. must be capable of up to 76 lbs.ft. of torque. this means that if you have a 20-80 lbs.ft. torque wrench it is NOT appropriate. within 10% of a torque wrenches min/max it is inaccurate. for this you should probably have one that's rated for 120+

2. assorted sockets and wrenches. keep everything 6 point. don't use 12 points, as a lot of these bolts will be oily or old and corroded. a 12 point socket/wrench is just looking to round off your nuts/bolts, and stick you in the ass.

3. a jack. not to lift the engine. YOU DO NOT NEED TO LIFT YOUR ENGINE. major mis-nomer. i was continuously told this, i did it without doing so. as to why you need the jack, you'll find out shortly.

4. Nissan/Nismo GA16i EuroCam. Part No. 13020-88A00. you can get this here: MyNismo: GA16i EuroCam and trust me, it is WELL worth the money. most significant upgrade to your 89-90 b12/kn13 for the money spent. it costs you less than a pacessetter header or exhaust and is way less of a headache, and adds more power. i'll go through the difference after the write-up.

5. Engine Internal break in lube. this is essential. soak the cam in this for a good period of time, and store it in a Warm area, otherwise the lube will gain a sticky consistency and be almost more like glue.

6. a valve cover gasket and a timing gasket set. these are good to replace, so do it. it will help you in the long run, and they're not expensive.

7. A friend, because two sets of hands is way better than one with this job. however, it can be done solo with how i am outlining it.

***NOTE*** you do not need to drain the oil for this, as the camshaft is in the head, and all but a negligible amount of oil should be in the oilpan! if there is an excess of oil in the head, the engine is still hot, or you overfilled it on oil.

Here's the step by step:

1. Pop the hood, let the car cool if it has been running. you don't need to singe off your fingertips before you've even started.

2. remove the airbox and filter. this will just make life easier.

3. remove the valve cover.

4. Remove the distributor cap.

5. MARK YOUR TIMING ON THE DISTRIBUTOR!! unless you want to go through the mess of re-timing your engine, mark this by simply marking at which point the flange mates up with the head. 

6. Remove the distributor.

7. Remove the cam cover plate. it's on the left of the engine, next to cylinder 1.

This is what your engine bay should now look like:









8. Now it is time to jack the car up. jack it up on the engine cradle member that runs longitudinally with the car. it's the most secure and the strongest point under the car to lift.

9. with your bare hands, turn the crank pully until it is set so that Cylinder #1 is at Top Dead Center (TDC) of the compression stroke. to find this out, simply look at the end of the camshaft through the distributor hole. when the slit in the camshaft is horizontal with the larger portion of the cam journal on the lower end. here is a picture to go along with this:










notice that the bottom portion is bigger than the upper portion. this is TDC of compression on cylinder 1.

10. remove the rocker assembly by removing the bolts in the center of the rocker shaft that hold it to the head. lift it out gently, and set it down somewhere CLEAN. i just set it on a towel like this:









Your engine bay should now look like this:










11. secure the timing chain to the cam sprocket. this can be done with zip ties or wire. you don't want to lose the timing chain, because that would suck the big one. here's a pic:










12. remove the timing sprocket bolt. it's the big sucker in the center of the cam sprocket. it holds the sprocket to the cam. DO NOT drop the washer into the head. you'll hate yourself.

13. gently pull the sprocket free of the camshaft. it may take a little bit of force, but you want to be gentle. 

14. now secure the sprocket to the side of the head by using a wire or zip tie and tieing it by the cam plate cover. here's a pic of the plate off, hopefully you get the idea:










15. slide the camshaft out slowly and gently through the distributor end of the head. while this camshaft doesn't matter to you anymore, the journal housing does. the last thing you want to do is mess them up, because your new eurocam will be destroyed the instant you turn the key. you will have to move the battery out of the way to get the cam out.

YES!! you now have the old camshaft out! inspect it to see if there was any major wear on it, as you don't want to put in a new camshaft and have it destroyed quickly because there was something already wrong that was killing the old one.

now take a break, get a drink of water and maybe a light snack and lets get at it.

16. take your new, nicely lubed up Eurocam and gently slide it in through the distributor end. a common misconception was that the cam had to come out through the distributor end, and go in through the sprocket end. that was the reason for previously lifting the engine. it made no sense to me why it couldn't go in through the distributor end, so it did.

17. line up the camshaft so that the dash in the distributor end is horizontal, just like the old one was when you took it out.

18. on the cam sprocket, there will be a small slit coming off the center hole. you will also notice a small protrusion on that end of the camshaft. line up the slit with the protrusion when putting them together. this is so that they fit up together properly, and turn together.

19. re-install the cam sprocket bolt, and tighten it to 76 lb.ft. do this in three stages, first tightening it to 40, then 60, then 76. this will give you the best result.

20. Make sure thate everything is lined up so that Cylinder #1 is at TDC of compression. through loosening and tightening the cam sprocket, this may have been lost.

21. re-install the rocker shaft. tighten the bolts to 41 ft.lbs. in proper sequence, starting with the CENTER bolt, then the two inside bolts, then the two outside bolts. if you DONTdo this, you could bend, or even crack the rocker shaft, and then you're fucked. that's a $500+ parts bill. so do it right!!

22. you'll notice that the sprocket cover plate has a small paper gasket on it, but in your timing gasket set you may not have gotten a replacement gasket. but, what you will have is a small tube of black RTV sealer. this is liquid gasket. remove the old gasket from the plate, and put a nice bead of RTV on the sprocket plate, and re-install it.

23. re-install the distributor and cap, making sure that you line up the timing marks that you made so that you don't have to guess the timing and risk blowing up your engine .

24. reinstall the valve cover with the NEW valve cover gasket. the gasket for our valve covers is a damn hefty one, and a good one . yay nissan!

25. reinstall your air box assembly.

26. Run the car in neutral for 20-30 minutes at about 2000 rpm. this is simply a proper engine break in procedure.

27. take it for a test and enjoy.


The Difference:

Ok, so i REALLY notice the difference. this is partially because right now i am running open header, and with the lack of back pressure, my car lacks torque. severely.

the Eurocam actually solved this. it holds power on hills to the point of being able to still accelerate quickly, and in gear with low throttle. it's incredible. i will still be hooking up the rest of the exhaust however, because the noise is too great.

as well, some of you may have noticed your car doesn't have much pull past third gear, with nearly nothing in fifth.

the eurocam gave me a much smoother, and quicker accelerating pull through gears 1 through 4. and fifth now has power! it's incredible how such a mild mod has such an amazing effect. the car runs smoother, it runs faster, and is so much more enjoyable to drive. this thing is totally worth it. if you want to keep your GA16i, GET THIS CAM!!!

with my EFI conversion coming up, it will be a hard decision whether or not to boost my GA16i. it may stay N/A simply because it will already be quicker and such. it may also be more logical to learn how to tune an ITB setup, and install that. so keep your eyes posted for more from me .


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## Lex*Toy (Nov 17, 2006)

Mods please STICKY This Thread!!

This is a very well done DIY for the only internal power modification for the GA16i engine. This should equate to a 20% increase in power which brings it more in line with its GA16DE older brother.

Thanks for the great writeup SonicGundam.

I think I will attempt this next week after you instilled confidence in me. It is much easier than even I thought!

Please let us know the overall performance after you hook up your exhaust pipe.


I already sent my ECU to JimWolf to see it we can optimize our fuel/air ratio and a flater RPM range... Here hoping to stay NA and enjoy what I can from my GA16i.


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## sonicgundam (Aug 15, 2007)

yeah, by nissans stated amount, the cam is good for 20hp at the flywheel. figure it cost me $200, thats $10/hp. that's cheap power. doesn't come cheaper. Let us know how much the JWT tune costs! i am going to be turning the GA16i into a GA16E by using the b13 GA16DE intake manifold and throttle body and ECU. it should work, seeing as someone made an E16i into an E16E using an E15ET manifold, GA16DE throttle body, and GA16DE ECU. needless to say, my idea is way less backwards.

And thank you B15chik for stickying!

as for the ease, it's so easy man. i was scared to death to do this, cuz i've never done anything like it. if i did it again, even on my own, with all the tools at hand, 30 minutes tops. it's that easy.


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## aliveoutofhabit (Aug 25, 2008)

How is the idle? I'm assuming since this is a more aggressive cam it would be a little rougher or more lopey (a good thing haha).

We need a DIY for the timing chain now and I will be set!


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## sonicgundam (Aug 15, 2007)

aliveoutofhabit said:


> How is the idle? I'm assuming since this is a more aggressive cam it would be a little rougher or more lopey (a good thing haha).
> 
> We need a DIY for the timing chain now and I will be set!


actually, the idle is still pretty smooth. though the cam is more agressive, it's very mild. it was a stock part in the european GA16i. still, you can definitely feel the power. i'm still feeling power, it hasn't become normalcy for me yet. my girlfriend is getting pissed because i'm constantly going quicker than she would like, and i'm saying "honey i can't help it! i'm just driving it the same way as i was before i put the new cam in!"

my speed differences are about 20-25 km/h


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## aliveoutofhabit (Aug 25, 2008)

I guess that makes sense since it is technically a stock piece.

I seem to recall you were running open downpipe... are you still? If so did you notice the exhaust note change at all?

Also... we need dyno sheets!


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## sonicgundam (Aug 15, 2007)

aliveoutofhabit said:


> I guess that makes sense since it is technically a stock piece.
> 
> I seem to recall you were running open downpipe... are you still? If so did you notice the exhaust note change at all?
> 
> Also... we need dyno sheets!


haha i would hit up a dyno if i could afford it. i'm a relatively broke student at the moment, so don't expect anything soon.

i recently closed up the open header, hooking it up the the rest of the exhaust, but i did run it open for about a week with the new cam. it changed the tone slightly. it was a bit louder and deeper at idle, and much smoother sounding through acceleration.


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## aliveoutofhabit (Aug 25, 2008)

I guess my final question (since you've probably been driving it for a while now) is MPG? Any change?


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## sonicgundam (Aug 15, 2007)

aliveoutofhabit said:


> I guess my final question (since you've probably been driving it for a while now) is MPG? Any change?


i have noticed literally no change. i just fill up every 2 weeks when i get paid, but i'm still getting pretty much the same mileage. it doesn't go down any faster at all.


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## Dan9 (Sep 18, 2004)

that is an awesome DIY mod, beats the pants off anything you can do to the GA16DE for $200, I tell ya whut.

Good work!


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## sonicgundam (Aug 15, 2007)

Dan9 said:


> that is an awesome DIY mod, beats the pants off anything you can do to the GA16DE for $200, I tell ya whut.
> 
> Good work!


Thanks man!

and it certainly does.

the best part about it i'd have to say is it on its own puts the GA16i about on par with a B13 GA16DE. not as much hp, but still close, and ALOT more torque. its easier and sometimes more cost effective that doing a GA16DE swap.

so for people just looking for the I/H/E level approach with their b12s, though you cant really do an intake (stock has proved better than homemade), you can do the eurocam install, header and exhaust, plus the free mods like timing advancement, and have a decently quick and peppy little car.

it will beat I/H/E civics for those that it matters too. remember, stock 1.6L sentra exhausts are super restrictive.


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## Mervic (May 1, 2002)

At last, someone else confirm the amazing result of the cam swap. I've been running the same cam for nearly four years and no problem whatsoever. If you rev it up near redline, it still pull stronger compare to stock. Although, I did notice below 2K rpm it is a little slow, but once you hit midrange it just pulls. It is better paired with any header, and I mean any header meant for the GA16DE. The stock manifold is just too restrictive. I was so happy too with the result that I abandoned my turbo project for my Pulsar. Anyways I will be pulling the cam off the engine cuz my car has too many problems and it is not safe to drive anymore. Cheers!!!


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## sonicgundam (Aug 15, 2007)

Mervic said:


> At last, someone else confirm the amazing result of the cam swap. I've been running the same cam for nearly four years and no problem whatsoever. If you rev it up near redline, it still pull stronger compare to stock. Although, I did notice below 2K rpm it is a little slow, but once you hit midrange it just pulls. It is better paired with any header, and I mean any header meant for the GA16DE. The stock manifold is just too restrictive. I was so happy too with the result that I abandoned my turbo project for my Pulsar. Anyways I will be pulling the cam off the engine cuz my car has too many problems and it is not safe to drive anymore. Cheers!!!


Mervic!!!! long time no see!!!

thats too bad about your pulsar. that just means you need a replacement b12 or pulsar to put it in!!! also, the ebay header is the best header readily available for the GA .


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## TOOQIKK (Jul 11, 2009)

now bolt up a ga16de intake manifold with a SR20 TB and really give it a nice kick in the pants!!


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## ahardb0dy (Nov 9, 2003)

"as well, some of you may have noticed your car doesn't have much pull past third gear, with nearly nothing in fifth."

I just want to say that after gutting the cat on my 90 which I guess was restricting the exhaust very much my car has no problem pulling in 5th. In fact driving at speeds as low as 30 MPH still in 5th the car will pull with no problem and not bog down at all. Engine is stock with 238K miles.


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