# turbo or engine swap !



## viciousxp (May 31, 2004)

hey guys.. its my first pist.. but ive been reading posts here for over a year now.. i accually figured out the problem with my tranny because of a post here.. 

anyways i got me a nissan sentra 1991 1.6 litre v4 automatic.. 
its black and the paint on it sucks.. and the interior is boring.. 

im giving it a new paint job, spoiler, mags, tinted windows, im also redoing the interior in blue and black leather, im fixing the dashboard so that the sentral consol and the ventillation and little things like that are gonna be painted blue, and im also putting in a sunroof, all of that is gonna be done by the end of the summer, and im doing wtv even i can by myself because i cant afford the labor.. so all the interior is gonna bedone by me..

anyways.. 
i always find it hypocritical to make your car look awesome.. but there is shit under the hood.. 

so im having my entire engine cleaned and polished.. but i want MORE POWER !!!

my stupid auto transmition barely transfers any opf the power to the wheel.. although when i floor it there is accpetable acceleration, it still sucks.. 

now i wanted peoples opinion, 

i got a choice between an engine swap.. if im doing that im also gonna beputting in a manual transmition, new axles and connecting a clutch and a stick.

and my second.. simple but a bit costlier option is to put in the hotshot turbo.. 

now my car has got an origional 1991 engine with 150 000 kilometers.. there is not rust under the hood what so ever, and the engine sounds and feels like its in superb condition, the transmition is a 1995 auto transmition that has a litle under 100 000 thousand kilometers on it.. 

now please keep in mind that im not a millionaire and i gotta work my damn ass off to do all of this so pleas ebe gentle..


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## Harris (Nov 11, 2002)

Man, your choice should be more along the lines of whether you want to "dress up" your car or do performance work to it. Do your own research and make your own decision. Relying on other's opinions is only going to make it worse for you to decide.


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## viciousxp (May 31, 2004)

Harris said:


> Man, your choice should be more along the lines of whether you want to "dress up" your car or do performance work to it. Do your own research and make your own decision. Relying on other's opinions is only going to make it worse for you to decide.


id rather star off with the performance work on it.. 
but although the hotshots turbo is for the 1.6 litre, it just baffles me how an engine that small wouldnt pop under those kinds of pressure.. and i dont want to go ahead and buy me 6000 dollars canadien worth of equipment (the turbo and the ECU) just sop i can go blow my engine..


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## sno (Oct 4, 2002)

the ga16 is a pretty strong motor with fordged internals. you should be okay as long as you're not running a crazy amount of boost. do some searching and find out what a recommended amount of boost would be on stock internals. i think it's around 6-8psi but i'm just guessing.


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## LimitedEdition (May 31, 2004)

How do the Turbo 1.6L's run with auto trannys?


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

depends on how far you build up the auto tranny....


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## viciousxp (May 31, 2004)

thas an interesting question.. cause i wanna shove that turbo in.. 
but how will it mix with the automatic.. is it worth it.. because with the same amount of monay i can just convert the car into a manual.. 

or should i just sell and buy me a new car ?? !


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## Mack (Mar 18, 2003)

viciousxp said:


> thas an interesting question.. cause i wanna shove that turbo in..
> but how will it mix with the automatic.. is it worth it.. because with the same amount of monay i can just convert the car into a manual..
> 
> or should i just sell and buy me a new car ?? !


Well, it sounds like this just comes down to a bigger decision. In another thread, you are considering putting in an A/C and in this one you want to know whether to perform an engine swap or use a turbocharger. And from the sound of things, you're pretty much changing everything you can get your hands on - but it doesn't even seem like you enjoy your Sentra. Seems like a lot of time and money for a car that you're not very attached to. Plus, you have so many proposed projects, and you want others to decide what to do? Personally, I'd try to be as realistic as possible and just do what I could afford. If you can't make your Sentra enjoyable within your budget or resources, then selling it might be the best option. 

Posting so many "opinion" based threads usually just leads to more confusion because all you'll get is more opinions from others...


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## glowsentra (May 27, 2003)

1) How much did you pay for the car?
2) How much are you willing to put in it?

If you sell this car you won't get nearly as much as you put into it, so it's a matter of looking a couple years down the road, and seeing what you want out of it......


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## Mack (Mar 18, 2003)

I hope my reply didn't sound like "sell your Sentra". Frankly, when the time comes for me to purchase my next car, my Sentra will be worth more to me to keep than to sell it at its meager book value. But if you can't enjoy your Sentra within your means (everyone has their own expectations for the performance of their car) then maybe you should invest more on another car that will meet your performance desires. There's no use in dumping loads of money on a car if it isn't going to please you when you're done. If you think that a turbo or engine swap _is_ going to make the difference though, then assess the costs of each and let your budget make the final decision.


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## glowsentra (May 27, 2003)

Mack said:


> I hope my reply didn't sound like "sell your Sentra". Frankly, when the time comes for me to purchase my next car, my Sentra will be worth more to me to keep than to sell it at its meager book value. But if you can't enjoy your Sentra within your means (everyone has their own expectations for the performance of their car) then maybe you should invest more on another car that will meet your performance desires. There's no use in dumping loads of money on a car if it isn't going to please you when you're done. If you think that a turbo or engine swap _is_ going to make the difference though, then assess the costs of each and let your budget make the final decision.


Yep, he's right, it's all what will make you happy. That's all that should matter when you are working your own car.


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## viciousxp (May 31, 2004)

i bought that car for like 900 CAD.. and i already put liek 1000 bucks in it in the past 3 months to change tha transmission which failed, fix the muffler and change the axles... 

Im plenty happy with this car.. i like it almost as much as my oldsmobile.. but thats another story.. 

all i want on my car is more power.. thats my main goal.. but i wanna couple this with nice looks.. im putting almost 2000 dollars on the body and interior.. and now im looking at options to fix up the engine.. 

im still getting ajusted to the 90 HP that my nissan has compared to the 170 HP that my oldsmobile had.. tahts all


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## viciousxp (May 31, 2004)

from hotshot ! 

well, glad to see that we came to mind when considering a turbo system for your 91 sentra. as for what we can offer you, this would be our T28-based GA16 turbo system. fortunately, we've built these kits for automatics in the past, so reproduction of our previous work for this tranny configuration is something we can handle with no problems. just be advised that the automatic tranny is going to require some "love" in order to keep it from blowing with over 200 horses being delivered by the engine. remember, the engineers at nissan NEVER intended that tranny to hold more power than what the car rolled off the assembly line with


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## EhSteve (Mar 16, 2004)

Forget about all that crazy dress up crap. Keep your car a sleeper and NA the hell out of it.

1. 5 speed manual.
2. Hot shot header and CAI.
3. 1.5" - 2" exhaust and a decent muffler that doesn't sound like a bumble bee.
4. UR pulley.
5. Some lighter wheels assuming you still have the steelies like mine has.
6. Some decent struts and springs - read around.
7. JWT ECU and cams.
8. Brakes - I have no idea, but you'll want some.
9. LSD conversion
10. Advance timing, put in really good oil and tranny fluid, and anything else that comes to mind

Read www.sentra.net - most of this stuff comes from reading that.

And if you want some power, why not a supercharger? If I want power, I want it NOW, damnit!

-Steve


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

can't be a sleeper with 120whp after investing 9k bucks....

http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=59366

http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=55864


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