BlazedGlory

I currently own a 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R SpecV. I have plans to buy a '91-'93 240sx fastback and then sell my SE-R in the near future. The problem is I just don't know exactly what I am getting into right now, and I want to make sure I do before I actually make this move.

My goal is to save enough money to purchase the 240 before I sell my other car. Then I will sell the other car, hopefully make 2-4k after paying off the remainder of the loan, and buy an SR20DET. After that I will slowly build up the car as funds permit.

Now, keep in mind that this is going to be my daily driver. Is it possible to do this project and maintain reliability? Obviously after I get the actual swap done, I am going to want to increase power. Here is where everything is the most shady to me at this point.

What are the different "stages" one might do to increase power on an SR20? For example, the engine in my current car, the QR25DE, has very weak rods. On the stock internals people are getting approximately 280hp/250tq at the wheels running a turbo about 6-7psi safely. Much more than that and the rods will more than likely go. Replace the rods and one might get up to 325-350hp or so. One guy has new pistons/rods and has a sleeved block and is running about 400 whp. This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. How much hp could I get out of the engine safely by just slapping a bigger turbo on it (and obviously probably getting new fuel system/injectors and whatnot)? What if I decided to do something like new internals?

Please keep in mind that this will be daily driven, and I plan on keeping it as cost-effective as possible, but I would like it to be pretty damn fast. I'm tired of being beat up on by muscle cars and whatnot. But this will ultimately be an all-around road car, not just for drag...

I'm sorry if I missed this sort of information in searching, or if there is some sort of article somewhere that explains these sorts of things, it would be greatly appreciated if you could link me to it...

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Someone on another forum said "Three things u must always keep in mind. Cheap, Fast, and Reliable. Choose 2 cause you cant have all three."

Here is my response to that: "
how about if I rank them:

1) Reliable

But 2 & 3 are really a tie for me right now because I really can't decide how fast I want to make it before I know how cheap I can do what with. I think I'd basically like to do a basic build up on the stock internals preferably (if that would be reliable) with a larger turbo and whatever else I would need to support that (ie injectors, etc)...what kind of hp could I get out of that and what kind of money would I be looking at there?

With such a light car, I'm sure 300whp would let me put a pretty good whompin' on some folks, and I've heard that the stock internals can handle over 400hp...but I don't know what's truth and what would actually be reliable on this engine..."

lionel

cheap, leave it out. anybody can get anything cheap. sometimes you get lucky sometimes you dont. fast and reliable can go, that's expensive tho unless you find the parts that make it fast and reliable as a daily driver cheap. with an sr20, you can daily drive 300 horses easily. stock internals have gone up to just under 500 horses. i dont have dyno sheets or a site that states this fact but i know it, ive read it they showed the sheets but i just didnt save it. and i feel you, muscle cars beat up on alot of imports. the s13 chassis is very light, just take out the a/c, the back seats, spare tires, everything in the trunk, passenger seat, and carpets, etc, then go out and start punking muscle cars, well, make sure you have that sr and the mods too.

DRFT240

first off, sr20's are not all that people put them up to be. here in cali people are into sr20's and rb's but if you really want a good reliable angine that could put out 450+ HP and be a daily driver, you should look at the KA24DE, or the stock engine in a 95+ 240sx. I am also gonna do a 1989-1993 240sx project and i've been looking around for advice. my decision is to turbo a ka24de. although horsepower is important, torque is just as important, if not more. sr20's don't put out as much torque as a ka24 can. you decide. here's a site to check out: http://www.import-autoperformance.com/SR20swap.html

BlazedGlory

I'm just afraid I'd have to bulk everything up before I could give the ka motor some forced induction. I.E. pistons and rods... Kind of like the qr25 that I currently own...