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Can we make it go?


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Ok I have a friend who wants more power out of his car. Ok, not a big deal, some money, some time, some tools, some love and some know how and your good to go! One slight problem. He wants me to help. Ok well not a big deal only if he had a car that I knew how to work with. Does anyone have a good idea or recommendation for adding a few noticeable horses or torque to an old Nissan?

He has a 1985 Nissan Sentra. Its an auto 3 speed with loads of no go! I have never heard of performance parts for this car.

I would imagine:

Air Filter

Muffler

Spark Plugs

Spark Plug Wires

MAYBE A CARB...would a 32 Weber work?

Anybody have any idea.

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Good luck. Buddy of mine had an older sentra wagon, bitch'd die at the most inopportune times, and it was a struggle to get to highway speeds. We thought she was the shit regardless.

 

I vote give it a nice tune-up, change the oil, all that good stuff. You could try seafoaming it too to clean out the engine a lil bit.

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If it's an '85, it would have the same drivetrain as my Pulsar. Yeah, definitely not a lot of go.

 

It would be the E16S engine. Does it have all the california emissions stuff on it? If it has catalytic converters, then it would be cali. emissions. That crap is probably killing a lot of your performance.

 

You can put a Weber 32/36 on it, which I have heard gives it some improvement. I have a Holley 5200 which I'm thinking about putting on when it gets warmer in the spring, so I'll tell you what it does when I put it on.

 

For exhaust, I cut the muffler off mine and I'm running the stock exhaust with just the small resonator. I don't know if it adds power; the fuel mileage went down a bit, but it sounds cool :D.

 

You can swap in a 5spd without too much trouble. It definitely makes it a lot more fun to drive. I swapped mine over this past summer when my auto died.

 

The E15ET would be an easy engine swap to do, but they were only in the '83 Pulsar as an option, so they're about as easy to find as hen's teeth.

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Not a whole lot of performance potential there...and that's the good news. I worked on a few when I was turning wrenches for a living. These had a problem with the distributors dying. They are impossible to find used and new or reman units will exceed the value of the car (and this was 10 years ago) even in running condition. There is literally more potential and aftermarket support for the Geo Metro. Maybe your buddy should try to unload it while it's still running and start with another car.

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Im sorry your buddy has this car. But hey it gets ok mileage. These cars are super slow and yes a HUGE pain in the ass to find parts for. I had one in 97' for no lie 2 weeks. I bought it as a car to and from work since my truck at the time was getting 14mpg (68' Chevy PU). I found myself have to leave about 20 min earlier for work since this thing had no go. (I worked at a casio in the foothills at the time 35 miles away) I sold it 2 weeks after I got it cause it was a POS.

Now if I had a chance to get another at say $200 I would put NAZZ on it and see how long I could squeeze it before the big boom. Then sell it to the J/Y for $250 as scrap. Add this to the list of cars you never want to own.

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I don't know what the specs on the 710 are, but the E16 in the Sentra would have put out 68 Horsepower when it left the factory in '85... who knows how many of those horses have died since then :rolleyes:

 

That engine in the lighter and more aerodynamic Pulsar can get the vehicle up to about 140KM/H (85MPH), maybe faster - I haven't tried. The top gear ratios in the manual and auto are fairly similar too... engine revs just as high on the highway with either transmission, around 3000-3500RPM at about 60MPH.

 

I don't know the numbers for you 710, but hopefully that will give you something to go from :cool:

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You can make it go easily.

 

Convert to 4-speed, and it will feel twice as fast -- more than all the engine bolt on parts you can shake a stick at. Don't work on the engine, swap the transmission.

 

x2...

 

but seriously, save the money and buy another car that already has a standard transmission. he cant have THAT much money into that thing to make it not worth selling.

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You can put a Weber 32/36 on it, which I have heard gives it some improvement. I have a Holley 5200 which I'm thinking about putting on when it gets warmer in the spring, so I'll tell you what it does when I put it on.

 

 

Are you sure you can put either of those on an E16? We had an 87 Sentra and 83 Puslar NX and as I recall the stock carbs are controlled by a 'computer' under the passenger seat. Is there someway to bypass that?

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The car is a cheap economy car. No way to make it go faster. That one is supposed to get 30-35 mpg! Enjoy it.

If he has money to put parts on it, then sell it and at least buy a 1991 Sentra SER with the SR20 and a 5-speed or a 1988-89 Pulsar SE with a CA18DE and 5-speed.

 

Forget buying the small engine, SOHC economy cars and trying to make them go. It is a waste of time.

Your 710 is slow but should easily beat him, especially if you have a manual transmission.

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Are you sure you can put either of those on an E16? We had an 87 Sentra and 83 Puslar NX and as I recall the stock carbs are controlled by a 'computer' under the passenger seat. Is there someway to bypass that?

 

ah yes... the "Hopeless Chokeless" carb, as I've heard it called on other sites. The Canadian market never got 'em. We just got the regular Hitachi 2 barrel. Because it wasn't offered in all markets, I imagine that the electronic carb can't have its tentacles too deep into the car's electrical systems.

 

Bleach is right though... it is an econobox, not a speed demon. It will go for a long time on not a lot of gas. It's a cheap dependable automobile - it is a Nissan, after all. They also have the added advantage of being fairly simple mechanically, which makes them good to learn on.

 

...If you had piles of money, it could be one hell of a sleeper. Nobody would expect an old POS Sentra to be fast :fu: :lol:

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