2009 Nissan Cube Build - 6 Speed -

[petercscherer]

Hey y'all, figured I'd chronicle this little build here. Just purchased this 2009 Nissan Cube from a good friend here in Lubbock, TX and it's been very well taken care of. A factory 6 speed Manual and equipped with the Ginormous Package with the Aero kit and custom interior lighting. Other than a DC Sports Exhaust and Takeda Intake, it's pretty stock. My plans include lowering with some Eibach springs, and go back to stock diameter exhaust since I'm pretty sure this thing actually lost power with that 2.25" piping. 

Otherwise, just going to be a fun JDM style daily driver to augment my 2016 GTI. 

~Peter
 

[petercscherer]

Some more pics, only 71k miles, and I'm the 3rd Owner. Always well maintained and these things can easily last for 200k. 

[petercscherer]

Installed the Tanabe Strut brace as well as new Struts and the Eibach Sportline Drop Springs. Also an ATI Upper Grill and new replacement headlights. 

[petercscherer]

So here's where it sits with the lowered suspension. Ride is definitely a lowered car quality, but not bottoming out or uncomfortable. Next is some interior upgrades and probably tackling the exhaust. 

~Peter

[]2eDeYe]

Dang, that looks pretty good 

[Lockleaf]

Nice.  I had forgotten these goofy things existed.  I was looking at buying an xB recently, but these would fill the same niche...

[Icehouse]

I got my wife the same rig.  They are great cars.  I want lower hers but she doesn't pay attention enough to have a low car 🙂.  Look forward to the build! 

[petercscherer]

Oh I definitely see a 1st Gen xB in the future as well. Definitely love the practicality and personality they have. Definitely would love to airbag it, but that seems excessive considering I don't do shows or anything like that. 

 

I will say the lowering springs have a pretty satisfactory ride, definitely need to avoid potholes, but the OEM seats are overly supportive to make up the difference. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by petercscherer

[petercscherer]

Figured I'd update this. I've put on over 2k miles on it in the last few months, really a fun car! I've been dreaming of Underglow since I was a kidding watching Fast and Furious, so I figured this was the ultimate vehicle to do so on. Really accents the factory underdash LEDs quite well! Swapped out the exhaust for the J2/DNA Catback off eBay since the DC Sports system was just too loud and droning, even after adding a heimholtz resonator. 

[petercscherer]

Oh, and Painted the Mirrors Ruby Red Metallic for that extra race-y Nismo look. lol 😆I love having a inexpensive car to goof off with. 

 

[petercscherer]

Finally stumbled across the next direction for this build. Turns out that the Sentra uses the MR20DE which is the big brother to the MR18DE in the Cube/Versa. Here's the power differences:

MR18DE: 122hp/5500RPM & 128lb-ft/4800RPM

MR20DE:  145hp/5100RPM & 147lb-ft/4800RPM

 

That's a 15+% improvement across the board and the peak power is at a lower RPM. Couple this with some port&polishing intake/exhaust improvement, and maybe a bored out cylinder diameter, and that's pretty much the best power gain I can achieve without doing a ghetto turbo! 

 

For perspective this is a similar performance upgrade going from the 1990 Miata with the 1.6 to the 1997 with the 1.8. Those have a 14% increase in power and I've driven both back to back and it's very noticeable and appreciated. 

Keeping in mind that upRev does NOT support the Cube ECU, and they seemed reluctant to do any special offerings for me, this is the best option that retains all functionality and also allows me to tick some maintenance/upgrade items off the long-term list. 

So here's the JDM MR20 I just had delivered: 

 

I'll get it stripped down and decide whether or not it's worth boring out to bump up to 2.1-2.2l or just leaving stock. I'm going to also take the opportunity to redesign the factory header to help with flow,they have individual runners, but they merge together in a very tight and restrictive way. I'm sure Nissan had a reason, but I have to believe there's some power to gain there. 

Edited June 7 by petercscherer

[petercscherer]

 

Final output from the header is 2.5" and so is the area above the O2 sensor, but for some reason it kinks down to less than 2" before opening up again. I purchased an extra header, so I'm going to cut this one up and see what I can improve. 

 

[datzenmike]

That the stock exhaust manifold? I'd leave it alone. Probably has something to do with mixing the exhaust together because the O² sensor is so close to the collector.

[petercscherer]

51 minutes ago, datzenmike said:

That the stock exhaust manifold? I'd leave it alone. Probably has something to do with mixing the exhaust together because the O² sensor is so close to the collector.

Yeah, they used to make aftermarket headers, but they've been out of production for almost 10 years. That's an extra MR18 header I picked up, I'll compare to the MR20 here once I get that off the motor. If they're the same, I'll likely leave it. 

[petercscherer]

Continuing on the Nismo theme, I had the front seats re-contoured and upholstered with more bolstering and sportier materials. Turned out really nice and I believe is a faithful homage to the Nismo seats in like the Juke and Rogue. 

Before:

 

 

[petercscherer]

After: