Nissan 200SX Club - South Africa

Howzit guys...

So I am also falling into the trap of wanting to rebuild my engine.
Reasons for rebuild are - small oil leak and temperature problems.
I don't want the above to impact long term reliability and also I want to be able to boost 1bar without any concerns.

I don't know if its a good idea to try and do the rebuild myself. I have never done any engine rebuilds before.

It may be fun to do the rebuild myself, but I don't want to have to end up spending double, as a result of my own ignorance.

If I decide to do the rebuild myself, what tools will I need (measurement tools included), how much will these be and where can I source them?

Items I have learnt I need so far:
Torque wrench
Micrometer
Proper set of spanners and sockets (hex socket for head studs - 10mm)
Block and tackle
Gasket maker/sealer
Engine stand
1 x engineering workshop (to hone/deglaze/bore cylinders+skim head+machine crank)
What am I missing

What parts do I need to replace except for
Gaskets (inlet/outlet manifolds)
Head gasket (ACL racing)
Head studs
Big end and main bearings
New pistons and rings (wrist pins and clips)
(I don't think I am replacing rods - can i make more than 200kw without replacing rods?)
New thermostat
New waterpump
New oil pump (and a lot of oil)
New cam belt and tentioner pulley
I don't have a cam pickup (Removed as I am running Gotech)

How do I measure what size bearings I need? - I see some of you have mentioned that you need oversize bearings - most probably as a result of crankshaft wear and engineering on the shaft.

Same for rings and pistons - oversize/measurement...

Do I need to have the crank engineered as well?

Please don't feel like you'll hurt my feelings. Where I have gone wrong please help...

I'd rather listen now than pay the price later on...

Thanks dudes

Speed breeder wrote:Howzit guys...

So I am also falling into the trap of wanting to rebuild my engine.
Reasons for rebuild are - small oil leak and temperature problems.
I don't want the above to impact long term reliability and also I want to be able to boost 1bar without any concerns.

I don't know if its a good idea to try and do the rebuild myself. I have never done any engine rebuilds before.


Thanks dudes

Read through the pages of the guys under Project C, Project D, etc. Basically nothing can go wrong; it just depends on what you mean with a good idea

I have a DVD that might help to give you a good overview of what to expect. PM me to collect.

Di you have a workshop manual? A lot of reading, but will help.

Cool thanks.

Yes I do have a workshop manual. One of those Adobe ones from Workshopmanuals.co.uk.

So in other words...give it a go...balls to the wall

I've helped and built about 6 motors now, of which none has been 100% successful yet, by 100% successful is dropping it in and having it run 10000km

Stuff that made my motors fail,
* Corsa bend a conrod - was boosting too much
* Golf - ran bearings - oil pump was not refurbished
* CA18 #1 - used 20 thou pistons and 30 thou rings - bottom end was built my some backyard mechanic, he should have known better, I didn't know you couldn't do that.
* CA18 #2 - didn't cap the rings, exhaust manifold had some welding splatter that entered the engine by a process called reversion - but it was prone to fail any way
* CA18 #3 - had a piston blow out - Toby's engine, would have been the perfect engine if the engineers didn't customize the pistons.
* CA18 #4 - Freddy - built bottom end - engine hasn't really worked yet
* CA18 #5 - The one I'm busy with now

Look you live and learn, I wish I knew now when I was busy with CA18 #2 it would have been a perfect motor, but it would still have failed, because my ECU was over fueling into its f-u.

Sooo what I'm trying to say is, building the motor is one thing, but taking care of all the little bits around it is another, it will only work if all are perfect and you don't take shortcuts.

Along those lines,,,,

How many people here have built motors that make over 200kw and have lasted over 10 000km's?

On this forum, none, few have gone over 200KW but don't know about KM wize, think Ero's car will do so, and Qwerty's one too, also Riaan's

Rezlo wrote:Along those lines,,,,

How many people here have built motors that make over 200kw and have lasted over 10 000km's?

built a 100kw N/A screamer that lasted way over 10000kms :p does that count?

So what you guys are saying...even if I build the car, its not going to last very long. That's very negative...

I have built a few motors to make that much power and would of lasted a life but the stupid drivers are determind to break them. I might have a cool project to supercharge a 350Z, will see if the owner is interested once he finds out the price.

My dad built his Studebaker motor 30years ago and over 500 000km later it is still running, when it was built it supposidly made 285RwHp.

Im talking about SR20's and CA18's.

Speed Breeder, im not trying to say you shouldnt, its an awsome thing to do, just dont start doing it on such a complex platform.

Its like learning to ride a ZX14 as your first bike, except theres more things that can go wrong in an engine

There are MANY MANY things you learn my trial and error, Vlade will agree, rather go offer to help somone hand spanners and stuff and get the feel for it before you go in the deep end. Its taken me YEARS to get to realy know SR20's and im still learning.

i once made this



(oh and before danny boy gets on his high horse again, its snot)

If you have never helpped rebuild an engine dont try it alone cause you will fuck up. There is a reason why mechanic do a 4 year apprentiship and most still cant build a decent engine in std form.

Plenty of things to learn eg.

Do you know how to torque, the sequences etc.
How rings are gapped, up/down side.
Honing
Bearing install, spacers
What sealers to use where
Mains cap lubrication
Piston ring compressors
timing chains/belts & tension
etc. etc.

Like others said, it takes years and a good few mentors. Lots of school fees and time. I would not do it myself the 1st time. Best you can do is to take the parts to a reputable engineering shop, let them do the eng. work and give you the parts spec. list. Some will assemble for a fee and give a guarantee.

The corsa motor we built from a book, but that is a corsa motor, they are darn simple... Also a handy book that we had next to us was a "How to build a 4 cylinder engine" type thing... Showed us how to torque and use the ring compressor and how to install rings.

People say a motor is a motor is a motor, but CA has its unique little gremlins when you assemble sames goes for the SR...

I think my engineers charge like R400-R600 to build a bottom end, might just be worth it, cuz that is not allot if you think of it.