Call me a chump if you will

[Ucan2]

I have a 99 Sentra 2.0 and I have been looking into kicking it up a couple of nothches. For a couple of grand there is a wealth of things I could do including CAI, exhaust, headers etcetera. Most of these mods are said to give me just a couple of HP. Will just a couple of HP really justify the cost? I figure the car (stock) has the HP it needs, so any extra will be bonus and be easily felt as I drive. Am I a chump or just misinformed?

[method]

a couple of grand is more likely to score you a small turbo kit with real gains. after that, boltons will make much more of a difference.

chump ;)

[1badPT]

Breather mods for most n/a cars simply don't add enough hp to justify the costs in my opinion. Most cars are engineered with enough flow to begin with so increasing it usually nets minimal gains.

I would look at a chiptune if you are looking for some cheap hp and know that you're not doing a turbo/supercharger setup later. Most tuners are around $600 (ballpark - different for each car) and the main thing they do is advance timing. So in essence you'll need to switch to high octane fuel but the mod is usually good for just under 20 extra hp (~5hp / cylinder).

If you want more than that, go with a turbo or supercharger kit. Again I don't know whats available for your car, but those are typically the ways to add real useable hp.

[Ucan2]

What kind of fuel cost do you guys have up there? I am in San Diego and the dif between 87 and high octane is bout 2 bucks to 2.50. over th year that will cost me a grip, but at least the cost is distributed. Also, will this effect mpg/Kmpg or whatnot?

[RC-Cola]

I'm not overly familar with the 2.0 engine, but if it's like the Spec engine it does need more "breather" type mods. Although adding a CAI, header and exhaust system should give you good gains, don't expect that you'll get another 20 or 30 whp, you'll probably be closer to 10 - 15 whp.

If you want better rpm response you might want to consider a lighter flywheel as well. They are noturiously heavy on the sentra's, it won't give more HP but it will dramatically increase how fast your car will get up to speed.

For the most hp for cheap I would look at Nos. Becareful with it though... :devil:

[1badPT]

shouldn't change efficiency that much but you will be paying more at the pump. But you'll pay more at the pump for any power mod - all power mods are essentially letting you burn more fuel in your engine per stroke. Turbos give you a good tradeoff between daily driveability and power since you can use a boost controller to switch between extra power, and regular driving for efficiency.

Plus with advanced timing you tend to go through air filters a bit quicker since most program the valves for longer overlap time (drawing more air through the filter per stroke).

Bottom line-power costs $$$, for the mods and the extra fuel you'll burn.

Edit: forgot about nos. It too lets you have normal driveability with a button for extra power when you need it. Buy a kit from a repuatable company experienced with your engine and don't go over the maximum they recommend no matter how tempting it is unless you've built up the internals to handle it.

[Ucan2]

Air filters are 10 bucks for my nissan, so it's no big thing. Are there state by state (province by province?) regulations regarding use and accesability of a nos setup? Or is there a general standard? I don't race so my needs are not for track. I just hate having to yeild during day to day driving because I don't have the power to execute my right of way.

[bigboom]

if you want some opinions of what a lot of SE sentra drivers feel with simple bolt on's check out www.b15sentra.net

[1badPT]

I would go with the advanced timing myself - it would be a waste to open a can of juice just to get rolling on an on ramp. I don't know if you'd run into any problems with the law for having a juice setup. Advanced timing should give you that little extra pep to get off the line. If you do go with advanced timing though, it will be difficult to add a turbo or supercharger later unless you keep a copy of your stock ecu settings. GL with your decision.

[szw]

I think on the 2.0 sentra you can advance the timing by yourself rather easily.

[1badPT]

You can do it by cam gear adjustments but its not very accurate, and you are really taking your chances if you don't know what you're doing. Again I don't know much about the engine, but maybe someone has done the math already and knows what's safe. The ECU tuners are much easier to work with and some will even take a copy of the stock settings so you can return it to stock setup later if needed (IE when you're selling it).

[^SkylinE^]

Do some reasearch on turbo kits for your car. I don't really know nissan cars really well but you can turbo a honda for cheap and gain are much larger than spending lots of cash on CAI exhaust headers and cams. For the cost of all those things you could afford a turbo kit.

Like i said research your car a little and them make an educated decition.

[szw]

Originally posted by 1badPT
You can do it by cam gear adjustments but its not very accurate, and you are really taking your chances if you don't know what you're doing. Again I don't know much about the engine, but maybe someone has done the math already and knows what's safe. The ECU tuners are much easier to work with and some will even take a copy of the stock settings so you can return it to stock setup later if needed (IE when you're selling it).

Not sure but for this car, its not even really worth doing, let alone paying for it. Just the fact that its free and helps a little.

search up stuff on www.b15sentra.net you will probably find better info than on here.

[RC-Cola]

b15sentra.net is a great board for info about our cars. However, don't post a dumb question because they will jump all over you about searching first...

[GTS Jeff]

auto or manual?

[Ucan2]

Stick- I perhaps could search, but can anyone tell me from experience their benifits from short shift kit. Will it enhance my farfegnugan (sp?) If I could actually achieve such a feeling with a sentra. Or, is it primarily something I can use to boost my character when spouting off a list of mods to others.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by Ucan2
Stick- I perhaps could search, but can anyone tell me from experience their benifits from short shift kit. Will it enhance my farfegnugan (sp?) If I could actually achieve such a feeling with a sentra. Or, is it primarily something I can use to boost my character when spouting off a list of mods to others. well u might want to consider a short shift if u arent happy with your current shifter and u tihnk that the throws are too long to make driving enjoyable. its a mod designed for ppl who are strapped down in harnesses and cant reach all over the place to shift. it might make your shifting faster, it might not - cuz when u reduce the throw, u usually increase the effort needed to shift. how is the stock shifter for your car?

whats farfegnugan? german chocolate?

[Ucan2]

nah, my thows ok, i'm an over shifter but I don't get exhausted from it - not german chocolate - "the joy of driving" volkswagon circa 1994