Early ninties Nissan 200SX - any good?

[danger mouse]

Jeee-ay-sus!

Hi there, welcome, and I hope you live long enough to post again...

Looks a tad familiar hey Muppet!

[Captain Muppet]

Inspired partly by that spin and partly by utterly shagged rear boots I've just fitted larger rear tyres to my S13.

Of course now I need more boost...

[Abnormal]

Washers behind the actuator is a good trick for a couple of psi, be careful though, once you start modifying the buggers you never stop (currently at 233bhp and rising!)

[Captain Muppet]

As luck would have it the rear subframe bushes have just died so I'll spend the 27p I'd saved up for tuning on repair work instead.

[Captain Muppet]

I've sold it. Bloody thing.

Faults were:
*exhaust manifold cracked
*turbo gaskets blown
*rear subframe bushes knackered
*big end bearings knocking
*lots of other niggling things gunged up/not fitted correctly after servicing
*zero chassis feedback without the rear subframe bush locking kit

My local main dealer were also totally shite - quoting 350 quid and charging 600 just for a laugh (details on SXOC.com if you really care)

Good points:
Booooost
Boost gauge (made by my own fair hand from scrap)

[shadowninja]

how much did you pay for it originally?

[Captain Muppet]

Paid £1800

Sold for £1500

Cost:

*45 quid for rear sub frame bush locking kit (esential if you want to oversteer without crashing)
*350 quid for new exhaust manifold and asociated fasteners and gaskets (went to a main dealer because my other garages were too busy to fix it in time for Goodwood. It turned out they were too busy as well so I got my car back two weeks after Goodwood - I've named and shamed on SXOC)
*25 quid for parts to make the boost gauge and dump valve
*several hundred quid for petrol at 25mpg

[shadowninja]

shame, they're great cars when they run

[Captain Muppet]

Gazboy said:

You don't normally hear bad words uttered about the s13.

You need to get on SXOC.com
If any of the guys on there hear a fly fart they think the big ends have gone.

It was fast and comfortable, just a bit old and knackered. I also didn't want to blow loads of cash sorting it out as I've been there before (I spent 4k tuning a CRX that cost 5k and sold it seven years later for just over 1k )

[shadowninja]

Captain Muppet said:

Gazboy said: You don't normally hear bad words uttered about the s13. You need to get on SXOC.com If any of the guys on there hear a fly fart they think the big ends have gone.

it's not quite that bad!

[Mr2Mike]

Interesting. Do they have a reputation for big ends? A friend of mine had quite a nice S14 a year or so back. The big ends failed in quite a bad way (under full boost while hammering up Haldon hill on the A38 if anyone knows it) and ended up scoring the crank beyond repair. I'd heard good things about the strength of the engine in the 200SX and it only had about 70k on.

(having said that Toyota's are supposed to be reliable and I have spent a fortune on mine!).

[Mr E]

Mr2Mike said:

(having said that Toyota's are supposed to be reliable and I have spent a fortune on mine!).

Mine appears to have been chiseled out of granite. Nothing has gone bad yet......

De-cat and more boost soon (17psi should be an easy 300bhp)

[Mr2Mike]

Gazboy said:

Mr2Mike said: having said that Toyota's are supposed to be reliable and I have spent a fortune on mine!. I will second that! Just booked the little s*** for a strange banging/knocking noise when going over bumps, catseyes and manhole covers, getting serviced, again, at the same time, yet another bill looming large on th horizon.

Very likely the anti-roll bar drop links if they've never been replaced Take a tub of vaseline with you to the dealers as they are extortionately priced for what they are

OTOH if you have the Bilstein non-rebuildable struts, they also tend to get rattly by about 50-60k miles.

[Mr2Mike]

Mr E said:

Mr2Mike said: (having said that Toyota's are supposed to be reliable and I have spent a fortune on mine!). Mine appears to have been chiseled out of granite. Nothing has gone bad yet...... De-cat and more boost soon (17psi should be an easy 300bhp)

Just de-catted mine (whilst changing the head gasket and clutch...as you do). Made a huge difference as the actual cet element had come loose and was effectively plugging the outlet from the cast iron elbow. Along with a 5Zigen exhaust that I persuaded to fit I'm getting just enough boost to hit fuel cut with no other mods and stock VSV etc. in place. Neighbours not overly impressed with the exhaust though....at least not favourably impressed

MOT station wouldn't pass it first time as CO was around 0.8, so had to drive back home and print the MOT testers page out that showed it qualified for a non-cat test

[Gavinr]

Buy a TVR, when the engine goes pop just buy a bigger one. Easy!