ITB Sentra - WTF?

[Chip42]

back to the sentra:

The chassis is a known quantity, thanks to the SE-R there's reasonable parts availability in the aftermarket, and the chassis stuff transfers. the car is stupid light, and they sold them by the boatload, especially here in central FL, so there's a ton of salvage parts to be had and rollers are dirt cheap. the motor makes good power, has a variable timing intake cam, and the drivetrain is very simple and that works well in this situation. shifter is pretty good, and very good with new OEM bushings. like most (all?) nissans, most of the non critical gaskets are RTV by design, which makes for a smaller spares inventory. most of the hard parts carried over into the B14 chassis too, further aiding parts support. the hall effect distributor in the B13 is less prone to failure than the optical setup in the B14, and the B13 has a better rear suspension.

downsides: the rod cap likes to fall off of the #1 cylinder. unfortunately, the hole the loose rod creates on the exhaust side of the motor is obscured by the giant cast alternator / AC bracket. I think we found 4 or 5 of these in the yard before coming upon a "good" bottom end for my old beater, which was out of commission for the same reason. better hardware and checking the torque as maintenance should make this a non issue in service, but it does play havoc on the salvage spare blocks. drum brakes on the rear.

Also the GA16DE is a 16 valve motor, so under the current rules it would be 2380 lbs. But I don't think the 30% "expected" gains are too far out of line for this motor, and I don't want to start a pissing match about the 30% rule.

all told, I think it'd be a good car with minimal effort, and a very good car with development. it'll never be sexy, but neither will a lot of the beaters in ITB.

the Single cam 240sx is a fast, good handling car, but you never know if the race will be longer than the fuse on the motor. I believe that this too could be overcome but I think that those interested in doing so have all moved on.

I generally agree on buy before build, except where I get why you wouldn't (we built 2 IT MR2s from scratch, an ITB del sol, ITS 99 civic Si, and 90 Civic Si for FP).