Hi, friends! I am a beginner of cars, and just bought a 89 NISSAN 240SX, it is in very
good condition. But it has only 140 hp, is there any easy way to improve the horse power
without hurting the engine? Your help would be apprecited.
Michael
Re. 1
First you should do your basic mods which are your intake and exhaust. Get a
K&N Filter from just about anywhere, this will help your motor breath much easier.
Next is the exhaust, there are plenty of systems out there, its just your preference on
sound and looks, most will perform the same as long as they are performance systems. Both
of these should give about 10hp. Next you can get a header to help the exhaust even more,
they give about another 10hp alone. Next get a camshaft from Jim
Wolf Technology this is claimed at about 10-12hp. You can also get a computer upgrade from
them giving even more hp. These can be done fairly easily. The next steps are a little
more complex. You can get the cylinder head ported, polished, and cc'd with a 5 angle
valve job, this helps the car breath a lot more giving about at least 15hp. The hardest
steps involve pulling the motor out. Bore the motor over .40 and get 10.5:1(custom) or
9.5:1(from Nissan Motorsports)pistons, Total-Seal
rings, Have the motor balanced and blueprinted. Lighten the flywheel and put in a heavy
duty clutch such as a Centerforce Dual Friction. Intake manifold porting and get the
throttle body enlarged to get more air into the motor. After you do all this you should
have 220+hp. If you want even more hp there are two options. You can have the whole motor
rebuilt again to handle a turbo, a place in California called Top-End performance at
(818)764-6768 or http://www.racetep.com will do this for a price of $8800 giving you
350hp. Or you can go the cheap way without having to re-do the motor again by getting a
nitrous kit for $450 giving you a choice by adjusting the fuel and nitrous jets in the
increments of 50, 75, 100, and a whopping 150hp(with a fuel system upgrade). This system
is available from Nitrous Express at http://www.nitrousexpress.com putting you over 360hp.
Hope this helped out anyway. If you have anymore questions just ask.
Re. 2
There are two conditions to be meet here that need to be addressed when answering this
question.
1- it has to be easy
2- it can't cause anymore wear to the engine than what is currently applied
Since it's SOHC, I'd suggest first fixing the intake with a K&N set up, and reducing
back pressure with a free flow exhaust. beyond that, I only see changing the cam and
exhaust manifold to increase HP and not increase wear, and these are considered
"easy" if you are mechanically inclined. These are typical recommendations for
any engine.
I haven't included stuff like wires, sparkplugs, undersized pulleys, and lower temp
thermostats because they all (except the pulley) increase HP marginally, and should be in
excellent condition before making any other
changes.
I also haven't included things like new pistons, port polishing, chip changes, cat removal
(a federal offense), supercharger / turbochargers, fluid changes (oils, coolants, brake
fluids, ect.), powersteering pump removal (I've done this with success on an 82 Celica),
tire/axle/transmission changes (these when changed can increase or decrease torque/and top
speed) and other things because they either are expensive, not easy, or devalue the
automobile or compromise driveability.
There is no "magical" way to get alot of HP cheap and easy (unless you go with a
GM 305/350 or Ford 302/351 in their respective applications) with these cars because you
are restricted by the computer/fuel injection and emission testing if it's in your area.
There is no way to say which product to use and how much increase will result because
every engine is a little different coming for the factory, have different levels of wear,
and most products are either marginal in their gains or compromise driveability for
extreme gains.
John
Easy Mod
Hey, A real easy and no cost modification for a 240sx with the stock air box still is to remove the Y pipe connected to the right of the air box. Its real simple to remove and the 1 inch pipe that connects to the airbox its gone so now there is no restriction and a gaping 4 inch space now for lots of air to go on. Only down side is the air filter gets dirtier faster so you have to watch it. I tried this on my car and the apex multichecker says it has an increase of 4 more hp. Also it gives a more deeper and louder sound when you give a little gas.
From: - AnimesRule < [email protected] >
Couple of Easy mods
Another way to increase power is first take off the y-pipe going to the air box. Then what I did was bought another air box from a junk yard $35. Then seperate the air box into 2 pieces and the part you want use is the bottom piece. First you need to cut out the bottom of it so basically all of the air filter is exposed. You may need an electric saw to do this cause it's some pretty tough plastic. Then just swap out your regular bottom piece in your car for the modified one. You'll notice a big difference for a low cost, sounds and feels like the real thing. I put in a K & N air filter too($40-$50, so that should help. After you do this I'd recommend getting a exhaust system. I got a Dynomax Super Turbo muffler, not too loud, really only loud between 2 and 3 grand after that the intake kicks in and takes over for noise also the price is reasonable. I paid like $150 or so for 2 1/4 in piping, muffler, and tip. Another thing you might want to do is up your ignitio! n timing to somewhere between 15 and 17 degrees or 3 notches on the distributer if I'm not mistaken, you have to run higher octane (91 or 92) but it definately helped alot. That's all I got for now
Taej Mulugeta
Email: [email protected]