Step One: Get your shit together.

2011-02-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

So I thought that I'd have enough time to simply jump right into wrenching on the 510, but sadly life comes right at you as it always does. Just to fill you in on some background info I am a nissan nut. Obviously and quite sterotypically my favorite engine is the SR20, though I also love the way the RB sounds and the VQ is amazingly advanced but sadly they are both too pricey to get into. This is why I started off with the SR20 as my first turbo project car.

I bought a black 1991 Nissan NX2000 with 101k miles for 1500$, paint was fading but it was clean in an out. I had bought this car as an experiment to test out the sr20 and use it as a daily driver.

My first few little mods were little things like replacing the cracked dash, replacing the seat, installing my stereo system and relocating the battery and some other little things.

After a while I got bored was wasn't ready for the commitment for a full project car like the 510 this blog will mainly follow. So naturally I got the boost bug and turbod it!

Turbo and intercooler get installed in 1 weekend.
Fit nicely with all stock parts!

Since the SR20 has a stock turbo at 7-9 psi in Japan, its extremely easy to source some OEM JDM turbo parts for dirt cheap and have a fun little budget boost build. I spent about 1500$ more on a stock turbo, piggyback SAFC (this would come back to bite me), intercooler, exhaust, and gauges brought me to 250whp for 3000$ invested. Not bad I thought.
When I first went down the block I shit myself, I needed new tires! And soon, I would need new engine mounts!

I drove it daily to school and to work everyday for two years and it served me well. Until one day I made the mistake of playing around with too much boost and too much timing on my stock ECU with 9.5:1 compression, and blew the motor while messing around with my friend Stephen and his Eclipse. (he is pictured on the right)

Step Two: Fix the Daily

Once the Daily broke, everything got put on hold and I sourced as I rushed to source a new engine. I picked up this wrecked NX2000 stuck in the dirt in the middle of the Orange groves up in Mount Palomar. For 200$ I couldn't say no, even though it was much more than just an engine. I yanked it outta the dirt with my friends F150 and started on my mission to PART THAT SUCKER OUT!

The car was amazingly clean with a low 75k miles, automatic (meaning likely not beat on) and probably garaged and woman owned from what I could see (perfect rubber in tact everywhere) If the left framerail wasnt crunched in this car I'd feel terrible about parting such a beauty out, id do a 5 speed swap instead!
Over the next coming week I ripped into her as hard as I could, with the help of a friend or two!

The Engine came out swiftly, as it was the main goal of course, and I soon realized that I had no room for another car and had parted out the front suspenion so it was not longer rollable! What to do!?

Thats when I grabbed my sawzall and called a friend and we both ripped it apart and cut it into tiny peices until we could load it into the back of Stephens F150, which we took to the scrap yard the next day.

About half way into it

An empty garage? what?! Not for long. Now that I had the room I could swap my engine. It was coming up on my 2 year smog check anyway so I didnt feel too bad about taking the turbo out at all.

New engine and turbo engine side by side

Out

And In!

FINALLY it runs and drives good, and I can get back to the 510...
Look out for my next update!

Fresh from japan with 50k miles, I pulled the valvecover and was a little disappointed, but I guess thats the risk you take

First Post

2011-02-23T21:32:00.000-08:00

I guess I've lagged as usual, starting the log for a project thats already well begun!
Some rough goals are 350whp reliable on a gt35 topmounted on a s13 redtop with 740cc injectors and a standalone ecu, going for 450whp max boost and am interested in playing around with methanol injection. I shall write a full intro later, for now I'll post some pics of what I already have and the plans should be evident.

On the uHaul the night I got it home.

It all started with this orange 72 Datsun 510 I found on Craigslist. It was listed for 2400 and the mexicans that had it back in the corner of a palet recycling yard were very hard to deal with to say the least. The car was 15ft from the mexican border in Otay, with an Arizona title in someone elses name, but I wasn't about to let it slip through my hands! so after calling up the DMV to make sure it wasnt reported stolen, I bought it outright for 2200$ It had no engine but boxes and boxes of parts from who I assumed to be the original owner.

Has original engine bay utility light

Only two coats of paint!

The car was perfect for my project. It was engineless and ready. It had some tasteful mods already done to it and it was the right color and had the right wheels, in addition to the camber kit, coilovers, flares (hey i like em!) as well as the super sweet custom louver job on the hood as cowl!

Next step will the rustproofing (there is some bubbling under the rockers but nothing big) and cleaning!

I've come prepared!

SR510

Step One: Get your shit together.

First Post