build or no build

[ghettohatch]

Ok, think about all those times you said "if i could go back i would have done it this way..."

Well im at that point and i need to make a decision.
i dont come across money very often but now i have a budget i would say of 2 grand.

redtop sr. shooting for 300-320 whp. would like to be able to know i could also safely turn up the boost if need be. pulled the motor due to low compression even on all cylinders. And too many oil/other leaks to count.

also have the option of paying somebody to build (first build im obviously skeptical)

ok so with these factors in mind:

2k budget.
300-320 whp.


Oem rebuild or built with rods +pistons?
have someone else build (withing budget?)

if you could go back, what would you have done?

working on getting a trailer to be track only, not 100% yet.
also if you have a similar setup/ i would like to know how many miles it has seen w/o problems.

thanks! need to hear from some experienced folk

[bllabong89]

so you already have an sr? if so, i would imagine 3-320hp would be a little difficult on 2k when a good turbo is half of that. you will also need to consider the fuel upgrades to run 300hp and the tuning source. an apexi power fc is 1k so now your at your limit with out having the motor built and the fuel system upgraded.

if this is going to be a track only car, do yourself a favor and spend that 2k on a good trailer...preferablly(idk if thats how you spell it.lol) an enclosed one(imo) and use more money on your build.

a good track car will need other upgrades than just alot of power. what about suspension. you should build your car according to your skill level(not saying you dont have any but the info is vague). upgrade the power when YOU can out drive your car...just my recommendations

[KaminaSan]

Ok, think about all those times you said "if i could go back i would have done it this way..."

Well im at that point and i need to make a decision.
i dont come across money very often but now i have a budget i would say of 2 grand.

redtop sr. shooting for 300-320 whp. would like to be able to know i could also safely turn up the boost if need be. pulled the motor due to low compression even on all cylinders. And too many oil/other leaks to count.

also have the option of paying somebody to build (first build im obviously skeptical)

ok so with these factors in mind:

2k budget.
300-320 whp.


Oem rebuild or built with rods +pistons?
have someone else build (withing budget?)

if you could go back, what would you have done?

working on getting a trailer to be track only, not 100% yet.
also if you have a similar setup/ i would like to know how many miles it has seen w/o problems.

thanks! need to hear from some experienced folk

If you are willing to do some of the work yourself, you can do a LOT with 2k, don't listen to ^^ too much.

First off, the SR rods are like forged without being forged. Good to about 400 hp. The pistons and rings tend to be the first to go.

I'd recommend
1. Forged Pistons 450-600)
2. New Bearings ACL/OEM
3.Cams/upgraded head components.

From that alone, you spent maybe a little over a grand, and can safely turn up the boost with a good tune.

Honestly, with a healthy motor, you shouldn't NEED forged stuff for 300-320, with a decent tune, but since you are tearing it apart, might as well replace the two most common things that break on SRs.

Pistons and Bearings.

[bllabong89]

so your telling me that you can make 300hp with stock everything besides pistons, bearings and cams.

enjukuracing has pistons around 500, cams around 250-600, and bearings around 200 roughly. they have the bc kit with cams, springs and valves for 829.99. that is most likely over the 1k mark and thats going to give him 300hp how? you didnt include any kind of tuning, any kind of fuel system. and I was unaware that the t25 could produc so much power...why do people even build their cars or upgrade parts when they can spend 1k on parts and have the baddest car around. are you asking this guy to blow his motor up on the dyno?

What is a track car if it isn't reliable? its a hoosier ass car put together to go fast once and then have to rebuild again and again. do you see any competitive cars or teams building poorly designed cars? i dont think so. you may want to research prices a little more

[CamryOnBronze]

You shouldn't need to go too crazy with that budget and power goals. I would for sure do it yourself- not only to save some money, but to get the experience and knowledge that comes with a rebuild like this. I was super scared to attempt doing my engine work last winter, but if you are patient and take your time it should fire right up in the end!

I wouldn't bother with internals or anything for those power goals. My car makes about that with an S15 turbo, Tomei Poncams, supporting fuel mods, etc. I would think that you are going to need a bigger budget to pull this off the way you want to, though.

Good luck!

[S14DB]

You can make 300hp on stock internals easily.

The T25 will barely support 200hp. You are going to have to get a S15 T28 or a GT2871R to get 300+. You will also need bigger injectors(550/720) and engine management(Enthapy/JWT/PowerFC/AEM...).

[ghettohatch]

Should have been more detailed in my post. That 2k is for internals and what not alone. Fuel/turbo/tune thats taken care of. Suspension is Done. I have plenty of experience drifting on a maxed out stock sr (you can never have enough i know). i just got to that point where i felt like i could do more with a little more power. As if it would give me some more room to play. Stock sr, i was always pushing it to the limit, i want to be somewhere in the median.

I know the stock bottom end is good to 400 hp or so, but i have heard of stock sr's throwing rods, spun bearings, etc, etc. And for my case, piston rings. I havent looked at my pistons yet to see their condition.

So assuming all other factors are in good working order such as tune, and fuel delivery, and shooting for 320 would pistons and rods be a waste?

i was thinking cp pistons, eagle rods, acl bearings, arp hardware all around (unnecessary?) oem headgasket, new oil pump and timing chain assembly. greddy pan, and greddy oil cooler(which includes a t-stat i believe keeping it streetable). not too worried about cams i know the power's easy to achieve but if i did probably greddy easy cams.

To camryonbronze and s14db, when i hear these horror stories about stock sr's blowing is it safe to say that something else was dicked up to cause it? i guess im looking for that definitive answer of "your sr with 320 on stock internals will last this long..." you know what i mean? most important thing being again, i dont come across money often, i have been waiting for this for a LONG time.

Thanks for your help.

[CamryOnBronze]

I would imagine that something went wrong at that power level due to either a bad tune, or parts just being old/worn. I mean, the SR came with the GT28R stock in the S15, so it can't be that crazy- especially if they make 400 whp reliably all day on stock internals.

In your case, it probably does make sense to build the engine, since you already have issues with the motor. If the motor were running strong and had good compression, I would go the route I did. But in this case, it is probably worth the piece of mind to build everything while you are in there if you can afford it.

I think that if I were to spend the money on a built block, though, I would go with a bigger turbo than the S15 one. Might as well get the most for your time and money, right?

[ghettohatch]

yeah thats kinda what i was thinking. theres been a lot of abuse on my internals, and to go buy oem and pistons and rods i imagine almost wouldnt be worth it and might as well upgrade.

[nissanfreak317]

There won't be too much difference in price between going new oem and upgrading. I finally settled on doing ACL bearings, stock rods, and cp pistons for the bottom end. Got everything all cleaned up and machined properly. And stuck with oem springs and retainers for the head with a fresh valve job, new seals, and probably going to be running JW S3 cams. This is for a GT2871R turbo shooting for 380+ whp. I kicked around a lot of ideas and ended up here after lots of research. I stuck to rebuilding stuff for reliability rather than all out performance and saved quite a bit overall. lots of guys run close to 400whp on their SRs on bone stock bottom ends, you may be fine just getting new rings if everything checks out but if you already have it apart it wouldn't hurt to freshen it up a bit and look into your options. I hope to run mine for the next couple years without having to even look at it.