Learn Me: B15 Sentra Spec V

My coworkers and I have already acquired one at a pretty low price.

Aware of the butterflies & precat issue. Both will be addressed ASAP... although the car has 215k on it and good compression, so its likely one or both has already been addressed.

1) What forum should I sign up for? There are a few, but browsing them... ooof. I suppose its this way for many cars, but out of every 10 threads I look at only 1 has a well structured post with real information in it.

2) 15x9, 16x9, or 17x9 4x114.3 +35ish wheels... does such a thing exist? I recognize 15x9 will be small, but I could deal with it for a bit given the price difference. 52mph 2nd gear limiter would be hilarious during autox though.

3) The front of the front control arm mounts on subframe looks a bit flimsy, but I don't see any evidence of failures? Anything to worry about here?

4) Skidplates (for rally), do these exist? Can't find any. Downpipe is already smashed in one spot, along with the front crossmember.

5) Downpipe replacement - should I a: get a stock one or b: get an aftermarket one and weld a cat into it? None of the aftermarket ones seem to come with a cat, which is weird. We already have to delete the precat ( :( ), but I want to keep this thing as green as possible without risking motor destruction.

6) The clutch grabs well, but at the top of its travel. Is this indicative of a worn clutch? Plan is to adjust @ pedal to a more normal feel, but I want to be prepared to replace this if I need to.

7) Advice on verifying butterflies are opening correctly? Looks like a vac solenoid trigged via ecu? I only took the car over 5k once on test drive, and didn't feel a bump/change in noise/etc. in that rpm range.

8) Recommended wheel options for rallyx? I'm assuming 15" would be ideal, but this bolt pattern isn't common. Been trying to find 15" accord, altima, or sentra alloys off craigslist locally. Would I be better off just snagging a set of the stock 17x7s and winterforces for those? Probably wont run rally tires right away.

I feel the same way about my slow burn SVT project especially as I'm a Nissan homeboy.

240sx stock 15" wheels fit if you don't have the brembo brake upgrade. Look for tear drop type a lot lighter than the machined finished wheels.

Yeah, 240 has been part of my search as well. Difficult to find. We may be able to mix and match some 240sx & accord wheels off craigslist to get a full set. Going to hit the junkyard this week and see what we can come up with.

Re: #2 - I had my winter tires on 15 inch 240 SX rims. No issues at all. It was a non-Brembo car, though.

Re: #3 - Nismo makes (made?) a lower tie bar that connects the front lower subframe mounts together. If you can find one, buy it. It takes a TON of flex out of the front of the car.

Re: #5 - I wanted a midpipe with a cat, so I ended up having a custom piece made at a local exhaust shop. All the "aftermarket" ones were cat-delete items.

Other items of note: Find a Nismo rear sway bar if you can. Totally transforms the handling of the car.

Also note: Somewhere out there, my SE-R is rotting away (next owner planted an oak tree in the radiator) with the following goodies: Nismo rear sway, Nismo lower tie bar, Nismo exhaust, (which, BTW, sounds spectacular)TWM short throw shifter/weighted shift knob, poly shift bushings, custom 2.5 inch midpipe with high-flow Magnaflow cat, XS power header, AEM short ram, 17 inch Nismo rims and other stuff I've probably forgotten. If you can locate it, you could trick yours out for pennies on the dollar. It's a cloud white 02 and should be at a yard within 20 or 30 miles of zip code 49004. I've never looked for it myself, but if I can help, let me know.

As for forums, just ask your questions here. Spec V forums make the Honda chat rooms seem positively upper crust.

kazoospec wrote: Spec V forums make the Honda chat rooms seem positively upper crust.

lol. Indeed.

Thanks for the responses. Some parts seem quite difficult to find so I imagine we may end up fabbing our own. Especially subframe tie bar & mid-pipe.

Neither should be especially hard if you know what you are doing. The tie bar is basically bent steel tube with a "socket shaped" fitting on each end (if that makes sense). Assuming you can find the fittings, fabbing it would just be a matter of getting the length/bends right. As for the mid-pipe, I just bought a decent Magnaflow high flow cat and had an exhaust shop build the mid pipe. Took about an hour and a half and cost me about $150 IIRC. The good news is I/H/E mods really give you a nice power bump with an SE-R. (I'm assuming it already has a header if the engine's still running).

BTW - Here's one source that claims to still have the LTB: http://www.courtesyparts.com/nismo/nismo-r-tune-lower-tie-bar-2000-to-2006-sentra-se-r-and-spec-v/54110rrb50?parent=1701

Nope, doesn't have a header. Not sure its the original motor.

Based on the way it smells though, I can guess that the OEM header has been gutted. We ordered a aftermarket piece pretty much the moment we bought the car though.

Thanks for the link. Will consider that. We are on a budget so we may still fab, but the price on that doesn't seem too terrible. Do you think it would create any ground clearance issues for rallycross?

I have a set of 15 inch mesh wheels from a G20 I can let go for cheap. Where are you located?

ProDarwin wrote: Nope, doesn't have a header. Not sure its the original motor. Based on the way it smells though, I can guess that the OEM header has been gutted. We ordered a aftermarket piece pretty much the moment we bought the car though. Thanks for the link. Will consider that. We are on a budget so we may still fab, but the price on that doesn't seem too terrible. Do you think it would create any ground clearance issues for rallycross?

Its been about 8 or 9 years since I installed mine. If memory serves, probably an inch or two as I'm 99% sure it ends up being the lowest point on the car. I was trying to remember yesterday what it was bent to clear, seems like it might have been the exhaust. You're probably looking at the thickness of the bar plus a 1/2 inch in lost clearance.

pimpm3 wrote: I have a set of 15 inch mesh wheels from a G20 I can let go for cheap. Where are you located?

Located in Winston Salem, NC 27106

Already have a junkyard trip planned during lunch today. Hopefully I can snag some 15s for $22.50/ea. If that doesn't work out I'll let you know. I imagine shipping would not be friendly to us :(

kazoospec wrote: Its been about 8 or 9 years since I installed mine. If memory serves, probably an inch or two as I'm 99% sure it ends up being the lowest point on the car. I was trying to remember yesterday what it was bent to clear, seems like it might have been the exhaust. You're probably looking at the thickness of the bar plus a 1/2 inch in lost clearance.

Well, we are grabbing an extra crossmember thing... perhaps one could be modified to perform the duties of a tie bar without losing ground clearance.

Scored a set of old Altima alloys at the yard for $99 out the door. They'll do the trick.

ProDarwin wrote: 5) Downpipe replacement - should I a: get a stock one or b: get an aftermarket one and weld a cat into it? None of the aftermarket ones seem to come with a cat, which is weird. We already have to delete the precat ( :( ), but I want to keep this thing as green as possible without risking motor destruction.

So, we bolted up an aftermarket header. The exhaust joint from there to the mid pipe is... questionable. I think it stays somewhat closed until you go over 30% throttle then it just leaks like mad. I think the downpipe is tweaked, which isn't helping, but also the bolts and springs are both different lengths. Is there parts store hardware that could be a good repair for this?

Also, got the muffler issue straightened out. The previous owner had put cut off the aftermarket muffer, jammed a 2" generic inside the pipe, and just filled it with weld. It was a huge restrictive mess. We managed to cut it off and weld the aftermarket piece back in. But that raises another issue:

Holy E36 M3, this thing is loud. Turns out the aftermarket cat-back has no resonator in it. So other than the stock 215k mile cat and a giant can muffler with a 4" tip, there is nothing quieting the car down.

Plan is to address at an exhaust shop today if possible, so we don't get kicked out of our first event.

In reply to ProDarwin: If you possibly can, try to source a Nismo exhaust. It will still be loud, but at least will have decent tone. As for the flex pipe, the biggest issue is the motor mounts in these are a known weak point and, since it has a ton of torque for a four cylinder the motor tends to thrash around under load in the engine compartment, especially with worn mounts. The flex pipe probably just can't move enough to cover the movement of the engine so you're getting leaks. IIRC, there used to be a motor mount kit (maybe from energy suspension?) that filled in the open spaces in the mounts at the expense of some extra vibration. I believe there was also a kit at one time that tied the top of the motor to the firewall via a "shock" like assembly. (Can't remember who made those, I think it was a bit of a cottage industry/home brewed solution)

Its always gonna be loud, though.

At a muffler shop right now. Getting overcharged for a not-very-quality exhaust But at least we get to go rallycrossing this weekend . Will find a more permanent solution in the future.

Motor mounts and front subframe bushings are definitely on the to-do list. There are 4 motormounts, but I can only find bushings for the 'front' and 'rear' (lowers), but nothing for the uppers. Finding parts for this car has been very difficult thus far

Another question: fuel starvation? Should I be running @ full tank? 1/2? near-empty?

Never had fuel starvation issues with mine even with sticky-ish rubber at autox/track day events. I usually tried to run at a 1/4 or less for autox to save a little weight. Can't imagine you'll have higher or more sustained lateral G at rally events.

BTW - looked around a little. I believe the "go to" answer for securing the engine was Energy Suspension motor mount inserts on the bottom and a "Weapon R" engine damper on the top.

ProDarwin wrote: 6) The clutch grabs well, but at the top of its travel. Is this indicative of a worn clutch?

I found out the hard way that this isn't the case. I replaced mine for the same reason, but found that the OEM clutch disk still had lots of material left, even after 50,000 miles of turbocharger power running through it. Plus I hated the new clutch; heavy and chattery.

Thanks. Will run with 1/4ish.

We did end up adjusting the clutch. It feels a lot better now. The clevis was all the way at the end of the threaded rod, causing the clutch to release as high in the travel as possbile (and maybe not even fully release?). A few turns of it got it more toward the middle.

Will probably do the lower mounts, but the damper is difficult to find. Might just grab 2 new OE top mounts and possibly fill with urethane.

Why the berkeley is everything so expensive for this car? $200-300 for a MAF? $100+ for a vacuum solenoid?? From a parts store. $150-200 from Nissan online. That should be like $20.

ProDarwin wrote: **Why the berkeley is everything so expensive for this car?** $200-300 for a MAF? $100+ for a vacuum solenoid?? From a parts store. $150-200 from Nissan online. That should be like $20.

Probably because low production/"performance" car. Check part numbers before you buy. Most 2.5 Altima stuff carries over and is sometimes cheaper for the SAME EXACT PART. Honestly, by the time I sold mine, although I loved the car, I wasn't a huge fan of Nissan.