An early ‘90s Nissan with an SR20E engine, a limited-slip differential and a 5-speed manual. Silvia? Not quite–we’re talking about the Sentra SE-R.
While most Sentras of the era weren’t known for having a spirited attitude, the SE-R was Nissan's attempt to add a littl…
Was totally interested until I saw the sunroof. I’m a purist. :)
Also, I think I paid less for mine new.
maybe it's the perspective, but was this hard to heel-toe with these pedals?
In reply to j_tso :
Not really. They worked fine by recollection.
The only bad thing is if you have long pedal travel like some Japanese cars were wont to do, and you have ankles that articulate poorly. Which is where I learned 25 years ago with my Subaru (paragons of long brake pedal travel in those pre-Impreza cars) to left foot brake and downshift without using the clutch. Easy once you get the hang of it.
Or just downshift after braking, I guess.
Yeah, I don’t recall trouble heel/toeing. Honestly, can’t recall a bad trait from the car.
David S. Wallens said:Was totally interested until I saw the sunroof. I’m a purist. :)
Also, I think I paid less for mine new.
I might be wrong but wasn't the sunroof part of the SE-R package? I had two and they both had sunroofs and after all these years I have never seen an SE-R with out a sunroof either in Sentra or 200 SX form. But if yours didn't have a sunroof then I guess they existed.
In reply to Feedyurhed :
I was under the impression that sunroofs were a mandatory part of the Mazdaspeed6 package until I saw a non sunroof model.
Part of the "joy" of a top level model is the dealerships usually check every option. Manual steer RX-7 Turbo IIs are unicorns for this reason.
No sunroof on my Sentra SE-R.
Didn’t even have a radio.
Damn. That's pretty close to my dream car these days.
David S. Wallens said:No sunroof on my Sentra SE-R.
Didn’t even have a radio.
Awesome. No sunroof or radio. You really are a purist.
Back when they made cars specifically for Showroom Stock racing... 
That was the reason for the Neon ACR and the trunk kit you could get with a ZX2, right?
Taken 5 minutes ago. I'm guessing an Xe with all the good stuff from an NX2000 and 200,000km isn't still worth $40k, right? I could let it go for half of that.
In reply to Feedyurhed :
Thank you. My only option was a/c.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Back when they made cars specifically for Showroom Stock racing...
That was the reason for the Neon ACR and the trunk kit you could get with a ZX2, right?
Kinda and maybe one day we should revisit those days. We’ve written about factory-built race cars before–Neon ACR, Mustang Cobra R, Camaro 1LE, etc.–and it could now be a book once you add in homologation models like the Porsche GT3, BMW M3, etc. Maybe it is time....
The SE-R showed up in Showroom Stock road racing but, really, you wanted an NX2000: better aero and half-inch-wider wheels. The SE-R seemed to do better in D Stock autocross. Some people tried to run the 240SX in Showroom Stock, but the speed limiter would cut in at longer/faster tracks like Road Atlanta which, at the time, hosted the Runoffs.
The ZX2 wasn’t the only car to get a trunk kit, too. Off the top of my head, Civic Si and Protege also got them.
Fun times.
PS: What’s a trunk kit?
To level the playing field against cars like the Neon ACR, the SCCA allowed certain Showroom Stock cars to run approved parts–so, likely, better shocks, springs, bars.
We wrote about this BITD. I should pull my notes.
Found a note in my archives titled “trunk kit.”
This note was created on July 30, 1998.
To make things more interesting in SCCA Club Racing, more “trunk kits” have been approved for Showroom Stock classes:
• The 1997-’98 Saturn SL2 sedan and SC Coupe get Carrera front and rear struts, H&R springs, a rear Sway-Away rear anti-roll bar, more negative camber, wheel spacers, and rear disc brakes. SPS, whose specialty is Saturn performance, can supply these products; their number is (800) 632-1059.
• For the 1994-’97 VW Jetta GLX VR6 and 1995-’98 GTI VR6, a package with Bilstein struts, Neuspeed springs and Neuspeed anti-roll bars has been approved. Neuspeed (phone 805-388-7171) is the official supplier. Any questions regarding trunk kits may be directed towards the SCCA Club Racing technical staff: phone (303) 694-7229
Cool info!
Back in the back in the day, like the old Trans-Am homologation cars like Z/28s and Boss 302s, cars literally came with the special parts in the trunk. IIRC this was things like headers and special intake manifolds. Part of why the street versions were a bit lackadaisical; they were really meant to have the good parts for best performance.
PS - more fuzzy memory, the NX2000 also had much bigger brakes than the Sentra. They were a cheap junkyard upgrade.
The E36-chassis BMW M3 Lightweight famously came with parts in the trunk: X-brace, deeper oil pan, splitter, risers for the rear wing.
We wrote about that here: As soon as the E36-Chassis M3 arrived, BMW took it racing.
Regarding the trunk kits for SCCA Showroom Stock, those parts didn’t come with the car, yet we still called the parts trunk kits.
David S. Wallens said:• The 1997-’98 Saturn SL2 sedan and SC Coupe get Carrera front and rear struts, H&R springs, a rear Sway-Away rear anti-roll bar, more negative camber, wheel spacers, and rear disc brakes. SPS, whose specialty is Saturn performance, can supply these products; their number is (800) 632-1059.
Also for the youngsters out there: That note about "more camber" isn't necessarily though had parts. Back in the day, Showroom Stock regs specified max alignment settings by number, not like the "max range of adjustment" that was allowed in Solo. It was not uncommon to see someone get bounced for having too much camber because a bolt slipped during a race. Of course, it was also not uncommon for those bolts to slip intentionally...
Back in the day, Showroom Stock also required factory colors on cars, too.
David S. Wallens said:Yeah, I don’t recall trouble heel/toeing. Honestly, can’t recall a bad trait from the car.
Editorial Director, Grassroots Motorsports & Classic Motorsports
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Every time I see one of these, it reminds me of the time I passed up a one-owner black SE-R with under 100k mi on it for about a grand because the clearcoat on the hood was starting to go. Thing had all the service records and was well maintained and loved. Monumentally dumb on my part.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
My clearcoat started going less than three years in.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
I’m showing 9.9-inch front and 9.3-inch rear rotors for both the SE-R and NX2000. Pretty sure the regular Sentra had smaller brakes, though.
By the way, my dad almost bought an NX2000 but got a 240SX instead.
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