Sentra Question

my sentra is a stock 2005 1.8 automatic. i understand if it was manual i would be able to switch gears quickler and maybe be able to make the car go without hearing the engine screaming then switching gears. i was thinking about switching up and putting a cool air intake into my car just to grab about another 8 to 13 extra hp but will that help the fact that the car takes so long to get up to speed, and if not what will?


Quote ; i know a guy with a civic that can beat that twin turbo corvette . . . . . . . ( wow)

first of all, yes automatics are slower than manuals. they also get worse gas mileage and take longer to shift gears. manual transmission you can chose when to shift, but theres still something called clutch slipping, which is something you wont have to worry about for a while. the sentra's clutch isnt great but easily good enough to handle any sort of power you will make with that 1.8L.

second of all, theres no intake on this planet that will get you 8-13hp. not with that motor. putting an intake on will probably get you 3-4hp at the very most. but it will help throttle response a bit and help get you better gas mileage. if you want power, you bought the WRONG car. all you will do with mods is waste lots of money for very little gain.

i know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who has a 6 second civic so hmmm.

Yeah, Sorry Monice, but I have to agree with slide here.

Your Sentra is far too difficult to get any sort of power out of. The most you can do without breaking your wallet is just get an intake with the only real benefit being a meaner sound. Sorry....your car is un-moddable.

Tell you what though, if you like the new-ish style of sentras, get rid of your 05(which should still be worth quite a bit) and grab a 2000-2001 Sentra SE 2.0.

ok i figured it would be alot of money to make the car somewhere worth decent so whats the hp diffrence between the 1.8 and the SE-R?

don't get an se-r unless you want to spend money modding it (assuming you're talking about the 2002+). there is a list of mods you need to do just to make it reliable. and it's kind of the same story as far as getting hp out of it, you need to spend some cash.

I agree with them. 1.8 Liter Sentra's are not worth spending money on in the engine department. However Ser's and Spec V's are very easy to modify with all the aftermarker parts out for it. The SR20 and the QR25 engines take in modifications well.

I sent you a private message. =)

don't get an se-r unless you want to spend money modding it (assuming you're talking about the 2002+). there is a list of mods you need to do just to make it reliable. and it's kind of the same story as far as getting hp out of it, you need to spend some cash.

ok first of all sinc is sort of correct. the '02 and newer SE-R has some issues with reliability if you want to drive it hard. the older SE-Rs have almost no reliability issues, the SR20 is a super tough motor and can take a beating. the part i dont agree with is that you can make loads of power in the 02 and newer SE-Rs with just simple bolt ons. im talking the sort of power a low boost supercharger would add. ive seen dyno charts where a spec V with intake, catless headers, exhaust, cams, removed balance shafts, and an ECU reflash gets 45+ hp to the wheels. not many motors can do that. but beyond these bolt ons, the spec doesnt have a huge potential. its almost not worth it to turbo, and going high compression high revs is basically impossible. realtimeracing's SCCA spec SE-R was a fully built race engine that made no more than around 250whp(partially because of rules restrictions and partially because of the motor) and didnt rev past 7k EVER.

to put it simply, the spec V is an awesome car to have loads of fun with but if you want to take it past a certain point, its not really worth the money youd have to spend. whereas the old SE-Rs can turbo easily, are lighter, cheaper, but it responds to bolt ons with about average power gains, similar to what most honda motors gain from bolt ons.

turbo on the qr is well worth it. the bottom end is stronger than people think. it's not exactly the strongest, but it's strong enough. right now travis is designing a turbo kit and he got 358whp at 14 psi on stock bottom end. he was running that for a few months to see the stress it put on the engine, but his goal for the kit is 325whp. go here: http://forums.thevboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=82773 and read all about it. and if you want to compare the qr to the sr go here:http://www.fi-r.net/viewtopic.php?t=4&start=15 (this comparison made me like the qr again).

Turbo Turbo Turbo.. seriously, why not just drop the vq altima in the spec? It's proven to have awesome potential. You can also build that engine to be even stronger, let alone bolting on to it. I dunno... I'm just a really strong believer of this. Hopefully I can make it happen some day. On the other hand, I guess you could look at it like dropping the V6 in there would almost get rid of the concept of the spec as far as the typical turbo thing goes. Import = turbo, or that's the way it seems anymore. I'd kinda like to stay away from the typical. I do know where people are coming from though. Turbo'd cars are awesome. The sound, the feel, the whole works. I guess it just depends on what you're into. I don't know if I would necessarily recommend the spec because my opinion is bias.

Ok, you guys are really heading the conversation in the wrong direction. Monice obviously just wants a better car with a vague set of balls. Turbo-ing or VQ-ing the Spec is ridiculous. The car would cost him just as much as he's paying for the 1.8 right now and at LEAST $4-5k for either route of power.

Monice needs to look at the Sentra README and consider an older SE-R, a 2000-01 SE, or maybe a Maxima.

oh to answer the question of power numbers

any sentra with a 2.0L will have about 140hp
your car has about 118
a 2002 and newer SE-R has 165 and the spec V has 175

its funny cause this whole coversation is bad , im probally gonna wake up tommorrow look at my car and start crying lol, but minus the fact that even if i was able to save up add turbo and replace the majority of the stock parts in the car and maybe even add a computer to handle the automatic shifting the car whould still be one of the sloest on the block correct?


and my friend which is a little on the crazy side said a comment to me which made no sense he said why not put a supercharger into your sentra . . . .

im just assuming here, and correct me if im wrong but your seemingly limited automotive knowledge combined with a turbo on a weak motor will equal a connecting rod thru your oil pan. im not trying to be mean, just that it takes a lot of knowhow to turbo any car correctly without breaking stuff.


oh and noone makes a supercharger for your engine either. it requires application specific parts.

im just assuming here, and correct me if im wrong but your seemingly limited automotive knowledge combined with a turbo on a weak motor will equal a connecting rod thru your oil pan. im not trying to be mean, just that it takes a lot of knowhow to turbo any car correctly without breaking stuff.


oh and noone makes a supercharger for your engine either. it requires application specific parts.



as far as my knowlegde of cars is concerned i know cars- speeds-types-classifications, but under the hood i am basic and still growing so i look toward this site for info of aftermarket parts info and ect and just to ask questions so i won't ever have to ask them again- also i love playing dumb even though i know about certain things to shed light for others

Yeah, Monice, like I said before your car is un-moddable. Don't even let yourself think that it can be turbo'd later down the road. That would be quite an undertaking. I've only ever seen one, ONE, 1.8 turbo and it was from Nissan Performance Magazine. Make the decision now before your car loses any more value. Keep it and settle, or sell for another car with some performance potential.

^^^the god has spoken.

i don't know i would love to trade in my sentra for a hatchback 350z and go 0-60 in 5.4 seconds but going throgh the dealer is gonna leave me in the same condition as if i had student loans lol well iono but taking into account what i was told i'm really considering it

he is only speakin the truth. i mean i have the n15 chassis as well, but i also have the last year of the sr20de for the time being. which is in turn a 2.0, dohc, that responds pretty well to mods, and can take some moderate boost without problems occuring. go 350z if you would like to. get a 2000-2002 sentra se, and you'll have the last sr20de that is currently made. i believe nissan is coming out with the sr20de again in 07 with the cvt system or something. if you want to get performance out of the sentra, you seriously need a different model, otherwise an engine swap is very costly and not worth it in the long run, for such a new car.

cvt on an SR? i wonder how much power the CVT can hold...thatll be the big question

well, i know for sure that the engine is a 2.0 L holding about 145hp and 140tq so they say. cvt will be in auto, and the manual will be a 6 speed. they say the engine is 'brand new' but its probobly just a revamped sr20...

I believe you are talking about the new MG20DE, or MQ20 or whatever it's called. The SE-R engine is supposed to be a VQ20DE modeled after the godly VQ35 in all of Nissan's larger cars. Should put out around 180-200hp.