Sentra Racer?

Hey guys, I'm 15 years old and may be getting a manual 01' Nissan Sentra Sedan in the future. I was wondering whats the tuning potential with this car? I'm not going to have a lot of money to put into it for awhile, maybe 2-3K going into the car in the next year. Any recomendations for the first few mods? I'm getting a full tune up done, courtesy of the parents, so I'm going to have a clean platform to work with. I was thinking new wheels to start with, but I'm not sure where to go from there. Do these Sentra's have any real weakness's? Like a restrictive exhaust, or anything I can really improve on quickly? With my budget I thought about going for an aftermarket ECU, because it would give me more control over the car. What do you guys think about it? Just save my money and grab a faster car while learning to drive on this, or is it worth sticking with? Thanks in advance.

Is a sentra what you realy want to drive a few years from now? I wouldent mod one myself especially not wheels, maybe a cheep ebay intake but nothing expensive because I know that if that was my car I would be saving for another! You might change your mind in a few years of driving aas to what you want to be driving. Its a good first car though so do get it if you can I say, just save your money for somthing badass once you turn 18. I wouldent advise sinking thousands into a car you dont want to be driving in a few years.

i bet your getting a 1.8s sentra, in which case you basically have a gas saver econobox that has next to zero tuning potential. save your money for drugs and prostitutes.

or convince your parents to get you a manual 2.0 SE or 2.5s or SE-R or spec V. if it doesnt say any of those on the back, your pretty much not going to be able to beat your sisters kia without dropping at least several grand into the motor.

^^^what he said. seriously. how do i know this? i own one, but the se model.

basically its a great starter car, but nothing more nothing less, unles you're into making loud noises with a sound system, since it has all that space.

Yeah, it's a base car w/ the 1.8. So it sounds like I'm saving up for something bigger later on. Alright, thanks for all the input you guys.

Yeah I'd have to agree as well. When I got my first car it was a Honda Accord. I dropped almost a grand on getting it back to running order, and then another grand on bolt-on performance parts. And after all that, it still was slow as all hell. It was a good starting point to learn how to work on engines, because it was pretty simple. But in the end, I only got 3-6 months out of hte performance parts before a fuel leak and maintance costs totaled up to more than I wanted to spend on it. So I parted it out and sold it, and moved on to bigger and better things. After wasting alot of money I realized it was a good reliable and safe beginner car, and that was it.

The SE is a great platform for making a fast sleeper. If you have the 1.8 though just forget about it unless you have lots of money, and an engineering degree to make it fast.

I drive a 92' sentra se-r and it has the same two liter as the se from 2001. They sr20 is the name of the motor, and even bone stock they can be turbocharged, and make good power with good reliablity. There are lots of car's like mine that are turbocharged, and the SE model is catching on. Even with bolt-ons like a good header, camshafts, and intake/exhaust you could stand to make around 160whp, and surprise a lot of people.

Using a small T25 or a T28 turbo set-up from japanese cars with the sr20 you can look to make around 240whp with a properly set-up t25 @ 11psi and with the T28 you can make around 270whp or so. It's all pretty much bolt-on stuff too that doesn't cost a lot of money either. In a straightline that would make you faster then a lot of cars. You should be able to pull on an evo or sti (from a roll) with that kind of set-up.

In hsort buy an SE, and read every topic you possibly can from this forum www.sr20forum.com

My buddy has a car very similar to yours...he hit the gas a few weeks ago and I don't think he made it to 60 yet. I'd recommend saving up for a new car and learning on the Sentra. Sentras are good for what they are (econocars)...my buddy's old one had 220,000 miles on it before somebody pulled out in front of him. He never had any issues with it aside from the alternator going out on him once.

Just take care of the Sentra now and save for a better car in a few years.

By the way make sure that if you get into cars then make sure you don't act like the guy above me. Don't dismiss a car for its performance value unless you know everything about it. Don't be the asshole that makes fun of other peoples cars even though he has no clue about them.

For example you might want to know that if you did in fact have a 2.0 then your sentra should have a transmission capable of holding 400 horsepower. A big problem with older cars with the sr20 like mine is that the transmissions don't really hold up after 300 horse sometimes less. A lot of people use the newer transmission in the older cars. For that reason alone a 2001 se sentra is a great starting point.

unless the se is in auto. then you only have tio about 250whp till it blows about. give or take a little and that's its limits. thats where i currently stand. i just don't see me pouring out about 3k on a really nice turbo kit, and not being able to use all of it's potential since the trans will die.

there are limits, plenty of limits. just make sure you know what they are and if you dont, feel free to ask.