nissan sunny 1.4 12valve tuning tips

dune racer

New member
Points
71
Location
WORKSOP
:D hello im new to this forum and need some help with a problem let me explain i have a road registered sand rail kit car it weighs in at 500kg it has a non running vw type 3 1600 cc engine that requires a complete rebuild problem is these engines are a bit on the weak side only producing around 60 ish bhp to obtain a more decent 100 ish bhp will cost around £1000 in parts namely pistons, cam, exhaust, carbs, oil filter machining etc etc.trouble with the vw the gearbox will struggle to cope past 100 bhp. but on my drive i have a perfectly running low milage nissan sunny 1.4 ls 12 valve with carburator im not sure what the bhp is but i believe around 80 ish i was wondering would it be better to retro fit this engine into my buggy it would solve a lot of problems that it has an alternator wheras vw is dynamo it alredy has a full flow oil kit whereas vw has non is water cooled although this is heavier than the air cooled vw it may be less trouble long term. problem is if i fit the nissan ill have to somehow retro fit the engine facing the same way it comes out of the nissan otherwise ill have 5 reverse gears and only one forward unless any one knows a way of sorting this ? then if i can fit the engine this should not be to difficult i then have to make a new gear selector because the gearstick will be in the front of the car and the gearbox selector arm will be at the rear of the engine. now the million dollar question providing i can fit the engine sort out how to change gear re-mount the radiator fit a new exhaust etc etc what kind of mods can i do to the nissan engine that will give me reliable bhp gains and what after this can i expect in bhp or is the 1.4 nissan engine to weak to tune for any sort of performance regards dune racer
 
I see your dilemma. The two engines are so different you are probably looking at spending a grand to fit the Nissan engine or at least a lot of time. Visit the scrap yard and see if there are any old porsche engines lying around - they mate nicely to most VW running gear and for the rebuilt cost you will have a much more powerful and tunable engine.
 
waynne said:
I see your dilemma. The two engines are so different you are probably looking at spending a grand to fit the Nissan engine or at least a lot of time. Visit the scrap yard and see if there are any old porsche engines lying around - they mate nicely to most VW running gear and for the rebuilt cost you will have a much more powerful and tunable engine.
 
thank you very much for the advice i think the best way forward is to stick with the vw based engines be it porsch or vw at least that way ill not have to alter the chassis in any way ive been told i can get a stronger gearbox for around £300 ish ouch because of the problem with vw not being very strong it will be the best way forward but i think ill wait for the box to break before spending more hard earned cash. for all i know the engine in the buggy is a full race engine bloke who sold it me never used it, it sat in his garage for 3 years and you cant tell whats in the vw till you strip it because the pistons are interchangable you can have standard 85mm in the 1600cc or go as large as 94mm if you have the block and heads machined this will increase the displacement, but in doing this the crank which comes with 4 dowles in it will require machining to take 8 dowles and a polish otherwise youll just rip it of then change the cam to a better profile fit stronger cam lift springs possibly do some head work fit a full flow oil kit fit a descent 200mm clutch and lastly a good exhaust and pair of 40 webbers that should give around 125 ish bhp or 250 bhp per ton only way to squeeze any more out of it is to fit a different crank with a longer stroke this will increase the displacement as well as letting it rev higher but like the sign at the tuning shop says speed costs money how fast do you want to go regards dune racer
 

Similar threads


Please watch this on my YouTube channel & Subscribe.


Back
Top