Ok a few days back I was seriously contemplating getting rid of my s13 for an e36, but now I have decided to hold on to it and make it a little better. I am on a budget so I cant really justify dropping top dollar on a 18yo car, but want a car that feels good to drive. No chasing crazy hp figures on a dyno but a little more poke in the top end is desirable. Hope to go on track this summer.
Brief intro to the car
91 Hicas s13hatch with 215800kms on odo now. engine is old and leaks from valve cover but still pulls hard, will replace valve cover gasket & hopefully solve it. It was an auto when I got it but did a 5spd swap on it keepin auto ecu(=no rev limit), clutch is now starting to slip so I have ordered XTD stage3 clutch & 11lbs flywheel from ebay. I had put on a magnaflow exhaust, deleted cat and made custom piping with a resonator from a local muffler shop, sounds good now. Also ordered intake piping from ebay and will put on a HKS powerflow or AEM cone. Car had the usual frame rust so i welded metal on the front portions to reinforce and take care of underbody rust which might have disintegrated the car if left to germinate. Car also has a dent and some rust spots on body. I had put on skunk2 springs on kyb gr2s on all corners making the car sit pretty low, not good on bumpy downtown roads makes it feel a bit skittish.
I am about to get Q45 calipers to bolt on and get bigger 4 lug rotors either altima(93-95) or Sentra SE-R(99-00). probably use stock lines(or get braided line when a good deal pops up) and stock auto brake cylinder.
I have 2 options now
- cheap & reliable - i/h/e/c - Just put on the clutch & intake,
put on a obx like 4-2-1 header,
put an s13 exhaust cam on the intake side for 248/248 cam profile so I still have some top end
get an s14 intake manifold
money saved is spent on getting some paint touch ups (or repaint) suspension(RUCA, traction rods, maybe kyb agx and maybe hicas lock bar) and a nice set of wheels. - budget KA-T - (budget abt 1g including labor) (some degree of reliability hoped for 200hp or less is plenty) - small t25 setup with low boost using either a cheap ebay kit or cheap ebay stuff and leftovers from someones stock sr20det, rb20det etc setup later upgraded consisting of the following -
stock t25 or t28
stock sr injectors
ebay fmic or smic if cheaper
ebay manifold & downpipe coupler
ghetto oil feed line rigging (or forego it if not essential)
ebay or ghetto piping
either a safc2 (tuned on the fly just on feel by self)
or e-mance ecu (just safer to get a base map from other and may get safc later)
I may have missed a few things and would appreciate u KA-T guys filling me in on what else I might need or not need for a barebones KA-t. and what kind of reliability i can expect.
I hope u sonlings can give me an educated advise based on budget, condition of car(215800+ kms on engine, car not mint either), reliability and fun (noturbo= able to rev its nuts off with no worries + more to spend on handling= more fun, turbo - if I am in fear of it going KA-Boom anytime + broke and no more upgrades= nofun). What can I expect from n/a KA in terms of driving pleasure, and what kind of power & spread.
