I was wondering what the current status of the Swain Tech coated pieces are? Perhaps I am mistaken, but was there not any follow-ups on the nissanperformancemag.com Turbo SER articles for about a year? Was the car driven much during this time period? Not trying to be rude...just trying to gauge how much this vehicle has been driven since the Swain coatings have been applied.
The reason I ask is because I am considering getting my exhaust manifold, turbine housing and down pipe Swain-coated and I am trying to judge how well this stuff holds up on a daily driven turbo vehicle, especially when it's ceramic on stainless steel components.
I was wondering what the current status of the Swain Tech coated pieces are? Perhaps I am mistaken, but was there not any follow-ups on the nissanperformancemag.com Turbo SER articles for about a year? Was the car driven much during this time period? Not trying to be rude...just trying to gauge how much this vehicle has been driven since the Swain coatings have been applied.
The reason I ask is because I am considering getting my exhaust manifold, turbine housing and down pipe Swain-coated and I am trying to judge how well this stuff holds up on a daily driven turbo vehicle, especially when it's ceramic on stainless steel components.
I probably have 6K miles on the turbo setup and the swain coatings. The car is definitely not a daily driver anymore.
However, the car has been roadraced quite a few times in some pretty hot weather with an unvented hood. I think the Swain Coatings have held up extremely well. It was a shame to cover up the stainless manifold but the coatings work so well. I can blast around for a full 20 minute road race seesion, pop the hood and put my hand close to the manifold. I've measured temperatures with a pyrometer after these runs and they are a little over 300 degrees farenheit.
The coating is a little ugly but if you want function over looks then the swain coating is the way to go. With all the piping in the turbo setup it was extremely important to keep heat from melting plastic and ruber hoses. I think it the manifold fabricator wanted to kill me for coating his masterpiece.
I probably have 6K miles on the turbo setup and the swain coatings. The car is definitely not a daily driver anymore.
However, the car has been roadraced quite a few times in some pretty hot weather with an unvented hood. I think the Swain Coatings have held up extremely well. It was a shame to cover up the stainless manifold but the coatings work so well. I can blast around for a full 20 minute road race seesion, pop the hood and put my hand close to the manifold. I've measured temperatures with a pyrometer after these runs and they are a little over 300 degrees farenheit.
The coating is a little ugly but if you want function over looks then the swain coating is the way to go. With all the piping in the turbo setup it was extremely important to keep heat from melting plastic and ruber hoses. I think it the manifold fabricator wanted to kill me for coating his masterpiece.
SR20AL,
For my 240SX/KA24DET, I am definitely going for function over fashion...gotta keep those engine bay temps down. I am leaning towards shipping my components off to Swain Tech for coating. I guess I am going to have to roll the dice on whether or not my exhaust manifold will be able to hold up over time under daily driver/occasional track use, while encased in a ceramic jacket.
I saw that your SE-R suffered a partially melted distributor and to rectify that situation in the future, that you used Thermo Sleeve for wrapping some components. Did you perform any other steps to take care of heat shielding any other engine components over on the exhaust-mani/turbo/downpipe side of the engine bay? I.e. fashion some sort of heat shield for the distributor?
Thanks for providing so much valuable information...it is greatly appreciated.
SR20AL,
I saw that your SE-R suffered a partially melted distributor and to rectify that situation in the future, that you used Thermo Sleeve for wrapping some components. Did you perform any other steps to take care of heat shielding any other engine components over on the exhaust-mani/turbo/downpipe side of the engine bay? I.e. fashion some sort of heat shield for the distributor?
Thanks for providing so much valuable information...it is greatly appreciated.
I havent raced the car since but I'm not sure if it was the heat or an electrical problem that melted the distributor.
I'm going to get a vented hood for the car and get some type of aluminum heat shield fabricated around the distributor.
I have a 93 ser and am getting to the point of having to decide between a daily driver with an awsome stereo (MBQuart premium series in the doors and rear deck, an Xtant 604, and a JL Audio 10w7 in their High Output box) or an even better handling car. I still have the stock suspension and am wondering if it is worth all of the money to go to the progress setup, new wheels and tires, strut bars, etc., without dumping a couple of hundred pounds of stereo equipment.
To get back to my original thought, can you get good tunes without the weight of a killer stereo?
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Happy Nole :)
Last edited by SR20AL : May 19th, 2005 at 06:12 PM.
To get back to my original thought, can you get good tunes without the weight of a killer stereo?
"Good Tunes without the weight of a killer stereo" is definitely the goal of the buildup. We've spent quite a lot of time and money trying to get the car to perform and while the car is by no means heavy at 2650 lbs with me in it we don't want to add any more weight. 2650 might not seem like much but when you compare a lightly stripped Honda Civic hatchback at 2000 lbs and swap in a motor with 180-200 whp you've got a pretty serious contender despite the 100 hp difference. On a fast track with long straights the 100 hp would outshine the weight difference but on a short course like streets of willow those Civic's are deadly.
More to the point of the stereo. We're in process of the install so we can't comment on the results but hopefully we can wrap things up for an evaluation in the June issue of NPM. We'll have some decibel tests for comparison and we're weighing all the material to see how much heft we're adding. The long term plan is to take weight out of other areas to end up skinnier than we were before.
I've been a stereo buff for years. By no means am I an expert by any stretch of the imagination but I definitely have audiophile tastes. One thing that has cracked me up is that Home theater systems rock plenty of Bass with one decent subwoofer. Sure there's more noise to overcome in the listening environment of a moving car vs. your home but the 3+ subwoofer systems in cars are a little over the top IMO. You can either buy a huge box that takes over the entire trunk, pay the big bucks to have a custom install or learn to do it yourself. Either way your adding weight, which isn’t a big deal for most people but it is for us in this car. While these “killer stereos” are not for me I certainly can appreciate what’s being done. The advent of stronger speaker magnets and composite materials used in today’s speaker technology provides really hard hitting bass out of a small speaker. With the high quality speakers we’re using being pushed by Boston’s killer GT40 amp; on paper our light weight system looks good for the small Sentra cabin. We'll find out soon enough.
"Good Tunes without the weight of a killer stereo" is definitely the goal of the buildup. We've spent quite a lot of time and money trying to get the car to perform and while the car is by no means heavy at 2650 lbs with me in it we don't want to add any more weight. 2650 might not seem like much but when you compare a lightly stripped Honda Civic hatchback at 2000 lbs and swap in a motor with 180-200 whp you've got a pretty serious contender despite the 100 hp difference. On a fast track with long straights the 100 hp would outshine the weight difference but on a short course like streets of willow those Civic's are deadly.
More to the point of the stereo. We're in process of the install so we can't comment on the results but hopefully we can wrap things up for an evaluation in the June issue of NPM. We'll have some decibel tests for comparison and we're weighing all the material to see how much heft we're adding. The long term plan is to take weight out of other areas to end up skinnier than we were before.
I've been a stereo buff for years. By no means am I an expert by any stretch of the imagination but I definitely have audiophile tastes. One thing that has cracked me up is that Home theater systems rock plenty of Bass with one decent subwoofer. Sure there's more noise to overcome in the listening environment of a moving car vs. your home but the 3+ subwoofer systems in cars are a little over the top IMO. You can either buy a huge box that takes over the entire trunk, pay the big bucks to have a custom install or learn to do it yourself. Either way your adding weight, which isn’t a big deal for most people but it is for us in this car. While these “killer stereos” are not for me I certainly can appreciate what’s being done. The advent of stronger speaker magnets and composite materials used in today’s speaker technology provides really hard hitting bass out of a small speaker. With the high quality speakers we’re using being pushed by Boston’s killer GT40 amp; on paper our light weight system looks good for the small Sentra cabin. We'll find out soon enough.
I'm really impressed with this car... have you had the chance to take it to the strip???
I'm really impressed with this car... have you had the chance to take it to the strip???
On a crippled ignition we were forced to run 12psi (about 280 whp) and managed a 13.3 at 106 MPH on full drag slicks. With race gas, and a strong ignition and some tweaking with our intake and ECU programming we're hoping to go into the low 12's or better at 20 psi.
I have really enjoyed your article on the stereo. I understand what your going for. though my SX will never be as serious as yours weight is a big concern. I want great quality sound and it seems that you will get it from this Boston Set up. i can't wait to read more.
I am leaning towards shipping my components off to Swain Tech for coating. I guess I am going to have to roll the dice on whether or not my exhaust manifold will be able to hold up over time under daily driver/occasional track use, while encased in a ceramic jacket. 
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