[meesvk]

Hi everyone from Nissan Forums,
a while back I bought my first car, a 1990 Nissan Sunny GT. It drives quite well but I would really like to get some more power out of my little ga16i. I've been working on old cars for years now, but with fairly new cars (as I categorize the sunny) I don't have as much experience. I was wondering if you could give me some options on easy modifications that I could do to my car. I'm quite good at working on those older cars but the electronics scare me a bit, I don't want to upset the ECU because I will not be able to work on that myself (things like remapping etc). So my question is, what are some mods that I could do to my engine or maybe suspension that will give me beter performance?

Thanks in advance,
Mees.

 

[rogoman]

I assume your engine uses a single throttle body fuel injector. If so, here's some improvements:

You can port and polish the head which will help somewhat to improve the throttle response. The best upgrade on that engine is going to MPI. You can go to any junkyard and pickup a B14 intake manifold, ECU, O2 sensor, and all the sensors on the intake side. A header also will help. With all these mods you will feel a significant difference.

 

[meesvk]

I assume your engine uses a single throttle body fuel injector. If so, here's some improvements:

You can port and polish the head which will help somewhat to improve the throttle response. The best upgrade on that engine is going to MPI. You can go to any junkyard and pickup a B14 intake manifold, ECU, O2 sensor, and all the sensors on the intake side. A header also will help. With all these mods you will feel a significant difference.

Thank you for your reply. Yes I just looked into my injection system today and I saw that it indeed had a monopoint injection. Do you think that I would need special tools for porting and polishing my head? And do you have a porting map for that? Because I remember needing a porting map for porting my 70cc 2 stroke bike.

 

[meesvk]

I assume your engine uses a single throttle body fuel injector. If so, here's some improvements:

You can port and polish the head which will help somewhat to improve the throttle response. The best upgrade on that engine is going to MPI. You can go to any junkyard and pickup a B14 intake manifold, ECU, O2 sensor, and all the sensors on the intake side. A header also will help. With all these mods you will feel a significant difference.

I also just found a GA16DE engine online, would that be a possibility to swap in there without too much custom parts to be made?

 

[rogoman]

Should be an easy swap; the GA16DE uses the same block as the GA16I. You'll also need the ECU, engine electrical harness, and all the sensors if they're not on the engine that you're interested in. Here's useful info from Wikipedia:

The GA16DE is a 1.6 L (1,597 cc) engine produced from November 1990 through 1999. All GA16DEs have sixteen valves and a DOHC head. There are three versions: the North-American first-generation (1991–94) NVCS (VTC), which produces 110 hp (82 kW; 112 PS) at 6000 rpm and 146 N⋅m (108 lb⋅ft) at 4000 rpm, the North-American second-generation (1995-1999) NVCS (VTC), which produces 115 hp (86 kW; 117 PS) at 6000 rpm and 146 N⋅m (108 lb⋅ft) at 4000 rpm, and a non-NVCS version (European-spec) which makes 102 hp (76 kW; 103 PS). The two variants of the North American NVCS engine are distinguished as such: in addition to differences in the intake manifolds and (resultantly) the heads, earlier motors used pistons with two compression rings and a single oil ring and put out five less horsepower, while later GA16DEs have a single compression ring and a single oil ring. The GA16DE shares its block and crankshaft with its predecessor, the GA16i; however, their timing chain covers, connecting rods and pistons are altogether different. It is possible to interchange connecting-rod/piston assemblies between the GA16i and GA16DE with no danger to the valve train. Some engines have siamesed exhaust manifolds, while others keep the exhausts separated until the catalytic converter. Earlier ECUs contained the fuel & ignition maps on a discrete ROM IC, making retuning relatively easy, later ECUs buried the maps on a larger more integrated microcontroller's firmware, making retuning require the use of a daughterboard.

 

[meesvk]

Thank

Should be an easy swap; the GA16DE uses the same block as the GA16I. You'll also need the ECU, engine electrical harness, and all the sensors if they're not on the engine that you're interested in. Here's useful info from Wikipedia:

The GA16DE is a 1.6 L (1,597 cc) engine produced from November 1990 through 1999. All GA16DEs have sixteen valves and a DOHC head. There are three versions: the North-American first-generation (1991–94) NVCS (VTC), which produces 110 hp (82 kW; 112 PS) at 6000 rpm and 146 N⋅m (108 lb⋅ft) at 4000 rpm, the North-American second-generation (1995-1999) NVCS (VTC), which produces 115 hp (86 kW; 117 PS) at 6000 rpm and 146 N⋅m (108 lb⋅ft) at 4000 rpm, and a non-NVCS version (European-spec) which makes 102 hp (76 kW; 103 PS). The two variants of the North American NVCS engine are distinguished as such: in addition to differences in the intake manifolds and (resultantly) the heads, earlier motors used pistons with two compression rings and a single oil ring and put out five less horsepower, while later GA16DEs have a single compression ring and a single oil ring. The GA16DE shares its block and crankshaft with its predecessor, the GA16i; however, their timing chain covers, connecting rods and pistons are altogether different. It is possible to interchange connecting-rod/piston assemblies between the GA16i and GA16DE with no danger to the valve train. Some engines have siamesed exhaust manifolds, while others keep the exhausts separated until the catalytic converter. Earlier ECUs contained the fuel & ignition maps on a discrete ROM IC, making retuning relatively easy, later ECUs buried the maps on a larger more integrated microcontroller's firmware, making retuning require the use of a daughterboard.

Thanks a lot!
I am going to try to get all the parts together, or just buy a complete DE engine.

 

[smj999smj]

I would get the whole engine, harness and ECM, together. Some GA16DE engines had variable intake timing and some did not, thus, those other parts need to be for the correct engine.

 

[meesvk]

I would get the whole engine, harness and ECM, together. Some GA16DE engines had variable intake timing and some did not, thus, those other parts need to be for the correct engine.

Yes that's right, although I am pretty sure that the VVT ones were just for the American market and I am from the Netherlands. But yeah I also think buying a complete engine is the easier and ultimately cheaper way to go. I am also looking into suspension upgrades but all I can find are lowering kits with just springs. I do not necessarily need my car to sit lower, I just want a better driving experience. Maybe a set of lowered springs will give me that but maybe there's better options.

 

[Ethan kid]

My ga was a carb...I converted it to efi... I put the eccs intake with a sr20 throttle body and headers with dictator management...I got bored after a while now my car has 43mm itbs with 270 split cams..and a fully worked head with angled valves and skim and ported and polished aswell as gasflowed...car is almost done cant wait to have fun....didnt even cost me much.

 

[rogoman]

Yes that's right, although I am pretty sure that the VVT ones were just for the American market and I am from the Netherlands. But yeah I also think buying a complete engine is the easier and ultimately cheaper way to go. I am also looking into suspension upgrades but all I can find are lowering kits with just springs. I do not necessarily need my car to sit lower, I just want a better driving experience. Maybe a set of lowered springs will give me that but maybe there's better options.

IMO, I would stay away from those lowering kits where you would have to deal with caster/camber adjustment kits and then the car handling characteristics may not be to your liking. A good path to follow is to install a good set of adjustable front struts and rear shocks. A good brand is KYB; their "Strut-Plus" line may fill the bill for your needs. Also consider installing better sway bars front and back. Go with wider alloy wheels fitted with low profile tires for better handling.

Here's a web site for wheel/tire fitment:

A reference guide to wheel and tire sizes for your car

Wheel and Tire Sizing Guide and Knowledge Base. Get answers to your questions about wheel specs for your vehicle.

www.wheel-size.com

 

[rogoman]

My ga was a carb...I converted it to efi... I put the eccs intake with a sr20 throttle body and headers with dictator management...I got bored after a while now my car has 43mm itbs with 270 split cams..and a fully worked head with angled valves and skim and ported and polished aswell as gasflowed...car is almost done cant wait to have fun....didnt even cost me much.

Sounds cool; let us know how you make out with your beast once it's on the road. If you get bored with your new setup, you can always go turbo-charged; and if you're still bored, add a little bit of 50 or 100 HP shot of nitrous.

 

[Ethan kid]

Haha yeah.. I'll push the ga to the next level...just need to throw on a 1.4 ga gearbox for better ratio for 1st 2nd and 3rd gears...and gearbox is lighter aswell

 

[Ethan kid]

 

[meesvk]

so guys, I bought a 1.6 100nx. I will be using the engine + electrical components to make my sunny run again, (the camshaft broke...). Im planning to leave the original block in the sunny because it's done less KM's , so I'll only have to swap the ga16DE head on it and everything attached to it. Are there things that I need to look out for? Things I have to replace? Of course I'll be cleaning the parts before I mount them but maybe you guys know things that will need to be replaced for sure, so I can order them already before I pull things apart. Thanks.

 

[rogoman]

Since you're going to swap the head, this might be a good time to do a valve job, check the head surface for any possible warpage, replace the valve stem seals.

 

[meesvk]

Since you're going to swap the head, this might be a good time to do a valve job, check the head surface for any possible warpage, replace the valve stem seals.

Yeah that makes sense. By valve job you mean having them grinded? Hope that won’t be too expensive haha!

 

[rogoman]

Yeah that makes sense. By valve job you mean having them grinded? Hope that won’t be too expensive haha!

The only time the valves have to be ground is if the contact seat surfaces are burnt, damage from debris entering the combustion chamber or have an excess of carbon buildup. If you take the valve assembly apart, you'll see what the condition is like.

 

[meesvk]

The only time the valves have to be ground is if the contact seat surfaces are burnt, damage from debris entering the combustion chamber or have an excess of carbon buildup. If you take the valve assembly apart, you'll see what the condition is like.

When I disassembled the head I found out that the head was quite clean. I removed remaining pieces of old gaskets and I cleaned the combustion chambers because there was a little bit of carbon built up in there. I fitted the head on my sunny block with new timing chains and gears. The only problem that I encountered was fitting the timing cover. Im using the ga16de timing cover because the ga16i one obviously wouldn't fit the double cam setup. However, not all holes in the block lined up with the holes in the cover. There is a big hole in the cover that lets coolant flow from the block to the pump. You're meant to bolt that part of the cover down to the block but the holes did not line up. I used some extra liquid gasket (which you're supposed to use) and I'm just going to hope for the best. So for anyone trying to fit a ga16de head on a ga16i, watch out for this!
Also, some modifications are needed to connect all the wiring, but with the help of some diagrams a friend of mine will take care of that.