Problem with a turbo kit, is this car is to remain my DD car, I jsut want to have it running deep 14's and keep it turnkey reliable, unlike my Civic, which I can't even hold together with Hondabond
Well let me be the first to welcome you to Nissanland, where turbo and reliabillity go together like bacon and eggs. This is why I keep saying not to compare the SE-R to any form of Honda - they're not the same and in fact they use fundamentally different methods to acheive power.
One thing you must understand is that the SR20DE engine was very literally built to use a turbo. The US-spec SR20DE simply has higher compression pistons, and some of the turbo-related goodies have been removed, such as piston coolers. Why else do you think stock SR20 engines are capable of pushing well over 400 wheel HP? It's not luck, I'll tell you that much.
If you want reliable turbo power, you need to buy an SR20DET motor and install it. You will have a turbo and you will also have a factory stock Nissan engine, one that has gone through the same rigorous reliability testing as the SR20DE and every other stock engine.
Believe me when I tell you that a stock SR20DET engine in a B13 car drives exactly like a stock motor should drive. It idles perfectly, it's nice and responsive when it's not in the boost, the boost comes up quickly and gives you about 200 HP right off the bat. And again... this is with a completely stock factory engine we're talking about here. Reliability is not an issue.
Best of all, it only gets better from there. If you want more power you can up the stock boost to maybe 10 or 11 psi. If you want more, replace the turbo with a bigger one.
In fact I would go so far as to say that a clean, completely stock DET engine in an SE-R might actually be MORE reliable than a regular SR20DE with bolt-ons, especially if you're trying to hit low 14s. You've got to get some big cams to get into low 14s NA, but the DET will have you there without doing anything. I ran a
[email protected] 101 MPH in my NX with a DET... completely stock. 6.5 psi of boost.
Anyway, like I said before... make sure you know what you're doing before you do it. You're not in the Honda universe any more, the rules are different here. Search some archives, see what's out there for the SE-R. If you want low 14s, I do think the DET is the best way to go about that, if reliability and daily drivability are major concerns.