I know of a "Specialist" Jap engine builder down my end and all i ever see is him rebuilding 200 engines bottom ends, standard form too......that he has built, and i dont mean 10k miles either!, more like 500 miles max! are these engine pony or is it the builder?!

I thought Jap was reliable?....

 

Any engine only lasting a matter of hours, you've got to be asking questions of the person putting it together!

 

if there doing 500 miles max then something is seriously wrong unless there running massive revs.

 

Which version of the 200sx engine? The SR20DET is a cracking little engine and in Gtir form at least (slightly different to 200SX) can handle over 400bhp with all stock parts.
I'd be looking at the engine builder.

 

the ca18 is a bit wet behind the ears but the sr20 is a strong bit of kit, also these cars/engines are popular with the drifters so being bounced off the limiter all sidways with fairly low speed so little airflow going in. this cant be great for any engine

 

Ive had a few were the big ends go oval.....

 

Few of my mates have had pulsar's and had nothing but trouble with the engines, spinning shell's usually.

 

I've got an s14a with an SR20DET, on just shy of 100k, unopened, and I've just spent the day sideways smashing it off the limiter at Lydden Hill and it did not miss a beat. It's at stage 1a power, and also uses no oil and no water. I also learnt of a standard one running 480-ish bhp today, and has been for 5 years!
Anything breaking in 500 miles has been built wrong!

The CA's are known for bottom ends going, because people buy ropey ones, bolt the bigger T28 from an s14 on, and push way too much boost through them!

 

mate of mine ran 350ish all day on std internals.
chain driven engine, fairly bullet proof upto 500 if put together right,
i'd be asking some serious questions of the builder to be fair!

 

Funnily enough i was talking to.my tuner about these engines as im rebuilding a ca18det to go innmy mk2 escort, i asked about bottom ends and he pointed out that each shell is colour coded/graded and matched to each journal so to speak?? so on the 1st one there could be a grade 2 and a grade 3 bearing, so if someone just pops a set of shells and doesn't take note of what grade went where then i can understand them.going bang, and im glad he told me this little nugget of info as I'd be none the wiser. I'll just be putting standard ones in as im only going for 220bhp.

 

Shells are graded from the factory but this does not take into consideration wear and material lost when polishing the crank.

We have recently rebuilt a 35 gtr engine and that had different sized bearings on top and bottom journals from the factory. For every size of the ACL's available Nissan have 10 sizes.

As mentioned generally the 200sx engines have had a hard time and tuning a engine that is both high mileage and hasn't had regular servicing is only going to end badly. As for this engine builder I think it's safe to say he is doing something wrong.

 

Probably because people screw the boost up on them without getting it set up
Properly. I had mine 3 years and got nothing but abuse and its still going strong 5 years after I sold it. Running 300 bhp

 

One was a dp developments tuned one running about 360bhp, that was bought converted and then died a month or so after, so can't comment much on that, he then had a red one which was basically running an fmic and bleed valve with stupid boost and it ran forever!
And the other was all forged and running a gt28 on omex, built by a reputable tuner but caused all sorts of problems,
As said, the builder has a lot to do with it, some engines seem good, some bad. Just like yb's!

 

People up the boost on them without upgrading the essentials. My last one was 3a @ 387bhp and was set up well, it's apparently still going well 5 years on.

 

Told ya x x

 

Amen father