Who's played with sr20s here...

[slighty_sykotic]

Im hoping someone here is a gtir/sr20 expert...


Hi guys,

I have a problem...

I missed my old R, so i ended up getting ahold of another one. Now, this one has got to be the worse condition gtir I have come across. It was owned by a 15year old, and its a mess.

First, the back story...

I got the R on a trailer, with the exhaust, turbo, and intercooler piping all off. I was told by the guy I got it from that it had a "fueling problem" and that under boost it missed.

I put it all back together (it has a really dodgy front mount on it), and started it up. Two things I found. One, it ran like shit the entire time, not just under boost. It seemed to not be able to rev over 3-4k (the rev counter doesn't work, so not 100%), and it splutters hard under any boost at all.

Second thing... is that it has blown a headgasket, the oil was white within a few mins of the motor running.


Sooooo, i set about removing the engine, taking head off, got head checked and machined, and i put it all back together. I did the chain timing by counting links between the cams, and gettings the dots in the right position. Im 95% sure its correct.

Put the motor back in, got it almost all hooked up, no exhaust after turbo or throttle cable, or water piping. Tried to start it, and it fired into life. And seemed to run fine, rev'd up and down the rev range nicely. Shut it down after a few secs snice there is no water etc in it. Started it again a few mins later, fired straight into life.

NOW AN IMPORTANT PART MAYBE... I left the ignition on while the did the next bit... It was probably on for 1-2 hours. Maybe something died during that time?


Put the exhaust on, tidied up a few more things, put driveshaft, and front cvs all back together. Hooked up throttle cable. Hooked up water pipes (did NOT fill them with water yet), and tried to start it again....

Now it won't start. At all.

I can get it to fire a bit by holding wide open throttle and holding the key on start. It seems to only fire on one or two cylinders, and as soon as you stop cranking, it stops firing at all.


I have replaced the coil. The plugs were new when I got the car (it didn't come with any). I have checked the injectors are going click click under cranking. I have checked there is spark. It all looks good. I supect one (#4) spark plug lead is dodgy, and it gave me a bad reading when i checked it, but after I wiggled it around i can't get it to fault again.

I have checked the fuel pump... Its a aftermarket one, and its been done wrong, with the wrong in tank filter, so it sits too high in the tank, but i filled it up with more fuel so its way under. The fuel flow seems pretty good, and when you close up the pipe, the pump changes pitch and still forces a pretty good flow through. I don't THINK its the pump. Its one of those walbro ones.

It does have a turbo timer installed, but I don't believe it's interfering with anything.

Now, i can't get the ecu to read out fault codes. At all. If I short the terminals, the engine light doesn't blink or go out or anything. Im 100% im doing it right, as im done it in my old R lots, and ive checked on on the net.

I have a second ECU, and I can't get fault codes to read out of that one either. it does the same thing.



Ok, thats about it I think... Can anyone help me? What might I have touched when i put the exhaust, radiator on that would stop it from starting....

Any ideas?

[RS13]

Try another AFM and CAS, sounds timing related. They are known to be difficult to start with a weak battery, I'd disconnect it to reset everything, then perhaps use a fresh battery or jump it. Check plugs for wetness from flooding.

Also, advice on CAS timing. http://www.frsport.com/How-To-Set-Crank ... _t_25.html

[slighty_sykotic]

Doesn't have a cas. Its a dizzy setup on a gtir.


But don't worry. Im a tosser...


After hours of pissing around, I took the cam covers off, and saw the problem... I didn't tighten down one end of the cam enough, and it moved up enough to spit 3 out of the 4 sets of shims from the valves. Meaning only one inlet valve was working, hence the spluttering on one cylinder...


Found all the shims, but one of them is broken So need another shim. For those that know sr20s, on each set of valves, one shim is flat, the other have a groove in it. I need another one of the shims with a groove in it. Plus I will have set it to the right size...


Grrr im pissed at myself.

[RS13]

Lol, consider it a lesson learnt! The shim with the "groove" in it, is called a shim guide, this should help you further.

http://www.mynismo.com/products/?id=5834

[slighty_sykotic]

Hmm, hope nissian has them. They are different on the gtir than a couple of s13, and a couple of unknown sr20det heads. They are different than that link too.

Thanks though.

[Lloyd]

Be aware that the flat and grooved ones have a specific side of the rocker they locate on too. If you put them around the wrong way they will break

[slighty_sykotic]

You can't put them in backwards, the rocker wont sit in place.

But thanks. Someone stupid enough to miss a couple of bolts like me might try and do it backwards