It seems to me that you people are gaining more hp with a cooler VE that with all of the mods installed. I think that we sould be concentrating on keep these VE motors cooler. Has anyone here tried installing a aluminum radiator,aftermarket fans, or lower termostat? Does anyone here have any other ideas? After all you can't always race some one with a cold motor, now can you??


Thank
Jason

 

Make some phenolic intake manifold spacers and do a throttle body coolant bypass.

 

Yeah do these since it keeps the intake tract cooler, which is all that really matters. Don't mess with the thermostat.

 

Or..you could just take a pipe that goes from the AC and put it in your CAI. That way you'll have cold air going into your intake. Good idea, huh? haha

 

I'm going to put in the 170 thermostate. I was glad to see that stant makes them and pepboys carries them.
I have not made plans to do the throttle body bypass yet, but I'm considering it.

 

hey man, i know very little about this, could you explain? thanks

 

do a search. you'll learn a lot. not JUST on .org either. there's tons of info out there about them.
If you've still got questions after reading a while, then I'll entertain discussion about it.

 

Hmmm...after searching about this, I have a feeling that this would not be too difficult for someone to fabricate. Of course, I have neither the skills nor the resources to pull it off, but someone else *cough* Ngthing *cough* who has access to a metal shop would be able to design and fabricate one fairly easily I think. The only thing I'm curious about is how it would fit if you don't shave some of the intake off? Would you angle the spacer slightly and use diagonal holes? Guess we need a machinist for some advice

 

What is this thread about? Are you guys searching and coming up with the infamous "heat soak" problem on VEs that has never been fully diagnosed? Whoever came up with that suggestion did not do any research. A lot of the VEs on the board claim to be VERY fast when they first start up and the engine is cold, then very slow and hesitant when it's all warmed up. Thus, someone thought up the 'heat soak' problem when it's only a tuneup issue. My car did it just as bad as anybody elses. I then replaced my water temp sensor, O2 sensor, bumped up my ignition timing, replaced my exhaust studs, and replaced both VTCs with new ones. Problem solved. I adjusted the ignition timing last. After replacing everything, I got my top end power back but rolling lazily away from a light, I could floor it and it wouldnt go anywhere. I bumped up my timing to about 18-20 degrees, and problem solved.

 

I personally use RedLine water wetter in my coolant. It's supposed to help the coolant stick to surfaces more, hence cooling them more. You guys are free to try it. If you have $30 to spare, there's some stuff called "Below X", where X is a number I don't remember. A friend of mine uses it, he doesn't know if makes the coolant cooler, who knows, but it's pretty expensive. The RedLine is cheaper, you're only supposed to use a little bit, so one bottle lasts a while.

Also, if you want your engine bay to be cooler, you could get some hood vents to let hot air out, I doubt anyone is going to do this though. If you're really fruity, get a hood scoop and let it blast some air in there, you could make it keep the TB cooler and maybe collect 0.87HP out of it. When a cop pulls you over for speeding, you'd look stupid when you say "I have to go fast, cause i need alotta air to go into my cool scoop."

 

You say that it is a tuneup issue, but then you say yourself that after you replaced everything, that your low-end power is still missing. Only by adjusting your timing beyond stock solved the problem. When my engine gets hot (the most typical situation being me driving fast towards the city then having to slow to 20-30 MPH in city traffic) my low end suffers tremendously, but kicks in hard around 3000RPMS. Thus my car alternates between lugging off the line and then surging forward. One theory to explain that (in my opinion) is that after slowing down from highway driving, the radiator does not have enough cool air running through it to cool the engine and thus heat accumulates in the bay, causing the intake manifold temp to rise. Now, having taken heat transfer, I know that the majority of heat transfer will occur between the metal of the block and the metal of the intake manifold because air is a very poor heat conductor. One way to alleviate this problem is to place an insulator between the two pieces of metal (ie the phenolic bracket). If you think this is nonesense, fine. But don't tell me you have the clear-cut solution. Thanks.

 

There's a TSB that may be your problem, it has to do with the knock sensor. From a stop then going WOT, the timmming is retarded alot more than it sould be. the TSB said something about the wiring going to the sensor could be bad, but if you get the opportunity to get that deep into the motor I would reccomend replacing the knock sensor.
There is a way to test this but It would require the use of the Consult diagnostic tool.

 

I drive on the highway mostly and my problem would occur after hitting the light after taking the off ramp. I would only be staying ta the light for a minute at most. Around town, stop and go driving, it wouldnt be as bad, but still there.

I only recommended the ignition timing advance because my timing was set BELOW the factory timing specs. Sentra SE-R's had a problem with the timing being set below spec at the factory. Factory spec for the VE manual or auto is 15 degrees +/- 2 degrees BTDC and mine was at around 12-13. I kicked it up to 18-20 and the problem disappeared. You must remember, the VE is a top-end power "cammer" motor and by nature doesnt have much power down low. But now mine has just as much power hot as it does cold. Just chipping in my 2 cents since I have been playing with and researching this problem for over a year now.

 

Maybe I'll install it tomorrow morning. I'll repost if the results are good.
btw its a stant thermo and it was $11 at pepboys.

 

What are you hoping to gain with 10 degrees difference? Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I don't see that doing a heck of a lot compared to something like the TB bypass.

 

I had the same problem with my car. It was really fast and powerful on first start up, but after it warmed up it lost a lot of power and was sluggish. Replaced the knock sensor and the problem went away. Turns out a bad knock sensor retards the timing constantly. It doesn't start retarding until the engine is warm and the ecu accepts inputs from knock, O2, etc. (open/closed loop mode I forget which is which).

 

Interesting! The FSM diagnostics for the knock sensor (detonation sensor) are really simple though - just a couple of continuity checks! Anyone know if this is really a reliable way of telling if it's okay?

(It says to discard any sensor that's been dropped or shocked, btw!)

 

BTW, my old knock sensor turned out to be OK. It was the connection that was all corroded. I guess the ecu goes into limp mode if it can't get a signal from the KS. I cleaned the connectors on the old KS and it worked fine, but I put the new one in anyway just to be safe.

 

i've read that for every 10 degrees cooler you make your intake air, you gain 1% (1.9 hp for VE and 1.6 hp for VG). don't know how accurate it is but the fact that a cooler engine will pull harder is true (CAI). i hooked up a temp sensor (from radio shack) by my pop charger with a tube that runs from under the fog light to the intake area ("ram air") and the temp is cooler by at least 10 degrees than w/o the tube. of course when i'm not moving, no air from outside is getting to the pop charger, but when i do move (doesn't even have to be very fast) the temp drops quicker w/ the tube. my $.02.

 

Damn....and I was almost there. When I pulled all the injectors, I wanted to get to the knock sensor, but the gasket set for the intake manifold is rediculously expensive (~$70 aftermarket). So I said forget it.
Bman If you check the resistance on the kS you'll see its rediculously high. But I believe the FSM said to just do a continuity test. Although they do not say how high, Corroded terminals will make the reading alot higher than what it should be. The manuel should be better on testing this one.

Anyway, I just put in the 170 Thermostate this morning, and so far she is running great (but it was very good before) so It's tough to tell the gains.

 

I was just wondering how to keep a VE cooler, not that I was having any problems. I know that cooler air has more oxygen in it, and my intake manifold is way too hot to touch at normal operating temp.

Jason

I going to do the TB bypass this week.

 

No one recomends an oil cooler?