You'd be forgiven for getting flashbacks of mum driving the kids to school - or doing victory laps of the local supermarket car park - after getting a glimpse of Gerry's U12 Bluebird SSS Limited ATTESA. But a closer inspection of the Japanese import Bluebird reveals a modified two-litre twin cam intercooled turbo, ATTESA-controlled four-wheel drive - and a 13.2 second quarter mile! That's a far cry from the Australian delivered N12 Pintara and rebadged Ford Corsair, with their 2-litre 83kW eight-valve (CA20E) and 2.4-litre 96kW twelve valve (KA24E), SOHC front wheel drives...
It was around mid 1999 when Gerry was looking for a replacement for his Nissan 180SX. A Skyline R32 GT-R was what he wanted, but the budget didn't stretch that far, and a little research drew his attention to the Bluebird. Sure it wasn't Godzilla, but it had - he thought - similar characteristics with an SR20DET ATTESA 4WD. With a little bit of work, Gerry was sure he could meet his need for speed and his desire for comfort without the associated problems of owning a pure bred sports car.
Gerry looked locally for an imported Bluebird, but could find only automatic versions. So in September 1999 a "rare as hen's teeth" manual Bluebird was imported via Autostyle Performance Cars, complete with the Japanese owner's manual and snow tyres/cheese cutters on all four wheels. In standard form, the 2-litre Bluebird weighed in at 1380kg and pumped out 155kW, with all the creature comforts of a luxury mid-priced, mid-sized sedan. Features like ABS, leather interior, climate control, power everything - and even heating elements behind the mirrors - soothed Gerry's desire for comfort. The inside remains as it was when it rolled off the Japanese showroom floor, with only a additional monitoring gauges for boost.
Gerry has always been a fan of Nissans, but if they were bought standard they didn't stay that way very long. This Bluebird was no different! The car was complied in Brisbane and transported to Sydney. Off the transporter, the car was driven to the RTA for registration and from there straight to the local exhaust centre where a full three-inch exhaust system was fitted, all the way from the back of the standard T25g turbo to the tip.
The Bluebird was never intended for circuit or drag strip racing, "In fact in handling the car felt more like a hovercraft," suggests Gerry. Standard, there are 100-pound/inch springs, which is great for ferrying kids to school and navigating speed humps. So Gerry tossed them out and fitted 220-pound springs and lowered the car one and a half inches. The suspension upgrade was completed with 215/45 17inch rubber on all four wheels. The car was now able to turn corners fast with predictable four-wheel-drive understeer.
Once the exhaust was fitted, the boost crept up a little due to the increased flow, but the standard intercooler was rather ineffective - evidenced by engine pinging under normal driving conditions. This wasn't surprising, as the standard air-to-air intercooler on the U12 is located on top of the engine, rather like a WRX but without the bonnet scoop. Instead the U12 Bluebird has two air ducts behind the front grill which channel air up between the engine and the underside of the bonnet, then forcing it down over the intercooler. It's about as effective as a WRX with the bonnet scoop blocked!
So the intercooler lasted about a week before Gerry had a custom front-mount intercooler made. The performance-sapping dilemma of the top mount intercooler is not surprising - the newer U13 Bluebird was made with a front-mount intercooler to solve this exact problem! A new front bumper was fitted to the Bluebird to increase room for the intercooler and to allow for the relocation of the upgraded pod air filter. "There is no point replacing the standard air box with a pod, if it only takes in air from the hot engine bay!" says Gerry. The only possible difficulty with the relocated air filter was that the air flow meter also had to be moved. But it was a piece of cake for someone with an electrical engineering background, a little solder and some 100 mph tape.
The intercooler was fitted and its impact was quite notable! Not only could boost be wound up past the standard 7psi to no less than 17psi, Gerry also found the boost hitting the limiter of 24psi on freezing nights. Under normal driving conditions, boost would spike around the 17psi and then settle to 15psi. This wasn't a good situation, as Gerry was after solid boost holding right to the end of the rev range once the turbo had spooled up. So the standard turbo was removed and machined out to fit a larger HKS GT28 front compressor. The exhaust housing and turbine were left standard. With the turbo bolted back on, the turbo characteristics were changed dramatically. With the larger front impeller, lag increased about 500 rpm, but "the lag is not that noticeable with the pulling power off the line due to the four-wheel-drive". Boost levels held solid at 13 psi throughout the rev range.
But it wasn't long before the Bluebird started to develop a tappet noise that could be traced back the previous Japanese owner's lack of maintenance, in particular not performing enough oil changes and using the incorrect oil type. The oil runners that feed oil to the lobes of the cams were blocked, which led to extra lobe wear and as a result, to incorrect valve lift. Also a number of the oil squirters that spray oil onto the tappets were blocked. In short "the head was screwed!" A few hours of letting his fingers do the walking, and a second hand SR20 head was found, bought and fitted in the family driveway! The contrast between the stuffed head and the new one was quite amazing, "you could almost eat off it". (The new one, that is....)
Unfortunately, unbeknown to Gerry, major damage to the bottom end of the motor had also already been done - the stuffed head was only a sign of things to come. Days after the head swap and re-lube, the Bluebird developed a new knocking noise above 2000 rpm. "It sounded like a hat full of arseholes farting at once," says the uniquely expressive Gerry. The car was limped down to Bob at JustMotorsports, whom had worked on Gerry's previous Nissans. It took all of about two minutes to work out the problem, as Bob has built numerous SR20DETs. Gerry had spun a bearing in the third cylinder. "It's always the third," said Bob.
Instead of fixing the motor, which had already had major problems, a new motor was on the cards. Once again Gerry made a few calls, but could not find anyone that had a SR20DET front wheel drive motor lying around! In fact it took over a week to locate a motor with an auto box out of a U13 Bluebird. Then it was a case of making the usual checks when buying a complete motor; looking at the oil deposits under the oil cap, removing the sump plug and removing the rocker cover to check for sludgy oil deposits. This new motor didn't disappoint - it was relatively spotless - and once he'd received Bob's reassurance that the manual box would bolt straight on, the motor was in Gerry's possession.
The Bluebird was taken home and preparations were made for the engine swap, with an engine hoist hired. Unfortunately, the front wheel drive SR20 motor isn't designed to be lifted out of the Bluebird's snug engine bay, but instead lowered out the bottom once the car is lifted. So the hoist was returned and the car was towed to JustMotorsports, where Bob completed the engine swap. It took two days - from out with the old to in with the new. The standard clutch was replaced with a stronger 220-pound clutch and the car was back on the road.
After a few weeks of bedding down the new engine, Gerry was eager for a quarter mile run, "I could hear Eastern Creek calling me." The new set-up didn't disappoint, with a 13.9 running standard boost and street tyres, and his second run yielding a 13.2 with boost increased to 13psi.
"Not a bad result for a family hauler!" smiles Gerry.
Thanks to:
Autostyle Performance Cars
www.autostyle.com.au 0414 444 930
www.JustMotorsports.com.au
+61 2 97387444
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