How to make more horsepower in 1995 nissan truck ?

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Originally Posted By: lawnguy
What are the least costly ways I can make more horsepower in my 1995 4cyl nissan pickup truck ?
I pull a loaded utility trailer between 1,500 - 2,000 lbs,and it's somewhat sluggish when accelerating from 1st through 3rd gear from a dead stop.

Thoughts,etc ????


Buy another more powerful truck. More power from the engine might cause problems in the rest of the drive train.
 
Vg30 v6. Vq would be better, but they are fwd only. Vq35 with vq30 timing chains swapped on running a 4th gen Maxima ecu would work well. You would need to source a 350z transmission, or a 2wd pathfinder trans.
 
If you hopped this up with a cam it'd drink gas. A V6 swap would be about the best choice.

Why not get a Dakota with a Magnum 3.9 or 5.2? Those haul!
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
If you hopped this up with a cam it'd drink gas. A V6 swap would be about the best choice.

Why not get a Dakota with a Magnum 3.9 or 5.2? Those haul!


The 3.9 doesn't haul anything other than gas. I've seen multiple examples swig gas like a Russian drinks Vodka, LOL! My buddy's 3.9 Dakota got worse gas mileage than my 5.4L powered 4x4 Expedition, which scales 2K heavier.

I think the 5.2 was pretty decent though.


IMHO, a 2WD F-150 with the 4.6L would be a huge upgrade or even a 4.0L Ranger.
 
Originally Posted By: lawnguy
I'm looking for the least expensive options,and not engine swaps,etc.


Chevy 4.3 and T700R4 would be your cheapest best option. Two barrel carb and HEI distributor. A 4 banger will only make so much torque.
 
Does anybody make a tuner for this beast? A Hypertech handheld tuner really wakes up the low end on my 5.3 Silverado. The only problem is, it pings so badly you'd think a bunch of woodpeckers are whacking away under the hood when you mash the gas. Hypertech claims that's because of a glitch with my model year, though.

Otherwise, it seems like lower gears will give you the most benefit. The typical hotrodder bolt-ons will add their few horsepower at high rpms, where you want more power down low.
 
since this post is full of stupid non help answers. here is mine get a bigger truck. used 1/2 tons are cheap and plentiful.. a small 4 cyl working that hard isnt going to save any fuel
 
Originally Posted By: lawnguy
What are the least costly ways I can make more horsepower in my 1995 4cyl nissan pickup truck? I'm looking for the least expensive options,and not engine swaps,etc.


There are none. You have to spend money or put in time and effort. You need torque, or RPM and lower gears. Your engine is not capable of it without boost, and performance internals. You try to make big HP on a four banger with little coin and you get metallic popcorn.

As I already stated, you could adjust timing and run premium for a marginal gain, but aside from that you haven't got any options that meet your criteria.
 
Originally Posted By: super20dan
since this post is full of stupid non help answers.
They are all fitting for a stupid non-sense question.
 
A lot of misinformation here.

No way a Toyota 20R Chewed up, and spit out a Nissan KA24E SOHC.
Maybe the older Z24 Nissan, but not a KA.

I have owned 2 trucks with that KA24E, and towed similar loads routinely, and while you won't win any races against any modern trucks hauling that weight, they do a respectable job. Not a ton of peak torque at 154 ft lbs, but 80% of that torque is available at 1000 rpm.

Other than gears there is nothing you can do that will make you notice a difference. Make sure all maintenance is up to date, and work with it until you are ready for a different truck.
 
Advance the timing. It's got an old school distributor that you can rotate. I once owned a '95 Nissan 4x4 truck, with the KA24E, and thought it had PLENTY of go-power. It was really quite nice in the power department. But in warmer weather, the thing would ping like crazy unless I ran premium. Keen to find out why, I eventually put a timing light on it and found the timing advanced by about 20 degrees.

Ah.

I set the timing to where it was supposed to be, and felt like I lost about 30 horsepower. On the flip side, I could then run regular fuel!
 
Thanks Hokiefyd! My truck does ping quite often too. I will take your advice.
 
You probably did lose 30hp, because its supposed to be 20 degrees advanced. Unless you mean 20 degrees over the 20 it should have been at, meaning 40 BTDC at idle, when it should be 20...? I've been running mine (KA24DE) at 22 BTDC for about a decade now. Knocking a couple degrees off the timing can really help with the pinging in warm/hot weather. This engine is a real ping monster if you feed it 87 oct.

To the OP, you are really limited to making any power with a KA without going turbo. Which they respond very well to, even just a few pounds of boost. But you can burn through a lot of money in a hurry getting there. I wouldnt bother.
 
Originally Posted By: quint
You probably did lose 30hp, because its supposed to be 20 degrees advanced. Unless you mean 20 degrees over the 20 it should have been at, meaning 40 BTDC at idle, when it should be 20...?


20 degrees advanced beyond where it should have been. I followed that up with "I set the timing to where it was supposed to be", but I apologize if it was still unclear. After fixing the timing, I could not get my '95 KA24E to ping any. It was really quite a tough little engine; I really enjoyed it. During really hot weather, that cooling fan clutch would engage and it'd really sap the power, but the A/C always blew cold. Tough little truck. One of the ones I wish I still had.
 
What do you have for tires on it? Going to a small overall diameter is a cheap way to get some gear reduction, lower rotational mass.
A used tire guy might have some 14" XL ones that will keep your load rating up.
I find towing with the Tracker, the biggest thing is plan ahead or basically drive like a 18 wheeler, never stop unless you have too. Also do your acceleration in the lower gears, the tracker has a 6700 rpm redline, so revving to 4500-5000, for the first 3 gears at 2/3 throttle gets me to 50mph quick enough.
I kind of like "hauling heavy" for the odd trip, but I guess if I did it all the time, it might get annoying. It helps if you really don't worry about the drivetrain, put some decent fluids in and drive it hard, a 4 cyl isn't really any less tough than a V6 or V8.
 
The first thing I'm going to do is clean the throttle body. That is cheap to do. If I can find someone who can remove my cat for me I will have that removed.
 
Will removing my cat actually make an increase in power? Is it worth spending the money to have it removed?
 
Originally Posted By: lawnguy
Will removing my cat actually make an increase in power? Is it worth spending the money to have it removed?


Probably not. The only benefit would be if it was plugged.
 
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