Gene's Epic 2012 Juke AWD Engine Rebuild Thread
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Won't matter too much if I don't shim the valve springs. More of a perfectionist type thing and just the way I am I guess. Basically it's part of the engine blue printing process. I bought spring shims for 0.1mm, 0.2mm, 0.3mm, 0.5mm, and 1.00mm thickness. It would only affect the valve float rpm. I want to keep the 8500 rpm rev limit target so I'll take the time to shim the springs equally as best as I can measure. But with these upgraded springs they will easily hold whatever rpm I plan on running day to day whether I adjust the lengths or not.
The valve lash clearance is hyper critical though. It has to be dead perfect or there is a risk of bending valves or a very noisy valve train.
Picture below is me loading the cam cradle, Crower reground stock intake cam, and Intake #7 valve/spring assembly with the lifter bucket. I bought a valve tappet feeler gauge set to measure things which makes the job 100% easier while the cam cradle is bolted down. I kept slipping different feeler gage combinations until it doesn't slip in anymore. It looks like I have about 1.42mm lash clearance on Intake valve #7 but the spec calls out .25-.32 mm gap. Again this is because of the ground Crower cams and valve seat work I mentioned previously. So this right here tells me I need a lash cap of about 1.20mm and it will be dead perfect. Probably I'll buy an extra size bigger like a 1.30mm as well just in case I need to custom grind it back to size. I'll do this grinding with a diamond wheel piston gap grinder and some v-blocks to keep the lash cap square.On a couple of the other valves I will also need to get smaller lifter buckets as the lash caps only go down to 1.00mm thk. I can load (2) valve springs at a time and thus there is zero pressure on the cam while I do this check. I'll repeat for all the valves on the Intake cam this way, then do the same for the exhaust cam. I put studs/nuts on the cam cradle to avoid wearing out the aluminum threads while I keep measuring the lash. Time consuming to load/unload valves but also I don't want to put more wear on the bolt threads or risk cracking the camshaft by torquing it down more than necessary. The service manual goes into detail about installing the cams but it has to be done very carefully.
This will take me a 2-3 days at which point I can then place the order for the lash caps, couple of smaller lifter buckets from Nissan, and the intake/exhaust cam phasers. Probably in 2 weeks the cylinder head will be fully assembled and all valve spring shimming, valve guide seals installed, valve lash adjustment, etc. will be completed as well.
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Still plugging away at this head. Fixing the spring compressor tool, might custom machine an adapter in the future to make it fit more securely. Had to JB weld a washer onto the adapter so it would sit flush on the spring retainer when compressing the spring. I also bought a custom tool kit last year for installing/removing the valve guide seals from Amazon which should work out nicely.
Going to throw the head in the ultrasonic cleaner again since I did some cleanup on the exhaust manifold mating surface using a file and some 220 grit sandpaper. Always a good idea to get that surface flat to keep from snapping exhaust manifold studs. I bought some Mambatek high tensile steel exhaust manifold studs and 12 point nuts as an upgrade over stock. Basically that's it then I start installing the valve guide seals and re-assemble the spring & valve assembly. The diamond wheel grinder is on order from Summit Racing and should make grinding the lash caps a simple & accurate process.
Going to throw the head in the ultrasonic cleaner again since I did some cleanup on the exhaust manifold mating surface using a file and some 220 grit sandpaper. Always a good idea to get that surface flat to keep from snapping exhaust manifold studs. I bought some Mambatek high tensile steel exhaust manifold studs and 12 point nuts as an upgrade over stock. Basically that's it then I start installing the valve guide seals and re-assemble the spring & valve assembly. The diamond wheel grinder is on order from Summit Racing and should make grinding the lash caps a simple & accurate process.
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Installing the springs in the cylinder head, pics will follow maybe Sunday on that.
I was going to just skip measuring the springs but glad I didn't. The first couple of springs measured 49.3mm long and I didn't bother measuring those (3) for spring load as I was in a hurry to install them in the head. Then I got to thinking maybe I should measure the remaining springs just in case. As I mentioned I had to shim a couple spring seats because of the valve seat work which is a separate topic I discussed previously. After measuring the spring lengths on the remaining springs I had variations from 48.7 to 50.0 mm lengths which was kind of surprising. Springs are rated at 7.00 lb/mm spring rate. The picture shows the spring preload @ 36.2mm which will be the install height in the head. The spring load values vary from 84 lbs to 95 lbs @ 36.2mm compression length. The target for the Intake valves will probably average right around 89 lbs while the exhaust I'll use 91 lbs and again shim the rest to match that. This'll kind of balance out because the Intake camshaft lift is 9.57 mm while the exhaust is around 9.13 mm so the full valve open spring loads will be right smack around 154-155 lbs for both Intake & Exhaust. Typical aftermarket springs will run 80-100 lbs on the seat and 180-250 lbs valve open. These should work out nicely for my modest build.
I bought extra springs for early test fitment last year so I won't use the 95 lb spring shown in the picture below as it was only one that was really out of spec on the high side. But the remaining springs I will have to match up with various shims so the springs balance out. More or less a 0.3mm shim will add about 2 lbs of extra spring pre-load. The shims will get placed under the machined spring seat during the spring install. There is some consideration to shimming a spring as you can run into coil bind issues if it's overdone. But based on my calculations I have an extra 3.4-3.8 mm of extra spring travel so I should be safe with shimming a small amount. Lots of measuring and calculations were done to make absolutely certain the new Supertech springs don't coil bind or bottom out on the valve guide seals.
Anyway, this is how you blueprint a cylinder head basically. I have a big spreadsheet with calculators for all this stuff so I know exactly how much spring load I have and how much to adjust and it'll be documented on a build sheet as well. In the pics you can see I'm using a hydraulic press and a bathroom scale which worked out well. I calibrated the scale with 1 gallon of water. I'd love to spend money on a whole bunch of tools I'll probably not use for another couple of years but I'll have to get by with what I have on hand for now. So this was my cheap quick fix solution.
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I was going to just skip measuring the springs but glad I didn't. The first couple of springs measured 49.3mm long and I didn't bother measuring those (3) for spring load as I was in a hurry to install them in the head. Then I got to thinking maybe I should measure the remaining springs just in case. As I mentioned I had to shim a couple spring seats because of the valve seat work which is a separate topic I discussed previously. After measuring the spring lengths on the remaining springs I had variations from 48.7 to 50.0 mm lengths which was kind of surprising. Springs are rated at 7.00 lb/mm spring rate. The picture shows the spring preload @ 36.2mm which will be the install height in the head. The spring load values vary from 84 lbs to 95 lbs @ 36.2mm compression length. The target for the Intake valves will probably average right around 89 lbs while the exhaust I'll use 91 lbs and again shim the rest to match that. This'll kind of balance out because the Intake camshaft lift is 9.57 mm while the exhaust is around 9.13 mm so the full valve open spring loads will be right smack around 154-155 lbs for both Intake & Exhaust. Typical aftermarket springs will run 80-100 lbs on the seat and 180-250 lbs valve open. These should work out nicely for my modest build.
I bought extra springs for early test fitment last year so I won't use the 95 lb spring shown in the picture below as it was only one that was really out of spec on the high side. But the remaining springs I will have to match up with various shims so the springs balance out. More or less a 0.3mm shim will add about 2 lbs of extra spring pre-load. The shims will get placed under the machined spring seat during the spring install. There is some consideration to shimming a spring as you can run into coil bind issues if it's overdone. But based on my calculations I have an extra 3.4-3.8 mm of extra spring travel so I should be safe with shimming a small amount. Lots of measuring and calculations were done to make absolutely certain the new Supertech springs don't coil bind or bottom out on the valve guide seals.
Anyway, this is how you blueprint a cylinder head basically. I have a big spreadsheet with calculators for all this stuff so I know exactly how much spring load I have and how much to adjust and it'll be documented on a build sheet as well. In the pics you can see I'm using a hydraulic press and a bathroom scale which worked out well. I calibrated the scale with 1 gallon of water. I'd love to spend money on a whole bunch of tools I'll probably not use for another couple of years but I'll have to get by with what I have on hand for now. So this was my cheap quick fix solution.
Probably a completely silly question but could u add a jet to help with the cleaning of the build up gunk u had problems with?
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Basically, yes. What's really needed is auxilliary port fuel injectors like the OEM are starting to do. I could also run water/methanol injection at the throttlebody and it would achieve the same thing. The gunk or carbon buildup is primarly why the cylinder head had to be reworked. The carbon smashed and pitted the valves, plus the gunk was so heavily restricting the intake flow it was robbing a lot of power. There was also quite a bit of oil residue so a catch can is probably the first best defense against the gunk buildup.
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Valve springs are finally all installed. Doing it right takes a lot of time.
As the chart below shows I am dealing with valve springs that have a very large tolerance range from Supertech. The idea is to get the springs when installed to be more or less equal pressure/load. Simple as that. Nissan seem to prefer more spring pressure on the exhaust valves, while the intake valves have less. Exhaust valve springs are stiffer to pound the carbon deposits off the seat and also to keep valve bounce to a minimum for optimal heat transfer. That is the idea anyway. Because of the large spring variation I had to split up the springs in (2) groups, low and high spring pressures as this cuts the tolerance variation by half. For instance the intake springs range from 83 to 87 lbs, while the exhaust springs range from 87.5 to 92.5 lbs. I color coded the springs as well so I wouldn't mess up the install.
The spreadsheet basically shows how I am doing this. I first install the valve with NO spring and measure from the tip of the valve to the spring seat position. This more or less tells me the difference between the valves but ultimately not the exact "installed height". The factory valve/spring installation height spec is 38.6 mm from the service manual. I designed a custom spring seat that is about 2.4 mm thk, so the new installation height is now approximately 36.2 mm. This doesn't account for the valve job which further alters that value somewhat. To get the new "install height" of the spring I actually have to measure it with the spring installed. Before this I would have already used the spreadsheet to find the optimal valve # position to load the spring. All springs were measured on my homemade spring tester at 36.2mm compression. As I found out the actual installed spring height on the cylinder head varies from 35.77 mm to 36.81 mm due to the valve job I did plus factory tolerances. To confuse things more all the springs vary in their lengths from 48.7 mm thru 49.7 mm. Finally, since I know the spring load and approximate install height I can then calculate the spring stiffness coefficient for every spring. Supertech say these are 7.7 lb/mm rated springs. In fact they vary from 6.46 to 6.88 lbs/mm.
The purpose of the spreadsheet is to "mix and match" the springs to balance out the load differences before I install anything. Had I randomly installed the springs it would have been possible to have a 20% difference in spring loads on the extreme tolerance limits which would not be a good thing. This is what engineers call "stack-up tolerances" and this must be avoided. To measure the actual install height I'm using a digital caliper depth attachment. They sell a spring micrometer for this as well but they don't fit for our small 24-25 mm dia. size springs. Next the spring is removed and I recalculate how far off I am on the spring load I'm aiming for. Next step is to select an appropriate shim and re-install it and then I'm done for that valve. And so the process continues until all (16) springs are installed. Prior to this I would have selected the "stiffest" spring (shown in "bold italics") and strategically placed it in the "tallest/largest" install height valve position when I initially took measurements with just the valve installed in the head. All other springs are then shimmed against that value as best I can. Hopefully that makes sense, you can add material by shimming but not easily subtract material.
The spreadsheet shows in "orange" the actual measured values. "Green" are calculated values. It takes special equipment to actually measure the installed spring load on the head, but what I have is close enough. The intake valve closed pressures vary from 83.1 lbs to 83.8 lbs and the valve open pressures from 145.6 to 146.8 lbs. This is pretty darned good to get them all that close. My goal was to stay under 100 lbs closed and under 180 lbs open which I was easily able to do while keeping the values with 5 lbs of each other. For reference the stock Juke intake spring values would be 39 lbs (closed) & 85 lbs (open). The exhaust valve closed pressures varied from 92.8 lbs to 95.2 lbs and the valve open pressures from 153.5 to 157.8 lbs. Stock Juke exhaust valve values would be 85 lbs (closed) & 113 lbs (open). Unfortunately I had (1) exhaust spring that was a bit too stiff but in reality it won't make a difference being off by 3-4 lbs anyway. I bought (17) springs and probably should have bought a couple extra to eliminate any low/high rated springs but overall things worked out well regardless.
This is essentially what blueprinting an engine is about, lot's of mixing and matching stuff. But this ultimately is done to bias values to improve performance and/or reliability. Suffice it to say the Supertech conical springs I installed are a big improvement in preventing spring surge or damaging harmonics over the stock Nissan Beehive springs. The increased spring pressure and lightweight springs will help fight valve float at higher rpms and valve blow open at higher boost pressures. There is much more to the spring calculations such as clearances to the valve guide & seal as well as coil bind height which I'm not covering here. I've already calculated those values to make certain nothing crashes into each other during operation.
Next week I will get into the valve lash adjustment but for now I'm gonna take a short break and relax.
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As the chart below shows I am dealing with valve springs that have a very large tolerance range from Supertech. The idea is to get the springs when installed to be more or less equal pressure/load. Simple as that. Nissan seem to prefer more spring pressure on the exhaust valves, while the intake valves have less. Exhaust valve springs are stiffer to pound the carbon deposits off the seat and also to keep valve bounce to a minimum for optimal heat transfer. That is the idea anyway. Because of the large spring variation I had to split up the springs in (2) groups, low and high spring pressures as this cuts the tolerance variation by half. For instance the intake springs range from 83 to 87 lbs, while the exhaust springs range from 87.5 to 92.5 lbs. I color coded the springs as well so I wouldn't mess up the install.
The spreadsheet basically shows how I am doing this. I first install the valve with NO spring and measure from the tip of the valve to the spring seat position. This more or less tells me the difference between the valves but ultimately not the exact "installed height". The factory valve/spring installation height spec is 38.6 mm from the service manual. I designed a custom spring seat that is about 2.4 mm thk, so the new installation height is now approximately 36.2 mm. This doesn't account for the valve job which further alters that value somewhat. To get the new "install height" of the spring I actually have to measure it with the spring installed. Before this I would have already used the spreadsheet to find the optimal valve # position to load the spring. All springs were measured on my homemade spring tester at 36.2mm compression. As I found out the actual installed spring height on the cylinder head varies from 35.77 mm to 36.81 mm due to the valve job I did plus factory tolerances. To confuse things more all the springs vary in their lengths from 48.7 mm thru 49.7 mm. Finally, since I know the spring load and approximate install height I can then calculate the spring stiffness coefficient for every spring. Supertech say these are 7.7 lb/mm rated springs. In fact they vary from 6.46 to 6.88 lbs/mm.
The purpose of the spreadsheet is to "mix and match" the springs to balance out the load differences before I install anything. Had I randomly installed the springs it would have been possible to have a 20% difference in spring loads on the extreme tolerance limits which would not be a good thing. This is what engineers call "stack-up tolerances" and this must be avoided. To measure the actual install height I'm using a digital caliper depth attachment. They sell a spring micrometer for this as well but they don't fit for our small 24-25 mm dia. size springs. Next the spring is removed and I recalculate how far off I am on the spring load I'm aiming for. Next step is to select an appropriate shim and re-install it and then I'm done for that valve. And so the process continues until all (16) springs are installed. Prior to this I would have selected the "stiffest" spring (shown in "bold italics") and strategically placed it in the "tallest/largest" install height valve position when I initially took measurements with just the valve installed in the head. All other springs are then shimmed against that value as best I can. Hopefully that makes sense, you can add material by shimming but not easily subtract material.
The spreadsheet shows in "orange" the actual measured values. "Green" are calculated values. It takes special equipment to actually measure the installed spring load on the head, but what I have is close enough. The intake valve closed pressures vary from 83.1 lbs to 83.8 lbs and the valve open pressures from 145.6 to 146.8 lbs. This is pretty darned good to get them all that close. My goal was to stay under 100 lbs closed and under 180 lbs open which I was easily able to do while keeping the values with 5 lbs of each other. For reference the stock Juke intake spring values would be 39 lbs (closed) & 85 lbs (open). The exhaust valve closed pressures varied from 92.8 lbs to 95.2 lbs and the valve open pressures from 153.5 to 157.8 lbs. Stock Juke exhaust valve values would be 85 lbs (closed) & 113 lbs (open). Unfortunately I had (1) exhaust spring that was a bit too stiff but in reality it won't make a difference being off by 3-4 lbs anyway. I bought (17) springs and probably should have bought a couple extra to eliminate any low/high rated springs but overall things worked out well regardless.
This is essentially what blueprinting an engine is about, lot's of mixing and matching stuff. But this ultimately is done to bias values to improve performance and/or reliability. Suffice it to say the Supertech conical springs I installed are a big improvement in preventing spring surge or damaging harmonics over the stock Nissan Beehive springs. The increased spring pressure and lightweight springs will help fight valve float at higher rpms and valve blow open at higher boost pressures. There is much more to the spring calculations such as clearances to the valve guide & seal as well as coil bind height which I'm not covering here. I've already calculated those values to make certain nothing crashes into each other during operation.
Next week I will get into the valve lash adjustment but for now I'm gonna take a short break and relax.
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Not much going on lately. Had to take a break from the engine build to get my sanity back....lol. Motivation is kind of coming and going but I have to make a huge push before December.
Gonna be ordering up the cam phasers and the lash caps maybe Tuesday. Hoping to have the head installed on the engine block and cams timed by mid September. Probably going to place multiple orders. Last time I ordered parts I had to wait weeks on a single missing component or they wouldn't release parts to me even though they were sitting in a box at the dealership.
I'm starting to look at replacement lower control arms. Gonna try some Moog lower control arms as they come with new bushings installed. For now I need to replace things quickly before winter so I'll probably hold off on polyurethane bushings until next year. Also I'm ordering up new front wheel bearings from Nissan. Next year I'll attempt the front left/right half-shaft rebuild/refurb with new CV joint grease and boots with media blasted & painted CV housings. Steering knuckles are getting media blasted and repainted. The front subframe I'm going to remove/blast and repaint as well and install stiffer subframe bushings. Steering tie rods are also getting replaced.
All this stuff might as well do before I drop the motor into the engine compartment. Factory did a poor job of painting the engine compartment and its half metallic gray and half primer black so it looks like crap. I'll give it a good pressure washing and see if I can give the engine compartment a quick paint respray as well.
Gonna be ordering up the cam phasers and the lash caps maybe Tuesday. Hoping to have the head installed on the engine block and cams timed by mid September. Probably going to place multiple orders. Last time I ordered parts I had to wait weeks on a single missing component or they wouldn't release parts to me even though they were sitting in a box at the dealership.
I'm starting to look at replacement lower control arms. Gonna try some Moog lower control arms as they come with new bushings installed. For now I need to replace things quickly before winter so I'll probably hold off on polyurethane bushings until next year. Also I'm ordering up new front wheel bearings from Nissan. Next year I'll attempt the front left/right half-shaft rebuild/refurb with new CV joint grease and boots with media blasted & painted CV housings. Steering knuckles are getting media blasted and repainted. The front subframe I'm going to remove/blast and repaint as well and install stiffer subframe bushings. Steering tie rods are also getting replaced.
All this stuff might as well do before I drop the motor into the engine compartment. Factory did a poor job of painting the engine compartment and its half metallic gray and half primer black so it looks like crap. I'll give it a good pressure washing and see if I can give the engine compartment a quick paint respray as well.
Awesome post mate, heaps of love from downunder jukers👍👍. Appreciate all the tech tips and honestly, We all waiting to see if u get everything u working towards. Hopefully great power with easy reliability. As Mac said, please continue. Thankyou
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Mac, thanks. Definitely has been a long journey but it'll definitely get completed.
In about 4 weeks I'm back onto the CVT to re-install the upgraded oil pump and high performance clutches.
It's all starting to come together but the next 10 weeks will be a hard push to get the vehicle running.
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Thanks for the thumbs up Ausjuk33. Wasn't expecting a build to take this long but with demanding job, health issues, and finances it's one of those things. I've definitely been resisting the temptation to cut corners but so far I've built it more or less how I planned to. Should turn out well and hopefully I have a near brand new Juke with a reliable +320 h.p. at the end of it.
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Indeed.....
I'll keep it at 320 h.p. for the sake of the CVT but might crank it up higher for a couple of dyno pulls. Fun stuff coming though once all 4 wheels are spinning. Saga continues........
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Nice ride. Celica rally car sounds interesting. Rally is more my speed but I do like the lifted trucks you are working on.
Not too many updates. I'd like to post some really cool product development/engineering stuff I'm doing for work but it's just a little bit top secret/classified so I probably won't until after I launch....lol.
Looking like I'll be working on this Juke project thru the winter as I have gotten very very lazy over the last month. Tryin to fix my girlfriends Honda Pilot with 330,000 miles is giving me a little bit of a change of focus. First challenge was figuring out where everything is on this engine. Not too familiar with Honda or V6 engines but holy crap are V6 engines tight to work on. Imagine working (1) handed and blind and you can see how bad these engines are to work on. Fixed/replaced the alternator, cylinder misfire, power steering, evap purge, PCV, and EGR emissions. And the list goes on. Still figuring out the ABS system as it's giving me fits and then I will call it good enough. Nice 3.5L V6 engine with a surprising amount of power/torque, about 250 h.p./253 lb-ft. For a +4,000 lb SUV I'm surprised how quick it feels. It's a nice cruiser once the power steering was fixed and I cleaned out the combustion chambers. I still need to get a 4-wheel dynamic balance as it vibrates terribly at 80 mph which drives me insane. And I'm itching to replace the ancient struts so it'll handle a little better. It burns about 1 qt. every 1,000 miles so I might install the VCM defeat/muzzler to bring the other 3-cylinders that are normally deactivated at light cruise back online. This is causing the oil control piston rings to clog up and not manage the oil control so well from my research. Those (3) rear spark plugs are oil fouling something fierce, while the front (3) cylinders don't look too bad. Enough oil is being burned to foul the plugs but not enough to physically see coming out the exhaust. If I can figure that out I'm thinking with a nice timing belt, water pump, & oil pump replacement we can get a decent amount more miles out of the 2009 Honda Pilot. In reality it's amazing how smooth that engine is even with the injectors clacking away. I might send them out for cleaning/balancing to quiet them down but the engine is much quieter now than when I started.
Not too many updates. I'd like to post some really cool product development/engineering stuff I'm doing for work but it's just a little bit top secret/classified so I probably won't until after I launch....lol.
Looking like I'll be working on this Juke project thru the winter as I have gotten very very lazy over the last month. Tryin to fix my girlfriends Honda Pilot with 330,000 miles is giving me a little bit of a change of focus. First challenge was figuring out where everything is on this engine. Not too familiar with Honda or V6 engines but holy crap are V6 engines tight to work on. Imagine working (1) handed and blind and you can see how bad these engines are to work on. Fixed/replaced the alternator, cylinder misfire, power steering, evap purge, PCV, and EGR emissions. And the list goes on. Still figuring out the ABS system as it's giving me fits and then I will call it good enough. Nice 3.5L V6 engine with a surprising amount of power/torque, about 250 h.p./253 lb-ft. For a +4,000 lb SUV I'm surprised how quick it feels. It's a nice cruiser once the power steering was fixed and I cleaned out the combustion chambers. I still need to get a 4-wheel dynamic balance as it vibrates terribly at 80 mph which drives me insane. And I'm itching to replace the ancient struts so it'll handle a little better. It burns about 1 qt. every 1,000 miles so I might install the VCM defeat/muzzler to bring the other 3-cylinders that are normally deactivated at light cruise back online. This is causing the oil control piston rings to clog up and not manage the oil control so well from my research. Those (3) rear spark plugs are oil fouling something fierce, while the front (3) cylinders don't look too bad. Enough oil is being burned to foul the plugs but not enough to physically see coming out the exhaust. If I can figure that out I'm thinking with a nice timing belt, water pump, & oil pump replacement we can get a decent amount more miles out of the 2009 Honda Pilot. In reality it's amazing how smooth that engine is even with the injectors clacking away. I might send them out for cleaning/balancing to quiet them down but the engine is much quieter now than when I started.
Thanks for the compliment. Im just incredibly interested in your work. I might have to save up n get u to build me one cause im sorta stuck on the juke. 25 yrs driving early nissan patrols (ive owned over 20) and the juke was the first car i really really wanted to own and drive. Just wish nissan had gone the xtra mile to make it better at rhe start.
Again please keep us posted and keep doing what your doing. Awesome👍👍
Again please keep us posted and keep doing what your doing. Awesome👍👍
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Lol......once I finish mine then I can see what I can do for us CVT owners. They definitely are an addictive little car. I actually like the CVT transmission over any other automatic and I'll happily drive it over a manual for every day driving. Given the chance I'll take the Juke out for a cruise and leave the EVO X at home most times when the Juke was still running. What's odd is I passed on the EVO X DSG and went for the 5 speed manual as it wasn't as engaging.....so go figure.
Nissan could have done better but it is what it is and with some work it's plenty good. I'm realizing all I need is a small, nimble hatchback with some decent power. Regarding engine mods I will have done everything I ever wanted to do, maybe a bigger turbo or tubular header but that's really it. There are some upgrades I want to do for the rear differential cooler so I can run AWD-mode without overheating the rear differential and those types of mods that improve the overall package. Some improvements in handling in the snow, maybe alignment changes or tire setup to get as much grip as possible. Probably I would never do much off-roading on the Juke but I've read it does great in dirt vs. tarmac road coarses from a couple of guys that have done that. I was thinking about a mechanical LSD but I ran out of time on my CVT upgrade. I talked with Quaife in England and the cost was too prohibitive to have one designed/manufactured. Probably that is the only thing I would have done differently but I'm thinking an LSD would probably put even more stress on the CVT so I'm happy to leave well enough alone.
The current Juke's in Europe are actually not bad with the 1.0L 3-cyl turbo. Potentially they could make a comeback in North America and give us a 1.6L turbo again with the current DSG and bring back the AWD. The CVT was a mistake but the DSG could make up for it. Subaru seem to have figured out how to make a CVT strong enough to hold 296 lb-ft (i.e. Subaru Levorg) and they are pushing that platform hard in terms of making it a competitor to automatics/DSG transmissions. There are a couple of guys at Nasoic that are putting down 360 lb-ft @ wheels on the CVT with reliability. How Nissan screwed up so bad in this respect is I don't know, but it's partly why they went with DSG in Europe as they aren't too fond of CVT over there.
Nissan could have done better but it is what it is and with some work it's plenty good. I'm realizing all I need is a small, nimble hatchback with some decent power. Regarding engine mods I will have done everything I ever wanted to do, maybe a bigger turbo or tubular header but that's really it. There are some upgrades I want to do for the rear differential cooler so I can run AWD-mode without overheating the rear differential and those types of mods that improve the overall package. Some improvements in handling in the snow, maybe alignment changes or tire setup to get as much grip as possible. Probably I would never do much off-roading on the Juke but I've read it does great in dirt vs. tarmac road coarses from a couple of guys that have done that. I was thinking about a mechanical LSD but I ran out of time on my CVT upgrade. I talked with Quaife in England and the cost was too prohibitive to have one designed/manufactured. Probably that is the only thing I would have done differently but I'm thinking an LSD would probably put even more stress on the CVT so I'm happy to leave well enough alone.
The current Juke's in Europe are actually not bad with the 1.0L 3-cyl turbo. Potentially they could make a comeback in North America and give us a 1.6L turbo again with the current DSG and bring back the AWD. The CVT was a mistake but the DSG could make up for it. Subaru seem to have figured out how to make a CVT strong enough to hold 296 lb-ft (i.e. Subaru Levorg) and they are pushing that platform hard in terms of making it a competitor to automatics/DSG transmissions. There are a couple of guys at Nasoic that are putting down 360 lb-ft @ wheels on the CVT with reliability. How Nissan screwed up so bad in this respect is I don't know, but it's partly why they went with DSG in Europe as they aren't too fond of CVT over there.
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Mini update here.
Ordered up the Intake & Exhaust cam phasers (Nissan 13025-4BB0A & 13025-4BB0C) from Ziggler Nissan. These little babies were $462 ea. and $498 respectively, total was around $1050 with tax. A few dealerships were charging about $750 ea. for these parts which is absolutely absurd for what they are. Probably the single most expensive part you can purchase on the entire engine except for the engine block and cylinder head. The original cam gear phasers had 80,000 miles on them and I assume they were working fine but they can't be reliably rebuilt so I just purchased new ones.
Over the next week I'm going to be checking the lash clearances on the cylinder head valves so I can go ahead and purchase the lash caps from Supertech. This should allow me to get the head installed on the engine and the timing chain put on and timed. Some other purchases are going to be: new engine sensors & engine electrical harness, new exhaust manifold, new fuel injectors, new ignition coil packs, complete engine motor mount(s), etc. That should complete the engine side of things. I'm spreading those purchases out over the next 3 months to keep the costs reasonable. I learned my lesson last time on ordering parts from Nissan. The trick is to order exactly what you need when you need it otherwise those parts can hold up the rest of the order and they won't release it. Doing 3-4 separate parts orders at the right time has some advantages if it's planned out correctly.
I have my girlfriend's Honda Pilot to drive over the winter so I'm not in as much of a rush now to finish everything this year anyway. Kind of thought it thru and since I have to wait on parts and spread out the cost rushing would be pointless. I'm definitely getting sick of this build and spending money though....lol. Going to be nice actually driving the Juke and spending money on other things I enjoy like traveling and such.
Ordered up the Intake & Exhaust cam phasers (Nissan 13025-4BB0A & 13025-4BB0C) from Ziggler Nissan. These little babies were $462 ea. and $498 respectively, total was around $1050 with tax. A few dealerships were charging about $750 ea. for these parts which is absolutely absurd for what they are. Probably the single most expensive part you can purchase on the entire engine except for the engine block and cylinder head. The original cam gear phasers had 80,000 miles on them and I assume they were working fine but they can't be reliably rebuilt so I just purchased new ones.
Over the next week I'm going to be checking the lash clearances on the cylinder head valves so I can go ahead and purchase the lash caps from Supertech. This should allow me to get the head installed on the engine and the timing chain put on and timed. Some other purchases are going to be: new engine sensors & engine electrical harness, new exhaust manifold, new fuel injectors, new ignition coil packs, complete engine motor mount(s), etc. That should complete the engine side of things. I'm spreading those purchases out over the next 3 months to keep the costs reasonable. I learned my lesson last time on ordering parts from Nissan. The trick is to order exactly what you need when you need it otherwise those parts can hold up the rest of the order and they won't release it. Doing 3-4 separate parts orders at the right time has some advantages if it's planned out correctly.
I have my girlfriend's Honda Pilot to drive over the winter so I'm not in as much of a rush now to finish everything this year anyway. Kind of thought it thru and since I have to wait on parts and spread out the cost rushing would be pointless. I'm definitely getting sick of this build and spending money though....lol. Going to be nice actually driving the Juke and spending money on other things I enjoy like traveling and such.
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Yeah I would think that they would be pricey especially with todays supply chain issues.
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