It has been months since I wrote about our supposed project car here at AutoJab. I figured that once I’m able to put in a budget, I’d go about doing the mods to the car and the first item on the agenda was supposed to be an engine swap. The stock Sentra has a 1.6L GA16DE engine that has given me some problems due to failing electronics.

An option is to have it adapted to carb but that would be considered a downgrade since the car would lose a good amount of horses, not to mention that it would also consume a bit more gas and passing emissions would be a bitch.

I was supposed to have it swapped out with an naturally aspirated SR20DE (there’s also a turbocharged one - the SR20DET) - of the classic, mass produced Nissan engines that could give the B13 Sentra a lot of punch per pound, enough to supposedly give the Civic Si a run for its money on a straight line.

However, the problem is that the SR20DE is it guzzles gas just a tad more than what’s slapped on the ride right now from 22 mpg with the GA16DE (based on experience) to 18 MPG. With the gas prices sky-high, I’m putting it on hold until I get to decide which gets me the best buck-per-bang arrangement.