Congratulations on winning August 2011
COTM Dave! If ever our members believed you needed a GT for power, this one
will set them straight! Step forward and represent the Nissan Primera P11 SLX
crew - How does it feel bagging this exclusive award and the awesome COTM
trophy as well?
Shocked to say the least! I’ve always
wondered if I’d ever get it but then I always thought the car was never up to
scratch to be honest. I feel that the hard work and money spent has been
noticed and it’s nice to know it’s all been recognised.
Before we talk cars, modifications and
mechanics, we’d love to find out about you the owner. Please tell us
about yourself and what you get up to, away from the NPOC.
I’m a young looking 25 year old from
York. I live with my rather patient partner Stacey, which some of you have met.
We live together on a small disused farm well away from the busy town centre.
I work in a small but busy and well
known electrical shop selling vacuum cleaners, washing machines and cookers etc
along with small appliances and spare parts for all the above items. My partner
works across road from me to keep an eye on me LOL, Stacey works at Barnitts,
which sells home wares from kitchen utensils to wardrobes.
In my spare time I’m usually looking
for my next car adventure (or wooden spoon moment as it seems sometimes) – I’m either
planning a new cosmetic modification, or the more major BHP wise.
Apart from the car we do enjoy films!
Cinema or a night at home with a take away and film, sees me sorted. We are
both very family based and spend a lot of time with both sides. We like
holidays within the UK, usually in the winter in a cold caravan!
I like most things car related, shows,
mags, F1, Touring cars, rallying etc.
I have a big fascination with space
too! Planets, the sun etc. It’s an amazing world we live in when you read up on
it.
How did you find the NPOC forums and
are we any good? Would you happily recommend the club to other Nissan Primera
owners?
I was a member of a different club
which went down the pan, so I was in the search for another club. What a
difference!!! The minute I signed up, within a few posts I wanted to become a
paid member to get to see all the juicy sections. It wasn’t long that I found
that NPOC, was much more of active place than the previous club. I also found it
was much more chilled out and more of a “I want to come back for more” forum. I
quite often end up staying up late waiting for replies back, or waiting for an
update on something.
This is one of the best clubs I’ve
been on, more family and person based instead of being based on pure modifying
and only big power. Any thread will get replies!! I’d very happily recommend
the club, as it full of good info, good people and a right good laugh!!
You’re an Elite
Member here (our highest level of paying membership), are you getting value for
money with that? And please sell us the reason, why everyone should become
Elite.
Simple, huge savings and special deals! I try to get
to as many shows as possible and with the Elite monthly membership fee for just
a few quid a month, I can save a lot on entry tickets. I’ve had many tickets at
bargain prices. Group buys again, I get extra discount on items because of my Elite
membership. I have no regrets – It’s all it well worth it!!
You got into your P11 SLX from a
Nissan Primera P10, so from the horses mouth, which one is the better car – P10 or P11 and why?
Oh no! Did you have too??? Well… Hmmmmmmmmn…
I dunno… I’ll be honest here, my old P10 SRi cobalt blue (the BEST colour ever
made by any car company) was a dream come true when I got her. She was bruised
badly and honestly seemed to have had a dodgy past. We bought it for a bargain
price of £675 with 80K on the clock. It had huge front end rust issues, wings
were ruined etc. We took her home and me and my dad rebuilt it, (well to be
fair my dad rebuilt it as he is the welder king). She had new wings, cross
member, air filter, oil and so on, the works. A few weeks of work and she was
like new. It was hard as hell on Pi springs, Superchipped and straight through
exhaust and I mean a scaffolding pipe front to back!! Loud? Just a bit! Why did
I get rid? Well my 21st birthday was welcomed with my prized P10
getting keyed! Panels all round were vandalized! GUTTED and ever since that I
lost the love for it, as it felt like it would never be same again.
The Primera P11 I now own, is comfier,
more modern but never seemed as brutal and in your face as the P10 was. If it
wasn’t for the damage to the P10 I’d probably still have it now but with an
SR20DET in it, which was in process of been ordered before it got damaged.
I think for the all rounder, it’s the P11
but for pure drive and don’t care about comfort or noise, it’s the P10 but rust
will always be the decider anyways! If I had the choice of a low mileage P10
eGT or low mileage P11 GT… Ohhhh, dunno LOL!
Your Primera is painted from the
factory in colour code AP0 and known as Cinnabar Red, that’s a pretty funky and rare
colour!! Did you set out to find one this colour?
No not at all, it was the sheer
urgency of needing a car if I’m honest. The Audi A4 that I owned fell to bits
and I was sick of the repair costs and spending more time at my dads garage
then me driving it, so we scrapped it at a huge loss and I needed a car ASAP!!!
I needed a car for work 6 days a week and we were off on holiday 250 miles away
in less than 2 weeks as well. By chance I remember my sister was searching for
a Nissan Primera and she saw a local garage had one for sale. So there she was
in gleaming APO. I saw it, drove it and bought it.
Since you joined the NPOC over 2 years
ago, most of your posts on the forums have been about your never ending quest
for more power (which we’ll get to in a bit), I’ve gotta ask the obvious
question here… How comes you didn’t start with a Nissan Primera P11 GT and build up from
there?
For the reasons above really, the
sheer need of a car locally within a £1k budget and that needed no work. My car
fills all that criteria. 2 owners, 80k on clock, full history, MOT’d for a
year, serviced, new tyres, cleaned in and out and up for sale at £999.00.
We looked everywhere for a GT, we
found plenty but as I wasn’t a member on here I wasn’t anywhere near as clued
up on the differences etc. I knew the basic power differences but I was after a
car which wasn’t a bag of junk and would deliver better mpg than my old Audis
13 MPG! The GTs we found were a mess and
had killer mileage, even though I now know a P11 GT with 130k was nothing but
how did I know back then?
I have no regrets as my car is above
and beyond GT spec now and body wise has done less miles than most of the GTs
we found.
Your recent tuning session and dyno power run netted
some awesome figures (RESPECT!) – 172 BHP and 151 lbs Torque – That’s up from 128 BHP as standard, so a 44 BHP
increase!! Is there anymore power to be had here, or will there be boost or VVL
at some stage?
I’ve peaked the DE (SR20) engine if I’m
honest. The car is not a 100% comfy daily driver now at lower revs, so honestly
if I were to push the DE even more, it would be making it into a track based
car and horrid to drive as a daily etc. I’d love VVL, as you all know my love
of variable lift cars, (I love my parents Corolla). VVL sounds lush as hell BUT
there is something that pulls me towards a DET. There’s just something really
cool and exciting about a Nissan Primera with a great big front mount
intercooler and a tasty dump valve while driving through town. So yes SR20DET
on the cards for next year for sure, providing the car is still on a solid body
next year (which it should), then fingers crossed for BOOST power!
We’ve seen your car evolve a
lot over 2 years, cosmetically it’s changed and the same goes for performance mods.. You
seem to experiment with a lot of things before finally settling on something,
why is that?
Simple answer, because I love to mod
and waste money! I’ve gone through 12+ air filters from cheap, to £200
versions! I’m just never happy as I always think what if? What if this is
better because of this? The Nistune map to me, is like a padlock on mods as I
can no longer change a simple item like an air filter, as the map will then be
wrong. I’m now very happy with the current set up, power, looks and sound. What
I’ve learnt is to buy decent / quality the first time! A lot of mods I did were
starting with the cheap mods, then replaced them to a medium quality, now
everything I have is the best out there, from oil, cams, to exhaust.
On to the modifications and spec, now
would be a great time to tell us all about your beasty fast Nissan Primera P11
SLX! So please list your full spec and all modifications, inside and out:
Power mods:
SR20DE engine
NGK Iridium spark plugs
Quad core spark / HT leads
Cat Cam 514 camshafts
Gspec adjustable cam sprockets (correctly
dialled in)
4-2-1 Stainless Steel manifold + down
pipe
2.5” decat
2.25’’ Janspeed cat back exhaust
Nismo fuel pressure regulator
Enlarged throttle body and matching intake
plenum
Apexi intake filter
85mm cold feed pipe
Heat wrapped manifold and intake pipe
P11 GT ECU
Nistune ECU map
Fully synthetic engine oil and gear
oil
Cosmetic:
GT interior
GT grills
GT side skirts
Primera UK badge
Debadged (Nissan) badges
SRi badges in grill, side doors and on
boot lid
Infiniti front badge
Bosch Aero wipers
99% limo rear tints
Legal front window tints
Custom (extra) rev counter fitted to
centre air vent
Stainless steel dash dial bezel
Dial surrounds
LEDs in all dash warning lights
Plasma dials
LED interior lighting
JDM quad headlights
35W HID kit
55W high beam HIDs
Led number plate lamps
Red calipers with Nissan stickers
ICE:
JVC CD player
Pioneer door speakers
Pioneer 6x9s
Fusion amp
Wheels /
Suspension / Brakes:
17’’ Wolfrace alloys
Goodridge stainless steel brake lines
Dimple & grooved 278mm brake disks
front and back
Black Diamond brake pads front and
back
H&R lowering springs
KYB adjustable shocks
What’s the most enjoyable change
you’ve
made so far?
That’s a tricky one. The Nistune and cam set up made
the biggest overall difference I think, with both sound and performance. But
best mod I personally did would be the plasma dials, as I’ve tried for so long
to get these and by god they were worth the time and effort! I really like them
plus the other 9 members in the Group Buy do too.
Do you do any DIY stuff (mods /
servicing) on the car yourself, or are you a regular at a local garage?
The servicing I do myself. Other mods
I try my best, but if it’s something major like fitting cams, I get my dad to
do it as he’s a god at car work. I do all my tyre checks and fluid level checks
myself – There’s no excuse for not knowing the basics!
If I gave £500 right now and told you
it had to be spent on the car, what would you buy?
A new full leather interior and door
cards from either a P11 144 or from a P11 GTLE. With the leftover change, some
proper rust treatment paint.
If money was no object and you could do
anything you wanted to the SLX, what would you do?
Professional rust treatment and full
respray in P10 cobalt blue, BC Coilovers, 4 pot brakes, new 17’’ multi spoke
team dynamics alloys, 3’’ mandrel bent cat back exhaust, ASP header and an SR20VET, so I’ll have the best of both
then!
Any future plans for the car in the
pipeline?
I’m trying to get the interior modernized
with a lot of P11 144 parts and the seats changed as mine are knackered. I’ve
been told by the person in control (Stacey) that no more money is to be spent
until next year. So I’m saving now for the DET parts. I will slowly upgrade the
car as I go, ready for the changes.
Time for the quick fire question
round!
Drag or Track? – Track
VVL or VTEC (y0)? – VVL
DVD or Bluray? – Bluray as it’s
the future
Coffee or Tea? – Both
disgusting, give me a can of coke
BHP or Torque? – Torque as
that is where all the power is at
Dogs or Cats? – Dogs as they
enjoy your company, cats you feed, stroke and then wave goodbye
South or North? – North
Tell us your favourite NPOC car? – “Mad Maru”s GTT - It
looks and sounds epic, as Rich knows!
The NPOC members have had their fair
share of laughs with you, concerning your fascination with camshafts… Having
seen the power results with your latest camshafts, is that it?.. Or is there
another set of cams destined for the engine?
No not at all LOL. The car would be so
lumpy / jerky, it’s bad enough as it is. Any bigger and it would be more track
based.
When are we gonna get to see your
Northern ass at JAE? You can’t dodge it forever you know!
Tell me about it! Three times running now
I won’t be there. I am missing this year again, due to the boss being on
holiday, so I can’t make it (again)!!!! I will be there in 2012, if the car is ready in time!
How long can you see yourself owning
and driving the Nissan Primera, you have mentioned other cars in the past and
you do have an obsession with power LOL!?
Providing the car is still in good
condition next year, the turbo conversion (DET) will be fitted, so many years
yet with the old girl. Worst case if it was rust eaten, is I’d buy another P11
and swap all the toys over. The SR20 engine can produce the power I require!
NPOC for life (regardless of what car
you own and drive) or leg it when you change car?
I’d stay even if I did change cars, as
you guys and gals always give honest feedback and you do like other cars!! I’m
sure I’d still bug you all though LOL!
Tell Carlos Ghosn why he needs to bring
back the Nissan Primera brand:
An easy one to answer this. The P10
and P11 Primera survive my heavy driving and my heavy weight. My Audi fell to
bits, what more can I say? At 13 years old (my car that is), I can still drive
200 miles and get out feeling comfortable and not in pain, like the previous
cars I’ve had. They’re smooth, quite good MPG and so god dam reliable! My car
is well driven, does plenty of miles every week and it doesn’t care. I would
not trust most modern cars to do the same.
Many thanks for telling us all about
yourself and your cracking Nissan Primera P11 SLX Dave, it’s one of our fastest club
cars and you deserved this feature! Congratulations once again for winning Car
Of The Month for August 2011! Please end this feature, in your own words and
feel free to thank anyone who’s made this one possible.
Well, big thanks to all really as all
of you have helped in giving me tips on modifications.
I’ve pestered “Ant-Dat” many times and
made him pull his hair out (he’d better watch out as he’ll be the one fitting
my DET, he doesn’t know it yet LOL). “Mad Maru” for his turbo inspiring car. “prim-n-proper”
for his cheeky cocky remarks to EVERY post I make… love ya really! Thanks to
the “grim” reaper for quick bargain parts to keep my P11 on the road. “Primerapowa”
the P10 rust killer king has given me loads of advice, opinions and even came
with me for my remap.
Loads I’ve probably missed, but big
thanks for the friends that I’ve made on here and thanks for all the help and
support!
Congratulations once again to Dave!
August 2011 COTM - Primera Dave Written by essNchill
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