Newbie questions

[Cue-Ball]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questions (several, actually). I live in the Seattle area and will be picking up my new-to-me 1999 Infiniti G20T on Saturday (if the loan office gets their $#!* together). I have a few questions i was hoping you guys could answer.

My first question is about brakes. The car i'm purchasing has ~40K miles on it and will probably need new brakes soon. Is there any advantage to using aftermarket brake pads and/or rotors or are the stock Nissan pieces good enough. I'm not talking about replacing the stockers with 13" cross-drilled rotors or anything. Just pad replacements and relatively inexpensive rotor replacements, if my stockers are too worn to turn.

My second question has to do with turbocharging. I've read several of the threads here and have also looked at g20.net and se-r.net to see what people have been using so far. It seems like the T25/28 is out of favor with most people so i'm going to assume that if i were to turbocharge i'd end up going with a T04 or something similar. My question is, are there any parts shops who sell a turbo kit for the SR20DE? If i decide to turbocharge, it won't be for quite a while, but i'd want to get a whole kit to prevent parts hunting for weeks on end. Also, i'm a shade-tree mechanic and know the basics of turbocharging but am not willing to toast the engine on my car to save some money in labor. So, can anyone recommend a reputable shop in the Seattle area that would be willing and able to install a turbo on the SR20DE and stand behind their work? The G20T is going to be my only car and i can't afford to have it taken out of commission for a month because the shop can't tune the car correctly or because they tapped the block and left fillings in the engine.

My final question has to do with cold air induction. Because i won't be turbocharging for quite a while (if at all), i'd like to squeeze a few extra ponies out of the engine in the near term. I've heard some people on this forum say that using a CAI is not good in the rain. That would be a problem for me since i will be driving in rain just about every single day for 3 months out of the year. So, is there a good CAI that will not have a problem with the rain, or is there a POP charger that will work well enough to be similarly effective? I'm not expecting the moon and stars but i think that getting an extra 10HP isn't too much to ask.

Any information you guys can provide would be appreciated.

- Cue-Ball

[T4 Primera]

10hp? Consider a '91 intake cam. Have a look at this thread and be sure to check out the link posted in there by JP Primera.
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t12643.html

[nwong]

You can try Fmax for the kit ... don't know about a shop to do it, but I didn't think it was that difficult to install. Maybe a week at most?

[P10DET]

Originally posted by Cue-Ball
So, can anyone recommend a reputable shop in the Seattle area that would be willing and able to install a turbo on the SR20DE and stand behind their work? The G20T is going to be my only car and i can't afford to have it taken out of commission for a month because the shop can't tune the car correctly or because they tapped the block and left fillings in the engine.

Redline Proformance

Do a web search. If you cannot find them, I can post a link when I get home.

Manny has been responsible for some seriously fast SR20s. He built a turbo G20 about 4 years ago that I think still stands as the fasted G20. You can read more about it in the SE-R Mailing List Archives. Try searching on: Art Kim Turbo G20

Manny is one of the few people I talked with when I was building my killer NA engine for my SE-R and considered a last minute switch to turbo (didn't happen).

[AznVirus]

you can fit an AEM bypass valve to prevent water from flooding the engine. might have to custom it a bit, but not too much work. id suggest getting a Hotshot CAI. as for the turbo, you can either go turbo kit or just get a SR20DET (Bluebird). puts out 205 hp and 199 lbs of torque. its a pretty direct swap as well, id suggest doing that, cause once that engine goes bad, you can put your original back in.