Hello! My name is MAtt, I run a performance parts company called FastReligion. I manufacture and design parts for niche nissans like the juke turbo, sentra turbo, and the altima. I am looking to get into the most recent generation of the versa. I am looking for people located in the south eastern massachusetts area who would be willing to stop by so i can take a look at these cars to see what improvements I can come up with. You can check out my work here: TheFastReligion.com
Performance Parts
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Hey Matt, I’m Phillip, I don’t live in Massachusetts unfortunately but I am a few states away in NYC. I’ve been following you for a while, you did that crazy 600hp Juke CVT build on YouTube a while back. Anyway I drive a 2nd Gen Note (aka Versa Note) which is related to the 2nd Gen Versa sedan and outside of custom one off fabrication or importing performance parts from Japan (both of which is timely and expensive), the aftermarket for this car almost doesn’t exist in North America, and I honestly wish that weren’t the case. These vehicles have a ton of potential and I would like to see a day where the scene for these cars takes off.
At the moment I don’t have any plans for next week so I’m highly considering taking a trip up to Massachusetts to visit your shop for a day and look at all the options to see what can be done with these vehicles.
If you need more technical details on the cars themselves you can ask me or Douglas (he goes by the name versa_gtir on here) and send some information about it his way and he can give you even more information than what I can give to you initially.
Me and him frequent this forum every once in a while, though we’re more active on Facebook in a couple of groups. I’ll link them down below if you’d like to check us out. I’m looking forward to hearing back from you.
Groups on Facebook: Nissan Versa Modified
Nissan Versa Technical Forum:
North American Versa Note Owner’s Club:
At the moment I don’t have any plans for next week so I’m highly considering taking a trip up to Massachusetts to visit your shop for a day and look at all the options to see what can be done with these vehicles.
If you need more technical details on the cars themselves you can ask me or Douglas (he goes by the name versa_gtir on here) and send some information about it his way and he can give you even more information than what I can give to you initially.
Me and him frequent this forum every once in a while, though we’re more active on Facebook in a couple of groups. I’ll link them down below if you’d like to check us out. I’m looking forward to hearing back from you.
Groups on Facebook: Nissan Versa Modified
Nissan Versa Technical Forum:
North American Versa Note Owner’s Club:
Hello! Sadly I am not active on most social media's anymore, I do some forum stuff to hear from the car owners on what they want, but that is really about it. If you want to swing up here I would be more than happy to take a day to look over the car and see what is what. my email is [email protected] and that is the best way to reach me!
Hearing things like this excites me, I see so much potential in the Note yet there seems to be almost no recognition outside of this forumboard. Unfortunately from what I've heard the HR is not a very moddable engine, but I'm intrigued to see what you can do when it comes to forced induction, or other upgrades.
Since you said you came here to see what the owners want, I'll give my two cents.
On the power end: anything. As it is right now you're better off swapping a QR25 and adding a procharger than you are trying to fabricate anything for the HR. Regardless, some of the smaller components could be improved such as a lighter flywheel.
I personally find that a lot of the customization lies within the exterior. The Note doesn't have much exterior customization when in reality it should, the car can look amazing if you give it the right mods. For example, spoiler options are limited to either a flimsy stock spoiler from the SR, or a big ol' wang from Japan that's $600 and $600 to import ($1200 for a spoiler). Unfortunately only one of these truly solve the Note's design issues, being the $1200 wang (for reference, it's Impul's one. Personally I see that the rear of the car lacks depth in the way that it bulges out in the bottom and slopes inwards as you go up, and the giant spoiler from Impul helps solve this while also looking damn hot.) I understand you run more of a performance parts company than body work but I believe you'd find plenty of sales in creating a US market for parts. From things like decent lips (only one person making them for like $300), to rear splitters, fender flares, etc., there's plenty of bits and pieces around the Note that give it the look it needs.
Regardless of my rant about the design, I'm glad to see someone has faith in the Note and would like to give us drivers a platform.
Unfortunately I'm all the way down in S.C. but if there's any way I'm able to be of aid to you, I'd be more than happy to.
Good luck!
Since you said you came here to see what the owners want, I'll give my two cents.
On the power end: anything. As it is right now you're better off swapping a QR25 and adding a procharger than you are trying to fabricate anything for the HR. Regardless, some of the smaller components could be improved such as a lighter flywheel.
I personally find that a lot of the customization lies within the exterior. The Note doesn't have much exterior customization when in reality it should, the car can look amazing if you give it the right mods. For example, spoiler options are limited to either a flimsy stock spoiler from the SR, or a big ol' wang from Japan that's $600 and $600 to import ($1200 for a spoiler). Unfortunately only one of these truly solve the Note's design issues, being the $1200 wang (for reference, it's Impul's one. Personally I see that the rear of the car lacks depth in the way that it bulges out in the bottom and slopes inwards as you go up, and the giant spoiler from Impul helps solve this while also looking damn hot.) I understand you run more of a performance parts company than body work but I believe you'd find plenty of sales in creating a US market for parts. From things like decent lips (only one person making them for like $300), to rear splitters, fender flares, etc., there's plenty of bits and pieces around the Note that give it the look it needs.
Regardless of my rant about the design, I'm glad to see someone has faith in the Note and would like to give us drivers a platform.
Unfortunately I'm all the way down in S.C. but if there's any way I'm able to be of aid to you, I'd be more than happy to.
Good luck!
So, I do not go body panels or anything like that. I will start with things that most people would try first then work my way up from there. Ideally I would like to purchase my own test car so I can do dyno testing and the such, but thats not going to happen. Turbocharging one would come way down the line, as thats an expensive kit to put together and I cannot see many people buying it. Chassis and suspension stuff is where I like to start. Once I get in on some of that I will work on cat deletes and headers and other small things. The trick is: If I don't sell the small stuff, I won't move forward with bigger things. I have someone coming with one Monday. The goal that day is to get a lay of the land and then see what performance bits I make for the Juke/Sentra that will cross over onto the versa. I am hoping at lease some of the chassis stuff I make will cross over. IF I am lucky I will be able to find a spot to whip up a catch can kit or be able to jig up an intake of some kind. But we will see.
I definitely see what you mean. I have a Discord group with a couple of other Note owners from the site and I think we all agreed over time that engine and chassis modification is nearly nonexistant simply because nobody tried, which is shocking because of how similar all these Nissan engines are in such small bays. I think your idea of trying out headers and whatnot is a great place to start as there is literally nobody selling headers for the Note. Infact, I think the only mods are the Injen intake and either importing a Nismo exhaust or fabricating your own, therefore it's likely you'd make some great sales starting in the exhaust section, maybe even moreso if you manage to create a cheaper version of the Injen intake.
If you're able to move forward with an expansion into the Note, I'm sure you'd find plenty of recognition here (nicoclub was very popular here til I think they shut down).
Honestly, anything you're able to put out is a miracle. Good looks man.
TheFastReligion
OKAY! SO HERE IT IS! After having @GameBoyKolor at the garage for SEVERAL hours I have come up with a list of parts I can sell and have put in motion the manufacturing of several.
Here is the list:
Parts I have order materials to start developing:
Excited to start pushing this platform like I have with the Jukes and Sentra Turbos!
TheFastReligion
OKAY! SO HERE IT IS! After having @GameBoyKolor at the garage for SEVERAL hours I have come up with a list of parts I can sell and have put in motion the manufacturing of several.
Here is the list:
- Oil Catch Can: Online and ready for orders (made the test fit on the car today)
- Injen Intake: On the site and ready to ship
- Mishimoto Radiator and Oil Caps: On the site and ready to ship
- CVT Cooler: No photo of it fitted, but the ones I use for the ALTIMA and Sentra CVT will work on the Versa.
- Oil Filter Sandwhich Plates (for adding oil sensors or oil cooler): On the site and ready to ship
- 2.5" Cat Delete Pipe: Pre-SALE. The design will be similar to my wildly successful SCD pipes on the jukes/sentras.
- Boxed Lower Control Arms: Pre-SALE. MY boxed Juke/Sentra control arms have been fairly successful and after seeing how small and ply-able the Versa LCA's are...well I have to fix that.
Parts I have order materials to start developing:
- Lower torque mount: I will either be making inserts to stiffen the oem one up or be making my own mounts to replace the oem one.
- Engine Mount Inserts: The lack of a upper torque mount really reduces how much engine rotation that can be prevented. By designing and making my own inserts for the primary engine mount, we should be able to help with a lot of that.
Excited to start pushing this platform like I have with the Jukes and Sentra Turbos!
TheFastReligion
When you apply torque through the drivetrain some of that torque is lost by physically moving the engine, but not a whole lot. What you really lose is response time. When the throttle opens the engine twists to its limit before the torque is put to the wheels. So by stiffening the mounts even a little bit you drastically increase throttle response, and in theory, regain some torque to the wheels.
We will not know the full gains until we get a versa here on the dyno stock, then install the pipe then dyno it again. But based on similar sized engines and the same modification; an increase in mid-range and top end torque should be expected.
Photos of the first set of boxed control arms are up on the website!
FastReligion Boxed Lower Control Arms (13-19 Versa) (thefastreligion.com)
Photos of the prototype cat delete pipe are also up!
FastReligion Cat Delete Pipe (13-19 Versa) (thefastreligion.com)
Finally came up with a solution for the sloppy engine mount as well:
FastReligion Engine Mount Inserts (13-19 Versa HR16) (thefastreligion.com)
FastReligion Boxed Lower Control Arms (13-19 Versa) (thefastreligion.com)
Photos of the prototype cat delete pipe are also up!
FastReligion Cat Delete Pipe (13-19 Versa) (thefastreligion.com)
Finally came up with a solution for the sloppy engine mount as well:
FastReligion Engine Mount Inserts (13-19 Versa HR16) (thefastreligion.com)
OOPS! Fixed that. I put the prices in backwards! haha
Excellent! I am working on another part for the car as we speak: upgraded lower torque mount. I have developed a new process of removing the oem rubber and have special molds I make that replaces the rubber with 80a poly.
Solid lower torque mounts now available!
FastReligion Upgraded Lower Torque Mount (13-19 Versa) (thefastreligion.com)
FastReligion Upgraded Lower Torque Mount (13-19 Versa) (thefastreligion.com)
Hey FRe. I have quite the daring suggestion that may be insanely profitable.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Versa community but it's almost common knowledge here that the MR16DDT is the go to engine for swapping. It's been done on the first gen Note and I think someone has already done it on the second gen (ours). Regardless, we're both familiar with how many products you have available for the MR16.
Something I see risky but very profitable if it goes well is to fabricate some motor mounts that would allow for the MR16 to mount to the Note first/second gen chassis.
This would open up the idea of an engine swap to many who simply aren't experienced enough to do much themselves fabrication wise (cough..me. I'm sure there's others out there though).
Along with creating an easy platform for swappers to swap, you already have a large selection of mods for the MR16, even including entire turbo kits.
What I'm getting at here is that by creating mounts to swap the MR16 into a Note, you open up the possibility of a bit of a boom in sales, both for Note bits such as the torque mounts and for MR16 mods.
I'm not the one running a business here nor do I know the logistics behind all of it but I figure it's worth a shot to present you with the idea.
Side note, as far as I've been made aware, the Note and Juke engine bay are almost identical..even the Micra. They're all different seemingly different sizes of eachother.
I'm not sure how familiar you are with the Versa community but it's almost common knowledge here that the MR16DDT is the go to engine for swapping. It's been done on the first gen Note and I think someone has already done it on the second gen (ours). Regardless, we're both familiar with how many products you have available for the MR16.
Something I see risky but very profitable if it goes well is to fabricate some motor mounts that would allow for the MR16 to mount to the Note first/second gen chassis.
This would open up the idea of an engine swap to many who simply aren't experienced enough to do much themselves fabrication wise (cough..me. I'm sure there's others out there though).
Along with creating an easy platform for swappers to swap, you already have a large selection of mods for the MR16, even including entire turbo kits.
What I'm getting at here is that by creating mounts to swap the MR16 into a Note, you open up the possibility of a bit of a boom in sales, both for Note bits such as the torque mounts and for MR16 mods.
I'm not the one running a business here nor do I know the logistics behind all of it but I figure it's worth a shot to present you with the idea.
Side note, as far as I've been made aware, the Note and Juke engine bay are almost identical..even the Micra. They're all different seemingly different sizes of eachother.
The issue with making swap mounts like that is this: The engine mounts are arguably the easiest part of that swap to do. In order to get the MR16DDT to work with the oem ecu and cluster set-up, you have to swap in all of the wiring as well. Which means getting your hands on basically the front cut of a juke. The number of people that would even attempt that swap is MAYBE 1 a year, and if you are attempting a swap like that then you have the knowledge and ability to make up your own parts.
It is a good idea for sure, but the cost of getting a versa, pulling the engine out, then doing a mock swap just to make a couple of mounts would take several dozen mount kits sales to justify it. I have sold 1 cat delete pipe so far for the Versa, and that's with about $2000 invested into the time/materials to develop it and prepare to make them (Ordering custom cnc cut flanges, custom reducers, ect.). So at this point I am extremely nervous about making any more time/resource dependent parts for the car until some of what I already have made up sells.
What you have to realize is i am a VERY small operation. I am 1.5 people (I have someone who comes in 1-2 days a week to help out) who has to do: In shop builds (there are three cars here right now), fabrication of parts for the website, manufacturing of poly parts for the website, parts development, CAD, prototyping, email response, account handling, website operations, sales, and customer service/support. @GameBoyKolor was here for me to look at his car and he was probably shocked at how small I am compared to what I offer.
It is a good idea for sure, but the cost of getting a versa, pulling the engine out, then doing a mock swap just to make a couple of mounts would take several dozen mount kits sales to justify it. I have sold 1 cat delete pipe so far for the Versa, and that's with about $2000 invested into the time/materials to develop it and prepare to make them (Ordering custom cnc cut flanges, custom reducers, ect.). So at this point I am extremely nervous about making any more time/resource dependent parts for the car until some of what I already have made up sells.
What you have to realize is i am a VERY small operation. I am 1.5 people (I have someone who comes in 1-2 days a week to help out) who has to do: In shop builds (there are three cars here right now), fabrication of parts for the website, manufacturing of poly parts for the website, parts development, CAD, prototyping, email response, account handling, website operations, sales, and customer service/support. @GameBoyKolor was here for me to look at his car and he was probably shocked at how small I am compared to what I offer.
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