The End

Thats right. Its all over, the car is gone, and its never coming back.

This will conclude this build.

Dont worry though, I already have something better in the works.

The last picture I have of her. On somebody else' trailer. My new project in the backround.

The time has come, the walrus said, for everything to change.

It has been a long time since my last update. A lot has changed, but everything is about to be turned upside down. In my last update, an unfortunate radiator explosion put the car down. Within a week I had the car back up and running with a new copper core Koyo sports radiator, a 14" Derale race fan, a polished aluminum coolant overflow can, a new Greddy 1.3 bar rad cap, and blue Samco Silicone racing radiator hoses.

I was actually surprised, with the new cooling stuff, the car actually warms up faster, but holds temp better than before.


As you can see, while the car was down, I also took the time to color match the intercooler piping. It didnt turn out perfect, but it does add a little more color to my underhood.

Two full months pass. For a long time I have been happy with the abilities of this car, and that still holds true, but its time for something different.

As of Sept 8th 2009, my S14 was for Sale. 240SX For Sale

With the car listed on a handful of sites, I got lots of interest, but nothing solid. With the economy the way it is, many people are hard up for money.

Now you may ask, why sell something you've had for so long? Well, for years I've been obsessed with Rally. I've serviced many times, I've marshaled, and I've even spectated a few times. Ive always had dreams of building a rallycar,but never had the resources to do so. By selling my S14 I could have easily funded a decent budget race car. Things dont always go as planned though. Time for plan B.

In reality, if I could choose any car to build a race car, it would be a 240SX. Some people might say RWD i no good for rally, but to me, RWD is the only choice.

Why not build my current car you ask? Well, almost none of the parts I have will cross over. I figured a total reboot would be less work. But the stars did not align.

My S14 has a plethora of expensive, and popular parts on it. I have made to hard decision to part the car out. Everything I cannot use will go. All the money from selling parts will go into the build fund. As soon as my S13 is ready to start driving, the tear down will begin.

I hope to be updating this thread much more frequently from now on.

210K mile OE S14 radiator + 1.3bar cap for 3 years = BAD JU JU

This is why you should never put a high pressure cap on a stock plastic tanked radiator. Especially one with 210,000 miles on it. Ive been meaning to upgrade radiators, now I guess I have to. Im also going to get some hoses, as I will be switching to a radiator with the upper water outlet on the proper side for the SR20. No more hose across the engine bay for me.

A little competition, sort of.

I picked up a new project.

Say hello to my 1983 Chevy C10 Scottsdale.

I had to drive to Negaunee Michigan to get her, but the S14 need to stretch her legs anyway.

The rain gave my car a temporary clear coat (I wish I had money for paint) Also, check out the new amber tinted parking lights and turn signals. I got some translucent orange paint for them. I really like the way it looks.





Sorry to anyone who liked the teeth. I cut them off when I tinted the lights.



Lake Superior, looking beautiful as always.



She needs a lot of work, but this truck should make a decent parts runner someday.

You given me lip boy?

Well, my new (to me) zenki front lip showed up today.

This thing was rapped to survive the end of the world. Apparently it had an interesting smell, as Nismo (my cat) was infatuated with the packaging.

Out with the old, in with the new CD deck.

After years of dealing with a cheapo off brand CD deck. I decided it was time to freshen things up in the stereo department. I just so happen to work with a guy who also works for Mach 1 Car Audio and Security, he said he would hook me up. After work, I swung down to the Little Canada location. I spent nearly an hour chatting it up with the sales guy on duty. He really knew his sound stuff, and he helped me pick out a deck to make me happy, without pushing me into something uber expensive.

I ended up going with a Clarion CZ209. I also got an antenna kit, so my FM radio will finnally work YAY.

Im glad I went with the clarion unit, because the car already has a Clarion factory 6 speaker system in it. Its nice to keep things in the family.

The one downfall of the factory audio system is the wiring. Back when I originally wired the aftermarket deck, there were no adapters available for the Clarion equipped cars, so I had to hard wire. To install the new unit, I spent more than 2 hours, soldering and heat shrinking to get the wiring bullet proof.

The new deck really fits better with the flow of the interior too. Seeing the pictures reminds me of how badly I need new floor mats.







I guess the age of this car is starting to show. After nearly 15 years, the trim around the radio had become incredibly brittle. It had a crack when I started, but just trying to remove the DIN, I broke it in a few more pieces, good thing Im good with glue.

Someone call Buffy.......

......My car has been bitten by a vampire.


On a mini road trip to St Cloud, a semi kicked up a rock, and shattered one of my fog lights. After removing the old lights, I decided it was time for a new bumper skin, but in the mean time, there was fun to be had. Hilarity ensued.

On the road again

It feels so good to have the S14 back in driveable condition.

With all the new suspension parts installed the car feels better than it ever has. Its like a whole new car. The suspension feels so precise.

There were a few hiccups along the way. The ebrake cables keep coming loose and dragging on the yolk for the drive shaft. I will have to find a better way to affix them.

Having the battery mounted in the trunk is working out great, and having a working alternator is a relief.

Ive decided to spend a little much needed attention on my interior. I have thoroughly neglected it over the last few years, and besides being very dirty, there are some very unsightly imperfections. The shift boot, which was made from raw carbon fiber has become torn and shaggy. I took some time to make a new one from some vinyl I bought at Hancock Fabrics for $3. I also plan to make a matching parking brake boot. I also decided to replace the shift nob with a nicer piece. The current nob was a cheapo fake carbon fiber B&M unit that I acquired free from a friend. I will be upgrading to a nice black HKS ball knob I picked up from FR Sport. With that covered, I plan to replace to cheapo CD deck, with something nicer that incorporates an aux output. I would also like to redo my gauges, possibly with Defi, some time in the near future.

While browsing FR Sport, I decided now was as good a time as any to upgrade my oil pickup tube, to the larger, and stronger S14 unit. Hopefully this takes car of my random oil pressure problems.

Putting humpty dumpty back together again.

Its been a while since my last update.

I moved into my new home earlier in march, and sadly that put the project on hold a little. I have gotten back to work this week though.

The subframe is fully reassembled with all its new parts. I also took some time to polish the aluminium rear differential cover. Now I have some bling to go along with all my paint. The whole assembly is resting on the floor underneath the car, and should hopefully be installed tomorrow. All that will be left will be the front control arm bushings, and sway bar links. With everything back together I can limp the car to work for a much needed alignment.

I also picked up a new alternator to replace the sketchy one that was in the car. During the last weeks of fall it had taken to failing to charge on cold starts. I had to keep an eye on the volt gauge so as not to drain the battery. After getting the alternator installed I attempted to prime the oil pump, but was met with a flat dead battery.

After a day on the charger I gave it another shot. I had no better results the second time around. A little investigating told me I have a bad cell. I know last fall was hard on the battery, but I was hoping she had a little more left in her. The winter was the straw that broke the camels back apparently. I have a Optima RedTop battery on order, but my local interstate guy only comes around every 2 weeks, so I wont see him again until at least a week from today.

Sub frame transformation

With the sub frame bare, I took the time to prime and pain it. I chose red for color, its undernieth the car, and a little color seemed like a fun idea.

Clean and ready for primer.



Primed



Pretty and red




I also tore apart the knuckles. I will be replacing all the bushings with polyurethane pieces from Energy Suspension.

While I was at it, I popped the differential cover off and tossed it in my trunk. I will take it to work to run it through the parts washer. Once all the gook is off of it, I will polish it to a nice shine.