Hibernation

As of today the S14 is in storage. Stabil in the gas tank and cut up bars of Irish spring in the interior.

Im now driving my S13 daily.

Attempted murder

I attempted to drown the 240SX today. Unknown by me, a small lake had formed at the bottom of the bottom of an exit on my way home from work this evening. I hit it at about 50 mph, and my speed instantly dropped to 20 mph. The passenger carpet is rather wet, as is the carpet under my seat. The water was between 10 and 20 inches deep, a large amount came over the hood and through the hood vent. There were 2 stranded cars about 20 yards past the puddle. There doesn't seem to be any damage to the front of the car, although the splash shield is hanging lower than before, I guess Ill consider myself lucky.

The engine sputtered pretty hard for a mile or two. When I got home the air filter was damp, and Im guessing the MAFS got wet. Tomorrow I will have to clean the MAFS and air filter, they need it anyway, and I will inspect for further damage.

New ball joint

While inspecting the car during my last oil change I discovered my right front lower ball joint is loose.

This is something I'm not very surprised by as I replaced the left side 2 years ago, and the right one was still OE. I will do my best to pick a new one up today, that way I can install it tomorrow.

Preparing to play in the dirt.

I want to play in the dirt, RWD style. So Im going to take the car rally Xing.

There are some things I need to get fixed for the car to pass tech, here is a quick list.

Battery hold down, I have one, I just need to reinstall it.

Mud flaps, I dont think I need them to pass tech, but my paint wont like me if I dont get some.

Tires, I can run the snow tires if it comes down to it, but I will be keeping a lookout for some decent 15" all season tires to put on my other wheels.

Harness bar, I passed autocross tech with it once, but I dont want to push it, I need to find out the rules.

Boost, Ide like to turn it down, I spin the tires enough.

Ride height, I want to go as high as I can, if I cant get enough height out of the Megan's, I may make some spacers for the KYBs, and just run those.

Skit plate, my factory plastic splash shield is mostly gone anyway, so I need a metal one, Im not looking for anything that I can slide over boulders with, just something to keep gravel out of the engine bay. Anyone have any large road signs laying around?

I should also check the brakes, my front pads are about due, Id like to change them before they begin grinding. Id like to upgrade to Q45 brakes, but I cant afford it right now, so pad slap it is.

Id like to change my hood vent, I want to make it bigger. I would like to cut a hole about the size of a stock EVO vent, then Id like to build a box to act as a reverse scoop/rain guard.

Oil light scare.

Something very unnerving happened on my way home from work yesterday. As I was entering onto 169 I noticed one of my idiot lights flicker on for just a second, I just caught it out of the corner of my eye. A few seconds later it clicked back on. I don't know how many of you can understand the feeling, but having your oil light come on a 70 mph demands a quick reaction. Clutch in, key off, hazards on, both eyes on the oil pressure gauge, all in less than a second. As I coast up an exit my mind is racing, then it hits me. I don't have an oil pressure sensor, how can I have an oil light, the gauge was reading normal pressure, I wasn't having oil problems, I was having wiring problems.

Lets just say the ride home with the oil light flickering was a very uncomfortable trip. Once home it took me all of a minute to find the wire, and move it away from the frame rail.

Coilovers

I finally saved up the funds to replace the yucky suspension on the S14. I picked up a set of brand new Megan Racing street coilovers.

I installed them without a hitch.

I actually spent more time tweaking the ride height and alignment then I did installing.

I currently have the car pretty low, and I played around with the adjustable dampening a little.

On full stiff, I might as well not have suspension, its like riding on blocks of wood. On full soft its really nice, there is more noise over bumps than the previous setup, due to solid upper mounts, but the ride quality is greatly improved, it takes small and medium bumps in stride, and even moderate undulations dont upset the balance. I have yet to truely push it around corners, any time I turn in hard it rubs on the front splash guards. I did notice that bump steer is significantly worse with the car this low.

Not so winter storeage

The 240SX is now back in storage. I had known since spring that the KYB AGXs I had on the car were leaking. The struts have deteriorated exponentially over the last week. I fear any more time spent on them will do irreparable damage to things like the tires and front end parts like bushings and ball joints.

Fixed exhaust

For the last few months I had been dealing with a persistant exhaust leak between my catalytic converter and down pipe. I also had a sneaking suspicion that my cat had long since burned up.

I picked up a high flow converter, and a flew section and had them welded in by a buddy who works for Midas.

The car is much quieter, and doesn't whisper and hiss at idle like it did before.

Dyno Day

The time has finally come. After so many years with this car, the one think I have never done is put her on a dyno.

She put down 251.4 rear wheel horse power, and 250 ft lbs of torque. Im very impressed with these numbers as Im still running a stock T25 turbocharger, and factory 370 cc injectors.

The Dyno was a DynoDynamics Dynamometer at DB performance in Maple Grove MN.

I had my HKS wastegate actuator set to 13 psi.

Pillowball tension rods.

With the subframe brace to be delivered shortly, I decided some new tension rods were in order. The factory tension rods have large rubber bushings, which, at this point, have seen better days.

I chose Megan Racings adjustable pillowball tension rods for their affordability. This will allow me some much needed caster adjustment.

Oil change misfortune.

With the S14 sitting in storage waiting for the new tension rod setup, I decided it was a good idea to change the oil.

While attemting to remove my oil filter, my hulk like strength snapped the threaded lug right off the oil filter assembly. After a quick search on NicoClub.com I found a used replacement housing.

Custom tension rod brace.

I just got word from a fabricator I have been in contact with about a brace for my tension rod brackets. He has finally gotten a few prototypes built, and he is sending me one at a ridiculously reduced price.

The tension arms bolt to the front lower control arms, and go forward to to brackets on the front engine cross member, they limit the movement of the lower control arms during braking and hard steering inputs. The brackets themselves are rather flimsy and allow a lot of movement under stress. Until now the only way to combat this movement was to purchase an upgraded brace from Nismo, to the tune of $250. From all the reviews Ive read, the power brace is the most noticeable chassis upgrade you can make besides a full roll cage. I pondered buying one for a long time, but could never justify the cost.

Through the wonders of the internet I came in contact with a guy named Jonnie Fraz, he was interested in designing a tension rod brace for the S13/S14. I exchanged many emails with him, and I and a few other forum members have been chatting with him for the last few months. He finished the S13 brace first, and has been selling them for almost a month now, everyone who has reviewed them says they are unbelievable. It took a little longer to design the S14 brace because it is slightly different and requires a little more work to install. The difference between his unit and the Nismo are interesting, instead of replacing the whole bracket, it just braces it, this means, all the stiffness, half the cost. Im very excited to get mine and get it installed.

The Jonnie Fraz brace uses a cross bar with extra support struts. It also uses slugs that go between the original brackets, so instead of bolting the brace to one piece of flimsy sheet metal, it bolts through both sides, locking everything together. It comes with all necessary hardware. My cost plus shipping $80.

New wheels

Tired of staring at the ugly motegi's on my S14, I decided to upgrade.

For a darn decent price I picked up a brand new set of Rota Grid Offroads. They are sized 16"x8" with an offset of +10. They should fit perfectly flush with my stock fenders.

Many say that 16"s are too small for the S14 chassis, but I disagree. I think, done right, 16"s can look great. I chose to stick with a 16 because of all the driving I do. I would hate to spend every moment behind the wheel terrified of potholes.

The fitment on the car is fantastic, and it really changes the look of the car. To wrap these new wheels I ordered a set of Falcon Azenis Sport RT-615s. They should be nice and sticky, while still retaining a little streetability.

Knock sensor problems

Only a few weeks after installing my wideband, I noticed my car had lost a great deal of power. A quick scan of the ECU showed me that the knock sensor was throwing a code.

I hope to have a new knock sensor installed in time for her first ride on a dyno come April.

AEM wideband install.

To ready myself for future tuning, as well as give me an idea of how my engine is running. I installed a AEM gauge type wideband UEGO controller. Its nice to know my A/F ratios at any time. It will help me should anything go wrong, a shift in the AFRs will be a good early warning.