[Nick_240sx]

My Story: I had a KA 240sx a long time ago. I sold it for $1000 bux to my friend. He crashed it and cut it in half. I had an RX-7 TII for quite a few years and rebuilt the engine, installed a hyrbrid turbo and tuned it myself. I ended up selling it for $3300.

A couple months ago I get a call from my sister looking to sell her boyfriends crashed 240sx with a sr20det for $500. I bought it. I had to trailer it to my house and started ripping off the good bits. Pulled the SR20DET, Transmission, Driveline, Differential, ECU and wire harness. I still need to salvage the K-sport coil overs, the axles, the door cards with manual windows, the rear corner windows, the hatch, then the car is heading to the scrap yard.

I'm located in Beaverton, Oregon and will be looking for a suitable donor(shell) to build. I'm not sure on an ECU but I've read good things about Nistune. I've started reading the 240sx for newbs thread and the bible, but can't see pictures and stuff till I hit 10 posts which is why I'm posting here.

I'm no longer a poor college student and I want to build a clean, reliable 300whp 240sx (S13 or S14) and hopefully have it done by next summer. It has the puny t25 turbo which will be replaced by something like a gt28rs.

Just for conversation, are there any issues with the engine I should consider? Would this redtop be OK in a s14? Do these things hold oil in the pan during heavy cornering or should a baffle be considered? New timing chain? Water pump? Main Seals? Suitable clutch?

I have a lot of reading to do.

Once I find a donor car, I might start a build thread or something.

Looking forward to being part of the community!

 

[Shakurlucas]

If you plan on running it hard or racing it there are 2 thing that you might want to do, get rocker arm stoppers and a drift oil pan. Also if your trying to get 300hp you might want to look into an intercooler, radiator, and a bigger fuel pump.

 

[Nick_240sx]

Found a clean shell. Going to pick it up tonight!! I'm super excited. It's like the stars have aligned and everything is coming together.

Yep, got to get everything cleaned up and plan on getting my swap running first, then work on upgrading. Just need an oil pan (will just go with larger one) and possibly a pickup tube, maf, and a turbo compressor outlet pipe. (edit, well, I'll see what I'm looking at for cost of parts and simplicity of install/tuning and determine if I want to add some good bits from the start.)

Good tip on the rocker arm stoppers, I'll look into it!

I'll post pictures tomorrow.

 

[w0nderbr3ad]

Welcome. Nice to see someone else from the PNW. TIps? just do all the maintenance stuff you want to do before engine is in the car. This includes any fuel/steering rack mods prior to putting the motor back in. You'll have easy access to those areas.

 

[Nick_240sx]

Here's what my wife refers to as a pile of junk. I probably won't really get started until after the Holidays. I don't really know whats on the shell, I swooped it up for $1500, has enkies some form of coil overs (look like ksports), FMIC, 95% interior, kouki tails (ones cracked), little to no rust, and only a few little dings and dents. It's just dirty from sitting for a while. Considering getting a full type x body kit and painting it a pearl white. It's on like Donkey Kong!

 

[Shaker.Est.84]

Nice Deal. That Shell looks like it`ll clean up really nice. Check out your Clutch/Flywheel while the Motor/Transmission is out.

 

[Nick_240sx]

Thanks! My old RX7 had a horrible white paint job, maaco or something, and this is a original Ivory White, so hopefully I can pull the little dents out, buff and polish it to a shine. If I need to respray some parts, I think I can get a good match.

Good call, I will look into the clutch/throw out bearing. I need to check out the engine as well, front/rear mains, timing chain, top end.

Cleaned up the stuff left behind from the previous owner a little bit. It has Stance Coil overs (any good?), a bent front tension rod bracket, a no name FMIC. The seat fabric is different than my old 240, seems more modern. I'm going to try to replace some of the foam in the front seat bolsters. There's some little places with rust (mostly little interior brackets) that I'll try to clean up and paint. I've got 2 cracked shifter/radio surrounds.

Rear Seats (sorry about the blur)

Front interior

I've got a growing parts list. Probably start ordering stuff soon.

 

[Nick_240sx]

A few parts have been ordered, Tomei rocker arm stoppers, KA24e MAF, Turbo Compressor outlet, ISR Oil pan, Spark plugs, Redline Gear oil, left kouki tail light. I put the engine harness on last night only to realize none of the plugs snap in very well. New harness is $360, maybe I'll try to find a better used one, or bite the bullet.

Before I can drive it I need accessory belts (ps and alt), battery, downpipe, exhaust, e-fan (off a used car and wire it up with a controller). It has a bent TC rod bracket and I accidentally bent the 'fuel sub tube' so I'll need to those also. I'm sure there'll be a few more things once I dig in a little more.

Anything I'm forgetting? Or I should be considering. I have a 3" hiflow cat, anyone know if it will pass emission in Oregon with just a cat?

A couple other projects I'm currently working on are fixing up my Topkart gokarts and getting a little more power out of my Silverado 2500HD 6.0L, and other random house shit, so I can't dedicate 100% of my time to this whore, but I'll continue to make good progress.

My current thought is to get it cleaned up and running good and registered this spring, drive it and tinker with it during the summer, then pull it back apart next fall/winter for a full build. This could change if I'm disappointed by the performance and satisfied by the overall condition of it. I hate stock piling parts and I'll be more inclined to drop some dough and make this bitch perform if I have been able to drive it.

I'll just keep updating this thread as I go and post pictures and videos.

Mods feel free to move this thread to the S13 forum.

 

[Scoot]

Damn, nice score on the motor and shell.
Should come together nicely!

 

[Nick_240sx]

Thanks man!

I got some serious wiring to clean up. I think they just cut out the fusebox in the engine bay so I'm a little concerned about getting it all wired back up, but I do have the front part of the body harness back to the fuse box under the dash and I'm good with a soldering iron. ?

Got a quick wash. The paint on the rear part of the car seems more white and is pretty dull. I might try my hand at painting later in the summer/early fall.

I have next week off and will doing some more cleaning and prep work to get it ready for the engine install. I'll have all of the parts I need here soon to get it running and will post a startup video.

*wishlist* GT2871r, 740cc inj, nistune, walbro, fpr, z32 maf, Act street/strip clutch, PLX wideband.
I'm not sure on, cams (mild), brakes, suspension/bushings (stance coilovers on it now), body/aero, wheels/tires, differential.

Edit: serious question. What timing are you running at max torque? The rotary rule of thumb was 15degrees at 15psi with 15split. I'll probably get the nistune and dial in the stock turbo then go bigger.

 

[Scoot]

Nothing Rotary applies to this.
May I suggest a Nismotronic Unit instead? Its a Standalone feature type setup for the Stock ECU. Like a Hondata if you will. Also May I suggest the next AEM X-Series Wideband. Very compact and very quick with the response and wider range.

 

[Nick_240sx]

Thank you for mentioning nismotronic. The price is very comparable to nistune but it sounds like it offers a lot more functionality. I'm definitely considering it now.

The thing I like about the plx is that it offers narrowband simulated output which I don't think the AEM has, but again the AEM is about the same price. I'm not sure a nb 02 will even be needed with the nismotronic. I have more reading to do..

I've been reading and trying to find timing values and it sounds like even less timing is used around peak torque. ~10 degrees.

Haven't got much done on the car or engine lately, but got the parts to get it running minus the exhaust and probably a few things that I don't know I need yet. Going to clean up/degrease the engine bay and the engine this weekend.

 

[Scoot]

AEM and Innovate have offered narrowband output for quite some time now.
Also going to a Nistune or Nismotronic would need absolutely no Narrowband input as it can use the Wideband for closed loop fuel control should you choose to do so.

I only mention the AEM X-Series because it is the latest and great OTS Wideband available on the market right now.
It's accurate, it's fast, it's compact, it's a great item for the price.
The only other wideband I would consider is a AFR500v2.

I haven't looked into SR Tuning much but that sounds about right, but I wouldn't mess too much with timing without a dyno or very high quality knock detection system like a Plex or Gizzmo.

 

[Nick_240sx]

Unfortunately, over the holidays my entire family got a nasty cold/mild flu so little progress has been made, but I'm digging back in. Changed out the plugs and cleaned the engine a little more last night. I remembered I got this scope camera, so I decided to try and take a peek at the pistons. A little carbon, but looked ok to me.

Definitely considering the nismotronic and AEM X wideband you suggested. Will do some research for knock detection options.

Lot's more to do..

 

[RatchLyfeLLC]

looks good man

 

[Nick_240sx]

Thanks! I was able to clean up the engine bay a little over the weekend, a greasy mess, still needs more scrubbing. The previous owner just cut out the harness and engine fuse box so I need to change it out with the one I pulled out of the donor car. PITA, but I'll have a fairly clean and tidy harness once I get it in there.

It's going a little slower than I hoped. The next few weekends are mostly open and I want to put the engine in for my birthday on Feb. 2. Not really sure if that'll happen or not but that's what I'm shooting for. I'm going to be brewing beer and deep frying buffalo wings as well.

 

[redc]

Are you relocating the battery if so what are you going to get? I had a huge box I got rid of and want to go with something more compact.

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Nick_240sx]

I'm considering a Odyssey Battery near the stock location, just need to be sure it will fit.

I want to clean up the huge holes the previous owner put in there for the IC piping. I have a little welder and might get some sheet metal and see if I can make something work, probably not this year though. I need to clean up/degrease some of the areas with flaking paint and try to get some primer/rustoleum down for the time being.

I think the only major thing I need to get it running is exhaust or just a downpipe and cat.

 

[w0nderbr3ad]

We got scattered rain in the next few weeks. I hope you'll accomplish what you want by your birthday. Exhausts and downpipes shouldn't be that hard to find in the pdx area.

 

[Nick_240sx]

Pulled the dash and cut up harness out over the weekend. Got the good one stuffed in and the dash back on. I only managed to crack one of the windshield defrost vents pulling them out, but broke the shit out of them when I tried to put them back in. That's pretty much when I stopped cause I was pissed.

I need to clean up the engine bay a little more and get some paint on the rusty areas before getting the harness all strapped into place and dropping the engine in. Not sure if the weather is going to cooperate..

Got some fans/aluminum shroud off amazon. Fits the rad almost perfectly.