Here are the aforementioned pictures. I have a lot of them, so beware!

stock KAsian Powuh!

Stripped interior:

Stripped engine bay

Front clip from Venus:

"Houston, we have liftoff!"

My parents’ boosted forklift:

 

Having some fun with the stock clutch fan:

Engine waiting to go in

Complete engine, except for the turbo extension

Sans water pump, TB, water inlet, and thermostat

Celebratory engine humping

 

Beadblasted exhaust manifold

Beadblasted turbo extension

Valvecover fresh off the engine

Beadblasted valve cover

Notice a theme here? My only superpower (besides Spidey Sense) seems to be anal retentiveness, and I love to beadblast dirty chit!

 

Weird chit in the tranny after it was pulled

A pleasant surprise awaited us after pulling the tranny

"For the cost of a cup of coffee per day, you can give this Chinese boy the life he's always dreamed of..."

 

"Wait…some asshat stole my crank!”

Pistons and block. Do all used SR pistons have that black crap on the dome?

Closeup on cylinders 2 & 3. You can kinda see some buildup on the piston domes, and "scoring" on the cylinder walls (if you can call it that).

Shortblock without pistons and oil squirters.

Piston and rod.

Another piston picture. You can see the black buildup really well in this one.

Crank, pistons, rods, rod caps, bearings, and main caps.

Shortblock being hauled off to Barnett Performance and Development for boring

 

A subframe I had delivered by Robin of BP&D. Apparently his clips come with more goodies than mine did, and he had this left over. I mainly needed it because I finally came to the decision to ditch the HICAS subframe in place of a non-HICAS one. I am also using this as an opportunity to install some SPL pro aluminum subframe bushings. These completely replace the stock rubber pieces, and thus the rubber needs to be removed.

This is a 2" extension I bought from Advance Auto Parts a while back. Apparently it isn't too "impact-friendly!" :smirk:

RUCA's, toe arms, and "traction rods" off the RPS13 subframe I bought.

The same parts after beadblasting.

Here I am using a SawzAll to remove the metal sleeves that are part of the subframe bushings. The idea here is that it would make burning them out easier if the metal was gone and some of the rubber removed with it.

This is the metal sleeve after it was removed.

Here I am using an Oxy-Acetylene torch to burn the rubber out. Sssshhhh...don't tell the California Air Resources Board!

"Fiiiirrrrre! Fiiirrre! Fire! Hey Butthead: burning stuff is cool. Eh heh heh heh...cool."

After burning the majority of the bushing out, all that's left is some (relatively) brittle rubber. This is easily removed with a Brillo pad. Make sure to wear gloves, as this is some messy chit.

Cleaning with an air-powered buffing wheel. This made short work of getting the remainder of the rubber out and smoothing out the inner diameter.

 

thats awsome, great pics.

keep up the good work I wanna see some victory flags flying with your car under them for SRX

 

Well, I figured I should post some pictures of the subframe work I did, now that I’ve finally posted them (as a result of them being part of my on-going series of articles).

The old subframe bushing outer sleeve:

The sandblasted 180SX subframe:

Frozen SPL aluminum bushings:

One bushing installed by heating the subframe with an oxy-acetylene torch:

Installing the bushings using a vice:

All 8 bushing pieces installed in the subframe:

The complete subframe after being sprayed with some Eastwood Epoxy spray paint:

 

My teammate Rob holding the subframe up while I hammer it in place:

The subframe was being stubborn and wouldn’t go back on:

LOCTITE anti-sieze is a well known lubricant, but its properties as a panacea are unexplored to date:

After the subframe and diff were installed, the halfshafts were attached:

The fully-assembled rear suspension:

 

Man, it's about time someone uses their car for the track. :thumbsup I am going to, too.

I saw the pics you posted a few months ago. Is the motor installed??

 

Thats freaking sick.
I love the bead blasting.
Very good work.
I wanna see more!

 

Nice work thats the most progress i have ever seen in one thread. keep it up. tell us how it goes.

 

wish i had a beadblaster, a nice garage to work in, and the ability to powdercoat. everythign on my car would be clean.

 

Man, it's about time someone uses their car for the track. :thumbsup I am going to, too.

I saw the pics you posted a few months ago. Is the motor installed??

Where/what series are you going to race in? Or are you mainly going to do HPDE's and driving schools?

I got the shortblock back this past weekend, and sent the head off to be cleaned and reworked. I got my motor from Venus, and it was absolute garbage, because every time I take something apart, I realize how shitty it is and have to save up some money to have it fixed/replaced. So now the head will be gone for a couple of months while the shortblock sits patiently.

The upside is that all this downtime is giving me a chance to get the chassis in competition form. I have gutted the wiring, relocated the engien compartment harness to underneath the dash after I removed the headlights, cut out brackets here and there, and generally anything to get the weight down. I will post some teaser pix of this work soon I hope, but the majority of the pictures and content are on my website. So if you guys are genuinely interested, I would recommend checking it out.

Thats freaking sick.
I love the bead blasting.
Very good work.
I wanna see more!

Thanks...not having this as my daily driver has allowed me to make it into a dedicated track car, and has given me the time to be very detail-oriented (thus the sandblasting and powdercoating). The unfortunate thing is that my powdercoating hookup has changed jobs, and it's not longer free. :tears

Nice work thats the most progress i have ever seen in one thread. keep it up. tell us how it goes.

I have made smiliar posts on FA, SR20Forum, and CarolinaNissans, so it was simply a matter of copying and pasting. The progress posted here was over a period of 14 months, so it wasn't like it all happened overnight.

I realized the other day that I have not posted anything here, and thought it might be a good idea to share my learnings with other people. If ya'll get the chance, check out my website articles and let me know what you think.

 

Where/what series are you going to race in? Or are you mainly going to do HPDE's and driving schools?

I am doing DE and HPDE's right now. That's why I built up my Prelude. I like my Prelude too much so I don't want to destroy it on the track. That's why I picked up the 240.

I am not gutting it or anything. Just doing engine swap/upgrades, suspension, and brakes. That's it.

Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

I am doing DE and HPDE's right now. That's why I built up my Prelude. I like my Prelude too much so I don't want to destroy it on the track. That's why I picked up the 240.

That, and because it's RWD, right? :rotflmao

We chose the 240 because it's FR, middle-of-the-road weightwise, decent suspension (multilink rear, MacPherson front), and has tons of upgrades on the market.

I am not gutting it or anything. Just doing engine swap/upgrades, suspension, and brakes. That's it.

You can say "that's it" all you want, but we both know it never will be.

What swap are you doing, and why? And why aren't you taking any weight out? Do you have plans to anytime in the future? All other things being equal, a lighter car will be faster, more agile, and easier on the brakes and tires. But if you want to keep most of the creature comforts, I can understand.

-Andy

 

That, and because it's RWD, right? :rotflmao

We chose the 240 because it's FR, middle-of-the-road weightwise, decent suspension (multilink rear, MacPherson front), and has tons of upgrades on the market.


You can say "that's it" all you want, but we both know it never will be.

What swap are you doing, and why? And why aren't you taking any weight out? Do you have plans to anytime in the future? All other things being equal, a lighter car will be faster, more agile, and easier on the brakes and tires. But if you want to keep most of the creature comforts, I can understand.

-Andy

Actually, the ONLY reason why I don't want to use my Prelude as much on the track is because it is a car that I really like. I don't like beating it up. Didn't have to do with it being FWD either. It is a very capable car on the track. I had A LOT of fun with it this year.

After researching cars, I decided that the 240SX would make the BEST track car, mainly for the reasons you noted. It is a VERY inexpensive car that has TONS of modability and a VERY good balance for handling. Also, it's not a car that I am in love with. I won't have a problem running it hard on the track. I am not as concerned if it gets damaged either.

I am debating between the RB25DET and an SR20DET. I think I am going to get the SR because of the tons of parts available and because it is cheaper to mod. Plus, I can get an SR COMPLETE swap for les than $1500 from an importer near me. I can even pick it up myself. They sell LSD diffs too.

Yeah, it will be hard to stop modding it. However, I have 4 cars, and I spent a lot modding my Prelude. I think my finances will keep me from modding. :rotflmao

I am not taking any weight out because I don't want to tear the car apart for no reason. It is a dying breed and I would like to keep a track car that is still comfortable to drive to and from track events. I had all of the interior out of my Prelude when I did my H22 swap. I wanted to clean the interior to while I was at it. Driving the car around with no interior was a pain in the azz. I will never do that again. I will take out the pass. side seat when I get to the track, but it will go back in when I leave. I am not going to save much weight by gutting it so it's not worth the hassel.

It sux because there are hardly any people tracking their cars. It's hard to get good advice. Most of the 240 owners are like the Honda ricers that they make fun of. Too many people without any knowledge of how to mod a car wisely for the track. It's all about the hype and the bling aspect. Not my cup of tea. :12dunno

 

I am debating between the RB25DET and an SR20DET. I think I am going to get the SR because of the tons of parts available and because it is cheaper to mod. Plus, I can get an SR COMPLETE swap for les than $1500 from an importer near me. I can even pick it up myself. They sell LSD diffs too.

Is there something wrong with the KA you have currently? I ask because it is almost easier and less expensive to boost the KA as long as you plan to keep it below 8-10psi.

Are you sure this place sells quality stuff? Because I thought I was getting quality merchandise from Venus and I will end up paying more for the rebuild than I did for the clip plus shipping to NC from CA. Just make sure their stuff is good before you buy.

I am not taking any weight out because I don't want to tear the car apart for no reason. It is a dying breed and I would like to keep a track car that is still comfortable to drive to and from track events. I had all of the interior out of my Prelude when I did my H22 swap. I wanted to clean the interior to while I was at it. Driving the car around with no interior was a pain in the azz. I will never do that again. I will take out the pass. side seat when I get to the track, but it will go back in when I leave. I am not going to save much weight by gutting it so it's not worth the hassel.

By it being a “dying breed” are you saying that you don’t want to mess it up by gutting it?

And you can save a ton of weight if you put your mind to it and don’t care about creature comforts. As for comfortable driving to and from events, that’s a very subjective matter. My ITR was loud as hell in stock form, especially when I had the rear seats, panels, etc. out to find that damned water leak, and the noise did not bother me that much. It’s really only a PITA when I was trying to talk on my cellphone, but that was the only time. Then again, my 240 will be towed to and from events…

It sux because there are hardly any people tracking their cars. It's hard to get good advice. Most of the 240 owners are like the Honda ricers that they make fun of. Too many people without any knowledge of how to mod a car wisely for the track. It's all about the hype and the bling aspect. Not my cup of tea. :12dunno

Well, most people tracking them are on FA and SR20Forum, but I have not gotten a good idea about this board yet. And even on the two aforementioned forums, most people keep the cars as daily drivers, which doesn’t help me because I’m taking the track-preparedness to an entirely different level than they are. In most cases, I’m on my own, and only have other racers to depend on for non-chassis-specific information. I take what I gathered from them, try to apply it to my car, and hope for the best. If you have seen any track-only 240’s, please let me know because I’m always looking for some answer or another.

 

i like those custom struts you used to hold up the hatch :thumbsup looks like your really takin the time to do it right. good job and keep us posted with updates

 

i like those custom struts you used to hold up the hatch :thumbsup looks like your really takin the time to do it right. good job and keep us posted with updates

Yeah we got those from Japan. Cool, huh? Funny thing is that the struts didn't seem to be able to hold the hatch weight up when we first started. Now that the trim, rear wiper & motor, and wiring are all torn out, it holds just fine!

We would have sped things up a bit, but the motor rebuild has taken time and money, both of which are in short supply. So essentially we would do some work, order some parts, then do some other non-engine-related work while we built up more money to work on the engine. The good news is that by the time the engine is in and running, the chassis should be down to its lightest weight yet. It'll also be race ready minus the cage, safety equipment, etc.

 

Nice work!! I wish I had time to do something like you guys are.. Keep the pics commin as you progresss k!

Ive seen the same exact pictures somewhere before.. FA? NF? NICO?
except without the last few I think..

 

Ive seen the same exact pictures somewhere before..
FA?
NF?
NICO?

Yes.
Just recently, yes.
Not yet, but probably in the next week or so.

I figured since I had some good information to share, I might as well post it on a couple more boards. I primarily spend my time on FA and CarolinaNissans, but I've been on NF and here quite a bit recently.

Thanks for the feedback, and be sure to read my articles if you get the chance. I will make updates here as I get them posted on my website. It's a rather arduous process between working on the car, taking pictures, writing articles, creating the webpages, and uploading all of it, but I enjoy it and I'm hopeful that it'll serve as a reliable resource for some time to come.

I'll probably post my "S13 Weight Savings Guide" soon too.

 

Looks like you have a very nice project coming along there, reminds me a lot of my own. Maybe one day when both our cars are finished we can meet up at a track day or something, we're not that far away I guess. Good luck and keep us updated!

-Adam

 

Looks like its coming along good

 

Prelude guy why arent you gonna gut the interior. if you want to race it. if your serious about racing you would gut your car. And 2Fass240us dosn't venus say that all stuff comes as is and no exception will be made? thats personally why i am going with jarco. how much did you pay by the way for your front clip?