First Car, Black 93 Hatch

[laxands13]

Well i bought my first car today, a 1993 240sx. My name is Doug, and i'm 15. This is my first car, and no one in my family really has much experience working on cars. So hopefully this car will be a learning tool for both my dad and I. If you feel like reading, then here ya go. If you don't, the few pictures I have and the other stuff is farther down.

I've been looking pretty hard for a clean s13 in my area for the past month or so, without much luck. All the ones i looked at were overpriced and beat on. I found this one on 240Atlanta, and it looked reasonably clean. A week later it was still for sale, and i convinced my dad to take me to see it. Everything seemed pretty good, car was clean, seller was a kid who had bought the car when he was 14 (18 now) and got a new car for college. Anyway, my mom doesn't let me buy it because she likes to have a guy she knows to come look over the car first. The guy builds race cars by the way.. Anyway, i put down some money on it. That was last Monday. The seller held it for us this long until all our schedules worked out. Its actually a really good thing my mom's friend came out, because like i said i'm not really sure what to look for, other than the main stuff i hear about on here. So today we all get to the sellers house, he tries to start the car and the battery is dead. Great. We pull out the jumper cables and start it up. ........ Then the rattle starts. The timing chain guides were rattling, and it was pretty obvious. At this point my mom freaks out, the mechanic calls a friend who quotes 600-1400 to replace the guides. I know thats pretty ridiculous, but it worked in my favor. The seller tried to argue that it was fine though haha. A few other minor things, o2 sensor unbolted, intake rubbed. After some negotiation the guy came down $1000 from his asking price. I got a deal I think.

To the good stuff!
Car:
Black 93 hatchback

Suspension:
Megan Coilovers
Megan Strut Bars
Megan Lower Control arms

Has 300zx brakes up front, redrilled to 4 lug.

Interior:
Black
Crackless dash
Oil Temperature gauge
Oil Pressure gauge
Nice pioneer headunit
Newish black carpet
Sparco shift knob and boot.
Probably will get flamed for this, but two 10" subs with an amp, all Rockford Fosgate

Engine:
Cold air intake
Otherwise stock, with 151k.

other stuff:
Kazera wheels i can't decide if look good. they are super narrow, running 205's all around.
Viper alarm system.


Pics (3):





Plans:
Get alignment
Get timing chain guide gone
Other maintenance
Better Seats
Kouki tails
5 lug
Save for engine/front clip
Body stuff

Got a bunch of random stuff to fix that we noticed on the way home.
Is there a way to tighten the cables to the hatch and gas cap?
I dont think the antenna goes down.
needs aligned
Driver side sits higher than passenger side.

Thats all i can think of, all comments and advice are welcome haha, go ahead and flame too.
How much did I pay?

[nifares240]

nice car. there are two guides that you can remove: top and lower side. you should have checked for rust first.

[Seanzyyy]

looks great!

[laxands13]

@ nifares: I checked for rust, the only place with rust is the battery tray. And quick question, To get the lower guide off how much do you have to take off the front of the engine? Clutch fan and radiator and all that? forgot to list that the blue is coming out pretty soon too

[nifares240]

@ nifares: I checked for rust, the only place with rust is the battery tray. And quick question, To get the lower guide off how much do you have to take off the front of the engine? Clutch fan and radiator and all that? forgot to list that the blue is coming out pretty soon too

there may be more rust than the eye can see. have you checked the frame rails? if that car was garaged all the time, higher chance that the car will have minimal to no rust. if the car wasn't driven on snow or rain by previous owners, undercarriage will still be strong and clean with very little rust.

the top guide is pretty easy to acess. just pop the valve cover off and you'll see it bolted with, I believe, 10 or 12 mm bolts. It's a square plastic/metallic piece.

the side one is a bit more work. just make sure you mark the position of the distributor rotor. the dizzy only goes in one way but make sure to is the same position before pulling it out. take off the front plate and you'll see the side guide. you'll have to remove the hydro tensioner and inspect it and clean it. now would be the right time to replace that tensioner if possible.

i'm just typing this from the bat of my head.

there are write ups for this. just search.

[HerePiggyPiggy]

suspension should be before 5 lug.

[laxands13]

Yeah frame rails are clean too. Piggy, enough is done right now to satisfy me, so 5 lug will probably come before new suspension stuff.

[Steady_One_S13]

Super clean! Looks Good!

[laxands13]

Hey quick question, where do you guys buy jacks/ Jack stands? The only local options are home depot brand and advance auto brand, and they both have mixed reviews. Thanks!

[Steady_One_S13]

harbor freight or your local swap meet / flea market. Or if you have the funds... sears.

[breadbox]

Every year my mom's church has a yard sale and I find like two or three stands a year and snag them for like a $1. They are like $15 a pair new though. I'd recommend if you are willing to invest in car stuff. To get one of those sets that have the low profile jack with two cars stands with it. Those jacks are priceless. ( need to buy one, but my friend is letting me use his)
jack like this but not stands like that.

[breadbox]

OH and go to harbor freight.

[DanThaMan]

OP go harbor freight on the jack stands. On the Jack, I have had bad experiences with sears jacks and they seem to go bad right after their warranty is up. I bought a 3.5 ton acdelco jack from my work a while back and love it, I have no problems with it at all, its got a nice big pad on it so it doesnt destroy the frame rails and you can jack up a 240 with your pinky, also its fairly low profile as well. Only problem with it is the price tag my cost was $170 and i think customer price 200 or somthing.

[badbob2121]

nice looking hatch, i got to harbor freight for everything... had no issues.


and btw, how much did you actually pay for it?????

[laxands13]

Alright thanks, Harbor freight it is. I'll order when I get home, i'm in Baltimore this weekend for a lax tournament. Badbob, he was asking $4000, but because of the timing guide rattle we worked him down $1000 haha. I think we did some pretty good negotiating.

[laxands13]

So I paid $3000

[breadbox]

Timing chain rattle is no good, make sure you look into that. My whole Timing chain replacement was like $800 in OEM parts, new water pump, etc. But Started up like a new car when it was all said and done.

Seems you are headed in a good direction so far. Have fun with it.

[laxands13]

Alright good to know. So I'm looking at courtesy parts, and I would need both guides, probably a new chain, new tensioner and what else to make sure that's all good?

[nifares240]

forget the guides. they will eventually start to rub up again. get the tensioner.

[NICONick]

@ nifares: I checked for rust, the only place with rust is the battery tray. And quick question, To get the lower guide off how much do you have to take off the front of the engine? Clutch fan and radiator and all that? forgot to list that the blue is coming out pretty soon too

there may be more rust than the eye can see. have you checked the frame rails? if that car was garaged all the time, higher chance that the car will have minimal to no rust. if the car wasn't driven on snow or rain by previous owners, undercarriage will still be strong and clean with very little rust.

the top guide is pretty easy to acess. just pop the valve cover off and you'll see it bolted with, I believe, 10 or 12 mm bolts. It's a square plastic/metallic piece.

the side one is a bit more work. just make sure you mark the position of the distributor rotor. the dizzy only goes in one way but make sure to is the same position before pulling it out. take off the front plate and you'll see the side guide. you'll have to remove the hydro tensioner and inspect it and clean it. now would be the right time to replace that tensioner if possible.

i'm just typing this from the bat of my head.

there are write ups for this. just search.

What all goes in to replacing and removing the hydro tensioner... think mine is going... or too dirty to keep proper tension....

[TimTurboZ]

[/quote]What all goes in to replacing and removing the hydro tensioner... think mine is going... or too dirty to keep proper tension....[/quote]

Take off valve cover, take the front plate off. Like 2 10/12mm bolts hold it on...bolt in replacement and put back on what you took off like an hour job if you work at a medium pace.

[NICONick]

Take off valve cover, take the front plate off. Like 2 10/12mm bolts hold it on...bolt in replacement and put back on what you took off like an hour job if you work at a medium pace.

Dont have to take off distributor? It's literally just that...? For the hydro tensioner?

**Sorry for thread jack, this may help OP if he wants to replace it tho**

[numbnuts240]

to access teh tensioner and the upper guide (not the top guide between the cams) you have to pull the upper timing cover. to pull that off, you have to pull the distributor. try freeing up the tensioner with wd-40, it worked for me.

[NICONick]

to access teh tensioner and the upper guide (not the top guide between the cams) you have to pull the upper timing cover. to pull that off, you have to pull the distributor. try freeing up the tensioner with wd-40, it worked for me.

This is the hydraulic tensioner correct?

EDIT* Where can I get one and whats the proper name for it?

[numbnuts240]

http://www.courtesyparts.com/13070n-ten ... 84292.html

[laxands13]

No worries about the thread jack man. its useful stuff. i'll have an "update" in little bit, i get the garage tonight to clean up the interior and stuff..

[laxands13]

Well i dont have any pictures, i should be able to get some tomorrow. not that much new though. cleaned out 17 years of crap from the gas tank cap thing, cleaned stuff out from the hatch area, took the stickers off except the Viper alarm one. tomorrow will check to see if i have a spare tire and jack and stuff under the sub.

Oh, and the PO said the car was corner weighted, and the drivers side sits higher than the passenger side by like a full finger of heighth. is that what corner weighting does, or do i need to adjust my coils? Ordered a jack and stands from Harbor freight today.

Story time! Got back to my hotel outside of Baltimore Saturday at like 1, and its right across from Cal Ripken Stadium. anyway, pull into the hotel parking lot and see a group of cars in the parking lot across the street. Walked around for a few minutes, and there was a zenki with an SR. the owner wasnt there, it was just her kid so we didnt talk too much ha. Reasonably clean though. I don't like the two tone, or the wheel fitment, or the front bumper haha but it was too random to not take pictures



there weren't many cars there, but there were 2 Lamborghinis, ill see about getting the pictures up tomorrow after drivers ed.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

Nice pickup dude. Seems to be pretty clean.

I would definitely get rid of those wheels. That is unless you want to spacer the hell out of them. I'm sure you could get a decent price for them, some Honda dude will probably snag those up.

Also, get that blue interior stuff outta there! Lol, is it just spray on? Looks like it's rubbing off at the glovebox area. About the steering wheel, do you know what it came off of? It's definitely not factory. Maybe a altima/maxima or something.

Other than that, it's REALLY clean compared to most. As you said most are beat to hell. As far as your mod list though, I would save the cash by not doing the kouki tails and 5 lug. You're good to go already if there's Z brakes on there. Wheel selection won't be as big, but there's a good selection of good looking/fitting 4 luggers out there. Kouki tails are just a waste unless you get them for a steal.

Overall, looks good fellow youngin. You're making me miss mine already (I just sold it).

[NICONick]

to access teh tensioner and the upper guide (not the top guide between the cams) you have to pull the upper timing cover. to pull that off, you have to pull the distributor. try freeing up the tensioner with wd-40, it worked for me.

This is the hydraulic tensioner correct?

EDIT* Where can I get one and whats the proper name for it?

Just to clarify, that is all u have to do to replace the hydraulic tensioner?

[laxands13]

Thanks for the advice AZ. When i get a chance i will take a picture of the non flushness of the wheels. Yep, the blue is spray dye. I will hopefully change it to black suede when i get a chance, and i want a tomei duracon shift knob too. The steering wheel is from an altima apparently, they fooled the kid''s mom to think it had airbags haha