My S13 build thread + random malarkey

[Sushibandito]

Since its been coming up on nearly a year since I bought my 240 (back in April 09) I figured its high time I get something official going... Its as chronological as possible, but I skipped out on a lot of those Kodak moments along the way

1992 Hatchback with 95k original miles for $2,000. I am the 3rd owner, first owner put 85k miles between brand new and 2003, 2nd owner (who was 50 years old and disabled) somewhere around 2k per year for the next 5-6 years. Looked like poo when I got it, nice 1-foot dent in the passenger door, his cat had used both seats as a scratching post, 15 psi in all the tires, but totally rust free and obviously had never been owned by anyone who was into the mod scene.

The very first thing was replacing the crappy tires and stock 7-spokes, so I picked up a thrashed set of 17x7 Eagle wheels, rip-off of the ADR GT Sport design, all were curbed, some even around the entire edge, so Bondo and Dupli-color wheel paint and Ta-da! But definitely not wide enough



My Camry had a great custom sound system, which I can't do without, so first thing was to open up the doors and hatch panels and replace the crummy 4x6 speakers with some decent JBL 6.5" 3-ways.



S13 seats went away pretty quick, replaced with S14 seats and a mistaken choice of blue Sparcos, but those are now black



Finished interior shots, and the horrid gap on the rear seats has been fixed.



Hella H4 headlight upgrade, huge improvement.



Suspension and brakes-Q45 brakes in the front, and Tein tension rods.



Saved up enough for 5-lug parts, Attain for the fronts and OEM S14s for the rears, and then a set of Sportmax 962s17x7 +38 (5mm spacer) with a 215/45 17x9 +35 with a 245/45



Car after the wheels were put on and the hubs swapped, 4x4 status, but way better fitment than before



Last week it had KYB GR-2s and Tein S-Tech springs put on, 2" drop, and the passenger door was swapped out for a champagne colored dent-free spare I had picked up a while back. Also stripped the little black body stripe, although haven't finished the rear bumper yet. And now for current pictures, as of 3 hours ago...



I also bought this 1988 Jaguar XJ6 from my brother last week, he has spent the last few years fixing it up, its in pretty good shape, although definitely not daily driver worthy.



My list of finished projects...Interior:S14 manual seat belt conversionBlack Sparco TorinosReupholstered Door Cards & Glove BoxMatching Black Fabric for rear seatsNew Black CarpetNardi Classic Wheel with removable hub

Electronics:Alarm System with 2-way and keyless entryOptima Yellowtop BatteryAlpine Deck6.5" Speakers in all 4 corners with Zapco Amp12" JBL Sub with amp

Exterior:Hella H4 ConversionType-X wing (real)Type-X Tails with carbon overlay

Suspension:KYB StrutsTein S-Tech Springs (2" drop)Tein Tension Rods5-Lug SwapFront Strut BarSportmax 962's17x7 and 17x9Q45 Brakes

Engine:AEM Intake2.5" no-name Cat-back exhaustCircuit Sports coolant overflow tank (this thing rocks)New headgasket and valve guides at 105k miles

Modified by Sushibandito at 7:19 PM 1/25/2010

Modified by Sushibandito at 12:40 AM 4/7/2010
Modified by Sushibandito at 8:14 PM 4/10/2010

[S13k]

Looking good, keep up the great work

[mudvayne9790]

yea looks good just needs to go lower

[Sushibandito]

yea looks good just needs to go lower

I knew someone was gonna mention that. If Seattle wasn't all hills, or I lived out in the 'burbs I would be inclined to drop it another 1-2". I paid $200+shipping for the KYB and Tein set-up, and even used coils would be $700 or $800 for something decent. I figured a 2" drop is about enough to look half-way decent, and still avoid scraping the sh*t out of my car. I have yet to drive anything with coils, so I can't compare but I am loving the way it handles right now.

[mudvayne9790]

hahaha it looks really good though way better than before, im just saying it would look better, but of course we all cant have show cars rightare u planning on doing anything next?

[Sushibandito]

Kouki tail-lights are the next planned purchase...

Interior could use some touch-up, I need to redo the door cards because the glue on the new fabric didn't seat correctly. Other than that, I would say interior is done, the suspension is as good as it needs to be, although lighter wheels would make a big difference. I just love the way the 962 looks...

So pretty much down to aero (probably Orgin) and saving up for an SR20 swap. The big expensive stuff. Oh, and swapping to a 5-speed, but I figured I would leave that for an SR20.

Although open to opinions if anyone thinks there is some stuff I could do in the meantime. A front clip is gonna set me back about $2500-ish
Modified by Sushibandito at 7:29 PM 1/25/2010

[Sushibandito]

First actual meet since buying the car, although not a huge turn-out, will throw up pictures of our bigger NW meet in Issaquah at the end of the month, supposedly 200 people confirmed to go just from the Nissan forum, maybe another 100-200 from the other local car clubs.

[T3X_S13]

Good luck with the build keep us updated . Sucks bout the hills in seattle lol

[Sushibandito]

Ok, so I am posting this as proof of Maaco's paint quality. I would say its a good mixture between good and bad. I got the guy at my local shop to respray the door for $100 cash. I did read quite a bit of stuff about doing your own prep work. Now I know what they meant, I figured a door wouldn't have been that hard, but... Well, see for yourself. In any case, it looks clean for the first time I have owned the car, ie all one color.



Little over-spray under the mirror, and they did a crap job of masking off the keyhole.



Someone mentioned something about car washes and their power sprayers stripping off the paint after having taken their car to Maaco, this is what happened to the ORIGINAL paint, which is why the car is only washed by hand now.

[nevertheless]

You need a five inch drop!

[Sushibandito]

You need a five inch drop!

If only the world was totally flat, then all of us could have car 1/2 inch off the ground. But then it wouldn't look cool to be lowered. Ya, it could probably go down a bit, but a body kit is the next project, and I will wait to see how much lower it appears to be after side skirts are put on and whatnot.

[Sushibandito]

Ok, so after going to my first REAL meet my car is in need of serious work. Granted, I was the only one there with aftermarket seats, everyone else had S13/S14s, the one R32 that showed up had (guess what!) R32 seats.

The Nissan thing turned into a 20 minute drive to a parking lot with about 50 cars, some really nice set ups, beyond all the really tricked out S2ks, one S13 coupe with a 1JZ that (claimed) was making 360hp and 405lbs of torque, then cops, so a 20 minute drive to meet up elsewhere, then more cops, then a 20 minute drive to Alki beach.

[mattblancarte]

Nice car.

I believe I saw that R32 last night at some little meet-up in the Fairwood (Renton area) McDonalds parking lot. I was going to stop and check it out but I was way too lazy.

Cool to see another WA person on the forum.

[Sushibandito]

That Fairwood thing had some seriously crazy rides, a couple of Hondas that were magazine front cover worthy. I think I was one of 3 240's with the same Sportmax wheels. I definitely don't remember seeing your ride there, it would have stuck out compared to all the unpainted areo.

It got kind of pointless later because each new spot was even dimmer lighting.

[mattblancarte]

Ah indeed, it was that r32. I was cruising through in my Jeep after I picked up some Taco Time with my dog, JoJo.

Didn't stop to check anything out, but caught a glimpse of the r32 when I was right in front of Ace hardware.

My car was safe at home (about 5 mins from where you were)... resting after yesterday's dyno tune hehe.

[Sushibandito]

I remember a really nice looking dark color CJ cruise through with no top, I think the doors were off too, maybe brown-ish, looked like late 70's or 80's, nice lift to it, was that you?

[mattblancarte]

Nope. My Jeep is 100% stock haha.

[Sushibandito]

Recent pictures from a meet-up at a bubble tea place. For the life of me, I don't understand why people like that crap, especially when its 40 degrees and raining.

[Sushibandito]

Tinted my tails, VHT Nightshade, 3 coats plus clear coat... Came out pretty good, scuffed the plastic with 800 grit, covered up the reverse lights with tape. I bought Koukis a few weeks ago, so I will update with new pictures

And the most recent NWN meet
Modified by Sushibandito at 12:30 AM 4/7/2010

[Asmar]

Ok, so after going to my first REAL meet my car is in need of serious work. Granted, I was the only one there with aftermarket seats, everyone else had S13/S14s, the one R32 that showed up had (guess what!) R32 seats.

The Nissan thing turned into a 20 minute drive to a parking lot with about 50 cars, some really nice set ups, beyond all the really tricked out S2ks, one S13 coupe with a 1JZ that (claimed) was making 360hp and 405lbs of torque, then cops, so a 20 minute drive to meet up elsewhere, then more cops, then a 20 minute drive to Alki beach.

That's my R32. Lol. What's up Trig? Didn't know you were on NICO. Haha.

[Sushibandito]

All the cool kids are on Nico Plus their format doesn't suck for finding old posts, or maybe I just don't know how to work it on the ol' NWN.

And your car is still the bomb.

[Asmar]

All the cool kids are on Nico Plus their format doesn't suck for finding old posts, or maybe I just don't know how to work it on the ol' NWN.

And your car is still the bomb.

Not yet... It will be once I have 18 x 10 Volk TE37 rims in white. I need new wheels on that car so badly!

[crakin]

Like the car man just do a 5sp swap...

[Sushibandito]

Not yet... It will be once I have 18 x 10 Volk TE37 rims in white. I need new wheels on that car so badly!

I'd be down for the CR Kai's when you are done with them, or those R32 wheels on that green S14 you've got. My car drags so much a** with these heavy 962's. When it gets sunny again, I'd be down for another middle of the night drive, the area up by Alex had some pretty cool roads.

Like the car man just do a 5sp swap...

Argh, I know, I really feel like a eunuch driving an auto, if only I could find a full set of parts, plus I don't know how eager the peeps I know would be to help me with the install.

[Caveit77777]

I like how this thread is half build and half meet pictures rather than just a build or one of those "heres my car I just bought build" and then the thread is done haha. Hopefully this one sticks around a little bit.

What are you going to do for the jag? The inside reminds me of my old E34 I used to have.

[hatedinthemind]

Clean 240 bro. Keep it up

[Sushibandito]

I like how this thread is half build and half meet pictures rather than just a build or one of those "heres my car I just bought build" and then the thread is done haha.

What are you going to do for the jag? The inside reminds me of my old E34 I used to have.

I was wondering today if that would be kind of annoying for people to sift through unrelated photos, but apparently not Figure its kind of like cataloging the life of my car. I've neglected to do anything new yet, short of the Kouki tails and a dent free hood I just bought today, pics will be up soon enough.

The Jag, I'm not really sure about. There are Chevy V-8 conversions around, which would get rid of the unreliable straight 6, although it does make (I think) around 250hp. Its got a presence, but since I can't afford to fix anything major that breaks, it spends most of the week in my friends garage, I usually bust it out for "date night". My brother has done a ton of work on it before he passed it along, so at least there isn't anything to do right now... The leather is a little cracked, and split in a few spots, but that is too big a project $-wise

Clean 240 bro. Keep it up

I sometimes worry I'm the only one I know that likes my car, so thanks
Modified by Sushibandito at 12:43 AM 4/7/2010

[Sushibandito]

I believe I had mentioned I'd throw up photos from our XXX meet in Issaquah that was back in Feb... Freaking insane turn-out, at least 500+, some really awesome cars. So here ya go



These last few shots aren't mine, but I managed to miss a lot of good cars. The AE is for sale from a local guy. I wish I had the money, its so clean.

[Seanzyyy]

...faaaaaaaaaaaaack

[matt_240sx]

I believe I had mentioned I'd throw up photos from our XXX meet in Issaquah that was back in Feb... Freaking insane turn-out, at least 500+, some really awesome cars. So here ya go

mmm... donuts lol

nice car man