Well it has been quite some time since I failed to pump the brakes on the 240, so I couldn't help but care about the car I drive daily. While I still really yearn for a 240sx, I respect the b13 chassis with all it's FWD glory because of its light weight and independent rear suspension.
The reason I named this car the "Mad Hatter" is because the roof is so square, and the clear coat is all gone off of just the roof, that it looks like it wears a top hat! It's a lively chassis so it reminded me of the guy from Alice in Wonderland; the Mad Hatter lol.
I chose to look for the 1.6Liter GA16de motor because I wanted an extremely good gas sipper for school, and someday I will either make it JDM sr'd, or do an electric motor plug in hybrid setup. The motor will basically stay the same for the time being, although I am experimenting with an HHO setup that currently gives me 2-3 more mpg.
I had less than 1 week to find another car for school when I wrecked my 240, so I was lucky there even was a b13 for sale near me for 900 bucks. Broken tie rod, cracked EGR vacuum line made it a despicable drive home, but I fixed her up nicely!
Upon arrival:
After its first bath:
It spent the entire year just like this until this week.
Undocumented Mods/fixes include (trying to list in order)
-Fixed EGR vac line, bringing oil pressure back down thank God!
-Fixed inner tie rod which threw the alignment way off (city car must have turned wheel into curb when leaving parallel parking space)
My weight savings mods so far are removing the spare tire and things, just carrying around tire plugs and a mini cig lighter pump like always, and I removed a few bolts/ intake manifold brackets.
Ok on with the real stuff:
First thing I did was splice the horn wire so I could install the old 240sx horn buzzer in addition to the stock one. It's almost twice as loud, so people are forced to respect my slow car now!
Old tail lights: (91-92 style)
(See above) The pic is blurry, they are extremely cracked and one has a BB hole in it!
New tails from the yard/one from a friend:
Installed! Boy what a mess the stock tar sealer is!
Junkyard run pics: I had maybe 13+ sentras to choose from!
sad sentra, 4spd fail!
5spd linkage and axle loot: Other axle is inside. I don't need these, but I got them off a friend for free. The only thing I bought for the 5spd swap at the junkyard is the actual 5spd trans.
The 5spd trans: Yes it's a 91/92, this is important because the speed sensor is a cable in the 91/92 transes, and later in 93 it was converted to digital.
I dragged this thing from the bottom of the yard near the VW beetles to the top inside a 300zx T top window storage bag! As far as I know I'm the only one attempting a GA16DE auto to manual swap.
The donor car: 208K miles :/
Taking this thing out without the help of available plasma torch was a fun challenge! I made sure I got all the right wires and mounts uncut.
Action shot of me prying it off! Taken by my helpful companion Nick.
In field ghetto rigging shot:
Pulling a trans w/o breaking stuff at a U-pull-it yard:
Pic of almost all the import section. It's huge, and people in this area don't like imports as much as me!
The trans as it sat for the ride home: Fit very easily in the trunk!
Aw hell yeah mud flaps! You know Rally style is on the way!
Another exterior mod: early '90s mazda mx6? Front 2 piece lip:
The lip installed via zipties: Note: some guys at the junkyard were having too much fun outside the parking lot w/ their pickup trucks and flung mud on my car. No biggie.
The inspiration for the rally style build:
I think that about does it for the beginning of the build thread. I'm lowering the suspension hot rod/poor man style tomorrow. I will post an update!
Remember kids: Just say no to DSM!
Modified by Didderson at 9:43 PM 4/12/2010
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