evolution of the vert

Re: (DeXteR)

nissan_star — 2009-05-26T20:59:45-08:00

good luck man, I am pullin for ya!

Re: (the vert)

DeXteR — 2009-05-25T07:12:05-08:00

Thanks for reading. It's been a lot of fun, but it's far from finished.

Paint is needing to get worked out still. The vert is dailied in the summer, so I need to put another DD on the road because this isn't going to be a weekend project. I'll be working on my back-up DD this week hopefully. Then it's just a matter of finding a time that works well for Zach (the guy who's painting the vert). He hasn't gone anywhere - he's a good friend and fellow TCE member.

As far as boost... I should be re-employed come August, so hopefully this winter will begin the KA-T project.

the vert — 2009-05-22T19:44:15-08:00

I just finished reading your whole thread and I must say you have been through a lot in the past what 2 years (if I remember correctly). But the end product looks amazing. What ever happened to the guy that said he would paint your car if you traded the white vert? Hope you get to boost it soon.

biggie — 2009-05-18T12:03:38-08:00

Sucks about the short.

I discovered those mani braces were still on my engine when we were swapping, but not anymore.

Re: evolution of the vert :dexter's project log: (Truebelieverone)

DeXteR — 2009-05-18T11:29:55-08:00

Here's some pictures from recent updates that I haven't been able to load yet.

Here's my new Rear Toe Control arms after getting Koted and set next to the old factory units:

Here they are on the car. Notice how dirty the rest of my suspension has become...

Here's the cause of my latest electrical troubleshooting fiasco...

The top two holes bolt to the plenum of the intake manifold and the bottom hole goes to the block. The top two bolts managed to back themselves out and dissappear. The bottom one also came loose. The top of the bracket fell down and hit the feed terminal (which is exposed) on the starter which shorted out the whole car.

Fun.

I've never posted pictures of my harnesses.

I installed these last summer after driving around with those worthless ebay harnesses for a while. I got these from Zach for a good deal and they're amazing.

Finally, this is the under-body plate that I installed a month or so ago.

I picked this up from Nemo last year. It definitely makes jacking the front of the car up a little interesting.

This SHOULD be my last update for a while. Next on the list are either body work and paint or the 6-point roll bar install. I don't know when those will come. If any small things come up, I'll be sure to share.

KA-T is always in development, but I'll be lucky if I can get to that before winter.

Re: evolution of the vert :dexter's project log: (DeXteR)

Truebelieverone — 2009-05-15T10:04:32-08:00

Awesome car

Re: (biggie)

DeXteR — 2009-05-14T19:02:51-08:00

Found the problem. It was a short like I thought.

Stupid intake manifold bracket...

Pictures tomorrow if I get a chance.

biggie — 2009-05-12T13:50:06-08:00

Sorry to hear. Sounds like a short somewhere, but I suck at wiring and stay away from it when possible.

Re: (DeXteR)

nissan_star — 2009-05-12T12:44:08-08:00

yeah, good luck and keep us posted!

Re: (DeXteR)

DeXteR — 2009-05-12T10:35:17-08:00

So I finally got the rear toe control arms installed last night and dialed in my RUCAs and TCAs close to what I want them. They still need some fine adjusting, but I was tired of screwing with them last night.

Once I was done, I realized that I had left the key in the on-position since Saturday, so the battery was dead. So I pulled the DSM over the jump her and she fired right up. So I took it out for a short spin to see how the rear end felt. On my way back home, the car just died. Nothing - no power, no electricity at all...

Fortunately, I was on my road and about a 1/4 mile away from my driveway when she finally came to a stop. So I pushed her off to the side of the road and popped the hood. My first thought was that the negative terminal had become disconnected because the terminal ring is all whopped out. However, when I popped the hood, the terminal was still connected. So I walked home and loaded up the DSM with a tow strap and the jumper cables and drove back to the car.

When I hooked the jumpers up, the lights came back on and everything seemed fine, when I went to start it, there was a big spark at the battery and then everything was dead. When I got out, the teeth on the negative end of the jumpers was glowing... Great.

So I figured that this thing is more than just dead now. So I hooked up the tow strap and tried pulling it home. Well, when the steering won't lock (you know it locks when you don't want it to and never will when you actually need it to...) it's hard to pull a car by yourself.

Now it's 3:00am when I got back in the house to wake up the wife. She was a good sport and we had the vert back in the shop in no time. I looked at things for a few minutes and decided to call it a night. It was 4:00am by the time I got to bed.

I'm thinking I'm going to be spending my free time doing that wiring harness swap that I've been trying to put off. I think the shady wiring has finally gotten too bad.

Any one else have any thoughts?

Re: (DeXteR)

Piper — 2009-05-04T10:25:27-08:00

WOW!!! Dex getting pissed!! Thats a first!!

Btw, keep up the good work Dex.... hopefully I'll be able to get up there some time and help out/ hang out.

Re: (s13beast)

DeXteR — 2009-05-04T08:33:06-08:00

Quote, originally posted by s13beast raquo;

ORR maybe you dont know the difference because every vlsd you have driven has been a welded one with the sticker causing you to think you know but in reality...you dont. its possible.

I don't say this here much, but you've earned it.

You're a f***ing idiot.

I've driven s13's with welded, open, and visous diffs. I've put the diffs in these cars and had the covers off. I know how they behave and what they look like inside and out. Stickers don't mean s***. In fact, none of my diff covers have stickers anyway.

Re: (DeXteR)

s13beast — 2009-05-01T22:15:50-08:00

Quote, originally posted by DeXteR raquo;

No, it's definitely a VLSD. I know the difference.

I know the weld chunks must have been in the housing somewhere when I got it. I drained it and refilled it before I put it in. One way or another, the weld chunks found their way into my VLSD and probably did some damage. It looks fine, but it doesn't lock up like it used to.

ORR maybe you dont know the difference because every vlsd you have driven has been a welded one with the sticker causing you to think you know but in reality...you dont. its possible.

DeXteR — 2009-05-01T09:45:16-08:00

Quote, originally posted by s13beast raquo;

Perhaps someone welded an open diff, then stuck a vlsd sticker on it and sold it to you? just my hypothosis.

No, it's definitely a VLSD. I know the difference.

biggie — 2009-05-01T07:30:12-08:00

Good work as usual.

Weird on the diff.

I just had to get adj toe and traction rods on my coupe as well. Its still not back on the ground to get an alignment though.

Re: FN-QR (DeXteR)

s13beast — 2009-04-30T20:01:55-08:00

Perhaps someone welded an open diff, then stuck a vlsd sticker on it and sold it to you? just my hypothosis.

Re: FN-QR (DeXteR)

DeXteR — 2009-04-30T15:50:37-08:00

Random "car on jackstands picture":

So, firt things first, I pulled all four coilovers, dissassembled them and cleaned them up. I also pulled my RUCAs since I wanted to get them Koted before I installed them, I figured this was a good time to get them done since I had some down time. Here's what my suspension looked like after I pulled it:

Notice the bottom right dampener is all wet looking? That's they hydraulic fluid that used to be inside the dampener.

I spent a lot of hours cleaning up the dampeners. Why? I don't know, they're all ready fithly again. Endura Tech sent me a replacement dampener pretty quickly and I got all the other parts switched up pretty quickly. Here's a picture showing how clean they were:

The top one was just cleaned, the bottom one was the dampener that was replaced. I had to use my old spring, perches, and collar.

Jim got my RUCAs done pretty quickly too and they turned out pretty well. I cleaned and greased my hime joints (sp?) before putting everything back together.

So I got the coilovers put back in and adjusted.
Front:

Rear:

Then I got my sway bar hardware and pulled my Koted swaybars off the shelf and dusted them off. Here's an overall comparison between the old sway bars and the new ones:

Here you can see the big differences between the old bushings and endlinks and the new ones:

The installation of all the suspension stuff was pretty straightforward. It took me a while to get everything adjusted to where I wanted it. I tried to get zero camber front and rear. Once I got it pretty square, I dropped her down (which was HARD - I'll explain later) and had Michelle take it for a spin. She said it was still squirly in the rear so I pulled the VLSD and tossed the open diff in. Took it for a spin and it was still squirly. In fact, it was worse than the first time I took the car out.

I finally figured it out! Rear toe-out is bad. After some close inspection, I noticed that when I push the camber back out, it pushed the toe out also. So I had to order some adjustable toe control bars and had them sent straight to Jim. In the mean time, it's back to the JDM tyte negative camber.

So my diff was fine... or not. I drained it to change the fluid. When I pulled the drain plug, there was a LOT of metal stuck to the magnet.

After cleaning the metal glob, this is what was left:

Yeah, weld chunks. In a viscous LSD... I can't figure out how or why. So I'm going to try to find another VLSD or maybe try shimming it like I posted in the Tech Section.

Anyways, I'll update again when I get the new toe control arms in. I have to take some pictures of my under-body plate, my "new" boot, and my 4-point harnesses that I still havent posted pictures of. Also, I haven't had a chance to push the vert with the new sway bars, but my wife said she likes them. We've got an S-curve near our house. She said, "Last year, I could take them at about 60mph easy, but it felt scary. Now I can take them at 60mph and it's not scary anymore." It's not because she got used to it. I'm looking forward to testing it out a bit.

Re: FN-QR (FlatBlackIan)

DeXteR — 2009-04-30T12:28:06-08:00

This off season has been a total fail because I got laid off. I also don't have internet access but every once in a while.

I'm back to school now, and expecting a job by August if all goes well. So that means not a whole lot coming this summer. I did just upload some pictures of my latest, but I have to go to lab for the next few hours. If I get out of lab at a reasonable time, I'll try to get back online and upload the pictures.

Just a teaser: Sway bars installed, coilovers back on, open diff FTL, toe control arms coming because rear toe-out is dangerous.

Sorry for the wait everyone, but there isn't that much excitement and I've been dealt a not-so-pleasant hand for a while. I'll catch up though.

FN-QR

FlatBlackIan — 2009-04-28T18:28:56-08:00

OK Dex, its been 11 months, I are demand update NOW.

The silence has gone on long enough, quit holding out on us.

Re: (nissan_star)

DeXteR — 2009-04-09T16:06:50-08:00

I would imagine that if you set the car down without cutting out the bracing for the adjuster knobs that the knobs would bend or break. If they're still straight, you're probably fine. If you damaged the valving somehow, you'd have hydraulic fluid (or whatever they use in there) leaking from the top whenever the ram pushes into the dampener.

When I say my coilover was blown, I mean the seals for the valving went bad or blew out. I'm still in warranty and they sent me a replacement dampener free of charge. I had to swap the spring, spanners and lower mount and need to send my blown one back. Since I had to pull one of them, I figured I'd pull them all off and clean them up. Living on a dirt road really makes things nasty under the car, especially if the road is wet. So I spent quite a few hours dissasembling my coilovers and cleaning them up. They look almost as good as new now.

I also ordered the hardware I needed for my front and rear sway bars - they're not going to be in for another week and a half. Also picked up the nuts and bolts and spacers fro my underbody plate that I got from Nemo. Lastly, I picked up some nuts, bolts, and washers to replace the factory toe control bolts in the rear. Since I have the adjustable RUCAs on the car I don't need that big clunky thing anymore. And speaking of RUCAs, I dropped my ching-ping, ebay RUCAs off to the powder coater.

I'll post pictures of everything when I start putting the car back together.

Re: (DeXteR)

nissan_star — 2009-04-05T18:18:36-08:00

Dex, I got enduratechs for my vert too. You said you blew out the damper, or was it just bad? I am a little worried b/c i set the car down on the rears without cutting into the support/sheet metal below the top thats right above the adjustment screws, I dont think I damaged anything but how do i know this is my first coilover setup...

Re: (DeXteR)

Piper — 2009-04-05T13:54:41-08:00

Well good luck with everything Dex, I hope it all works out for ya! If I don't get a job down here soon, I will be back up there and be able to help.

Keep me updated, and about the wide body, my little bro is taking the HB for a DD until i get some money to get stuff done on it. So if he wants them back, thats cool if he can sell it. But if he would like to hold on to it for me, I'd really appreciate that too.

Re: (Piper)

DeXteR — 2009-04-02T18:52:17-08:00

So, I haven't updated this in a LONG time.

Well, it's a new season and time to freshen some things up and do some more upgrades. I don't think much is going to happen this year due to my current financial situation, but we'll see what we can do.

I finally got enough junk out of the way to pull it out of storage the other week. Took it for a spin and it still runs strong, but it still has that poor tracking in the rear.

First things first, I have to get this thing streetable again. Most of you saw the rear tires from our ridiculous negative camber last summer. We wore those 255's well into the steel belts. So Zach and I entered into some more bartering and I ended up with his 225/50's. So When I went to pull his wheels and tires off the back of my car, I noticed that there was a LOT of oil on my driver side rear dampener... So I thought to myself, "Hmm... this is probably the problem with my poor tracking in the rear, and not the differential."

So I got in touch with Endura Tech and they're sending me a new dampener since I'm still within the warranty period. I need to swap all the hardware over and send my blown dampener back. While I've got the car back in the shop, I might pull a few things off and do add a few pieces I've had laying around.

I'd like to pull my RUCAs and get those powder coated since they're all ready rusty - good ol' ching ping ebay garbage is effective but cheap. Some CPK ought to give them a little more quality. They'll also match the Suspension Techniques front and rear sway bars I acquired and had powder coated last year. I'm going to need some new bushings and end links for the sway bars and they can replace the whimpy factory units.
The other cool little piece I have is that aluminum "skid plate" that will go under the engine bay.

That will probably be the extent of work on the car this season. If I come into some cash somehow, I might continue gathering pieces for our KA-T setup. I'll also be keeping my eyes peeled for good deals on suspension upgrades too... Maybe get that 6-point roll bar done too. We'll see.

One thing is for sure, we're going to continue enjoying driving this car. The new sway bars should make this thing carve the corners even crisper and make for an even better driving experience. A not blown dampener will help too...

Pictures will come with progress.

Modified by DeXteR at 5:17 PM 4/3/2009

Re: (DeXteR)

Piper — 2008-09-24T14:20:41-08:00

Well when you come down, ill give ya my good camera, and the charger and such, we have 3 now and i dont really need all them. Did you get a date yet or still up in the air?

Re: (Piper)

DeXteR — 2008-09-24T07:34:15-08:00

It's ok, I've been subjecting myself to harsh punishments of 60 hour work weeks, 4 hours of sleep at night, and a pissed off wife...

Not to mention my camera is on it's way out the door. Notice how my pictures keep getting worse... yeah.

Anywho, I'll send you the old flea-bay harnesses.

Re: (DeXteR)

Piper — 2008-09-23T15:57:11-08:00

Wow no pics. That is amazing. someone needs to write this down in the NICO history books! The pic police doesnt post pics. WOW! lol well untill you are done with the belts your using now why dont you give me the ones you had so i have something. I gave up on that one last night, it just wont work. And you better take tons of pics of you driftin. I cant wait to see this!!! Your gonna love it.

Re: (Z Style)

DeXteR — 2008-09-23T06:55:08-08:00

FINALLY replaced the front main seal as of last night. Relatively easy since I was able to squeeze my impact gun in between the engine and radiator just enough to get her loose. I'm kicking myself in the face for not doing this when I had the motor out for the swap last summer - would have saved me a lot of money on oil and the headache of having a dirty, oily engine bay.

The reason I even did this is because I'm going to drift the vert this Sunday at a local event. http://projectaspec.com/driftevents.html I'm hoping I don't totally suck. The wife gave me permission to do this in hopes that we'll finally kill the tired old KA.

Another nice modification was the removal of those crappy, haggard, Mugen/ebay 4-point harnesses. I replaced them a much nicer and much safer set of Sparco harnesses. Zach got a great deal on them and passed them along to me. I had to pick up some anchors for the snap-in passenger harness to install them properly. The swap was a breeze and I couldn't be happier with the new harnesses. They're much more comfortable and hold a lot better. My wife, on the other hand, doesn't fit very well in the driver side anymore. The harnesses are a tad too big for her. When she's in the passenger side, she can just slide the seat forward and it's fine; but she can't do that on the driver side as it's uncomfortable for her to drive that close to the steering wheel.

Yes, the picture police has once again failed to post his own pictures... I'll have pictures from the drift event for sure.

Re: (Piper)

Z Style — 2008-08-18T19:18:33-08:00

Quote, originally posted by Piper raquo;

yeah red and yellow tops both are junk after they drain. sort of sucks. wonder why they do that?

Ps dex, i have a new set of tail lights and a totaly new supension, so if you need any stock parts, let me know.

Haha, you are kidding right? We have so many stock suspension parts going to scrap it isn't funny.

Maybe some extra tails would be nice to smoke them though.

Re: (DeXteR)

Piper — 2008-08-18T13:45:02-08:00

yeah red and yellow tops both are junk after they drain. sort of sucks. wonder why they do that?

Ps dex, i have a new set of tail lights and a totaly new supension, so if you need any stock parts, let me know.

Re: (Eikon)

DeXteR — 2008-08-12T07:45:19-08:00

The vert gets driven pretty regularly.

I have a red top on my DSM. I had it out of the car for about 9 months at one point in time when it was down and it drained itself and died. It was completely shot; but thanks to the 3 year warranty, I got a brand new battery. Once the vert goes to slumber for the winter, I'll probably just stick it in the Pathfinder to keep it going.

Re: (DeXteR)

Eikon — 2008-08-12T06:49:56-08:00

Dex,

If you don't drive the car often, make sure you keep that redtop optima on a trickle charger. They tend to drain themselves fairly quickly and are junk afterwards. I'm on my 3rd one now and finally I've learned to keep them on a charger. I've been lucky and gotten them replaced at no charge (very lucky!). But they are wicked expensive, so take good care of them.

Re: (E91cpe)

DeXteR — 2008-08-12T06:33:37-08:00

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I did finally get a few pictures of my parts collection, I guess I could post them. Here's the Wiseco pistons:

They need to be removed from the stock rods they're on, cleaned and maybe re-coated.

Here's the Eagle rods:

These are brand new.

Together, I spent under $600 for these. I just need a few more ARP packages, a flywheel, and a clutch. Some day when I'm not pulling my hair out because I'm so busy at work, I'd like to get out early and go visit the machinist I want to do my work... Some day...

Also, not long ago, my whore-of-a-battery finally gave out. I used the same battery in three or four different cars over the last couple years. I didn't feel like buying some fugly WalMart battery, so I just picked up a red top Optima. It will eventually be relocated to the trunk opposite of the hydraulic pump, but for now, it's just bungee strapped down. No pictures - it's just a battery.

Re: (Coolwhip)

E91cpe — 2008-08-11T11:38:36-08:00

hey man it looks great i wish i had the time and a place to do that kinda of thing right now.. keep it up

Coolwhip — 2008-07-11T10:52:16-08:00

did a quick run through of your build man, looking forward to the next update.

Re: (nissan_star)

DeXteR — 2008-07-11T08:32:02-08:00

I don't like updating without pictures. I've just been gathering parts still. I thoroughly enjoy the suspension upgrades on the vert. The Z brakes up front and Endura Tech coilovers really make this car a pleasure to drive! I LOVE it!

Lately, I've been gathering parts for the KA-T build that I'd like to start in the fall. I finally got some decent pistons - Wiseco 9:1 90mm slugs. They're used, but they'll clean up just fine. I might get them re-coated, but not sure yet. Most recently, I won an ebay auction for a set of Eagle Rods. So I've got those sitting in the build pile now with the pistons. I've got a used set of ARP head studs, but I think I'm just going to sell them off and buy a new set as well as a new set of ARP main studs as well.

Then I could head to the machine shop to get some of the machining started, but I want to make sure I have my crank pulley, flywheel, and pressure plate before I go to get everything balanced.

I've been extremely busy these last few months with work at the office, work around the house (still don't have our kitchen finished), and things with the car club. There's a local machinist that comes highly recommended that I'd like to go talk to, but just haven't had the time to do so.

I'll try getting some pictures for the update this weekend.

Re: (Eikon)

nissan_star — 2008-07-09T15:37:01-08:00

i think its time for an update.
hope everthing is goin alright man...

Re: (DeXteR)

Eikon — 2008-05-20T15:48:39-08:00

Quote, originally posted by DeXteR raquo;

Some serious family issues are starting to arise, so I probably won't have any updates for a few weeks unless some things clear up soon. So until then, happy motoring.

That doesn't sound good.
If there's anything I/We can do to help, just give a shout. Heck if you just want to talk sometime or vent, you know how to reach me.

God Bless brother!

Re: (biggie)

DeXteR — 2008-05-20T14:11:29-08:00

Spring rates are 7/5 and the dampening is set on the lowest setting. I think it's a good choice for a car that sees way more road than track as long as the dampener valving is set accordingly.

I'm hoping to get a chance to stiffener her up in the near future and see how it rides then.

biggie — 2008-05-20T13:55:58-08:00

Maybe I missed it, but what's the spring rates on the coils? And how's the ride? I have 9/7 on my coupe and would think 9/7 or 8/6 would be best for the heavier Vert.

I would love to do brakes on my Vert as well, but am in the boat that the 002s won't clear Z brakes.

Looks good.

Re: (DeXteR)

DeXteR — 2008-05-20T13:22:23-08:00

Hokay, so here's some pics from yesterday as the sun was making it's way towards the west:

I hate my camera...

So I got "home" from work yesterday and noticed something - the driver side rear caliper was flipped forward. Great I must have neglected to tighten those bolts when I re-assemled everything (I scare myself sometimes - but you know how the law of averages + Muphy's law can work against you). I thought, no big deal - I can take care of that in 15 minutes.

Not so...

See, we're still at my in-law's (hence the "" around home in the preceding paragraph), so to work on the car, I had to drive it back to my shop. So I kiss my wife and say, I'll be back soon. Well I get it up in the air (which is no longer a quick task), and tear into it.

The top bolt had completely backed out and the piston was no longer contacting the pad. No big deal I'll just turn it back down and slap it back on. Well, the piston would not retract... WTF? It will spin out, but won't go back in. So I messed with it for about 45 minutes before realizing, this is going to be an all night project. See, when I did the rear brakes, the driver side was completely blown out - which was a big contributor to my brake issues in the first place. Also, I had some extra coupe rear calipers laying around from a long ago aborted project. those were all seized up and blown out too. So I don't have any extra parts laying around and I'm stranded at my house.

"Honey... You're not going to like this, but that 30 minute project just turned into an all night ordeal... Can you come pick me up?"

So I called up Zach and he had some extra parts. My wife and I drove over there and swooped up some stuff.

So I tear back into everything and, lo and behold, his caliper was seized up too...

So I said, screw it, I've got enough rear calipers to at least put something together. I proceeded to grab the best looking piston seal and piston and driver side caliper I could and just started putting good parts together. It worked and now the vert is back on the road. I didn't take pictures because I was pissed and in a bind. My story should be sufficient.

Some serious family issues are starting to arise, so I probably won't have any updates for a few weeks unless some things clear up soon. So until then, happy motoring.

Re: (94_240sx)

DeXteR — 2008-05-20T08:33:26-08:00

Quote, originally posted by 94_240sx raquo;

I think you should just roll the top area of the rear fender about 4 to 5 inches and add spacers.. It'll look real good.

4-5" ?! That's not a roll... that's a HUGE pull. I don't think I want to try that. I may get some over fenders in the distant future. In the mean time, my 10" tires tuck real nice. I do need to address the fronts. This week I'm going to experiment with some different size whee's/tires that I just so happen to have access to. We'll see what happens.

Quote, originally posted by Nemo raquo;

It's 94 today here. Hot!!

Quote, originally posted by GoinTopless240 raquo;

What is going on with the old Vert/deer catcher? I thought someone was working on trying to repair it.

Yup, prodigy (teammate Zach) is working on it. HERE's a link.

Quote, originally posted by topless raquo;

Are y'all going to NOPI this year?

With gas at $4/gallon - probably not. Really, that's just the excuse I'm using. My KA is still NA, and old and leaky and my paint sucks. So I'm not ready to show it off much. NEXT summer, things should be different.

Quote, originally posted by Piper raquo;

so any words of advise are welcome! lol

Have someone else do it...

I hate body work and making lines match up and all that set, adjust, set, adjust, set, adjust... Nonsense.

Just make sure you've got everything.

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I should have some pictures uploaded later with a little story about last night...

Re: (GoinTopless240)

Piper — 2008-05-19T17:29:19-08:00

the vert looks great dex, one of these days im gonna have to swing by and have a look see my self. im finaly gettin my funds in place so im gettin parts in. im about to buy a siv front for mine very very soon too! so any words of advise are welcome! lol

Re: (94_240sx)

GoinTopless240 — 2008-05-19T14:45:05-08:00

Looking Good Dex.... I agree with 94, slight roll would look nice.. I ordered my spacers and am hoping to get some pics posted up for everyone. It's nice to see another SilVert. I've been looking forward to your updates. What is going on with the old Vert/deer catcher? I thought someone was working on trying to repair it. Hope y'all are enjoying those cool days. We may be in for a hot summer down here. Keep it up. Are y'all going to NOPI this year?

Re: (DeXteR)

94_240sx — 2008-05-19T14:30:31-08:00

Coilover looks good. Can you get a fender roller? I think you should just roll the top area of the rear fender about 4 to 5 inches and add spacers.. It'll look real good.

It's 94 today here. Hot!!

Re: (Eikon)

DeXteR — 2008-05-19T14:24:38-08:00

My camera's flash is dieing... I hate it... The only way I can get decent pictures is in the daylight or with extra lighting. I have excuses:

1.) I rarely get to work in the shop during daylight
2.) I'm not going to take the time to set up a photo shoot with extra lights and move them around every time I want to take a picture

Hopefully I'll have enough money left over for a camera after I buy a .45 with my economic stimulus check. Stimulate this, Government:

Eikon — 2008-05-19T14:07:11-08:00

nice drop!

I can see you've been dealing with the same cold weather we have since Michelle is in a sweatshirt. We had frost this morning! It's freaking MAY 19th.. geez I hate Canada!

It would be nice to see a little brighter pics, but I understand.

I've got a set of 26mm Z32 calipers as well. I'm debating whether I want to put them on the 'vert or save them for my S14. I know they won't fit w/out spacers with my Volks, so I might just pick up a set of Q45 front calipers and call it a day on the 'vert.

Anyhow... 'vert is coming along nicely Dex. Keep up the good work.

Re: (DeXteR)

DeXteR — 2008-05-19T09:03:24-08:00

FINALLY had time to install everything properly and got some pictures!

The vert FINALLY has a ride-height worth bragging about thanks to Endura Tech coilovers!

Here's the rear coilovers before initial installation:

These are high-quality units. Everything is beefy and clean.

Here's the rear suspension all installed:

The length from top of mount to about the center of the rear mount on the original shocks was about 24". The coilovers are set around 21" right now. For those who didn't know, the verts come with a LOT of extra bracing. A big portion of it is between the rear shock towers behind the rear seat. I don't know of any top-adjustable dampeners that will fit in the rear without having to "trim" the bracing back there. The Endura-Tech dampeners were no different. A few minutes with the pneumatic grinder and a nice carbide tip made pretty quick work of it. Everything fits great.

The rear upper control arms (RUCAs) are super cheap ebay ones. the welds look decent, but it's just spray painted mild steel. So next time the car gets ripped apart, I'm going to take them to Nate's and sand blast them and repaint them.

The rear brakes have new pads and rotors - all stock replacement stuff - nothing special.

Here's the front suspension installed in the wheel well:

... and from the top:

I have not measured the original front suspension and do not recall what Zach set the coilovers to before installation, but it's not quite low enough.

So now the front has the 26mm Z32 4-piston calipers with 26mm calipers (don't recall diameter) and coated teflon/stainless braided brake lines. I definitely need the 5mm spacer to clear the calipers with my wheels.

In the second picture, you can see the Z32 17/16 brake master cylinder that was a pain to acquire. Also that booster is from the old white vert. I'm not sure what exactly was wrong with the old booster, but once we swapped those, all my braking issues were gone.

Here's a few more pics of the install:

Here's me, adjusting the rear camber:

Michelle, tightening up the coilovers:

This is the mad-tight JDM negative camber that Zach was looking for:

:roll: Michelle was not digging that at all.

There aren't any pictures of Zach helping because my camera died when he was out. He made some serious contributions to the installation of all of this, so thanks to him - especially for rolling the fenders. I would have made a mess of things trying that myself. We used a sledge and a dolly(I think that's what it is) to beat the fender lips in. We did the front and rear. All of them turned out great but need a little touch up from the dolly sliding and bouncing on the fenders.

So after everything was finally installed and tightened up, I drove it to the Hemlock spray-an'-wash place while Michelle followed in the DSM. On the way there, I bedded the brakes by doing 60-15mph stops every few minutes about six times. Then I drove for a few minutes to let them cool a bit before spraying the car off.

Initial impression:
The coilovers are set on the softest setting they can go per the recommendations of Greg (AZHitman) and I must say, it rides great. It's not harsh or bumpy at all. The dampening is almost stock; however, you can tell you're riding on coilovers because it is a little bouncy and a LOT lower. the ride quality is excellent. We took some of the sweepers at twice the recommended speed limit for the curve and it felt great. I'd imagine taking those sweepers at 80+ would be no trouble at all now. I can't wait to stiffen them up and really carve some corners one of these days. Living out in the boonies where they don't take good care of the roads though, I can't get too crazy.

The brakes are awesome. With the combination I'm running, the pedal requires a little more force than normal to really get the brakes stopping hard, but they sure bite down. They're good and responsive to actual input. It feels good because they're not really touchy, but when you need to stop now (panic brake) they're going to stop the car in a hurry.

So that's all for now, except Michelle and I need to figure out a decent temporary paint that won't require a lot of money or time. The only other thing I can foresee adding to the car this summer would be that zenki lip. We'll install a few other things that I all ready have laying around IF we decide to paint it. When we paint it, it's getting completely stripped down which means the engine will be out and I'll get a chance to seal up those oil leaks...

Still a lot of work left to do. I'm really craving boost though...

I'll get some more pictures of the car tonight and share them tomorrow.

Re: (prodigy)

DeXteR — 2008-05-12T07:15:29-08:00

Prodigy said it.

Hey, Zach. When are you going to start your vert project log?

I finally got everything bolted up and working properly on the hubs. I still need to bench-bleed and install the BMC, then bleed out the lines.

Those are 26mm Z32 calipers (I believe) with SPL conversion lines and the cheapest rotors I could find. This just barely clears my 17x7 962s with a 5mm spacer. I can't wait to drive it with the new brakes.

I'm going to be ordering up some coilovers this week too. Stay tuned. I'm really looking forward to having some of this suspension and braking taken care of before I start building the boosted KA.

Re: (Eikon)

Z Style — 2008-05-11T20:15:26-08:00

4 lug with the real small 17x7.5 962s or what ever the size is. 5 mm spacer on the front.

Re: (DeXteR)

Eikon — 2008-05-07T13:01:01-08:00

5 lug hubs or still 4 lug? Spacers? What wheels.??

I've got a set of 26mm calipers taken apart in my garage. I just haven't worked up the funds to get them powder coated or get the rotors and other stuff I'll need. Plus on top of it all.. they won't fit behind my wheels w/out some spacers.

maybe I'll just save them for my S14.

Re: (DeXteR)

DeXteR — 2008-05-07T10:28:54-08:00

Here's a teaser picture of what I've been working on:

I've been gathering parts for the last two weeks. I finally got everything I need, except the time to complete the job...

I'll get an update when it's finished, but that might be a while. Michelle and I are expecting our appliances to be delivered on Friday and we need to get the floor done before then.

Re: (Piper)

DeXteR — 2008-04-29T08:34:10-08:00

Thanks guys...

I've got a brake upgrade coming and should be ordering coilovers shortly.

There's another little something happening in Dexter's Lab these days as well...

Piper — 2008-04-28T15:04:54-08:00

Hey let me know how that maf works for ya! im down in indiana for awhile so if you need any parts, ask justin he has them all! lol hope everything goes good for ya!

Re: (DeXteR)

stevespeed — 2008-04-27T19:41:57-08:00

Hey Dexter!
I cant wait till I get some spare time to come up there and give you a hand with that thing, Looks great though.

Re: (DeXteR)

DeXteR — 2008-04-23T13:09:45-08:00

Yup, s14 MAF doesn't work well with the s13 ECU. I borrowed an s13 MAF from prodigy and installed it. It required a little redneckery since I didn't have the right couplers; but it's on and the vert runs great again.

I discovered the alignment issue when I decided to put the janky deformed coils back on the car. I'm pretty sure my wife swapped sides when she put the struts from the other vert onto this one. I think ishkabibble suggested this a while back, but when I asked my wife about it, she swore she put them on the correct side. I should have just checked a long time ago. So anyway, i put the ghetto heated up springs on to get me by until I get some coilovers.

I seem to have lost my camera as well - somewhere between my shop, my house, my office, and my inlaws' I've misplaced it... I need to find it before I start getting more stuff.

Anyways, we received our Michigan income tax return yesterday. I recently sold some parts and might be selling the Geo tomorrow and received down payment for the old vert from prodigy. With all of that added up, I'll have a sizable chunk of change to blow.

I'm debating whether or not I want to continue messing around with the janky brake upgrade I was gifted with. I have Altima calipers and rotors on right now. Since the install, the brakes have been really crappy. I think it has something to do with the huge pad overlap. I think the s13 hub with the Altima bracket push the caliper further out than it does on the Altima. So I can either try to track down a better sized rotor or do a REAL brake upgrade - Z32 front brake upgrade. I priced it out at lunch and I can do the entire front brake conversion for under $225. This includes a re-manufactured pair of loaded 4-piston aluminum calipers, rotors, and conversion lines. I'd need the rotors redrilled, but that's no big deal. I wanted to do the Z brakes anyway, so I like that idea. However, I do want to figure out how to make these Altima brakes work before I go to the Z brakes.

Next up is coilovers. I'm thinking I'm just going to get those Ksports. I keep hearing mixed reviews from the 240 crowd. I'd like to try them out and give some feedback. I know a few people who say they can get a good deal on them, so I'm willing to try them out. Otherwise, if I come across a good set used coilovers, I might snatch them up.

Lastly, I need to get a harness bar and real harnesses. Again, with some of the connections I have, I can design and draw my own roll bar with a harness bar, and a friend of a friend who works for a Busch Series racing team can build it for really cheap. It would be shipped in pieces, so I would need to have it welded in. As much as I would like to get some TeamTech harnesses, they're expensive. I'm probably going to end up spending $350-$400 on a pair of their harnesses. That being the case, I'll get another better pair of off-brand or used harnesses to get me by for this season.

As I continue to save money and sell off other stuff I'm not going to need, I'll start gathering KA-T parts again. This fall, the silvert will get paint and I'll start building my motor. Stay tuned though, I have a LOT of work to do to the car between now and then.

Re: (Eikon)

DeXteR — 2008-04-18T08:06:40-08:00

Just needed a jump start on a good battery and she fired up. She's running pretty rough, but it's got something like... 215k miles on the original motor and it's been modified a bit.

So here's the first picture of the season:

So after getting it fired up and driving it around the driveway a bit, I backed it it to get started on getting it ready for this weekend. I put a "new" (used) hose on the IAC source from the intake pipe because the blue silicone hose was all kinked up. The hose I put on was pre-bent and won't pinch shut. Hopefully that will help take care of some of the idle issues.

Next I put the wheels back on. I did add some small spacers to the front that we pulled from a junkyard last fall. I believe they're 5mm, but didn't measure them. They really help make the front wheels sit more flush and I was also finally able to fit the center caps on the wheel.

The last thing I did was rewire my passenger side corner lamp. I really need to get to swapping the white vert's wiring harness over to the sil40 vert. Any wiring the previous owner laid his hands on was a complete hack-job. I can only imagine what the rest of the harnesses look like. Anyways, the lights all work again and I'm happy about that.

So the to-do list for this weekend is:
Switch insurance from storage to full coverage on the vert and from full-coverage to storage on the Pathfinder.
Take the "1HOT240" plate off the Pathy and transfer it back to the vert.
Replenish the coolant
Do an oil change
Wash the car
Get some fresh fuel in the tank
Pull the top cover out of the basement
Switch back to the S13 MAF - I think this might also be contributing to my poor idle and running rich.

My crappy alignment and ride height are really starting to bother me the more I look at the car. Coilovers are in the very near future. I would like to try to track down the source of the horrible front alignment. I need to look over the suspension and try to see if there's anything bent.

The other high priority is a harness bar or a roll bar. I don't like having cheap harnesses bolted in. If my wife and I were in a real wreck, we'd probably both be injured. So I am going to push hard to get a roll bar measured and fabbed so I can take the vert over to TeamTech and have them install sime nice harnesses.

Hopefully I'll make some more good progress tonight and tomorrow.

Re: (DeXteR)

Eikon — 2008-04-17T08:34:06-08:00

I wonder if a small animal chewed through a ground wire or something?

Re: (delishnick)

DeXteR — 2008-04-17T07:15:12-08:00

Funny this should get bumped...

I pulled the cover off last night to try to wake this beast from it's slumber... to no avail.

The battery was dead, so I pulled my trusty DSM into the shop to try to give the vert a jump. Everything seemed to power up all right, but as soon as I turned the key, it was like I was hitting a battery cut-off switch... Great.

So I test the battery and it's sitting at 7 volts. I grabbed another battery that was at 12 volts and tossed it in. Without the jumper cables hooked up, I tried starting it and the same thing happened. I didn't have time to trouble shoot last night, but maybe tonight I can tinker some more after we work on the house for a few hours.

While I was sitting in my recliner, looking at the vert, I made a decision: This thing needs coilovers badly. Since summer is all ready here and I want to drive and enjoy the vert while we have warm weather for a couple months, I'm going to push the turbo project back. This will give me some extra money for suspension and finishing up some of the other side projects for the vert.

Once my house is done being repaired, there'll be a lot more work going into the vert again this summer. Stay tuned.

Re: (DeXteR)

delishnick — 2008-04-16T15:34:27-08:00

WOW!!! that look like it damn FUN!! good wook you guys

Re: (Harman850T5)

DeXteR — 2008-03-12T05:30:16-08:00

Here's a little pre-spring update:

I'm still gathering parts for the KA24DET build that I want to get going on. I just bought those pistons and oil pump and cover last week from that guy I mentioned before. Those should arrive shortly then I'll buy a fourth piston and some rings. I'm also waiting for the ebay guy to get another set of those off-brand forged H-beams so I can get a set of those. Then it's off to the machine shop for balancing and machining.

Here's the short block just waiting for some new internals and it's trip to the machine shop:

After I drop off the shortblock, I'm going to take my head over to a fellow TCE member's house for some port work, a valve job, and a rebuild. Then I'll take it in to get decked for the MLS head gasket.

Here's some of the goodies I have sitting around that I'd like to install this spring or sometime this summer:

Nemo's underbody plate:

HUD cluster (dash and projector all ready installed) and digital climate control:

I do need to find a bunch of the sensors for it on my next trip to the U-pull it yard.

HUD windshield:

This won't go in until after paint - which is on Zach's long "to-do" list this year.

Here's the vert peeking from under the cover, "Can I come out yet?"

Soon, Silvert, soon...