I started taking the car apart today.. had a blast doing it. There is nothing better than spending an afternoon in the garage with no interruptions, listening to music and working on your car.

Here's the what I'm starting with today:

What I'm doing:
- Silvia front end conversion (stock metal fenders, stock metal hood, dual projectors, etc..)
- Vertex body kit
- Coupe doors (with seat belt relocation)

Here's a photoshop of what I hope to finish with for next spring:

First order of business is to remove the hood. Not a challange at all. There are two bolts on each of the hinges. Put the prop rod up, remove the bolts, continue to let the hood rest against the windshield, drop the prop rod, and pull the hood off.

In order to work on the front end you really need to have it up in the air and without the wheels.

My thought was that I would be able to pull off the fenders first. There are three 10mm bolts on top to remove. Open the door and you'll find a bolt in the jamb near the top. Pull the screws and snap the plastic retainers and remove the fender well plastic. Just behind the front wheel you'll find another bolt on the bottom of the fender. Inside the fender there is another bolt that requires a couple extensions to reach.. it's on the bottom of the connection at the door. Inside the fender on the front at the connection to the front bumper there are another 3 bolts. On the bottom of the fender there is a small brace reaching from the chassis to the fender secured with another bolt.
Damn.. it still won't come off!
I found the last bolt.. finally.. It's way up in the front tucked inside the front bumper. I tried forever to reach it.. multiple sockets, wrenches, etc.. no luck.
Even pulled off one of the headlights to get at it from the top.. No dice!

I decided I'd have to pull the front bumper in order to get at that bolt.

So, I repeated the very same process on the passenger fender to get to the same stage.

Now to remove the bumper. There are two braces up by the radiator support.. just remove the four bolts. There is a strip of four bolts in the middle of the bumper above the radiator opening facing down toward the bottom. The secure to a metal strip. You've already removed the bolts that attach to the fender. Also on the passenger side you need to remove the windshield washer fluid container.
Give the bumper a good tug and voila!

Now we can get that stupid fender bolt. It's just forward of the amber light in the fender. Yeah!! no more fenders!

Glad to have these parts off the car.

The car looks like a wreck!

I pulled the headlights assemblies out completely.

That's about all I had time for today.

Well.. maybe a few more minutes... I took a bit to test fit the rear bumper. Obviously it needs some prep and paint before going on the car for good.. but that takes money.. so it will wait a bit.

It's not quite on straight as the bottom behind the rear wheel is bowed out a bit.. once secured it will not flare out like that.

I like the angle.. I'm pretty excited.

That's all for today.
Tomorrow's plan is to remove the USDM front bumper support. It will likely be a little bit of a pain because my intercooler is braced to it. The JDM bumper support is a little different. I need to figure out how to secure the intercooler to the new jdm bumper support.. hmm.... we'll see.

The next thing I want to do is install the new silvia headlights and center garnish. I'm not sure if I can do that before installing the bumper?

Clearly I'm better at taking things apart than I am putting them together. lol.

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Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

1. Somehow it looks like a model car in the first pic.
2. Fender braces. Why don't you get them while you are at it?
3. How many fans do you have? Fans usually go between radiator and engine and yours is in fornt of radiator?
4. I think you should just cut the pillars and keep the original doors if they are in good shape. Paint should match better that way although black is easy to match. Or did you mean coupe door panels, not doors?
5. I rather go with GTR grill than 'silvia' light.
6. Someone's gotta get those mud guards. They are very hard to find.
7. Exhaust tip looks much better with a new rear bumper.

If you can make your car just like in 3rd picture, it's going to be a killer.

Yes and Yes. There are entirely too many bolts all over this goofy car. They really hid them in some strange and seemingly unnecessary places. I am a big fan of the silvia front end! Partly because it's different and I'm always doing things just a little different than the crowd. I think i've always associated the flip up lights with European cars and the silvia front looks more JDM. The rest of the lines of the 240 are very japanese.. so I think the silvia front is more "natural". Again.. everyone is has their own opinions..

Quote, originally posted by 94_240sx »

That's a lot of work you did today. I have some comments and Qs for you, Eikon. 1. Somehow it looks like a model car in the first pic. 2. Fender braces. Why don't you get them while you are at it? 3. How many fans do you have? Fans usually go between radiator and engine and yours is in fornt of radiator? 4. I think you should just cut the pillars and keep the original doors if they are in good shape. Paint should match better that way although black is easy to match. Or did you mean coupe door panels, not doors? 5. I rather go with GTR grill than 'silvia' light. 6. Someone's gotta get those mud guards. They are very hard to find. 7. Exhaust tip looks much better with a new rear bumper. If you can make your car just like in 3rd picture, it's going to be a killer.

1. - picture is a little older and taken with a different camera so it does look a bit different than the others.
2. - What fender braces are you talking about? Sounds like a good idea, but I'm a noob so I'm not sure what's out there.
3. - Dual pusher fans in front of the rad. RB's are a bit longer due to the extra in line cylinders. So puller fans make for a very tight fit. Not sure which is better for cooling potential.. but they seem to work fine.
4. - I've got this idea in the back of my head that I might not have this car forever.. so almost every mod I make.. I keep the original parts in stock condition so that I can reinstall them for a future buyer. So, I'd like to keep the 'vert doors uncut so that I could put them back on later. Besides.. i got some coupe doors pretty cheap and they are already in the garage waiting to be installed.
5. - I like the plastic silvia center grill.. for some reason it always seems like the gtr grills are a little off center or crooked... They just don't seem to flow very well in most cases.. of course all based on personal opinion.
6. - I'll probably sell those mud guards as they won't go back on the car after the kit is installed.
7. - Thanks! I agree, the new bumper frames the exhaust tip much better than the old one.

Got it, Eikon. Here's the brace.
http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=255621

94 - do these look like they are adequate quality to you?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW

Thanks for the tip.. I never would have thought to try something like this.

Some extra wouldn't hurt though I guess.

Looks good. Damn I need a garage again to get stuff done.

I was already planning that..

We'll see how the money situation turns out this winter.. if I can afford both, I'll do it as the extra bracing on that outside the fender can only help solidify it even more.

Oh!! I missed that. Yeah, it won't hurt to have it. Looks like eBay one is a copy of Nagisa, so I'd get it. It should work just fine. If you don't install it now, when are you going to have another chance? I'd like to have it too, but I figured it's just too much work, so I won't do it. I'm also afraid of messing up door and fender alignment.

Also, Seth. Pull the front bumper support off. It needs to be swapped with the silvia support when you swap the new bumper cover on. And while you have the front fenders off, go ahead and lengthen the wires for the side markers. The 240 and the Silvia both have the same plug, but the harness is a few inches shy of working right. If you don't lengthen, you can plug them in, but they stretch funny and make it hard to install the marker in.

I didn't get a chance to compare, but it looks like the stud strip that holds the silvia bumper and the 240 bumper to the fenders are the same. If you get a chance, compare them and get back to me. Cause I broke a few studs on mine, and I'd like to replace it instead of just doing the old bolt and nut shtick

Quote, originally posted by audtatious »

Hey wait. My balls don't hang too low yet

S13 Auto -> Manual Swap / My 240SX / Convertible Top Replacement / Silvia Fog Light Wiring / DIY: SR20DET Rebuild
Stacey L. Childs, NICO Mom

i've had to remove/change fenders and bumbers so many times that i can pull any one piece off in about 3minutes.

don't sweat it. take your time and have fun.

and of course, pics pics pics.

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Not too close. Just like this, so we can compare easily.

Here's the car without the support.

94_ Here are some pics for you of the fender area.

Well.. nothing is ever easy.

Ran into an issue already.

I put the JDM bumper core support on and tried to test fit the bumper... no go.
Looks like the vertex bumper is just not going to fit around that core support. At least not without some cutting.. which I don't really want to do. Oh well.. just added pounds anyhow right.. and that's what the intercooler is for.. protecting the front end in a collision.

My intercooler is a tad high for the silvia lights.. will have to see if I can reposition that down an inch or two. Or I'll have to cut the bracket that supports the tab on the center garnish.. we'll see about that one as well.

Unfortunately.. until I can get the silvia parts prepped and painted.. I won't be doing much else with the car.. so I'll revive this thread when that time comes.

we'll be waiting...

Seth, I have a modded front bumper support that might work, but it'd be a PITA to ship.

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I need to determine exactly what the rub is.. Might be an easy fix to my support or an easy fix to the bumper.. Worse comes to worse.. my buddy has a plasma cutter I can use to modify the one I have.

Core support. Measures about 5 3/4" from the tip of the ridge to the bottom. It doesn't have a perfect right angle at the bottom and it spreads a bit further down, but that shouldnt' have great affect... and if it does.. can be hammered flat.

Core support main portion. Measures just shy of 5".

Inside of the bumper.

Another view. Notice the lip that extends down vertically from the top. A little less than 1 1/2 inch.

Measurements. Just less than 5" from the top of the bumper to the top of the air vent hole.

So I clearly have an issue.. To fit the bumper over the core support I will have to remove the verticle strip that extends upwards on the core support. I also might have to remove the piece that extends downward from the inside of the bumper.. or both...

I'd like to keep the core support. My greatest concern is that I'm not sure how well the bumper will stay on w/out it. The only other points to fix the bumper to the car will be the screws that attach to the fender. I'm afraid the weight of the bumper and wind resistance at high speeds (at least 150mph.. lol) will be too much for those little screws.. So i'd really like the core support to actually support that bumper.

So I think the first order of business will be to remove the lip of that core support. Hope none of the screw holes are too important.

Anyone have suggestions or tips?

From the looks of it, the cover is supposed to hook over the upper lip of the support, but that's kind of speculation.

Perhaps then it will fit? lol.

Thats exactly how I did mine.
I took this part of the bumper

And slipped it over this part of the support
IDK though if your's will slip over cause of it being aftermartket

Mine was a stock S13 bumper and I modified the support a little to fit it.

But if you need any more pics, or have any Q's LMK, I'd be glad to help.