Geno750's 180sx Rebuild, Rant, & Question Thread. 56k = bad

[Geno750]

I bought my 180sx shell back in October and since then I've been on a all things SR20DET research binge. The parts have been accumulating in my parents garage since the apartment I live in doesn't even like me taking up a parking spot for my motorcycle and my truck. With the college semester over, and having purchased all the required parts to complete this project, I've started the assembly.

Here is what I started with:



When I bought the car I was missing a front bumper, seats (i got one seat w/o a headrest and bent brackets)

I do have all the ac/ps lines, ac radiator, drive shaft and ABS system though.

Here is what I have purchased so far:

Silvia front end180sx Floor matsBlacktop s13 sr20 complete motorsetGT28R turboDeatschwerks 740cc side feed injectorsZ32MAFEnthlapy ecu maped for the maf/injectorsApexi AVC-RBuddy Club WheelsTein CoiloversWalboro 255lph fuelpumpBuddy Club SpecII ExhaustMegan Turbo Elbow & Test pipeSard R2D2 bovAluminum RadiatorBig *** bar&plate fmic w/pipingS14 Seats

Here is the car after installing the Tein Suspension, Buddy Club Wheels, and S14 drivers seat. The passenger left off to make wiring stuff a little easier.











More to come tomorrow. Any comments, suggestions, or criticisms are more than welcome
Modified by Geno750 at 8:47 PM 12/21/2006

[ho1ywars]

wait untill you drive it man, its going to be such a rush. i bought mine with a bad motor and just swapped, such a great feeling. Good luck.

[nonvtecaccord]

where did you get a 180 shell at and is it street legal?

[adrianfromthecastle]

Any comments, suggestions, or criticisms are more than welcome

youre a bastard!! i envy a project like this sooooo much. thanks for sharing man, have fun. make sure you post up vids after, pics only go so far.

[Geno750]

where did you get a 180 shell at and is it street legal?

I bought it here in Florida, I'll have the answer to your second question in a few weeks.

[Geno750]

The engine and Silvia front end arrived today from jdmonline, Nasar is a great guy btw, and was very helpful even when my motor was stuck in Toronto.



My first surprise upon undoing all the shrink wrap was the ARC smic



The engine itself is pretty clean, no apparent oil leaks and no cracked sensors/plugs



However, the wire harness the connects the left fuse box to the right one is cut. This isn't a problem for me because that section of the harness was left inside the car, but I can't seem to get these plugs to separate. Is it more than just push in the plastic clip and pull?



Luckily, when they removed the sr20 from the 180sx they just cut the clutch line at the soft line going into the slave cylinder. On the motor, they cut it at the hardline so I'll be able to match the softline from the motor to the existing hardline on the car.

Lastly, here is a shot of the S13 fender bolted to the car. I can't decide if I want to keep with the dark blue or go with the black

[efrain240sx]

go with black 180/240sx HB's look sexy in black . nice car by the way good luck with it

[Hijacker]

i'm liking the build so far. take lots of pictures!

was this originally a 180sx or a RHD conversion car?

[FSUDrifter]

Lookin good man. My project is coming to a close hopefully this week. I'll have to ride over and check it out.

[BMAR240SX]

Out of subject and since you have done it and i never seem to get a proper answer. What did you do to install the S14 seat was it a direct bolt on? Otherwise then that congrats hope you build goes right

[Geno750]

Lookin good man. My project is coming to a close hopefully this week. I'll have to ride over and check it out.

Thanks, and your welcome to come over to check it out whenever you get the chance. I still have a ways to go, and I'm waiting on things that are keeping me from putting the engine in the car, like the turbo elbow and I have to modify the inlet elbow, so I probably won't be doing much on the car until I get those parts in.

i'm liking the build so far. take lots of pictures!

was this originally a 180sx or a RHD conversion car?

Oh I've been taking a ton of pictures, and I'll have crappy digital camera vids when I get this thing running. The car is a real 180sx btw

[Geno750]

Out of subject and since you have done it and i never seem to get a proper answer. What did you do to install the S14 seat was it a direct bolt on? Otherwise then that congrats hope you build goes right

The s14 seat bolts straight in without any modification needed. I can't comment on seatbelt buckles working with the us s13 seat belts since mine are manual and work with S14's buckle.

[Geno750]

Update, the FMIC, bumper support, and headlights are on the car now. The right fender was a pita to install since it was kinda tweaked, but it is better now that all the bolts are holding it in place.



There is this strange sensor that was on front of the car that shares wire sleeves with the horns, and another came with the conversion. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of it so I can figure out what it is. All that is left to do is to adjust the hole in the battery tray and trim the bumper then cosmetically I'll have done all I can do, the next step will be to get the engine running and the car in a paint booth.

As for the rest of the car, I just need the straps to mount the gas tank in place, and I am still waiting on my manifold gasket and turbo gasket so I can put those on the engine and get it inside the car.

[FSUDrifter]

sent you an email about a garnish.

I would leave the front bumper off while installing the motor, if you aren't already planning to do so. My bumper has been off as long as I've had the car lol.

I got my car done but it wouldn't start. I think I didn't install the CAS right afterall because I was using the S14 FSM instructions for my S13 motor and I think I put it in on the wrong TDC. I got it registered though so when I re-install the CAS tomorrow maybe I'll be able to take it for a spin.

[Geno750]

Oh, that sounds fun. Yea, my bumper will only go on for test fitting then it goes back off. If your car is up and running swing by if you have time, I'm dying to ride in a sr20 powered car.

[Geno750]

Latest update, lots of progress has been made.

Fuel system is complete, rusted gas has been cleaned out of the lines and the gas tank(acetone + air compressor for those wondering how). Currently the gas tank is installed, but is only being held on by 1 strap. I am missing the center anchor, but I have a new one on the way.

The Buddy Club Spec II exhaust is installed, and looks great.On a side note; before buying this exhaust I looked all over for some decent pictures of one installed on a 240sx/180sx/S13, and either the pictures sucked, or the exhaust looked kinda lame by sticking way out from the bumper. With that in mind, I took a bunch of my own pictures which will hopefully sink the ship that I, and any others might be in regarding how this exhaust looks installed.



After the installation, I discovered that a lot of the weight of the exhaust is on the hanger in front of the wheel in the 4th pic. After playing with that for a bit I realized getting a longer or shorter hanger will raise/lower the angle of the exhaust slightly. The only complication I ran into during the installation was the tow hook above the exhaust had to be removed in because it was touching the muffler.

After taking those pictures my camera died, and I left the charger at my apt so no more pics till next weekend.

GT2560R is installed, 2/4 lines are connected. The oil feed is done with a ss hose and oil restriction is done via the factory bolt. The coolant return hard line worked fine, and required very little bending for it to fit. The factory oil return fitting won't work. The end of it is too close to the fitting on the block and would cause too sharp of a bend in any hose used to connect them. To remedy this, I've ordered a SS hose for the coolant feed, and a drain flange & a barbed fitting for the oil return line. I cut and re-welded the inlet flange, but I rotated it too much and now the tip of it touches the exhaust manifold, so that will have to be redone.

I had to remove the oil pan and bang out the dent in it, and I was glad I did because it was touching the oil pickup. I'd recommend that anyone buying an sr20 check for this(you should remove the oil pan anyway to inspect for metal bits). To hammer out the dent I used a 2x4 and a bfh. After that, I repainted the bottom of the oil pan with black rustoleum paint and re-installed it with RTB-Black sealant left over from rebuilding the engine to my gixxer.

Lastly, before I write about the intake system I'd like to thank all the ricers out there for making this easy. With the ever increasing import scene, AutoZone and company have increased their ricey parts selection to include MAF adapters for the Z32 and SR20 sensor, as well as various reducers needed to make installing one a breeze. Thats about it, I'm on what feels like the home stretch with only a few things left(hopefully) to do, I am getting very excited.

As for the things left to do. I need to install the engine, wire up the AVC-R, hookup the intercooler pipes and R2D2 BOV. I also need to install the Z32 fuel filter, the rear main seal, change the oil filter, change the oil in the transmission and install it as well as the exedy stage 2 clutch.

[IDriveFords]

Just to give you a friendly warning about the exedy clutch; I just installed mine yesterday and you gotta change out the throwout bearing. The exedy clutch uses a different style bearing. I took the old bearing out and just hammered this **** outta it till it came off the housing then lightly tapped the exedy style bearing onto the housing. The stock bearing was really glued to that housing so it took alot of hammering to get it off. Anyways you seem to be moving along very smoothly; good luck!

[FSUDrifter]

you should have used a press to get it out rather than a hammer, mine came right off and I had no problems with any of the exedy parts on my clutch.

[Geno750]

Latest update:

Its alive! I'm finally finished installing things on the car, with exception to a new air filter since the one I have won't fit. I had stabbed the cas wrong the first time, a result of my misreading the frsport guide. Once I realized the error, the car fired right up. I still think I have a slight timing issue, as the car doesn't like to idle once it has warmed up, nor does it like to have the throttle closed or slightly open. However, once I give the car some gas, its stumbling goes away, and it springs to live like a problem free car. So FSUDrifter, if you read this our cars have exact opposite problems I can't cruise w/o studering and maybe a backfire or two if i let off the gas completely, but flooring it fixes my problem.

Aside from fixing that problem the only thing left to do is hook up my oil pressure and water temperature gauges and get something to convert to a 1 wire antenna.

After I typed all of this I realized I forgot the cable to my camera so I'll post pics and a vid clip of the car running tomorrow.

Edit: I did load a few pics to the web before I left for work

[Geno750]

Since FSU updated his, I might as well update mine. I've been meaning to but I was being lazy about getting the pictures off of my camera.

Car is basically finished. I had a coolant leak from a hose I forgot to clamp(fixed), an exhaust leak that will be fixed with a copper exhaust manifold gasket, and the brake rotors/pads should be changed. I'll be fixing both of those at the military's autohoby shop once the car's side skirts get here, as well as install my pignose lip.

This question was undoubtedly asked right away

where did you get a 180 shell at and is it street legal?

Here is my answer

Also, it took me 2 years to figure out how to get a grey market car legal. I used information that is available to the public so please, don't ask me how I did it, go do the research yourself.

[nonvtecaccord]

Sweet, glad you got it legalized. I'll give you $1 if you tell me how you did it...lol

[FSUDrifter]

after paint we're gonna have a photoshoot... and a drag race lol

[Geno750]

after paint we're gonna have a photoshoot... and a drag race lol

Lol, the drag race will be pointless, gt2871r vs gt2560r is a no brainer but yea definitely gotta paint and take some pictures.

[nonvtecaccord]

So hows those left hand turns...

[Geno750]

So hows those left hand turns...

Not too bad, I learned how to drive in England, and while there I drove a US mark III supra so driving on the wrong side of the road for where you sit is not that new. Two lane pass is still a pain in the *** tho.