Daily driven build thread

General discussion forum about the 240sx, and a great place to introduce yourself to the board!
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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Well I have had my 1990 240 for almost three years now, it has been a very slow process thus far. I am 19 living in my own apartment with a not very good paying job, haha. This is why this is a very slow build, lack of funds/ time/ and a secondary daily. Well I got the car from a nurse that bought the car brand new, and had it garage kept the whole time. So it has absolutely no rust and only 120,000 miles.This is the day I bought the car...This is the hidden system it came with...I then did my first modification which was a Injen intake... My next modification was a EBAY 3" cat- back.I then put a 300zx TT fuel filter in. This is what came out of the old one...I then removed all my emissions I dont have any pictures of it. If anyone does this make sure to do it all in one day. I did half one day and the other half another day. After the first day they car sounded like a dang cammed V8.. haha

I then painted my wheels bronze because I hated the white.I really enjoyed the bronze, but I never cleared them so if they are not cleaned perfectly they just look brown...I then bought I new coolant overflow tank and painted it..

Of course soon after I did the sleepy eye thing.. I thought this was the coolest thing in the world when I first did it, but after a year I find that I never use them.My valve cover was looking tired so I painted it...I am making this thread so I can just update it when I do something new instead of just making new stupid threads. I have to go work on my trany so I will continue this later on...


Modified by zach-Ka at 6:33 AM 3/26/2010


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Lonismos14
Posts: 1351
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:35 am
Car: 1995 Nissan 240sx, 1999 Chevy Hoe, 1996 Saturn Sl2

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Very cool unmolested.

I know exactly how you feel. Just keep saving.

But to be honest, if i could do things over again i would have went to college which is why im going next fall.

S14toRPS13
Posts: 2333
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:11 pm
Location: Back to CA

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Definitely stay in school. I chose to go to war instead of school. School's so much easier now that I think about it hahaha. Don't worry about it being a slow build. Just about everyone here is doing a slow build.

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Veriest1
Posts: 3686
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:23 pm
Car: '96 M3 and '93 240 coupe dd

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S14toRPS13 wrote:Definitely stay in school. I chose to go to war instead of school. School's so much easier now that I think about it hahaha. Don't worry about it being a slow build. Just about everyone here is doing a slow build.
And rushing isn't good anyway.

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Im actually starting school this spring.

Hoffman5982
Posts: 1805
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:20 pm
Car: '95 sr20det 240sx

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LOL That doesn't look like something a nurse would drive( the body kit and hidden sub). It's extremely clean though. It sucks having no money, but look at the bright side. It would be much worse having no funds and having to drive a ragged out shi**y 240 than having no funds and driving the clean s13 you have.

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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You definitely make a good point hoffman.Well where I left off was about this time last year. Due to my SOHC having leaky valve stems and never fixing them, and never paying attention to my oil levels two exhaust lifters seized. Before this I had been saving for a rb25 for awhile but I didnt quite have enough money so I just went ahead and got a sr. I know its been done all too much but I really dont regret it the least bit.(sorry for the bad pictures, all I had at the time was my cell phone.)We stripped and pulled the Ka..This went pretty well and pretty soon. I wish when I did this I knew of a de greaser product called AWESOME, it really it the best I have ever used and it only $1 from the dollar store.At this time parts started to come in.....In the mean time I cleaned up the bay and stared at my pretty new parts.Then one day the sr finally arrived, it really was like christmas.

We soon got to work the next day. After hours of trying to get the mounts to line up(there was only me and my friend Jarrett.) we got it in...I had a picture of this, but my photobucket crashed....and fitting the front mount....

After some time we got it all together and running...I drove it like this for awhile because I really just needed my car back. My fiancee (GF at the time) was giving me rides to work and to my friends shop every day. Not the ideal situation...
Modified by zach-Ka at 7:08 AM 3/26/2010

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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I then painted my tired and scratched valve cover...This is my previous power steering set-up.Not the best certainly, so I fixed it with the ISIS line...

[Then I got some ES tension rod bushings...

and I made we cooling panel the same day...
Modified by zach-Ka at 7:25 AM 3/26/2010

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JustDriftMore
Posts: 371
Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 6:41 pm
Car: 89+91 ku-pe

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cool keep it coming

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troskinatior
Posts: 1228
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:26 pm
Car: A Two Tone Piggy Coupe
Location: Jersey Shore Bish

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that over flow tank look cool as hell, im probably going to copy you

and keep the updates coming

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Copy away man, just so you know though. It kinda sucks not being able to see your levels.

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troskinatior
Posts: 1228
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:26 pm
Car: A Two Tone Piggy Coupe
Location: Jersey Shore Bish

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haha, thats true. ill probabaly scratch off some of the paint after i put it on

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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You could just tape off a line on the side... Dang, I wish I had thought of that....

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martins_240sx
Posts: 1414
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 3:19 pm
Car: 1990 240sx hatch, 1975 280z, 2005 F150 fx4

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another single cam bites the dust

Just kiddin...everything looks really clean. good work

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cracka400
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:22 am
Car: 1998 Nissan 240sx, 1989 240sx Coupe, and 2011 Nissan Versa HB
Location: Tennessee

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The single cam is going to live again. I've got it stripped down and beginning to rebuild it for a turbo

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Yep, I just realized Jarrett I will sell you my t25 for cheap when I get a t28..

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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...Well I got some s14 seats from a junk yard for $60... What a deal!

You cant really see in the picture, but I made a washer fluid container out of a Gatorade bottle...I just drilled a hole in the bottom and epoxy glued around it to make a better seal...I finally got some radiator feet, and I put some doorway insulation in-between the radiator support and radiator for a cleaner OEM look.I got rid of the crappy ground for the coil packs, and used a thicker wire and put it to the firewall... This made a pretty good difference in smoothness and acceleration...I removed the clutch dampener... I would definitely recommend doing this...Cleaned up the wires on the intake mani..

Removed the oem oil catch can and polished the heat shield a bit....

I got tired of the car being so noisy so I did some sound deadening of the trunk, doors, hatch, and walls of the back seat..I got a new stereo and moved my battery to the trunk..I just recently got a new clutch fork, pivot ball, throw out bearing, pilot bearing, and springs....[
Modified by zach-Ka at 7:50 AM 3/26/2010

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Lonismos14
Posts: 1351
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:35 am
Car: 1995 Nissan 240sx, 1999 Chevy Hoe, 1996 Saturn Sl2

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peel and seal FTW Its just to damn cold to do work its like 25 degrees here.

Is that a pillow that you cut up to stuff inside the panels.

Nice sr looks to have low miles on it.

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safin
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Joined: Sun Jan 21, 2007 6:35 am

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SSSRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Lonismos14 wrote:Is that a pillow that you cut up to stuff inside the panels.
I didnt cut a pillow up, haha, I just bought pillow stuffings. lol

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Lonismos14
Posts: 1351
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:35 am
Car: 1995 Nissan 240sx, 1999 Chevy Hoe, 1996 Saturn Sl2

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Ok thanx because i was copying you and didnt know what you had used.

Thanx BTW great write up

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Thanks man, I would suggest getting two bags of pillow stuffing. The denser you have it stuffed the harder its gonna be for sound waves to travel through. It's only like $4 a bag.

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Ramonesfreak2010
Posts: 472
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:46 pm
Car: 1991 240sx Hatch

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I've always wondered this. Where do you hook up the hose that belonged to the oem oil catch can?

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Ramonesfreak2010 wrote:I've always wondered this. Where do you hook up the hose that belonged to the oem oil catch can?
There is a hose that is attached to the bottom that goes to the block, and I had a metal pipe from coolant hoses that enabled me to bypass it nicely.

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Well I got a ka trany and successfully swapped the bell housings. It was really easy. If anyone ends up doing this, I found the easiest way to split the trany is to just hit the bell housing with a rubber mallet, it came apart in not even a minute.My old sr trany had about 1/8 of an inch of shaft play each way on the input shaft. The ka trany has none, and all the gears look impeccable as do the bearings. I will be putting it in today and I really hope this fixes it...

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TroubleBound
Posts: 1778
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:45 am
Car: 1992 240SX Hatch
Location: Richmond VA

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Yeah good luck i hope it works for you. Sucks you had to pull the entire trans ill shoot myself if i have to pull mine right back out lol a little while down the road is okay but not after i just put it in. Wish i knew what you knew my car would be done

bllabong89
Posts: 485
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:25 pm
Car: 1995 s14

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did you notice a big difference when you swapped the factory clutch line for the steel braided line?

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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bllabong89 wrote:did you notice a big difference when you swapped the factory clutch line for the steel braided line?
The braided line is actually my Power Steering line. And I did notice a difference in the steering response... haha
TroubleBound wrote:Yeah good luck i hope it works for you. Sucks you had to pull the entire trans ill shoot myself if i have to pull mine right back out lol a little while down the road is okay but not after i just put it in. Wish i knew what you knew my car would be done
Thanks man, the only way I learned what I know is just searching the forums over and over... O and ALOT of trial and error... haha. BTW did you get my e-mail?

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zach-Ka
Posts: 1549
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:08 am
Car: 1990 240sx (SR)
Location: Greeneville, TN

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Well I did the trany today and It couldn't have gone smoother. BUT I started it and it stall makes the knocking noise. So after alot of head scratching and testing of different noises on the KA-E that we have on the stand we have come to the conclusion that it is the crank having to much play. So I need to replace the main bearings(oem), get the crank balanced, ACL main studs, and any gaskets of course. While I am at it I will also be replacing the rod bearings and the oil pick-up strainer... So now my search for a daily driver and the title of this thread is now a lie. Fun stuff guys and gals....

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TroubleBound
Posts: 1778
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:45 am
Car: 1992 240SX Hatch
Location: Richmond VA

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zach-Ka wrote:BTW did you get my e-mail?
I did thanks a lot man it helped me a bunch i actually just finally started my SR today on first crank. Sounds like a** for now tho lol.

That blows you have to take your entire motor apart thats crazy you have lots of work ahead of you. It will be nice to have the security of rebuilding it with quality parts though. Are you looking for an S13 in the meantime or just any sort of daily?


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