89 240sx CA18DET Build

[naedeloc]

So I purchased an 89 240sx and said so long to my old 89 SE. The new one is pretty rust free besides the spare tire well and passengers headlight area. Sounds all good and gravy right? Well this is how I got it.



Old SE



Basically it came the tail light and fuel pump wiring, Talked him in to throwing in the hatch. Came with the s14 dash but i traded it for a crack free s13 one. also got the door panels and center console too. Here's all the pictures I have of the body at the moment.













Threw the doors on real quick to try and keep all my parts inside safe lol.

[naedeloc]

A few things i have for the build so far. Mostly waiting for the weather to get the body taken care of. List consists of EMUSA Coils, Rear Subframe, S14 LSD, 5 lug Conversion, Z32 Brakes. Also got This big bundle of parts for a trade on a Honda then bought the Honda back for $300. I'm sure I've forgotten a bunch of stuff but I'll try and keep this updated as I go.



CP Piston's


Split Fire's


Mystery manifold, was told it was a peak boost one but have no proof. It's super beafy though.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Looks like quite the setup! You've got a lot of work ahead of you.
That turbo/manifold looks like its going to take up a bunch of room in the engine bay.

[naedeloc]

Looks like quite the setup! You've got a lot of work ahead of you.
That turbo/manifold looks like its going to take up a bunch of room in the engine bay.

Not work but fun! Sure to be some bang your head on the wall stuff though.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

No doubt. Good luck! We'll be here.

[naedeloc]

So I have access to a water blaster that runs at 40,000 PSI. I took advantage of that and blasted both my rear subframe and front crossmember. Getting everything ready to bolt on once the rest of my underbody work is done.

Before:




After:


Before:


After:

[float_6969]

Ahh, I love a CA build, LOL! I might be a little biased though.

[naedeloc]

Been waiting on stuff to ship to me. Waiting on a gallon of Chassis Saver and also the Energy Suspension rear control arm bushing set. Also on the way are new axle boots, axle nuts and Frt&Rr sway bar hardware. But I had a pretty productive day today. Got the front end sitting on the ground at least.



EMUSA Coilovers. Have them maxxed out at the moment to make life easier while working on it.



Then I started drilling all the spot welds and came up with this. The headlight portion of the core support and front wheel wells were poorly modified and not protected properly leaving them pretty rusty. More than likely just going to do trailer fender tubs just to make life easier. Also might have a cleaner core support.

[naedeloc]

Forgot to add picture's of the spare well work. Holes cut and new pieces formed. Just need to weld them in.

[naedeloc]

Well I figured I'd just do an update to record my progress and pass along helpful information along the way.

So far I got the holes filled in the hatch area and also sprayed the back half of the bottom with Chassis Saver. Installed the rear sub frame as well. I used the Energy Suspension sub frame bushings for the S14. they do say they work for the S13 but they clearly aren't made for it. when the two bushing halves are installed there is probably a 1/2" gap till they would come all the way together. I had researched a bit and found a guy that said to swap the sub frame mounting nuts with the rear LCA ones as the sub frame one has a flat washer kind of built in to the nut giving you less threads to work with while the LCA ones are threaded end to end. I used my Electric Impact to tighten the sub frame nuts and just kept going till i could feel it bottomed out on the metal bushing sleeve. they seem to have installed fine but I'm still going to have that half inch gap in the back of my head. just wanted everyone to know what to expect. Also did the whole Rear Control Arm Energy Suspension bushing kit. I used a Ball Joint service tool to do all of them. To press them in I put the inner sleeve a little more than half way in the bushing and used the same ball joint service tool. A few of them I actually put the bushings in a jar of water and microwaved them. it made them more flexible and they slid in like butter. The microwaving didn't seem to effect the bushings at all. I've watched the YouTube video of the guy cutting the bushing in half... I thought that was just stupid to cut something not meant to be cut and could cause abnormal ware IMO... Hope that kind of helps someone find what they need to know since I couldn't find much light on the subject. But at the moment I got it rolling around on all fours.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Looks good. Got any pictures of the gaps you were talking about (or the final product)?

[naedeloc]

Looks good. Got any pictures of the gaps you were talking about (or the final product)?

The bushing in the top right of this picture shows it pretty good. I have the metal sleeve pushed flat with the top inserts. You can see the gap from where that sleeve should be on the bottom insert and where the sleeve actually is. You'll probably have to zoom in on it but that's the amount of gap that would be on the inside. I thought I had taken a picture of the gap but I can't seem to find it. Also that is an S14 LSD and I used the SPL Pro conversion bushings. They came with brand new OEM Nissan bolts and it was probably the easiest thing I've done on the whole car so far lol. I'll get some pictures of the sub frame in with the chassis saver i sprayed. Ill also get some pictures of the bushings installed. Also I used my old rear control arms because i found a write up on here that said to use B12 Sentra (85'-90') front ball joints on the rears. they fit like a charm and just used a ball joint service tool. they will slide right out and in. no heat, no pounding, no bending control arms.