A Build in the Mitten State...

[SolaraOnBronze]

Yeah, both are for sure a love it or hate it thing. At least the mirrors can easily be changed back if I don't like them. The spoiler has grown on me a lot though, I really like it.

[bllabong89]

I think the car is lookin pretty sick. Its nice to see a different touch to a s13 instead of just lowered or having a s15 front(not sayin thats bad tho). The type x front looks sick.

Im in the same boat as you right now, im fitting my kit so its all taped on and s*** but its still nice to see it come together

[SolaraOnBronze]

I wrapped my door panels in black "suede" last night. It sucked. I would say they are about a 7.5/10. I just gave up on them for the night and decided they are good enough. Maybe I'll redo them at some point in the future, who knows:

Of course, Chip felt obligated to "help."





One down, one to go:



Both finished:

[zach-Ka]

Looking good. Im really impressed with how the door panels came out.

[SolaraOnBronze]

Thanks man! They look a lot better in the pictures than they do in person to be honest. Not too bad though- I think they should hold up okay.

[SolaraOnBronze]

Tomei Poncams:



Misc. transmission gaskets, Nismo clutch pivot ball, freeze plugs, spark plug tube gaskets, downpipe brackets:



FREEEEBIEEE :



I'm heading to GR tomorrow after work to drop the head back on and install the cams. Props, once again, to Russell at NissanParts.cc!!

[SolaraOnBronze]

My friend Tim and I got some stuff done last night. Reinstalled the upper oil pan and baffle plate, GReddy oil pan, ARP head studs, Apexi head gasket, and the head itself. I ran out of time and needed to get home, but I really hope I can get a free weekend day and finish assembling the motor. Then it will be trailer time!

Crappy cell pics (intake mani. + turbo mani. are just mocked up):







As you can see, I have an awesome cell phone. I'm not sure if I am still going to paint the block/head. I'm going to get it as clean as I can and go from there. I'm just starting to wonder if I want to go through masking everything off when 95% of it won't be visible anyway, haha. We'll see though!

[bllabong89]

looking good man

[Bumnah]

You think about doing an electric water pump? They make pretty good kits now. I'm thinking it'd be great to be able to circulate water through the motor after a track session, or spirited driving.

[SolaraOnBronze]

^ Interesting...

So I had a center section for my rear valences, but it was a fiberglass copy. It was decent, but not totally perfect. Knowing how I am, I found a complete OEM set and sold my spare set to a friend, lol.



I also got my fuel pump and test pipe (fail megan lol) today. My car has a Walbro in it that the previous owner installed when he swapped it, but I wanted to install a new one myself to have some piece of mind. One less thing to worry about...



No idea what the bung is on the megan test pipe... it doesn't fit a wideband sensor, EGT sensor, stock O2, etc... very weird. I'm hoping to put some more time in with the engine this weekend and get it all back together!

[Riq]

Hell of a build, my 7yr old loves your cat btw

[Dazzla]

yeah, that bung on the test pipe is weird. I just left it on mine lol

[SolaraOnBronze]

Hell of a build, my 7yr old loves your cat btw

haha, that's awesome. I love him most of the time... but not when he insists on laying on the table while I am trying to do my taxes. He made my life a living hell last night.

Life has been slowing the progress of the build. It's getting nice out and it's time to whip this thing into shape. I am heading out to the barn on Saturday to finish the engine assembly and transmission maintenance- get that all ready to drop in. Then we will get the car towed out there to spray the bay!

[SolaraOnBronze]

Mrs. Crapbox decided to make her way out of the garage last night... lol

oh herro...

I didn't have a lot of free time, but I made some progress on the engine bay. I removed a lot of the items that were still in there and got about half of the bay cleaned up with Simple Green. The subframe/steering rack area is crazy dirty and caked with years of oil and grime. I wanted to get the car out so I can finish cleaning the bay and actually take a hose to it to get the last bits of grime out that I can't get to with just a brush and shop towels. The bay has the usual scratches and whatnot, but at this point I think I will repair the strut tower rust and leave the rest of the paint in there alone.

I am working with Broadfield to source all of the stuff I need for a proper battery relocation, so I will probably remove the rusty battery tray from the engine bay as well. My main goal is getting the car back on the road at this point, and while I still want to do it clean and do it well, some of my more ambitious ideas are being put on hold to get this thing running again. I will most likely tuck/clean up the engine harness, but the fuse boxes will probably stay in their factory locations, unless I can get some serious wiring help (not my area of expertise).

I'll take a day or two next week and get the engine all squared away. Last weekend I completed some minor stuff on the motor and got the transmission all ready to rock- I replaced some gaskets and installed my Nismo pivot ball and slave cylinder. It's just a matter of dropping the cams in and bolting up the intake/exhaust manifolds, then the motor/trans will basically be ready to go back in.

As soon as I have that all assembled, I'll be hauling it back out here and getting it dropped into the car. I'll drop my exterior stuff off within the next couple of weeks for paint. Things should really start picking up in the next month. ^.^

[Riq]

What are your power goals with this new setup? Awesome work, keep the updates coming

[SolaraOnBronze]

Thanks! Nothing crazy for the power goals. I would be totally content with 275 whp. I think it could see 300, but we'll see. As long as it has a good tune and holds up, I'll be a happy camper.

[Dazzla]

Hows the engine bay after the Simple Green stuff? I wanna use it on my engine bay and clean the sucker up

[SolaraOnBronze]

^ It works really well. You have to agitate it a bit with a brush and whatnot, but it cleans everything up really well. My front subframe and steering rack were caked with grease really think, but it has been working well! I should have a chance to finish the bay cleaning next week, so I'll post some before and after shots.

[SolaraOnBronze]

Here's how she sits. Pulled the fenders off yesterday, so those can go in the garbage. The whole interior was full of parts and crap, so I kind of just cleaned it out and got everything organized. I am working on removing the rear bumper- I thought I knew where all of the bolts/clips/brackets/etc. were, but I guess not. :lol:

The left side of the engine bay has been scrubbed, but the right side has not yet. It already looks a lot better than it did, so that's good!









It will be nice to have everything dropped off for paint next Wednesday. Here is where the engine is at. I didn't have a large enough wrench to pull the cam gears last time, so those should finally get put in for good next week.



Cobra downpipe showed up the other day as well. Super nice piece!

[SolaraOnBronze]

I got everything pulled off of the car and loaded up last night. I'm taking it out to a friend to have it all painted tomorrow:





Sweet new tarp hatch, LOL



I just got word from RavSpec that my rear CR Kais are in New York and ready to ship out here... I should have them by next week. Can't wait to see them on the car!

[240agsx]

hey good job on the car cr kais are super clean but i had a question what are the specs of those mesh wheels u got in the hatch they look super clean maybe u consider selling them i got dibs if you decide too

[SolaraOnBronze]

I believe they are from a cougar or a crown vic- I'm not sure what the specs are. i am just borrowing them from a friend right now to roll the car around. They're not my cup of tea, haha. He is trying to sell them, but I don't think he wants to ship them. :/ Sorry man.

[240agsx]

oh well i tried lol anyways they look nice i been trying to find some mesh wheels and those look clean and for some reason bigger than 16 im trying to clear my z brakes with some spacers on mesh wheels ........... how the other type x comming

[crakin]

awesome build man good luck.

[B-Radx240x]

Step 1: Paint new tarp hatch red.

Step 2: Let 'er fly like a sweet-a** cape

Step 3: Enjoy the +10hp gain

Hahaha wicked man keep it comin

[SolaraOnBronze]

^ haha, awesome...

I made some progress Wednesday night... after I got a lovely surprise on the way out to my buddy's place...



Goodyear fail.

After changing a tire in pouring rain, which sucked a lot, I went and got The Tomei Cams installed- FINALLY! I also installed the Tomei rocker arm stoppers and put the alternator/greddy pulley/ belt on. I just need to button everything up and plug some lines back in, then the motor itself will pretty much be ready!



Tomei Coil Pack Cover:



Next time I will button those things up, take the motor off the stand and install the rear main seal, ACT flywheel, toss the clutch back on, and bolt the trans up. Then I'll be able to haul it back home and drop it in the car!

[mRodiek]

Pink? Rad!

[SolaraOnBronze]

It's actually wrinkle red, my cell phone camera just sucks. I really need to take some decent pics soon...

[SolaraOnBronze]

Well, I kind of took a break from Nico for a while since the new layout was making me crazy. I'm trying to get back into it now, but I can only find this thread by searching google, LOL. Here are some updates:

Exterior: Most of my parts are back from paint. The hatch and side skirts came out pretty bad with runs in them- not cool. I took those right in to another shop to have them repaired. The front & rear bumpers, spoiler, rear valences, and front lip came out okay, though. I'll be installing those late this week/early next week.

Interior: Not much new to report. I sold my Corbeau FX1 Pro and found a good deal on a black Bride Zeta III Type L, so that should be here next week. A friend has some minty fresh rear trunk carpet panels for me to install, so those will go in shortly as well. Aside from that, I plan to make a new trunk board to go under the carpeting back there so that I can actually use the hatch space to haul stuff.

I also sold my Defi gauges (I got an offer I couldn't refuse) and picked up some digital AEM gauges to replace them. I will be running AEM digital AFR, Oil Pres, and Boost gauges in the center gauge pod:



Other than that, I think the interior is pretty set for a while. I'm hoping to add a DCC later this summer.

Engine: The engine is just about ready to drop back in. I need to torque all of the cam related stuff down, reinstall the timing tensioner and CAS, tighten up the valve cover, install the alternator pulley, new coil packs, coolant lines under the intake manifold, new oem release bearing, ACT flywheel, rear main seal, and a couple of seals on the trans. Once that is done, I'll bolt the trans up to the motor and haul it back to be dropped into the car.

Misc. I got my two 18x9.5 +12 Work Emotion CR Kais from RavSpec a couple of weeks ago and dropped them all off to be painted. They should hopefully be done by next week- my friend has been too busy to paint them lately. I'll have the tires mounted and throw them on the car as soon as he is done- can't wait to see it!







I'm not going to make my deadline of June 1st for having the car running. We close on our new home May 21st, so I will be really busy with that whole process. The good news is I will finally have a garage of my own to work on the car in, so that should help things move MUCH faster! I'll be sure to keep you guys posted over the next few weeks as the car comes together.

[Bumnah]

Congrats on the house purchase! Car is looking good. Should be stellar when completed.