Another S13 Build Thread

[SR20DET.240]

Hey guys, I figured since I have been on this site for over a year I would post up my build thread of my S13. For starters, my name is Max Payne ( really !!) and I have had my 89 S13 for a little over a year now. When I bought it it had already had the SR20DET swapped into it but there were a lot of problems. I have spent the last year sorting out wiring issues and fixing broken parts. Below are some pictures of when I bought it and what I have done since. Feel free to comment.

Here are some pictures of when I bought the car, It had a Megan Racing CF spoiler that was removed as soon as I got the car home:



Guy I bought it from did some photoshop on the license plate

Still has the SOHC gauge cluster, it was fun trying to figure out how fast I was going on my way home from PA to VA.

I spent the first couple of months trying to fix issues such as the wiring, motor mounts and gauge cluster.

Here is my new gauge cluster, I am thinking it might be Canadian because it has both KM and MPH



I also installed a B&M short shifter and Circuit Sports shift knob. Much better then the mushy shifter that was in it when I bought it:



Next I replaced the wheels and tires, needed something to be able to drive in the winter and got a really good deal here on Nicoclub on a set of Rota Grid's in 16x8.5 +10 offset

Before:

After:

I also had to swap out the Ebay exhaust that was on the car, it was rusting out and it was way too loud to be driving around my neighborhood at night when I get home for work, I put the Circuit Sport exhaust on there, so far it is one of the best upgrades I have done.I have also swapped out the stock rear turn signal assembly for the RPS13 set up and even got the RPS13 CF center garnish cover:



Today I swapped out the stock S13 seats for a great set of 180SX seats I picked up

New Seats:Before:

After:

I also got the 180SX rear seat but didn't have time to install it before I had to get to work today. I will post up shots of those later.Here are some other shots of the car as it sits now:

Motor:

Interior Shot:

Front Shot:

I know the car is sitting too high right now, the previous owner put a set of Megan Racing lowering springs on there and they are horrible. I will be buying a set of coilovers as soon as I finish selling off all of my parts I had in my Honda Civic race car. I also have plans to put a factory piggy lip on the front as well as adding a FMIC. I also need to get a replacement hatch at some point, mine still has the holes from the spoiler that was mounted on it and have been plugged and sealed, but they still look like crap.

I also have a set of Origin 20mm over fenders for the front that will go on the car whenever I get around to getting them painted.

Wheels and tires are getting replaced when I do the suspension, most likely going with a 17x8.5 up front and an 17x9.5 in the rear after doing the five lug conversion.

I am also going to change the fabric out on the door panels and the glove box, just not sure what color or fabric type I want to go with.

Other then that my only other real goal at this time is to try and get the SR20DET to pass VA emissions, if I am successful at doing that I will post up how to do it. Ok, this has been enough of a novel. Let me know what you guys think.

[srpowered240sx]

cool. good job so far.

[s13 iDRIFT]

looks good!!

but glad to see that wing is gone!!!l0l..and keep the updates coming!

[mattblancarte]

For starters, my name is Max Payne ( really !!)

[Bumnah]

I want your tail lights

[Kalypso]

the only thing you need for this car to be 100%

are coilovers.

[SR20DET.240]

I want your tail lights

I picked mine up from a Nissan dealership in Cali. Found it on http://www.mynismo.com

[Marenta]

[s13beast]

Where did you get your exhaust?!?!?!?! I love it! its not flashy and just looks nice. i bet it sounds beast too!

[SR20DET.240]

Where did you get your exhaust?!?!?!?! I love it! its not flashy and just looks nice. i bet it sounds beast too!

I got it through Enjuku racing, I believe they are one of the Nico Club sponsors. It took about five months to get it because Circuit Sport only ships small batches a couple of times a year. It does sound awesome though. Best sounding exhaust for a daily driver IMO.

[gregfarz78]

glad you ditched that park bench spoiler

those seats are minty clean wow!

[SR20DET.240]

More to come this weekend, the lower center brace of my bumper is cracked, so I picked up a repair kit, I am going to repair it, and repaint it so the yellow plastic under the paint wont show. Next up is a piggy lip install. I will also tackle the rear seat swap for the one that came with my 180sx seats. I should have some pics posted tomorrow.

[ilovesideways]

want to sell the wing?

[nevertheless]

Another 240 saved Now slam it!

[SR20DET.240]

want to sell the wing?

I dont have it anymore, actually sold it to some high school students that put it on their Volvo station wagon

I do have an APR GT200 carbon fiber wing that I might be selling, came off of my track car, it is almost brand new since i never got the car to the track and I dont think I will be putting that on my S13.

http://www.aprperformance.com/...id=44

[ilovesideways]

I dont have it anymore, actually sold it to some high school students that put it on their Volvo station wagon

I do have an APR GT200 carbon fiber wing that I might be selling, came off of my track car, it is almost brand new since i never got the car to the track and I dont think I will be putting that on my S13.

http://www.aprperformance.com/...id=44

Okay cool, let me know.

[veebee]

lol side mount intercoolers always throw me off. i was looking at the engine bay picture and i was asking myself "where the hell is his cold pi ooooooh side mount"

so used to front mounts these days

[positron1]

Agreed, salvation of another 240. Nice job!

[SR20DET.240]

lol side mount intercoolers always throw me off. i was looking at the engine bay picture and i was asking myself "where the hell is his cold pi ooooooh side mount"

so used to front mounts these days

I will be installing a FMIC as soon as I can sell some stuff I have from my Civic. Also waiting to install my Greddy Profec B Spec II until it is in.

[SR20DET.240]

Here is the latest update, today I decided fix my broken front bumper. I figured I would take the bumper off and do the repair and give the inside a coat of paint so it looked black again instead of having the yellow plastic showing through, but I ran into a snag, when I tried to unbolt the top bolts near the radiator support one of the studs just snapped off because the nuts are rusted on there



Not wanting to break any more off until I can figure out what I am going to do with this I had to result to fixing the bumper while it was on the car. I used some Bondo bumper repair, this stuff is great, mix it up, put it on and you can sand it when it dries



Here are some pictures of what it looked like before, the pictures are looking straight down from the top



Next are some pictures after I put the Bondo repair stuff on:

I am going to let it cure over night and sand it down tomorrow and I may try painting over it while it is on the car but more then likely I will wait until I figure out what to do about the bumper bolts. I will be looking around tonight to see if I can find a diagram of how it is put together, if it is just a metal backing plate with studs on it I wont worry about the studs and just get another one from the Nissan dealer. More pics and updates to come.....

[StandardProspect]

i recently took off my front bumper (chuki) and had the same problem with those four bolts by the radiator. I broke 3 of them. its bound to happen.

when i work on my 240 i just expect to replace all bolts because most of them are brittle and all of them are old.

[SR20DET.240]

I knew I am going to have to replace a lot of this stuff, fortunately there is a Nissan dealer about 1 mile from the house, I just dont want to break them all off until I have a new set, but seeing as how I have never taken one apart I am not sure exactly what I am breaking. Perhaps someone can let me know, it looks like the bolts may be attached to part 9 of the following image



I searched around and didn't see any posts with pictures of installs/removals. Still need to get a FSM.

[SR20DET.240]

Found the FSM on here, which helps with some of my questions, but it doesn't show any retainer with studs on it. It looks like there is a piece off of the bumper reinforcement that has the holes in it, but I still dont see the studs that I broke off. If anyone has pictures of theres taken apart please post them up. I would appreciate it.

[m tr4nch]

Found the FSM on here, which helps with some of my questions, but it doesn't show any retainer with studs on it. It looks like there is a piece off of the bumper reinforcement that has the holes in it, but I still dont see the studs that I broke off. If anyone has pictures of theres taken apart please post them up. I would appreciate it.

idk if this will help, but here's a pic of all my front bumper brackets off:



a bunch of mine broke off too from being rusty

you just want to remove the bumper from the car though right? the easiest way would be to remove the nuts holding the sides to the fenders, remove the screws on top holding it to the headlight brackets, and remove the 2 bolts/nuts holding the metal bumper support to the frame. the whole thing should come right off, instead of trying to remove all those brackets just to get the bumper cover off.

good luck.

[ThuG LyFe]

looks really nice so far agree just need coils.

also it looks like the tires are too tall making it look more like an off road vehicle...maybe size down next time you upgrade?

[SR20DET.240]

idk if this will help, but here's a pic of all my front bumper brackets off:



a bunch of mine broke off too from being rusty

you just want to remove the bumper from the car though right? the easiest way would be to remove the nuts holding the sides to the fenders, remove the screws on top holding it to the headlight brackets, and remove the 2 bolts/nuts holding the metal bumper support to the frame. the whole thing should come right off, instead of trying to remove all those brackets just to get the bumper cover off.

good luck.

Correct, I just want to remove the bumper, I snapped one of the studs off on the top part of the bumper where there are four or five studs ( I dont remember). I am trying to figure out if that is a retainer with studs that can just be replaced or if the studs are actually attached to the bumper cover meaning that if I break them off I have to replace the bumper cover. I think the piece is the second one down from the top in the middle that I broke. I was wondering how that attached to the car. I am assuming that is part 9 in the parts diagram I uploaded. Let me know if I am correct.
Modified by SR20DET.240 at 3:03 AM 10/24/2008

[SR20DET.240]

looks really nice so far agree just need coils.

also it looks like the tires are too tall making it look more like an off road vehicle...maybe size down next time you upgrade?

Yeah, I am not real happy with them, I actually based the size of the tires from someone else's car here on Nico who had the exact same setup. Problem is that my car sits too high and my rims actually came wider then expected, supposed to be 16x8's, ended up being almost 16x9, another reason they dont look right. I had to have a shop measure them because I thought they looked off. Its really weird . I am getting rid of those rims as soon as I can afford my new ones my two highest priorities right now are suspension and a FMIC.

[Razi]

For cleaning the interior, buy some Simple Green.

Then use Aerospace 303 to protect your dashboard.Nice S13, good luck with it.

[SR20DET.240]

For cleaning the interior, buy some Simple Green.

Then use Aerospace 303 to protect your dashboard.Nice S13, good luck with it.

I have never heard of Aerospace 303. I looked it up on the web and found their site, looks like the closest place to buy it is at a marine/rv supply place. I will have to go check it out when I get a chance.

[m tr4nch]

Correct, I just want to remove the bumper, I snapped one of the studs off on the top part of the bumper where there are four or five studs ( I dont remember). I am trying to figure out if that is a retainer with studs that can just be replaced or if the studs are actually attached to the bumper cover meaning that if I break them off I have to replace the bumper cover. I think the piece is the second one down from the top in the middle that I broke. I was wondering how that attached to the car. I am assuming that is part 9 in the parts diagram I uploaded. Let me know if I am correct.

yup and yeah that piece can be replaced.