Beat92's "Overkill is underated" build thread

[Beat92240]

I had started this thread on another local forum that kind of died, and NICO was the only other one I ever got on...so I figured I'd move it to here.

I had always wanted a 240 but never came across one in the condition I like to find cars in. However, one day after talking to a friend for a while through a chance meeting at a gas station, he mentioned he was selling his 240sx, and if i knew anyone interested to get at him. I really wasn't looking for a third car, but asked a price to tell anyone interested. He told me $500....and I said I'll take it.

After calling some friends to help get it off the tow truck, I was harassed and repeatedly ball busted about how terrible the car looked, and what was I thinking spending $500 dollars on a beat 92 240 shell. I, however saw the bigger picture: We live in western PA, and the car had very little surface rust, and no other rust on the car, and was over all very VERY solid for the year.

So as soon as it got off the truck, the strip down began:






I taped the car off in an attempt to paint a car for my first time....until a buddy that worked at a body shop said that probably wasn't the best idea, and offered to do it for me:




I then took some key pieces to a very good friend of mines place that has been powdercoating a lot of my pieces for past cars:
Front subframe:




The strip down continued on the rest of the interior after the engine bay was primed:




I then got some loving in from my friend at Ace Up Motorsports:




And continued to prep the rest of the car for primer:


I then patched a few random holes in the engine bay, including where the battery tray once sat:




The car was then completely primered for the first time...and second time:






Then some body work was done on some other panels, and they were primered too:




Next came the front and rear 5 lug conversion. Which was followed shortly by ARP extended studs: 240sx for the rears, and Evo studs for the front...due to the different knurl sizes.


Then more good news! My powdercoater had finished the rear subframe, lower control arms, and knuckles! We also replaced the rear lower ball joints with some 89 nissan Sentra Moogs. So a mock up had to be done!








I then got a hold of Russ down at Aerokits.net and got my hands on a BN Blister full widebody kit and Drift hood...so we are now on the pre-fit stage there:








More to come over the next number of weeks. You won't be finding a budget build here! so it may take some time. But I'd rather take a couple months then rush something and not have it be exactly how I want it. So bare with me and feel free to ask any questions! Thanks for pay attention!

[bigbadberry3]

I like where this is going

[s13_chris]

I like where you're going with it. What's your plans for upgrades? Good job on all new suspension arms.

[Beat92240]

Thanks guys! I'm not sure where you came in at because I was making edit's to this while you had posted (computer froze the first time I tried so I figured I'd break it into a couple updates rather than risking losing a bunch of time again). But I'm going to look at a motor on friday for it, but plans are white with gold wheels. I've done gold/bronze wheels on most of my cars....so its kind of my trade mark locally. Upgrades is a little broad though! but it will be not much left to factory...I can tell you that much!

[PEZi]

f*** sick...

[Brent.S13]

This is turning out very nicely, props bro!

[feoo]

that subframe
gotta get color coordinated coils too now!

[Razi]

Very nice!

That middle "brace" for the subframe probably won't do much in our cars, if you want to stiffen up the subframe, many people pour expanding foam into the subframe with good success, you just need to find some good stiff foam.

[Beat92240]

that subframe
gotta get color coordinated coils too now!

Ahhh I wish I could man but I think I'm gonna have to go with performance over looks. I'm pretty set on the power by max coils which will really throw off the scheme of things!

[Beat92240]

Very nice!

That middle "brace" for the subframe probably won't do much in our cars, if you want to stiffen up the subframe, many people pour expanding foam into the subframe with good success, you just need to find some good stiff foam.

Noted my friend. Thanks for the tip! Sounds like a good idea!

[the a3k]

how much did you spend on all the rods, arms, etc. i wish i had moneys to dump into my s14

[Beat92240]

how much did you spend on all the rods, arms, etc. i wish i had moneys to dump into my s14

For all the arms/Megan f&r sway bars/Isis solid subframe bushings/it was arous a stack shipped.

[bllabong89]

Looking good. What kind of engine are you looking at? SR? RB? LSX?

[Cbus240]

wow, great job so far man! like everybody else, I like where this is going big time. you are definitely going to have yourself a very clean 240 when it's all said and done. haha I get excited now whenever I see somebody taking the time to clean up their suspension/undercarriage since I pretty much just did the same thing to my car. the powdercoating looks great btw, I like how you made the RLCA's and knuckles match the color of the Megan arms, it's different. keep up the good work, I am definitely gonna keep checkin out this thread!

[Beat92240]

So tonight I took some time to take out my sound deadening material. It wasn't a whole lot of fun, but I wanted to get it done. So no better time than the current!

I started with a small pry bar and hammer. I know its not the desireable tools, but it was all I had so I worked with it. I used these to blow off the large chunks of the material.


I then found this bad boy at API, and figured it would work out well for removing the left overs that the pry bar didn't get:


It came out looking a little like this....all nice and clean!


After some classic red scotchbright and some wax and grease remover...you get some nice looking metal.


As you can tell I'm a big fan of clean stuff, so I decided to do the floor of the interior in truck bed liner. I wanted something rugged but also good looking. Regular painted seemed out of the question for the ground unless I did a couple coats of clear over it, and even then it didn't really seem fitting. But hey, its how I wanted it, and I'm glad I went this route!


It looks much cleaner now, and wow was there a lot of that stuff in there! put aside a solid day to pull out the material if your doing it clean like this, and you can pretty much judge how long to repaint...only about 3 hours to do the whole interior including prep work with the truck bed liner. If you have any more questions feel free to ask!

[Beat92240]

Looking good. What kind of engine are you looking at? SR? RB? LSX?

RB26. Didn't want to say it because people tend to not believe people on the forums when its said. But you'll all learn I'm a man of action! which is a reason for the title of the build thread!

[Beat92240]

wow, great job so far man! like everybody else, I like where this is going big time. you are definitely going to have yourself a very clean 240 when it's all said and done. haha I get excited now whenever I see somebody taking the time to clean up their suspension/undercarriage since I pretty much just did the same thing to my car. the powdercoating looks great btw, I like how you made the RLCA's and knuckles match the color of the Megan arms, it's different. keep up the good work, I am definitely gonna keep checkin out this thread!

Thanks. My powdercoater has not let me down yet. If I give him a small sample he does a fantastic job matching to whatever I want. I'm lucky to have a lot of people around me that are extremely good at what they do, otherwise I couldn't do a lot of the stuff to my cars I've been able to.

And I agree. It seems like not many people take a lot of time to do stuff as in depth, but I understand why. Not everyone has the luxery of the time or the money. So I don't hate on anyone! unless they just choose to half a** stuff.

And go for it. I appreciate the fact that some people are gonna keep checking in. I don't wanna let you down then! haha.

[S13xCrazy]

Slightly dissapointed due to the fact that megan is definately not Overkill....or underated. :-P

But really, Great looking build! Can't wait to see the finished product!

[the a3k]

i keep seeing all these build threads and its insane how much money must go into these things, all the parts and supplies arent cheap. i decided that im gonna build my s14 though. hopefully it turns out as well as yours and some other peoples i've seen

[Beat92240]

Slightly dissapointed due to the fact that megan is definately not Overkill....or underated. :-P

But really, Great looking build! Can't wait to see the finished product!

I know they're not the most expensive, but for some reason...I'm a stickler for having as much of a part of the car the same brand as possible, and the made the most suspension parts out of and of the companies I found. Which is pretty much my only reasoning I got them...and I didn't see spread all over the place they were junk...so I decided to give them a shot.

And thanks as always for the props. Ill try not to let u down!

[Beat92240]

i keep seeing all these build threads and its insane how much money must go into these things, all the parts and supplies arent cheap. i decided that im gonna build my s14 though. hopefully it turns out as well as yours and some other peoples i've seen

I always keep dollar for dollar tabs on what I spend on these in an exel spread sheet...so I'll keep posted as we go forward exactly how much has gone into it. But ur right...and it's painful to see the cash shooting out the door for it. But it will be worth it in the end!

And good luck on yours! Keep me posted if you start a thread.

[bllabong89]

Sick, I can't wait to see it together. It is going to be a bad s13 for sure once the rb goes in. I was thinking of going with a 26 in my s14 but since I'm leaving for basic in april and my car is no where near rolling, it may be out of the question for a little bit.lol. Mad props to you and its good to see other builds like my build and cbus's build where you take care of every little part of the car. I like to think of it as restoring the car to how it should have left the factory.lol

[Beat92240]

Sick, I can't wait to see it together. It is going to be a bad s13 for sure once the rb goes in. I was thinking of going with a 26 in my s14 but since I'm leaving for basic in april and my car is no where near rolling, it may be out of the question for a little bit.lol. Mad props to you and its good to see other builds like my build and cbus's build where you take care of every little part of the car. I like to think of it as restoring the car to how it should have left the factory.lol

Thanks bro! I've hung tough because a lot of the locals have been trying to convince me to go a different route, but Ive always wanted one, so no one will change my mind. I like the challenge of doing not common motors, and always have in the past. SR20s and RB20s are good don't get me wrong, but I want something a little more unique.

I'll have to search for ur build thread man, Ive been checking some out lately looking for other stuff to do while it's in this condition before it starts going back together.

[the a3k]

i have a rb25 in my current s14 and that thing is quick. rb26 would be even crazier.

ill definitely let you know when i start my build. im probably just gonna get another s14 shell in the spring since i DD mine.

[bllabong89]

heres a link.
zerothread?id=468736

I would say you could stitch weld the chasis but you have already done some paint work on the interior so that would kind of be moving a step back. Are you going to be putting a cage in?

[s13sickboi]

'WOW' is underrated...

[laxands13]

this thread is awesome. I love seeing the builds where every little thing is taken care of. Definitely gonna keep watching this one

[Beat92240]

i have a rb25 in my current s14 and that thing is quick. rb26 would be even crazier.

ill definitely let you know when i start my build. im probably just gonna get another s14 shell in the spring since i DD mine.

Yeah man I haven't ridden in anything but a 20...and it was kinda disappointing (nothing against anyone that has one!). So im very excited to get it in and driving, though it gonna be a while.

Good luck with finding a new one though.

[Beat92240]

heres a link.
zerothread?id=468736

I would say you could stitch weld the chasis but you have already done some paint work on the interior so that would kind of be moving a step back. Are you going to be putting a cage in?

Yeah my buddy does some pretty nasty fab work and did my buddies with stich welding just after we painted mine. I was a little not happy. But there's still a possibility, but not a priority.

And yeah the cage will likely be the last thing though since I have to drive it over to his place to have him make me one up. So hang on for a couple months! It'll be in there!

[Beat92240]

'WOW' is underrated...

I don't know what else to say besides this and the reply below it are the whole reason I do stuff like this. Makes it all worth while to see that people care about a nicely done car still. Thanks.