Build a V8 240SX in 24 Hours?

[NismoDriver240]

looks sickk, rounded cowl ftw

[Davidss]

ill def. be watchin to c wat gos down but in the mean time here it the flat black s14 you builthttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...wItem

That's the car but I think it's a scam. The guy I sold it too was from Florida, and that guy on ebay isn't able to answer basic questions about the car. I am in contact with ebay trying to get it taken down.

Sounds like a lot of fun. I agree... cowl induction hood. How long is the video going to be?

I'm shooting for an hour.

[SEV6]

I'm assuming that this video will be free for nico and we'll get it early...right?

[mchkc240]

man! I am going to watch the video for sure!. I will be watching!

[danielekfuj]

I'm assuming that this video will be free for nico and we'll get it early...right?

[Davidss]

I'm assuming that this video will be free for nico and we'll get it early...right?

The video will definitely be free! I plan on doing something for nicoclub in the video but I don't think there is any way to release it early as once it's out it will be everywhere (this IS the internet). But honestly I haven't put much thought into the video editing and release logistics. There is too much to worry with on getting the video crew there and actually getting the car done.

Where could I host a 300-700mb video for free? I have my own hosting but I would assume that it wouldn't have enough bandwidth. What about a torrent? How do you start that? I've never done anything like this before so I have no idea. Anyone local who could help me with that?

In other news I finally got through last night to the right person and rented out a giant airstrip for the race and video shoot of the finished car!

[Davidss]

Mods please forgive this crosspost but I really need some help ASAP!!! I really need to order wheels today and could use some opinions as to whether this setup will fit: zerothread/311952

HELP NICOCLUB!!!
Modified by Davidss at 1:19 PM 2/7/2008

[Zydeco]

hey i got an 04/05 STi hoodscoop that carbon fiber that would swell on your 240.

[notslow]

this is friggen awesome, I will definitely watch that video.

[Davidss]

sTm[-HeavyHips]hey i got an 04/05 STi hoodscoop that carbon fiber that would swell on your 240.

Thanks for the offer but the suby hood scoops are too narrow from front to back.

[BOOOGHAR]

a sheet metal type mailbox looking thing like the scoop used on the 55 chevy from 2 lane blacktop would make a great conversation piece

[Davidss]

Final Day 1 Update T-Minus 9 hours-ish – I spent all day getting the final parts together, getting ALL the bolts, and figuring out what I still need. There were a few problems but I’m confident we’ll be in good shape tomorrow! The build is happening over 2 days 12 hours each so by the end of the day tomorrow (Sunday) we should have the engine in and running. Then next Sunday we’ll get it finished and the Saturday after that I have an airstrip rented out for the video shoot and race (if I don’t have a nervous breakdown before then).

Tomorrow I will update my site at mouseattack.org least that night and hopefully a few times during the day. A video crew from Ricekiller.com is coming out tomorrow morning, they will have a video about the build available by tomorrow at midnight (which will be posted here: Ricekiller.com Thread). And if you’re near the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we’ll be having a meet at the shop tomorrow night where you can see the car start up (more details here: meet thread). Time to get a few hours sleep…

[LEMHEAD16]

Make some sort of very minimal cowl induction type hood and it will look good anything else and it will look out of place. Look at SC corvette hoods for inspiration. Good luck!

[Davidss]

Update- Sunday was epic! During the morning/afternoon a few things went wrong like running out of welding gas, and we ended up completely changing the engine mount design halfway through. But by 6 oclock (ish) the mounts were done and the engine was ready to be dropped in. Unfortunately we had to notch the motor mounts and headers for clearance and then when we got the engine in the firewall is an inch or so forward compared to the S14 so the distributor WOULD NOT fit. Off comes the carb and out comes the ‘engineering hammer’ to re-engineer the firewall… problem solved. By then it’s around 7pm and there is a decent sized crowd watching so the pressure was on for us to get this thing running by 8. We get it wired up and try to start it. The engine turns over… barely. We try it for another 10-20 times… the same thing. We tried different grounds, we tried using a batter charger for a jump, the motor wouldn’t give us more than a budge. At this point it was around 7:15 and we were pretty certain the starter was bad so we pulled it off to look it over and found a random wire grounding out on the body, problem solved… or so we though. By now it’s 7:30 and the pressure is on! We put the starter back in and eagerly cranked it… it still just budged. We had a bad starter… Desperate, frantic, pleading calls were made to auto parts stores but it was 15 till 8 and there was no time to buy another starter and get it installed in time.

We were sunk… After a few minutes of pacing around in disbelief I went to the crowd and let them know we had a bad starter and that we weren’t going to be able to meet the deadline. I felt like crap as some of these people had been watching us for hours. I had one last idea to double up a second set of jumper cables to get more juice… It worked! The car cranked and cranked but didn’t fire. There was no spark. At this point it had to be about 5 minutes till and we all were in ultra-super-panic mode. We disassembled the distributor, got crazy with the multimeter, but there was no apparent problem, the only theory was the connectors weren’t seating properly. We reassembled it and cranked the engine and there was a pop… a GLORIOUS pop… then literally 15 seconds to 8 the engine started with a roar! We couldn’t have planned an ending like that if we tried…

So next week it’s time to get the car finished! I’m ordering the axle and clutch line parts tomorrow. And I got in the scoop/cowl today and I think you guys are going to like it. We actually started late so getting the engine in and running (along with a lot of small stuff like the suspension install) only took 9 hours.

A few pics are up on my site: http://www.mouseattack.org

[Florida240sx]

Moisture? OR something was just loose...What did you do for headers? You already had some?

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Awesome man, nice job. Can't wait for the race. That is one nice garage you guys have there.

[Davidss]

Moisture? OR something was just loose...What did you do for headers? You already had some?

The connectors just weren't seating properly. We're just modifying a set of hugger headers.

[stopatnothing]

Missed the initial update, but thats awesome that it ended up working out. Couldn't have asked for a more epic ending to Sunday! Glad its gone this well so far, cant wait for the vid and all that to come. Congrats!

[Davidss]

Bump for day 2- Tomorrow is the last 1/2 of the build and there is a TON left to do. Over the past week there were a few problems/developments:

- the wheels came in, we mounted them on the car to check the fitment (don't worry they're coming back off before we start tomorrow) and they were WAY to big so we have to do some massive rolling/pulling- I'm out of cash and a deal came up on a $10 stock LT1 cam so we scrapped the cage and decided to do a cam instead, unfortunately this means the engine has to come back out- I completely forgot about needing a new clutch master so I had to overnight one - my exhaust plan wasn't... well... planned so we're having to do something completely different

I'll have more pics of either sunday night or monday afternoon. Then this next saturday is the video shoot and race!

When it comes to the video what do you guys want to see? More technical instructional stuff? Or more drama/humor (ie: american chopper or all the reality build shows)?

[Davidss]

Update- To put it lightly day 2 didn’t go as well as day 1. There were a lot of problems. We decided to do a cam instead of a cage, we removed the engine (again), but the cam I bought was no good. And of course we figured that out just as we were about to put it in. On the bright side we should have a pretty complete how to install a cam section in the video (or how to remove and reinstall your stock cam)! Then a lot of people had to leave including my main fabricator. Then we had to build headers and exhaust, this part I have to admit was a major planning error on my part. With the car stuck in the air for 4-5 hours all work on everything else slowed to a frustrating crawl. Imagine trying to explain to someone 8 feet above you how to hook up an unusual fuel system with 2 air compressors raging and a chop saw blazing away. Then to top it all off at the end with only a few things left to go the clutch hydraulic system sprung a leak… There was no way to recover…

So the bad news is this has turned into the 26 hour V8 240SX swap. The good news is the car will still be done on time for the time attack this weekend and the video is on track and will have a LOT of technical info (some basic, some advanced). So far we have how to’s on everything from rolling fenders, double flaring tubing, to re-building the headers for the swap.

A few more pics are here:www.mouseattack.org

[Davidss]

Update- The car is finished, we did the track day, and now I’m working on the video. The track day was tough… The car had a few mechanical problems and at one point the car was even on fire! But nothing was bad enough that we couldn’t compete. The competition consisted of a time attack on a 1+ mile course and a drag race and while I don’t want to spoil the ending before the video I can say that neither race went ANYTHING like I expected.

I should have a teaser video up in a few days. Until then I here are a few pics of the car: More pics here: http://www.mouseattack.org

[lofapoo]

O. M. F. G.

That car.

Is badass.

Period.

[SEV6]

Hey when you guy's are done with it do you want to donate it to a poor college student?

[IanS]

I cant wait to see the video.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Semi-gloss. I like it. You guys pulled it off. I don't know exactly what IT is... but you've got it!

[Davidss]

Ok the teaser video is done!http://www.mouseattack.org/240sx2video.htmRight now the video is hosted on veoh which I'm using because they let you download the original high-res version (with registration). Keeping the quality high is really important to me especially for the main video (which will be coming soon). I haven't don't anything like this before so let me know if there are any playback problems. And any feedback for the main video would be appreciated...

[Eikon]

FWIW.. I freaking love the audio track at the end.. Halo rules!

I love the whole project! Nice work.

Let me know when the final video is done. I'll buy a copy of it.

[Davidss]

FWIW.. I freaking love the audio track at the end.. Halo rules!

I love the whole project! Nice work.

Let me know when the final video is done. I'll buy a copy of it.

Thanks! The main video is going to be free! Can you download the original of that video from veoh without registering or downloading their software? It's not as important with this video but with the main video I would like high-res available.

Hey does anyone here know the weight difference between the s13 coupe/hatch? I weighed the car and a stock coupe...

[Eikon]

yeah, i was able to watch the teaser vid with no problems. I didn't have to sign up with veoh or anything.

Here's a thread with tons of info on weights. zerothread?id=297556

Someday in the future I plan to install a small block chevy engine in an S14. I'll have to pick your brain for some tips and tricks at that point. Maybe even buy some mounts from you since you've already done the R&D to fit them all in there.

[Ca_Silvia]

x2 for cowl hood, the s13 line just would not look good with a R/A