Chugpuppy's build in the land of ice & snow

[Chugpuppy]

Ok, finally got off my a** and decided to start a build thread.

Lets see, where to begin...

I'll start off with a little general info. I'm a high school student in Southern Maine, my interests lie in cars, computers, drawing, videogames, music, long walks on the beach, etc etc. I've always been both mechanically and technologically inclined, taking apart various devices (toasters, tv's, computers, you name it) since around I was around 10 or so. At 13 I built my first PC, and have been upgrading it and maximizing performance since then. Since I got my first steady job about a year and a half ago, I've been saving my pennies and hoping to get a car that could be upgraded and modified to fit my specific needs. I dreamt of having a highly modifiable car that would be both efficient and powerful (I have OCD when it comes to efficiency) and decided that the 240sx was the perfect car for me.

But then reality hit.

Near the end of the summer, I went into a kind of ghey fwd / family car / expensive european import stage. 240's were very rare, an very expensive, the few I could find were either riced out, rusted shells, or in other stages of disrepair. I began thinking that a nice, slow, comfortable family car would be a fine thing for me to learn in, and I'd get a nice car once I was out of college. I don't know what brought this "Oh well, I guess I'll have to buy an ordinary, lame car" period in my life on, but I attribute it to some unexplainable drop in testosterone. I looked at 4 door civics, integras, a couple of cheesegrater maximas, and a BMW. (like I could pay for BMW parts )

Thankfully I didn't buy any.

Somewhere during the start of school I was setting up a deal for either a Maxima or a BMW 320i (I think) and was absently browsing craigslist, looking at riced out integras ( i saw a black one with these "gill" looking things all over the place, it looked like a combination of "Finding Nemo" and "Fast And The Furious") when I typed "240sx" into the search bar. I scrolled down the listings. $7,000 - DRIFT-READY RB26 SWAPPED 240SX. $4,500 - 240 w/ custom soundz, kitted. $600 - rusted out POS shell.

Then I found it -

$2,700 - '91 240sx SE (OG craigslist pics - for posterity )

I had finally found (what looked like a) decent hatch, close to stock, with a low price tag. Interested, but also cautious, I emailed the seller and arranged a date to come see the car. It was located in Portland, so my dad and I headed up there that weekend.

The car was everything I wanted! The interior wasn't in great shape, and there were a couple dents on the fenders, but I didn't care at that point. The car was only driven during the summer, after having been brought up from Virginia Beach 5 years earlier ([almost] no body rust! YAY!). The motor had been replaced with another KA (only 60k on it! Compression is supposedly 185 on all cylinders, but I wanna check that out myself ) after the original had been neglected and the timing chain snapped, sending shards into the engine .

My dad drove it for the first time, as I still hadn't learned how to drive a manual without stalling it on every stop . He said it sounded fine and drove great, so I was happy. I told the seller I'd get back to him and we headed home. That night was spent preparing my assault on his price, because I'm a cheap bastard (who only gets paid $8/hr... ) Once I was done, I got a price I was a little happier with. Actually, a lot happier!

$1,800... perfect!

A nice clean base for me to start off with, only one inch-sized patch of rust on the drivers side frame rail, and small patch on the bottom of the drivers side fender, not a big deal. The car came with all sorts of random goodies: VOLK racing wheels, Alpine headunit, Kenwood front speakers, Injen intake, a dash dvd player w/ 7" lcd screen, an exhaust tip , a ps2 to go with the dash-tv, and a signed Houston Astros baseball hidden in the body under where the rear speakers were (gonna hafta ebay that thing, might be worth something)

I canceled all my ghey Camry and Civic plans and headed to the bank for my cash. We drove back to Portland to pick the car up, this time in my mom's automatic jeep (I was still iffy on driving standards...). My dad drove it home on the highway, with me following him. "Goddamn", I thought, "That car is so badass", nearly drooling as I saw it cruising down the highway. Once we got off the interstate, my dad pulled over and let me drive it home.

Excited, I jumped in and started her up. It sounded great, even with the ricey tip. I shifted into first, revved it a little, let out the clutch and jolted the car forward, stalling. I tried again, this time I got it going and got on the road, almost getting run down by a semi truck. I stalled on a couple more stop signs, then got to a road near my house when I started to smell something burning. s***, I thought. I just got screwed!

Turns out, I was just an idiot. I had left the parking brake on after my dad let me drive. Luckily, the ride home was a short one, so I didn't damage the brakes too bad. I was definitely happy with my purchase, especially after I got to drive it around WITHOUT the parking brake on :lol .

Did some random s*** to get it inspected, (Who knew you could fail inspection for having old wiper blades?) waxed it, and cleaned the interior. I REALLY cleaned the interior, although it didn't help much. Took out the seats, carpet, the whole shebang.

This is what she looked like after a wash and some wax:

Not bad, eh? That's a good picture, the reflections cover some of the MANY rock chips in the paint, as well as the huge spider-web crack in the paint of the front bumper. Oh yeah, and it's not the side with the dents...

Later in the fall I took the stupid foam wing off ( who makes wings out of foam?) and welded up the holes. Grinded down the welds, applied flat black primer, and it was good to go. At least temporarily, anyways.

FAST FORWARD TO THE WINTER:

Yeah, did I mention I live in Maine? We get snow. Lots of snow. Bald lo-pro's won't cut it in the winter, so I got some stock rims and snow tires from my dad for an early Christmas present. (Only $200 for 4!) I had fun for a while, as snow is pretty damn fun to slide around in in a rwd car! But, like most teenagers, I got kinda cocky...

(I JUST HAD A f***ING HEART ATTACK. UPLOADING PICS TO PHOTOBUCKET CRASHED FIREFOX WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS. THANK GOD FOR WHOEVER IMPLEMENTED THIS AUTOSAVE THING!)

aaaanyways... (saves draft...)



Yeah, I tried to drift a corner, slipped on some ice, regained traction after the ice, spun the car around, and ended up in a ditch against a tree... Last time I try THAT little stunt... Ended up with my fender crushed, my side light casing shattered (amazingly the lightbulb was never touched , it still works) and my day was ruined.

I got over it pretty quick though, as it hadn't effected any vital parts. But now I had dents in 3 out of 4 of my fenders, I HAD to do something about that.

FAST FORWARD TO NOW (still winter lol):

My dad and I took the fenders and bumper off outside in the driveway. Nice father/son bonding experience, right? Well, not when its in the negatives and pitch-black out. Both of us nearly froze to death, but we got the panels off. I had ski team practice the next day, and when I got home he had pounded out the dents in both the front fenders! Now we were ready for some paint. I decided on satin black, as having glossy, expensive, ooh-ahh paint was at the VERY bottom of my budget. I'm pretty certain I'll crash it again, so I'm not going to waste any money on getting a pro paint job.

No pictures of the paintjob, but I'll put some up soon. (I thought it came out pretty well...)

More recently, my car broke down on my way back from school. I was able to get it to hobble back home, however, and, terrified, I popped the hood. It didn't explode, so I took a closer look. It appears that the previous owner hadn't tightened the connections to the MAF and it had fallen off on my bumpy roads . Easy fix, I tightened it back up and it was back to its healthy rumble.

Soon after I seafoamed it, but that was fairly uneventful. Except for my mom's fear of my engine exploding, especially when the smoke started coming out of the tailpipe

Just last weekend I took the intake system apart because I was bored, cleaned the tubing, filter, and rubber tube-things. It was interesting, but I found DIRT (only a little sandy grime, but still) at the entrance to the throttle body. I'm pretty sure thats not good...

Enough of the past, though, lets talk about the future!

FUTURE PLANS!:

OK, I have 5 options as far as I'm concerned (on my budget of ~$3,000, all using the KA), starting with my favorite and descending in order of attractiveness:1. Light turbo build (probably t28 or t3, ~200-250hp) on stock internals, with coilovers2. Build the KA (pistons, rods, seals, not much more power added, but ready for a turbo setup later) , with coilovers3. Heavy turbo build, stock internals, in-depth tuning system (~300hp, but risky)4. Coilovers, sticky tires, suspension mods (if i was gonna autoX)5. 14" double-stack wing w/ third brake light, 7000 watt stereo system, streetglow stickers, at least 2 grand for neon lights, HIDs, retrofitted Altezzas

Budget plan and parts list to come...

[Chugpuppy]

Yeah ill do the parts list later, i still have to do homework and im kinda burnt out after writing that whole thing....

[Black on Gold]

Please do not DRIFT on public roads. You should know better than that.

On the other hand, good luck with the build. I recommend driving the stock KA for awhile before adding any power

[juse]

please say that number 5 is a joke

[Chugpuppy]

Yeah, drifting on public roads , but I live way out in the woods, its pretty desolate lol. (btw I was probably going about 15mph, it wasn't fast it was just really slippery) I've gotten pretty used to the KA by now, but still my first upgrades are going to be a new exhaust and a clutch, since my current clutch slips a lot and my exhaust sounds like s***...

juse: nah man, "14 inch double stack, worth every penny"

[LugNut18]

At least it seems that you have thought out some of your plans. Good luck. What ever you do, don't try to do everything at once. Your car will end up on jack-stands for 2 years I got to get off my a** and finish my car.

[Chugpuppy]

Yeah lol, this is my only car so I'm not gonna be doing anything too extreme (yet!)

And yeah I've done a bit of research. I'll post up my prospective parts list Wednesday or something...

[drewce]

Nice read and nice car

[StandardProspect]

Good Read! Sucks that you crashed it

do number four!

[JustDriftMore]

ice drifting=fail

[breadbox]

how bout drift ice in open spaces not around in the woods or maybe a track, IDK.

Nice car. Don't kill you stock struts right away, when they blow, they BLOW.

Stay safe and party on garth.

[Yesitisi]

i like it...

[usdm_anon]

Party on Wayne!

Stay safe and party on garth.

Lol I luv that movie

[Chugpuppy]

OK, parts list time... I'm aiming for around 250-300hp, but likely to stay closer to 250, as I don't want to blow my piston ring lands... (seems to happen ~300hp without a good tune, maybe once I get better at tuning I'll up it a little)

Pretty much all these parts will be bought used, and I'm apt to change them for similar ones if I can find good deals. This is going to be a pretty low-budget build, probably ~$3000.

Parts I'm going to buy right away:

eBay N1 clone cat-back exhaust (single canister)Exedy (or similar) clutch

Parts I'm going to buy this summer (subject to change):

CoiloversTuning programInjectorsFMICTurboTurbo ManifoldTurbo DownpipeBOV?Fuel pump?

Coilovers - Stance GR+? haven't totally decided yetTune - Nistune DIY w/ wideband sensor, hopefullyInjectors - 400cc's or greater, usedFMIC - eBay, something cheapTurbo - Garret T28? usedTurbo Manifold - ? usedMAF - Z32 (or similar) used

Which parts do you recommend for each of these categories? I have until this summer before I start buying anything expensive, so I'm trying to soak up as much info as I can. Recommendations/reviews/critiques/additions are encouraged!

[Chugpuppy]

Slid on ice and rearended a monte carlo SS...Fixed most of the damage to my car, paying like 800 for the other one to get repaired. The stupid thing is that it was 60-70 degrees all that week, when the sun was out (we had a lot of rain/flooding). Somehow black ice had managed to form overnight on a very steep hill that ends in a stop sign. When I drove to school in the morning I turned a corner, stepped on the brakes to slow down, then slid down half the hill into the chevy...God I hate Maine weather... FML

AAAAAAAAANyways...

"Fixed" my beat front end, then took off my valve cover and painted it gold. My dad picked up a quart of john deere Blitz Black, so I sanded down the fenders and bumper, then sprayed them with that. It looks pretty decent, since my glossy paint right now is junk, im going to paint the whole thing with Blitz Black soon. I think it will look good with gold. The color scheme is gonna be satin black, gold, and wood grain and brown paisley for the interior I'll post some pics soon.

Also, I'm going to be buying a exhaust pretty soon. My current one is full of holes and sounds like s***, so I think I'm going to go with a eBay N1 clone, only thing is I don't know which seller to pick. I'm leaning towards the single canister N1 catback, but any other cheap exhaust recommendations are welcome.

PS: If anyone has a single-canister N1 clone, wanna let me know how it sounds, quality, what seller you got it from, etc?

[bersh240]

i think 240sxjoe has one. uhh he has a youtube vid of it up. ill see if i can find it.

and i love maine. but i swear portland is stuck in the 80s or smthin.

[240sxJoe91]

Yea i have the ebay N1 knock off ( 3in down pipe ) here is a link to three videosof my car Driving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHgm497ZwMo

Revving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...annel

In Car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...annel

Im very pleased with this exhaust and would recommend it to anyone... So there are three different vids hope it helps

[sandcrabsailor]

Chug,just be careful about who on ebay you buy from.

Ive got some ebay horror stories if you care to listen some time.

I'm looking forward to seeing what becomes of this car.Please keep it on the road, preferably shiny side up.

Drive safe.

[Chugpuppy]

Thanks for the demo vids, and no I definitely do NOT plan on buying anything remotely important to the mechanical integrity of my car from eBay. I'm buying exhaust and an FMIC set later because they're just pipes... and pipes aren't really different from other pipes that have fancy names like "GReddy" or "Injen" and cost 8x as much... but in the case of coils, turbo, manifold, maybe pistons, etc im going with Stance, Garret, etc, etc.

I'll post pics of how the car sits now that I "fixed" (aka pounded with a rubber mallet) the fenders and painted the valve cover in a bit... imma go to sleep

[Chugpuppy]

Anyone have any recommendations for turbos? I want ~250 hp on stock internals, about a 3000-3500 rpm full spool, and a nice midrange powerband. I was thinking a garrett t28, but also don't know how many psi I would need to run it at to achieve ~250hp. Recommendations/suggestions?

[bersh240]

uhh....u crashed twice within a few months and just learned to drive with a clutch.no offense but id stay away from boost for awhile.

[Chugpuppy]

lol first time was because I was being a dumbass on slippery roads, second time was most definitely not my fault, there was pretty much no way I could have stopped the car from sliding down that hill, besides ditching it into a tree... and yeah, I know how to drive with a clutch. I'll admit it took me maybe two days to get it down, but I'm pretty confident in my driving skills now... besides, I'm only planning for later this summer, as I still have to buy coils and score some drift tires. I just like to know what I'm doing before I do it, that way I can order the right parts when I have the money. I might also join the regional autocross league, that way I can get more seat time in and learn how the car handles without doing it on public roads, which is kind of hard around here.

[Chugpuppy]

Trying to take my stock shift knob off, but when I use channel pliers to twist the whole shift rod twists with it. What did they use to secure that damn thing? I'm going to try to vice grip the shaft and use channel pliers to try and get it off tomorrow... hopefully it works...

In other news, I'm doing my tax returns and hopefully ordering my new exhaust this weekend.

I'm looking at this one, as it comes with free shipping and what looks like a test pipe... what do you think?http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...3a510

[Chugpuppy]

Triple post lol, don't get much traffic in here...

Today I got a autozone gift card from my uncle for a late christmas present, got payed, and realized my clutch is a POS... I'm thinking about going White Bunny (aka D21 flywheel + 280zx turbo clutch), as it sounds like a REALLY good deal as far as clutches go. Clutch and flywheel are as follows (as far as I know).

280Z TURBO CLUTCH SET: $183.99http://www.autozone.com/autozo...=12-0

D21 CLUTCH SET: $102.99http://www.autozone.com/autozo...=12-0

D21 FLYWHEEL: $61.99http://www.autozone.com/autozo...=12-0

Anyone wanna confirm this/ add suggestions? How does the stock truck clutch hold up to better ones such as the 280zx/300zx? How does the D21 clutch feel?
Modified by Chugpuppy at 9:31 PM 4/4/2010