East Tenn S13 Hatch build--In Progress

[seg24life]

Hey guys, im somewhat new to Nico Club, I've mainly been a zilvia member, but I've come to find there are a few to many rules and not so friendly people on there, and we all seem to be a better community at Nico. So before I start, I will introduce myself, my name is Steven and I've had my 240sx for around 7 months now I believe, and I'm getting ready to get into the good portion of my build. It is in progress, so you guys will have to slightly bear with me, I'm very open to criticism, so anyone who has an idea or finds a mistake on my part, by all means let it fly--nicely. Anyways, I'll go ahead and move on

This Is how the car currently sits, I like to keep her cleaned up




When I first got the car, it had the stock Ka24e engine, which was already knocking , and not too long afterwards, this happened



So, at first I thought, well, the single cams are cheap, and i already have the wiring, etc... I'll just get another single slammer... turned out that after i got it in, it was knocking really bad, so i pulled it out and decided to go ahead and go with a Dual Cam Ka.


So after a little searching, I found a freshly rebuilt Dual Cam KA, not too far from me, so i decided to jump on the opportunity, and picked it up



The wiring was pretty hacked up, but after some quality time sautering, heat shrinking, and testing, the only problem I remained with was the fuel pump not running, checked all the relays, wiring, etc, and finally decided to fuse it and run it straight to the battery


Getting ready to go in...


So i get it running, and had a pretty bad scare, the guy who built the motor for some reason didnt torque the exhaust cam bolt Luckily, nothing was damaged, pulled the timing cover off, put the timing chain back on, and torqued the cam bolts like they should have been.. disaster avoided. A few other things i did with the car...

The pads and rotors were pretty shot, so i ordered drilled/slotted rotors and fresh pads and threw them on



Also, I decided to get rid of the steering wheel, the rubber, or whatever the thing is made of, was starting to flake off as i was driving, so I ordered a cheap quick release kit from ebay, but is soon to be replaced by a nardi or nrg wheel





And removed the rear seats, and decided just to keep the carpeting over the hatch area that was already there, which doesnt meet up to the front completely, but its not too awful



And the last for tonight, I got a MTX thunder 9500, didn't really plan on putting a sub in the car, but hey, why not? 1500 watts to it and it sounds pretty solid! Had to mount it down with some brackets and whatnot, I did a little bit of sliding and threw it across the car... not the best idea. but now its in there good


So right now I have some Brides on the way, should be here right around Christmas, and i believe im picking up a RB20det next week!! Thanks guys, I'll be frequently updating, wondering what kit i should put on the car... Type-x or instant gentleman... or leave it how she is?

[pepesilvia]

WOW, that paint looks super clean! Its hard to find any S13 with a decent paint job these days. Keep it snazzy bruddah! Good luck and keep us updated

[seg24life]

WOW, that paint looks super clean! Its hard to find any S13 with a decent paint job these days. Keep it snazzy bruddah! Good luck and keep us updated

Thanks man! it was done right before i got the car at the shop, they did a pretty good job! I am thinking about going with a metallic black, but not completely sure yet. So new update for today guys, radiator cracked, but luckily I traded for a Black Works Racing radiator a few weeks ago, so i stuck that on in there with a couple of fans




And also noticed a pretty bad sound coming from the transmission, so i decided to go ahead and pull it off, because my clucth was also beginning to slip. Really wondered why I didn't go through the transmission when i put the new engine in but oh well. Pulled off the transmission and reallized the throw out bearing was spun pretty bad, it was in ROUGH shape. So I pressed a new throw out bearing in, put a new pilot bearing in, and put a brand new OEM clutch in... The fun I get to go through with this car on a daily basis..




And finally, but very importantly, I tucked my fender harness and did a little something with my folds in the fenders, you guys will know what Im talking about if you've lowered your 240... I took the air hammer with a chisel tip first, made to notches where the fold sticks into the fender well on each side, then used the hammer to pound it flush with the fender well.. No more tire scrubbing when I get on a spur to drift! I only took an after picture, you can see the piece I am talking about, it looks kind of like a glossy black, i sprayed some rubberized coating on it to prevent any rusting, which I luckily have NONE on my car!


Edit** forgot to add that I am picking up the RB20DET next Tuesday!!! I plan on storing the engine, and rebuilding it, while i still have a strong KA in my car, it only has 1600 miles on it now, and will be for sale after my RB swap! sorry I can't PM yet, not enough posts:/

[seg24life]

A little eye candy for everyone tonight

[hammtheman]

Super clean looking car man. Keep up the good work

[seg24life]

Super clean looking car man. Keep up the good work

Thanks broski, make sure to subscribe!

[whatsderftings13]

Another East Tenn local! Where are you located? I'd love to see this thing in person.
Looks super clean, you sure know how rto pull off a pignose

[seg24life]

Another East Tenn local! Where are you located? I'd love to see this thing in person.
Looks super clean, you sure know how rto pull off a pignose

Elizabethton.. Hit me up and we'll get together!! And thanks man, thinking about getting rid of the pig look though

[jbracy7]

nooo! clean pigges are very rare these days, most are raped by fan boys or totaled by drift nots, keep her pretty keep her piggy

[seg24life]

nooo! clean pigges are very rare these days, most are raped by fan boys or totaled by drift nots, keep her pretty keep her piggy

I'll keep that in mind then!! personally, I don't think Ive ever seen a RB20 piggy.... I could be one of the few!

[whatsderftings13]

Another East Tenn local! Where are you located? I'd love to see this thing in person.
Looks super clean, you sure know how rto pull off a pignose

Elizabethton.. Hit me up and we'll get together!! And thanks man, thinking about getting rid of the pig look though

I'm in Bristol, but I'll be sure to hit you up some time! I've got a few bugs I've gotta get worked out on my coupe first..

[slagithor]

Man that's clean. I'm also very close to you, I live in Washington County and i would love to check it out in person!

[seg24life]

Man that's clean. I'm also very close to you, I live in Washington County and i would love to check it out in person!

Yeah man let me know when you want to and you can check it out. Once that RB goes in you'll have to take a ride! And does anybody know if the KA's have a oil safety cut off? I was running low on oil, trying to find my oil leak:/ and the car started cutting out on me, but once I filled it with oil, no problem!

[Hijacker]

Welcome to NICO! You should like it here much better. I'm normallynit a fan of pignoses, but that looks really good :drool

[seg24life]

Well, I think everyone knows what today is... Picked up the RB! And its HUMP DAY lol... anyways, drove about 4 and a half hours down to Gainesville, a little outside of Atlanta, to pick it up, and I was pretty happy with it aside from a few things he needed to keep that I will need to buy, but not a big deal, considering I am fully building this engine. Here is a quick parts list of what I have looked into so far, tell me what you think! CP pistons, Spool Rods (rated at 1200hp WOOT!!), Tomei cams, ACL race bearings, extended crank collar, harmonic balancer, standalone ecu, rb25 transmission, 1 piece driveshaft, and a t3/t4 not sure what trim size yet, want a fast spool, help me! And with all this, planning on running about 500HP... show people that RB20's aren't so bad:D Anyways, on to some pics...



Got it back to the shop 4 or 5 hours later..











So couple of questions... will the KA starter bolt to the RB? What axles/rear end do I need to hold up 500-600hp? Do you guys know anything that isn't on my list that i will need? And anything else will be helpful! thanks!

[whatsderftings13]

Hey man, sorry I can't private message yet lol
but I'm not very familiar with rb swaps, but I've got some people that I'd be more than happy to refer you to

[seg24life]

Well I spent today freshening up the RB by doing a pretty nice paint job on the valve covers, have a little bit to finish tomorrow, and also going to do the timing cover, PM me if you want full instructions on how to do this, did it all myself without having to pay for powdercoating!

Aircraft stripper is the way to go!! Took like 2 hours... sanding took forever so decided to do it





Engine enamel coat







Put on the white and then clear coat....Looks AMAZING on the engine!!!





Gonna Paint this tomorrow



Also going to paint the NISSAN plate on the plug cover white to stand out at tad... cant wait to start actually building this beast

[seg24life]

Quick update for you guys, took off the timimg cover to match it to the valve covers, heres some quick pics... brides and other goodies coming soon, subscribe!!

[TacticalBacon]

I like it!

[BusyBadger]

Nice build, clean hatch.

I expect to see all you fellow 423'ers down at Tail of the Dragon over Labor Day weekend in 2014.

[seg24life]

Nice build, clean hatch.

I expect to see all you fellow 423'ers down at Tail of the Dragon over Labor Day weekend in 2014.

I'll try to make it! and thank you!

I like it!

Thank you, subscribe!

[whatsderftings13]

I love the black and white combo
I think if you got a brush and painted the RB20 black would look sick!

[seg24life]

I was thinking about doing that actually! I'll see what I can do! Any other suggestions anybody? Im always curious to what you think would look good

[seg24life]

well, quick update before bed, got some brides, finally!! woo hoo!! Im going to be putting some more pics up tomorrow but I have a few for now.. also got a cool vented hood, think I'm going to do it jet black, but tell me what you guys think, but I may do it tomorrow!! The harness bar was a P.I.T.A to install, didn't want to fit right, and when it did we had to pull it back out to cut the plastic panels so could put them back in and retain the classy street look.. Forgot to take pics during installation but if anyone needs a walkthrough on how to install the harness bar or seats or harnesses, or needs to know where to cut the panels let me know, that way its not a 'guesstimate' like mine haha











Here is a little of my exhaust lol



Stretched some new tires on, the old ones were baddd camber worn lol



And a legit hoodie and keychain to go with it!!



More pics tomorrow, also get to see more of the rear seat delete... gotta get on that RB

[seg24life]

Some more pics of the brides and also some pics from rear for those of you curious about the rear seat delete i did, just taking out the seats and using stock hatch carpet

[Stev0n]

personally, I don't think Ive ever seen a RB20 piggy....

My nephew's got one. Red too! But I think he's pulling it to put in his s13 LE coupe.

[TacticalBacon]

When you painted your valve covers did you just use the stripper then paint them or did you sand it after you stripped it then painted?

[Ramonesfreak2010]

What brand is that harness bar? I have a Mazworx. It looks identical, except the two struts bolt up to different places.

[seg24life]

When you painted your valve covers did you just use the stripper then paint them or did you sand it after you stripped it then painted?

I used the aircraft stripper on it first, with a scuff pad and it took 99% of all the paint off, down to the bare metal, then i took sandpaper and got the little bit that was left and then painted it. If you do this make sure you use 300 grit or higher sandpaper to avoid leaving scratch marks in the metal. if you need more help just PM me!

[seg24life]

What brand is that harness bar? I have a Mazworx. It looks identical, except the two struts bolt up to different places.

Most of the harness bars are identical, there are many places that you can mount the strut bars, you probably mounted yours farther up near the seat, leaving your harness bar lower, where mine should be haha