Kyle's nasty ugly hardcore S14 build (ALL PICS FIXED)

[SX APPEAL]

EDIT: Fixed as many of the IMG tags as I could, happy viewing

Hi all,I've been lurking these forums for a long time now, but this is my first actual ground up project build.

[Long boring back story removed...]

Here's what it looked like when I started work a couple of months ago:





As you can see, hell of a place to start. The whole idea behind this build was never to end up with a beautiful shiny show queen at the end. I wanted to build a fast 240sx, and the S14 shell I had just collecting dust had no rust on it and is a better balanced, better handling car than the S13. As you'll see, I haven't put a great deal of money or effort into the aesthetics, aside from the kouki front, which I got a hell of a deal on and figured why not since most of the front end was going to have to be replaced anyway. Its still got tons of dents and creases but I'm not terribly worried about them, they don't slow it down. Personally I think it looks pure evil

more progress, fitting the kouki front


getting everything sanded

replacing the door/ painting doorjams

had to make a new bracket for the driver's headlamp, it was broken

first time outside in a while

engine bay after some cleaning

starting paint prep, yay rattle can primer!




paid a buddy $50 and a case of beer to shoot it flat black in his garage, turned out alight I think

POWERED BY:

reinstalling lights, corners are still going to be a pain though because all the tabs are broken

[SX APPEAL]

Enough of all this bodywork crap, on to the real stuff...

new Z32 17/16 BMC, bending the lines was fun

Dropping the rear subframe


to my dismay the car had collected some rust in the 2 years I'd left it sitting. The body had been completely rust free when I bought the car in 07'


I only get a couple of weekends a month to work on this thing, which is why I've waited until now to post a build thread. Plans for this weekend are to finish cleaning the subframe and get it painted with the chassis saver, also clean and chassis saver the engine bay if there's time. Cusco RUCA's and energy bushings are on the way, probably not by this weekend though.

Future plans for the car are as follows; the original engine and drivetrain from this car, that is now in my S13, will be transplanted back into this shell. I'll also install the heavy duty clutch, fuel injectors, Z32 MAFS, and tuned ECU during this process, the car will still be NA but it will be fully ready for boost when funds allow. Hopefully the Z32 brakes will go in at the same time as the drivetrain. At this point the car will at least be running and driving, hope to have all of this accomplished by the end of this semester. After that, coilovers, swaybars, and turbocharging. Hope to have to it ready for some track days by spring/early summer.

[fame_s13]

very nice!! have fun building it!

[SX APPEAL]

Yeah the paint job has never been high up on the priority list. I can't justify spending thousands of dollars on making it as pretty as it was before but completely stock underneath, when I could spend that money making it fast and sticky. But yeah maybe one day. Another motivation for the flat black was to attract as little attention as possible from the law enforcement. It was a rear cop magnet back when I was driving it with that screaming royal blue, not that I really made their job very hard back then.

[OutToWinPAHC]

Yeah, I dunno flat black is meh. Better then what you had, but please not a final job. Nice job on the front end.

[SX APPEAL]

Well no project's ever really finished is it?

[MICRoS13]

Nice build so far. Seems like your going to be doing it the right way

[HeadAblaze]

How's the car comin?

[SX APPEAL]

Haven't made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks, been accumulating parts mostly. Got swaybars, RUCA's, short shifter sitting in the garage, SPL solid bushings on the way. Still need to get my injectors cleaned and flow tested, send the ecu off to enthalpy, get the front and rear subframes cleaned/painted/reassembled, also looking into modifying the front subframe for better roll center since this thing is going to be pretty low eventually hehe. All in all I'm hoping to get it at least up and running over Christmas break.

btw its my birthday this saturday, all gift donations to the project can be paypaled to [email protected]

[SX APPEAL]

Few random shots of what I've been up to

[SX APPEAL]

Mini update: Lots of little accessories and random parts came in the mail today. Ebay egr block off plate, SPL hardened clutch fork pivot, steering rack bushings, and eccentric lockout kit (for the adjustable rear arms). Last weekend's project was removing the front subframe and steering rack. Now that its out, I've taken it to a local fabrication shop to have the lower control arm mounting points raised for a more ideal roll center with lowered suspension. SPL rear subframe bushings should accomplish the same thing out back, as they raise the subframe about 1/2 an inch.

On the engine side of things, I finally sent my injectors off to deatschwerks to have them cleaned and tested, provided they're all good to go (knocking like hell on wood!) when I get the flow results back, I'll send the ECU off to Enthalpy to have it matched to the injectors and Z32 MAFS. This reminds me of more little niggling details that need to be sorted out before the big engine transplant. Still need pig tails for the injectors (05 Subaru STI units) Anyone have any lying around? Still need a test pipe and a couple of exhaust flanges to build the downpipe. Thens there's the issue of the brakes and suspension, lots of loose ends there to tie up. Details details

Only took a couple of pics last weekend, it was mostly just pulling the front subframe and disassembling/cleaning everything

EDIT: Sorry guys, lost these pics, they weren't terribly interesting anyway

The current state of my garage, there's more 240 on the floor than on the jacks!

[fiznowler]

Damn... you are tearing that thing down to nothing! Looks like it is coming along nicely though! I was going to see if you were interested in selling/trading any of your s13 aftermarket parts. I am looking for aftermarket suspension and some exhaust mainly. Forgot to tell you I would be able to trade you my stock s13 stuff if you needed it.

[alms24sebring]

Just make sure you keep the nuts and bolts to where they need to go lol. I helped my buddy take apart a RB25 and he just threw everything in a big pile. Definitely not the way to go. I know I'm not putting that crap back together for him with a bucket of bolts and a half missing motor.

Looking good though and keep on it. Before you know it Spring will be here and you wanna be race ready.

[SX APPEAL]

Yeah only being able to work on it a couple weekends a month is killing progress, but I should have at least a few days all in a row over Christmas. That and the money situation lol.

Definitely looking to sell the suspension, but I'd really like to get the S14 on the road before I start tearing the S13 apart. What I will have up for grabs eventually though are KYB AGX's and Megan springs, also Megan RUCAs all with about 15K on them. If you find something else first though no biggie.

[SX APPEAL]

Just make sure you keep the nuts and bolts to where they need to go lol. I helped my buddy take apart a RB25 and he just threw everything in a big pile. Definitely not the way to go. I know I'm not putting that crap back together for him with a bucket of bolts and a half missing motor.

Looking good though and keep on it. Before you know it Spring will be here and you wanna be race ready.

Yeah all the bolts are in nice neat uh... piles lol next to the components they go to. Definitely trying to be track ready by spring!

[mn011890]

lookin good....im kinda diggin the flat back. might have to copy you on that one when mine is ready for paint. lol

[fiznowler]

Yeah only being able to work on it a couple weekends a month is killing progress, but I should have at least a few days all in a row over Christmas. That and the money situation lol.

Definitely looking to sell the suspension, but I'd really like to get the S14 on the road before I start tearing the S13 apart. What I will have up for grabs eventually though are KYB AGX's and Megan springs, also Megan RUCAs all with about 15K on them. If you find something else first though no biggie.

Sounds good I am not in a huge rush. I will prob stay stock ride height through winter anyway. Just let me know when you are ready and we will try to work it out.

[SX APPEAL]

Alright good deal man, I'll hit you up when the big drivetrain swap finally goes down

lookin good....im kinda diggin the flat back. might have to copy you on that one when mine is ready for paint. lol

haha, yeah I kinda like the beat up old rat rod essence of it. What I've actually been thinking of for a final, quality paint job is a combination of gloss black and satin black, in some kind of a stripe motif. Could be cool, and it'll still keep the badass factor hehe

[nevertheless]

subcribed, I wanna see how this turns out.

[HeadAblaze]

Alright good deal man, I'll hit you up when the big drivetrain swap finally goes down

lookin good....im kinda diggin the flat back. might have to copy you on that one when mine is ready for paint. lol

haha, yeah I kinda like the beat up old rat rod essence of it. What I've actually been thinking of for a final, quality paint job is a combination of gloss black and satin black, in some kind of a stripe motif. Could be cool, and it'll still keep the badass factor hehe

You sould do that, but do it with the rising sun, it'd be sorta different. How low do you want it to sit? Mine doesn't look hella low, but it's about 3 inches from the ground, kind of annoying, but it looks sick. I'm not sure what wheels you're going with, but you should do 18s, then it'll have a nice tucked in wheel, but also be a little higher off the ground so you can get around better. I'm saving up for my 18s to fx this issue. Sorry for the blah blah blah

[SX APPEAL]

Nah, this is more of a track car, so its going to be low, but not slammed and hella flush and all that nonsense. I've got 17" Fn's for it right now, I'll probably get something wider in the future to get more tire on the road.

[OutToWinPAHC]

More tire!!! thank god.

[breadbox]

I like it so far. This thing is gonna be fun, I can tell.

[badbob2121]

looks like it going well... i like

[SX APPEAL]

Thanks guys. Should be getting my modified front cross member back middle of next week, and I took some pics of my S13's cross member and LCA mounting points just for reference, they're pretty much the same as the S14. SPL bushings should get installed next weekend too, might actually have to spart putting this thing back together pretty soon

[mn011890]

haha, yeah I kinda like the beat up old rat rod essence of it. What I've actually been thinking of for a final, quality paint job is a combination of gloss black and satin black, in some kind of a stripe motif. Could be cool, and it'll still keep the badass factor hehe

yea totally man. that sounds sick as hell!

[KustomKat]

Yeah, a gloss black with wide satin stripes would look smooth,

[SX APPEAL]

Thats exactly what I've been picturing lately, maybe with the stripes getting wider down the length of the car.

[elchoccolatte]

[SX APPEAL]

A bit of progress, got my front cross member back today, pretty excited to get this thing back in the car and see how everything lines up. Like I mentioned earlier I had a local shop raise the inner mounting points for the lower control arms to give improved roll center when the car is lowered.

EDIT: DAMMIT, I'm kinda pissed I lost these pics, gave a pretty good view of the front subframe modification

In other news, got my injectors back from Deatschwerks all nice and clean. Flow tested within 99.3 percent which is good, but according to the printout they only flow 538cc, according to my information they should flow 565cc. They're 05 Subaru STI injectors. Is this a normal discrepancy? It doesn't hurt my project, they'll still reach my power goals, but just found that a little weird. Thanks for looking