Lee's '93 S13 Vert

[Seven3Lee]

I picked up a bone stock '93 S13 vert on Christmas Eve of 2008. Here she is, the day I pulled her into the garage.


The engine was leaking and burning oil to the tune of having to put in a quart every week, plus I got a nastygram from DMV saying that my car was smoking. Something had to be done. Took the engine and transmission out the car to clean and rebuild them...






The head was shipped off to Jack's Machine Shop; here are the results...

Before


After



Valve cover powdercoated by Snail Motorsports


The engine was a mess visually, but the internals and everything turned out to be in really good shape, especially for having 200k miles. There was oil and sludge all over the front and bottom of the block.


The whole thing was taken apart and cleaned


and the block was then painted


I don't have them pictured, but the pistons have been cleaned up and have new rings also. As soon as the paint dries and cures, I'll be starting on the reassembly!

[cmkelly]

Very nice!

[-RJ-]

Are you the black guy or the white guy

[Seven3Lee]

Are you the black guy or the white guy

LOL I'm the black guy. The white guy is my friend Waylon.

[r0nin]

looks niiice. how's the top? And the boot to go with it.

if u dont mind me asking how much did that run ya?

[biggie]

Looks good. Unusal interior color.

[BlackRasta]

Word i have a vert to but its kinda lookin bummish at the moment

[Seven3Lee]

The interior was that color when I got the car, so maybe it's just uncommon? I can't imagine it's aftermarket upholstery. The boot you can see in one of the pictures and it is in pristine condition. When I took it out of the trunk, it looked like it had never seen the light of day! The top is in decent shape for being 17 years old - it's the original. It doesn't leak and it still goes up and down flawlessly. It's a little sun faded, but some top cleaner and a little TLC should bring it back.

I paid $2000 when I bought her back in 2008.

[biggie]

Would have to guess that it is aftermarket. Maybe a dealer installed option, but maybe some kinda of Katzin kit or something as well. Never seen a 240sx with that color door inserts, so don't think its factory.

[cmkelly]

Looks good. Unusal interior color.

You mean the black guy in the engine bay?

[-RJ-]

Would have to guess that it is aftermarket. Maybe a dealer installed option, but maybe some kinda of Katzin kit or something as well. Never seen a 240sx with that color door inserts, so don't think its factory.

mine came with tan interior as well

[AZhitman]

That interior is rare as hell, and OEM (dealer-installed).

I looked at one in Tucson when I was shopping for my vert. That upholstery design is the same as mine (look at part one of my build article series), but mine was light grey.

Welcome aboard, sir. This pic made me LOL:

[biggie]

That interior is rare as hell, and OEM (dealer-installed).

Thought that might have been the answer. Crazy dealers out that way.

[Seven3Lee]

So the rear seal was for all intents and purposes welded into the carrier. It took FOREVER to get it out, but it is finally gone and a new one is all set and ready to go on once I get the carrier cleaned up.

So I have an opinion question for everyone though:

The gasket set I got came with gaskets for everything, to include the rear seal carrier. Everything I have seen or read says to use RTV/liquid gasket or whatever, but I have these solid ones sitting here. Which do you think I should use?

[-RJ-]

That interior is rare as hell, and OEM (dealer-installed)

So should I feel bad for getting rid of it?

[Seven3Lee]

Now that I find out that it is the rarest interior color, I'm kind of having second thoughts about changing it up...

[krash]

That interior is rare as hell, and OEM (dealer-installed)

So should I feel bad for not giving it to Krash?

Yup.

[Hijacker]

RJ, you should just feel bad in general

[Seven3Lee]

I suck at updates, sorry...

I've been working feverishly to get this completed and it's been moving right along.

The crank is in now


Lower timing chain installed


Pistons, head gasket, ARP head studs


front side all buttoned up, with that shiny new valve cover from before test fitted


Top and bottom ends done, now for the outer components...


Exhaust side cleaned up and everything mounted except the AC compressor bracket


Working on cleaning the sludge off the crank pulley, tensioner pulley and the power steering pump, then the engine bay will be getting steam cleaned before the engine goes back in. Almost done!

[bova17]

man it look really good keep it up

[Seven3Lee]

So I'm prepping the engine bay for the steam cleaner and when I touched the driver side motor mount, the top half just fell right off.



Looks like I'm going to be getting new motor and trans mounts...

[Seven3Lee]

So I'm in the midst of packing and moving as well as trying to get the car finished up. I got a set of solid motor mounts, but the engine isn't in the car yet.



Intake manifold top half cleaned and powdercoated and on the engine. Transferring the vacuum and coolant hoses onto the collector and then it will go on too

[cmkelly]

Looks awesome! I wish I had the technical chops to pull the engine and clean it up. For now I'm just smart enough to stick bits on it here and there.

[SkyS13Walker]

I LIKEY.....Clean KA Build......Hope mine Comes out as NYCE

[-RJ-]

RJ, you should just feel bad in general

If I had feelings they would be hurt

[Seven3Lee]

UPDATE

Shortly after my last update, I ended up packing and moving from Nevada to Nashville, TN. The vert was in storage the past 6 months while we got settled in and bought a house. In the meantime, I did manage to get the engine back in the car and get everything hooked back up though. Tomorrow is the big day where I start her up for the first time in almost a year...

If any of you guys are in Nashville, let me know - I could use the company, as I don't really know anybody here...

[Seven3Lee]

Here she is, all done and looking groovy!


Finished buttoning up the little things I had left and filled up all the fluids. I made a ground kit by hand (the red wires in the picture) and replaced the negative battery cable as well. I don't have a catalytic converter or anything that would take its place, so I have no exhaust on the car right now.

Then came the climactic moment where I put the key in and turned it... After a couple of sputters, she ROARED to life! It was short-lived, as 10 seconds later, the engine died, but each time I hit the key, she started right up. I'm assuming something is wrong with the fuel that's been in the tank for almost a year, so tomorrow I can get some fuel stabilizer or something and fill her up, then I should be good to go.

[cmkelly]

Love it, welcome to the south!

[Seven3Lee]

Exhaust is all together and on the car. Stabilized the fuel also, so now the car doesn't die when I start it... Here's where we are now.

http://youtu.be/2-eMwCVlFCY

[Seven3Lee]

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but I want to get a second opinion... I can start the engine on my 240 just fine. The problem is now that it starts to smoke if I move the car. I can let it idle in the garage for any amount of time and it does just fine. I pulled it out of the garage and it moved just fine in reverse, then again when I got it on the road. I drove up the street and when I shifted into second that is when the problems started. It didn't seem to go into gear and I couldn't get it to go any faster. I limped her back to the garage and when I got there, there was smoke coming from the back of the engine, near the spot where the transmission meets the backside of the engine. It was thin, white smoke, definitely coming from someplace lower on the engine. I thought it might be coming from the exhaust manifold to downpipe connection, so I tightened that down, but it still did it.

I remember when the tow truck driver delivered my car (I wasn't present at the time) it was oriented with the rear of the car facing my house. If the guy had a 2-wheel lift-type truck, then the back wheels would have had to be on the ground. So if he towed my RWD car with the rear wheels on the ground, then that white smoke would be transmission damage, right?