Mercury's Build Thread

[Mercury_Hg]

Bought this car in October of 2010 for $900 cash. It's a '93 240sx SE, my second 240. My first was a hatchback (which I prefer, although I love my coupe just the same).










Pros:
- Car is unmolested. Hasn't been beaten on by previous owners or riced. A little neglected, but otherwise fine.
- It was cheap. A good starting point for my build. It doesn't matter that the paint's bad or that the engine's a little worn, because I intend on repainting it / building an engine anyway.
- So far it's been reliable. I've dailied the car for a year now without any problems [that I haven't caused].

Cons:
- Everything needs work. The interior, exterior, and engine.
- Since the car was stock, I didn't have the benefit of getting some of the usual perk-parts when I bought it (i.e. rims, coils, exhaust, diff etc).
- Autotragic transmission.

This thread is going to document the progress I make (which'll be painstakingly slow, I'm putting myself through school right now). It'll also serve to house all my stupid questions, so they're not scattered around the forum. This is going to be a huge learning experience for me.

So far I've only done some maintenance work to it (new plugs, new brakes and rotors, oil changes, oil / fuel filter changes, timing guide removal). I've also replaced the radiator, power steering hose, battery, antenna, sunroof tracks, and some other small things.

My priorities right now (in order):
1. Suspension

2. Engine Rebuild
- Forged internals with moderate compression.
- Arp hardware.
- OEM pumps, gaskets, and sensors where applicable
- Headwork; to what extent I don't know yet. Don't really care to run aggressive cams, but I might have some valve work done.

3. Go Turbo
- Hope to eventually achieve ~350bhp.
- I'm going to accumulate quality parts. Not interested in buying a kit.

4. Interior / Exterior
- Going to try and stay OEM / clean / inconspicuous on the interior.
- Body work / Daytona Blue (or some such equivalent) paint on the exterior. Otherwise stock on the outside, except perhaps some 17" 5-spoke rims with nice offset / width.


The first thing I'm going to do from here is start in on the suspension. Right now I'm looking at these from 240sxmotoring:
http://www.240sxmotoring.com/tetieros1.html

Anyone know of a cheaper retailer or what quality I should expect from these? Are there better alternatives? I hope to eventually have my car track-ready. I'm also going to buy some dust boots for my tie rods. What other suspension parts should I replace while I'm at it? I'm looking for reliability above all, although I am on a budget.

[badbob2121]

I recently picked up Tein inner/outer tie rods from FRsport, they are posted for $162, but offer free shipping on them.. and you can always wait till a holiday sale and possibly save a few more bucks

i didnt check the shipping rates from your link, but thought i would share..

[Mercury_Hg]

I recently picked up Tein inner/outer tie rods from FRsport, they are posted for $162, but offer free shipping on them.. and you can always wait till a holiday sale and possibly save a few more bucks

i didnt check the shipping rates from your link, but thought i would share..

Thanks! I went with FRsport because their tie rod boots were $15 cheaper. The tie rods were only a couple dollars more, and I wasn't sure if 240sxmotoring had free shipping or not.

I also ordered some intake manifold gaskets, some injector o-rings, and an egr pipe plug. I'm going to be swapping an emissionless / butterflyless intake manifold I've got lying in my garage soon. Trying to kill my vacuum leak problems in one step.

[Jabberwocky]

Looks like you have a good base to start with. I'd look in to replacing all the bushings with polyurethane pieces if you are trying to stiffen it back up. I just replaced all the bushings on my s13...it was a PITA and I still have a lot of work to do before its on the road and I can feel it, but everyone I've talked to who has invested in bushings has said it made a huge difference.

Im behind you on the daytona blue paint. My old coupe was daytona blue and I thought it was a great color. There is a picture of it in my build thread, you should check it out and let me know what you think of the mess I have on my hands. Good luck with the project, you will definately learn a lot along the way.

[The_caveman]

Me likes coupe...ill trade ya a hatch...

J/p Love my hatch and my coupe near equaly couldnt give either one up,love the car tho its defenitely a clean start good luck with it glad to see another build thread posted

[Mercury_Hg]

Looks like you have a good base to start with. I'd look in to replacing all the bushings with polyurethane pieces if you are trying to stiffen it back up. I just replaced all the bushings on my s13...it was a PITA and I still have a lot of work to do before its on the road and I can feel it, but everyone I've talked to who has invested in bushings has said it made a huge difference.

I'd like to, but I'm a little intimidated about doing it myself. I don't have a torch or any tools to cut them out. What do you recommend I do? I don't know anyone with a torch either. How expensive would it be to have someone do it for me?

Im behind you on the daytona blue paint. My old coupe was daytona blue and I thought it was a great color. There is a picture of it in my build thread, you should check it out and let me know what you think of the mess I have on my hands. Good luck with the project, you will definately learn a lot along the way.

I'm partial to blue and Daytona Blue looks awesome. It was either that or some sapphire shade. lol will do, and thanks!

Me likes coupe...ill trade ya a hatch...

J/p Love my hatch and my coupe near equaly couldnt give either one up,love the car tho its defenitely a clean start good luck with it glad to see another build thread posted

No hway, this car's all mine .

Thanks man! I've been watching your threads too.

[Morph]

No torch?





Got Home Depot?

That and a hacksaw blade should get them out.

[Mercury_Hg]

No torch?





Got Home Depot?

That and a hacksaw blade should get them out.

EDIT: Nevermind. Reading about the different gasses right now.

I'm gonna do it. I'll probably get the polyurethane bushings.

Should I buy LCA's?
Any other suspension bits I should get while I'm at it?

[Morph]

Take a look down there and see whats shot. You could get the energy suspension bushing kit and go to town, im willing to bet most of them are shot like the rest of ours.

[The_caveman]

Me likes coupe...ill trade ya a hatch...

J/p Love my hatch and my coupe near equaly couldnt give either one up,love the car tho its defenitely a clean start good luck with it glad to see another build thread posted

No hway, this car's all mine .

Thanks man! I've been watching your threads too.[/quote]


I try to keep em updated as much as possible. wish there was more posting going on in em but what can ya do there is like 50million build threads on this site and most people are not very interested in a single cam junker lol

Very interested to see where this one goes its a very clean car

[Mercury_Hg]

?

I try to keep em updated as much as possible. wish there was more posting going on in em but what can ya do there is like 50million build threads on this site nd most people are not very interested in a single cam junker lol

Very interested to see where this one goes its a very clean car

You have to remember that for every person posting there's like 10 lurking .


I received my parts a couple days ago. Haven't done my intake manifold yet because when I asked Advanced Auto for injector o-rings, they charged me $4.17 and sent me a box with one ring in it . I know it's not very many, but I have four cylinders damnit! Four!

EDIT: for anyone searching on the interwebz, the KA24DE injectors take 8 o-rings total. The sizes are four .14" diameter (part # 16618-10V05) and four .10" diameter (part # 16618-53J00).

[Mercury_Hg]

Recently put on the Tein tie rods. Even with it out of alignment if feels soooooo much better than the old raggedy tie rods I had. No more chaotic wandering around and when I slow down the car stays straight.

I also put brake disc quieter on my pads in the rear, so no mo crunching when I come to a stop (although I kinda miss that crunch, it's satisfying in the way griding your teeth feels good after drinking soda, true story).

Oh, and I replaced a wheel stud and lug nut because the shop I originally took it to to have an alignment done, put the wheels back on with an impact gun. It was all kinds of f*** up.

That's aboot it.

[Mercury_Hg]

To anyone searching on Google or here about how to remove the inner tie rod from the steering rack, do this:

And hit the pliers in hard short bursts with a mallet to break it loose. It's better for you to hammer it than it is to try twisting it off.

Now for some questions.

With my steering wheel all the way to the right, I started leaking power steering fluid from here:

Is that normal? Will it be a problem?

And finally, when I went to apply brake quiet on my pads, I noticed one was really f*** up:


What caused this? It was a new pad.