OFFICIAL: NicoClub's Rally 240SX, by Finnish Fury Rallysport

[IanS]

Update.

With the car up in the air, I slip underneath to start pulling the transmission. This is what I see. This picture was taken 2 days and 2 showers ago. I am still picking sand out of my hair.



A short while later I had this. I didn't take any more pictures of removal because there is really nothing to it. I removed the shifter, the drive shaft, the bell housing bolts, and the trans support. Working leisurely I had it out in around an hour.



With the transmission out, I hosed it off, then went about other business. Absolutely sick of the terrible lighting in my garage, I decided it was time for an upgrade. Off to the home improvement store.



I spent half a day on a ladder running romex accross the ceiling and hanging all the lights.

Before, 4 single 60 watt light bulbs.



After, this is with only 22 of 26 fluorescents installed, (I was 4 bulbs short).



I rolled my bike out for some more before/after.





Time to get to work on the transmissions. That right, plural. I have a good SR trans. I am going to take the good gears set out of the SR trans, and put it in the KA case. Then hopefully rebuild the old KA set for a spare. SR on the left, KA on the right.

Front covers removed.



I stood them up on blocks for further disassembly.



Reverse lockout and shift linkage retainers removed.







Splitting the case.



One down.



Number 2.



Beat KA trans.



Much nicer looking SR gears.



And thats where I left off for the night. My garage wreaks like gear oil. Hopefully during the week I can get them put back together, and get my clutch situation figured out, and it can go back in the car. I am excite.

[IanS]

Update.

Transmissions are fully disassembled.








I need to do a little more cleaning, and get some gasket maker, and they can go back together. I ordered up a couple quarts of Redline Gear oil, and a Cusco shift collar to tighten things up.

Tomorrow or Wednesday I will be dropping off my flywheel and Spec pressure plate at the machine shop to be resurfaced. Should be a whole new driveline. No more junk 3rd, no more trashed synchros, no more spongy clutch, and no more sloppy shifter. Im getting excited.

[Ajax]

Hey Ian, were you able to use that spare clutch I had? Be a perfect time to test fit that thing in case it needs some work at the machine shop as well.

[IanS]

Hey Ian, were you able to use that spare clutch I had? Be a perfect time to test fit that thing in case it needs some work at the machine shop as well.

Im not sure which clutch im going to use. I ended up with 2 blue clutches, and I don't remember which is which, but I will be using one of them.

[Ajax]

Might want to check the fit, since the reason I never used that spare was the transmission shop said it wouldn't work- no idea why. Free, though, right? Hope it works for you.

[IanS]

Mini update

Trans is back in the car, just needs to be buttoned up. Now has a Spec clutch, and Cusco shifter bushing. I will be filling with a mixture of Redline gear oil, and Redline lightweight shock proof. The Subaru guys love it, so Im going to give it a shot.

Hope to take her for a test drive tomorrow or saturday.

I am officially registered for LSPR. Car 240 will race October 14th 2011.

[p1rat3]

Looks good man, Goodluck with the race

[IanS]

Update

Ew, that flywheel got a little hot.



Clutch too



Decisions decisions. ACT, Spec, or Seico?



Trannies back together.



So clean.



Sealed it up with this stuff. HondaBond = Awesome.



Trans mount back on.



Spec it is.



RedLine Synthetic gear oil and a new shifter bushing. Thank you FRSport.com



MMMM Brass.



I got the trans back in all by myself. It was a pain in the butt, but its back in. I love the feel of the new trans. No more perma grind in third, and the new pushing makes the shifter so much tighter. On gravel it feels great, but there is a slight grind into 2nd and 3rd (the old trans would grind 2nd - 4th) but its minor so Im going to leave it be for now.

Onword and upword.

Ripped apart the damaged coil, or tried to.

With some serious effort I was able to get the damper out of the tube.



Hmmm



The Inner tube was trapped inside the outer tube. Why? Bent.

The hit was so hard it bent the outer tube, permanently trapping the inner tube. As far as I can tell, the inner tube is fine, but I dont see myself ever getting it back. I didnt really feel like cutting the outer tube off the inner tube was worth it, since damage would likely occur anyway. The dampers themselves are cheap enough that I plan to replace it at a later date. I didnt want to sacrifice my spare strut tube leaving me with no extras for the race weekend. It is something I will take care of in the off season.

What to do then? WELD IT.

I trimmed the inner tube so I wouldnt lose my height setting. I slid the bump stop up all the way, and went to town. Its not pretty, and it will never come apart again, but it will work as it should. And the never coming apart again is a good thing as I have had issues with the tail caps coming loose on them anyways (poor design). It will never happen again on this side.





Back on her own feet.



So I went for a spin.



The handling was a little scary, but it drives. I brought it in to work and re aligned it. I discovered some things, I have some bent stuff on the RR as well, will have to address that before I can get the alignment perfect, but atleast I cleaned up the camber and toe on the front wheels.

Lots more to do, and a month to do it, stay tuned.

[IanS]

Moar update.

So after an evening of testing the car was all dirty again, and my bike was due for a wash anyway, so CAR WASH TIME!!! My buddy Sam washed his Super Duke as well.





So dusty.



Always picking up salad.





All cleaned up. Took some time to add a few more stickers. Need MOAR.







Opened up the box of goodies from my Cousin, a former Nissan rally car owner. He ran a production class B13 Sentra SE-R for a number of years.

Some more Aux lights. They are older Cibie models, dirty but functional.



I got 2 housings, and 4 lenses (2 fog 2 pencil). Currently the pencil beams are housed, and I hope to mount them to the car as I have plenty of light for ditches and close range, but I found myself out-driving the lights on the fast stretches. What to do what to do.

More updates to come. Stay classy Nico.

[IanS]

Im going to post up in here on the off chance someone actually wants in. Im still looking for a Co-Driver for LSPR. Navigator experience is not necessarily required but helpful. Anyone who is organised and has a good sense of time and direction could do it. It also helps if you dont get motion sick easily. I dont want any technicolor yawn on my dash.

Cmon Greg, I know you want a ride in the scary seat.

PM me for info

[kouki munster]

I want to so bad, but I'm so far away, I'm a sad panda.

[IanS]

So a small update in prep for this weekend larger update.

I ripped apart the RR to fix the brokens.

My poor strut. Bent the lower mount, and the CV boot cleaned the paint right off, and spit grease all over it.





The strut and the axle had sexy time, and now the axle has a big hole in its pants.





Like a bomb went off.



Hope to get her put back together tomorrow and get to work of some of the other things I need to do.

[IanS]

Time for a new page, too many pictures.

[IanS]

Ok update.

The suspension and axle are all fixed up and back in the car. With that sorted out I got to work mounting the new lights.

Started by cutting a spot for the mounts on the bumper. These lights will be permanent for now, not removable with the bar. Because they are spot lights I would rather have them higher, but they are too wide. In the off season I will be building a better light bar, to put the spots high, the driving mid, and the fogs low.



Tacked some angle iron on to the bumper support beam.





My co-worker Jake holding the lights up to check clearance before drilling holes.



Installed.





Broc making some adjustments.



Awesome.



On to my next project. While Broc worked on pulling Mark's belts out of the car to send back to him, I got to work on something a little more humorous.

Laying vinyl letters out on tape.



Im such a nerd.



Broc got creative with some punctuation while I worked.



Some more.



The interior needed a little love too.



Tomorrow I hope to get the new lights wired up, and hopefully pick up a new windshield.

[IanS]

Ok, I am pretty sure the reason Nico went down tonight, is because this page has too many pictures. I need a new page.

[IanS]

Another update. I dont care if nobody looks at them any more, I going to do them anyway.

Ok, so Broc and I made a semi early trip to L&M to get supplies, we got down to business. Since you can work on other stuff while paint dries, I got busy doing something I have wanted to do since the early stages of the build, but never had time for.

I layed out a template with tape.





Then started laying down a base coat.



Looking better.



Bingo.



I will be finishing, or should I say Finnishing it off with some of this, once it dries. Who can guess what Im doing?



While I was painting, Broc got to work taking care of some issues with his truck, as we will be using it to tow to MI. He has a 2004 Nissan Titan SE. How do I get so lucky to always be towing a Nissan with a Nissan?

He needed to replace his trailer light connector, and we also installed an auxiliary trailer brakes controller. No pictures, its boring. Back to the fun stuff.

Busted out my wiring gear, and Broc and I wired up the 2 new lights. Its pretty boring work, they are fused, relayed, and double switched like the other aux lights.

Let there be LIGHT.







Then I decided I wasn't happy with the sturdiness of the new light bar, so we built a support for it. Broc wanted to weld, so I took pictures. (I could get used to this)



After snapping the last shot, I was like, wow, too many toys in one picture. Even without the Maxima in the shot, its still a grip of Nissan. Win And you cant even see the second 240SX behind my Hardbody.



After that we had to take a break and go move a piano that my wife acquired. Im not sure if any of you are aware of this, but pianos are HEAVY. Its like they build them out of solid wood, then fill them with a bunch of metal, and porcelain. Seriously. Plastic is in people.
After that, we were Hungry, so Pizza was gotten and we lost most of our ambition.

Before calling it a night, we did manage to fix some of the minor body damage caused by Rally MN.

Finished the night off by taking a picture of the lights on in the dark. Its pitch black out, no yard lights. The passenger side of the car is all jacked up so the patterns are way off, but good golly that is a lot of light.




Before coming in here, I finally ordered up a new set of racing harnesses. I got the same ones that were in the car (but owned by Mark) but in a different color. Cant wait, should see them this week.

Stay tuned, more updates to come.

[IanS]

Still have not locked down a Co-Driver

If anyone is interested, or has any questions, check out my thread in Gen chat.

take-a-ride-in-the-240sx-rally-car-t542013.html

[gmac708]

I do not have much to contribute to your build thread because it is all new to me. But I do recognize awesomeness when I see it and those lights are freekin awesome. I want a rally car just so I can drive around with those lights on.

Keep up the good work.

Gordon

[gmac708]

[quote="FlatBlackIan"]

I will be finishing, or should I say Finnishing it off with some of this, once it dries. Who can guess what I'm doing?[f/quote]

Blue cross on white background?

[IanS]

Blue cross on white background?

Ding ding ding ding.

[DeXteR]

I thought you were only allowed 6 forward facing lamps - including the factory headlights...

[IanS]

I thought you were only allowed 6 forward facing lamps - including the factory headlights...

I know a long time ago, I remember reading a rule along those lines, but I have been over and through the 2010 and 2011 RA rulebooks, and I cannot find anything as far as a numerical limit. I wanted to make sure before putting the new lights on, so I scoured the things. Cant find anything.

Worse comes to worse I will pull the 2 new ones off, but I dont think it will be an issue.

[IanS]

GOOD DEAL!!!!!

Just got word that NOS Energy Drink will be coming back as a sponsor for LSPR.

Everyone should swing over to the Rally 240SX's service area for some free NOS, and pictures with our crabby crew chief. (sorry the models are busy)

[IanS]

Well, its officially unofficial. Barring any last minute problems, Nico's very own DeXteR will be Co-Driving the rally 240SX at LSPR.

Everyone welcome him to the team, and then take a moment to remind yourselves that he is braver then you.

Small update of pictures (as if this page doesnt have enough.)

With the base dry I finished up the little thing I had going on with the roof.

Taping off the second layer.



Layed down a coat of Blue.



And the finished product. Its not perfect, but I'm satisfied. I like the way it takes up the blank area on the roof.





In between coats, I got a few other things done, tinkering with other bodywork issues, and I also changed out the coolant temp sensor. Hopefully this takes car of my hot restart issue. Hope to find out this week.

[RallyB13]

Regarding the lights. The limit of 6 was removed in the 2010 rulebook. basically with LED lighting becoming more common, it was pretty meaningless to say "you can have n lights" How do you count them? Per LED bulb? Or per housing (some of the LED lights are full bars in one package with dozens of high-output LEDs).

Still strongly suggest converting the Hellas to HID. I bet my 4 lights (2xFF1000 55W HID, 2xRallye 4000 Pencil 55W HID converted) throw way more light than all 6 of those, and the conversion kits are cheap.

I have a couple of Finnish flags on my car as well. Not for me, but for Jake. Kept the rear quarter glass from the old rallycross car just for the stickers.

[IanS]

Regarding the lights. The limit of 6 was removed in the 2010 rulebook. basically with LED lighting becoming more common, it was pretty meaningless to say "you can have n lights" How do you count them? Per LED bulb? Or per housing (some of the LED lights are full bars in one package with dozens of high-output LEDs).

Still strongly suggest converting the Hellas to HID. I bet my 4 lights (2xFF1000 55W HID, 2xRallye 4000 Pencil 55W HID converted) throw way more light than all 6 of those, and the conversion kits are cheap.

I have a couple of Finnish flags on my car as well. Not for me, but for Jake. Kept the rear quarter glass from the old rallycross car just for the stickers.

I already have 4 HID ballasts, just need to get bulbs. Its on the list.

The flag is for Jake as much as it is for me, and I will be adding his name to the car near the flag for that reason. If I had any of the Jake Flag stickers, I would be rocking them.

[PEZi]

Glad to see all is working out well with the FB240! Nice work Ian!

[IanS]

Glad to see all is working out well with the FB240! Nice work Ian!

Thanks.

[IanS]

Ok, Im going to make for a new page, this one breaks my phone.

[IanS]

cmon too many pictures.