S13 Coupe Restoration

General discussion forum about the 240sx, and a great place to introduce yourself to the board!
Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
Location: Merrimack, NH

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Damn that's rough look.
I guess you don't have access to a wideband O2 sensor, do you?

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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no don't really know anyone where we moved. guy asked me the same thing right before we took off. wish I did. this exhaust has a bung for one too. been trying to hustle my a** off lately and see if I cant work a trade deal. after so long and so much money... just time to cut my losses if I can. let someone get a hell of deal. but they all just see it as "an expensive shell with no expensive brand name parts" so they'll have to "remove all those parts anyways" and I'm best off to just "find another ka or swap it dude" or "part it out man". I honestly just want to be out from under this hunk of crippling metal. ive only ever driven the car for like a half hour on a straight drive. it felt great, super solid. imho its one of the cleanest most in depth all new well done chassis around for a good ka or sr candidate. but you know how people be when theyre buying used cars... and well for the price I can see older R32s and 350zs near the price... its all just feeling like one giant financial mistake if im honest. like I never expected to get near the money back but these people want me to take a 5-6,000 loss on the thing and all my labor is just wasted on top... 4 years of my life... its just really depressing. I shouldve never built this car. at the end of the day I can invest more but it wasn't anything crazy to drive it was just a ka with a j30 diff and big brakes and a solid AF suspension with a little added angle and snappy steering with a clean cool interior. but power for sure is lacking with the ka. I wanted to turbo one day but by god ill have $20k and be 35 by the time I get all that done... and a KaT is just not worth my entire life... but no one wants it and neither do i. and its all just waste and I don't know what to do...

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
Location: Merrimack, NH

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Why not just drop another KA in and drive it (even if you have to pay a shop to do it)? If you don't like it, then sell it. Running cars are always worth way more than non-running ones.

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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yeah that's what I wanted to do, just grab another block and drop it in. only problems are I don't have my truck anymore, I don't have a garage, I don't have engine hoist, even if I rent a truck and find a friend with a hoist and a garage its alot to line up but not impossible. my main issue is that I cannot find a good KA!!! back home in TN I could pick them up by the dozen for $200 a pop. out in WA area ive found two. -_- one thats a junker for $400 that id have to rebuild and then im in it a solid another $2,ooo. or a running good one about to be pulled for a swap for $600. but people beat me to it. Theres two KaT engines for 1500 and 2500 but im not that rich rn lol and again no shop to work out of or big tools and that would require different exhaust and yada yada, so cant do that. even if I was to find another KA I was like well s*** at the end of the day its a ka car and no one is willing to pay me more than $6k for this car I have now $13k in. which originally was fine, I never expected to make money off this car, but I DID expect to drive it at least a year or so before taking my losses if I even decided to sell, tbh if it never threw that rod id keep it hands down. unfortunately it is what it is now and I am where I am, so situation being what it is I cant do a swap which really would be the financial route to go and fun route to go, just part out all the ka stuff to almost fully fund an sr swap, only issue with that was I also couldn't find a SR in my area... or an RB... or a JZ... or even a single LS1 believe it or not. I started just looking for any engine and quickly realized im just not set up to fix this mess. the simplest cheapest option is a KA to be a great car just a little on the slower side, but I cant even find a single good one. I think this may be the end of the road for me and S13, I got an offer that I believe is actually good for a straight trade, a little cafe racer custom job bike. at this point im just ready to move on with my life, this car has literally sucked the life out of me for 4 straight years, all my time and all my money gone, and now our situation after moving, its just so much more trouble than its worth now, and ive lost the will to do it even lol wifes mad cuz im always working on it, im mad cuz im literally always working on it, and right when I think its all finally done and all... its just time to move on for me I recon. kinda sad honestly. cuz I only ever drove it for 40 min. worst mistake I ever made was building this car but if thats the worst mistake ive made I guess im doing alright. it just isn't worth it in the long run and quite frankly I doubt ill ever do a car this in depth ever again so its a one off! hope the new guy enjoys it as much as I have.

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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wellllp this is where my 240 journey ends once again! I found a fair trade for a nice little cafe racer cb550. check my social media feeds or youtube for a final video of the full story on the little S13 that traveled across the USA! and updates on the bike life I guess!

I hope this post helps those in need! best of luck to all of you!

im sure ill build another one day so its just goodbye for now!

Peace, love, and all that other s***! im out!

-Adam Lee signing off.

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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AS PROMISED THE FINAL VIDEO OF THE 240.



The trade deal for the '75 cafe racer build went through today and they hauled her off! Kinda wild, the new owner that built this bike is almost like me from an alternate reality lol he went through the bike as meticulously as I did the 240, even wiring the same way with the same methodology and even brand of fuse holders and stuff I used :bowrofl: Rode the bike around town about an hour or more today, she runs amazing!

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This is my final post. Thank you all for your support, especially you PapaSmurf2k3! Peace out!

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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OK I lied. The new owner of the S13 is a pretty cool dude, and im still without a job and feeling that cabin fever so I road up to his place today and helped pull the old engine out of my old S13 :)

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All the Bent and Broken Rod Goodies...

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Looks like ill be sticking around for the whole process, we did pick up a new KA24de for it the other day and LO and BEHOLD we got it home and took the pan off and there's rod bearing play out the wazoo! pardon my French here this one time, but...

I'm so G0DDAYUM SICK OF FOOK BOIZ SELLING ME s*** ENGINES AND LYING TO MY FACE TELLING ME THERY'RE GOOD ENGINES.

We did grab a starter and bumped the new engine and got good compression readings and the timing and timing cover looks brand new which is a good sign if they actually put it in time right. and its a 5OC engine so its the later model engine too...

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now we just need to take the bearing caps off and mic some stuff, likely order new oversized bearings, emory cloth the crank if we can get that lucky for once lol, slap it back together and get it back in the car! as simplistic as I've made things in this engine bay we literally had the engine out in like 2 hours with breaks and talking so it should go super quick! im excited to see this car back on the road! even if its not mine anymore :)

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 3:20 pm
Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
Location: Merrimack, NH

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You should save those rod bits and frame them in a shadow box. I've got one from one of my miata's blown engines hanging on my wall :)

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:
Wed May 08, 2019 2:25 pm
You should save those rod bits and frame them in a shadow box. I've got one from one of my miata's blown engines hanging on my wall :)
for sure will! haha! were just waiting on gaskets to come in! we measured what we could without taking the rod bearing caps off the new engine and everything looks and feels good so I think were just going to run it! he may buy new bearing im not sure yet. people have told us we aught to plastigauge it for tightness, but if we do that were already there so might as well have new gaskets. of course mine felt fine too and well... yeah. so we shall see on bearings, homie just painted the valve cover and bash bar purple. ive got pics ill put up later when I get back over to the car to help install the new engine when he's ready. honestly really glad I get to still be a part of this cars life, and feel like Im actually seeing it through and im sure the new owner is happy to be putting his hands in on it to make it his own and do the major stuff and learn about the engine in the process. feel like the car found a good home, ya know the community these days, I was afraid id see it parted out and hacked up and yada yada so its a fitting end to the story I feel.

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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OK so Trev sent me some more photos so I figured Id share :) also the youtube link broke in the last comment cuz I had to edit the video which required deleting and re-uploading it so there is a video of us pulling all the goods out of the old block on my youtube channel! check it out!

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Trevor sittin in the bay lol

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Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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and the new KA!

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Trev decided to give the new S14 valve cover a sweet paint job...

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and we got an extra set of drift spares on deck LOL

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
Location: Merrimack, NH

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Looking good. Didn't want to pull the trans with the motor eh?

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:
Sat May 11, 2019 8:44 am
Looking good. Didn't want to pull the trans with the motor eh?
Nope! The way I have things set up it was rather easy. All we did was disconnect the wiring harness, pull the heater hoses, throttle cable, and radiator hoses off, two bolts and slide the radiator out, hook the hoist up to the engine mounts, disconnect bell housing bolts and engine mount bolts, and there was ample room to just wiggle the engine forward and pull it right out. Plus we had 3 people working on it so it only took about an hour or two haha. Being without a lift and in a tight garage it was easier than going the extra length to disconnect the driveshaft and trans mount and try and jack the car up high enough to make the swing and the hight of the celling is low and the driveway slopes down right out of the garage so we would have been fighting against all those factors. Plus we still would've had to separate the trans out of the car and then match it up to the new engine and fight it again on the way back into the car, or put the trans in after the engine like I did first time around and let me tell you how hard the trans was to line up even with two people and a trans jack while laying under this thing lol so it was MUCH easier this way!

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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UPDATES

We got the new engine halfway together now on the stand. Painted the block a nice Silver. We got lucky, this engine looks SUPER clean! Timing looks brand new, timing cover / oil pump looks to be brand new, heck honestly this head and cams even look brand new. We are thinking perhaps this is an S13 head on an S14 block though. I forgot how the valve cover bolt holes go, but we ordered a '96 valve cover gasket set and this head only has two bolts at the rear by the EGR stuff, and the gasket we got has 3, which indicates its an S13 head but we have a 5OC block which is S14 code according to forum pages. This could be good though, the pistons and bottom end look pretty good so I think we have a Frankenstein motor on our hands in a sense but thats fine. I can see carbon build up on the top of the piston heads so they are still old but our compression figures are showing really good numbers, and we checked and there is no up or down play in the rods, only side to side play which is normal- we measured our bearing thrust clearance and its within spec per how the FSM says to do it. WE HAVE NOT PLASTIGAUGED the bearings however. Do you think we really should being our situation and knowing trust clearance is good and no up and down play? everything feels smooth, but so did that last KA I had, it felt this same way and thats why I ran it and boom. and so I second guess why someone would do all this (new head, new timing, new oil pump, new head gasket, new water pump) and then just abandon this engine... but dude seemed to be playing dumb or just honesty had no clue about the engine so we have no backstory to go off really. but the numbers don't lie and they look good... here's where were at as of now! hopefully in a day or two well finish it out and go for that drive this weekend!

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Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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it keeps getting mad at me for posting too many URL links for my photos ugh...

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Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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OK SO WE GOT THE NEW ENGINE IN! he's hooking up final electrical and hoses and stuff and he also picked up a Momo wheel and OMP seat that's about to go in. tomorrow we get it running and driving!

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Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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WE GOT IT FIRED UP!



there was some rattling, not sure if its lifters or a rod or what but were starting to look into it. seems healthy otherwise.

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and its going into drift mode with the wing installed and the purple paint and wrap starting to pop, got OMP seats getting ready to go in, MOMO wheel went on as you can see in the end of the video, and a hydro e brake and aluminum door cards are apparently on their way as well!

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
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Rattling eh?
Maybe run it without the valve cover and see if the chain is flailing around.

Blaqkfox
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Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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So partially it was a headlight bracket rattling around and then also I though that the #4 spark plug could've gotten damaged, so he went and got some new copper factory style plugs and bada big bada boom she ran like 10x better. still we think the lifter is rattling and/or chain slap going on (we didn't use the top tensioner cuz its well known you can run without one and they just brake and cause issues so). he took it for its first spin around the block today! I got it on video ill upload to youtube later and post it! here's where things are at for now! He's going for more of the drift car feel than just a clean daily-able ride. its bittersweet for me to see it turned into just another drift car, cuz you don't see too many clean all factory feel, full leather interior, crackles dash, period correct wheels and NX gauge cluster and all usually unless its in some gutted drift missile but never just a clean daily looking car... but its cool to see it go into "drift car" status I guess since its so clean underneath and all. defiantly not very many in this well shape mechanically or recoated underneath like this one. and defiantly not alot out there with all new parts like this or this well taken care of. the drift guys seem to just throw parts to keep them together haha hopefully shell still be as well taken care of, and I think she will be. gotta say I love how the wing looks on there :)

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
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Good Deal!

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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Trev over here put'n in the work! got some good looking skirts! and got the wrap pretty well underway!

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Also he went to a local race shop and test fitted a bunch of seats and got these sick OMP seats! just got the one in for right now. also the MOMO wheel on the quick release of course. He also took my switches out cuz that one older touch screen switch was broken, but then he put them on a panel where the radio goes and also drilled a hole in the dash for one of those big gaudy generic battery cut off switches, which since I spent so long and so much money to get things like a perfect dash it killed me inside lol I won't lie, just like had I known this would be the cars fate and never getting to really drive it I wish id known so I could've just bought a junk dash for $50 rather than a 6 hour trip to Atlanta and paying $300 ya know? lol I was just using the circuit breaker in the trunk for that but who wants to pop the trunk all the time right? But I get It I mean he's taking it the more drift car route obviously so it is what it is, I wouldve personally just sold the dash so someone whose building a clean car could've used it and I could've cashed out and bought a $50 dash to flock if I were in his position but he doesn't seem to mind so I guess I shouldn't either haha. I did have to tell him I can't be around the car right now though, just after all that running and money to help wrench backwards on all my work to make it into something else, it just feels wrong, like im taking apart everything I just worked so hard to make ya know. so I just personally cant. but were still keeping in touch.

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Unfortunately he has decided to sell it already. he's gotta get the distributor timing dialed in and then go for a test drive thats more than around his neighborhood block and it looks like it might get traded for an is300 wagon with a w58 trans and schwheels (sweet wheels) and suspension goodies on it too and a body kit I think. I am SO fortunate to have had this car to build and I've learned so much that I'm starting side jobs on others S chassis and its starting to pay itself back in that sense, and I'm SO thankful that this car went to someone like Trevor, because he kept true to his word and when he got serious about putting the new ads up for it he came to me and offered to let me buy it back first as per our deal on our trade. BUT i spent awhile talking with the wife about it and thinking it over, and while we have the cash and I could buy it back and all, I just think I'm ready to move on to something else, like I know everything almost on these cars- still learning a few engine internal things about the KA here and there but for the most part I feel like I know s chassis cars now through and through pretty well, even every wire and terminal end :)
so id like to get an R33 or another 350z and pro charge it or even perhaps a S2K Honda.

My only regret is I never even really got to drive it except to ping the crap out of it to the point I couldn't go over 60mph and threw a rod after a half hour of drive time lmao. live and learn. now I know why you said don't use the crank pulley papasmurf2k3! It had no timing marks, and I finally figured out that I pinged it too much and killed it because of that. I attempted to make my own TDC marking on that ISIS pulley but it wasn't good enough and the knock did start from the very first engine run, just I think if I hadn't pinged it I could likely still be driving it with just a little knocking noise. Either way, its time to move on and it is what is is now so aint no going back! This will likely be my last post on the 240s build thread, its been 4 years now and I hope this post will help others in need, you know where to find me on facebook, instagram, and youtube if you need help people! Maybe I'll have another build thread for another car on here in the future!

Thank you so much for a wonderful 4 years NicoClub!

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
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Blaqkfox wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:57 pm
live and learn. now I know why you said don't use the crank pulley papasmurf2k3! It had no timing marks, and I finally figured out that I pinged it too much and killed it because of that.
Ugh. Sorry to hear it man. Those things suck in a few different ways. They are undamped so they can wreak havoc on your oil pump and other components, as well as just leave you trying to shoot blind.
Sucks you had to learn the lesson the hard way :(
Good luck with your future endeavors!

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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Well the car is in Ian's hands now, a young man from Everett. He traded Trevor a stock 165k mile miata with a BN body kit for it. Ian has been driving it now for awhile and has finally lowered it (I never did because it was either needed to be jacked up and never leaving the garage or needed to go on and off trailers) and it looks DAMM GOOD lowered. Ian isn't highly knowledgable or experienced with car diagnosis or 240s so I have kept in touch to help him out, and we deduced the reason it won't go over 60mph. Had NOTHING to do with the 4th and 5th position gear sensors, turns out those aren't really needed for anything, I still don't know what those do, but the issue was the VSS (vehicle speed sensor)! I had that NX cluster and it was reading double, turns out that speed sensor on the SR was reading double so the ECU was hitting the governor... 60 doubled would be 120mph so! Ian unplugged the sensor and she trucks on just fine now as fast as you want to go! So it was that easy, he just needs an s14 or single cam VSS to fix it and have it all work again perfectly so that's freaking sweet! He's about to get an alignment finally and dive into the tensioners and guides to try and see if that fixes this rattle this engine has. its a loud rattle too, sounds like top end but valve lash checked out and I don't think its a rod really so were guessing chain slap perhaps. Man I miss the s13...

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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Also sorry for no pictures of things, I have to source a new way to upload my photos it seems. Photobucket is now charging too and now all the pictures on this post have their giant water mark- sorry about that. Almost all of these pictures and new pics I can't upload here right now can be found on my Instagram @ Blaqkfox or on my facebook at Adam Lee.

Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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Blaqkfox
Posts: 159
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 8:34 pm
Car: 1992 s13 240sx coupe

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PapaSmurf2k3
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Posts: 23998
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 3:20 pm
Car: 2017 Corvette, 2018 Focus ST, 1993 240sx truck KA Turbo.
Location: Merrimack, NH

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Looking good!


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