Sock's Big 240sx Project Thread

[Sockington]

Weld that diff while you're at it.

Replace that diff sounds like a better plan.

[mrzabala]

Weld that diff while you're at it.

Would save money on welding the differential. But that would be a problem if the weld is bad and also only trust someone that can weld if their proffesional and have been doing it for more than 10 years but something could still go wrong. Basically, your a noob and Sock's got the right thing going so no need to give him advice with this part.

[l2efused]

keep up the great work man. ... im pretty close to you, wonder if il ever see this extreme 240 makeover beast drive around some time

[mmm240]

WOW excelent job, i just read the first page, got to the bottom and saw that there were 5 more pages! i don't even have the patients to read through that and you had the patients to do all that work on that car! you rock man, keep it up and good luck. and mad props to that powertrain combo

[Sockington]

I decided that while everything is apart that I might as well get to the motor mounts.

My amazing diagram.

8" of Clearance. 9" of oil pan.

Old motor mounts off the crossmember.

Using a torch and a rubber hammer, I massaged the oil pan back the 1". I checked with the oil pump and neck in place to make sure there was room.

A little more.

Getting ready to hold motor over crossmember and make mounts.

Then, the god damn ForkLift was out of propane. I gotta wait for another day after the damn tanks are filled.

[240fstbak]

Lol, things like that allways happen at the most inconvienant time. Jus keep up the good work.

[rowdogg03]

great work..!! loving the stacked cases of BEER... lol im sure you needed a few after long days... me too...

[Sockington]

Got the rear subframe sand blasted. It's off to powdercoating now.

[SeanC]

ok since you started this thread i have kept an eye on it and kept my mouth shut. i have to give you props for tackling such a large project and following through with it. but... being a long time rust repair guy, i have to say your rust repair looks absolutely horrible on the underside of the frame. an arc welder is the not the best tool for the job, a 220v mig welder would have produced much more consistant results. the patch work needs serious fixing as it looks pretty bad. also bondo is the WORST body filler money can buy. sure its cheap and gets the job done for now. but as time wears on you will notice cracks develops as temps change and it WILL fall off. i wish you the best of luck in the project but in order for it to last you should do it right the first time.

[hpmachine]

what he said

[mrzabala]

arc weld is not the best tool for the jobs his doing but it is sufficient. As you refer to mig welding, you have to take into consideration cost and time. This is his first time welding. He would need a couple days before learning mig welding. As cost for the welder and maintenance is costly. Usually only auto shops and metal fabricators have mig or something more expensive. Im not saying this as to say your wrong, but instead of pointing it in a negative way NOW(his pretty much already finished welding and taken care of the rust) you should just tell him what the best solution is when you first saw it.... I dont like to intefere with peoples work since I saw this thread when he was already welding so its pretty rude of you.

[SeanC]

actually to enlighten everyone MIG welding is the easiest to get started and be good at. a good 220v mig welder will set you back about $1200 for a millermatic 210, matience on a nice one is very limited to tips and cleaning it every once and a while.

[mrzabala]

Dam auto shop teacher. He always made me use the arch welder... And I always see him fixing or doing maintenance on the mig welder. He bought his mig welder for $4000 but it their where more settings than just the 220v. Eh oh well I doubt Sock will buy a mig welder and cut out everything that has already been welded. But thanks for your input. I guess Ill read up and watch some vids on mig welding.

[Sockington]

I know my welds and patches aren't perfect. However, I'm making sure that everything I do can be easily duplicated on another CLEAN chassis. I may drive this for a year or two before I seek out a VERY clean shell to swap the big ol' 2.3T in and just do some work with the ol' VIN.

[DarkRyder]

nice i wish i had the time to do a project like this i thought about rebuilding my block before but im working 18 hours a day so no time.

[Sockington]

The guy that was going to do my poweder coating told me it'll be about 3weeks before his next order for black (I just toss my stuff in when some other customer pays for things to be done and give him some cash), so I figured I'd take the painting into my own hands to speed things up.

Tremclad. Flat black.

Figured I'd spray the passenger rear wheel well and then give it a sand later to see how lumpy it is.

Passenger rocker.

Painted the rear pan since it was a mix and match of black, pink, and white.

Ordered some solid subframe bushings from Bings.ca, so I should have the rear subframe back in the car by Tuesday morning.

[babowc]

the subframe looks like its developing some rust again..what happened?or is it not rust?

[mkory]

Is there any worry of the metal that didn't rust is too thin and weak now?

[InlineS13]

Looks good. But I would definitely have to suggest you get that subframe powdercoated. It'll flatten out all that nasty **** and will last forever and wont chip off or crap like that. Powdercoating works wonders. But yeah, lookin good man.

[Shift_Oversteer]

Nice work man, keep the updates comin

[Sockington]

Nice work man, keep the updates comin

Well, the solid subframe bushings will be here on Monday, so expect the subframe to be going in soon.Also, I hear some adjustable rear-multi-link might be going in soon.

I love spending money on Bings.ca. Since I'm in Canada, I'm saving tons not having to ship across the border (most vendors in US) and in turn, can better fund this little project.

[MeanGreenS13]

in my entire life, ive never seen SO MUCH RUST on ONE CAR... even when i lived in MA for 15 years... good luck with the project and keep the pics coming.

[Kenrik]

Actually, a guy was moving and offered it up to me for free. I'm sure his Thunderbird broke down though.

As for boost, it was running 18psi when the engine was pulled. I'm probably going to go with a T3/4 later on rather than the small IHI on the motor now. If I'm really feeling daring, there's always a Holset with my name on it.

The car is going to be completely restored to running and better than factory condition. I'm going to pickup a poly-urethane bushing kit, Tokico/AGX shocks, and springs and a few other suspension things. I'm pretty sure that the factory diff is going to explode in a ball of awesomeness with the torque the 2.3T will be putting down.

Every bolt I take off it being replaced/reinserted with a nice coat of anti-seize.

The Diff can take more power then you're ever going to make... I assure you of that!

Filler cane be made almost perfectly smooth on your first application if you get good with the mixture. It ends up requireing less sanding/time but the end result is the same so good job.

Heh I thought I was awesome for spending the time to cut out.. fiberglass smooth with filler and rhino coat my trunk where it was rusted... (back half)I admire your drive even when at times the work looks a little rough.


Modified by Kenrik at 8:22 AM 8/5/2006

[Shift_Oversteer]

Isn't PDM in canada?

[217zenki]

u got balls on that one .. Id be afraid that it would rip the whole car in half with something that stiff.. U know with all that rust...

Well, the solid subframe bushings will be here on Monday, so expect the subframe to be going in soon.Also, I hear some adjustable rear-multi-link might be going in soon.

I love spending money on Bings.ca. Since I'm in Canada, I'm saving tons not having to ship across the border (most vendors in US) and in turn, can better fund this little project.

[Sockington]

Motor time.

Motor, hanging out on the crossmember.

Canadian Tire hockey pucks as the base for the mounts.

Some new bolts to hold up the front crossmember.

Had to grind the washers to fit against the inside fender.

Had to hammer the firewall back a bit for the fit, but it's still an inch too far out to fit the transmission in there.

Also had to cut the rear out of the oilpan to clear the steering rack.

How's that for room?

16-god-damn-inches.

Also, got my solid bushings in from Bings.Ca. It was only 1-day shipping, so I'll probably be getting all my aftermarket parts from him since he's on my side of the border. Also, the price wasn't bad.

So, with those bushings in hand, that means the subframe goes in tommorow.

[amolao]

Man that hockey puck thing is ingenius as hell....Yes, I think you have enough clearance in the the front of that engine for a couple of midgets, hamsters, a couple of training wheels, connect and mod to FWD,,,,,uh! never mind...

[Bigvinnie]

So since it looks like you are getting rid of that old nasty diff, what are you going to use????Stock s15diff, OBX helical, Hitachi Helical, clutch types, or VLSD? You do know the s15 helical R200 diff is a dirrect swap for you right???Or the cheap method...... WELD LOCK

[Smurfey002]

you, sir, have my utmost respect for doing such a project and saving that car from the scrap yard. good luck and keep posting your progress. it's quite fun to watch.

do you plan on ripping everything else out of the engine bay and painting in there too? kudos on the body work...thats one thing i am not too good at....yet.

[Sockington]

Removing the collars of the old bushings.

New solid bushing in place.

One was really ****ing tight. I had to "press it" in rather than just whack it with the rubber mallet.

All done.

Subframe going in. Jesus, it was an akward with only one person.

All in.

Old collars out. I found cutting the length of them with the torch worked best.

Rocker panel.

Wheel well.

More subframe hotness.

Closed up at the shop.

When I got home, there was a pretty package waiting for me. Oversized valves.