Sock's Big 240sx Project Thread

[babowc]

haha man i love these updates.loving the pictures that is have fun

[mkory]

At first glance of the pic of your burnt over-alls, I was thinking "Damn your hand is gnarly!"

Think you're so cool with your gloves and your rust...

[Sockington]

At first glance of the pic of your burnt over-alls, I was thinking "Damn your hand is gnarly!"

Think you're so cool with your gloves and your rust...

Makes clean up much easier with those cheap HomeHardware $9/100 latex glove packs. They rock.

[Sockington]

Today's work - Welding!

First off, a battery box I picked up for $5.00. Smoking deal.

Making a nice new frame rail.

Some hot-hot-above-car action.

Frame rail repair:

Next hole to cut out and fix:

Closed for the night.

Today was basically spent on my side trying to weld with only a little light. It sucked, but it has to be done. That new hole in the passenger's rear rail, that sucks big time. I gotta pull the rear struts to have decent access at it and repair it correctly. Today's work was fairly light since I only had about 2hours to spend on the car, but I still got some good work done.

[Danzors]

hey sockington, i'm going to have to repair the rust on frame rails as well. could you tell me the type of welding you used to repair the holes (MIG, TIG, arch, etc.) as well as how you got the car to be high enough to actually get under there. this is going to be my first attempt at welding in general so perhaps some sites and advice might help as well .
Modified by Danzors at 12:51 AM 4/30/2006

[Sockington]

Remember that rot hole from the last update? Today's work involves fixing that and a good portion of the subframe rail.

Hole? More like canyon.

A little grinding, sealing, and welding.

Not really much to say for the next couple pictures. tldr: welding, choking, welding.

The whole frame rail is just about done.

Some grinding on the rear quarter rust.

Closed up again for the day.

Really not much to say for today. Lots of welding, lots of grinding, lots of everything. I expect the next couple updates will be similar as I'm going to reinforce and reweld the whole rear frame section of the car.Screw strut bars, I'll have chassis rigidity out my ***.

[dickie]

i dont pretend to be any kind of frame or welding expert, but common sense dictates that youre cutting and welding patches over bad spots, the "iffy" area of the original frame right next to where you patched it will be structurally weaker and bare more load from driving, therefore failing faster.

[Sockington]

i dont pretend to be any kind of frame or welding expert, but common sense dictates that youre cutting and welding patches over bad spots, the "iffy" area of the original frame right next to where you patched it will be structurally weaker and bare more load from driving, therefore failing faster.

I extend far past the rotted part after cutting it out. Also, I weld on all four sides of the patches so the pressure is evenly distributed.

[CarShowz]

WoW.....Looks like a monstrous amount of work, I wish I could do all this to my 240 that I just bought. I need to know all of whats really going on with it, but it seems to be in good shape.

Good Luck with this, and it'll pay off........Have lots of fun with it when your done.

[continental_drift]

you are more determined than me, I'll tell you that much...

[Danzors]

Kinda reminds me of the ugly duckling. Let's see that car turn into a monster one step at a time

[Sockington]

Got something in the mail today.

I expect to install them tommorow.

[Sockington]

As predicted, pedals installed (well, only the brake for now).

Start things off with some more passenger side frame rail repair.

Installing the brake pedal (that ****ing booster bolt was a pain to thread into the pedal)

Rear lighting removed. Attempted to remove rear bumper cover to no avail.

Undercoated my series of patches on the rail.

Starting on that ocean of rust called the driver's side lower rocker panel. New pinch seam ahoy!

Some more 1/4 plate used with the new pinch seam.

Finishing up the pinch seam.

Kind of got hot in the car. Set part of the carpet on fire. God damn.

Closed up for the night.

Overall, it was a good day (4-5hours put in today). I'll probably finish up that enourmous hole in the body work over the next couple visits. Looks like it'll be an exciting week ahead of me.

[~4N~]

Props for saving that car! I wish there were more people like you.

[240TweakerNewbee]

I admire your tenacity on this project. This is a who0000le lotta pignose 240 love .

I thought I was something special for spending the whole weekend cleaning, sanding and retexturing my wheel wells with truck bed liner spray, my car has zero rust though (its never left California), I was just trying to reduce some road noise and make it easier to clean.

[BaconLuver]

best thread ever..good luck with the project and keep those pics comin!

[OldmanPurdy]

Wow man you are my new hero! I live down in Nova Scotia and my S13 is pretty rusty too, i'd like to get a new one but finding one thats never seen salt is a chore, and when you do it usually about 5k+. Yes thats right NICO a pre 92 S13 in good condition will sell for around 5-7K in Nova Scotia, infact I talked to a guy at tim Hortons who just paid $8300 for a 90 w/ 115,000 km!! This thread is actually kind of like a Writeup/article, Sock should be eligible for a custom title...... i think "Rusty"has been mentioned

[VSJA1725]

That is the most rust i ever seen on a 240. U get a thumbs up lol. Good luck wit the car man dont give up.

[Sockington]

Today's update is mainly body-work, so if you hate bodywork, you've clearly come to the wrong thread.

First off, finishing up the patch from last time.

Fixing the driver's rear wheel well lip. New metal going in.

After doing some more welding and adding a small piece, I layed some long-hair fiberglass to start to make things look pretty.

After a coat of shot-hair filler to the metal on the wheel well and a quick sand, I began finishing up with a coat of lightweight filler.

More glass on the rocker, followed by sanding, followed by more glass...

My tools of the day

Doing some more work. Yeah, pretty boring.

Some rust I swept up from below the car. Quite the pile I got going.

Closed for the night.

I find it kind of funny that everyone thinks I'm talented with body repair - I've had no formal training with anything I'm doing or have I had much experience with any of the fillers. I have a rough idea of how things go together, applying them, and then sanding the living **** out of them. Bondo doesn't resist water getting through, so I know to lay down some glass-based filler first, but other than that, it's all guess and check.

Also, making rocker panels with a stick welder just sucks. It's so god damn hard not to burn through the body metal.

[Sockington]

I only got a couple hours in today as I have to work this eve.

Here's how things looked last week:

Cleaning up the driver's rear wheel well

A quick coat of primer to check out the imperfections (and with me, there's always tons)

More long hair fiberglass in the mix.

Found another frame hole. Cut out the bad, and sealed up with rust killer.

New plate going in. Again, some more 1/4"

Cleaning up the rear subframe carrier area

Holy ****! There's a wheel well in place of that rust!

Closed up again.

Today was only about 2hours of work. Most of the time was spent sweeping up debris and such. I'm working my bag off at work saving up for some suspension goodies that I'll be needing.

[DJButton]

Wow, wow, wow, future career in restoration? I think so! Looks like it's coming along great, good luck with it, can't wait to see some more updates, and did you hire a camera-man? sooo many pictures.

[92_240_owner]

see with a few hours day you too can make a 240 look kick *** again. hats off to you your like my hero

someone should sticky this

[miggs32]

looks like this thing was found right next to the titantic! Well keep up the long daunting task, it will look like a queen again soon.

[ca20det]

holy **** dont want to criticize but there is near 100 pounds more steel on the car then at the beginning

[lrb_2000]

holy **** dont want to criticize but there is near 100 pounds more steel on the car then at the beginning

well yeah, considering when he started half the steel on the car was rusted away..

can't wait for more updates.. weee

[Jiggyfry]

Wow man you are my new hero! I live down in Nova Scotia and my S13 is pretty rusty too, i'd like to get a new one but finding one thats never seen salt is a chore, and when you do it usually about 5k+. Yes thats right NICO a pre 92 S13 in good condition will sell for around 5-7K in Nova Scotia, infact I talked to a guy at tim Hortons who just paid $8300 for a 90 w/ 115,000 km!! This thread is actually kind of like a Writeup/article, Sock should be eligible for a custom title...... i think "Rusty"has been mentioned

Yes! more canadians! We are taking over! And it is so true that 240's in Canada are expensive with no rust and low km's! Mine cost aboot the same as your buddies and it is a '91 with 74000kms NO RUST! Why cant someone bring us some U.S 240's and sell em for cheaper? Show the north some lovin people!And lets get rid of the damned salted roads in winter, that eats up any car!

[Sockington]

holy **** dont want to criticize but there is near 100 pounds more steel on the car then at the beginning

Think of the structural rigidity - strut tower bars are for p******. 1/4" frame is for the hardcore people with rust problems.

Also, I've got another couple days of normal work ahead of me before I can squeeze out there to work on the car.

[S13 240SX]

HOLY ****ING CRAP!!!!!!! I am shocked really I am... I can't wait till you keep sending those pictures and I can't wait till the day when your project is done! But what is with the 2.3 ford turbo engine? Spend all that time re-storing the whole car and your gonna go with a ford engine? go rb25det or rb26dett. hehehe

gd damn i'm still shocked about all that frame rot you had. It had more frame rot than what my red 240 shell has, in which I was gonna re-pair the shell but never really thought it coudl be done.... but now after seeing your project it tells me frame rot repair can most defitnely be repaired. NICE WORK!

[Sockington]

But what is with the 2.3 ford turbo engine? Spend all that time re-storing the whole car and your gonna go with a ford engine? go rb25det or rb26dett. hehehe!

It was a free engine and transmission combo that can easily be put to over 400whp cheaper than it would cost me to get a RB series engine.

Also, it keeps the weight balance in check (Iron head and block 2.3T Ford is only 430lbs with the transmission weighing in less than 70lbs).

[S13 240SX]

crap if your worried about the weight then go ca18det. hehehe sorry to put down your 2.3l ford engine but i'm not a big domstic fan. lol