White S14 Kouki LS1 DD Build Thread

[SoundEfx]

If I lived close by I would take you up on the shop time offer.
There is no one offering that where I am...

Road trip lol

I lived in Baltimore and my family is still there, so don't tempt me....lol.

Nice updates on the car man, keep it fresh.
Don't woop on them too bad on the track.....

[tek18b_jimmy]

Cool build man! Cant beat the power to weight ratio/cost/reliability of an LS in an S-chassis.. =) Super OK! ✌

[GoodzKouki]

Hi Everyone. Now that winter is over, time for some 240 fun. I've been having a blast driving the car around. So far it has been a great DD/awesome car.

So from January till now here's whats been going on:

Some winter time fun in my beater outback.



My buddy's STI was also out enjoying the snow


The time came when I was tired of the Outback (mainly because it was an auto), so I picked up a 2004 WRX as my new winter beater. Car came with some Go-Fast-Parts and was a good price.


We finally finished the LS2 powered 350z. It's pretty awesome



Our one buddy's turbo powered LS Mustang is also finished.


Enough with the boring talk, time for some 240.

Aside from enjoying driving, I was able to get the A/C working. It was honestly the hardest part of the whole build lol. The Sikky A/C conversion kit doesn't work with 97 or 98 240xs's. Nissan changed some of the fittings/orings around on the kouki's. Through trial and error (and a lot of R134a) I was able to adapt the Sikky A/C lines to my setup.

I also got my windows tinted


SSM moved into our new base of operations a few weeks ago.





We also just got a '69 Mustang that we are making roadworthy for now, then once the owner gets the cash together a coyote motor is getting dropped in this bad boy


As far as future updates, I plan on finally going to a track day at NJMP. I missed the one last month, but hopefully will be singing up for the one on June 25th. The 26th-27th is Formula Drift at Wall Speedway NJ, I'll be driving up with the 240 . I also have a budget and plans for next winter. I'd like to do P&P 243 heads,FAST 92 intake, 92mm throttle body, 36lb injectors, and a tune over the winter.

Till next time, peace.

[GoodzKouki]

Was bored so I decided to make a cooling panel. Made one out of cardboard first then got around to measuring things/modeling it in CAD software.




Then when I had some time I made a prototype out of aluminum. Then I painted it black to match the grill.




At some point I want to water jet one out and have it anodized black. I'll get around to it at some point. Car runs between 5-10F cooler with this panel and the factory underside splash guard reinstalled.

My next little mini project will be a cold air intake setup. My current intake air temps are pretty high

[SoundEfx]

Nice work man. It almost look stock.

[GoodzKouki]

Thanks SoundEfx, I had to trim the panel a bunch where the hood latch comes through. It gets the job done though .

I was able to do my cold air setup last month. I still need to get my hands on an OBD scanner to see what my new intake air temps are, but I know they can't be any worse then before.





The filters hidden above the wheel well splash guard behind the bumper vent.






A couple weeks ago I ordered some Swift springs for my coilovers. It was such a P.I.T.A. getting my coilovers apart. I couldn't believe how seized on the lock collars were. They only have ~4000 miles on them. In the end it took a breaker bar, hammers, PB Blaster, pipe wrench, table vise, and a torch to get these things off . I cleaned, greased, lubed, and anti-seized the appropriate areas during reassembly.












This Friday the 31st I'll be taking the S14 to NJMP for the beginner paced laps sessions on Lightening. Next month on the 14th I'll be doing the intermediate paced laps day on Thunderbolt. I hope to do an open track day with an instructor either October or November.

Till next time, peace.

[rameans23]

Great build man, looks like it would be a ton of fun

[GoodzKouki]

Thanks rameans, it's not to shabby . Your new S14 looks sick btw, good luck with her.

So I had my first track experience with the 240 and it was pretty awesome. I was by myself so I don't have any action shots or videos. I do have a few pics of the paddock and one of me with my car.





I participated in two out of the four on track sessions. It was a hot day out and during the end of the second session my power steering started to act really funny. In the turns it felt floaty and hard at the same time. Initial turn in was also a lot harder. I got off the track and when I popped the hood I found some ATF had puked out of my power steering reservoir. When I took the cap off the ATF was steaming. I did a ride along with an instructor during one of the sessions, he was absolutely flying around the track in the pace car (stock STI wagon.)

The next day I flushed the power steering system with fresh fluid and the steering seemed to get better. It still didn't feel right however. I then replaced the power steering pump with a re-manufactured one to see if that would help, still not any better. I installed a power steering cooler which helped bring my steering fluid temps down about 25F. I drove the car for the rest of the week and it slowly got worse until I had basically no power steering. I decided to change the steering rack and started to call around only to find out that they are discontinued at most auto parts stores. Autozone was able to find me one, but said two weeks until I would have it. I'm an impatient person so I decided to buy the seal kit and rebuild it myself. It took me pretty much all weekend, but I was able to get it done.

Here's the rack all pulled apart. It was a b!%ch getting it out of the car. I had to jack up the motor a bit and unbolt/lower the front cross member just to get enough room to fight the rack out of the car.




I used the service manual and some online videos as reference, it was a little bit of a pain getting the old seals out and the new ones on, but all in all it wasn't too bad. It is nerve-racking though cause if you mess up any of the new seals then your work was all for nothing . Here's the old seals in a pile and all the tools I used on my workbench.



I spend about 16 hours in total over three days doing this. It seemed to do the trick though. It took a coupe tries getting the wheels and steering wheel to line up right, but after some messing around I got it back to normal.

I canceled the track day for this Friday before I even decided to try and fix the steering. The next one that has availability is in November, so my STI buddy and me are going to sign up for that one. For the time being I'm going to just enjoy the car and nice weather. I might try and get my hands on some stance LX+ coilovers. I can swap my z32 adapters and swift spring onto them, but have some softer damping for the street. The damping of the GR+ is a little stiff for my liking. We have some crappy roads here in New Jersey.

Till next time

[SoundEfx]

Damn pimp, you're always putting in work.
Stop it.. You're making me look lazy....lol

In all seriousness, good job man. Do you think you remember enough to do a write up?

[AZhitman]

This thread makes me happy in pants.

[GoodzKouki]

This thread makes me happy in pants.

Damn pimp, you're always putting in work.
Stop it.. You're making me look lazy....lol

In all seriousness, good job man. Do you think you remember enough to do a write up?

Haha thanks Efx. This was one job I wish I didn't have to do. I don't like the "fixing broken stuff" part of working on cars lol. I could probably do a detailed write up if I had another rack to rebuild. I didn't take many pictures cause I was just trying to get it done and over with. I used a youtube video that some guy posted where he rebuilt his s14's rack. It was about 45 min long split into two videos. He wasn't so lucky though, his started leaking out of both ends the moment he started his car . The section on steering in the 240sx service manual goes through the whole process pretty well. If someone wants to bring me a rack and some seals I'd gladly do a well pictured write up.

[GoodzKouki]

Hello again everyone. A few weeks ago I decided to try something out with my rear suspension. I noticed that the back of my car seemed pretty harsh while driving on my crappy South Jersey roads . It was fine on the track, smooth roads, and high speed bumps. The problem was slower speeds ( <60 mph) over bumps. The back of the car seemed to punch me in the kidneys. I figured that the rear suspension was just too sprung and the shock wasn't getting a chance to fully do it's thing. I decided to swap out my aluminum knuckles with the poly bushings for a set of aluminum ones with factory rubber bushings. I also wanted the option to run different coilovers in the future so I purchased a set of coilover adapters from rt.trackpro. They allow attachment of the factory 240sx bottom shock mount to the 300zx/Q45 aluminum knuckles.

I pulled everything back out and installed the 240sx bottom shock mount tube:


Here is the new knuckle after I burnt out the rubber shock mount and pressed in the shiny blue aluminum bushing/mount:


The old knuckle is on the ground, new is on the bench:


After everything was said and done my car feels 100% better. The rear suspension has more travel, I have some more height adjustability (The old setup was pretty much as high as i could go with the coilovers ), and the back end of the car isn't trying to kill my internal organs anymore .

[GoodzKouki]

Hello Everyone, it's been a little while. I decided to give FEAL coilovers a try to see if I can find a happy median between mostly street/occasional track car. Got them in the mail a few days ago


Decided to go with a 7K front 5K rear spring setups. Feal coilovers come standard with swift springs and can be custom valved to your spring rates/driving demands.


Out with the old:



In with the new:




Here's a shot of the rear shock mounted to the rt.trackpro lower adapter mount:


Exhaust pic cause I had the car up in the air, and an engine bay shot cause why not



I'll be back with my thoughts on the coilovers once all this damn salt is off the roads. Till next time

[SoundEfx]

As usual, wicked work man.

So question, are you selling your old, don't want anymore and absolutely useless coilovers?...lol

What funny is that I need to rebuild my rack as well and watched the videos you're talking about. What has me worried is that I don't know where he went wrong because it leaked out of both ends.
Did he damage both seals or just the internal one where he basically 'jabbed' the center piece into?
So seeing that you're now the rack and pinion rebuild master, you'll rebuild mine if I mail it to you right? lol

Where did you get the resealing kit?

[GoodzKouki]

Thanks SoundEfx.

Yep lol, the useless coilovers are up on craigslist. I'm selling the 300zx lower shock forks and the rear aluminum knuckles along with them. I started driving her around yesterday and am pretty happy with the FEAL coilovers. The softer damping and slightly softer springs make driving more enjoyable on my crappy roads. I've taken some on/off ramps and still feel very planted.

The seal kit was a special order from Autozone ($30 for a S14, $58 for a S13 ). All the seals looked exactly like the OEM ones. The "rack end seals" in the kit (the large oil seal looking ones) were OEM. I wondered the same thing about the guy in the video. The teeth on the rack definitely killed the seal that gets pressing down into the housing, but I didn't notice him mess up the one on the end.

I know you're joking, but I'd be cool with giving it a shot. Just as fair warning there is a small chance that the rack could get messed up. The end of the rack is hit with a small punch that pinches the threads of the end nut thus locking it into place. You have to drill it out carefully as to not damage the end nut. Then the nut takes forever to get off cause the rack is still kind of pinching it. It slightly shaved a little off the top of my end nut threads (which is aluminum btw). Also there is a bearing located under the steering input shaft seal that needs to be hammered/pressed out in order to replace that seal. I was very careful as to not damage the bearing. You should get your hands on a HICAS rack, I heard they have a slightly quicker rack ratio Just shoot me a PM if you want me to take a crack at it.

[Kalypso]

good read just finished the thread front to back.

seems like you got this thing together pretty smooth without any hickups. Im impressed

how you enjoy it... cheers

[GoodzKouki]

Thanks Kalypso. Yea it wasn't too bad at all. It took a bunch of hours, but that's part of the fun.

[SoundEfx]

Honestly, I wasn't joking....lol. I would ship what ever I need to who ever if I know that they'll go a good job. But because I got a replacement, I'll try to rebuild the old one myself. Jesus help me....lol

What's funny is that the person I bought a rack from replaced his with a hicas rack for the same reason you stated.
Someday I might be able to play with you big dawgs.

Keep up the wicked work pimp.

[EW]

Great build thread!