Just finished reading through the whole thread, very nice job on the build, nice to see the attention to detail in restoring it. I will be keeping an eye on this one.

props for staying nissan bro!

...no bastard 240's here lol

speedeast wrote:Cool beans, I look forward to it.

I'll be putting up another update on here pretty soon, probably later this week with some more powder-coating. Keep in touch Chris.

You still up to powder coating that valve cover for me? If so, I need paypal info and a shipping address. If you don't want to post them here, you can send me a text message at (740)285-2217 or an email at [email protected]

Looking good, very cool build. Keep us posted with the progress.Thankspallnet

Big Daddy 18det wrote:Hello Zach , where did you buy the chassis saver from? Nice rebuild....... B.Daddy

I bought it locally from a place called 'Auto Finishers.' But I know for a fact that the local CarQuest carries it. You can get it online as well, but then there are shipping costs too.

wa-chiss wrote:Hell f***ing yeah! Thats what I'm talkin 'bout. Very nice progress. I would love a swap like this. I want to completely disassemble my car as well. How hard was it really?

Well, it was a hell of a lot easier to pull it apart than putting it together, lol. It wasn't that bad, just use good judgment on certain little meticulous things. For example, in my thread I explain how I broke the subframe stud and how I fixed it. There are certain measures I could have taken to prevent breaking it... If you have an S13 and need any help/advice then hit me up; I'm pretty regular on here now. My email is also in my profile.

SR20DET.240 wrote:Just finished reading through the whole thread, very nice job on the build, nice to see the attention to detail in restoring it. I will be keeping an eye on this one.

spooled240 wrote:props for staying nissan bro!

...no bastard 240's here lol

pallnet wrote:Looking good, very cool build. Keep us posted with the progress.Thankspallnet

Thanks guys! I will keep you posted; things have been slow here lately with a lot of other stuff going on, but I'm well overdue for an update and a garage allnighter!

I got a few new cool things in the mail over the last couple weeks, so I'm excited to keep the ball rolling.

What did you do for the primer? since you sanded down to the metal?

Your car is going to be badass, keep it up

initial_jc wrote:What did you do for the primer? since you sanded down to the metal?

Your car is going to be badass, keep it up

Epoxy primer over the bare metal. Then I used a high-build sandable primer in coats over top of that so I can get the body as close to perfect as possible.

Some epoxy primers require that you paint over them within 72 hours or a week before they fully cure. The high build is an acceptable covering that you can just lightly sand right before you apply your final coats. If the epoxy primer cures uncovered, then you have to sand it all rough and repaint it with an epoxy primer and then your timer starts over again.

im in love with this build!

Very nice build man Makes me wanna go backwards on mine some more... Will def be keeping an eye on this one! Sorry to hear about the subframe stud but glad you found a way to get it out

Damn dude... that's f***ing crazy. So much work... So professional like. I wish half the people that OWNED SHOPS around here were as pro as you are.

mastakilla08 wrote:im in love with this build!

cmoody2006 wrote:Very nice build man Makes me wanna go backwards on mine some more... Will def be keeping an eye on this one! Sorry to hear about the subframe stud but glad you found a way to get it out

Thanks guys, stay tuned.

rsmithdrift wrote:Damn dude... that's f***ing crazy. So much work... So professional like. I wish half the people that OWNED SHOPS around here were as pro as you are.

Thanks dude. I'm glad my hard work is appreciated. Keep tabs on this thread, I just finished designing engine mounts for the car and I got some other cool things going on. I'll probably eventually make the mounts available for others in the Fabricator's thread. I'll also be designing practical mounts for the VQ35.

I just ran across your build, man that is awesome. You really seem to have some building experience behind you, in almost every aspect of the build. This is a thread i will be lookin over for sometime. Very nice man.

SteveRB240sx wrote:I just ran across your build, man that is awesome. You really seem to have some building experience behind you, in almost every aspect of the build. This is a thread i will be lookin over for sometime. Very nice man.

You're less than an hour away.

This build is awesome! Looks like you have a strong will, alot of people would've given up when the subframe bolt broke. Keep us updated!

Amazing Zach... For someone that joined 6 1/2 months ago, you've already got one of the more popular builds on here..

Yea, i am pretty close lol, i gota see this in person sometime when its done

spooled240 wrote:props for staying nissan bro!

...no bastard 240's here lol

I agree. So many people decide to go GM if they go V8. I makes me sad. But you've definitely payed alot of attention to detail. Great job on the work man. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Hey man, just wanted to say you've made me get back in the mood to continue workin on my project car. Im jealous of your rust free car, im doing some serious rust work on my 89 coupe. Im gonna have to come check this out when your coming to a close, I'm over in Canandaigua

Very Impressive build man. You have patients for the one thing i dont and that body work. Nissan V8=badass

nice build keep us updated.

NewYorkCoupe wrote:Hey man, just wanted to say you've made me get back in the mood to continue workin on my project car. Im jealous of your rust free car, im doing some serious rust work on my 89 coupe. Im gonna have to come check this out when your coming to a close, I'm over in Canandaigua

Cool, you're quite close.

J14cm7 wrote:Very Impressive build man. You have patients for the one thing i dont and that body work. Nissan V8=badass

HGOTBOOST wrote:nice build keep us updated.

Thanks guys.

Golle

I wish i had that kind of money and I wish i knew about engines as much as you do!

FTW

Good build.

Thanks dude. Research and experience... and army sign-on bonus for the win.

Update tomorrow!

Love it man. I'm a Mercedes tech and some of our guys don't organize as well as you! Every picture tells a story in the background and I'm glad to see you're not cutting corners. I've wanted to do a build like this for a while and thought no one else was going to treat the project with the respect it deserves, now I'm glad to see I was wrong. Do the swap, restore the car, make it look factory but built better than factory.

From someone who has built composites, restored classics, and thrashes on Benzes everyday for a living...I'm floored! You FU**IN rock bro!Can't wait to meet you and your car someday!

zspeed10 wrote:Love it man. I'm a Mercedes tech and some of our guys don't organize as well as you! Every picture tells a story in the background and I'm glad to see you're not cutting corners. I've wanted to do a build like this for a while and thought no one else was going to treat the project with the respect it deserves, now I'm glad to see I was wrong. Do the swap, restore the car, make it look factory but built better than factory.

From someone who has built composites, restored classics, and thrashes on Benzes everyday for a living...I'm floored! You FU**IN rock bro!Can't wait to meet you and your car someday!

Thanks Mike! I appreciate your interest. It helps motivate me to spend my spare time out in the garage. Unfortunately I'm unemployed right now so I am spending more time out there. Only problem is that I cannot fund moving forward. My tax money/savings will be all used up soon between living expenses and my Mazda car payment.

I just finished designing an engine mount for the VH in the S-Chassis (S13) and I might market that depending on interest. I wish i could make parts all day long and make a living from it, but I don't really know what all people need right now.

I'll have an update later on today with said engine mounts... check back!

Awesome, can't wait to see more of this.

Well, it's been a long time coming, but here goes...

In December, I dropped the engine in so I could mock up and design engine mounts. Until the beginning of this week, I really haven't done anything. This week I did make time to get these done, and tonight I'm documenting it!

I'm going to start with my rear lower control arm ball joints. There is already a great write-up in the technical section of this site, so I'll be brief.

I removed the old ball joints with snap ring pliers, a mallet, and two different sized pieces of galvanized pipe.



...and installed the new ones.



Next up is my transmission mount crossmember. I maneuvered the engine where everything lined up just as I wanted in respect to front and back. I wanted the shifter as close to the hole as possible. I wanted the driveshaft to still fit perfect. I also wanted to clear the heater lines and still have the oil pan behind where the front sway bar crosses. After all that I measured up the difference from where the transmission crossmember used to be and where it needs to be.

With that in mind, I also noticed that the transmission couldn't push up against the floor enough to have the old crossmember height work, so I needed some head room.

With all this combined, I cut a 1.5" piece of 1/8" thick square steel tubing straight down the center somewhere around 6" long. I welded them onto the old crossmember and was able to gain 11/16" on each side after the blade width ~ maybe 21/32" after grinding the edges nice and smooth.

This is what I ended up with:



I don't have any pictures of it with the holes drilled or mounted up in place, but use your imagination.

With that bolted up restricting the motor set from moving forward or backward, it was time to move on to the engine mounts.



For my design, I wanted to be able to use 240sx KA engine mounts (not OEM). I ordered a set of Urethane mounts from a small business called Creative Steel. They are designed to replace OEM KA mounts, but are much more versatile. They are tubular in design and have bolts extending from each end that DO NOT touch within the urethane. They are stiffer than OEM, but still offer some vibration 'relief." Creative Steel also offers solid aluminum OEM replacement mounts that are also tubular in shape.

I took a piece of 1/4" mild steel and cut it down to the size I wanted then drilled holes for mounting to the VH block. After I mounted it on the block, I put one of the mounts in place and bolted a square chunk of the same steel to it. I started on the right-hand side of the car by the way. This is what I had at this point:



I then measured up the gap with my handy caliper and cut a piece out of 2"x2" L-shaped steel. I got very lucky, it fit perfect without any further modification other than grinding away imperfections in the cut.



I reached in with my MIG welder and spot-welded it all together. Then I pulled it all out and prepared to get my fab on.



I then welded another piece of L-shaped steel beside the first piece in between the steel plates. I welded it all together and started cutting and grinding until I got to my "prototype" phase.



I then installed the first mount, which required dropping the crossmember to negotiate it into place. It fit like a glove!

With that in place it was time to measure up for the second mount. Everything on the left-hand side measured up an exact mirror of the right side except for one sensor in the side of the block that would require me to make the right side mount about a half in shorter. It's no big deal. A half inch would give me plenty of room to play also.

I ran a string from one strut housing to the other and measured down. I also measured from the crank to to the frame rails on each side. From the string down I found my chi at 111.5mm and from the crank to the frame rails was already sitting pretty with 366.5mm on each side.



I made the left hand mount in the first mounts image (minus the 1/2" of course). No pictures of this, although it was about the same, only I made it outside of the car.

I installed the mount bracket on the left with only one thing left to do: drill a hole for the mount itself. There wasn't already a hole because I didn't build it in place like I did the first bracket. To accomplish this, I tried to get clever on how to mark where the hole needed to be drilled. I rigged up a bolt with a series of nuts on the bottom to make it just shorter than the mount itself but able to extend to the length of the mount. I know reading this might not help you create an image in your head because it's hard to explain. But fret not; I took pictures!!!

To mark the bracket, I put a dab of Tech 300 grease on the end of the bolt, check it out:



Then I twisted it up until it touched,



Then I pulled it out and drilled a hole. After I drilled the hole, I just kind of cleaned it up with a round file.



At this point everything went together great. With my design I had to drop the crossmember to get the mounts in and out, but here's my result:

^LOOK MA! NO CHAINS!!!

I'm exhausted and it's late, so I'm going to wrap this up with a few random part numbers for those of you who may need them.

Ball joints (from a Sentra):



Tie Rod Ends (outer):



OEM VH45DE Thermostat



OEM rubber radiator foot piece:



OEM Z32 Transmission striking rod dust boot



Thank you, and good night.
Modified by speedeast at 1:35 AM 3/26/2010

Engine comes back out tonight! I probably won't post on the pull because it's literally the opposite of one of my other posts, but whatever. When it's out, I'll be finishing up the timing, making custom accessory brackets, sealing the engine up, wiring, clutch & flywheel, fuel lines, restoring my gas tank, painting the car, etc etc.

This is the first thread I have ever checked on a daily basis! I'm hooked. Mentally sorting out my build now. Passed a couple of Q45's on the road today and the one word that passed in my head..."donor". Sorry Infinity guys!