240SX rebuild
 

'ello guys,

Figured I'd share my current build. As most of you know my baby was sent on a ping pong ride across the highway one fateful Jan day and was deemed totaled.
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I cried I mourned, I lost my job, and then lost my gf (cheating whore!). I picked up a 97' Volvo 850 Wagon and thankfully it helped me out while I moved out. It lasted till this November when someone decided to rearend me.
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Yeah I know a pretty bad year for me I know.
I said screw it I'm single, no kids, no gf, no wife, and I have a decent paying job now. I went about a search and found this.
A 1995 Nissan 240SX SE
When I got her she looked like this....
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At this moment she looks like this....
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If you guys wish to see more let me know. I still love the Rx-8 and still poke in here time to time. :D

So you got a new hood? :lol:

J/k man, nice ride! I would love to see where you go with it.

i'd like to see how it goes too

my buddy has 2 240s he's currently swapping a ca18 in one
they're pretty awesome

haha hush up.. nah did some rust repair by the drivers side fender, replaced the rusted out drivers side fender, replaced the black hood and grill with the Arctic White Pearl colored ones. Also slapped in some coilovers, and other various mechanical crap. Car has 175k miles on her now. Figure instead of posting up all the photo's now see if people are interested in seeing what I did :rock:

It's a 240sx, of course we're interested! :drool:

dont care what the car is. Always love to see a build thread

congrats man always liked these (just not when they dog us at our meets :squint:) here's hoping you do it up right

Haha alright some interest and no hate.. (nice to see this place hasnt changed :mdrmed:)
Well when I got her the alternator was like DEAD I knew it and was part reason I got a steal of a deal 1.4k. I changed that out easily enough.
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At the time though I noticed a oil leak and thought it was the oil pan and figured I'd do that in a few.
After the Alternator was the regular tune up stuff, plugs and wires.. then brakes and rotors.... this is what the fronts looked like!! :SHOCKED:
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And yes that is pretty much bare metal on those pads.
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At the time it was December and it was freezing out and the car kept on reading C and I had no heat. I got sick of it bought a coolant temp sensor and a NISMO stat.
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Turns out my OEM stat was busted take a look.
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Shortly after (about lil over a month), my clutch went. Since it was my DD and I had next to no extra loot at the time I just bought a new OEM set up. This is what my clutch looked like after I got it out.
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sheesh those pads are terrible

Yeah the brakes were horrible. They went two weeks after driving. Only thing that caused me not to bitch out the previous owner was the low cost I got the car at.

I have a friend that does fabrication and welding. We've known each other since High School and I asked him to fix my rust issues. He just grinned and said "We have the technology we can fix her!" After that it was on! :rock:
The cancer
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Yes that is a hood, and yes it came off of a chevy truck!
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My friend has worked on cars from Ferrari, Merc's, BMW's, all the way to VW New Bettles. He'll soon be opening up his own shop after his previous shop went under due to the owner not paying taxes and other stuff. I'm hoping he remembers me when he really hits the big time (he will trust me).

When we did this we also ditched the rotted rusted drivers fender and replaced it with another one. It was primer puke green. While my friend Eddie was off doing his welding I became bored and decided to take some spray paint and be creative for awhile haha.
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I decided to change out the old end links with some new OEM ones.
Comparison shot. Guess which is which? lol
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More plz, I love car rebuilds and stuff. Can't wait to see you turn this into a menacing car.

Wow you sure are doing that car right, man. Props to ya! Definitely need more.

Found a used sunroof from a forum member of a 240SX site in CT. Went down an picked it up back in Jan.
This was what mine looked like before.
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And this is what it looks like now. A seal that was around the previous sunroof came off and Nissan doesnt sell it by itself. I'd need to by one for about $800 and that is at my cost o.0!
New to me Sunroof!
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No more rain leaking down into the trunk or into the car either now!

About a month ago I finally got around to changing the transmission fluid!! It looked very very nasty. I put in some Royal Purple Gear Oil in there.
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Front Main Oil Seal Replacement
 

At the same time I tackled my oil leak. After some research on various 240SX forums, I noticed several people mentioning that their oil leak came from a cracked front main oil seal. I figured I'd give it a shot since it would be way way easier than taking off the oil pan.
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Taaadaa.. all done!
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I did a write up on a local forum to rave reviews (with more photo's than this). This by far (at the time) was the easiest fix I did on the car, had to buy a few tools but overall it was worth it.

Oh and it did solve my oil leaking problems. Before this oil was spitting out and lubing up the alternator tension bolt and causing it to slowly slip loose. Lost a belt due to this which was scary since it was on the highway :SHOCKED:.

Wow, nice! I shall keep reading!

very nice writeup so far. cant wait to see some more progress

Ugh more crap to replace/repair!
 

While I was at my work having the car up in the air I looked around. This is what I found. Rear sway bar bushings all shades of busted up and both endlinks snapped in half.
I ordered some Energy Suspension Bushings the next day and had to wait about a month or more for them to come in.
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Screw your Panda Look!
 

I came across a offer to good to pass up. A white hood for only a $100! I took my hood off and drove down to meet up with the guy. Nothing says Wicked Pissa! :ylsuper: like driving down I-95S with no hood.
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Love your determination and outcome, Kevin! I love build threads too.

wow good luck! i love 240s but my fave is still the s13 :yumyum: sucks that you lost ur job and ur gf, i did too, but no pain last forever ;)

hehe.. I was looking for a decent S13 but this S14 was priced to move.. sadly I found out afterwards why it was lol.

Well the job I have now at a Saab Dealership is way better than my previous job and I get paid more AND its part of a dealership network where we have own a Nissan dealership so most of my OEM parts have been at cost plus 10% hehe. :naughty: The gf 'eh.. Karma kicked her in the ass hardcore. She ended up being prego's (not mine) and after the baby was born lost her job. So overall I'm better off I believe :smoker:

That and if I was still with her I know she'd be giving me shyt for buying the car and spending money on it. My ultimate goal is to one day slap in a LS engine (leaning torwards a LS3 since they have one that is emissions legal now) and race it on the track. This baby won't touch a drifting area unless I have near bald tires and I'm bored shytless haha.

I wish to say about 3 weeks ago while surfing the local 240SX forum I came upon a FS thread that was just opened. Used D2 Coilovers for $100 :shocking:, the 240SX has its orginal suspension on it and at the time it was about 174k miles old. I didnt feel secure going at high speeds or cornering that much. Even if those coilovers where in horrible shape it would be leaps and bounds above what I had. So needless to say I bought them on the spot, the following weekend I picked them up.

The springs had some surface rust on them so I took it upon myself to grind/sand/strip 'em on down. Instead of repainting them simple black I opted for white. Thankfully I had some white engine high heat enamel left over and went to town.
Here is a side by side shot (the bottom portion of the coilover was off so dont worry lol).
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I didnt do the rears since well the springs would be so far up that no one would be able to see them ever so why bother.
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Sadly after putting the front coils back together I realized that one was longer than the other. The original owner sadly was busy and couldnt get back to me right away as to why this was.

While waiting for a reply about the coilover situation I decided I was sick of the faux flame custom job on my fender. Bought some spray paint and well went to town. Mind you I did take my time, I wet sanded and everything so its not all that well horrible, but its far from a real paint job I'm not fooling myself.
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All done... can tell its a different shade but at a passing glance you can't tell the difference.
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