CamryOnBronze

So, the car made her first appearance in daylight since last October yesterday:

I pushed it out into the driveway since the weather seems to be a lot nicer now. I’m sure it will get bad again, but some rain (and possibly snow) won’t hurt anything at this point. It was great to see the car out again- it made me really motivated to get it running again! Some updates…

-Finish Engine Assembly: Bolt up the turbo and intake manifolds, connect the lines, install the poncams+rocker arm stoppers, and finish up misc. items (PS pump, alternator, etc.)

-Transmission: I installed new gaskets, a NISMO pivot ball, and a NISMO slave cylinder onto the trans last weekend. I have decided to ditch my Peak Performance transmission mount in favor of a NISMO unit so that I will have a place for the downpipe bracket. I want my exhaust to be as rock solid as possible.

-Assembly: once the above things are done, I can bolt the engine and trans up. I will then transport them back to the barn the car is at to drop them into the car. I’ll probably use my grandpa’s truck to haul the motor back out here.

-Engine bay: I spent some time cleaning and degreasing the engine bay last night. I’m about 40% done, so I need to finish that up next week. Stock engine mounts will come out, along with the battery tray. Strut tower rust will be repaired and sprayed. For the most part though, I am just going to clean up and wax the bay- I’m not going to delay things more with a full bay repaint at this point in time.

-Aero: I have decided not to paint the whole car at this point in time. I want to tune and drive the car soon, so I have decided to have the aero painted and invest in a nice wheel and some pads/supplies to get the paint nice looking again. It is a street car after all, so I can live with this decision. The following items will be painted:

• Front fenders (OEM, mint. Mine are all sorts of banged up right now)
• Hatch (Currently spray bombed flat black)
• Kouki aero (Bumper, lip, extensions, spoiler, center valence, side skirts)
• Rear bumper (mine has a lot of scratches on it and looks pretty hit)

I have not decided on a painter yet, but when I do I will drop those items off for paint and get them installed ASAP. My rear 18′ Work wheels will hit the states on or close to March 31st- so I hope to have the wheels painted, tires mounted, and everything on the car sometime in mid April. I can’t wait to see the stance!

One other quick note since my last update- my wife and I are getting our first house! The inspection is today, and as long as everything goes well, we should close and move in sometime in late May or early June. I am beyond excited to have my own garage… the car will be done so much faster when I have my own place to work on it, right outside my door!

Thanks for reading guys! More updates with better pictures very soon.

So I made a little progress on the engine a couple of nights ago. Tim and I reinstalled the upper oil pan, baffle plate, GReddy oil pan, ARP head studs, Apexi head gasket, and dropped the head back on. It was a weeknight and I still had to drive home, so that’s as far as we got. I tossed the intake and exhaust manfiolds on for fun, but they aren’t fully installed yet. Here are some less-than-awesome cell phone pics:

I was hoping to get out there this weekend to finish it up, but I don’t think I will have time. I’ll have to make a trip out to GR one night next week to work on it. I guess it isn’t a huge rush anyway, since we can’t drop it in until the engine bay is painted.

I pieced my rear valences together separately. I found out that my center piece was actually a fiberglass knockoff, which kind of bugged me. I picked up a complete OEM set from JDMHookup.com and sold my previous set to a friend:

I also got my Megan test pipe (fail, haha) and Walbro fuel pump from FR Sport yesterday. My car came with a Walbro in it from when the previous owner did the swap back in 2001 or 2002, but I wanted to replace it just for extra assurance:

That’s about it for right now. The weather has been awesome out here, and it’s making me antsy to get the car done. I’m just trying to be patient, though, since I still have a ton of work to do and not much time to do it. Still shooting for having the car tuned and on the road June 1st!

So I got the final engine related pieces I need to put it all back together (for the most part) over the weekend. Huge thanks to Russell and NissanParts.cc for hooking me up like crazy- as always!

Tomei Poncams

Transmission related goodies, freeze plugs, misc. hardware, etc.

Freebies from Russell- Brake fluid and oil filters. Thanks man!

After test fitting my rear valences, I found that the center piece was a fiberglass knockoff. I think it could have fit totally fine with some work, but that kind of stuff tends to really bother me. I ordered a complete set of OEM JDM rear valences from Dewey at JDMHookup.com, so those should be here soon. I think a friend is going to buy the old valences.

I’ll be heading out to the west side of the state tomorrow to work on engine assembly. I’m hoping to leave there tomorrow night with the head back on and bolted up, the upper and lower oil pans assembled, and the cams installed. Then all I need to do is paint the block/head and complete the assembly by adding the intake manifold, turbo manifold, and other accessories. It should be great when it all comes together!

I am also having Toby Broadfield (broadfield.wordpress.com) build be a custom Defi gauge cluster. I still need to decide on a speedometer, order that and the fuel level gauge, and source an oem gauge cluster to use. Once I have those things, I’ll be shipping it all out to him in Illinois so he can work his magic on them! It should be pretty cool in the end. 🙂 More updates very soon!

So the car looks pretty nasty in these pics, but bear with me. I mocked everything up with zip ties and tape for the heck of it the other night. Ignore the wheels and tires- those are just to roll the car around and trailer it to/from paint.

Tossed my floor mats in, as well as my privacy cover. I also rewrapped my door panels in “suede” last night. They didn’t come out perfect, but I think they will do- maybe I will redo them at some point in time. I hate that kind of stuff- the process is really annoying!

So that’s about all I got done this week. My Tomei PonCams should be here tomorrow, along with a few other loose ends for the engine from NissanParts.cc- mostly gaskets and whatnot for the transmission. I’ll post those up when they get here, as well as any progress made on the engine next week.

We didn’t make quite as much progress as I hoped today, but Tim and I got some stuff done:

– Got the head back from the machine shop on Friday.
– Cleaned the surface of the block.
– Installed oil pump.
– Installed water pump.
– Installed NISMO thermostat.
– Installed S14 oil pickup/gasket.
– Installed timing chain/guides.

Tim is going to take the upper oil pan in to hot tank/clean it and then we can install the upper/GReddy oil pans. After that, we will drop the head back on with the Tomei Poncams and the intake manifold/turbo setup. The motor should be all back together really soon!

I am borrowing some spare wheels/tires tonight to sit the car down on the ground and test fit the kouki stuff. I’ll post some pics up tomorrow.

So progress has been a bit slow lately. Here is a rundown of what’s going on:

• I ordered my tires and they just came in today- Dunlop DZ1o1- 215/45/17 F, 225/40/18 R
• I sold two of the CR Kais and ordered two 18×9.5 +12 for the rear. They should be here from Japan sometime in March. Once they arrive, I will have them all painted and the tires mounted.
• I dropped off the head at Ann Arbor Auto Machine to be checked and decked a week ago. I am REALLY hoping it’s all done and good to go by tomorrow so that I can work on reassembly on Saturday.
• I got an order last week from NP.cc That included: kouki fender extensions, timing chain kit, rear main seal, engine temp sensor, turbo outlet gasket, O2 sensor, and water pump studs. I also bought an OEM clutch fan and sold my electric fans for simplicity’s sake. OEM shroud is on back order.
• My AEM wideband arrived. I also FINALLY found a Defi 80mm tach, so I am going to build a custom gauge cluster this summer with the help of Mr. Toby Broadfield.
• I also purchased a new GReddy oil pan, so that is ready to be bolted up to the motor when it is all reassembled.
• Today I ordered some transmission related parts and gaskets, along with some Tomei Poncams from Russell at NissanParts.cc Those should be here sometime next week.

I photoshopped what I hope the car will look like come spring time. I didn’t do a 17/18 stagger at the time though- I think the fitment should be a lot better this summer!

That’s all for now, updates with engine assembly very soon!

Not a crazy update, but I bolted up some of the turbo stuff after work today:

• Tomei turbo manifold
• OEM gaskets
• OEM locking tabs
• OEM outlet studs/nuts
• DIF turbo lines w/restrictor
• S15 drain tube/hose
• HKS actuator
• GReddy suction kit

So, I decided some time ago to go a new direction with the exterior of the car. I found a Kouki 180SX front end on FindJDM.com that came with the rare and discontinued OEM Front Lip, so I decided to jump on it back in October. After months of waiting patiently, the front end arrived last weekend. The bumper that came with it had a couple of cracks, so I purchased a new OEM bumper, position lights, and turn signals from Russell at NissanParts.cc. I am going to sell the extra bumper and lights.

My wife was kind enough to get me some Kouki 180SX side skirts for my birthday- can you say awesome? I was also able to find an OEM spoiler and center rear valence, as well as a RPS13 Panel from NissanParts.cc The car is going to be repainted the same OEM Black in march or April, thanks to a great paint hookup from my friends Tim and Kevin- Thanks guys! I will post some mockups of everything installed soon.

New OEM Bumper, OEM Front Lip

OEM Bumper that came with the lip from Japan.

OEM 180SX Turn Signals

OEM 180SX Side Skirts

RPS13 Carbon Kevlar Look Panel

D-Max Floor mats- these were a nightmare to get too!

So here is the skinny on the SR20DET rebuild…

We found a lot of problems when the motor was pulled. The oil pump/front cover/seal was leaking, the head gasket was weeping on the front and back, the water pump was super notchy, etc. A bolt had backed out of the power steering pump and eaten into the pulley, so that was about to turn into a disaster. Not to mention the fact that the stock T25 turbo was letting go. I have been collecting the necessary parts for a proper rebuild for several months now, and I almost have everything engine related that I need. Here is a list of what I have ready to install:

Aftermarket:

• Tomei Expreme Turbo Manifold
• D-Max Catback Exhaust
• GReddy Intake Manifold
• Deatschwerks 650cc Injectors
• GReddy Suction Kit
• Z32 MAF
• S15 GT28 Spec R Turbo
• DIF turbo lines
• HKS Actuator
• Cusco Motor Mounts
• Peak Performance Transmission Mount
• NISMO Clutch Line
• NISMO Slave Cylinder
• ACT StreetLite Flywheel
• NISMO Thermostat
• Apexi 1.1mm Head Gasket
• ARP Head Studs
• Tomei Rocker Arm Stoppers
• DIF Coolant Temp Sensor Housing
• GReddy Lightweight Pulleys

OEM Replacement:

• Coil Packs
• Oil Pump/Front Cover/Front Seal
• Water Pump
• Pitwork Belts
• Complete Turbo Gasket Kit
• Intake Manifold Gaskets
• OEM Clutch Fan (Removing electric fans)
• PCV Valve
• S14 Oil Pickup/Gasket
• Flywheel Bolts
• Z32 Fuel Filter

I still need to place one more order from NissanParts.cc for a lot of transmission gaskets, as well as a complete OEM timing chan kit. I should make that order later this week. Here are some pics of the parts I have collected:

D-Max Catback

ACt Flywheel

OEM Parts

Cusco Motor Mounts, Peak Performance Trans. Mount

GReddy Lightweight Pulleys

So I really liked my Gram Lights, but I wasn’t wild about the Time Attack scheme. Some days I liked it, and at other times it bothered me. I decided to sell them and pick up a new set of wheels.

I scored a set of used Work CR Kai wheels from a Zilvia member. They are 17×9 +17 all around, silver powdercoat (optional Work finish):

All had some paint chips and two of them had curb rash. I took them to WeldCraft Wheels in Plymouth, MI and they smoothed/filled the lips where needed to get them looking new again:

Excuse the cat, haha

Tim took the wheels out to Grand Rapids for me to have his buddy Kevin repaint all four of them the current silver color. They should hopefully be done next week. My rear tires were completely smoked, so I am going to move my 225/45 Yokohama S Drives to the rear and get some 215/40 or 215/45s for the front. That will give me a bit more of a stretch all around. I might need to run spacers to fill everything out a bit, but we’ll see once they are done and on the car. I also picked up the decals for them, as well as some Work lug nuts: