Zilvia.net Forums | Nissan 240SX (Silvia) and Z (Fairlady) Car Forum - View Single Post - how i saved a trashed east coast vert (with bonus KA24DE issues)

thermogod · 12-25-2023, 06:36 PM

welcome to part 4. final results are at the end, but the whole story is pretty good. "well why didn't you also do ________?" the answer is "time and money and avoiding the snowball effect".

one last pre-rebuild pic

i had some suspension rust that i said "wasn't structural". it was about to be. i also had no IACV, bushings from 1993 everywhere on the car, a shaky left mirror, a leaking exhaust, seized ball joints/heim joints and dirt everywhere. literally everywhere.

so here's what i did:

first, dropped the rear subframe. i'm lucky that every bolt came off properly as it should. then i bought another rear subframe that looked equally bad but had way less rust!

and this began the process of stripping the old frame AND new frame of everything. i wanted it all stripped and repainted, with new bushings and NO RUSTY HARDWARE. and then i'd put all my current suspension stuff, onto the new subframe. so i did that...

seriously, i hate subframe bushings. these were not fun at all.
obligatory "holy shit dude, you fucking killed them." i'm aware of the hole saw method, but didn't have the right tools. a saw, hammer and chisel worked fine.

pulled EVERYTHING off the front and rear after that. sway bars, brackets, bushings, etc...

and now, it was "repair and replace" time. i may have used unconventional methods to press the bushings in, but...gotta do what you gotta do with minimal tools, and it worked.

powdercoated everything except diff, axles, knuckles
sandblasted every single piece of suspension hardware. eccentric bolts, washers, nuts, etc.
replaced the front arms and ball joints
cleaned off the rear arm guards
nismo rear traction arm bushings
gktech subframe bushings
prothane rear lower arm bushings
energy susp sway bar bushings
new rear lower arm ball joints

i know the bushing and insert aren't flush, i wasn't done when i took the pic

i also did some cleaning, not that that counts towards a rebuild.

and then, reinstallation and wrapping things up with other misc jobs, before i show the finished results.

rethreading the sway bar bracket holes because guy powdercoated over them.

new IACV, which didn't fix my cold start issue. on cold starts, i have to hold RPM at 2000 and slowly bring it back down to 1k or else it'll shut off.

the interior A pillar mirror trim piece was missing a "nub" so I bought a $45 used one thinking it would stop my mirror from vibrating while driving. you can move my left mirror up and down a bit, and you can't do that with my right mirror. thought it would fix that. nope.

new exhaust gasket, oh yah

wrapped the hood black. good enough until paint time

let's talk about steering and wrap this shit up. my motor mounts are old and saggy, which i think is why my Flashark headers (never heard of them) hit the steering column. the $100 fix would be new motor mounts, the $0 fix was to remove the headers, bang them out, and call it a day until i decide to spend $250 on new headers.

except, that sucked. the headers wouldn't come out at any angle, even with the valve cover AND all studs removed. the O2 sensor was frozen onto there too. all easy jobs start looking like this, right?

took the U-joint bolts out, hammered some spreaders into there, and spent 2 hours getting the U joint off the rack. this meant the "extendable" part of the column needed enough force to retract back into a completely dry column. ugh.

the pic looks like the spline is bent, it's not.

somehow i got the column off. i did a solid Gktech steering bushing while i was at it. there's minimal instruction out there for how to remove a steering column frozen onto the steering rack by 30 years of rust, WITH the engine and all accessories installed. it wasn't fun. getting the column back on was way easier.

while the headers were out, swapped the ridiculously dirty O2 sensor.

used the table vice to press a 10mm wrench into the part of the header that the column was hitting, to bend it. worked fine, meaning "certainly not the right way to fix the problem, but it cost me $0 until i pay someone to fix the studs".

ok, last part.

looks like the knuckle isn't all the way on the ball joint, it is, but the ball joint is missing the dust boot. need to get a replacement one

and that's it for now. i seriously, seriously need an alignment; i left for vacation right after i finished and haven't had time. actually haven't touched the car since driving it around the block after the rebuild...so we'll see how it goes next year.

thanks again for reading. merry christmas and all that shit

12-25-2023, 06:36 PM	#122
thermogod Leaky Injector Join Date: Apr 2023 Location: away from anything with a roof Posts: 112 Trader Rating: (0)	welcome to part 4. final results are at the end, but the whole story is pretty good. "well why didn't you also do ________?" the answer is "time and money and avoiding the snowball effect". one last pre-rebuild pic i had some suspension rust that i said "wasn't structural". it was about to be. i also had no IACV, bushings from 1993 everywhere on the car, a shaky left mirror, a leaking exhaust, seized ball joints/heim joints and dirt everywhere. literally everywhere. so here's what i did: first, dropped the rear subframe. i'm lucky that every bolt came off properly as it should. then i bought another rear subframe that looked equally bad but had way less rust! and this began the process of stripping the old frame AND new frame of everything. i wanted it all stripped and repainted, with new bushings and NO RUSTY HARDWARE. and then i'd put all my current suspension stuff, onto the new subframe. so i did that... seriously, i hate subframe bushings. these were not fun at all. obligatory "holy shit dude, you fucking killed them." i'm aware of the hole saw method, but didn't have the right tools. a saw, hammer and chisel worked fine. pulled EVERYTHING off the front and rear after that. sway bars, brackets, bushings, etc... and now, it was "repair and replace" time. i may have used unconventional methods to press the bushings in, but...gotta do what you gotta do with minimal tools, and it worked. powdercoated everything except diff, axles, knuckles sandblasted every single piece of suspension hardware. eccentric bolts, washers, nuts, etc. replaced the front arms and ball joints cleaned off the rear arm guards nismo rear traction arm bushings gktech subframe bushings prothane rear lower arm bushings energy susp sway bar bushings new rear lower arm ball joints i know the bushing and insert aren't flush, i wasn't done when i took the pic i also did some cleaning, not that that counts towards a rebuild. and then, reinstallation and wrapping things up with other misc jobs, before i show the finished results. rethreading the sway bar bracket holes because guy powdercoated over them. new IACV, which didn't fix my cold start issue. on cold starts, i have to hold RPM at 2000 and slowly bring it back down to 1k or else it'll shut off. the interior A pillar mirror trim piece was missing a "nub" so I bought a $45 used one thinking it would stop my mirror from vibrating while driving. you can move my left mirror up and down a bit, and you can't do that with my right mirror. thought it would fix that. nope. new exhaust gasket, oh yah wrapped the hood black. good enough until paint time let's talk about steering and wrap this shit up. my motor mounts are old and saggy, which i think is why my Flashark headers (never heard of them) hit the steering column. the $100 fix would be new motor mounts, the $0 fix was to remove the headers, bang them out, and call it a day until i decide to spend $250 on new headers. except, that sucked. the headers wouldn't come out at any angle, even with the valve cover AND all studs removed. the O2 sensor was frozen onto there too. all easy jobs start looking like this, right? took the U-joint bolts out, hammered some spreaders into there, and spent 2 hours getting the U joint off the rack. this meant the "extendable" part of the column needed enough force to retract back into a completely dry column. ugh. the pic looks like the spline is bent, it's not. somehow i got the column off. i did a solid Gktech steering bushing while i was at it. there's minimal instruction out there for how to remove a steering column frozen onto the steering rack by 30 years of rust, WITH the engine and all accessories installed. it wasn't fun. getting the column back on was way easier. while the headers were out, swapped the ridiculously dirty O2 sensor. used the table vice to press a 10mm wrench into the part of the header that the column was hitting, to bend it. worked fine, meaning "certainly not the right way to fix the problem, but it cost me $0 until i pay someone to fix the studs". ok, last part. looks like the knuckle isn't all the way on the ball joint, it is, but the ball joint is missing the dust boot. need to get a replacement one and that's it for now. i seriously, seriously need an alignment; i left for vacation right after i finished and haven't had time. actually haven't touched the car since driving it around the block after the rebuild...so we'll see how it goes next year. thanks again for reading. merry christmas and all that shit __________________ *yeah, that's a great steak, but it's not Cypher's steak.* Last edited by thermogod; 01-28-2024 at 03:42 PM..