Project Lilia Uber ("BUILD THREAD")

[xharobikeslifex]

I decided to bring my build thread to Zilvia, you've might have seen this build either on NicoClub or KCDA-Online. Sorry for the massive amount of pictures, but here is the project starting from Fri Jan 09, 2009 to Present!

whats up people my name is <^>John<^>None<^>Ponce<^> and this is...
PROJECT LILIA
i recently owned a black 240sx that i used as a temporary shell due to the amount of rust. Now i just recently purchased a 1990 Nissan 240sx w/ a RHD conversion. i bought it off of craigslist in california for like $800 never actually saw it in person but made my best judgement w/ the pics he had sent me.
These are old pics he showed me:





These were recent pics:



ya he painted it satan which is cool 4 now....
And this is were the Build Begins!
First before i like to start this dank build i like to take before pics of the entire vehicle












Now its time to START! finally ugh
I started to tear down the interior. I pretty much am going to completely strip it to start removing the sound deading which i have never done! but luckily i had heard that dry ice helps break it down so it won't be to bad right?

Tools:
10, 12, 14mm socket
3/8 ratchet w/ extension
needle nose
pliers
flat/star head screwdriver

I started by removing the seats and just went from there...





After half of it was stripped i started to lay trash bags down to prepare 4 DRY ICE!



thats it 4 today

[xharobikeslifex]

so i decided to remove the dash today and low and behold i found a rats nest these pics wont do justice in what i see but heres an idea in what it looks like







everything seems to be either butt spliced or zip tied together... crap.

[xharobikeslifex]

Sorry for the delay in updates but some things came up my dog recently had to go threw surgery, to sum things up he had a herniated disc and he's recovering just great just a FYI the surgery costed $3100 and it was worth every penny i mean he's my baby

so anyways to continue in were i last stopped i currently took a break on taking out the sound deading such a PITA! so i decided to remove the whole front end

Started with the fenders


removed left fender

removed front bumper

then the right fender


now for the lights started with the right

and lastly the left front end completely off yo


i even managed to take off the hatch woot woot score! pretty much my intentions are this 1. strip entire vehicle 2. remove sound deadning 3. fix and repair 4. prep it 4 paint!

[xharobikeslifex]

okay so i started to go back in the car to remove the sound deadening and i just couldn't keep my eyes off this hidous harness it makes everything look like a train wreck so i decided to remove it
but first i took many pics of the mess just in case i need it later on 4 reference



Notice in this pic u can clearly see stuff being hold by zip ties ya maybe my bumper but nty on the rhd conversion





After i unplugged, unbolted, and dyked everything i managed to put all the mess off to the side and made my life alot easier in removing the sound deadening here you can see that i used the heat gun to get all the sound deadening off after getting majority of it off with dry ice


After going to the local parts store i picked up some adhesive remover to get all that gunk off started on the what is now the passenger side

heres a Before pic

After pic

ah so much better working on getting the whole inside like this

[xharobikeslifex]

being exhausted from cleaning up the junk left from heat gunning the sound deadening i moved to the front of the car in taking out the engine. now im going to be brief on this because there is so much info in removing and installing a ka but here we go!

I first removed the battery

then the intake system aka "whale penis" haha i have to much fun with the camera


removed the radiator hoses then the fan connected to the engine and pulled the radiator and fan shroud as 1 combo

completely took the power steering system off

blocked my wheels in the rear

jacked the front

wooo im exhausted..... ok

removed the downpipe cat and catback exhaust as one combo

then the drive shaft and me trying to curl one haha ahh the aluminum one will be much easier to curl im not that strong
also unbolted the tranny mount bracket

while i was down there i got the lower engine harness, slave cylinder, and that tranny gear speed thing i forgot what its called but hey it's removed!

went back on top and removed the upper engine harness, gear shifter, and unbolted the 2 engine mounts
]
i know probably not a good idea to put chains around the power steering pump but i did it anyways out of eager to get this thing out and about so i started to put the chains on the p/s pump to hoist it out of there until...


there was like no where 4 me to wrap this other side on so i had to remove the heat shield connected to the exhaust manifold but before i could do that i had to remove this emissions junk

ahh much better

now its time to puller out right MEOW!



Note: i have a floor jack in front of the car to raise and lower the front as needed this helped me more to have a floor jack here then on the tranny like what most people do.

oh ya its getting closer!

CLOSER!

kiss it good bye




and its OUT!


now dropping in the KAT!


little more tweaks and she'll be set in there snug

Done! freshly rebuilt KAT installed haha to bad a sr is gonna be going in this bad boy!

[xharobikeslifex]

Now that the engine is removed its time to remove pretty much everything from the engine bay so it can be prepped 4 paint i started by removing the charcoal canister

this is not nessary to remove when painting the engine bay but since me not wanting to have a/c i started to removed the condensor first started by loosening the lines i had to use a 15/16 wrench! on those suckers


removed the connectors to the fans

then yanked out the condensor!

went up top and took off the master cylinder

does anyone notice something wrong in this pic?

clearly whoever did this rhd conversion must of wanted the brake booster 1 inch away from the firewall awww sigh


in this pic you can see that they diffinitely bent the brake lines from lhd to rhd! jeeeze talk about epic fail and as i explore more on this rhd conversion it only seems to just get worse and worse...

wanting to know what the firewall looked liked i went inside the car and decided to completely remove the brake, gas, and clutch pedal. Started by removing the clutch pedal and then by removing the brake pedal to take off the brake booster and only to find something dreadful...


wtf is this?

is that bolts being used as WASHERS!!!!

unbelieveable

devasted by what i just witnessed i removed the ecu and engine wiring harness first by removing the harness from the ecu

snaked out the harness

went to the front of the car to loosen a bolt to remove the whole steering wheel assembly and saw that they diffinitely didnt take there time to cut the holes properly they could of at least put some rubber grommets around there hackerd cutting skills

and then went inside and removed the 2! bolts that was holding it to the firewall and removed the steering assembly

went over to the gas pedal and started to wonder were they bolted this suckah
Notice: the holes on the firewall to the left

well 2 bolts were in the engine bay haha

and the other 2 were in the wheel well. i think im going to cry ooooooh and did i ever mention the tools needed to remove the bolts to the gas, clutch, and brake pedal 10mm nope 12mm nope guess again 14mm? no just simply use your HANDSSSSS yes all of these bolts were all hand tightened!

decided to remove the clutch line from the clutch cylinder all the way to the slave

all i did was unbolt this 10mm bolts and removed it

i wanted this high pressure p/s line off so i can unbolt this engine mount but of course as fate has it i was starting to strip it.


so after some hours of trying to tinker with it spraying it with pb blaster and seeing if it will loosen i gave up got some towels and handed my roomate dillon some vise grips and asked him to loosen this and within 2 minutes it was off! yes a sigh of relief


took off the motor mount with a 14mm rachet wrench

i then went to the local parts store got some engine degreaser and cleaned her up a lil bit


this concludes my day

[Black240Ct]

good to see it being cleaned up.. that rhd 'conversion' is pretty haggard

[xharobikeslifex]

Originally Posted by Black240Ct

good to see it being cleaned up.. that rhd 'conversion' is pretty haggard

Ya I know tell me about it

[theboy]

Originally Posted by xharobikeslifex

Tools:
10, 12, 14 inch socket

where exatly do you use sockets this huge on an s-chassis?

[punxva]

Originally Posted by theboy

where exatly do you use sockets this huge on an s-chassis?

haha i was wondering the same thing.

The build is looking good, the clip looks really clean and you def need a rhd harness for this thing, don't trust that bs slapped together harness it will only cause you problems in the long run

[xharobikeslifex]

Originally Posted by punxva

haha i was wondering the same thing.

The build is looking good, the clip looks really clean and you def need a rhd harness for this thing, don't trust that bs slapped together harness it will only cause you problems in the long run

Ya im in no way shape or form reusing that old harness talk about a fire hazard! I will obviously use the sr20det engine harness and actually I managed to track down a complete uncut rhd chassis harness from taillights to headlights.

[xharobikeslifex]

Originally Posted by theboy

where exatly do you use sockets this huge on an s-chassis?

10mm and 12mm is actually really common, and I used a 14mm to remove the seats.

[chiboy002]

Originally Posted by theboy

where exatly do you use sockets this huge on an s-chassis?

lol pretty sure he meant mm

[punxva]

he was referring to you saying 10, 12, and 14 inch

[xharobikeslifex]

Originally Posted by punxva

he was referring to you saying 10, 12, and 14 inch

ahhhh gotcha typo error my bad good looking out I posted this on nico and a local forum and noone ever caught that haha editing it asap

[xharobikeslifex]

ok so minor update started tearing apart the 180sx dash and managed to get everything out so i can start drilling out the spotwelds for the firewall removal ive been working on the spotwelds on my 240sx / working on some interior will have pics on that shortly. these pics are mainly for my reference only i know ill need to double look this and see where everything is plugged into cause im a noob when it comes to memorization
pics :|



ok so started off with the gauge cluster then just went crazy with the screw driver and rachet and started unscrewing!?



















Ok I know I know it's not considered a update but I've been working alot lately trying to get me some parts for this beast since I'm working on interior first
What I got ordered mmmm tasty!
circuit sports hub
circuit sports quick release
and a greddy rear strut bar for now
working on getting me a steering wheel but am very very frusterated maybe u the viewers can help me out on a predicament im having. breath in breath out sigh..... IM HATING NARDI RIGHT MEOW and ill explain u see i want a Nardi Deep Corn steering wheel
Specs:
Nardi Deep Corn
330mm
leather w/ red stitching
But I dispise red stitching and it seems to me that nardi makers love it but some of them do come with white or black stitch but not on all models i simply want
Nardi Deep Corn
340-350mm
suede w/ black stitching and the deep corn must have those rivits like on the pic some deep corn are just smooth if u know what I mean?
I've tried at:
phase 2
weaksauceparts.com
passwordjdm
pretty much googled it and came with nothing but w/ red stitchings to the face arg help me

[xharobikeslifex]

Okay since I'm not so sure who exactly will be welding in my firewall im going to leave that aside for now until I figure something out. But for those of you who want to know what my engine bay currently looks like now here's some pics...



So in the mean time I've decided to thoroughly clean the sr20det engine/transmission heres the supplies I will be using:

Heres the project:

First remove the A/C compressor

Next take off the P/S pump

Then take off the motor mount bracket. since I have previously removed the the exhaust manifold and turbo, you will have to do the same.

move over to the intake side and take out the alternator and bracket

look underneath the intake manifold and remove the knock sensor


unbolt the bracket that supports the intake manifold to the block


And finally disconnect everything that is attached to the block that's connected to the intake manifold such as: lines, brackets, metal tubes, sensors, and coil pack plugs.




once the intake manifold is removed plug the intake holes with some towls, and continue removing things that you don't want to get painted such as lines and what not.


in the end your aiming to have your block completely stripped like so

[xharobikeslifex]

FIREWALL REMOVAL AND INSTALLATION!
Okay after several months of research, blood, sweat, and tears. I finally managed to get the firewall removed. First things first if you plan on tackling this project please do your research first and don’t have a mind set like me thinking it was going to be a weekend deal.
Tools I used to remove the firewall:
-2x Hammers one small one large (you only really need the large one)
-Reciprocating saw (I used this to make it easier for me to remove both firewalls using different methods)
-Drill
-2x Spot weld drill bits as you can see in the pic, (I used one that looks like a normal drill bit, which cuts threw the spot weld, and one that is an odd looking drill bit that cuts around the spot weld. I used both a combination and in the end the odd looking drill bit seemed to be most effective.)
-Wood and Chisel set (used to separate the firewall once the spot welds are removed)
-Air Hammer (Optional but I “STRONGLY” recommend getting it because there will be spot welds that you drilled out but not all the way)
-Drop light
-Set of steel braided sanding wheels (used to locate the spot welds)
-And lastly 6x 30 packs of budlight (Optional)



REMOVING THE FIREWALL ON THE "CLIP"
hokay so once you have taken off the side plates you will discover a few more spot welds, I was confused for quite a while on where these spot welds are so I took pictures so that other people can use me as a reference.


Take note: of the spot welds on the side and bottom (for the side spot welds it was kind of a PITA to get too with a bit so do the best you can in removing it with a spot weld bit and loosen it up with an air hammer but be careful using the air hammer it will tear shit up)

inside shot of the bottom spot welds


You will discover more spot welds on top drill them out and air hammer it loose

As you can see in this picture I had to take off the bracket on top, but in the bottom corner wedge. I needed to remove some spot welds that were hard to get...

Heres a close up of what i'm talking about, I managed to remove the spot welds but it was still strongly secure. So i left it at that and proceeded to other areas.



Me and my buddie Wesly Maurer flipped over the clip and removed spots welds and chiseled the firewall loose

While in the mean time my friend Shelby was helping out removing the fabric on my door panels. (I think she might of broken a nail) God I love friends lol

Wesly managed to push the two sides down to see what was needed for this firewall to come out

After some thinking I decided to cut the green circled area with a reciprocating saw and than remove the bracket when the firewall was out

Firewall removed




Heres some reference pics in where all the spot welds are located. "Note" in the last picture you can see that we bent the hell out of the clip so that the fire wall would just slide out easier. Keep this in mind when removing a firewall from the "clip" do whatever you want to the clip to make it easier to get the firewall out, but try not to ruin your firewall in the process.

[Laernu]

nice build! sucks about the harness issue.. cant wait to see this thing running

[bllabong89]

Looking good man. That engine is freakishly clean.

[xharobikeslifex]

Originally Posted by bllabong89

Looking good man. That engine is freakishly clean.

haha you have no idea wait until i finish transferring all the posts up from the other forums

[xharobikeslifex]

I got some goodies in today

Removed the transmission drain plug with a 1/2 rachet

Replaced it with a magnetic "moon face" drain plug with a 19mm socket


The HKS Shift return spring kit, I've yet to see anyone install this on their car.

first remove the factory 27mm caps on both sides

OEM vs HKS

With the HKS return spring kit, I went the route of using the Harder spring meaning there was an option to use the softer spring for shifter feel. Awww soo pretty...

I had my old Nismo transmission mount laying around and decided to throw that on there, I used a 14mm socket to tighten that down.

Hmm i'd have to say this is the cleanest i've seen inside a transmission thats been used.

I removed the clutch fork and throw-out bearing, so I can reach to the clutch pivot ball


Cleaned it up a little bit and decided to wait to install the nismo clutch pivot ball. Because I want to replace the front transmission cover gasket

Decided to replace my thermostat with a Nismo one. I used a 10mm socket with a 3/8 extension

I got creative and used some leverage to pry open the water neck I believe it's called?

Once that is popped off you can see the thermostat "Note the position of the thermostat before removing, when replacing postion it exactly the same as the OEM one."

Before reinstalling remove the old gasket using a box cutter knife

After comparing the two I concluded that the previous owner had used a nismo thermostat as well there almost identical! Oh well



New Nismo thermostat installed

I used this stuff for a gasket and applied one bead around the water neck <--- wait a minute this is not called a water neck, but you know what I mean.


I first hand tightened it waited an hour and then proceeded to tighten it to 2.7-3.7 ft lbs

That ended my day waiting for more parts to come in the mail this THURSDAY! woot woot

[xharobikeslifex]

I got more parts in the mail last thursday havn't had a chance to actually install them till this monday/tuesday


I first tackled my water pump since I noticed my previous one was leaking it's always recommended to replace it anyways for an "SR" swap. Since the new water pump didn't come with studs, I had to reuse my old ones. I grabbed me some vise grips and a shop rag to keep it from moving.

I threaded one bolt on

And a second bolt, I called this the two bolt method.

I used a 10mm wrench and a 10mm 3/8 socket to tighten both bolts together

Then I used the 10mm wrench to loosed the stud off. Do this to all for studs before removing the water pump.

Then start removing all 5x 12mm bolts that are holding the water pump into place

When I removed the water pump it was being stubborn, so I used a rubber malet to beat it off. Two good whacks and it came off. (Oh man does that sound dirty lol)

Used high temp rtv silicone as a gasket and torqued it down to 12-15 ft lbs

I than proceeded to install my turbo lines, I started with water inlet line and put some thread seal tape

I used a 15mm deepwell socket here so it would fit over the fitting. The fitting gets torqued to 14-23ft lbs.

I then used a 13mm wrench to tighten the line onto the fitting

I then proceeded to the water inlet line, put some pipe thread tape on it, thread it by hand, and use a 19mm deepwell socket to tighten it, and it also gets torqued to 14-23ft lbs.

Put the line onto the fitting and tighten it using a 19mm wrench

I finally moved onto the oil inlet line, put some thread seal tape and torque it down using a 19mm deepwell socket 14-23 ft lbs.

Use a 19mm wrench and tighten the line to the fitting

[xharobikeslifex]

Now your ready to install the turbo to the exhaust manifold, I actually had to take my exhaust manifold back off. Which was fine for me because I wanted to heat wrap my exhaust manifold. To heat wrap first soak the wrap into a bucket of water "so that it will be easier to wrap and so that you can make it tighter" start by wrapping the bottom of the exhaust and I wrapped the 4th runner then 3rd, 2nd, and finally 1st until my exhaust manifold was completely covered with heat wrap during my "wrapping" I used heat wrap zip ties to hold the wrap into place. Once the heat wrap was complete I used this gasket

And some locking plates

And tighten the F@!K out of the bolts with a 14mm wrench once all 4x bolts are tightened you can then tap in the locking plates on the sides to keep the bolts from unloosing. Bolt back the exhaust manifold like you previously did before and proceed

The water line goes to the bottom near the motor mount bracket tighten and torque to 14-23 ft lbs.

And then oil outlet line goes to the top right under the exhaust manifold tighten and torque to 14-23 ft lbs.

Then finally the last water line goes to the back of the engine remove the factory hose and use a flat head screw driver to tighten.

Grab a compressor outlet gasket

Tighten with a 10mm socket and a 3/8 rachet

Grab a compressor inlet gasket

And tighten with a 12mm socket with a 3/8 extension.

Moved on to the bottom of the engine and removed the 14mm bolt to drain the oil

Don't forget to have a oil pan ready

Now the Greddy oil filter relocation kit install. Started with the oil filter side of the kit. and used allen wrenches to tighten all 2x holes

Grabbed this piece and bolted it to the bottom with a 12mm wrench

With the kit there will be 4x rubber seals you need to place one on this fitting before tightening. Place this fitting to the top and tighten with a 20mm deep socket I used 1/2 rachet

Grab this threaded looking fitting and place a rubber seal underneath and tighten with a 23mm deep socket 1/2 rachet

Finally install the bracket and tighten with 11mm socket

One side complete!

This side is bolted to the stock threaded oil filter location and it's fairly simple tighten all 3x I believe allen screws 1x on top 2x on the side and grab 2x rubber seals and place them under the 2x fittings tighten the bottom fitting with a 20mm deep socket and the top fitting you have to wait till install.

A buddie of mine having difficulty installing the clamps onto the stainless steel hose

This is what it should look like when completed. They should all just slip on.

Mount the kit to the stock oil filter location

And use a 23mm deep socket to tighten it should end up looking like this

Then install the 2x stainless steel lines and tighten with a flat head screw driver

Place the other 2x hoses to the other side of the kit and tighten with a flat head screw driver

Grab a oil filter and some oil. Place your finger in the oil and apply it around the rubber seal "doing this helps the oil filter seal better"

Hand tighten it and grab some zip ties to keep it from dangling

Now it's time to replace that old front oil seal

Grab an impact gun with a 27mm socket and go at it!

Lol! He looks surprized that it came off with no problem at all

I didn't have a puller so me and my friend thinked outside of the box and used two large flat head screw drivers on opposite sides to pry it off.

lube up the new oil seal with engine oil duh!

I put the old seal on top of the new one, so that it can seat evenly

I used a hammer to tap it into place

And the finished product can't really see it but trust me it's on correctly

I Got me a Greddy oil pan woot woot!

First I installed this plate with the screws given to you

And the smaller plate I screwed in on this side

I then bought a circuit sports magnetic drain plug

I then tightened it with a 14mm socket and I put thread seal tape on this allen screw and tightened that with an allen wrench.
I would install the pan, but i'm waiting for my s14 oil strainer to arrive before I install.

This ends my day. Now i'm waiting for another shipment of parts oooo boy I can't wait you guys just don't even know what I have in mind so stay TUNED!
Oh and I almost forgot I have a problem I cant seem to find 2x bolt for the bottom of this t25 turbo could anyone help me out maybe where to go to buy one I have a bucket full of spare bolts and I shit you not. Not one of them threads in... :x

[PoorMans180SX]

You're not supposed to use teflon tape on AN lines.

They seal with the flare at the end. They will leak if installed like that.

[xharobikeslifex]

Originally Posted by PoorMans180SX

You're not supposed to use teflon tape on AN lines.

They seal with the flare at the end. They will leak if installed like that.

I've never had any problems in the past and i decided to go topmount anyways, so this whole setup got sold

[xharobikeslifex]

More stuff arrived! woohoo I swear its like christmas every two weeks lol


I decided to replace the s13 oil strainer with an s14 oil strainer.

First your going to have to take all 10x oil pan bolts with a 10mm 3/8 rachet. And remove the pan using a combo of a putty knife and hammer.

Next remove the 6x plate bolts with a 12mm socket with a 3/8 extension. Take note of location of the baffle plate before removing it

Once I took off the baffle plate I discovered lots of oil sludge gooo!


Heres me with some disposal gloves scraping all the old oil/sludge with my hands. I could be on the tv show "Dirty Jobs" for doing this.

Your going to need a 12mm socket and 3/8 extension for 2 of the bolts thats holding the oil strainer also a 10mm wrench

Once you remove the oil strainer notice the difference between the s13 vs s14 oil strainer the s13 has a smaller opening where as the s14 has a much larger one. The 10mm bolt for the s14 oil strainer is bolted to a different location and is a PITA to thread on two people helping you will make it easier to do.

First your going to put a new oil strainer gasket then "Loosely bolt up the 2x 12mm bolts"

Me and my buddy confirmed that using just your hands, magnet, wrench, needle nose pliers have all failed in trying to get this god forsaken bolt threaded on.

What we did find out to work just fine was positioning the bolt dead center having a small flat head screw driver keep it in place and "slowly" wrenching on it with a 10mm wrench.

Heres a better pic on how tight of space you have to work with thats why it's better to have the 2x 12mm bolts loosely tightened to allow for more clearance.

Once you have wrenched the bolt in far enough, you can finally squeeze the rachet wrench on it to make it easier to tighten.

Don't forget to tighten and torque the strainer bolts to 12-14ft lbs. Oh and as for the strainer bracket I just goodin tightened it. Once the strainer installed. Now reinstall the baffle plate and torque them to 4.7 to 5.5ft lbs. Then Scrape and remove all the old gasket from the oil pan.

Now apply gasket sealer with one continuous bead all around your new greddy oil pan!



Heres the hardware that came with the greddy oil pan the 4x larger bolts go to the sides of the oil pan where the 6x smaller bolts go to the front and rear. have an allen wrench on standy as well as these bolts. Position the oil pan and screw on all the screws "snug tight" wait about 10-15 minutes then proceed to torque to 4.7-5.5ft lbs. With that low of a number I just hand tightened them.

When I removed the Crank Pulley I uncovered more dirt/grime so I cleaned it up

Then sprayed it with 2x coats of high heat engine enamel.

This concludes my day.

[s13bert]

its looking good dude, keep up the good work....

[Sileighty_85]

Dont use Royal Purple, That shits garbage.

Ive read and seen quiet a few Engine and Transmission get destroyed when ppl switch to that shit.

Happened to me

[xharobikeslifex]

Originally Posted by Sileighty_85

Dont use Royal Purple, That shits garbage.

Ive read and seen quiet a few Engine and Transmission get destroyed when ppl switch to that shit.

Happened to me

I just used it to seal up the oil filter, I don't plan on actually putting it into my engine I plan to use mobile 1