The Shaggy Chassis

[shaggyjake]

Alright, well, I've hit a lull in my build and I figure it's time to start a build thread.



Picked the car up in April 2014 as a birthday present to myself. Immediately got to work doing little things like bushings, sway bars, new carpet, stereo, and new springs/shocks.



Then after a few months I wanted to paint the engine bay, then though, well, as long as I'm painting the engine bay I might as well do tubs because they look awesome, and as long as the engine is out I might as well rebuild it....



Annnnnnd that's when I got in over my head. The motor was pulled, the engine bay was stripped of paint, and then, I wrecked my friend's S13. Caused damage to his core support, broke his headlight, and fucked his fender and bumper all up. So, being the good broke friend that I am, I gave him all my parts. I even gave him my vlsd and 1 piece driveshaft because of how shitty I felt. This put my progress at a major standstill. But, we did get to rattle can my friend's car (His name is Ryan, and I should probably start giving him more credit because he has been a tremendous help in the build process. Thanks, Ryan!) His car used to be a crappy faded black



Went to Japan for a few months. Saw a bunch of cool shit. Again, barely have any pictures to show for it.




Came back in September of 2015 to this:




Before my stay in Japan I had picked up an LS1/T56 to put into the chassis. There are pictures and vids somewhere of me doing a bunch of donuts in the firebird that the motor came from but, I suck at keeping that stuff and who knows where it is now. Plus, that car fucking sucked anyways and I'm glad it's gone. I sold that rolling shell for $100.
-anyways-

When I got back i wanted to get started on the tubs and paint.









i wish there was a way to just clear coat over this bare metal. that would have been cool.




Painting is hard work!




all this was followed by coating the crossmember, trans tunnel and wheel wells with por15, and installing a DIF steering shaft bushing. Also picked up some S15 seats (not the spec r but still way better than the stock s13 seats!)


more on the next post!






tubs all done up. primer on top and por15 on the wheel side. then the next weekend is was time for paint prep.

[shaggyjake]

Totally forgot I had started a build thread on this forum, so i'll just be copy/pasting from the other forum i'm on.

I don't have too many pics of the motor when the pan was off, but the hone marks were still fresh on the cylinder walls, and it looks like a very healthy motor. One thing that disappointed me was that after I did a bit of research i realized that I had picked up a bit of a lemon. The firebird donor car was originally a V6 that had a 98 corvette LS1 (according to the casting number). Not really a lemon, i guess, but there were so many improvements on the LS from 99-04 that I was kind of kicking myself for not doing more research prior to picking up the motor set.


I went with the fueled kit, and wow. Top quality stuff from those guys, and if there ever was an issue, then Todd was super helpful.




ran into a bit of trouble with this pickup tube not sitting flush with the pan. sent a message to Todd and he shipped a new one out right away.


new one sits much better


oil pan stud kid is boss!


looked like a good time to switch out the clutch/pressure plate and flywheel



it's good to have friends!


yeah, that thing didn't fit. switched to a stock shifter, going to change to an MGW shifter down the road.





clearance looks good to me!


going to be adding some heat shielding material between the header collecters and floor pan.

I tried ordering some DEI header wrap but they won't ship to california.
just one more thing that makes me miss Texas.

[shaggyjake]

Ok, so after we got the motor in, i started on the little things.


Picked up a bunch of stuff from Heatshield Products.




Pretty much anything that's near the headers has some sort of heat protection. the fuel delivery line and brake line that run along the frame rail have this protective heat shield. I was also able to use the existing brackets for the brake/fuel lines to support the new AN/braided stainless line


Was able to find a couple of brackets for plumbing line to secure the fuel feed and return lines above the subframe. not bad for 79 cents!



mounted the fuel filter using a bolt from the existing fuel line bracket.


Quick question: on the corvette fuel filter, which port is the feed and which port is the return? The way i have it plumbed up now, the port where my finger is touching is connected to the pressure side of the fuel pump.


mounted a big ass oil filter


replaced the old power steering pump with a NAPA pump and a turn one pulley. boy do i love new parts!!!



being that i had one of the first year LS1's, my engine came with a return fitting on the fuel rail, and instead of spending $100 plus on an LS6 style rail (they came without a fuel return fitting), i just spent a flat $200 at JEGs for these Holley fuel rails with AN everything! my whole fuel system is done with AN fittings and lines now.


unfortunately, the hinson rad didn't work out for me, but this mishimoto is a true bolt in! i used the s14 brackets for a cleaner look.




the only thing left on the cooling system is the shroud, fans, and overflow tank (all mishimoto (hard to beat a lifetime warranty for those prices)). unfortunately, when i was shopping on FRsport, the website listing everything as in stock, but they sent me an email saying that a couple of the products were on backorder and wouldn't ship for the next two weeks.


here's the clutch master and line. i forgot to tighten down the bleed line when i first got the motor in, which meant the trans had to come off... i was able to pull the transmission off without pulling the motor. it was fun! :evil:

i have a couple suggestions for the fueled kit (if you happen to come across this thread, todd)
you guys include heat protective sleeving for the clutch and power steering lines, but not the oil lines. i'd like to see you guys include heat protection for the oil lines.
and a banjo fitting would fit much better here. it may fit better on an s14, but it knocked off a bit of paint here.



here's a picture of the headers next to the frame rail. there is room for adjustment of the headers where it bolts up to your heads, but i prefer a little breathing room between the floor pan and collecters.



here's the thermo-tec heat shield. it has a pressure sensitive adhesive. once it's on it really sticks!



picked up a conversion shift lever from hawksthirdgen.com, designed to run a 5th gen ZL1/1LE shift knob on a 4th gen T56. it's a super comfortable fit, and sits at a good height, but it was designed to fit on a camaro/firebird.



in the picture below, the shifter is in the reverse position (all the way to the right and up). when the shifter is in first gear the knob rubs against the handbrake.

i need to find a way to reposition the shift lever so that the knob sits more centered in the console. i either need to make a bracket to fit or heat up the lever and try and bend it.


i'm still undecided on what to do with fuseboxes.



i think i can mount the driver side box here-


and the passenger side box here-



all the wiring is done on the driver side interior, new axles installed, driveshaft on, new output shaft seal on the trans, and filled up with fluid, the wiring harnesses in the fender wells, headlights wired up...

i think all i have left is to finish the cooling system, mount the fuse boxes, hook up the engine harness, and run the battery cables and it should be ready to rock!

[shaggyjake]

waiting on parts. pushed the car out so i could clean the garage. had a chance to snap some pics in half decent light.




then the sun came out! threw on my new stb and got some more pics. the sun really brings out the metallic.








should be able to make a big post this weekend. i have almost everything i need for the battery relocation:
battery has already been mounted in the trunk with an Artec box.
have 2awg going to run to a 100A circuit breaker, then 2awg going to a distribution box in the bay where it will split into 3 sections of 6awg going to the starter/alt/fuse box.

have nearly everything for my intake setup sans filter and IAT sensor. i'm not sure where the stock one went. i know i'm definitely going to have to buy a new one, but i'm unsure if i will need to weld a bung for it into my intake tube or if i can just use a rubber grommet (i've seen a few people use it (i'm not going to boost it anytime soon))

wiring harness should be done this weekend, which is when i'll finish the battery wiring as well.

also have my dakota converters for the tach and speedo. i'm electrically challenged, and even though i've read a dozen threads on the install process, i feel like i still need to do more research before i try the install.


still need to fix the shifter, and mount the overflow tank and fuse boxes.


so exciting!

[shaggyjake]

intakehoses.com is a great place to shop.






finally gave the car a bath



then went to my buddy's shop to get the exhaust finished!





i couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out. i love the way it sounds.





if that doesn't work for you here is the link to the youtube vid

https://youtu.be/a86RxhAYDIU

[shaggyjake]

A few random pics.


scored a free set of rep wheels with some nitto rubber.



My intake temps were getting really high so I tried to mend the issue using reflective tape and mounted the filter under the fender tray.



Having a little too much fun on Stunt and snapped the bracket for the sway bar. I think the sway bars might be too stiff for the tokico blues/ eibach springs, but i'm going to upgrade the suspension this year.



I've always been a fan of naming cars, the same way people name boats and ships.
Nausicaa is both a character in a Miyazaki film and a part of greek mythology. (both very cool stories).

[shaggyjake]

Did a lot of driving/hooning through the canyons near snake/stunt. Found some areas that need some tending to. Unfortunately i'm in japan until april so it will have to wait.


Picked up an S15 HLSD. that thing is awesome. my only issue with my rear end currently is that i'm shifting way too much in the canyons and drag racing, and i would like to get a little bit better mpg. Yesterday i ordered a S15 pumpkin with the 3.69 gears in it. Looking forward to that.

My coolant and IAT's are way too fucking high. after one uphill run my temps are seeing 215-220 degrees and my IAT's are close to 150 at idle after a run. I moved my intake filter under the driver fender and wrapped the intake piping with heat reflective tape. When i get back to the states i plan on getting the headers ceramic coated and possibly even wrapping them after that to keep the exhaust temps down.

I think I may have an issue with turbulent air between the radiator and the engine accessories, so i'm looking at a koguchi power hood to help with the flow of air through the radiator, and possibly a custom, tucked, dual pass radiator to replace my mishimoto/dual fan/ shroud combo.

Considering a swirl pot setup for the cooling system as well. but i still need to do a lot more research.


Still unsure if I want to go custom spring rates/valving from fortune auto or if I want to invest the time in a ground control/koni setup.


List of shit to get done in 2017:
-upgrade cooling system
-install LS6 intake.
-get headers ceramic coated, possibly wrapped.
-install z32 front and rear brakes.
-order custom rate FA500 coils or Ground Control Coils
-transfer HLSD to s15 pumpkin with 3.69 gears (and will likely have to get my driveshaft shortened)
-find a set of wheels to fit 265/275 rubber under the stock metal in the rear, and 235/245 up front.



i'm terrible at embedding videos so here is a link to a quick burnout video after i got the HLSD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYWEi8N-SuM


and then it was time to leave the country again, so she went away to storage.




So, here we are, three months left in deployment and anxious to get back home.


Excited to get back and do some work!!!

[supersayianjim]

so is this ultimately a drift car?

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by supersayianjim

so is this ultimately a drift car?

Not at all. I just wanted to have a fun daily that I could take up to the canyons for some spirited driving, and maybe the occasional auto x or time attack. I'm stationed in Port Hueneme which is close to the Malibu canyons (snake/stunt/piuma).
I guess it's more of a daily/touge car than anything.

I eventually plan to run complete chuki aero and restore the KG1 paint.

[shaggyjake]

Been a long time since the last update. I don't have too many pictures but there's been quite a bit going on.

-Installed the Z32 front and rear brakes, including the ebrake setup, brake master, and 5 lug swap.

-Had a set of G35 wheels (17x7.5 +30 and 17x8+33) wrapped in 225/45 595 RS-R and 245/45 NT555R rubber as my street/drag setup. Just recently picked up 4 17x9 +35 RPF1 that will be wrapped in 595RS-RR 255/40 all around.

-Got my FA 500 coils installed, voodoo13 RUCA and ISR toe rod installed in the rear. Alignment specs are -1.5 up front and -1.0 in the back.

-Pulled the motor out sometime between all this to put in a Melling high pressure oil pump.

-Installed a good size oil cooler and got the headers ceramic coated.

-Most recently have installed a Koyo dual pass radiator and a VIS carbon fiber DV2 hood.

July 22nd the car had its first official shakedown at a Grange Motor Circuit for an event put on by RaceFreely. They're an awesome group of guys and I had an absolute blast at the event. It was hot as hell, but I still had a great time.

ceramic coated headers


oil cooler


vis hood


G35


RPF1's with some cheapo tires that will be used for burnouts and donut fun.


making a mess in the garage



Gonna try and get the car to the drag strip sometime this month, and have another track event with RaceFreely on September 16. BTW, there are open spots available for this event at Grange. If you're interested send me a PM and i'll get you more info.

[shaggyjake]

haven't updated in a while. I'll add some pics later, but for now:

Sold the G35 wheels and the RPF1s are now mounted.
17x9 +35 in the front and rear (20mm spacer up front to clear brakes and coils)
Federal 595 RS-RR 255/40r17 on front and rear (3.5* front and 2* rear camber)

Switched to a Koyo dual pass radiator in favor of the mishimoto. summit oil cooler is working well, and I'll be adding a power steering cooler in the next few days in addition to a Turn One power steering pump.

The car is now fitted with an S15 gearset to accompany the HLSD (3.69 final drive ratio).


The 98 LS1 that has been in the car for the last year or so finally shit the bed. Cylinder 3 lost compression and the dipstick started popping out at the track in September. I kept running throughout the day and ended up getting 2nd place for the time attack portion of the day. When I got home and did a compression test I found that number 3 cylinder had 120psi. Pretty substantial loss in comparison to the other 7 cylinders being at 180-190. I had a spare LS6 block that I had been slowly gathering parts for, and with no interest in rebuilding the 98 block, I decided to just "send it".

I went to as many drag meets as I could. Even with the condition of the motor, the car still pulled on new Camaros and mustangs. I raced anyone that I could. the motor lasted about another two weeks before the compression in cylinder 3 finally dropped to about 25-30psi. Pulled the motor out, took off all the parts that would be transferred over to the LS6 block, and sold it off for a measly $240.


Rebuild parts list for the LS6 include:

Federal Mogul cam/main/rod bearings
243 heads with valve job and mild porting
ported TB
TSP H-beam forged rods
Mahle forged pistons and ring set
TSP 228/232 112 LSA camshaft.
Dual valve springs with titanium seats
Chromoly pushrods w/ls7 lifters
Rocker arm trunion upgrade
and some various other goodies to accompany the rebuild.

Shooting for just over 400whp.
more pics to come.

for anyone interested, i post more updates on instagram: @tabbycatlouis

[afishysilvia]

Glad to see your fitment is still ass tight with the fuel kit, I am using the CX kit and have had to move lots of items including notching my opening on the tunnel (MGW short shift as well), but I am retaining AC and lots of other amenities. Either way, clean looking swap love the bay.

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by afishysilvia

Glad to see your fitment is still ass tight with the fuel kit, I am using the CX kit and have had to move lots of items including notching my opening on the tunnel (MGW short shift as well), but I am retaining AC and lots of other amenities. Either way, clean looking swap love the bay.

Thanks! One thing I am thankful for is not having to cut into the trans tunnel, although it still did require quite a bit of massaging. The MGW shifter is dope. I love it. Also, check out billetworkz if you're interested in a custom shift knob.

Interior shot my buddy snapped for me.




In action at grange in July?


Top 3 finishers from the TA portion from the September event.





Fuse box relocation and hvac delete courtesy of Suspicious Garage.




Couple of dudemagnets in the driveway.




There's more money here in parts than what I paid for my fucking car.

Trunnion upgrade for the rocker arms.


Getting pretty tired of seeing the car on stands.



Mood currently

[[240sx]]

Originally Posted by shaggyjake

Top 3 finishers from the TA portion from the September event.
]

Dope!! Like your car and all...but what's up with that EF!![emoji869]

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by [240sx]

Dope!! Like your car and all...but what's up with that EF!![emoji869]

That thing is fucking sick. Manny is a super quick driver, too, and a cool dude.
He's on Instagram @mpais86

[shaggyjake]

I'm expecting the block to come back from the machine shop today and I can start assembling the bottom end!
In the meantime, there's been a new event posted by RaceFreely!

[[240sx]]

Originally Posted by shaggyjake

That thing is fucking sick.

So that begs the question... who's faster?[emoji848]

Didn't know that curcuit was in my neighborhood.


Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by [240sx]

So that begs the question... who's faster?[emoji848]

Didn't know that curcuit was in my neighborhood.

It depends on what time of the day. He's always quick in the mornings during the free runs. In fact, he set the track lap record for a passenger vehicle at Grange on an early morning in September. But like I said, it depends on what time of the day, because, on two occasions, I've finished in front of him during the time attack portion that's held later in the afternoons.

[battery1882]

Originally Posted by shaggyjake

It depends on what time of the day. He's always quick in the mornings during the free runs. In fact, he set the track lap record for a passenger vehicle at Grange on an early morning in September. But like I said, it depends on what time of the day, because, on two occasions, I've finished in front of him during the time attack portion that's held later in the afternoons.

I can't let a Honda beat you haha. (JK civics are fast..)

Is Dec. event drift and time attack? haven't drifted in awhile.. miss it.

[shaggyjake]

Been a while since the last update:

Finished the rebuild!
Its been road tuned, tested on the dyno, the motor has been properly broken in, driven to Texas for the holidays and back to California, been to an AutoX event, and done a bit of drag racing.



dual valve springs in


forged rods and pistons in with arp head studs showing


got that bitch sittin in there.


all buttoned up


breaking in the motor with some canyon driving





dyno tested before our trip to texas


Wife, doggo, and I making our way through California traffic.


made it from California to San Antonio in 26 hours. This was a nice treat right here.


started hitting some cold weather on our way back to California after the new year.


Like, really cold weather. For Texas, anyways.





New tires going on before the AutoX event on January 6. There should be some more pics coming from that.

Also working on editing a video that has some startup, cold idle, freeway pulls, and AutoX from the GoPro.


Have a couple small projects on the car coming up. Gonna try and reupholster the glove box with some black suede to replace the weird blue tweed carpet-ish material that's on there now. If that turns out ok then i'll try and tackle the door cards. Also took some notes from cplhardy on IG and picked up some SEM trim paint and am gonna start cleaning up some of the trim pieces on the car.

[greenwood]

sweet dude! why did you do engine rebuild missed that part.

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by greenwood

sweet dude! why did you do engine rebuild missed that part.

The motor started blowing the dipstick out back in September at a track day. did a compression test when I got home and cylinder 3 was 60-70 psi lower than the other 7 cylinders. Kept driving it, beating on it, racing it, until finally the compression in that cylinder was down to about 30-35 psi.

I think I had known for sometime that a rebuild would be necessary at some point, so I had been sourcing a block and heads for a good while before the motor actually went out.

[tuzzio]

As I was scrolling through I said to myself "this bay is way to nice to have fuse boxes"

glad you beat me to it.

[greenwood]

I hear ya, man that is awesome keep up the great work, very cleanly done.

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by tuzzio

As I was scrolling through I said to myself "this bay is way to nice to have fuse boxes"

glad you beat me to it.

It was always a long term goal to clean up the wiring in bay. I just try not to get too much on my plate at once, ya know?

Originally Posted by greenwood

I hear ya, man that is awesome keep up the great work, very cleanly done.

Thanks!

[shaggyjake]

Not much going on as far as upgrades. Been to a couple autox events and another day at grange.

the car is pretty competitive at autox, but I definitely desire an event with longer straights and more than the 40 seconds of driving at a time.








February 17 was another event with RaceFreely. Even though grange is a really, really small track, it's still a blast. There's no limit on how much you can get on the track because there's usually only about 20 participants. Plus everyone there is super cool.
Went home with the fastest time of the day, too, so that's cool.








Here i am locking up the brakes into turn one.







The car was having a major issue with electrolysis. So bad that it destroyed my koyorad and i had to get a replacement. i tried adding grounds, pulling fuses chasing down the stray voltage. Disconnected the battery and the coolant still had .4V. I read this type of electrolysis can be caused by leftover material after machining processes. Bought some additives from Inter-Ject, did a major flush, added a zinc-anode. So far no issues, so we'll see how it holds up.


March 18 is round 2 of the Nissan Challenge. I'll be in class 2 which will still allow me to be competitive without going against modded GTRs.

[shaggyjake]

Here's a clip of my fastest time at Chuckwalla.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQENPlZa0w

2:09.211


Got it during the last session of the day. The car seemed like it handled well. I definitely could have pushed it harder, and could have pushed myself more.

[shaggyjake]

Haven't had any major upgrades or repairs that i can think of, lately. Some small wiring stuff had to get replaced, and the eccentric bolt on my coilovers failed and caused my knuckle to cave in and the tire rubbed on the coilover, so the tire was replaced.
Switched the front pads from Hawk HPS to their Street/Race pad, and, WOW. I know it's not a huge bump in performance but it was very noticable improvement from the previous set. I actually had confidence braking.

Went to Round 3 of the Nissan Challenge at Buttonwillow and ran the 13CW configuration. Couple things that need to happen: an additional oil cooler, a better power steering cooler or proper ducting to it, and I definitely need to run aero! right now the car has no wing and no splitter, and i've been told that if i want to be more competitive in my class then i need aero...

I've got to do some more research, but i'm pretty confident that i could also go bigger on my wheel/tire setup. I think i can run 18x9.5 front with an effective offset of +20 without rubbing on a 265/35r18. I know it wont be an issue in the rear, and i could probably even run a 275/35r18 in the back on the same size wheel.

edit: the RPF1 is available in a 18x9.5 +18 which i could run in the front with no spacer on a 265/35r18. I plan to change to chargespeed +20mm front fenders. I know without a doubt that i can fit a 275/35r18 on a 18x9.5 +38 in the rear. I'll use that with my 20mm spacer up front to determine if i can use the +18 and get rid of my spacer. All of this will be used with either 595RS-RR or Azenis RT-615K.


But that will all have to happen later.

I'll go on about my time at Buttonwillow.

The first couple of sessions were REALLY crowded, at one point there was a line of 9-10 cars stuck behind a couple miatas. the track day was hosted by Speed Ventures and i was in a point-by group with other beginners. My first two sessions did not yield even remotely respectable lap times (2:27/ 2:16)

The traffic on track started to clear up after lunch and session 3 saw me towards the front of the pack for pre-grid, i was able to get a few laps in before i caught back up to traffic and went a best of 2:12, but i was also getting more comfortable with track and my car, getting the driving line, and recognizing braking zones, etc.

The last session of the day there were only 16 cars, so traffic was almost not an issue at all. i was confident in my brakes and didn't get stuck behind anyone for the most part and set my fastest time of the day at 2:06.616.


Here's a quick vid of my PB at the track. I switched my gopro to mount on my helmet so i could see my steering inputs as well.

I'd greatly appreciate any input on technique or if you see anything that could be improved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDOsNsqsgPI&t=23s


I'm also having a hell of a time trying to embed this video and i can't fucking figure it out

[afishysilvia]

Now that I am on the road we need to hit a meet sometime!!! Lets get something going.

[shaggyjake]

Originally Posted by afishysilvia

Now that I am on the road we need to hit a meet sometime!!! Lets get something going.

I would have loved that, but the car is no longer in California.
I'm getting stationed in Naples, Italy for three years and I left the car with a friend who lives in Missouri.



















I saw my car drive away on April 19, 2018, and i likely won't see it again in person until 2021.

I'm looking forward to moving to Italy, though. I've been perusing a lot of used car sites for the area and although there isn't much in the way of the S-chassis, there are certainly some unique cars that I'm planning on shipping back to the states when i change duty stations again.

This will be a temporary hiatus in my build, but, THE BUILD IS NOT OVER.