Average Joe's build thread

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Ok boys and girls, I decided to start a build thread because the discussion thead on this topic is stupid long.
What I'm starting out with is my 1992 Nissan 240SX SE Super Hicas.
Since Hicas blows I changed out the subframe and put some plugs in the rear distribution block to nix that. At the same time I swapped that I did RSR bushings, 5 lug, S14 FLCA's and uprights as well as Z32 Front brakes
drilled and slotted rotors, braided lines, ABS delete and Z32 M/c upgrade. When I did all of this I got some Motegi Touge's (which are now for sale) to complete the 5 lug swap. I've been rolling on blown KYB's with Eibach Sportlines for some time now and it sucks. But now that I have FN01R-C's with a 235 245 stagger my car still outhandles most. Here are some pics of it from the past few weeks:


Anyways enough about that. Time for the real meat and potatoes. As most of you know I started a project I dubbed "Legal JDM" about getting SR's completely legit in 240's. Well since it has gained so much interest we finally got our own clip to build as our test engine.
So, here goes the build! This is also on my website for those without the blessing of Zilvia.
Clip Trip

Man, what a long day that was. Woke up at 4am, picked up the trailer at the shop and hit the road. I drove into the sunrise and managed to stay awake but the long strait path of Highway 5 was soon getting to me. I managed to make it all the way to Kettleman City, where I absolutely had to stop. I filled up the tank, got a snickers and a sugar free Redbull and got my laptop set up so I could listen to music (since the truck has no face plate on the radio).
From Kettleman City I continued South. Up over the Grapevine and into L.A. I must have timed it just right because the traffic wasn’t bad at all. I saw a couple nice 240’s driving past but couldn’t snap any pictures of them. I made it to R&D Factory at about 10:45 (jeez that was a quick trip) and met Edward. He was really friendly and really nice. He showed me around their shop a little and hooked me up with a beat up looking Kouki 180SX clip. It wasn’t much to look at, but the engine looked pretty nice. I had them do a compression and leakdown test and everything looked pretty good. The oil pan had a hole in it from their forklift so they gave me another and also some other pieces to fix broken ones. I was happy so I told them to load it up.

From there I jumped on the 60 east and headed toward Roland Heights where I met James. (a supporter of LegalJDM since the beginning) We had some awesome Japanese food at Diamond Plaza, and he showed me the SR swap in his S14.

Up next was West Covina Nissan where Justin hooked me up with some Nismo motor and tranny mounts. West Covina Nissan is brand new and has probably the nicest cleanest workbays and awesome showroom and parts department. They have all kinda of Nismo stuff on the walls and their garage was full of super nice 350Z’s and even a R32 Skyline.
From there I was off to Adelanto to pick up some scooters and then home, overall it was a 940 mile, 21 hour trip

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Day 1
Friday May 11th, 2007
Today I got the 180 clip inside the shop and made myself a little workspace inside our engine dyno room where I could keep everything organized and out of the way. I took a bunch of pictures so I would know where everything goes and started by removing the one remaining fender and front bumper, then the wiring harness, labeling all the connectors as I went so I wouldn’t get confused later on. When I got the harness disconnected I started removing the accessories. First to go was the ABS unit, then the Air Injection Valve (Which I am going to reuse later), power steering, and A/C pump. I called it a day early so I could go hang out with the guys.



Here you can see the labels I put on all the connectors.

[bardabe]

Holy crap, good luck man.

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Day 2
Satuday May 12, 2007
I started out today by removing the steering wheels (see popped airbag) and taking the dash out of the clip. The fire wall was pretty messed up from the front end accident the clip was in, but I managed to get everything out I needed without to much of a hassle. The engine harness came out nicely and I took out of all the digital climate control pieces I need to swap those into my hatch.
Next I pulled the motor. It came out really easy, however I forgot to remove the transmission cross member and ended up tearing the bushing completely in half. Oh well I have a Nismo one to go there. While I had the engine up in the air I decided to take off the clutch and transmission. The tranny must have never been removed, because it was ridiculously hard to seperate from the engine. However when I finally got them apart I was disappointed to see a stock clutch and flywheel. Even more disappointed when I pulled off the pressure plate and clutch disk to see a very glazed flywheel. Oh, well I guess something aftermarket is needed. Next I put the engine engine stand taped up the turbo inlets and outlets as well as the throttle body and called it a day.

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Day 3
Sunday May 13, 2007
I know, I know. Today is Mother’s Day, but I took my Mom and Grandma to breakfast early and then my mom had plans, so I got to work. I started off by removing the exhaust manifold and turbo as one piece, I only managed to take one exhaust stud out, which I think is pretty good, and I don’t think I bent up the oil and coolant lines too much getting them out. Next I removed the intake manifold and all of the water lines, stripping the motor to pretty much a bare block.
The exhaust ports were pretty dirty:

My pile of stuff is getting bigger:

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Day 4
Monday May 14, 2007
Today was my first day of work on the company dime. So I made it count. I started off by setting cylinder 1 to TDC, taking off the valve cover and taking the cams out. I was surprised to see the cams showed little wear and the rockers looked good too.

Then I organized the bearing caps, bolts, rockers and shims so I wouldn’t put anything back in in the wrong place. Next I set the cams aside and got out the biggest breaker bar we have to break the head bolts loose. I loosened them by turning each one a 1/4 turn then another 1/4 turn until they were all loose, man that is a scary task.
The pistons looked a little dirty, but there weren’t any signs of detonation and the quench chambers looked good.
Just a little carbon buildup, nothing a little wire brush won’t fix. Another good note is the head gasket didn’t show any signs of blowing through.
Next, I checked the headbolts to make sure they were within factory spec. The FSM says the must be less then 6.23 inches and I measured all of them around 6.2 inches, so I’m good, although maybe I should do head studs.

Then I took the head down to our favorite engine builder to have the head “freshened up” so it will burn as clean as possible. They said the head looked pretty good and were going to check to see if it needs to be decked. Then were going to clean the ports and valves, then check for seal. A leaky valve makes a dirty engine.
After lunch I turned to engine over to see a bad sight. Turns out when we put the front clip on the piano dollies, one of them was under the oil pan and squashed it up pretty good. (My bad) I already had another oil pan because the one that came on the clip had a hole in in from a forklift.
That didn’t bother me, but now that it was smashed down its time for another pick-up.
So to check the bottom end to make sure everything is in order I took off the steel oil pan and baffle to see a not so happy oil pickup that had left its mark on the inside of the steel oil pan:

Next was the aluminum pan, which Nissan made easier to remove by including two threaded holes to put bolts in and push it away from the block.
I don’t really know what I’m looking for, but the bottom end looked pretty good, no play or metal shavings and only a tiny bit of sludge.
And look, kangaroo cast block! (whatever that means)

Last on my list vas a venture into fairly undocumented and dangerous territory, the elusive front cover. First the pulley had to come off, then the bolts holding it on. A few gentle taps from a rubber hammer and pry bar, and that thing was off!
So, I cleaned all the gasket material off with a putty knife and everything looks pretty good.

Everything looked pretty good, but while we had the engine apart we decided to order some preventative maintenance parts. So we ordered a complete gasket set, new front cover, oil pickup, water pump, thermostat and timing chain. Those parts should be here thursday.

[rainier]

its good to see someone updating often with plenty of pictures!

since a lot of us get bored when its all text!

[Anto]

Niiiiiice.
Can't wait to see where this build ends up.

[johngriff]

So..

Are you going to go EGR? Which EGR will you use?

Are you going to add on to the ECM EGR Control? Or try to rig a vacuum setup?

[GSXRJJordan]

Good questions John - I'm also curious whether you're going to try to use the EGR (it sucks, but it's factory, so I guess you're supposed to?).

Awesome, awesome, awesome Joe ~ keep it up, and know that we're all here for you!

[drift freaq]

he is trying to do a smog legal SR which means he will have to use the EGR guys.

[johngriff]

I was just curious if an RI could get a "pass" on the EGR.

I think it HAS to be on electronic control right?

What standards are going to regulate how the port in the intake manifold is made? Where it is placed? How it is fabricated on?

This isnt one of those "slap some egr' on that whip" situations.

[Farzam]

Awesome build!

w00t!

[Howard92884]

Looking good so far. This ought to be interesting. Subscribed!

[Addicted2Kouki]

Its looking good so far. People I've talked to about it doubt, but I wont give up hope. Can't wait to see more progress. Good Luck With This Long and Extensive Project.

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Hold on hold on hold on!
#1 F*CK the EGR... No, we're not going to add it.
#2 Pulse air injection for the win! We are just going to modify the Air injection tube so that it will clear the steering column (hopefully)
EGR sucks, why would u want to take hot exhaust gasses and then pump them right back into your intake?

[mr_240sx]

wow great build..... ill definately be keeping a close eye on it.

[ecuastyle84]

wow nice job man....cant wait to see the finished product...keep us updated

[johngriff]

Hahah See, that is what I was asking!

Explain pulse air injection.

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

I dont know exactly how it works, I just work here. I do know that it takes air in pre maf and puts it in the exhaust to dilute it. It also helps to get the catalyst to light faster.

[drftwerks]

what are you gonna do about NOX??? our cars still need to pass nox

[ManoNegra]

^ That's what catalytic converters and good tuning are for.

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Originally Posted by ManoNegra

^ That's what catalytic converters and good tuning are for.

Thanks for the suggestions and concerns guys.

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Day 5
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Since I am waiting on some parts today was cleaning day, because a clean engine is a happy engine. I started out by using a special adjustable wrench to turn the crank.

Here you can see pistons 2 & 3 before and after cleaning. All I used was some brake clean and a rag:


Piston number 3 had a minor nick from the rear intake valve,
but doesn’t look like anything bad. Next I cleaned the block, a lot of brake clean and some scrubbing with a rag and a wire brush and it looks pretty good, not perfect but not bad.


It looked like the dipstick leaks from where the dirt was caked on the block. Finally I cleaned the oil pan and painted the motor mounts and some of the pulleys. After 4 cans of brake clean and numerous rags, the engine is starting to come together. I get all the seals and new parts tomorrow.

[Wahl 136]

Great, GREAT stuff! Keep the engine pictures coming!

[opponheimer]

You've gone that far and aren't going to do new rings? you think they're fine?

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

Yea, compression and leakdown both looked good.

[CKAMC]

how do the coolant and oil passages look?

nice progress

[FaLKoN240]

I like this build thread, and I like you.

Keep it up.

[tknbkthrsdy4anfg]

The coolant passages dont look bad, there is a little bit of orange on the walls, but nothing major. The coolant was clean as hell when I drained it. The oil passages are Super, the one that goes from the pump to the filter was KLEEN! a little bit of sludge here and there, but overall pretty decent. I get the front cover and other goodies tomorrow.

Originally Posted by 240FaLKoN

I like this build thread, and I like you.

Keep it up.

What are you doin later?