Chris's s14 kouki/SR clean street car project

[TerribleTopher]

At the nagging of a friend of mine (silviaks2nr) I'm starting a build thread for my s14. I'm a good ways along with it so I'll play catch up with the first post. I have a lightly modded 350z that I daily drive but wanted something I could tinker on so last year I bought a '96 zenki se for $3500 from a friend of a friend. It was in fair shape at best, but what made the car was the mods it already had. It came with Flta1 coils, work cr kai, all pbm arms, bushings, extended studs, sway bars etc. Here it is on the first day:







I drove the car as it was for several months, getting it running well, replacing little things that had been neglected for it to run right like the IACV, MAFS, Alternator and doing much needed maintenance.



I did a projector retrofit when I was bored of the zenki headlights, but had really been keeping an eye out for a full kouki front so that was next.







The front was cheap but wasn't 100% complete and the passenger fender was beat up so I bought a brand new passenger side fender and usdm grill.





looks okay from 50ft???



silviaks2nr gave me one of these hydrodipped valve covers so I threw it on.



The old KA was just way too tired, and I was tired of it, so it was time for it to go.



Prepped the bay





Spencer shot it single stage black

I had a ton of photos of the motor as I went through it all but my Iphone took a shit so this is the only thing I could find.



S14a sr, resurfaced head, arp studs, apexi HG, new nissan waterpump, iacv, quest alternator, rocker arm stoppers, PS pump, act clutch and flywheel, oem complete gasket/seal set, new oem fuel rail (was crimped), new crank angle sensor, etc



So then I needed another valve cover done for this motor...














Motor was in and running on a street tune with Nistune ecu, 750ccs, z32 mafs, 2876r, greddy suction kit, mishi radiator fans and hoses, front mount, splitfire coilpacks, downpipe, hks hi power, ssqv 4 bov, new oem motor mounts, WS harnesses, tucked fuse box, deleted cruise, etc. I know there's tons of other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment. The red radiator hoses really bother me but that's all that was available at the time.

Next I got some kouki taillights and a new deck lid since my old one had fitment issues. The car was in a rear impact when the PO had it.



Next up was paint. First I wanted to pull the rear fenders about an inch before we tore it apart. I used the 19x10.5 from my z for the rolling.



Looks terrible I know.

it did the job, just a nice subtle pull.





Then I disassembled the car and got to work with the DA





I had to cover it outside the garage one night, so it became an impromptu delorean.



I welded and filled in the antenna hole, squirter holes, and hood emblem holes. After more dissasembly and the 1st round of filler and sanding it was ready for epoxy. Yes the quarter windows can be removed, and yes it is a pain in the ass! You need to cut them out from the inside, there's no other way to do it. Don't fiddle with guitar string or you will ruin the trim.























Epoxy down.





Then after more bodywork it was sanded with 220 and Spen shot it with 2k primer.



This evening i blocked down the 2k while Spen shot the bottom of the doors, hood, and trunk.







Here's a teaser of the paint color.





BMW A30 Interlagos blue. The body will get 3-4 coats of SPI clear on top.

Oh, and I have brand new sideskirts, endcaps, front and rear bumper, USDM front lip to go back on the car after paint.



I forgot, while the lights were off the car I had Spen do a tsx hid retrofit for me as well.



I think the blue "demon eye" mod will look great with the fresh paint.

[imthinkinrb'z]

Great work so far. I dig the color. How long did it take you to go from disassembly to now?

[jdizzy204]

Should look awesome once its back together. NC bro bump!!

[TerribleTopher]

Originally Posted by imthinkinrb'z

Great work so far. I dig the color. How long did it take you to go from disassembly to now?

A while. Be prepared for a long journey when it's time to paint your coupe. Here is some progress from the last few days...

Here are the brand new bumpers, skirts, endcaps, lip etc.





Products we're using:







The super laf psuedo paint booth we constructed out of poly and chain link outdoor dog run panels.







The weather was on our side yesterday and today so we got a good chunk of the base and clear laid down. Unfortunately Spen had trouble with the body as the last coat of clear went on with insufficient light (about 6:30PM yesterday) so it orange peeled up a bit. It's better than runs all over the place I suppose, but timing it as we did was still a mistake. We were planning on having to sand the trash that got in it anyways so no big deal.



Basecoat went down nice thankfully.





Then the clear. 3 coats of the high solids SPI clear. Then we put it in the garage with a space heater overnight so there would be no dew on the flat surfaces that could cause hazing.





We rolled it out in the sun this morning to take a peek.



Today Spen shot everything else but the hood, trunk, sideskirts, and mirrors. It came out a little bit orange peeley as well, again not a huge problem. When you're painting basically outdoors you're going to have to wetsand and polish for sure.

[first_choice]

thats an innovative spray booth

[EnvyS13]

Well documented and very clean build

[dreaMervaj]

Car is coming along nicely.

Thumbs up for Spencer!

[s0fa king]

looking forward to more updates

[Kwolfe]

Awesome color!

[Hoffman5982]

Quick question about the valve cover. I had him do mine in wood grain as well last year. Did what looks like dust appear in the finish after it heated up?

[Extreme Dimensions]

kudos on the make shift paint booth.

[silviaks2nr]

Originally Posted by Hoffman5982

Quick question about the valve cover. I had him do mine in wood grain as well last year. Did what looks like dust appear in the finish after it heated up?

Yours is the only one I've heard of doing that. Does it look like if it was cleared over it would look good again? It sounds like a bit of solvent pop perhaps. If you want to send it back to me I'll clean and wetsand and re-clear it.

As for chris's car, the weather has really held us up from more progress but should see something soon.

[Kishin Doji Zenki`]

"What the hell is a jig-o-watt?" That was funny stuff. Just an awesome build guys!! Really enjoyed seeing all the pics. Can't wait to see more.

[silviaks2nr]

I've had a head cold so I let Chris shoot the rest of the parts today when the weather finally allowed for it. With the Hood, trunk, sideskirts, rear lip, mirrors, and gas door all based and cleared the painting is 100% done now. Tomorrow we can start on the sanding portion but I'll probably just be "project supervisor" for that, as it's hard work and my back is killing me lately.

In other news, since Chris wants to basically copy every bit of my car besides the paint color... the little details are important. We candied and cleared the front blinkers orange and clearcoated the third brake light too. I cast the lens myself with acrylic resin but I wanted to be sure it was UV protected before we put it back on the car and the clearcoat should take care of that.

[PLAYERO_LOKO]

nice work and keep it build and continue to post pics of it!

[badfish816]

these are the kinds of builds i like reading. very detail oriented. keep the updates coming man. good choice on color too.

[TerribleTopher]

As Spen said, I finished shooting the hood, trunk, mirrors, and skirts.



Next on the list was wet sanding. I started on the roof while Spen tackled the doors.





We called it a night after getting the doors installed back on the car. Snow haulted any plans of sanding yesterday.



Unfortunately I caught the head cold Spen had, so not much progress today. After being here for a few weeks helping me with this project, Spen had to head back home. Thanks to him for everything. Tomorrow I plan to finish sanding the body and trunk.

[TerribleTopher]

I finished sanding the body and trunk. Next up is the hood, bumpers, skirts, and mirrors. On a side note, I disassembled the psuedo paint booth today. Minus pannels falling on my head, the deconstruction went smooth.

[silviaks2nr]

Start polishing yet? Wish I was still there to help.

[silviaks2nr]

Chris f'd up his leg about a week back working on the car and hasn't made much progress unfortunately. I keep asking him to at least post some pics of the body buffed out. This is from a text I got. Not mad.

[TerribleTopher]

I used Meguirs Ultimate Compound to buff. The SPI clear buffs very nicely.






After taking this picture I went to move my trunk away from the car so I didn't sling compound all over the freshly buffed paint. While moving the trunk I must have stepped/twisted just right, or wrong in this case, and my knee went. As I went down I cradled the trunk preventing major damage. Luckily only the corners need a touch up of paint.



I should be able to blend it with no problems. After multiple doctors visits, having two giant syringes of blood drained off my knee, and a MRI, I have a dislocated knee, fractured knee cap, few torn ligaments that hold the knee cap in place, and a torn meniscus which is better than a complete ACL tear that they thought I had initially. Despite all that I am making progress although it's a lot slower. I finished sanding the fenders and hood.




Tomorrow depending on how my knee feels I'll either sand the bumpers or buff the hood and fenders.

[turbo2nr]

looking good! body work is coming out legit

[Edwin562]

awesome work bro.

[mantas]

Love the color. Keep up the good work.

[slydin240sx]

Very nice build. Looking good man.

[RastaS14]

Great work man!

Hope your knee heals back to 100%. I know that feeling all too well..

[Apex Eight]

So sick. Subbed

[AreOhWhy]

Great choice of colour! A friend of mine painted his BMW E30 this colour two years ago and until this day it looks great, especially in the sun!

Can't wait to see finished results!

[treeafodo]

Looks great so far, in for updates!

[05subysti]

Love the interlagos blue, you are brave for working with your knee that severly injured. More updates!