Need for Speed inspired S13 Welcome to 2005!

[Jyttah]

Well... In the Christmas holidays i had a friend over to help me with the engine.
We replaced the main and rod bearings and he noticed that my crankshaft did have a little bit of scoring. But luckily i had a spare engine where we could take the crank from. This was in a lot better condition.
The old bearings weren't the worst, but after finding the oil squirters were damaged, we did not take any changes.

I still havent found a socket for the ARP headstud bolts, but im working on it. So the head sits loose on the engine.


I also had visit from another friend who have to weld the rust in the car.
We started last saturday where there only was -3 degree celsius in my workshop. So he only welded the hatch. It was way to cold.

While he was welding, I was fixing the wiring harness after previous owner fucked it up. So now i also have reverselight. Great success
Its really great to make the harness proper with the right tools instead of some buttconnectors and masking tape

And at my job we had tons of old seats laying around. So i scored a classic Recaro 229.41.1354
It needs a clean, and i have to pull power wires for it as its fully electronic adjustable

 

[Jyttah]

Well well well... The last few months have been one hell of a rollercoaster.

Lets dive in!

First off, i purchased a 3D printer (Ender3 V2) because i wanted to be able to make my own parts and get something more unique.
So i started with a cupholder.

Nothing special. But it gave me the inspiration to create more things. Im still a newbie in Fusion360, but im practicing in making a center for my Work Euroline

So i finally found a 12point top that fit the ARP headstuds, so i could get the head installed on the engine, and get the engine back into the car.

Its so nice to see the engine finally together.

I had some problems with the oil feed line as the ones i purchased was for m10 on the turbo side, but my turbo was a M12, so i had to make my own.

And everything is finally together

Getting ready for gearbox install

And we threw the engine and gearbox in the car.

 

[Jyttah]

I was a idiot and didnt drain the gearbox for oil before doing this, so i had 2 liters of gearoil on the floor... Not the greatest thing... But shit happens

I fixed all the small things like installing a cheap oilpressure gauge and installed all the vacuum lines and intercooler piping

We turned the key, and the car started right up. It was a moment i was super afraid of, but engine started and sounded healthy. Only problem was the timing belt that was to tight and was singing a lot.
i figured it wasnt the worst thing to let it idle and bleed the watersystem.

After about 10 minutes the exhaust manifold started to smell like burned oil.
By some reason the oil feed line wasnt tightened properly, so i had to tighten it. But there was a small highup... I cant tighten it with the turbo installed on the manifold... Only thing to do is to remove the manifold and turbo, take them apart, and then tighten the bolt... That was a pain in the ass!!! Next time ill go topmount turbo

And the disaster is coming closer...

I was under the car to install the driveshaft and saw this

Not the worst thing, but damn... at least fix a fuel line leak properly...



And now for the worst news.... But first, some high quality danish bacon!

And the disaster... I let the pictures speak for it self... but just guess what happend.. I will take care of it next weekend with some help from a CA18DET-guru

Anyway. Yesterday my friend started cutting up the sills to replace them with new ones.

The right side didnt look to bad, but the clumps in there is actually bondo from when they installed the Veilside bodykit

And while he cut open the car, i changed the headlights from RHD to LHD. Thats one thing less the car can fail inspection on.

 

[Jyttah]

Time for another update.
We pulled the engine... again as the timing belt skipped, and i wanted to be sure that everythings put together correct.

I also removed the manifolds so i can work on the head.

Im astually happy that i removed the engine and went through everything this time, as i found a hose that was cracked, and it would be impossible to replace if the engine is in the car.

We also got a 12ton press in the workshop. I talked to some local professional workshops, and they wanted way to much money for me to press some bearings, so i bought this one. Its cheap, but it works fine for wheel bearings and other small stuff.

As i had a extra cracked head for the CA18DET laying around, i went to town with cleaning the valves, so they can be installed in the good head

Another reason that we removed the engine is that one of the enginemounts are broken, and also tightened with about 69 ugga-duggas and fucked the nut... So the only way to remove it was to saw and drill it. What a fucking nightmare!

And also it was possible to replace the clutch bearing when there was easy access. And it was so easy with the new press

I also did the front wheel bearings
https://billeder.bazoom.dk/biler/album/474/xl/2365847/rengoering-af-motorrum.jpg[/IMG]


Since the engine have been sitting for a long time, i might as well get new tempsensors and thermostat. And i guess it was a good idea The old ones were pretty rusty!

 

[Jyttah]

My friend also did a lot of work welding the sills on the car. It took a bit longer than expected, but ended up pretty great. Im happy with the result. Even though its gonna be hidden by the bodykit.

And the finished result.

After i took the pictures, i gave it a quick layer of epoxy primer on the ourside, and some penetrating cavity wax in the sills and everywhere there was bare metal to make sure it doesnt rust again.



I also went crazy on the head. I have no experience in doing this, so i just went for it.
I changed the following:
Front seals on the camshafts
refurbished valves and lapped them
refurbished lifters
new valve seals
new Continental timing belt

I also did a quick leaktest with some soapy water, and after an hour everything that should be dry was still dry. So great success!

I also did a quick trip to a friend to look at a few cars

Engine is coming together. And hopeful for the last time!

This is it for now. But hopefully the engine is back in the car next week, and with all interior installed again.
And then its on to making the fiberglass fit

 

[Jyttah]

Finally we got the engine back into the car!
It does turn over and idle without problems, but cant do much more as we still havent filled coolant in it.

After the engine was installed we rolled the car outside to flush the engineblock with a waterhose - there was SO much rust inside of it because it has been standing dry for a long time.

But we did work alot on the fiberglass.

And we also did some eating of "kanel gifflar" (small Cinnamon rolls from Sweden) Tastes delicious, by the way!

To make our lives much easier, we desided to fiberglass the sideskirts into one piece. And did the same with the front bumper. It saves me for a lot of money as i dont need to purchase the brackets. And also makes it look cleaner when my painter hits it with a bit of bondo

 

[Jyttah]

While i was installing the side skirts, i took a few pictures of the underside. And im surprised that it looks pretty good underneath. Cars from England to not have a good reputation rustwise.

I also installed the fake Bride gear-fabric

Many years ago i did a lot of RC drift, and my body of choice was always the 180SX kit with a specific rear lights. And recently i found the rearlights for my car. So i just had to have them. The plan is to use it for my other S13, and keep the Kouki lights on this car.

When installing the rear bumper, i needed some support so it doesnt sag in the middle as fiberglass bumpers often do.
I used some 90degree metal i had laying around and put some foam tape on top.

I guess ive already mentioned the hole in the dashboard. Ive made a small plug to close it off, and still have the space for cables for the 3 gauges i want to install. (oil temp, oil pressure and boost)
Its 3D printed in ASA, so it should be more than suitable to be in the sun all day.

My friend also reached out to me to make him a cup holder for his S14. So after some designing and printing, he can do crazy stuff without his drinks spilling all over

I will put them up on Order42 instagram when i have them ready

I got tired of the teal details in the enginebay, so desided to paint the parts in some other color, and after a lot of looking around, i found a original S13 color that would fit the car perfectly.

I also picked up a set of used tires, so i finally can install the Work Euroline on the car and roll it out

Lastly a few pictures of the car with almost all fiberglass installed

 

[Jyttah]

Another small update.
I went to pick up a bunch of parts for my other S13, that ill be installing on this one instead. Among these parts are a Varex muffler, Defi Advance, Nardi wheel, Mishimoto intercooler, oilcooler, carbon stuff and a lot of other stuff.

I had huge problems with the engine making a whine. Everybody thought it was the timing belt being to tight, but after a LOT of problems, we figured out it was the lower timing belt cover that was bent slightly and the belt was hitting it. I did a bit of magic with a small hammer, and everything sounds great!
Video for proof:

And yes. I made a gearknob with a 10mm in it. Its always good to have a 10mm close by!

Its so wierd to see the car almost complete, but its nice! Theres still a lot of small things i need to sort out. some of them is coolant leak, power steering, power for stereo, cablemanagement under the dash and so on.

And when i get the other S13 into the workshop, i need to install 5lug conversion with Z32 brakes. So thats gonna be fun

 

[Jyttah]

Its the summer holiday, so im trying to spend as much time in the workshop as possible to finnish this car up and make space for the next one.

First of, i removed the dash again. I did that so i could do some proper wiring for the gauges and boost controller

The instrument cluster started like this:

Then did som magic with LED bulbs and the result is this:

And finished it up with a Defi Advance ZD

- I still need to figure out why it dont show RPM and speed. But thats a small thing. It was installed instead of the cheap gauges on the dash. So i actually only needed oil pressure and oil temp. But this one can do a lot more, so i wired most of it up. still need to wire up the exhaust temp sensor. But thats absolutely not important at this point.

Im starting to install some carbon pieces.
On top of the cover for the ignition coils, i also got a slam panel

Because the enginebay is pretty black, its blending in pretty good!

I cant re-use the original intake as the new turbo have a bigger inlet. So i needed to design and 3D print a new one. But im sure the 3D print cant handle the heat near the turbo, so i had to do something different.

I started by 3Dprinting a bunch of pie cuts, and cylinders in the correct size.
I left some space in the middle for a silicone hose so theres some play when the engine moves around. After gluing the parts together, i gave it all some release agent and after that, some epoxy. Then i covered the tubes in some carbon sleeve.

Im adding extra epoxy and sanding it to get a smooth finish.
As im gonna remove the 3Dprinted plastic, i need more than just one layer of carbon. So i added one extra layer of carbon.
Its timeconsuming and boring, but the endresult is worth the time

This is how it looked just before i added the second layer of carbon cloth. So the finished result should look even better and super smooth

As the rear valances for the TypeX bodykit didnt fit that well, i had to change them a bit.
And as always, wear PPE!

As a small detail, i also added a catch can to the engine. theres still some things i need to change, but its almost done.

And finally i found somebody who could help me install some tires on my Work Eurolines.
So thet are finally on the car!

And i must admit, that it needed some lowering! But i have to get it through the danish checkup before doing that.

 

[chri5]

Some good work going on there.
Shame to ruin that paint job though.

 

[Jyttah]

Some good work going on there.
Shame to ruin that paint job though.

Thanks.
And yeah, it could have been fun to keep the paint job. But unfortunally the quality is pretty bad up close with a ton of runs. And on top of that, there was a bunch of rust hiding under the bodykit.

 

[Jyttah]

My jack can only lift the car up on one set of wheels, so i had to be creative.
My engine hoist can lift up to 1 ton. So i used that with a strop around the wheel to lift it higher. It worked like a charm, but i had to take the front fender of so i didnt damage it.

The gearbox was leaking oil because of a bad seal, So we had to take out the gearbox. I did some research, and people said it was possible with just unbolting the gearbox, and turning it 90 degrees (with the slave cylinder side facing down)

The gearbox went out without any problem. and it goes in the same way. So its definitely the way i would recommend.

My landlord told me my new neighbour didnt need so much space as he had, so if i wanted it, he would move the divider to give me more space. So i said yes to that!

So now theres plenty of space for 2 cars


As i had to remove the downpipe to get the gearbox out, i might as well get a catalyst converter installed. Its required if i have to get the car road legal, and i dont really care if the car looses a few HP.
And he also added a bung for my exhaust temp sensor.

So my friend TIGwelded the cat and a flew pipe on the downpipe.

And finally, i got my other S13 in the workshop.

 

[Jyttah]

i guess its time to show the pictures my friend took of my 2 cars :naughtyd:

More of his work can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/peterfalkphotofactory

 

[Jyttah]

A lot has happend since last i posted.
New job, buying a house and doing even more shit to the cars.


When i left off, the car couldnt start. So after a lot of research, i figured out the fuelpump was dead. It was a Walbro 255. So instead of putting a OEM pump in, i settled for a AEM 320L pump.
And at the same time, i also hardwired it.

My friend made a new section of frame to the left side as the original was crushed a bit. If youre interested in one of these, let me know.

I also created a quick IC leak tester with some 3D print and a valve.

Just for fun, i took a quick picture of the interior lightning. I cant wait to drive it!

And lastly, i bought a proper pigtail for the Kouki lights.

 

[Jyttah]

Well, i guess its time for another update on this build.
Since i sold my other S13, i wanted to get this one road-legal and get it registered. For registering it, it needs to pass a "syn" - A Danish version of MOT. So i needed to put different wheels on it and fit a bumper.
I picked up the car from the mechanic since it had some issues with leaking oil. That was fixed, and then it started to drive like shit. By some reason, the hose from the fuel pump inside the tank, broke. That was fixed and a friend and i picked up the car

I bought a set of wheels so i could get it through syn, as the Work wheels are 8" in the front an 9" in the back.

And yes, this is what a 99% OEM engine bay looks like

As the car isnt registered in Denmark, i cant get number plates on it, but i can buy temp-plates so i can drive till and from a workshop or "syn"

Its funny its just a sticker
bumper installed and almost ready for the first drive

But first, i needed some safety equipment as i didn't want to risk it.

Arrived at "syn" and the first thing i saw was this lovely dog. naturally i had to pet it!

Car went in, car went up on the lift

The guy looked through the car, checked all bushings, tested brakes, took a test drive (He started by going into the passenger-side and mentioned, somebody moved the steering wheel)
All in all, everything looked good.
But... Unfortunately it did pollute to much, so it failed.
I went home and checked the sparkplugs, and all looked good

The guy told me it could be the catalytic converter that wasn't warm enough, so he recommended me to take a long test drive and get it proper warm, so i did that and came back.

But that didn't change much. We both agreed that it might be the catalytic converter might be dead. So i went to get a new universal 400 cells cat, and went to get the flanges welded on it.

And also, if you don't know how an OEM exhaust look, here it is:

I drove it back to "syn", and it failed once again. At this point I don't know what to do to get the pollution down to an acceptable amount.
The engine is on stock ECU, Stock injectors, 320L Fuelpump, T28 china turbo, OEM intercooler, 400 cell cat, oem exhaust but with 3" downpipe, NGK BKR6E-11 sparkplugs.
So if anyone knows who to get the CO in the exhaust down from 1.7 to under 0.5, please let me know!

 

[Jyttah]

It passed MOT!
After changing the catalytic converter again, and installed other sparkplugs (and a lot of other things thats not relevant)
But it passed.
waited 3 weeks for the danish goverment to tell me I need to pay something like 7500USD/7100EUR to be able to register it. Paid it and went to get numberplates.
Then they told me they cant give me numberplates as the car is from outside the EU. So I need to get a permit for this... So now i have to wait for another week for this permit... Gotta love bureaucracy.
Anyway. In the 3 weeks i waited for an answer, I continued to get the car ready for the "low life"
First of, some fuel. Gotta love Octane100

And this is the before lowering:

And this is after. still need to get an alignment, so camber is shit

I know its not crazy low, but i want it to be driveable as we have some insane bumps everywhere.

Because of the lowness of the car, I had to hammer the fenders a bit.

And since the wires in the front is still op top of the wheels, i had to do the classic wiretuck like everybody else owning an S13

I bought an extra subframe and got it powdercoated satin black.

And interior-wise,
I installed my steering wheel, created a one-of cupholder, and figured out how I will install the air tank and compressor for the aircups

And last of, i removed all fiberglass as i need to make sure the fitment is perfect for paint.

 

[Jyttah]

Its about time to de-legalize the car. First of, i just had to install the front lip. It was not installed earlier as i was afraid i would rip it off going over bumps and it could be an issue at MOT.
So on it went!

And also, the Sunset Mica Bronze on the valve covers do look good - even with condensation on it.

I wanted to drive the car a bit around, but unfortunately, the battery gave up. Couldnt hold its charge overnight. But luckily its only 2 years old, and it have a 3 year guarantee. So free replacement!

went to a friend, and had to take a picture of the car in the parking lot.

The style is kinda growing on me.
But its an old car, so something went wrong.
The ABS light turned on randomly.

I went home measured resistance on all sensors and plugged them back in, and the light disappeared. Its the small victories

I had to mount the TypeX wing to see how it looked. And i cant wait to install it permanently.

I did a bit of driving with the new amount of lowering and figured i needed an alignment. So went to a friend and he went to work.

Im sure the rear subframe never had an alignment done as it was rusty as fuck, and we couldnt get the camberarm going. So i went with plan B.
Replace the subframe and all arms. As mentioned earlier, i bought a subframe, and i had Driftworks arms laying for a long time. So now is the time to install them!

As a side project, i had to do a bit of 3D scanning for a friend. And the scanner just works better with a beer.

And tell me you own a Nissan without telling me you own a Nissan:

 

[Jyttah]

When i had the back of the car up, i might as well install the TypeX rear valances

 

[Jyttah]

The subframe was lowered and the new supframe was put together. All in all, it took about 3 evenings to do. And that was including treating the underside of the chassis.

And since the whole thing was out, i might as well add some new differential oil. And i cannot explain how much i hate the smell of used diff-oil!!!

adjusted the camber quick to 0 degree and threw the wheels on.

And the big idiot i an, i forgot that the car gets more camber the lower it is. So im again back to -3 degree camber. well, it needs a realignment anyway
Anyway, its back on the ground and i just had to take a quick testdrive

 

[Jyttah]

For a long time i wanted to put some stereo in the car that was fitting the OEM style. But unfortunally i couldnt find any solution on my requirement of reverse camera and bluetooth.
So I just accepted that i had to go double DIN.
First off, i had to create a quick bracket for the 6,5" JBL Club 622

And as the doorpanels were off, i thought i might as well clean up the speaker-grill.

As Black Friday came closer, i found a pretty good deal on a Pioneer DMH-A240BT and set of Alpine SXE-4625S 4x6 speakers for the rear.

I did add thick speaker cables to the car a long time ago, so the install was pretty easy.
Out with the old and in with the new

Also, As i now have removed the equalize, its up for grabs if anyone is interested. I do not have the wire harness, so i dont even know if it works. But it does have a cool 80s vibe!

Also because of black friday, i bought something else. I wont mention anything, but the fit on these

And as the exterior have to be painted in the start next year, it was about time to install the replica TypeX spoiler. The spoiler had 4 holes for m6 bolts, but i wanted to convert it to studs instead, so some m6 threaded rod, an anglegrinder and a bit of engineering and its done.

Unfortunally i also had to drill out some holes under, so i could install nuts. I hate i had to drill holes, but there was some support around the wiper motor, so it was impossible to get a bolt or not in there.

It got some zinc primer added to the holes, so theres no bare metal. and again, it will be painted soon.

As the last thing, i bought a 6x70->6x74mm adapter for my Nardi wheel, so i could remove the snap-off. But now the horn button is to close to the steering-shaft, so it cant be installed. So now i need a spacer for my adapter...