The Whip Factory (IL)...

[BeatJunky]

The Whip Factory (Plainsfield, IL). There sits my precious. My SR20 plans delayed yet again. This time due to emissions and the cold, harsh weather.

My engine was slowly dying hard. Cyl.2 Misfiring due to unknown reasons and the rest of the problems you can just imagine. Other than that, the tranny was giving out as well and in order for me to pass the emissions test it would be best to find a fresh KAE longblock and get to work. I'd proudly do the work myself but OMFG is it cold out right now and let's be frank, no garage + not enough tools is just damn right suicide. So I call Leo from JDMspec (http://www.jdmspecperf.com), he ships me an SOHC longblock pretty damn complete for what most sell a bare engine for. It looks like its in decent shape but the mileage is unknown. He says its under 100k. I'll trust that for now and hope that the engine is smooth and strong. Perhaps in the near future a rebuild will be done, only if I feel it can handle a turbo, but the SR20 remains my top choice for its overall dependability/availability. I then have to engage plans for the work to be done.

Leo sets me up with Dave at The Whip Factory (http://www.whipfactory.com). We made plans for a drop off date early in the month but as always, some bull^%$% comes up and next thing you know you're on the brink of missing your emissions test due to not having the car finished. I ended up dropping her off today. Giving the shop under a week for the swap and giving me maybe two business days thereafter to get the test done. At this point I'm shi!!ing bricks. I rush the journey to Plainsfield from Chicago. Mapquest handy and a friend riding along in his car to drive me back. Snowy, Cold, Windy & Dark... we find the shop 2hrs later and my baby seems to now be in safe hands. This is the beginning chapter in the life of my own project 240.

Sorry for the almost pointless post, but it isn't exactly pointless. The Whip Factory is mostly known for working on Hondas although they advertise S13 & R33 swaps. So I'm curious as to what magic they can work for me. If a good enough job is done on this simple stock for stock swap and it's done quality (which in no way I doubt as they seem very knowledgeable/proffessional) then they'll get to do my SR20 swap in near future. I hope all goes well. There's all sorts of horror stories out here on the boards about shops bending people over by force and screwing them over with torque wrenches but I have high confidence in The Whip Factory. Certainly one of the untapped resources in the greater Chicagoland area or though it seems to me.

I'd like to thank Leo for the very generous deal that was given and would like to publicly appologize for not being as speedy as I wanted to be with this process. :) Shout-out to Dave at The Whip Factory and his crew.

I'll now post a pic of my babe sittin' in the snow waiting for some tender love and care... and a shot of something a found on the expressway comin' home. For humors sake.

-Omar

PS: Write-up coming in about a week and a half to two weeks on the work done to my car. Holla!:D

[BeatJunky]

My baby needs some new life...

[BeatJunky]

Maybe it'll take off and land in Iraq to be used as a suicide bombers set of wheels...

[sykikchimp]

I hope everything turns out ok.. with a name like the "whip" factory, I certainly ouldn't have picked them out of the yellow pages.. :coolugh:

[BeatJunky]

Bahaha... :) Werd.

Well, tons of locals have trust in Leo from JDMspec so I went to him for the engine. He would've taken charge of the swap himself but recent events in his business ventures landed him in Cali w/PasswordJDM so he sent me to Dave at Whip Factory. I can only suppose that they were in business together to a point.

I hope everything turns out great myself, especially since the result must make up for the unforseen hole in my pocket. Im very excited to see how my car will feel with a fresher engine.

-Omar

[pretpret]

is whip factory prices of jdm motor swap on their websites includes labor???

[lbcklik1486]

Hey, I'm around the chicagoland area, what about cj motorsports, I've been there, they have some pretty cool stuff. Also, what about AMS or sound performance? Oh, and where is JDMSpec???

[BeatJunky]

Originally posted by lbcklik1486
Oh, and where is JDMSpec???

What about the places you mentioned? :confused:

Oh and BTW, I made JDMspecs name all nice and bold as a link so that if you click on it, their website will pop-up. You will find their address there.:doh:

[pretpret]

Originally posted by pretpret
is whip factory prices of jdm motor swap on their websites includes labor???

[silvias13_180sx]

the whip factory..........


the name's not even good

[Driftin_240sx]

yo chi town guys.... come up to my shop in madison wi , beatjunky, you were lookin at my grey car, you should know who i am, anywase i just did a sr swap in 3 days and for 3200k installed, i have a dyno for tuning with 2 ase certified mechanics as well.. come check us out.

DynoTuned Performance
5506 Hwy Cv
madison, wi 53704
608-268-0270

www.dynotuned.com

david

[lbcklik1486]

Wow, beat junky, salt on my part, didn't even realize, lol. driftn240sx, your dyno rates seem really really cheap compared to some places. If I were to order an sr, and have it installe d there, it would be 3200 installed?
Oh, and

Sound Performance (http://www.sound-performance.com/)
CJ Motorsports (http://www.cj-motorsports.com/)
AMS (http://www.automotosports.com/)

Jason

[pretpret]

Originally posted by Driftin_240sx
yo chi town guys.... come up to my shop in madison wi , beatjunky, you were lookin at my grey car, you should know who i am, anywase i just did a sr swap in 3 days and for 3200k installed, i have a dyno for tuning with 2 ase certified mechanics as well.. come check us out.

DynoTuned Performance
5506 Hwy Cv
madison, wi 53704
608-268-0270

www.dynotuned.com

david

wow good price, now if only i can locate a 240sx shell...
mind telling what other goodies the price include?

[ez1286]

If your ever worried about emissions (in illinois) just send the post card back with the box that says vehicle out of the area and get a friends address and say it's at school or somethin like that.

[Driftin_240sx]

... to lbcklik1486 , sound performance is going to pretty expensive i can guarantee that, they mostly deal with supras and AMS is accually custom car stario installs mostly, im not trying to put down other business's but i can pretty much guarantee a better rate and we have a dyno. And yes aprox. 3200 for complete swap.

-david

[lbcklik1486]

Originally posted by Driftin_240sx
... to lbcklik1486 , sound performance is going to pretty expensive i can guarantee that, they mostly deal with supras and AMS is accually custom car stario installs mostly, im not trying to put down other business's but i can pretty much guarantee a better rate and we have a dyno. And yes aprox. 3200 for complete swap.

-david

lol, i think you have your shop info from Illinois confused a bit. AMS is the DSM specialist who just recently have started doing 240 swaps, and stocking 240 parts. And i'll agree w/ the sound performance probably being pricy.

[Driftin_240sx]

ahhhhh i c.... yeh we have an ams here as well... and speaking of dsm's.. we just finished a evo motor in a gen 2 ... not such a fun swap.

-david

[lbcklik1486]

Yea, I agree w/ sound performance being pricy. Is the AMS by you guys the same dsm specialist chain here? or is it a stereo insatll place like you said?

[Driftin_240sx]

no it is car stereo

[DuffMan]

Good luck with the swap. If all goes well you will soon join the ranks of KidDynomite and the others with the...

drumroll please...

MAD "E" POWAH!!!!

[BeatJunky]

:) teh funnay...

But with all seriousness I do hope that the engine being dropped in is as good as I need it to be. Im sure Leo & Dave won't be too happy if the thing breaks down on my way home from the shop.... :D That would be totally fooked!

[Driftin_240sx]

Beatjunky, what was that saposed to mean? hopefully not directed towards the shop

david

[lbcklik1486]

Beatjunky, where would you order your sr20 to whenever you get it? Also, what all do you have done to your coupe?

[[GoaTSLonG]]

when I went to UTI my friend John worked at the whip factory, all they always had in there was like a million civics with turbo H22's haha seems like a decent shop though i prefer sound performance. They actually have good prices I got my car dyno tuned for $120. Oh and I'll let you in on a secret, the shop right next door to sound performance, called T&V auto repair, 2 crazy asian dudes work there and they did my sr swap for $750 and it was perfect.

[Driftin_240sx]

dam 120$ !!! i have 3 pulls for 65.

david

[[GoaTSLonG]]

yea they charge $70 for 3 horsepower pulls, 1 quarter mile pull, and 1 0-60 pull but i paid the $120 for S-AFC tuning for 555's

[Japican]

Not that im downplayin AMS, but 2 of my best friends were very displeased wen they got turbo timers installed by AMS in a VR4 and an EVO. My friend in the VR4 tried explainin to one of the guys there that there have been known problems w/ electrical wiring, but the guy had no idea wat he was talkin about. Few days late my friends car died and he had to take it to the mechanic, and mechanic had to disconnect the turbotimer to start up the car and now he doesnt have the turbo timer hooked up at all. Kinda waste of $100 or so for installation.

[BeatJunky]

Originally posted by Driftin_240sx
Beatjunky, what was that saposed to mean? hopefully not directed towards the shop

Wtf u talking about? :wtf:

Originally posted by lbcklik1486
Beatjunky, where would you order your sr20 to whenever you get it? Also, what all do you have done to your coupe?

I have no idea yet. I'll tell u this though, when it's time to order the SR20, Im not going to be concerned much over the overall price. I'd rather pay the right amount of cash to the right provider for the most quality I can receive/expect. I wont deal with dealers that have bad reputations just to try and save a buck or two. I do plan on going full clip as I want to have the S13 face as well. I will not pay over $3,000.00 for the clip. Phase2motortrend as well as Heavy Throttle hold the number 1 and 2 spots on my list. I will investigate some more before I go ordering. I beleive I may hold off on the swap for some more time (depends on how this sohc will perform). If this sohc performs well for stock (reliability wise) then I will proceed to get the body worked on and suspension/drivetrain will be upgraded. Then once all of that is done I will work on engine performance.

My coupe is super stock. Actually, it's less than stock!:D But its the right model for me. I searched 8 months and found this puppy sittin on the side of the road with a sign on it in the middle of summer. Paid $1,200. Coupe, No Sunroof. Power Windows & Locks. 5-speed. Digital Gauges + HUD. I was like...... whoa!:bowdown:

Couldn't pass the deal up and took her. Then I dented her here and there... :D nothin bad. Plus its all on the front which will be changed over. She performed decent at first and now it got to swap phase. I love the car. :)

If all goes well, it'll be going to get painted and rust-proofed.

Originally posted by [GoaTSLonG]
when I went to UTI my friend John worked at the whip factory, all they always had in there was like a million civics with turbo H22's haha seems like a decent shop though i prefer sound performance. They actually have good prices I got my car dyno tuned for $120. Oh and I'll let you in on a secret, the shop right next door to sound performance, called T&V auto repair, 2 crazy asian dudes work there and they did my sr swap for $750 and it was perfect.

Yeah, Whip is all Honda. That doesn't mean they dont know Nissan. I chose them because I trust them. Cant wait to pick up my baby. Hopefully tomorrow!!!:D

BTW, $750 for a swap (labor) is dope as hell on that SR20. How long ago was this???? I may be going to UTI as well this coming year (side note).

-Beatz

[lbcklik1486]

I'm not sure how much I agree with UTI's method and procedure in teaching. Sure they have the graduate in a year or so, but it just seems like they cram you with a lot of stuff, and you don't get enough time to let it settle. My cousin goes there and I'm not sure how well he knows his stuff. I'm sure the students know whats going on on paper, so to say, but when it comes down to hands on stuff, I'm not sure if they'd have 100% confidence or even know what to do in some situations. Just my 2 cents, if you go there, best of luck!:)

[BeatJunky]

::::update::::

Still no car. I dropped off the car on Dec.18th with an estimated pick up date of Dec.27th but I dont't have the car yet.

Me no happy peppy... :wtc:

They sd they're boltin' up the tranny as we speak and we may be able to seal deal today which means I can probably pick it up later this evening. That gives me one day (tomorrow) to go get emmissions test.

I hope I can have my car today.

-Omar

[[GoaTSLonG]]

I dropped out of UTI and so did my 4 friends who I went there with. There methods of teaching are awsome, in the few classes I took I learned a shit load of stuff. Problem is that when the rep comes to your house they tell you how you will be working on all the newest technology blah blah, well thats a lie. In basic engines I worked on a 350 block from 1971, in manual tranny class I worked on a muncie 3 speed from a 1983 chevy box van that is column shifted haha. My driving record was too shitty for a graduate program and you just dont learn on the right type of equipment to be ready to go out into the feild. just my .02¢

[BeatJunky]

UTI is kinda still a toss up for me. Ive seen some mass improvement in my best friends mechanical skills and it's only been like 3 months for him. So I'm still leaning towards it.

:::::::ANYWAY::::::::

THE 240 IS BACK!:aw: :boink: :bowdown: :drool:

Ant it ownz every aspect of me! I am too stoked at the newfound power within this creation.

The engine provided by Leo is indeed worthy of keeping and building up. The work done at the Whip Factory by Dave,Brian and anyone else who may have helped was by far more than great. They took care of the swap, and then some. They delivered 150%. However because of my deadline for emmissions they could not keep the car as long as they needed to in order to do more diagnostics/tweaking for better initial and long range performance but the car runs and strong.

It was a 1hr ride back home after initial start up, which helped things to settle. It was a rough ride for the most part as rpms were a lil bouncy and then went into boggle mode. Once I got to my boyz garage we got to tinkle bit a little under the hood. Tried to find out why the idle was so screwy. Busted out the voltmeter after checking a few things and tested the injectors.

#1 = 14.1
#2 = 14.1
#3 = 3453terg34r45ygbn

So we're like wtf? Looked harder and there was corrosion on the connections so a lil sand paper took care of that. Checked again and it was 14.1....we're like....w00t.

#4 = same as #3

At this point, we look around for any other lil things, nothing was noticeably out of place or wrong so we started her up. Idle moved from a crazy 1,500rpm to a mellow 800rpm, gas pedal went from pure sponge to tyte and firm and my excitement level skyrocketed. :D

This is by far the best shape that my car has been in probably since purchase. Mind you there's still work to be done. Took her around the block and needless to say I must re-learn how to driver her as she's much much peppier than before. MAD-E-POWAH is in effect as someone else said in a prior reply. As we took her the spin, noticed traction broke almost effortlessly, acceleration would throw your ass back into seat almost instantly and hey, I even chirped on 3rd... tee hee. I gotta work on some suspension before some parts break (that are about to) and I definitely have to check out my differentials condition. Its in "clunk" mode. I now have an unexplainable exhaust leak before the cat that I'll try to solutionize and somewhat of a larger rust issue that I should resolve. Dave suggested a sheetmetal place rather a regular body shop as there's some structural rust as opposed to just visible rust. My digi gauges still dont work, figure possibly a bad sensor could knock it out but I guess not.

Almost feel as giddy as school girl.

Back to topic, the cars back as it should be thanks to the Whip Factory's hard work and Leo's madd hook-up because I tell you what, the price was unbeatable.

These guys will definitely have future business from me. We might already have a few things in the works for the next coming month or two.

Thanks Dave & Leo!

-Omar

PS: Im picking up the busted engine in a few days, gonna tear her up and figure what was wrong and if its fixable/sellable u may keep your eyes open for SOHC parts in the FS forum.

[DuffMan]

Sweet. Glad to hear your problems are over for the most part.

[lbcklik1486]

Wow, great news beatjunky:) So the whole process took a week? I forgot when exactly you started posting:p If they're good at tinkering w/ 240's I might consider them if I have nething serious done to mine.

-Jay

[BeatJunky]

My problems are most definitely nearly done for.

All that I have to do now is pass emmissions which I failed both parts of. Well the important parts anyway...:(

Most likely could use some thorough cleaning and a little bit more tweaking. I do have noisy lifters now and a squeaky belt but compared the problems I had before the swap was definitely worth the time and money.

It took them about about 6 business days to complete as they did have other cars to work on of course. My car was with them for about 2 weeks though since I dropped it off early and they were closed 4 of those days for holidays.

They did a great job. My car feels than ever and I feel confident now when I'm on the road that no tragic malfunctions will occur. I can now upgrade parts without asking myself if it's worth it.

My friend and I are thinking of picking up my old block and tearing the "E" apart. If we take our sweet time I'm sure we can rebuild it up nice beefy + add nice turbo instead of going SR20. Thats if the block is in good shape.

If anyone is considering having a shop work on their 240 I most definitely suggest giving the whip factory a call.

I know I'll be back in the future.

-Omar

[KiDyNomiTe]

Hopefully my "E " is still doing well after being left alone for almost a month, I'll see it on Sunday.

Anyways glad to hear it is all going well with the car.

Hows the weather over there.

[BeatJunky]

"E"

Never realized how nice these were since I didn't have a nice one. :D

I'm 50% done with a basic tune-up.

- Cap & Rotor (fixed my boggly idle)
- Plugs
- Fuel Filter
- Air Filter

Waiting till next weekend for...

- Wires
- PCV Valve
- 02 Sensor

...Its running extremely well. My future plans are to get a clutch kit, differential and some random suspension parts that are "needed". Then I can take it to the body shop for paint/rust removal.

One stage II (body) is done, I'll either build my old engine up if it's worth it or build up the suspension.

This year will be ownage...

-Omar

[KiDyNomiTe]

Go suspension, or ITBs :)

[BeatJunky]

Here comes my noobness again...

ITB's?

[KiDyNomiTe]

Individual Throttle Bodies.

[BeatJunky]

ah yes, madness...

Individual... isn't that when they take the TB's from like motorcycles and rig em to the car?

:) madness... :axe:

-Omar

[KiDyNomiTe]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid22/pbd80665827093f4799b5f4c89d224f72/fda67781.jpg

There is a company that makes em for the SOHC, not sure if its Mikuni or not (but I think Mikuni is for carbs).

If I was on my comp I would post the pic, of it on its own but it should be out there somewhere.

[BeatJunky]

Found some boo-boo's made by the "installers"...

They left a ground wire horribly loose for my injectors that caused them to short out on and off for a few days until I found it. My car would stall and choke heavily. Found the screw and problem gone. My transmission is missing a bolt and is leaking plus the seal behind the trans is also leaking. Other little things but those are the worst two.

Mej...

Called him and complained a little all he says is "Oh, I'm glad its nothing major". Like how is my transmission leaking not major? Whatever... I shouldnt have to deal with these annoying problems if it was with them for 2 weeks.

-Omar