Camsauce
11-19-2014, 11:32 AM
What's up dudes, my name's Juan. As a freshman in college I really wanted to get a car to learn to drift on. I spent months lurking around for a 240sx, with most of them highly modified and others completely beat to shit.
Fortunately I wasn't diving in completely blind. My dad has experience with classic car restoration and he knew things I should look for and things to avoid. I looked for about four months until I actually posted on a local forum asking where all the 240s are hiding. They replied that it was hard to find one because most of them owned multiple s-chassis!
The rat race was on, I realized I would have to be on the prowl for these cars, and my dad told me that deals he had found were bought on the spot. I was checking craigslist at least seven times a day dying to find one. I had eventually memorized all the cars that were regularly posted and immediately recognized anything new.
One day, I saw a post that read "Nissan 240z" and saw a picture of a coupe. I immediately knew this person had no knowledge of s-chassis and hopped in the car with my dad to check it out. The coupe looked good as far as my ignorant self could tell, no visible rust on the underbody/strut towers/frame rails. Only issue was a lot of positive camber but I deduced that it would just need an alignment.
After a super sketchy deal the title was mine! Hopped the car on a tow dolly and went home.
http://i.imgur.com/hKlQeyO.png
First things first, the car smelled kinda funny so I scrubbed the cabin and cleaned a bunch of grime out. Then came maintenance, I changed all the fluids and replaced the fuel filter and oil filter.
http://i.imgur.com/2LGMVpP.jpg?1
Engine bay was pretty clean!
http://i.imgur.com/9TkEazl.jpg
The car had some uber JDM pepboys foglights so I had to follow the wiring that the PO piggybacked off the sidemarkers and removed those and cleaned up the wiring.
It was my first time doing all this maintenance on a car so I had to be super careful not to screw anything up.
The KA had the infamous timing chain rattle, and I was irritated and wanted to take care of that. After some research I read the valve cover needed to come out, and I was terrified that I would be kinda tearing into the engine. I looked for someone to come by and give me a hand so I wouldn't screw anything up. No one was available so I decided to give it a try on my own!
http://i.imgur.com/v3VyJ7G.jpg?1
The upper guide was already removed, so I was stumped as to what was causing the chain to have the slack. The tensioner was actually stuck, so I sprayed some oil in there and pushed it back and forth.
http://i.imgur.com/3EutjRf.jpg?1
Tensioner was free and the rattle was gone! I was stoked. Idle was jumpy too, so I cleaned the IACV and everything was good. Getting my hands back there was an ordeal as well... not fun.
It was time to address that heinous positive camber in the rear. I discovered this:
http://i.imgur.com/5B611wi.jpg?1
Not safe, time to replace the subframe because something is probably bent!
Found one local and gave it a healthy coat of paint to inhibit any rust.
http://i.imgur.com/3zWtlrL.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/5cgwYc6.jpg
While I had the new subframe out, I figured I should replace the bushings and drop in some solid aluminum ones. Ivan, a fella from my local forum was kind enough to come by and help my inexperienced self pull out the old ones and drop in the new Sikky ones!
After our pyromaniac activities in my driveway with concerned neighbors lurking we got them out and things were looking good!
http://i.imgur.com/XUgmm3h.jpg
I randomly decided to remove my front bumper one day because I thought it would be cool and gave some love to the bumper support. It looked terrible and I wanted to prolong the life of the car and I needed to ameliorate this.
http://i.imgur.com/0NqujKN.jpg
Now came another daunting task: removing the rear suspension to replace the subframe! I called my dad for tips because he was out of the country and he said to wait until he gets back so he could help. I didn't want to wait, I wanted to learn how to drift. I studied the suspension part of the FSM while I was in class one day and wanted to try to do it on my own.
http://i.imgur.com/cq1U0ok.jpg
It actually came down without any issues! Hell yeah! What ensued was pretty fun, it was like playing legos as a kid. I removed the arms and components piece by piece and set them aside for reassembly. While I had the diff out, I took a trip to Alexander Fabrication and had my diff welded, thanks man!
http://i.imgur.com/wlyfoGC.jpg?1
Lee was super cool and stoked me out on drifting.
Next, I did hit a roadblock. When I tried to raise the subframe I just could not get that thing in there. One of the mounts wasn't lining up and it got stuck. I dropped it back down and realized a subframe mount was bent!
http://i.imgur.com/t2Br10w.jpg?1
At some point this car was probably smashed into a curb on both sides! That must have taken a ton of force. I hit up Ivan and he recommended screwing a nut on there and hammering it back into place to not damage the threads. It worked and the subframe went up!
http://i.imgur.com/sRPlupC.jpg
I put all the components back on, and everything looked good so far!
http://i.imgur.com/Fy3x0Zg.jpg
Until I realized that the car STILL had positive camber. I moved the eccentric nut all the way negative and I still had positive camber on one side. Something was wrong
http://i.imgur.com/OjnGOCH.jpg
I ordered some battle version upper control arms and ISIS toe rods to help straighten that out. In the meantime, I removed the blown speakers and cleaned up some wiring that looks like it had been done by a toddler.
http://i.imgur.com/AuH0SuP.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/yRj7jsJ.jpg
Yes, that's duct tape. I guess common sense was lacking! I soldered all the connections and wrapped some heat shrink tubing, lots of work, but that will prevent any grounding issues down the road.
http://i.imgur.com/5aorATG.jpg
The battle version arms finally came in the mail, I wanna thank Casey (BoostinIX) for helping me out with that.
http://i.imgur.com/cwOEc7w.jpg?1
I had to get an SPL lockout kit to provide clearance to get the bolt in. The subframe bushings raised everything a bit and the bolt would strike the frame up top.
The car looked like this for a bit, gave it its first wash! Even after the RUCAS the car STILL had positive camber on one side. This was really becoming a head scratcher. LCAS looked good, and the upper arms looked good. Only thing left was the spindle, and it would be tough to decipher whether or not that was bent.
Picked one up local and issue solved! By this point I was really getting confident working with the rear suspension and I was familiar how everything works.
http://i.imgur.com/DxO9ous.jpg
Fortunately I wasn't diving in completely blind. My dad has experience with classic car restoration and he knew things I should look for and things to avoid. I looked for about four months until I actually posted on a local forum asking where all the 240s are hiding. They replied that it was hard to find one because most of them owned multiple s-chassis!
The rat race was on, I realized I would have to be on the prowl for these cars, and my dad told me that deals he had found were bought on the spot. I was checking craigslist at least seven times a day dying to find one. I had eventually memorized all the cars that were regularly posted and immediately recognized anything new.
One day, I saw a post that read "Nissan 240z" and saw a picture of a coupe. I immediately knew this person had no knowledge of s-chassis and hopped in the car with my dad to check it out. The coupe looked good as far as my ignorant self could tell, no visible rust on the underbody/strut towers/frame rails. Only issue was a lot of positive camber but I deduced that it would just need an alignment.
After a super sketchy deal the title was mine! Hopped the car on a tow dolly and went home.
http://i.imgur.com/hKlQeyO.png
First things first, the car smelled kinda funny so I scrubbed the cabin and cleaned a bunch of grime out. Then came maintenance, I changed all the fluids and replaced the fuel filter and oil filter.
http://i.imgur.com/2LGMVpP.jpg?1
Engine bay was pretty clean!
http://i.imgur.com/9TkEazl.jpg
The car had some uber JDM pepboys foglights so I had to follow the wiring that the PO piggybacked off the sidemarkers and removed those and cleaned up the wiring.
It was my first time doing all this maintenance on a car so I had to be super careful not to screw anything up.
The KA had the infamous timing chain rattle, and I was irritated and wanted to take care of that. After some research I read the valve cover needed to come out, and I was terrified that I would be kinda tearing into the engine. I looked for someone to come by and give me a hand so I wouldn't screw anything up. No one was available so I decided to give it a try on my own!
http://i.imgur.com/v3VyJ7G.jpg?1
The upper guide was already removed, so I was stumped as to what was causing the chain to have the slack. The tensioner was actually stuck, so I sprayed some oil in there and pushed it back and forth.
http://i.imgur.com/3EutjRf.jpg?1
Tensioner was free and the rattle was gone! I was stoked. Idle was jumpy too, so I cleaned the IACV and everything was good. Getting my hands back there was an ordeal as well... not fun.
It was time to address that heinous positive camber in the rear. I discovered this:
http://i.imgur.com/5B611wi.jpg?1
Not safe, time to replace the subframe because something is probably bent!
Found one local and gave it a healthy coat of paint to inhibit any rust.
http://i.imgur.com/3zWtlrL.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/5cgwYc6.jpg
While I had the new subframe out, I figured I should replace the bushings and drop in some solid aluminum ones. Ivan, a fella from my local forum was kind enough to come by and help my inexperienced self pull out the old ones and drop in the new Sikky ones!
After our pyromaniac activities in my driveway with concerned neighbors lurking we got them out and things were looking good!
http://i.imgur.com/XUgmm3h.jpg
I randomly decided to remove my front bumper one day because I thought it would be cool and gave some love to the bumper support. It looked terrible and I wanted to prolong the life of the car and I needed to ameliorate this.
http://i.imgur.com/0NqujKN.jpg
Now came another daunting task: removing the rear suspension to replace the subframe! I called my dad for tips because he was out of the country and he said to wait until he gets back so he could help. I didn't want to wait, I wanted to learn how to drift. I studied the suspension part of the FSM while I was in class one day and wanted to try to do it on my own.
http://i.imgur.com/cq1U0ok.jpg
It actually came down without any issues! Hell yeah! What ensued was pretty fun, it was like playing legos as a kid. I removed the arms and components piece by piece and set them aside for reassembly. While I had the diff out, I took a trip to Alexander Fabrication and had my diff welded, thanks man!
http://i.imgur.com/wlyfoGC.jpg?1
Lee was super cool and stoked me out on drifting.
Next, I did hit a roadblock. When I tried to raise the subframe I just could not get that thing in there. One of the mounts wasn't lining up and it got stuck. I dropped it back down and realized a subframe mount was bent!
http://i.imgur.com/t2Br10w.jpg?1
At some point this car was probably smashed into a curb on both sides! That must have taken a ton of force. I hit up Ivan and he recommended screwing a nut on there and hammering it back into place to not damage the threads. It worked and the subframe went up!
http://i.imgur.com/sRPlupC.jpg
I put all the components back on, and everything looked good so far!
http://i.imgur.com/Fy3x0Zg.jpg
Until I realized that the car STILL had positive camber. I moved the eccentric nut all the way negative and I still had positive camber on one side. Something was wrong
http://i.imgur.com/OjnGOCH.jpg
I ordered some battle version upper control arms and ISIS toe rods to help straighten that out. In the meantime, I removed the blown speakers and cleaned up some wiring that looks like it had been done by a toddler.
http://i.imgur.com/AuH0SuP.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/yRj7jsJ.jpg
Yes, that's duct tape. I guess common sense was lacking! I soldered all the connections and wrapped some heat shrink tubing, lots of work, but that will prevent any grounding issues down the road.
http://i.imgur.com/5aorATG.jpg
The battle version arms finally came in the mail, I wanna thank Casey (BoostinIX) for helping me out with that.
http://i.imgur.com/cwOEc7w.jpg?1
I had to get an SPL lockout kit to provide clearance to get the bolt in. The subframe bushings raised everything a bit and the bolt would strike the frame up top.
The car looked like this for a bit, gave it its first wash! Even after the RUCAS the car STILL had positive camber on one side. This was really becoming a head scratcher. LCAS looked good, and the upper arms looked good. Only thing left was the spindle, and it would be tough to decipher whether or not that was bent.
Picked one up local and issue solved! By this point I was really getting confident working with the rear suspension and I was familiar how everything works.
http://i.imgur.com/DxO9ous.jpg