Beams Powered 240 From NC
 

Whats up guys, name's Rob coming from NC to show the progress on my 240sx build that started over 3 years ago. Over the years I've had numerous cars but this one has stuck around for over 5. I drug the car out of the woods and saved it 6 years ago and was my daily for awhile, traded it to a buddy who had a few issues with it and let it the condition slip away and when I got it back I took it to a drift event and the car was awful, the Sohc smoked and car drove terrible with no power steering and blown coils. Once I returned from the event I decided it was time for a complete overhaul of the car.

Last event
https://i.imgur.com/o0aTaNR.jpg


So I started by stripping the car down and prepping the chassis for all the repairs.
https://i.imgur.com/3FtH7Qu.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RQaQIGU.jpg

The Engine Bay was in poor shape like the rest of the car and I noticed that the core support was tweaked pretty hard so I cut the front off for a tube front in the future
https://i.imgur.com/twRTOfH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sY3w9hR.jpg


When I removed the rear bumper I found a bad rust spot at the gas tank strap that needed repair
https://i.imgur.com/JKMd5rZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ZFdcZNK.jpg

Once it was fixed coated everything with truckbed liner and got a Street Faction crash bar on a deal
https://i.imgur.com/ZubT9HF.jpg


Trunk area was then wire brushed and bed lined as well
https://i.imgur.com/xBmtyQn.jpg

After that I repeated the process on the main cabin of the car but just sprayed it with Single Stage
https://i.imgur.com/UlO8SEV.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Sd79ldg.jpg


Then the build kinda came to a halt for a year or so while I did jeep things and made different engine choices. I went from having an almost complete CA18 build to a low mileage KA that I was gonna KA-T both which were sold to build my XJ. After I sold the XJ at the end of 2017 I used the money to reignite my build with buying suspension and wheels for the 240 and getting it rolling again.

https://i.imgur.com/kFF4non.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cL6Aym6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3r0Ys2V.jpg


At the start of 2018 I made a career change and that opened up a shop bay to install the engine of my choice. Thanks to drift tax an unknown mileage KA goes for $1k around here and I wasn't pay that. Thought about an NA SR but those have increased to much for the power they make. Then my buddy with an AE86 was talking about a Beams Engine and how cheap they were while making 200hp so I snagged one up at tax time and when it arrived we got to fabricating mounts.

https://i.imgur.com/jIAoPRd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jBPIOf7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JzTpl3l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xK1sMHu.jpg

When it got home I started plumbing fuel and figuring out how to wire it to run on the stock ECU which there is little to no information on since everyone goes standalone in the 86 community
https://i.imgur.com/uzEXEry.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/t2gSU4s.jpg


After it was running (gotta figure out how to share the video) I sent it to my buddy Eddies shop Exclusive Garage and he knocked out an awesome tube front end
https://i.imgur.com/iBVQJUd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3AJ09Zh.jpg

Brought it home and got the front end painted
https://i.imgur.com/Pl5L5MD.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1Y6vHfF.jpg

Which brings us to current day kinda, A lot of the stuff I've done lately is minor, wiring the chassis, rerunning brake hardlines, had to get the downpipe reworked to clear the steering shaft. Just gonna dump a few pics and I'll try to keep this up to date.

Powered coated z32 calipers
https://i.imgur.com/d9sq39n.jpg

Got a deal on a used basically new Momo Wheel
https://i.imgur.com/xfcIoJI.jpg

Fuck me this is rad. Another great engine that rarely gets the recognition it deserves. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. Looks like it'll clear the hood just fine, how's the oil pan to crossmember height?

Fucking nice~

I had to trim some of the center support out of the hood but not too much
https://i.imgur.com/p2DgaMZ.jpg

and the oil pan is a little low but nothing a skid plate can protect
https://i.imgur.com/qXMnRbb.jpg

overall I'm super happy with how well this thing fits in a S Chassis

Got the throttle cable adapted the other day as well
https://i.imgur.com/LZXoqVG.jpg

oh this looks fun.

Spent the weekend running some more wiring thru the car since I completely removed the factory harness. I'm pretty much just doing the basics for lights since this will mainly be a track car. I'm using an interesting product I found from working on Jeeps which is a Rough Country Universal Multi Light Controller. It comes with weatherproof connectors and loomed wire from the switch panel to the relay board. It features 6 40amp relays with fuses built into the board and it is more than perfect for everything that I'm going to run.

Here's the current setup nothing is fully finalized but progress is being made and I've even made it start with the factory key.

https://i.imgur.com/0hTkOCK.jpg

Now that my tax return is in within the next few weeks I'll be plumbing all my brakes, coolant and exhaust.

Interesting seeing one of these swapped in an S13 and not an AE86 / old Toyota.
Good work so far, bruv!

:rawk: Another cool 'alternative' engine swap build thread on Zilvia! 2 Honda K series, and now two Toyota BEAM's engine. :yum:

I think you should create some blue prints on the swap parts and have a company produce them for us :))

I've been debating typing up an in depth write up and know a guy who is starting to produce his own mounts if there's enough interest may see if he wants to collab on something since I know more about doing the swap with factory ecu. (He's on standalone with ITB's)

Got the downpipe wrapped as much as I care to deal with. Gonna be wrapping the firewall in gold tape anyways.

https://i.imgur.com/euUyeOo.jpg

Ordering a Driveshaft later this week hopefully and taking care of rear end parts so I can hopefully at least have an Ebrake to move the car once the shaft arrives

Here's an older video of when I first got it wired to start on the factory ignition switch. Video may or may not work because youtube is a joke

Heres the link for those who care
https://youtu.be/VEFezoHi0wU

Got a new alternator installed today and since there isn't a stateside replacement I made the 5SFGE one work with slight bracket modification and a rewire

https://i.imgur.com/KrQnYJ3.jpg

Got a few things done this weekend. Got some heat tape on the firewall and finished wrapping my original cat heat shied. Protip buy this stuff on ebay its the exact same as DEI just doesn't come in a fancy package and is $8 for a 2"x15' roll. I also finished running my brake hard lines to my Z32 master. Downpipe is in for the final time with new gaskets that are the same one from an IS300. Got a bunch of parts coming in the next week so more progress is coming.

https://i.imgur.com/EoGUigK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6MNCBTo.jpg

I originally did this with DEI silver heat tape but ran out last year and its impossible to remove so its 50/50 you'll never see it and it works the same

https://i.imgur.com/ZOVZR7f.jpg

bad ass build man

I just moved to Charlotte a little over a year ago. what part are you from I have been trying to find the S chassis crowd here but no luck.

Thanks man, I live near Mooresville got a few friends that still mess with 240's and we have drift events monthly at Piedmont Dragway near Greensboro

Got my Z32 Rotors today and redrilled them to 4 lug super stoked to get this thing on the ground soon

https://i.imgur.com/qaMid5b.jpg

Got to verify today that a SR20 Upper radiator hose works perfect
https://i.imgur.com/f58bBtk.jpg

This thing is cool as hell man, keep us posted on your progress!

Thanks man! Really trying to make progress now and wanna keep this updated to keep forums alive and well.

Got my temp. sender mounted in the upper hose and got my air filter coupler in today but now I may have to order a 45 Degree adapter for the throttle body to keep the filter off the timing cover :picardfp: but oh well

https://i.imgur.com/Ll6bKcx.jpg

Lower radiator hard pipe is ordered so hopefully have coolant in this thing next week :rawk::x:

Might want to find some way to reduce the size of your pics man, they're massive on my PC.

I'd recommend you move your catch can and put your air intake over there, even better if it had a small duct from the front bumper. Something simple like that bendy hose will work. Air temperature is very important for NA horsepower, and 200* air coming off the rad is only going to hurt.

Also some kind of rubber isolator for your radiator mounts. Mishimotos are a bit thin, and don't take to vibration very well.

I really have no control over the size of the photos they're all taken with my iphone on the same settings so I have no idea why some are huge and others smaller.

I do also intend to move the filter over once my 45* elbow gets in, its just not possible with the 90* because it hits the tub.

And thanks for the heads up on the radiator I'll find some kind of solution for it. I dont intend to keep this radiator more than a season because Mishimoto as a whole is a garbage company that ripped me off,lied to me and still owes me. 10 out of 10 will never buy from them again

I see you're using imgur. You just have to select "huge thumbnail" at the bottom of the image window after you click on it to copy and past the IMG tag. This will reduce the size of the shared picture.

I feel you there, I like to refer to them as leakimoto :eek3d:.

I love the beams swap! I'm in Raleigh and go to piedmont sometimes. Hope I get to see this around soon!

Thanks for the heads up I never noticed that until now, will use that in future posts

Well I have the opposite problem! I can't even see any pics! I wonder if it's because I'm logged in at twerk.. Maybe they block it somehow :facepalm:

Fingers crossed I'll get this thing out by the end of the summer, hasn't been to Piedmont since it's last event but I still go pretty often I've got some friends that let me knock the rust off when I do come out

Should be doing some final plumbing on the cooling system tomorrow.

Did get my Garage Emperor HVAC Block Off plates from my buddy Mark today, since I used my factory AC Grommets for my wiring I blocked off the original wiring harness hole withe the low side plug and blocked the heater core holes off.
https://i.imgur.com/JWGDfcah.jpg

Lower radiator hose finally routed

https://i.imgur.com/r8fpwq6h.jpg

Got my coolant overflow installed the other day then found a leaking hose on the back of the head in the process of replacing that and hopefully have coolant in it soon, the list gets shorter everyday

https://i.imgur.com/ydPXTnCh.jpg

So good, should be a blast to drive!