Finally an S14 (now with LM7+T56)
 

well, I've had my eyes open for a good deal for a while now, and finally got one (I think). For some reason for the last few months I've been wanting an S14 worse than ever, I found a few Zenki's but just not too fond of those front ends, but I guess good things come to those who wait, I stumbled across this one the same day it was posted on Craigslist for sale, and bought it exactly a week later, clean title and all.
I picked it up middle of last week in Columbia, SC, towed it to my girls house, and there it sits now. You'll be able to tell that I've put some time in to cleaning the engine bay since I got it.
It's a 1997 with 187k on the odometer, but still have alot of get up and go suprisingly, even came with a K&N filter installed.
No, I haven't given up on my S13, it's a long term project and too far away to work on right now, and in too many pieces, but the girlfriend lends a hand on it the weekends I go back to work on it, so you guys should start seeing some real progress soon!
http://a981.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...2e2c7b963c.jpg
http://a604.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...d1ce09ca2b.jpg
^damn at that oil and road grime!
http://a859.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...ad768fcaca.jpg
^more dirty shit
http://a240.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...67fa212897.jpg
http://a595.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...88406fc79a.jpg
^ oddly, the paint doesn't look as great in person as it does in this pic, first thing on the agenda is a paintjob then 5 speed swap, and eventually some lowering springs.
http://a900.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...553211f77b.jpg
^ now that is more to my liking! the cleaner the better
http://a949.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...2d2c4ae544.jpg
http://a696.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...87ea15c84f.jpg
http://a433.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...fcd3f6c6f0.jpg
so far the only things I've found wrong are:
-at idle it's up and down between 300 and 1000 rpm, probbly a sensor or something since the check engine light is on, but since the car isn't insured, or registered it's not getting driven to Advance to have the code pulled, any suggestions are welcome.

-the passenger side fog light is missing (like I really care)

Other than those 2 small details, it runs, drives and even spins the tires over when you take off with the pedal floored. Let me know what youguys think or if you guys have any parts laying around collecting dust that you think I might be interested in, lmk!


MATT

Hooray for Kouki Love!

Congrats! I liked having an s13 because there are so many more parts here for sale for them, but i had to get an s14 because they look so much better to me. How much did you end up paying?

some of you might think it a bit much but $2,500

wow 2500 for a kouki...
my frend paid 2800 for a zenki

shit i wish i would of found one for 2500 around here thats a great deal.....good find

yeah i paid 4k for my kouki but it only had 70k at the time and it was 5 speed and ubber clean.

2,500? 4k? man, try living here in cali. Your lucky if u can find a 1/2 clean kouki for 6k. Most sell for 7k+ anyhow.. besides that its an auto and has high milage its still a great deal. Good find.

lucky guy nice find. now do a five speed swap hehe

yeah, luckily here in the Carolinas if you can find one, they are usually pretty cheap.

essfourteen, read up, I've already planned a 5 spd swap, sourced the parts locally for about $250 less the drive shaft.

Nice find.. looks clean..

Just pull the code yourself..

very nice. good find, especially for the price.

what did you use do clean your engine bay and how long did it take?

Good find....any body damage or accidents? Looks amazing, and love that color stock. Good price too!!

:bowdown:sweet kouki, ...i bought one few months ago, found it on craigslist too after it was posted for an hour, called up the owner and the car was mine 2 days later, funny thing is i had the fog missing too on the pass. side and it was auto. im in the process of swapping the trans and painting the bay now. good luck with the kouki..

^ damn fog lights!

um, for the engine bay I used a combination of letting purple power soat on the greasyist (<--is that a fucking word?) parts, then went back over it with engine degreaser from Adavance Auto, and the grease dripped right off, rinse with water, use a brush if needed.

the body does have a few small dents here and there, nothing bigger around than a quarter, and nothing that one weekend worth of work can't fix.

snice car and thats a pretty good price

thanks for the compliments guys! if anyone has a passenger side fog light i'm interested!

started sanding the car down for paint the same week I bought it, while sanding I found some dents in the lower quarter panels, which has ended up slowing down the body work process, I did however go ahead and trim out the trunk jam, bumpers, and fenders.
Here you can see that I tore down the front end to trim out everything around the edges,
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture011.jpg
some of the dents I have to work out now
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture015.jpg

taped up for trimming it out
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...4/IMG_4810.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...4/IMG_4814.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...4/IMG_4821.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...4/IMG_4822.jpg
^Ok, enough about the body work, I've got alot done on other parts of the car as well.

I found a set of 2001 Q45 brakes at the junk yard, slapped them on, and bolted on my new wheels to see what it's gonna look like.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...4/IMG_4898.jpg
I'm not really digging the wheels now that I see them on the car, but that's all I have to work with for now. I ended up picking up a set of coilovers from my cousin who had wrecked his S14 not too long before I got mine, in death there is re-birth, the set up feels great. As always, you can't take pics with dirty hands while your working, so all I end up with are finished product pics. Running 225/45/18 up front, and 245/45/18 out back.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...cture005-4.jpg
I'm already looking for another set of wheels, maybe some Rota G-forces? I'm not baller enough for the SSR Type F's. I haven't mentioned this but the soul purpose for this car is for it to be a reliable daily driver until I finish my S13. That's why this thread isn't titled "my S14 build", rather I finally have an S14, so there ya go.

While replacing the front main seal to fix the oil leak I found that the water pump was leaking as well, so after a long day I replaced the water pump, thermostat, water pump, front main, and all the belts too. Now the car runs 100 times better and doesn't leak a single fluid.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...cture002-6.jpg

probably the last pic taken before I start the paint
http://www.axcessmypics.com/photos/p...eb9fa6d987.jpg

I should be starting on the final paint over Thanksgiving break if I can finish working out the quarter panel dents. Next up, I'm putting together a 5 speed swap, but I'm not really in a hurry there.

Did you paint that yourself?
What's the paint code?
Looking good so far.

wheels look extra weird because the tires are too big.

should have 40 series at least...maybe even 35 up front...

like the paint coloUr though!

nice job! keep us updated!

Aww shoulda kept the colour.
I love that colour on S14's.
You probably could've cut the time in half by just doing a full hardcore detailing job on it.

But I like.

not sure on the paint code, sorry. The body supply place here in town had mixed it for a local body shop and then they never showed up to buy it, so I picked up all the paint stuff for under $300.

I don't have the car here at my place, my shop is full and I refuse to park my cars outside. So until I get something moved out of my shop it staying at my dads and I work on it on the weekends. So biting off small pieces really makes the most sence.

wow. very nice man!
i picked up a kouki of my own about two months ago for $1900.. salvaged though. 67k on the motor.

clean car though, nice work with the engine bay.

started painting the car today, bad things happened :(

when I started painting the car the paint started having something that looked like solvent pop in the base, I double checked and I had mixed the paint properly, so I guess my problem was the product I used to clean the surface before I started paint, which is odd because I've used the same process before with no problem. Cleaned the surface with laquer thinner then surface prep final wash, and for the life of me I can't figure out what happened. I had already mixed all my paint so that is a waste now, I'll have to buy new, to sum up this whole weekend in one word, I'd have to use "fuckery".

sucks to hear man, that color is sexy though.

lol @ tires being too big

Holy! I thought I got my zenki auto for a steal at 5k.

our car prices may suck here in cali, but we still have the hottest women.

Wow 2500 i got my Zenki SE, Auto, for 4500 but it also came with coilovers, wheels lol, looks sexy bro.....

awesome man. i got my 98 se (auto) for 3000. came with 2 sets of wheels, exhaust, intake, and headers along with a very nice egr tube leak. lol. but looks good, i like that color. not too sure about the wheels though......