♠ S14driftr's zenki build ♠
 

Hey everyone, my name's Craig. I first bought this 96 se with 131xxx miles when I just turned 17. I became the 3rd owner after a friend of mine had bought it off a girl that moved to NY from Cali. The car's under body was rust free besides for some surface rust here and there. The body wasn't in bad shape either and the stock 5spd Ka ran perfect.

Here is a few pictures of when I first got it.

http://i56.tinypic.com/97tvmu.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/206imnq.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/nejhgn.jpg

Shortly after I ordered a set Stance Gr+ coilovers. Unfortunately I have no pics of the install but here is a picture of her lowered on them.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2cdwbqq.jpg

After I put the coilovers in I didnt do much with the car besides get an AEM intake for it and one day I was driving home from school when my exhaust pipe broke off from the dummy cat, so I then ripped the stock exhaust off and purchased a Blitz Nur spec r... such a great sounding exhaust lol.

As you can see in the photos above the hood and front bumper looked like complete sh*t so I picked up a jdm bumper and later located a used oem hood. A friend that works at a body shop helped me prep the front so we did that and then had it sprayed by a local body shop.

http://i51.tinypic.com/nou0dy.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/317dr3p.jpg

And the finished product !
http://i55.tinypic.com/i3z2j8.jpg

Time went on and last summer while driving a friend home a heard a loud ticking/knocking coming from the motor. I knew about the timing chain guides so the first thing I did was remove the one under the valve cover. Sure enough it was broken but it didn't solve the problem. My dad and I then had learned that my motor had slipped a connecting rod bearing. We pulled the motor and had the crankshaft machined and purchased a new set of bearings along with new connecting rods, then reinstalled everything.

http://i51.tinypic.com/11v5ymr.jpg

Finally after the long wait of being able to drive the car again was over... or so i thought. About a week after we just had installed the motor, I had driven the car to the local car wash. After I was done, I was pulling out of the bay when the motor started to knock again. As I pressed in the clutch I heard a loud bang. I shut the car off and then had it towed back home. The motor was then pulled again. This time I blew hole through the block. Come to find out the torque wrench I borrowed from a friend, to torque down the rod caps was broken and gave an incorrect reading causing the nuts to vibrate off.

http://i53.tinypic.com/2dj9apd.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/259ab9e.jpg

I then parted out the motor this past fall. I still have parts boxed up so if anyone needs any KA parts just ask me.

I always knew that one day I would put an SR in so I figured now was the best time. I got thinking and planned to basically rebuild the the entire car taking care of any flaws. My project then started...

This past winter the car went up on jackstands and rebuilding started. I figured i start on the rear end first and make way towards the front.

I started pulling apart the rear end by taking off the the lights and bumper, and also dropping the complete rear end.

http://i53.tinypic.com/1z3a4af.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/oh1nvc.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/un50k.jpg

Part of the plan was to completely coat the underside of the chassis and most of the rear with POR-15 rust preventive paint.

After grinding down any rust and prepping the rear with the required solutions, Marine Clean and Metal Ready, I was ready to start painting.

http://i53.tinypic.com/x3twky.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/2ep6o8h.jpg
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After the rear was finished I moved on to the underside. I removed the gas tank, took off all the brake and fuel lines, removed any cracked undercoating and grinded down any surface rust using a wire wheel.

http://i56.tinypic.com/eqaeg.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/2m4sozt.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/8vsxlf.jpg

All painted up using 4 coats of POR

http://i56.tinypic.com/2ypb37s.jpg


The subframe along with the all the oem suspension arms and the hubs/knuckles were then prepped and painted. I also cut out the subframe bushings since they were broken.

http://i56.tinypic.com/33l1lky.jpg

After the subframe was coated with the POR, I used one of POR's top coats called Chassis Black. Thats the black you see on the bottom of the subframe.

http://i53.tinypic.com/rv906e.jpg

A first coat on the hubs and knuckles.

http://i56.tinypic.com/t9cf38.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/b7jecm.jpg

New Energy Suspension polyurethane subframe bushings

http://i54.tinypic.com/rh8h78.jpg

Not a bad start man.

Thanks man! Since I started working on the car in the winter alot has happened with the car since then. I dont know why but I waited to put started the build thread. Now I just need to catch up with all the photos so where i currently stand.


After the subframe and arms were painted the rlca got some new balljoints.

http://i53.tinypic.com/293denk.jpg

While making my way down the chassis I found some expected rust. Where the jack point is on the rear passenger side was all chewed up, a hole along the rocker panel on the passenger side and a hole in the floor pan under the gas pedal..guess I got a heavy foot haha.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2njd15s.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2h4fibk.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2qltzsn.jpg

All the rest of the areas didn't look too bad so once again I took the wire wheel to everything and cleaned it off.

http://i52.tinypic.com/2j4272w.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/9i4qx5.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/2vadw20.jpg


To repair the jack point and part of the frame we first started by getting as much rust out as possible. After that I grinded down whatever was left. We then took a steel plate and started to mock up a replacement section

http://i55.tinypic.com/t8t3tf.jpg

Here's the custom piece we made to fit in the rusted spot.

http://i55.tinypic.com/1045cwj.jpg

Making sure everything fits nice.

http://i51.tinypic.com/30tozed.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/ezkeif.jpg

New piece welded in ! On the top on the metal piece you can see the hole from the factory. Unfortuanly the mig wleder gun couldn't reach so I bought some POR Putty, mixed it up and placed it on the parts where we couldn't run a bead. Within an hour it was rock hard. Whats nice about this stuff is its water proof and can bond to nearly everthing.

http://i51.tinypic.com/9zvxmt.jpg

MORE PICS AND UPDATES TO COME! THANKS FOR LOOKING !

nice build craig i bought marks convertible s13 and im putting my sr in it if you need help im down im friends with steve so i live in poughkeepsiee let me know buddy =]

nice craig!

helllllllz yeah!

thanks alot guyz !

With the rust fixed in the rear i figured it was time to start reinstalling the gas tank and and other parts.

I cleaned up the gas tank really good and and installed a Walbro 255 fuel pump. Unfortunately I never took any pics.

The gas tank straps weren't in too bad of shape but I decided to replace them. From Nissan they were charging about $35 for each one. Since they are a simple design I decided to fab up my own. I went to the local metal supplier and had them cut too strips of sheet metal for me. It cost me $10. Now since the OEM straps have the brackets on them, all I did was cut them off and weld the brackets to the new straps.

http://i55.tinypic.com/nzk83m.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/qqbi9e.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/2prd3xl.jpg

Exactly the same as the OEM ones, maybe even better ! :bigok:

And to top it all off.. I had them powder coated and got new hardware!

http://i56.tinypic.com/fa3cpj.jpg

If i was going to have to a fresh looking gas tank with some nice straps, I was forced to do something about the heat shield. The shield i had on there was garbage and it rusted out but I managed to salvage one from a parts car i had a year ago. It wasnt in bad shape at all besides a a small hole. I took the POR Putty and filled the hold, then sanded it smooth.

Here's a picture of it soaked with the POR Metal Ready.
http://i51.tinypic.com/358qwpx.jpg

I then POR'd the top and bottom of the shield. After 2 coats of that, I then took the Sterling Silver, a POR top coat, and did 2 coats of that.

The finished product!
http://i53.tinypic.com/6jczh5.jpg

Up goes the gas tank !
http://i52.tinypic.com/6tl639.jpg

And following that, the heat shield !
http://i53.tinypic.com/2apbb9.jpg

Loving this.

impressive sir

I saw the rust and I was like, ouch!!!!

Then I saw what you did and I said, Fvck yeaahhh!!!!

Keep it up man.

This is inspiring me man, keep it going!

Thanks alot guys! I have high standards and expectations for this car but with parts being so expensive and the time to work on it can sometimes be difficult but, hey you gotta pay to play!

Continuing on with the photos to get up to my most recent phase..

While the underside of the chassis was mostly bare. I decided to take out all the fuel and brake lines out. I was going to replace them but surprisingly they were still in pretty good condition.

http://i55.tinypic.com/qph4rk.jpg

After I laid them out, I took a fine grit sandpaper and just cleaned them off. After they were cleaned I coated them in the POR.

Since most of the plastic clips that hold the brake & fuel lines in place had broke, I went ahead and order all new pieces from Nissan. While I was at it, I also ordered a new gasket for the diff cover, nuts and bolts to mount the subframe.

http://i55.tinypic.com/15q9oue.jpg

After the rear subframe was complete it was time to put it back in.

http://i51.tinypic.com/by3ba.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/sgsuhu.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/5etsvk.jpg

If your wondering why I never installed the diff or drive axles or maybe even why my brake calipers are ziptied to the subframe lol... Its because I'm not too sure if I'm completely satisfied with the outcome of the subframe so it may come out again. Plus the diff was getting a little makeover...

BAMMM !
http://i51.tinypic.com/2dksj8.jpg

Here's a better picture of the diff cover powder coated.
http://i53.tinypic.com/11gni9j.jpg

...At least with the subframe in i was able to make the car a roller and take her off the jack stands. With the help of friend, we pushed the car out of the garage and turned it around.

Rolled out with my brother's zenki undergoing a 5speed swap haha
http://i51.tinypic.com/70dlbb.jpg

Time to start working on the front end !
http://i54.tinypic.com/15xllwp.jpg

Here we are in the beginning stage of stripping down the front end.
http://i52.tinypic.com/154edef.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/anxy1l.jpg

So this is what is hiding behind my fenders...
http://i55.tinypic.com/mcfarl.jpg

I was hoping I would at least find some change in there. Unfortunately nothing :facepalm:
http://i55.tinypic.com/jug4k4.jpg

Carefully taking everything out
http://i56.tinypic.com/ziqcxw.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/34q5tu1.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2zxzfk9.jpg

As were trying to take everything out we ran into some problems. Both the engine and headlight harness were being a pain in the a$$ so to make things easier I took the dashboard out to have easier excess for wiring. I also have a Viper alarm on the car that I no longer wanted since it was not operating correctly.

http://i52.tinypic.com/15nlwll.jpg

To snake the engine harness though I had to remove the blower on the end.
http://i51.tinypic.com/szkgh1.jpg

And the mess of wiring I have to deal with lol.
http://i51.tinypic.com/i6f4h1.jpg

As I was sorting through the wires for the alarm I was really surprised. My friend who previously owned the car had purchased the Viper alarm from Bestbuy and had them install it... They did an awesome job..... :nono:

Their "quality" work is pathetic.
http://i53.tinypic.com/23sg4gh.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/246m06t.jpg

After the alarm issue and everything was out, we taped up any holes or lines and got ready to power wash the bay.
http://i54.tinypic.com/mc3ixj.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/2929sw8.jpg

What color is that diff cover?!?!?! I wanna do my bay a color like that.

its like an aqua-teal.. i forget the name of the actual color but ill find out for you. i love this color so much. im also doing a few other parts in this color

I like how you por the whole under carriage :D.
I like the powder coat on the diff, looks pretty rad.

Thanks alot man ! theres plenty more to come !

Thanks bud!

Its been a couple weeks since a new update but I have been making some progress! As the car went back into the garage we put her back on the jack stands and starting taking apart the front subframe.

http://i56.tinypic.com/hv7wap.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/k3w4n7.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/2myalub.jpg

Once the subframe was out of the way it was time to clean the bay and fix up some rust. I started by removing unnecessary brackets such as the OEM air box mount and battery tray. I first drilled out the spot welds, after the bracket was removed I then went over the spot with a wire wheel, cleaning everything.

http://i55.tinypic.com/11v1hcg.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/15z1gts.jpg

I then tacted up the holes... wind kept blowing into the garage thus the shit welds and it doesnt help that they kept traveling since the metal is so thin :facepalm:

http://i56.tinypic.com/29wi20.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/14brwp2.jpg

After the brakets were removed my dad an I focused on repairing the strut towers. The passenger side had hole on the front side and the driver side had holes on both the front and rear of the tower.

Passenger side strut tower
http://i56.tinypic.com/2je8eax.jpg

Driver side strut tower (front)
http://i54.tinypic.com/10hj5n5.jpg

Driver side strut tower (rear)
http://i54.tinypic.com/s3gisz.jpg

We planned to cut out the rusted areas and made custom pieces to fit in using 16g sheet metal.

To cut out the pieces we used a die grinder with a cut-off wheel.

http://i56.tinypic.com/intsgy.jpg

After we took some measurements we test fitted them in.

http://i51.tinypic.com/5umyaf.jpg

After we got the placement and fitment we were looking for we then drilled holes for the spot welds.

http://i54.tinypic.com/mubk2q.jpg

All welded up !

http://i55.tinypic.com/14ugaqg.jpg

The same process was used for the other 2 holes too.

Here's my dad welding up the front of the driver side strut tower.

http://i52.tinypic.com/2cygp4o.jpg

To bring down the welds we then hit it the grinder.

http://i53.tinypic.com/a3ox74.jpg


After all the new patches were finished up I painted over them with two coats of POR-15. When the POR was almost dry I sprayed a light coat of primer over the spots.

http://i54.tinypic.com/blswk.jpg

so much nice work going into this should turn out very nice

After all rust was fixed I was left with some welds that I could not grind down any further. I went and got some Duraglass body filler and spread it over the welds and any where else that I needed to.

http://i55.tinypic.com/np02ti.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/2z71m4y.jpg

I messed around with the filler a few times, sanding out high spots and filling low spots until I got it perfect.

After everything was how I wanted it I was focusing on the radiator support. At one time this car had been hit and it was pretty obvious. The top portion of the rad support looked like crap, it had body filler in it and wasn't strait at all so I ordered a new one from Nissan. As for the other parts of the rad support they weren't in bad condition. I just heated them up and worked with them until everything was back to where it should be.

You can see the body filler in the picture and notice how uneven it is.

http://i53.tinypic.com/11c9xdl.jpg

I went to the local harbor freight store and picked up a few spot weld bits. They worked great and I literally took the top portion off in less than 10 minutes. Alot better and faster than using a standard drill bit !

http://i53.tinypic.com/2m304sx.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/5p4cg.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/sxgltt.jpg

Here is the new radiator support compared to the old one.

http://i56.tinypic.com/11b4r3a.jpg

Test fitted on..

http://i51.tinypic.com/6i67sw.jpg

All welded on. Soon to be prepped for paint.

http://i53.tinypic.com/2regqo1.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/2qwok0w.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/11gq3oy.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/156cmc4.jpg

Finally ready for primer. Masked everything off and covered the car using drip sheets I picked up at Home Depot. I also hung a sheet from the ceiling to prevent any over spray from going on the tool boxes or quads :D

http://i53.tinypic.com/2ni37sz.jpg

I took my time and shot it using SEM high build primer. It came out great. :bigok:

http://i52.tinypic.com/1i1xjn.jpg

Well now I'm finally caught up on where I stand with my process. The bay got its first coat of primer yesterday and all the seam sealer was laid down too.

Since I wasnt too sure how I liked the outcome of my rear subframe, I dropped it about a week ago and arranged for it to be sandblasted since it would not fit in a standard sanding cabinet.

I picked it up early this morning and then dropped both the front and rear subframes off along with a bunch of other little brackets to be powder coated

http://i52.tinypic.com/es82mb.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/345xy6r.jpg

Everything should be coated within the week !

Lovin the build so far man!

Looking good man! I like the attention to detail!

I think it's cool you and your brother both have Zenki's

thanks alot guys! I've always wanted to build a car so now im getting the chance to do that. I know my work doesnt stand up to some of the other cars on here but I just keep doing what I like. With the plans I have in my head I'm positive you guys will enjoy the outcome.

When my brother turned 16 this past year, he was looking at cars but nothing in particular he had on his mind, until one day he came across a craigslist ad for 96 zenki se in Long Island. I think the guy wanted 3g for it but the shape of the car is kinda rough so it wasnt worth it. It had a poorly replaced quarter panel, maaco paint job and the front end was also hit at one time because i noticed an aftermarket hood. Anyway my bro gave him a call and the guy went down to 2g somehow.. i guess he really needed to get rid of it.. so my brother told him he was still gonna look around and think about. A few days later the guy called and told us we could have it for 1600 so I told him, alright ill be down this afternoon lol.. it was automatic but right now its being converted to 5spd using my old tranny and parts.

nice build thread man very inspirational makes me want to do more work on my car

any updates

yeah, this is pretty thorough build coverage. Keep it up.

great biuld man

Hey everyone, sorry i really haven't updated anything yet. Im still waiting on the all the pieces that were given to the powder coater. Whats nice is my brother works at Hudson Valley Powdercoating so i pretty much get anything I want coated for free lol. However the down side to that is the wait time since he works on my parts when he has free time. I was told they'll be done soon though so im hoping this upcoming week. As for more body work i cleaned up the front wheel wells and started to Por-15 them.

More updates will be on the way guys ! Ill post some pictures up either this week or next week. Hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of july !:rawk: