Quote:
Originally Posted by collegekid
I have several questions
1. Do you have another car in case things dont work out the way you plan?
2. Do you have that $5,000 at this very moment?
3. What tools/skillset do you have? Do you have access to a vehicle repair shop? Do you have a garage where you plan on doing this work?
My impression is that:
-you got a car fairly recently
-did some light reading on ka-t.org and here
-saw some builds that piqued your interest and saw old dates on those threads so you made a new thread.
-you priced out a build from frsport/enjuku by filtering for your 240sx/ka24de in a similar fashion that people "build" gaming pcs using PCpartsPicker
Don't start spending money yet. I assume you will be going to college or some kind of tech school? Don't tie up all your money in your car, don't take out student loans for car parts.
From you asking about machine work/rebuild costs it tells me that you should not be walking into a machine shop at all anytime soon. They will gladly take your money.
My advice:
Buy a spare daily driver that is going to be good on gas, reliable, comfy, and boring enough that no one wants to steal it. Keep the 240 as a fun weekend car. As you get older, weekdays start to fly by and the weekends are gone in an instant.
Regardless if you buy a separate daily or not:
Buy a spare set of wheels (oem) with a spare set of good tires. Keep a full sized tire in the trunk.
Make sure all your tires are in good shape.
Next is brakes.
Next make sure your car is running nicely so take care of all leaks/driveability issues regarding the engine and electronics of the vehicle. I would get water temp/ oil pressure/ and oil temp gauges
Suspension bushings/mounts/struts
The rest is optional, like interior/exterior accessories (wheels, seats etc)
Once you've taken care of all the bullshit with these 22-31 year old cars, then you add power.
Download the factory service manual, look at youtube videos for engines in general and how they work, and above all, READ. Reading old build threads and creating your own notes from them is whats important. Learn from the mistakes that other people make.
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1. I do not have another car, my S13 is my daily.
2. I do not have $5,000 at the moment, I have $3,500 so far put aside for my plans. I work two jobs so I'm able to have money when I need it.
3. Only skillset I have is whatever I have learned so far working on my own car lol I'm not gonna claim I know everything/anything tbh. I don't have access to a vehicle repair shop. I do have a garage with a lift where I plan to do this work.
Your impressions would be semi-correct. I got this car a year and a half ago, I originally wanted to go CA18DET and did tons of research but I tried weighing the pros and cons and I concluded that even with the better center of gravity and lighter weight, the KA would be better fitting for what I want to do especially since I could rebuild the KA for the same price as buying a CA. As much as I want to be unique it really isn't worth an extra $2k. I did price out a build on enjuku but I came here to ask questions because I enjoy feedback. Since my S13 is my daily I do not want to skip any corners which is why I want to rebuild it to be reliable and also why I don't want to go for any crazy power or big turbo, I won't be street racing or doing drift events but I will have some track days, I want the power for myself to have fun when I want. And yes I am turning 20 this month and I'm going to college, I try to spend my money responsibly and obviously if I cant afford this build then I have no problem doing it later down the line. I have done everything I can to the car regarding leaks, power steering, Mishimoto Rad, Stock Clutch fan, Koni Yellow Suspension, 5-lug conversion, Z32 Brakes + E-Brake, 17x9 +22 RPF-1, Yokohama Advan Sport A/S 245/40/17 all around, Whiteline bushings everywhere, Aluminum One Piece Driveshaft, and S15 HLSD. My main goal is a clean OEM+ reliable daily S13.
I am still trying to learn about machining work and I don't plan on stepping into a shop until I know 100% what I am talking about and exactly what I want. If anyone wants to educate me on this then please do or suggest what I would need to google search to learn on my own, Thanks!
Thank you for advice, I need to take more notes on people's builds and mistakes!