azreark1

Wow what an experience. A little back story, i have been out of the car scene since about 2003, i got into Jet Ski racing and when i did that i had to sell my car and get a truck, so i spent most of my time and money on jetski stuff...and my truck. Well I've since gotten married and had a couple kids and I've sold my jetski's and was in need of a commuter car (truck eats too much) so tax refund afforded me the ability to purchase the car I have always wanted, a 240sx with a SR20 swap. After looking around for about a month i found one i wanted to get, but i knew it was going to need a little work, it was an S13 coupe with the JDM front conversion. The guy said it spun a rod bearing...well i knew i could fix that so no big deal, so i picked up the car and a FWD SR20DE motor for crank and other parts (just in case), some S14 seats (mine were in terrible shape) and some JDM corner lights cuz he didn't have any...all for the wonderful price of $2175.

First hiccup was as i was almost home with the car the front bumper actually came off...seems they did a TERRIBLE job fastening it to the car, luckily i was at a stop light and not on the highway.
So i get the car in the garage and start tearing it down to pull the engine+tranny out. The tear down portion was fairly un-eventful, everything came apart fairly easy, plenty of room in the engine bay so i was happy.
Once the engine was on the stand and i could get the crank out i instantly saw the problem, not only was the #3 cylinder bearings completely ruined but it also tore up the #3 main journal bearings as well.


Okay everything is apart time to pull out the micrometer and see what can be reused. Once checked, i find that both the rod and crank are out of round on #3, no surprise there.

Getting the crank turned with oversize bearings isn't in the budget so this is where the other engine comes in. So i put the DET on the floor for the time being while i strip down the DE motor since both cranks are the same (which is why i bought it). The DE is torn down and the bottom end looks immaculate...beside the fact it looked like the person that owned it previously didn't change the oil very often...it was very much baked on everything, but the bearing journals looked practically brand new.


With the crank ready to go, i have to track down a piston rod...and since i can't buy all new ones it actually proved to be a little tough getting stock rods but i manage to find one. With all the new bearings, gaskets, and rings in it's time to reassemble the engine. First problem with getting the crank in is that the #3 main journal was mushroomed, there was a small groove where the bearing had been and once i got that cleaned up and tried to get the crank in with the thrust washers i find out the top landing was actually mushroomed out so i had to get that fixed as well.



After a LOT of work i get the journal to mic out correctly and the crank+bearings fit in perfectly. With the bottom end in and bolted down it was time for the pistons. Bearings and piston rings are something i always change if given the chance...reason is below, this 2nd piston ring broke when trying to get it out...

Problem i ran in to here as i was cleaning up the pistons is that there was lean burn and debris pits all over the damn things(no pics, sorry)...by the time i got to this point in the build i had already figured out that the previous owner didn't know SH** about cars and pretty much destroyed a good car because they didn't know the sounds it IS and ISN'T supposed to make. Well i can't buy new pistons so i have to use the DE pistons which will give me roughly a 9.5:1 compression ratio instead of the 8.5:1, but this is going to be a daily so i'm not really worried about it. The pistons are essentially the same size, smaller dish on the top and the area the wrist pin sits in is actually smaller so I had to use the DE pins because the DET pins were too long. Uneventful getting the DE pistons on the DET rods (DE rods were thinner...didn't want to chance it), getting the piston rings on and set in the cylinders. Other than dropping a bolt in the engine and having to take off the oil pans a couple times the rest of the engine build is fairly uneventful...had some issues with the way the ass*ole had the turbo oil lines ran (wrong hose and wrong fittings to begin with) but it's back together with a new clutch and ready to be stabbed in.

Stabbing a engine and tranny alone turned out to be a little tough but perseverance was the key and got it in and bolted down, over the next day i got everything hooked up and ready to fire the engine up. After a couple hours and trying and researching i realized that i had the fuel hoses on backwards (yay), i quickly remedy that problem and the thing fires right up...but runs terrible. Over the next couple days i'm assebling more of the car, fenders, headlights, piping, bumper, etc. and trying to trouble shoot the engine...once all is said and done i find out the MAF isn't working so i head to the local junk yard and pull one off a Z32 (mine was already wired for Z32) but still wont run, that's when i start tracing wires and find one of the cut wires off the ECU was the MAF signal wire which is why it wouldn't rev, once i connected it (yellow and white in pic) it would get past ~2400rpm,

Start it up and get it running again but it was still running super rich so pulled the ECU codes...CTS and TPS...yay more parts. So i get the CTS ordered and the SR20DE used the same TPS so swapped that. The next day with new sensors i fired it up and it ran LESS rich than before but still a little high and would misfire/fall on its face any time i tried to quickly give it gas...but would be fine with a gradual progression. Pulled ECU codes and got knock sensor...omfg i hate those!! Luckily it's an OBD1 so just unplugged the damn thing and it FINALLY stopped running rich, but still misfire at sudden gas onset...hey guess what?! Fuel pressure gauge is reading ZERO...i open the trunk and turn the key to ON and run to the back...don't hear a damned thing...great so the pump burned up. Last night I pulled it out and the thing looked like sh**, sediment build up on the pump and the strainer was almost completely missing,

A buddy has an external In-Line Walbro...for free so i say F*** it and delete the in-tank pump, and plumb this bad boy in outside the tank (with filter in the tank of course). I prime the pump and get 80psi at the rail so i readjust the FPR and i'm down to ~35psi...yay right where it should be, fire the thing up and it's purring like a kitten. I take it down the road and after letting it warm up a little i get on the gas and as soon as it builds boost i hear a faint thud and it won't get above 2k rpm...holy f**king sh** are you serious?! Did i really already blow my motor up?! So i get out but can't seem to see/hear anything wrong with it, it's running a little rough, and the exhaust is a little rich but that's it, no knocking or bad sounds...so it's back to google...top results are MAF (already know mine is good) and boost leakage!! Well that thud most definitely could have been a blown coupler so i hang it up for the night and decide to check it first thing in the morning...check it this morning and sure enough there it is!

So planning on taking it back out today for some more testing and break-in...


A story for another time is how TERRIBLE the interior wiring was...not sure what this guy had hooked up other than a SAFC but i had to rip out and redo ALL KINDS OF CRAP!! omg