S14 Restoration

[DMSHIRCLIFF]

Hey guys, I'm pretty new to this whole car scene and long story short I'm unexpectedly going to do a complete restoration of my 1995 S14.
While I have the car pretty much ENTIRELY disassembled, what mods would you guys recommend? Not looking to break the bank just simple things that make for an all around better car.

[Engmus]

I'm not trying to be a dick here, but if you are worried about breaking the bank, I would say don't try to do a "Complete Restoration" which would by definition of a "Complete Restoration" break many peoples banks.

If your taking the car down to sheet metal, you could have it dipped for corrosion prevention, the frame stitch welded, etc etc .

I think you need to elaborate on what a "Complete Resto" is to you, and what your end game plan is for the car, show queen? Weekend Cruiser? etc etc

[Hoffman5982]

Are you wanting to restore it back to like new factory condition or build it with aftermarket parts? Two totally different things

[SupaDoopa]

You took the whole car apart for what reason then? Parts cost money and if you plan on rebuilding it to any spec other than how it was when you put it together, you've already bit off more than you can chew.

[DMSHIRCLIFF]

Well, I would give you all the long explanation, but the mods have yet to approve my reply so I'll keep it short and sweet. I bought the car disassembled. It was someone's project car. He was autocrossing the car. It is turbo'd, has a microsquirt ecu, and had a blown headgasket. When I say breaking the bank, I mean I don't want to do any major fab work. I was simply wondering if there were any small mods that people did and enjoyed.

[cgtdream]

I have one mod that is worth suggesting for you, that even works well within your defined "budget". Patience. Its a mod you can apply to yourself, as a restoration (depending on what needs to be done) can be time and money consuming. So, its a great idea to plan to spend....some years to do this. Dont believe me? There are quite a few threads and post, between this site and others (Nico comes to mind), where people in your situation, just took their time to restore their car.

Here is one example...
https://forums.nicoclub.com/m-tr4nch-s-restoration-build-thread-56k-death-t330340.html

Here is another
https://imgur.com/a/H3m8x
....Unfortunately, it does not come with a backstory, as the owner linked these pics from a reddit post...But, nonetheless...These people took their time. And so should you. So yeah, that is my advice. Good luck!

[danbarnett123]

Rubber trim.
Sound deadening.
Suspension bushings.

[SupaDoopa]

Mods you can do while it's apart: replace broken shit with not broken shit.

[gixxerbob]

my favorite realistic restoration
https://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=618021

extreme restoration
http://sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?590849-Luke-s-S14a-Full-Restoration-S14-OOH


take notes from both

[brndck]

good mods for any 240:
-aftermarket tension rods
-adjustable arms in the rear
-energy suspension bushing master kit
-steering column metal bushing
-a very thorough wash/wax/detail

otherwise your question is wayyyyyyyyyy too vague for anyone to offer you any useful input. we have no idea what your timeframe or budget is, or what condition the actual car is in. Is there rust? Is there body damage? Who knows!

[DMSHIRCLIFF]

The car does need body work. It has a dent all down the drivers side. The side skirts look like a sine wave. (assuming someone thought it was a safe jack point) the hood is dented, the sunroof is gone and the whole car needs a paint job. It has the Nissan 350z wheels. The car has the custom koni/ground control spring setup with the fully adjustable camber plates. It also has adjustable toe roads front and back. I was told all of the suspension bushings were new, and if they aren't I have them in a box. It has solid subframe mounts. My timeframe for this resto is a year, but I know how restorations go so I'm not strictly holding myself to that. And as far as budget goes realistically I'd like to spend less than 10k on this car. I bought it for $500 and have probably put another $1000 in it so far between cleaning up the engine bay and rebuilding the engine.

[cgtdream]

The car does need body work. It has a dent all down the drivers side. The side skirts look like a sine wave. (assuming someone thought it was a safe jack point) the hood is dented, the sunroof is gone and the whole car needs a paint job. It has the Nissan 350z wheels. The car has the custom koni/ground control spring setup with the fully adjustable camber plates. It also has adjustable toe roads front and back. I was told all of the suspension bushings were new, and if they aren't I have them in a box. It has solid subframe mounts. My timeframe for this resto is a year, but I know how restorations go so I'm not strictly holding myself to that. And as far as budget goes realistically I'd like to spend less than 10k on this car. I bought it for $500 and have probably put another $1000 in it so far between cleaning up the engine bay and rebuilding the engine.

Thanks for sharing all of that. Will help a lot with folks helping you out, in regards to a restoration. If I had a car and budget in those respects, my focus would be on suspension and undercarriage. Basically cleaning them up, and rust-proofing them. Would probably get second hand adjustable suspension or go the GKtech route (good items for the price), all around. Next, I would clean up the interior, but not bank-breakingly. As for the engine, a good refresh, new pistons/rings, new hoses and gaskets all around (of of course, belts/chains, water pump, tuneup stuff). All of that could be around 2-5k, depending on where you source items or how much work you do yourself, with the rest saved for some good wheels and a respray.

[DMSHIRCLIFF]

The undercarriage looks pretty rust free honestly. The suspension definitely could use some rust help. Like I said, the engine is completely rebuilt, because when I bought the car it had two blown piston rings landings. So it has all new rings, gaskets, pistons etc. I painted the engine bay while I was in there, reloomed the engine harness and the body harness. It has the Nissan Altima fan upgrade. The dash is my next big project as it is cracked and it looks like the previous owner tried to flock it, but did it poorly. I wouldn't mind finding a good place to mount the gauges ("A" pillar maybe?) Finding a good sound system and a good place to mount the amp. All the carpet in the trunk has been taken out, all of the trunk plugs have been removed so I'll need to attempt to plug those holes. It also has 300zx brakes, but again, was half-assed so I also have no ebrake.

[SupaDoopa]

Sounds like you bought a typical drift car. Nothing crazy out of the ordinary there with this chassis and all the 'upgrades' sound like they're directed towards the route of sliding the thing around. If the dash was flocked, that could be a pretty big pain in the ass to sand down and get it ready to be refinished. You may be better off finding one that isn't covered in fabric and starting fresh.

Broadfield has a website that'll help you with clean mounting solutions of the gauges. His website is: http://www.broadfieldcustoms.com/

As far as the sound system upgrades, this is when you pick your poison really. If you're going non-drift car, when you do your restoration, you can eliminate those type of upgrades from your list. If you're going drift car, doing a full system may not be in the cards. You can do both but this will mean looking for interior pieces as well as places to mount all your stuff which usually means the trunk.

Your best bet is to definitively decide what your overall plans are and then put the pieces of the puzzle in place.

[DMSHIRCLIFF]

He had built it to be an autocross car. I got a full set of slicks with the car when I bought it. Ultimately I want a streetable all around good car. A jack of all trades master of none kind of thing. I wouldn't mind keeping it still fairly aggressive around a track but I also don't want to beat my brains out driving it to work everyday.
One thing I would like to ask you guys - the guy I bought the car from claims it always ground gears shifting from first to second when he shifted hard. He had a short throw shifter in it. Has anyone else experienced this issue before? I have two transmissions with the car, one is an S13 (under the car currently) and I have the S14 in my garage. Is it worth rebuilding the S14 transmission?

[SupaDoopa]

It's common in any transmission that's been driven hard. KA/SR transmissions aren't the greatest when being abused so if it's in fact grinding, you better either have what you have in the car rebuilt or has the spare built - whichever you prefer. If you bought this thing to go to and from work, you better get some forgiving coils because a 30-ish year old car wouldn't have been my first pick.

[Kingtal0n]

Yes use the S14 trans from SR20 if possible. There are some distinct differences and I believe one of them is S14 has a better numerical fifth gear slightly.