black'N'proud

I want to start by saying hi, I'm new here but I've creeped through Zilvia for a few months now and decied to start a thread on my car. I am new to cars, and this is my first real project, so with that being said everthing is still new to me from changing my oil to pulling the motor. Everything has been a great learning expirence, feels good to be able to fix different problems as they arise. I bought a 1996 240sx a few months ago, its not much to look at right now (because there are a few parts missing) but I'm hopeing by next summer it will be some what put back together. My plans for the car are kouki front end with jdm k's aero front bumper, silvia accessories, Advan rg2 wheels, sr20det or ka24de-t (still undecided), light auto cross, and mainly daily driver. I want to add that this isnt so much a build as it is a "restoration," when I'm finished I want the car to look alomost exactly the way it did when it rolled out of the factory, simply clean. Well enough talk Comments/ suggestions welcome, thanks. Enjoy.

Here's what I picked up kind of a sore to look at, but progress is a slow process.






The car sat like this for a while until I decied what I wanted to do with it, but I saved up and bought a set of BC coilovers, so far I like them.

Picture of how the car sat. No fenders but you get the idea




Had trouble getting the front strut off but got it with some help



How the car sat with BC coilovers on, also picked up a set of Zenki rear valences


I waited for a while to see if any front end parts would pop up for sale here and on my local forum. Didnt have any luck so I decied to buy parts from a local Nissan dealership. Looking back I probably would have saved some money by buying a front clip off Ebay, but oh well you live and learn.






Still need a few parts to complete the front but this is what it looks like now.





Car was running fine for a few months, then I to notice coolent dripping every where, took it over a friends to have him look at it and the headgasket was blown. Me and a friend pulled the motor (my first time doing it, learned a lot) replaced the headgasket along with some other things.






Ran for a little bit then it started to overheat again, got it home let it cool down, tried to bleed the air out of the radiator, went to start it up and nothing just quick click. Turns out the clutch relay was bad, replaced it and it started but ran like poop. I checked my spark plugs they where fouled out so I bought a new set. Now when I tried to start it, it sounded weak and didnt start. Pulled one of my spark plug wires off and seen white smoke coming out. Thinking it may be the headgasket again since I made two big mistakes, One I didnt have the head re-machined like I should have and two I didnt replace headstuds. So Thats where Im at now, pulling the head off and doing things over.