16-02-2009, 19:10
| #1 (permalink) |
| Shakotan!  Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: The 'bourne, kent
Posts: 819
 | Yet another Sbody project, My Zenki
Thought id start myself a project thread seeing as iv taken a load of pictures since i bought it and iv actually got my finger out and gettin it all kitted out. Back in December 07 i travelled 250miles up norffff to pick up my SX, she is 95 S14 Touring which had 138k miles on the clock, it had some work done to it, with a few stage one bits and a rebuilt bottom end by Nissan, for a sum of £2400. The main intention of this car was to be a daily drive and after iv got a bit of money and sorted it out with a decent spec start drifting it too, being 18 at the time i was(am) on 18 year old apprentice wages which meant things were going to be slow.   All was well in the land of matt, i fuckin loved it  cherished it like a little baby, plenty of washing going on lol  This pic makes it look mint, but it really aint! Anyway seeing as it was just after Christmas, money was pretty tight, although it didnt stop me spending the standard sounds were dogsh*t the headunit was crap, only one speaker worked and that was rubbish. I love my music so one of the first things to go in was some decent sounds shock horror!   Ipod interface fitted nice and snug in the centre column  That would be the reason why it was crap  New set up!  The wiring was complete mess, major ballache in sorting it all out. Next job was to sort the front bumper out, there was a massive cut out for intercooler which was left untidy with half the number recess left on it aswell as hacksaw marks and swarf, it wasnt very appealing so i chopped the rest of the recess off and lined it with the insulation of some cable, effect was quite good    So after i started to run into some problems  i noticed my drive was getitn covered in sh*t off my car so got the car over a pit to have a look and found to my horror, water leaks from the radiator and the waterpump seals had gone, also to top it off i was losing oil from the turbo feed pipe andpower steering fluid. It was a complete mess, the car was like a sieve!! The only way i could tell where i was leaking PAS fluid was by cleaning it all off, fortunately it was an easy fix with one of the pipes being loose. The waterpump and rad on the other hand were pretty fooked  It didnt look good, I removed the pump which was actually a piece of piss and was met with this:  Hmmm thats well a truely sh*gged  couldnt believe how rusted the impellor was!Old versus new   Much better, i dont have any shots of the rad but the bottom had corroded therefore was leaking, Was a good call anyway the rad was in shitty condition with bent fins and bits of insect and animal all over it. Rather than sourcing a cheapo standard one I purchased an apex rad in a group buy, with a new pump and a 56mm core rad mated to some samco hoses i knew the cooling system would be pretty good shape for drifting as temps are bound to get high.  Last edited by Mattias; 16-02-2009 at 19:24. |
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16-02-2009, 19:23
| #2 (permalink) |
| Shakotan! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: The 'bourne, kent
Posts: 819
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So all was well again but this didnt last long, i was getting a "whooshing" noise on boost, when the engine was cold i lifted up the bonnet to see exhaust gases escaping through the turbo gaskets, a common problem and also cheap thankfully, but still something i didnt really want to do at the time. You dont actually own an S14 until you do the turbo gaskets!! I ordered the new gaskets and some braided water and oil feeds to the turbo as the standard hard pipes have a tendacy to crack. With the assistance of my old man we got the tubby off and half the other sh*t attached to it downpipe was like solid to the elbow so just lifted the lot out   No wonder the return feed was leaking  The offending items! The manifold to turbo nuts were finger tight you could see light through the other side  i made sure they werent coming undone again and fitted lock nuts with tab washers and a bit exhaust for good measure. To be honest this job was a pain the arse and i dont fancy doing it again. i did a bit of surgery and nicked some breather pipe off the cam cover, its got a 90 degree bend in it which makes a perfect replacement for the oil feed return.Next thing on my list was the timing chain rattle. I didnt really notice it at first but after i did an oil change and changed to a thinner grade of oil it became really loud. I changed the chain tensioner to see if it would stop it rattling, which it didnt.... I knew exactly what was wrong, the chain was hitting the top guide but i thought perhaps the tensioner would sort it. So the best solution to this was just to remove the guide , its pointless anyway the S14a were never fitted with one. So i whipped off the cam cover Which revealed some nice healthy cams which were all coated in oil which is nice to see   Just as i thought the chain had been hitting the top guide, in the pic you can clearly see the score marks. What a result easy fix  Whilst the cover was offer i decided the spray it, and clean the spray bars, nothing lairy just a new coat of black. This is where things became a nightmare.....  I painted the cover which came out rubbish as the paint was crap, to top it off it was very windy and somehow had collected sawdust, i did my best to get it off but just sprayed over the top of it. I wasnt in the mood to strip it all off again! Then when refitting the spray bars i managed to snap not 1 but 2 of the bolts on the camshaft caps  i was nearly sick i couldnt believe it! they didnt even reach the right torque setting! luckily the old man came to the rescue and we managed to drill them out, Wasnt one of my best days i can tell you that.After a mad weekend the car was up and running again. Whilst i was at it i fitted a driftworks oil catch tank, the intercooler pipes were in such a state with all the oil that past through them, it needed it, was definitely a good little mod to fit. Also a washer bottle, someone had fitted the FMIC removed the bottle and didnt bother fitting one so i was driving for 3 months in winter without one. No good . A simple ebay jobbie and some 3 core cable sorted that out, you dont realise how much you take these things for granted lol!End result, one tarted up engine bay:  Then came MOT time, the next obstacle to beat, which it failed  (fuuuck sake lol) only minor things though which were sorted pretty quickly, green indicators for one, but it was also useful as i knew exactly what needed attention. One of the anti roll bar drop links had snapped so that needed replacing. Not wanting to do things by halves i replaced the hole lot front and rear was some uprated items.  They didnt actually make any difference but at least i know they are all there Next job was the tension rod bushes, not a MOT failure but they were leaking silicon and looked a state, I bought some uprated solid apex replacements as the standard ones are naff.    Bish bash bosh job done There was a noticeable difference after fitting these, the steering was more responsive and got rid of the slop, definitely worth doing Last edited by Mattias; 16-02-2009 at 19:27. |
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16-02-2009, 19:28
| #3 (permalink) |
| Shakotan! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: The 'bourne, kent
Posts: 819
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Next on the list were new wheels, wasnt plannin on gettin any yet but a friend was selling some R34 GTT wheels for a silly price. I snapped them up because i needed new rubber anyway. £80 later i had some wheels, a further £20 on some slip on spacers it looked a little something like this:  I sorted out the boost gauge too and gave it some paint so it now looks like this   Next on the list were coilovers been itching to get some for ages, Saw a set of 6/5 Apex items for sale on SXOC and had to get them, they were exactly what i was after  After attacking them with Cspanners and fitting another set of tyres which were less balloon spec it looked a little like this:     Please ignore the cave offset, the wheels set me back £80 i couldnt justify spending an arm and a leg on bolt ons. More to follow... Last edited by Mattias; 16-02-2009 at 20:52. |
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17-02-2009, 02:17
| #7 (permalink) |
| dorifto kingu!  Join Date: May 2005 Location: Limerick, Ireland
Posts: 503
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Good efforts fella, she is looking alot better...
__________________ Austin Mini (Flip Front) Mazda RX7 (Single Turbo) Mitsubishi Evo Colt (Evo Engined, 4WD) Toyota KP61 Beams (Redtop Beams Engine) And I drive a Ford Ka, go figure LoL  |
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17-02-2009, 15:10
| #8 (permalink) |
| the yarco Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: great yarmouth
Posts: 631
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. i got my s14 wen i was 18 in the same colour i have done all the thing u have done to plus all new sub frame bushs and arms. nice car gd luck with it
__________________ one dead skid car =one empty wallet  |
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17-02-2009, 16:34
| #10 (permalink) | |
| Shakotan! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: The 'bourne, kent
Posts: 819
| Quote:
Weird because thats what im currently doing! just going to update it now
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17-02-2009, 16:42
| #11 (permalink) |
| the yarco Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: great yarmouth
Posts: 631
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how did u find taking the rear sub frame off and geting the bushes out ,i hated doing myn all the nut were rounded off ,lets see some pic then mate
__________________ one dead skid car =one empty wallet |
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17-02-2009, 17:35
| #12 (permalink) |
| Shakotan! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: The 'bourne, kent
Posts: 819
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It wasnt too bad it was the driveshaft which gave me hassle. Havent got the bushes out yet though so will have to get back to you on that The car pretty much stayed like that for the rest of the year, although i picked up a set of these:  Much better although never actually fitted them because something better came up which i couldnt let pass! So these are in the process of being sold. More on that later. Also bought some gauges off ebay so i can keep an eye on things, Water temp oil temp and oil pressure, also with a nice pod to fit them on the dash   Which leads on to where i am now. After covering 20k miles in it and now reading 158k on the clock, things were starting go wrong and generally the car needs some TLC, especially if i want to take it to events. I was getting serious axle tramp whenever i attempted to skid, the gearbox is on its last legs and whines like a banshee, the clutch needs replacing, the rear brakes seem to be doing sod all, the fronts were binding badly and the discs are shot. the heater fan packed up aaaaand i have water gettin inside the care, So i pulled my out and took it off the road, the plans are: Fit adjustable arms (camber,toe,traction) Get the diff welded Fit polybushes to the subframe and arms Paint the subframe and underseal the car New gearbox with a new mount New clutch Buckets Rebuild all the calipers with new front discs Fit gauges And probably any other issues such as rust when i get to it. First things first was to get it the garage, double garage full of sh*t. 3 boys in the family so loads of crap in there   So i just smashed my way through it, did i f*ck! took me a whole weekend to clear enough space for it Anyway first thing i did was erm buy a new rear bumper The UK spec one is gash and the one for sale happened to be the same colour as my car so it was rude not too. Was very grubby but after a couple of coats of polish it was spot on. proper work now... started to remove all the bits and peices so i could drop the subframe.  Hmmm coilovers will be stripped down and rebuilt, covered in sh*t and salt  My exhaust was blowing but i didnt know to what extent, so when i took it off and had a look, the centre box had split 300 degrees round and was only held on by a repair job in the past so i took it to work and had it welded up, didnt realise how thin they made these things Not the neatest job ever but nobody is gonna see it and its strong. I then went on to investigate why the rear brakes were so crap, removed one caliper and then spent an afternoon drilling out a snapped bolt which someone had kindly left there for me took out the pads: Doesnt look very promising, especially seeing as there is a chunk out of the corner, didnt get any better mind you  This was whats left of the inside pad, yeap no pad on it at all just the metal, that little nugget of crap at the bottom is all i found of it on my drive. EBC blackstuff pads, i can think of a new name for them.... The discs werent too bad, a little crusty and definitely need a skim but i can save them.  There were a few bits of rust which need attention, it is quite bad but its a thick piece of metal there so shouldnt be too much of an issue  Same with the otherside...  After having a fight with the prop on saturday i managed to drop out the subframe. with the exception of the drive shaft it wasnt too bad a job  Underneath didnt look too bad either although its still going to be painted and sealed  First thing i had a look at was the subframe bushes, as expected they were knackered! worse than i though, collars or pineapples weren't gonna save them. You can see light right through the otherside, they were a mess.   Check out this last one!  Back end should feel pretty solid after fitting the new bushes |
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17-02-2009, 18:04
| #15 (permalink) |
| the yarco Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: great yarmouth
Posts: 631
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looking gd man go for soilds as my polys are shit they gone already so im goin soilds now,keep up the gd work,wot did u do with the gold dishy rims mate
__________________ one dead skid car =one empty wallet |
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17-02-2009, 18:08
| #17 (permalink) |
| Shakotan! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: The 'bourne, kent
Posts: 819
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On sunday i had a go at gettin the arms off, there was plenty of this...  And this...  bit of leverage and persausion with a mallet i managed to undo the bolts except 3. I went into hulk mode and snapped one in my anger the other 2 were stuck solid. Whats happened is the eccentric bolts have fused to the metal insert of the bushes so the only way of gettin them out was to cut them out. Then Dangerous Dad stepped in, armed with a grinder with an ultra thin cutting disc and no guard i let him loose on it Managed to get them off and left the whole thing intact as it was gettin dark i was tired. First job for monday was to source some replacement bolts from work. Managed to get hold of these...  They are almost identical to the standard spec items, with high tensile strength and galvanised nuts they were ideal I took the rear discs and the subframe plates into work today and gave them a sandblast as they were pretty crusty  Before...  After...  Much better 50/50 shot... All ready for a coat of POR15 and black hammerite, some before and after shots of the discs:     another 50/50 shot...   Like new i will probably get them skimmed sometime this week, going to let one of the blokes at work do it as he has about 38 years more experience on the lathe than me |
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17-02-2009, 18:13
| #18 (permalink) |
| Shakotan! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: The 'bourne, kent
Posts: 819
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Haha colourflip you aint going nowhere near that bumper! Hmmm gibbo what bushes did you use? I was planning to get DW items, im tempted to go ally now but i dont want the ride to be "crashy" my dad will go spas he thinks the polybushes would be too hard lol.Beezy, no dude gearbox isnt sorted yet, that will be done after iv finshed the rear end, need to flip the car 180 so i can get to it. |
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17-02-2009, 18:17
| #20 (permalink) |
| spl dori master  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: kent
Posts: 407
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when you looking to get bushes, i can take you for a ride in mine (as i have a new rear bumper to pick up near you haha) but i wont get it back till weekend my subframe plates looked like that when i took them of, oh and when i put them back on 
__________________  Last edited by colour-flip; 17-02-2009 at 18:20. |
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