Sweet 16 - The Teenage Dream S14 Build

To start off let me take you back to a simpler time, December 2010, where a young 16 year old kid spent over a year saving his money from his shitty after school job to buy his dream car. Enter this 1995 Nissan Silvia zenki "navan" edition.

The photo above is from the online listing made by the previous owner and if you were to look at the file name on my old pc you’d see it called “mi nxt car” (it was 2010 so forgive the txt language!) at the time it was the highly edited photos that caught my eye, in retrospect I think this was done by the seller to cover up the goddam awful clear coat peel all red 90s JDM cars suffered, it worked I was hooked. I made the trip and handed the seller $5000NZD (3.5k USD in todays exchange). It had done 189k kms. In today's NZ market this would be a 10k car imo (scary huh?)

I still remember the drive home, I had spent every dollar I had to get this car, so much so that I had to borrow $50 off mum so I could get petrol to make the 2 hour trip home.

First thing I did when I made it home was what every teenager in 2010 would have done, take a million photos and put them on Facebook!

As you can see the car was a great chick magnet, me, my empty bank account and terrible spelling...not so much.

Anyway your not here to read about my last few years of high school(it was just school and hanging at the skatepark parking lot) but I thought I'd give some background as i’ve had the 14 10 years this month. At the end of highschool I rod knocked the (2nd) SR20de, I was off to uni and had no funds to fix it. So it has sat in my mums car port since 2012 till today.


After uni I went city to city chase the promotions, moving further away from my hometown, family and friends, I got to 2019 and realized I wasn’t that happy following what everyone thought I should do, so I did the unthinkable, I moved back to my hometown. I somehow ended up in a great job,making more money here and paying less in rent. With this spare $ I decided it was time..time to turn the S14 into what 16 year old me always wanted it to be, a street sharkin’ turbo cruiser.

Here are some s14 that have always inspired the vision i have in my head;

1) Abeshi’s s14 from LOWBRAIN



2) a local example snapped by Roo from stay classy (IYKYK) I actually ended up working with Roo at a tech company in later years, talk about NZ being a small place.


3) Beni Always s14 (im must have watched this vid atleast 20 time, not for his "drifting" on a go cart track though)

As you can see I am going for a low, clean oem+ zenki. The perfect combo to me is the navan aero front with everything else facelift (rear bumper, side skirts interior etc).

So now we are upto 2020 and here how the car sits.

It now has a healthy running de, turbo brakes up front, BC golds allround and a shotgun exhaust (from my “look at me while i drive through the main st of town for the 5th time today” youth phase).

The Plan:
“When TF did DET conversion become worth more than gold!”
After looking around from a drop in DET conversion and finding nothing but “overpriced” (imo dont shoot) drop in packages from importers i decided “fuck it lets do a +t”. I've done it before on my old s13 ( but that was a slap together car), this time i’ll do it “properly”.




After reading a fellow kiwi’s Ben Rice’s write up on how to “+t” an sr i was confident I could do that but take it one step further. I was confident that i could make a reliable 300-330hp (230-250kws) by using a few different parts and a bit of preventative work( basically same method just throw more $ at it). I'm keeping a down to the dollar tally so i’ll be able to give you an exact figure if you want to replicate the set up.

I'll also take the suspension, paint and wheel situation as part of the build, but let's get spooling running first.

 

Sept 2020
Research Time
I decided to jump straight into working out what parts I need to use in order to achieve my goals, the good thing about the SR being circa 30 years old is that whatever you want to do, someone has done it before and documented it on at least one forum. I had no intent of redesigning the wheel, I was looking for the exact opposite, a trouble free proven combo. With that in mind, enter the GT2871r



(yes you can still buy them brand new, I was in shock too) shoutout to glen at NST for sorting the turbo and for below RRP.

A Lot of people were talking about the new g25 range but at nearly double the price I just couldn't justify it for a street car. I think bang for buck this is the best brand new turbo to run for my goals

Being in NZ you can go past a SINCO manifold so we added one of them to the build sheet.

I Know, I Know i could have fit the turbo in the factory piston with the factory manifold but frankly. I'm vain and the way the bay looks to me is important

(excuse the mess in the test fit pic)


After that it was time for a fuck off too big intercooler to copy Abeshi’s fit


Now that all the parts were in it was time to put it all together. I'm a software kid by trade so spinner spanners and wiring doesn't really bother me but when it comes to fab work my skills aren't there yet. Im happy to “slap it together” on my 180sx drift car but since this is my baby and I want it to look as good as it could I decided to leave the fab to the pros, after a few messages to my mate Chris @CWC it was off to be put together.

On the list for CWC was
1) mount intercooler
2) Intercooler piping
3) front half of exhaust (gotta keep the blast pipes)
4)oil cooler kit (mostly for the ports on the sandwich plate for sensor install)
5) new sump (to tap for oil return)
6)Driveshaft hoops


For those not NZ locals you may think that drive shaft hoops are a bit random, well here in NZ when you modify a car/increase its power by 25% it require to go to a government contracted “certifier” to make sure the work has been carried out safely. One of the main things needed to make sure this is safe is halos around each join in the shaft so if the shaft breaks during use it wont shoot through the cabin or act like a pole vault in the ground. Who knows how often that happens but I'm happy to comply.

Now that it is back from CWC and ive got some time off for xmas and new years (thank fuck, I slept 12 hours yesterday) I plan on pulling the engine out and start working on plumbing up the turbo. I just got this package from Zack Sayer Racing of areoflow fittings and lines($20-$30 a piece adds up real quick!)



I’ll also pull the head of the block to do a few preventative maintenance/upgrades to keep the DE block happy with the extra air & fuel for as long as possible.

Let hope i can get that done before the New Years Festival bender starts! For those of you seeing in 2021 in lockdown, I will drink for you!

 

Well... 6 months later, bet you're expecting a big update huh? I wish

where has the time gone, it winter here now and I feel like I wasted far too much time not making progress on this project.

Here's how it sits as we speak (well back under cover but in the same sad state)


The Booster and all lines are actually out now too ready for one of the locals to paint the bay and blend in all the not-red panels, the weekend it was set to go his first baby arrived so the paint has been put on hold for a little bit.

And here the engine... looking exactly the same as December!! all I did was pull it out and leave it on the stand


I'm not really too sure what step to take next, plus every extra week I procrastinate the car account just keeps getting fatter! Also, I gaurentee the moment I buy all the engine parts Tim will let me know hes free to do the paint work.

In terms of engine parts I'll know what I need once the head is off. I'm hoping to leave the head as is and for the block replace all the bearing/rings and gaskets. the only non oe parts i plan on using is Mazworx head studs and main bolts plus whatever else sneaks into the cart while I'm there. all depends of the pistons clean up.

Then I'll tackle the Wiring and Suspenion.

The plan is to drive it on my birthday (Oct) so fingers crossed its not another six months at the same rate of progress

 

Well I've got an update, but it's neither that the engine is at the rebuilders (I've text him I swear) or that it's been painted.



Watch this space, so much for "overnight parts from Japan" huh Jesse?

Oh and I finally found a black SR3 in good condition to make as pair with my other one in storage



Those with Keen eyes will spy my backup SR20 in the back

 

No Big updates this weekend, space opened up at the shed I share with friends so decided to move the s14 out there, that way all my money pits are in the same shed.


First time they have been in the same place, I feel like a guy with two wives who just introduced them to each other. I can't wait for the day they both run, drift the 180 on the Saturday, and drive the s14 to brunch on the Sunday.

 

Trying to get in the habit of weekly updates (means I have to do something every week you see)

Managed to drop the engine off for its rebuild, thanks to help from a mate and his 1jzgte Hilux
(The Hilux is for sale too if you're interested)

Now the motor is at the rebuilders I'm sure the bills will start to roll in too. the plan hasn't changed just a simple bottom-end refresh.

With the engine now gone and needing to find a new painter (cbf waiting any longer) I'd say I'll struggle to find something to do for next weeks update.

 

So NZ went back into lockdown this week so no chance of getting to the car this weekend, so here's the only update I have for you this week, the confirmed order list from PTen

(will order OE bearings but waiting for machine shop to measure and order the right sizes) let me know if I missed anything you think I need!

 

Parts are here, dropped off to engine builder last night, just waiting for plasti-gauge results before ordering bearings (going OEM)


Also placed an order on an upcoming origin labo container, won't be here till jan which sucks, its just a finishing touch though, can get the car back on road without it. lets see if the origin labo order or the works wheels show up first!

 

2 and a bit months later;

A little bit of progress, was told I'll have the engine back by Xmas so looking forward to that.

A mate has bought a compressor and gun to respray his drift car over the Xmas break, I'm gonna give my engine bay a crack at the same time, doesn't have to be perfect, just a repspray not a colour change. Always wanted to give painting a go with a proper setup.

Hard to believe I pulled the engine out over a year ago. I was hoping to have this car done by October (2 months ago) but oh well.

Here's a bit of a photo dump from the last few months:



Cant wait to test fit these! well worth the wait

All going well I'll make a post in Jan with the engine bay painted, engine mounted, wheels on and ready to go for new loom and ecu install

 

Thanks Mate, was dubious about the location, will tap it once I get the engine back, got a mate who has done it many times

 

First update for 2022;

slow but steady progress. spent the last few weekends sanding, priming and painting the front end of the shell. first time using a spray gun and was a lot of fun, I think I probably had the pressure a tad low as some coats came out a bit to think, that caused a bit of orange peel but happy with the results.


Decided to underseal the front arches as well so out come the subframe and suspension




Sanded down to 400, Primed sprayed then down to 600 and scotchbrighted





Really like how the silver contrasts with the red.

 

Another 6 months and not too much to show, here's what's been going on;

1) Moved workshop
The friend I shared the space with had just finished the shed at his house and another friend had a space available that I could afford on my own


2) Picked up the engine




Recently received the ECU, Coils, Trigger kit and clutch. Just waiting on new bell housing bolts and hoping () to have it in the bay one weekend soon. from there its:

1)get the loom made up
2) replace OEM arms with adjustable ones
3) mount wheels
4) engine run in (on dyno)
5)body tidy up
6) Certification process to get it street legal

knowing my speed and luck it will be ready for certifying just as all the certifiers shut for a few weeks of Christmas & New Years.

Starting to see the finishline though

 

Thanks Dirk, starting to see the end in sight

 

Having spent the last few weekends in the shed, starting to feel like its all coming together,

I finished work a day before most for the Xmas break so took the tires down to a friend's workshop to get them fitted


Came out looking so good, couldn't wait to get them on the car, didn't even take the time to get a photo of them off the car.

They are 18x9.5 +12 Cr Kais for the front and CR2ps for the rear. I spent a lot of time on nicedayz (https://nicedayz.net/) checking out various setups to try get a balanced fitment that looked aggressive, retained the stock guards (over fenders are for track cars only, I'll day on that hill), and also fit within the legal camber measurements here which is a smig over -2 front and rear.

Rather than fit the wheels straight away with the oe arms I decided to put all the adjustable arms on 1st

Went with TSD after recommendations from a few people, easy install, just dowsed the ~30 year bolts in CRC first

Straight away put them on silly settings just for a few pics

Remember when this was a trend, #CC fitmentz


Well over the -2 Degree Limit Lol

At this point guards are untouched, even the lip hasn't been rolled in. The plan was always to roll the lips and pump the guard just slightly,

wanting an end result something like this..


Anyway here's how it all sits at the moment


If you look closely you'll notice there are no calipers on the rear, and to the left of the engine is a set of r33 gts25t brakes.

New rotors/pads and handbrake shoes are due to show up this week, with a long weekend here this coming week I'm hoping to put the engine in one day, rear brakes the next and a day to sit and stare at it

Talk Soon
Matt

 

Drum roll please.......................




its back together! well close enough for an update anyway

with the all the engine hoses and pipes sorted


Next step is fuel plumbing, have specced out what I need, going to keep the factory hard line under the car then convert it to -6an to the filter, rail and FPR.

Then brakes, engine bay reassembly and wait for my loom to be done,

then I guess its dyno and run in time, weird, I'm sure some other headaches will pop up but didn't realise how close I was to the light at the end of the tunnel until typing this all up.

Finally, it only felt right to wait until the engine was in before testing the new hood, im liking it ALOT