Scrapage Scheme Survivor S13

Right I bought this heap in July because I have always loved s13's and fancied a challenge/project cost of the car was £400 and I bought all the guys spares aswell for an extra £250. Which I didn't think was a bad deal as he had owned 11 S13's.







I was told the car was complete apart from engine, gearbox and loom. So i thought this is the perfect time for an engine swap originally I wanted to go for the 1JZ but due to this being my first project and having next to no experience I thought an SR swap would be easier and more realistic.




Interior wasn't in bad condition just needed a bit of a cleanup really seats will be changed at some point.



Got the car in the garage to start taking it apart.




After a couple of hours of drilling out and re tapping snapped off bolts, i decided to put it all back together to see how panel gaps are looking and lining up. Must say I was pretty happy and it almost looks like a car.



The paint work wasn't in the best of shape as someone at some point had clearly painted the car with about 20 cans of matte black halfords spray paint which looks pretty shit. so I thought I may aswell start the job of sanding.







The more I sanded the more i realised how much this car needs a proper paint job, about 4 different colours in total I reckon.

So I started trawling the internet for a heart for this poor abused soul. there was a couple to chose from but one did catch my eye fresh rebuild with all new gaskets. The package was up for £1000 starting bid, so with a cash offer of £900 the same day the engine was mine. For that I got an SR20 with padel clutch and gearbox and complete engine loom without NATS so the wiring wouldn't be too tricky.






Right so before the engine went in may aswell clean up the engine bay a bit with a quick lick of paint and a rub down.









The standard engine mounts were pretty shot so they were swapped out for the solid poly japspeed ones.

Had to start making the loom with the John Bennet guide which was very clear after a couple of reads through.



A couple of hours later.....not the cleanest of jobs but it should do the trick, i am no electrician.



Engine in time.







Wasn't as tricky as i thought, with a decent crane it only took about 15-20 mins to get the engine and box in with the mounts lined up.

Couldn't mount the box up though as i didn't have this crossmember.



Once again back to eBay and £20 later I got one sent to me.

So now the engine is all in thought may aswell start plugging some bits in, might notice I acquired a HKS mushroom with my AFM for a good deal.



You can see there is a bit of a gap at the front of the bay so I thought I better order a new radiator. I didn't fancy shelling out ££££'s on Mishimoto so i opted for the new driftworks supercool for about £180 not to bad i thought.

Not to shabby.



Didn't get any photos but I got a new turbo off a friend its a T28r off a S15 also came welded to the manifold so no chance of coming loose. Once the turbo was on I was in need of an intercooler, so i went and ordered one up.
The next day it looked like this........



Made the mistake of ordering the intercooler kit for a 180sx assuming it would be the same but be warned it doesn't fit and does require a bit of modifying.



With a bit of leftover pipework managed to make the air intake to the turbo hard piped which i thought was a bit of a result.



You can see the turbo welded the manifold in this photo, and can see some of the braided lines.





Right so all that needs doing engine wise now is plugging everything in and getting all the hoses connected up, so a friend of a friend offered to get it going for me as he has a whole heap of spares and had everything needed to get it going. So i borrowed a van from work bought a tow bar and rented a trailer.



So this is where we are now, the car was dropped off then I had a well timed holiday to Tenerife and whilst i was away i got a call to tell me the car was running. so the trailer is booked for tomorrow and I can go get it so should be one the road soon. Then I start buying non essential bits like wheels, bodykit, seats etc. I thought i would wait before buying these parts incase there was any problems engine wise but seems to be ok. Can't wait to pick it up will update tomorrow with running video if all goes to plan.

 

Thanks mate

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Thanks i will keep it updated

 

This is not the cheapest way to do it believe me

 

Hi mate thanks so am I not looking for ridiculous power around 300bhp will be more than enough, but expecting 250-260 to start with

 

Thanks mate, Yer i can't wait to see it running will update

 

Thanks mate this was my thinking

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I did over Dartford way

 

Frustrating day today, picked the car up yesterday then set to work on it this morning. The only bit that needed plumbing up was turbo oil return, which took me much longer than hoped because of the retarded angles in which the pipes came out the sump and the turbo but got there eventually. Then topped her up with oil to realised the battery was pretty much dead, then set up my mums BMW to jump it to then find i have no petrol (what a twat). So another day before i can hear her roar. On a plus note I did have enough power to put the pop up lights up and put the windows up and down, so that was pretty exciting.

 

Haha no, this effect is called being a penis and rushing it in the dark

 

So popped down to halfords and picked up some bits including a battery, needs a bit of work still but happy for now.