S13 180SX project

Hi all!

Recently got my first japwagon, a 1992 S13 180SX. 1 of 4 in the country.



Here she is. Not pretty by any means, it needs some love- Let's be honest, much love.

Car has a lot of nice bits, the engine has been built with arp studs, gasket, 2860 turbo, cams, ASNU 340 LPH pump, and HKS exhaust. Makes ~300 hp @ 1 bar.

It looks like crap. Ugly, broken bumpers, a cracked and very bad paintjob, and sadly has some not-so-lucky work put into it.

Cosmetically, I wont do much before winter. I'm still getting used to RWD, so keeping it this way I wont end up smashing my new panels. A thorough detail and probably some black vinyl to cover the roof and pillars is all I'll do.

First up was new tyres, as they had been absolutely slaughtered. Fitted some Rotalla Sepula 01 something something. Keen to see how these perform.



Next project up was fixing the gruesome battery relocation. It had red cable for both ground and live, and was done with 10mm2 / 4 awg cable, and the fuse was in the engine compartment..

So, I set out to fix that aswell. I bought some 35mm2 / 2 AWG, a 200A circuit breaker, and set out to fix this.







So, as you can see, it was pretty bad. I'd even say dangerous. The cable is way small, and the fuse being there, could start a fire in the cabin if anything shorted before that.













Done for the day, finished the front portion of it, just need to hook up the battery and circuit breaker in the boot, then I can start assembling the whole thing. I'll post an update tomorrow

 

Yeah, not planning to let it go to waste.

The danish motor register says only 4 are registered at least, dont know about not registered. But yeah, a good condition S13 180 is big money here!

 

Got some more work done on the 180.
Not as much as I'd hoped, as the door pins are completely stuck. Tried heat, hammer, and a bigger hammer- they dont budge at all. Doors are sagging, so I'm going to machine new bushings and pins.

I'll be finishing the electronics tomorrow, wiring the fuel pump to the battery, putting on battery terminals etc.

Cleaned up the ground, as half of it was primer. No wonder the previous owner had grounding issues!
Put on a washer and bolt to mask the grounding point and then covered it with tape, so I could paint it.



Result:



Finished the ground lead, crimped and heatshrinked:



Much better if you ask me!



The edges of the holes I ran the wires through were pretty sharp, so I tossed on some trim(?) to protect them.






Done for the day.
Planning to weld a battery case for the space behind the wheel well, I found a battery that fits perfectly in there.

EDIT: deleted a huge pic that snuck in.

 

Thanks man!

Did I write fuse? I meant to write circuit breaker, as thats what's going in, just like you suggested. I have quick disconnect battery terminals anyway, but it cost the same as the fuse and holder, and this ones cooler than a regular fuse.

 

Got some more work done today.

Noticed the fuel pump was leaking, I could hear the fumes escaping as well as smell gas inside the car. Not exactly ideal!

When I removed the pump, I was greeted by this horrifying sight



Someone whipped out the big caulking gun and went to town on this poor thing... Fearing a dremel / grinder massacre underneath, I set off removing the insane amount of caulking, to find out the way small power wires had been ran through the lid, instead of wired to the terminals that serve this very purpose.. the wires weren't even secured, nor were the drilled holes de-burred... some people!

I cleaned it up, and sanded the surface ready for TIG welding tomorrow when the last gas has evaporated. No more driving around in a timebomb, and no more getting high on gas fumes!



Ordering some new terminals for this connector, so I can replicate the original wires... someone cut out the middle part and soldered it back in- what the actual f...?!



Soldering on the fuel pump was a really sad job, so I crimped two new wires and put them in. Still trying to figure out if heatshrink was a bad idea or not, currently have a piece soaking in gas to find out.



Soldered to the terminals... as they should be!



Finito. All set, ready to go. I'll be redoing most of the wires whenever I figure out where I can get the right terminals for it, this is a temporary fix.
Also hoping to source a new rubber grommet / boot, anyone?



The previous owner had put in a relay, of the same work quality as above, so I decided to redo that one aswell, with a fused relay this time. I cut the original power wires, using them as signal wires, and running 2.5mm2 wire from the battery terminals to the pump, via the relay.



Also, my beloved postman came with more parts!
Aluminum steering rack bushings, and a short throw shifter! The gear lever bushings are shot, there's so much play in the gear lever it's not even funny. Why not get a short throw and bushings, for the same price as OEM bushings?



That was it for today. Tomorrow I'll be doing major progress, battery is going in which means I can finish the power leads, hook up the pump, and start troubleshooting a lot of neglected electrics.

Also, does anyone have the golden hint for getting STUCK door pins out? I've tried heating them with a gas burner, hammer and chisel, and chisel and a bigger hammer. It doesn't budge one bit, whatever I do. C clips are out!

 

Update time!

Car now starts and runs! I got the battery installed and charged, and the car now starts reliably, compared to before, because of the undersized ground cable. I'm still waiting for the crimps to finish the wiring for the pump, so I didn't pay much attention to cable management.




The fuel pump cover was looking poor, and I had to kill some time while a mate was using some of my tools, so I glass blasted and powdercoated it.




I got the short shifter installed, much less wobble in the lever and the throw is noticeably shorter.



Started fixing the horn, as it's currently wired to a button on the dash. Soldered a 12v wire onto the ring, and tapped a hole for the ground.
I might need some help on this one though- my understanding is the ring gets 12v, and when you press the button it's supposed to short to ground, correct? I fear the guy cut the original wires, as I can't read any power at the fusebox.



The dash had horrible blue bulbs installed, looked so cheap.. I ended up getting some OSRAM T10 bulbs for it, and it made a huge difference.

Problem:


Solution:


It looks blue in pictures, but it's white in person. Much better!



But, the needles are absolutely horrid... can't have that! I brought the speedo home, and dropped it on the asphalt in my driveway.. the lens shattered, and the frame took a beating. Friend had a spare speedo from his 240, which I got for a steal. Ended up building a franken speedo, which turned out very nice!



I've come to the conclusion the door hinges are FUBAR. Rusted beyond any chance of me getting them apart. We got one pin out, after half an hour of hammering and heating. The other is so stuck we decided to quit before breaking the welds or bending the whole thing.
Luckily, I have a mate with a set of doors with nice hinges he'll sell me for cheap. They need paint and one has a dent, but it's definitely fixable.



While I was at my mates to look at the doors and speedo, I noticed he had some manifolds lying around.
One was a japspeed tubular which would fit my car, and I just couldn't help myself but buy it. Threads weren't good, so I welded in some bolts and cut them down. Voila, free studs!








Next up on my to do list are tons of small electrical fixes and change all oils, to get it ready for mot inspection.

 

Yeah sure man. I'll let you know when I get them them done.

 

Made some good progress last night. Pulled the diff, which seems to be a Cusco 1.5 way LSD- pleasant surprise! I put 1.5L fresh 90LS oil in it. I was fearing it was welded, but turns out it was just bad oil.

Also appears the car has 5 bolt R32/33 axles fitted, not the stock 6 bolt. Awesome!

Changed the gearbox oil aswell, for some Castrol dexron 2 ATF, 2.5 liters.

Removed the ground cable which was run under the car.

Installed new rack and pinion bushings, I bought some solid aluminum bushings from Epman.

I tried to replace the steering rack bushing, but it was so annoying to get to them that we gave up. It seems like the steering colums are too far apart for it to work properly? The two metal washers don't even touch the bushing. Anyone have experience on this?

I didn't take any pictures, as my hands were so dirty I didn't dare touch my phone, lol.