My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

This is for all those PICTURE THREADS ONLY. Motor installs, product writeups, showing off your car, put the thread in here.
Post Reply
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Hello everyone and thanks for dropping in to take a look.

I hope to document my adventure of building for me, my dream 240sx. This will be the 2nd 240 I have owned, the first was also a 91 SE. My goal is to build a 300-500 hp (More on this soon) KA24DE-T car in stages.

Step 1: Acquire 240sx. My itch for another 240 began after stumbling upon Jimmy Oakes on youtube. I think I made it something like 90 days before I was dead set on ruining my life. I searched for the right car for approximately a year before finding this one. The right car for me was one the didn't look molested for under $2000.

9-18-2018
I found this car crazy close considering my search radius was the east coast, only two hours away. It was a non running car with a spare motor from an auto car. I jumped on it the moment the car was posted and not long after I was off to get it with my trusty side kick Greg. Without this man, none of this would ever have gotten off the ground. We scoop the car and head back. The truck is Greg's. Image


The previous owner had told us the spare motor should run, we've all heard that one before. The original motor had a bad knock, something I am far to familiar with on these motors. We decide to chance it and swap the spare in untested, its only a few hours of time to find out right?! Luck was with us and the motor ran pretty well!

Image
Spare motor that I did not have much hope for when we first got it.


Image
Greg solo pulling the blown motor while I was at work.

I don't really have many photo's in between Greg pulling the motor and the spare going in with help from our friend Joe. It all happened so fast, we pressure washed the car while the motor was out and it was back at my house and running on the 25th. Only 7 days later!!!! I couldn't believe it.

Image

Now that the car was running and driving I learned the rear suspension was shot. I assumed the subframe bushings were gone just from reading. I ordered some KYB struts for the rear and some Nismo subframe bushings. I never got around to installing these during this time frame. Besides the wheel hop I was pleased and it was more than I had ever anticipated by this time. A few days after having gotten the car back to my house I started cleaning the interior the best I could.

Image


Image


Image

The next day after cleaning up the interior a bit I get an email alert I had setup for a 95 J30. Time to go get a VLSD! My plan here was I hope that between using rubber bushings and not solid, and having a plan to swap the transmission hopefully far far from now, the rear seal would hold together long enough to enjoy it. This too did not get installed during this time.

Image
Moments after it landed on my chest.

After getting the few things listed above I just drove it around not having installed them yet. I was enjoying my 30 minutes after work each day far to much to put it under the knife just yet.

I'm fuzzy on the dates but thanks to timestamped photos it looks like I decided turbo dreams needed to happen around January of 2019. I just wanted to get my toes wet in the world of Megasquirt and turbo at the same time. I had been reading about and following the progress of Megasquirt since it first came out and it's something I really wanted to do on this build. I picked one up, installed it (Not really understanding a lot of what I was supposed to do, or the impact of not doing certain things). I drove the car around on Megasquirt and NA for a few more months while collecting pieces for a SR20 setup with ebay manifold.


Image
Hanging on the spare motor.


Image
Dirty but no shaft play and what would become my downpipe after modifications.


While acquiring parts I began to clean up and modify the intake from my spare motor. Per the research I had done it seemed the best choice for me was to weld up the intake and remove the emissions items.


Image


Greg has a sandblaster and we were quick to acquire an oven so that we could powder coat in the garage.


Image
Image
All welded up.


Image


Image


Image


Image

By the end of June Greg had some free time and I had enough parts to start attempt number 1 at KA-T.

Image
I lost the first valve cover to ignorance. I sand blasted the **** out of it, I was so proud about how clean it was. I showed Greg and the disappointment in his eyes made it clear, I ***** up. I got sand blast material in the tray on the inside. I spent some time attempting to clean it up but after drilling the rivets out I learned that was never going to work. We hung it on the wall of shame and coated the other valve cover.


Image
Learning to work with lava wrap. I don't think it came out bad but it is much thicker than I had anticipated.

From here we started putting things back together. The car was apart for approximately two weeks until it was to a point that we needed to be messing with Megasquirt. With some help from a neighbor we were able to get the car started and holding an idle. At this time I had not installed a few critical pieces which combined with my lack of tuning knowledge helped kill the ring lands. I was running no IAT Sensor and my Wideband was not in yet. I really didn't fully comprehend the importance of these components just yet, though I had book knowledge on them from either here, Zilvia, or Corky Bells Maximum boost. Eager to see it move, I drove it untuned and without proper sensors. More on this soon.

Image
I really wanted this lithium battery to work for me. It was a huge weight savings (it weighs like 4lbs) but I think the constant charging once the car was running killed it. Only a few months after buying it and it no longer holds a charge. I will admit, during this time I had lots of issues with the car. Nearly all of them were caused by shortcuts or lack of understanding.

Prior to bringing the car home I put some miles on it near Greg's. The more miles I put on it, the harder I started to push it. The thrill of having a turbo 240 was everything I had dreamed of, even with small puffs of smoke becoming more apparent from the engine bay. I drove the car home, the entire time fighting with the car to keep it from stalling.
Image


After some research I found the smoke from the engine bay was coming from the valve cover. More research brought me to drill out the PCV system on the side of the block and attach a catch can (VTA, 1 hose from PCV, one hose from Valve Cover). At this time I didn't know it for sure, but I was suspect of my ring lands from numerous threads saying they would crack doing what I had done. Realizing this meant I was rebuilding a motor, I continued on and put another 100-200 miles on the car until every time the car car hit boost my engine bay became soaked with oil.

By this time I had parked the car knowing I was at a fork in the road. Do this halfway again and end up with questionable results or learn from my mistakes and do a proper build. The car sat for the next 4-6 months while I decided if and when I was going to mess with it again.

A few months go by and Greg hits me up asking when we are building this 240? I instantly get the itch again. We get the 240 back to Greg's and pull the motor to be sent to the machine shop. By this time, Greg must have several thousand miles of towing experience with a 240 as his load.

After getting the specs from Abacus Racing I begin ordering parts. I hadn't convinced myself to do a "full" build at this point but nonetheless, part orders began.

As of this year I have begun tracking all my parts/maintenance in a spreadsheet. I plan to back date it with parts I had acquired before January of this year. I will share the spreadsheet itself if anyone is interested.

Image

Z1 300ZX Custom Stud Washer Set
ARP Head Stud Kit 202-4304
Cometic MLS Exhaust Gasket
Nissan OEM Water Pump
Competiton Clutch Ceramic 6 Puck Kit
Wiseco AP Forged Pistons Nissan Altima 240SX S13 S14 2.4L 16V KA24DE 89.5mm +0.5mm -22 cc 9.0:1 K586M895AP
Manley Forged H Beam Connecting Rods 3/8 ARP 2000 Bolts Nissan 240SX S13 S14 Altima KA24DE KA24E 14006-4
ARP main stud kit for Nissan 240SX S13 S14 2.4L KA24DE 102-5401 102-5401
Cometic MLS Head Gasket Nissan 240SX S13 S14 91-98 KA24DE 90mm Bore 0.040" 1.0mm Thick C4285-040
BRM 3" Stainless Steel, Single Tip, High Flow Cat, 18 inch Resonator
Electronic Boost Control Solenoid Kit
Oil Pump Gasket
Oil Pump Relief Valve
Oil Pump Gear
Complete Engine Timing Set - Nissan 240SX - 91-98 OSK N124X
ATI Super Damper Harmonic Balancer 917756
Ultimate Dress-Up Fastener Kit: for '89-99 Nissan 240SX S13 ULTS14
Brian Crower Valve Springs Retainers Nissan 240sx KA24DE 2.4L BC0210
Brian Crower Valves Intake STD 36.6mm 240SX KA24DE 2.4L BC3212
ATI Super Damper Harmonic Balancer 917756
Supertech Nissan 7mm Viton Intake or Exhaust Valve Seal KA24DE VS-N7E
Brian Crower VALVE GUIDES - 7mm EXHAUST Nissan KA24DE BC3925 BC3925
Uncracked Dash
ACL Bearing 5M2747H-STD Standard Size 5M2747H-STD
King Race CR4605 Connecting Rod Bearings Standard Size CR4065XP-STD
toe/ ruca/ traction / spindle and sway bar bracket bolts
JGS Hybrid Rubber Engine Mounts
Tomei Adjustable Cam Gear TA302A-NS16A
Tomei CAMSHAFTS SET PONCAM 270 270 9.82 9.82 TA301A-NS16A
DeatschWerks 740cc Side Feed Fuel Injectors 01J-00-0740-4

After some more research I don't know that the stud washers will work with my setup. I thought this is what people were saying to use instead of the stock ARP washers. I'll figure this out later I am sure. I ordered some parts from FRSport and wanted to take to the time to tell people, screw this place. When I owned my first 240 some 8 years ago I used them and never had issues, because of that I chose to purchase from them again. The experience has completely changed and I am still waiting on any sort of communication from them after ordering my ATI Super Damper.

Real Street Performance has been incredible. These guys are over achievers, big shout out to Hanz.

Image


Image


Image
[/quote]
Last edited by erik02 on Fri May 29, 2020 8:29 pm, edited 8 times in total.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Image

Image


Image




Bearings are not in the list at the moment because I am having difficulty locating STD King XP Race bearings. My builder sent me back with the standard ACL's I had before and I trust his opinion on the matter ( I have read to many forum posts arguing about race vs non race).

My plan as of writing this is as follows:

Get the motor back together, rings gapped for 20-25 psi of boost. Get it tuned and broken in properly. I will be running my T25 setup initially and I obviously wont be pushing those boost numbers. A T3 setup is the master plan, in particular a Full Race twin scroll setup.

While the motor sits at the I have been working on the rear subframe. Those Nismo bushings I purchased a year and a half ago are finally being installed.


Miscellaneous photos of parts and a few comments. I will be back to revise this later once we make some more progress. As is I am on the hunt for bearings.


Image This seemed to be the most cost effective and easiest way to avoid having to hunt through two bags on engine bolts that were pretty beat.


Image


Image
We tried a few different things but I was running out of time. I dropped it off to be powder coated black. In hindsight I think I should have ordered an infrared curing lamp.


Image
I didn't originally plan on building the head but my builder says I should at least do springs and of course check the head. We will see if I do more than this. I plan on having some minor work done regardless.


Image
Well I did not expect to find one of these. 12 hours of driving later and its mine!!!

Small update - Just heard back from the machine shop and ordered intake seals and exhaust guides. I think that should be one of the last part orders (Motor related) for at least a little while. Went ahead and canceled my ATI Super Damper from FRSport after a month of trying to contact anyone. I re-ordered it through Real Street Performance and should have it in before I need it.

Image
Subframe looks so much better than before!


Image
I have been really excited about getting this part. I am hoping this helps prevent spinning bearings (I'll do my part of keeping oil in it).


Image
Needed to replace intake valves. Got valve guides and seals too.


Image
Finally found race main bearings in standard. Connecting rod bearings were also located. Fingers crossed they come as expected.


Image
Powder coated the cover. Painted the rest.


Image
Not to bad. Nismo subframe bushings installed, subframe powder coated, VLSD installed.


Image
Pick up some new bolts for everything attached to the rear subframe. Thanks GoDriftToday @ Zilvia.


Image
The hatch has fallen on my head for the last time.


Image
JGS Hybrid adjustable engine mounts!! Can't believe I got a set of these after being discontinued for so long. Just need to locate the transmission mount.


Image
My rod bearings finally made it!!!


Image
740cc injectors, Tomei 270 cams, and Tomei cam gears G25-660.


Image
S13 Stock SR20DET turbo next to the G25-660



Image

Things have really escalated over the past few months. After three trips I finally made it to the machine shop with everything I needed. I am to hype right now that this turbo has arrived.

I've got about a month before my manifold arrives realistically. Until that time here is my to do list.
Battery box rust cut out/ weld in replacement
At least prime the engine bay.
Install dash, figure out where I want my gauges to sit. Find a better way to stuff my megasquirt up in the dash than what I currently have going on.
Rebuild my steering rack. I keep forgetting I need to deal with this.
Gold wrap firewall/trans tunnel. Anything else I can think of.

Things that are on my mind.

Brakes
Coilovers
Brake line relocate
heat shield
The intercooler I already have.
AC lines.
Megasquirt Android Auto/double din lcd - Still trying to figure the best way to implement something. I can handle doing a pi and a 4 channel but I haven't found any great double din screens I would be happy with. Android as a full fledged OS seems dead for head units, I do not know if MSDroid works with Android Auto but if it does this is likely the direction I will go.
New wiring harness

Ordered some more stuff. Trying really hard to avoid running around getting things locally and sacrificing quality when I am trying to to put it all together. There are a few pieces from the complete gasket kits I am trying to find (since I have pieced together 80% of the complete kit already) but I am not sure what they are. I need to spend some time with the FSM and some diagrams.
Image

Made some more progress on the battery box. We had to get a higher quality Miller welder that could run at lower power so we would stop blasting through the metal but it is coming together. Neither of us have either dealt with rust, shaped metal or tried anything like this. I am going to wait until we clean the welds up, prime, and paint it before I decide if I will share. If one day six months from now a mint shell happens to show up, I am willing to relocate everything. Till then we are learning on what I have. I have some body work to learn for dents and what not as well.

I have been thinking about my intercooler as of lately. I think it's undersized for the job. I am running my bumper support bar, my intercooler has brackets attached off the back of the support and it goes down from there. Only about half of the IC gets air flow from the opening in the shark nose bumper. I know that increasing the size of my IC is going to at minimum increase the available surface area for the air to cool as it passes. With it having minimal to know air flow with my bumper support, how much benefit going with a larger larger intercooler while keeping the bumper support?

Tomorrow morning we get back to working with the battery box and hopefully I can start cleaning the bay up some more after that. I ordered white single stage paint but it showed up with its packaging covered in it's contents. Hopefully the replacement doesn't take to long. As long as I can get things primed I will be happy. Still putting lots of thought into my wiring harness. Still haven't touched the spare one sitting behind me lol.

Pending some more feedback, I think I want to run complete GKTech suspension setup. This includes the knuckles that I have been having difficulty locating in condition that I am happy with for the Z32 brake swap. I haven't seen a Z pass through the junkyard near me since covid started. I need this kit plus the z32 brakes and brake lines + e-brake hardware. I need to get started acquiring this stuff because I don't think I can stomach it in a single purchase.

Still daydreaming of the Fortune Auto 510's but I think I will have to settle with 500's with swift springs and aluminum rear body upgrade. We will see.

Wheels- From what I can find, the max tire I am fitting under stock/rolled fenders is 245/40/17 without having problems. I would be running a +22 offset to pull that off leaving me with just a few rim choices. Leaning towards RFP1 for now. I would love to get some MB Battles but I want to have as much contact patch as I can.

I am to impatient. I want to be driving this yesterday.

6/6/20 Edit: Still need to clean this post up. Ordered a street faction crash bar for the front so I can get a bigger intercooler eventually.
Last edited by erik02 on Sat Jun 06, 2020 10:26 am, edited 13 times in total.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

6/18/20 - Meet my new to me 1992 Nissan 240sx.

Image


I didn't really look it over when I picked it up. I purchased the car for battles and 5 lug, everything else was a bonus to me. I've kind of fallen in love with the hard top since then and I have decided to use it.

A few days later we pulled it in the garage and started to pull the motor.
Image

I pressure washed the engine bay once the motor was out, what a mess. The machine shop and my last gaskets came on three days ago, I have been head down trying to work since.

ARP sent a single wrong head nut so while I wait to assemble the engine I am swapping transmissions,driveshaft, and subframe from the white car.
The black car has a short shifter and a few suspension items I need to swap over.

I've been thinking about how low this car sits, I really need to get it off the ground so I don't destroy this exhaust. I was told these coils are siezed so I may be SOL until I pick up some Fortune Autos.

Picture time.

Image


Image


Image


Image

6/27/20 -
I don't have a ton of friends but the ones I do have are the best. The guys have been keeping me focused and moving forward when I have started to spin my wheels deciding what to do next rather than just knocking things out.

On to the car.

I pulled the white hatch in and dropped the transmission and driveshaft. Now that I have had my hands on both I am sure this one is in better condition (Right in the photo below).
Image


Before shot. Wrapped the sensors in aluminum foil and pressure washed it.
Image

All clean
Image

Ready for new seals, paint and I will likely use the short shifter as well. I did not know the black car had that until I ran through the gears the other day. I really want one with the rubber dampener instead of a solid piece.
Image


Cleaned up decently well.
Image


I managed to get the stock motor and the transmission from the black car ready to be bolted into the white car. I plan to get that bolted in this evening which will free up a ton of work space for me.
Image

Once I get that done I need to pull the subframe and fuel pump from the white car. I think those are the last items before I can focus on the black car.

6/29/20 - Got the motor and trans bolted into the white car. Needed the garage space back from the drivetrain. No pictures. We had to fight to move forward today. I left a huge mess for myself to return to tomorrow.

6/30/20 - Started the evening out cleaning gear oil off the garage floor, about half the floor was covered. Started with oil absorb but that didn't go well so I switched it up to the pressure washer which worked great but I only had the wand with me. Last about two hours but this had to be addressed, we were tracking oil everywhere. Towards the end of cleaning up it looked like it was going to rain and I still hadn't moved the cars around.
Image


We rushed to get the black car in the garage but I still had the transmission I had just cleaned up sitting in the front which doesn't really leave us enough room to comfortably work. In it goes!
Image

I called it quits after the transmission install and putting the rear up as high as I could. I am really hoping to have one subframe swapped (White car into black) and the subframe for the other waiting just needing to be assembled and put back.

I need to clean the firewall tomorrow and put the gold reflective stuff on it before I get to far ahead of myself. Motor assembly is going to be starting at the same time. Tomorrow's day begins at 3 am so we will see if I'm useless or not after work.

7/2/20 - I ran into some issues that had to be addressed sooner than later. The idler sprocket threads were missing on the head. We dropped it off to have a Time-Sert installed. It is an unfortunate setback but there is a silver lining. I was worried to begin with about torquing this thing down knowing what I have read. That will not be an issue with a Time-Sert and I know it will be perfectly centered. Discovering this and needing sleep, I called it quits really early and did not do anything with the subframes.

7/3/20 - Woke up with a fire inside of me. I am updating this on my lunch break while my scumbag wrenchin clothes finish washing. It's 95 out and I am working in the sun. The S14 calipers on the rear are completely seized. Bummer. For the time being, I think I will be putting S14 rears back on it. I've been looking for a parts car 300zx to show up somewhere for me to grab everything I need at once at a better price. I still want to do that end goal. Pulling S13 subframes is far easier than I expected now that I have done it a few times. It was such an intimidating thing before but honestly now I think I'd rather take the whole thing out so I can have better access when working when I go to replace all the suspension with GKTech.

Picture time.


Silly ball joint, you won't slow me down today.
Image

I love these cars so much.
Image


Nice and slow. Towels on the ground to scratch it up as little as possible.
Image


This was much easier than I expected. It's such a pleasure to work with clean components.
Image


The plan for the white car is not set in stone yet but I might as well spend ten more minutes to make sure it's clean as it can be.
Image
Image


I can't wait to have new suspension. It won't be long now before I am pulling this back out to install the fortune autos and GKTech kit. I look forward to putting more tire on the ground and popping this stock transmission but till then this will hopefully do. I really hope I don't drag exhaust to bad. These coilovers are seized but they are what I have right now and I just need to get it on the dyno for tuning.


I got it done, both cars are on the ground. This was a big hurdle for me.
Image

7/4/20 - Pushed the cars out and cleaned the garage.

7/5/20 - Found brakes, rotors, emergency brake lines, ebrake hardware. Just got to drive for the next 8 hours to get it. I guess I have more work to do.

7/5/20 - Just got back and these calipers are in excellent condition compared to most of what I have seen around here. Shout out to Kyle at Crutchfield Auto Parts for putting in the time in the baking sun to make sure I could get this stuff today.

7/6/20 - Need to run some new brake hard lines, not sure how much yet. I think I will be holding off on powder coating these calipers until the next time this thing goes under the knife. I just picked up the cylinder head so I will be pushing to get this wrapped up as far as I can this week. The plan is, get to a point where I need to find missing odds and ends.

7/8/20 - Reading the FSM I do not see anything about journal 6 and it's cam cap. Journal 6 on the intake cam (Tomei 270 cams) has light that can be seen through it. I reached out to Tomei but while I wait for a reply I made a post on the KA-T Facebook page and this seems to be normal. Still waiting to here back so I can proceed without worry.

7/9/20 - Sandblasting day. Cleaned up some items the previous owner had painted and started prepping them for powder coating/paint. I had a friend swing by and drop off some NSX calipers to be done as well. They came out okay for minimal effort (They were about to be duplicolored). Not much to see here. Dirty stuff getting cleaned.

7/10/20 - Inching forward on getting this motor together. Sand blasting things that no one will ever see. Tomorrow I need to powder coat first thing in the morning followed by installing calipers/booster/mc. If I can get this done before it rains I will be in a decent spot as in regards to time. We will see what tomorrow brings.

7/11/20 - Worked on the motor. More tapping, chasing, and cleaning.
Image

7/12/20 - Engine is almost entirely together at this point. I need to mount my oil and water lines on my turbo and a few minor things. I keep kicking brakes/reflective tape down the road. I'm trying to get to this after work today.
Image

7/13/20 - Old brake booster unbolted, replacement cleaned up/primed/painted. Same with the Master Cylinder. I wanted to swap the container like I have read but I am damn sure I will break it if I try. I am just going to order a Z32 fluid level connector.
Image
Image
Last edited by erik02 on Mon Jul 13, 2020 7:24 pm, edited 6 times in total.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

7/14/20 - Brake booster wrapped in gold tape. Found a few things I was missing bracket wise and put them on the motor, cleaned out the garage and got it ready to pull the car in. We have oil and water lines to attach on the turbsky. Triple check bolts, install oil pickup and gasket, install oil pan.
Image


Image
Greg daydreaming about getting my **** out of his garage :D



7/15/20 - Greg installed my reflective tape after watching me crinkle it up and install it. He did an excellent job. Messing with oil and water feeds, installing clamps, checking bolts over. Slow night, lots of little things to do. Car is finally in the garage with the engine.
Image



7/16/20 - Installed 300zx front brakes and lines, waiting for GKTech ebrake cables before I do the rear. I will not be powder coating these until I do a full suspension build in a few months. Installed a new rubber transmission mount, the previous one I had was ripped causing the transmission to rotate way to far when not attached to the motor. I think me letting the transmission hang from the mount when the engine is out is a big contributing factor to this.
Image
Image
Image


7/17/20 - We (Greg lol) remembered that plate behind the flywheel this time!!! Had a hard stopping point this evening and ran out of time. Back at it in the AM.
Image


7/18/20 - Rough day. Could not for the life of me get the transmission to mate with the engine. I checked the clutch alignment tool a hundred times and it would go in but we couldn't get the transmission input shaft past the first 1/4 inch or so. After removing the engine and transmission we found the clutch alignment tool to have a good amount of slop in it. After putting it back on while holding everything tighter than before we were able to bolt it together outside the car. This meant draining the transmission fluid and removing the short shifter. Long day, I felt defeated.
Image



7/19/20 - I set the bar low today. It's bolted in, I will get back to it tomorrow.
Image


To do list and this will grow I am sure.
Cut and install intercooler piping. Some of this still needs to be welded up/custom fit.
Fuel pump.
E-Brake cables
Rear brakes
Rear brake lines (Replacing a rusted line)
Gap spark plugs
Install ECU
Fluids
Torque Harmonic balancer
Wiring harness

???
Profit

7/20/20 - Starter installed, engine mounts tightened, dipstick installed, put oil in it, removed the hard line for the charcoal canister, found I need to run another hard line up front that was damaged, turbo oil feed replaced with one that reaches properly. I guess I will deal with some brake lines tomorrow so it doesn't hold me up. I have some new AC components coming Wednesday. My daily driver has a wheel bearing that has started to fail. Looks like I need to address that as well.


7/21/20 - Removed wideband, boost gauge, ecu and the intercooler from the white car. Found I hadn't tightened the oil pan drain bolt all the way and I had leaked some break in oil. Whoops. Tightened it and cleaned the floor enough I should be able to tell tomorrow if its still leaking. Today we got the glove box modified to fit the Megasquirt ECU. This took a bit longer than I anticipated but I didn't just hack the **** out of the glove box like I originally planned. I am satisfied. Few part orders are coming a day late, that ended up being okay as I am not moving as quick as I thought I would this week. Tomorrow I have the AC components arriving, emergency brake line plate, gktech emergency brake lines.
Image


7/22/20 - Transmission bolts, gktech ebrake cables and mounting bracket arrived. I installed the transmission bolts and wiring harness today but after that I just cleaned the garage. The car has been flipped around so I can do brakes tomorrow.

7/24/20 - Took a few days off to catch up on rest. Started on the brakes and ran into issues with the ebrake adapter that cost me a fair amount of time.

7/25/20 - More brake related stuff, wiring, more wiring.
Image
Image
Image
Image


7/26/20 - Made some good progress! More wiring done, brakes/emergency brake complete. Engine accessories bolted back on excluding alternator (ordered new bolts). Ordered some more miscellaneous stuff for wiring and a few couplers.
Image
Image

7/27/20 - More time hunting for bolts. Not much progress today. Mocked a few things up. Realized I need to stop ***** with this ebay intercooler after having thrown this much money at the build and I ordered a greddy kit. Still searching for the rest of my driveshaft bolts.

7/28/20 - Wiring stuff didn't show up so I just pulled the front bumper cover and ran my engine bay wiring harness under the intake manifold instead of above it. Hoping to make a dent in the remaining work tomorrow.


7/29 - 8/2/20 - Busy busy busy. Got a few more wires to run, belts to put on, fuel pump to install and AC lines to the compressor to install. That's the bulk of it. Car is at fab for welding now. Can't wait.


8/21/20 - :blue: Registered the car and got my plates! It just so happened that I got a call my car was ready for pickup and we were able to get a trailer. This weekend I hope to get the last loose ends taken care of and I would like to test fire so I can be a little more comfortable before I hit my tuner up.

~Weekend of 8/21 -
Got it back together, went to prime the oil pump and no oil pressure. Whomp. I've spent a few days thinking, researching, more thinking, more looking at All Data /FSM Diagrams. It's so basic, but I have zero oil pressure. It is not making it to the oil filter. (Fast forward a week and I took it apart/confirmed oil was not making it to the oil pump).

8/30/20 - Been thinking non stop on how this happened. My first hunch was air. I did NOT pack the pump with grease or anything (All Data makes no mention of it.) I knew that I had put the pickup tube gasket on as well as the time cover side gasket. I was positive. The only thing I was unsure of during this rebuild of the oil pump was the two washers that were included for the relief valve. I placed one on top, and one on the bottom of the spring. When I put it back together I will place both washers on the bottom (Bolt side). I will be using engine assembly lube to pack the pump this time. Now that I have confirmed I had all my gaskets in place, I feel better about the possibility it just could not pull oil due to the air. I hope to provide an update tomorrow.


8/31/20 - Cleaning timing cover and oil pan of RTV. Ordered new Amsoil Break-in oil. Once my break-in oil arrives I will put it back together but this time the pump will have grease in it. Still need to get under the car and clean the block side. Slow and steady. Glad to have caught this now than later. It also gave me an opportunity to wrap my downpipe. Fab shop installed it for and I was not expecting that. The lazy was kicking in and I was considering not wrapping it.
Image
Image



9/5/20 - I've got oil pressure!!!!!!!! What a pain in the ass this lesson was. I filled the oil pump with assembly lube and lucas oil stabilizer. It built oil pressure within 15 seconds. On my break right now then back to work, goal is to get the engine bay back together tonight. My tuner isn't available yet so I can stop rushing.



9/7/20 - First start!! Followed by finding the last thing leaking I wanted to deal with. One of my coolant feed lines for the turbo (Closest to the block) is leaking. Time to take it apart again. Boo. Once I was done bitching Greg pushed me to get it torn apart. Got home, ordered a new banjo bolt (Not taking this apart and putting it back together only to find it leaking past the bolt next). Also went ahead and ordered a real HKS SSQV bov, the one I had before was fake and my buddy Josh has convinced me that the last few things aren't to be skimped on. Meanwhile, Josh has been killing it on my wiring. Heat wrapped, fused and run off a relay. This is proper.
Image
Image
Image
Image


9/8/20 - Got a second uncracked dash...and this one is MINT!!!! I was going to give myself stomach ulcers worrying about the day that the first one eventually cracks. I needed this for my sanity.
Image



9/9/20 - Going to finish this wiring tonight.


9/12/20 - I would make a terrible project manager lol. Todays to do list. I will get to some of this, it's a lazy day.

Hook up Boost Gauge vac
Testing connections with ECU
Wire Management
Dimmer Switch (boost gauge)
Radio Harness
Re-install coolant lines, exhaust manifold, downpipe.

Later that night 9/12/20 - At least I dream big lol. Got a few things done. Ended up taking the manifold and turbo out to properly address the problem rather than fight with no room. Pretty confident I found the issue. My fitting was hitting the plug for the secondary in/out coolant line that sits below it (2 on each side in or out). Thinking about some Stage8 Manfiold nuts. Oh yea, I did purchase a real HKS SSQV! Somehow got serial number ending in 007 :D

Image
Noticeable differences are a few parts that were plastic on the fake are metal. It was also much easier to install than the fake IMO. Stupid clip.


Image
Back at it tomorrow. Goal is to get the lines back on. I think I am going to clearance the engine mount a bit more while I have room again. Still need to address this oil drain again. I am the king of misplacing things and seem to have lost the hose I just got for it.

9/13/20 - I think I have my coolant lines addressed. Ordered the Stage8 locking fasteners. Spent the rest of the day cleaning up the mess of coolant and oil I have made. Will get back at it in a day or two.

9/15/20 - Went hunting for oil resistant hose locally. That did not go as planned and I didn't get anything done. Good news is I found a place that does have it locally but store hours aren't great. Trying to get to them tomorrow.
Last edited by erik02 on Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:42 am, edited 21 times in total.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

9/16/20 - Stage8 locking manifold nuts, Amsoil oil, StreetFaction ebrake plate for z32 brakes and crash bar arrived! I think my work was a bit sloppy today so I am a bit reluctant to post this video but, I did start it and verified no leaks from my problem areas before. Now that I am not dumping coolant, I can see I have a coolant leak at one my T's.
Image

This video is on a base map, un-tuned, running an 8 AFR. I was only checking for leaks. Don't have my radiator shroud on, wires are routed temporarily because of this. Lots of other half ass things I am sure. Feeling motivated now at least to get this thing back together.
https://youtu.be/0HWxRxO0v40

9/something/20 - I have completely lost track of time. I addressed another coolant leak I found. I had forgotten to make any attempt at all to tighten the clamp on the elbow that comes off the block above the starter. I guess that's what doing a shakedown is for. I hopefully have this resolved, I addressed a fitment issue with the front wheels and ordered my front sway bar bolts/slave cylinder bolts. It's a bit late to be testing clutch engagement, fingers crossed no issues.
Current to do list - Install:
Front swab bar
Rear sway bar
Slave Cylinder
Finish putting interior back together.
Test clutch engagement, do 30 more shakedowns. I an trying so hard to bring my tuner a headache free car that does not leak.
Image
Image
I am so thrilled to have this not hanging around in the passenger floor board.

9/21/20 - Spent a good portion of the night attempting to bleed clutch. Spent a lot more time avoiding removing the clutch damper box...



9/22/20 - Started my day with removing the clutch damper box and was able to instantly bleed the clutch. Today, the 2turdy moved on her own power :D I placed a bunch of rags under it after letting it run for ~20 seconds and I will check it again tomorrow. I have a few loose ends to address. First, I will not be taking the car with the radiator shroud on it. I have been fighting fitment on this thing for more time than it is worth (Fall is here, if it wasn't for cooler weather I would still be messing with this). If I can get my head straight and try again I might but at this exact moment, I'm done with it. Besides the fan shroud, I need to zip tie up all my cables/wiring so they are not near hot components (Read on the KA-T Facebook page this was a suggestion from someone that works at a shop) and put my last few interior pieces back together.

9/26/20 - Finished up the loose ends. Still have an oil leak from my oil drain, its slow but unacceptable with as much time as has been put in. Going to buy a new oil pan and convert to AN lines in the future. Out of time for addressing that now, break-in tune is tomorrow. Fingers crossed things go well. I am so nervous.

9/27/20 - Dyno day!!! Ran into some odd issues but I had to play the cards I was dealt. Brakes were dragging, I did not anticipate this at all. My guess is the previous owner had 30mm rotors on 26mm calipers but I have not yet been back to Greg's to verify this. I will figure it out. My clutch pedal freaking broke!!! Of all things...What?! The hook that the spring attaches to broke off and caused for some funkiness. My turbo drain oil leak....was obnoxious. I purchased a brand new oil pan from NissanParts already but it won't arrive until 10/6. My timing was off by a tooth (distributor). I have a vacuum issue that I am still chasing down. My vacuum tester arrives today (Writing this 9/29) so more to come on that. The BOV was never opening and my turbo didn't build boost past 12 psi. I ordered a boost leak tester and will get that sorted as well. With all that said, yesterday was not about numbers, it was about verifying I had a healthy motor and finding the problems that came up. I am happy to say though, besides the above items I think it's good. I have at least another tuning session to do with Peter from PF Tuning before things are where I want them to be. Peter was absolutely fantastic, he went above and beyond and was extremely patient. Big shout out to my friends whom showed up, I wouldn't have even made it on the dyno that day without them. You guys ***** rock.

I couldn't resist driving it for 30 seconds even with the issues above. I will post some dyno pulls when I get a chance.
https://youtu.be/cn_kuZCXF1A

10/4/20 - Mostly photo spam from the days before. Ordered some things. Making moves on this as soon as my schedule permits.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

10/14/20 - I've been busy with work and repaying those that helped me with this build, just now getting to wrench on it. Mostly photo spam again. I unbolted my engine mounts, the oil pan, trans braces and painted the primer portion of the oil pan. My pup was having stomach problems so the night got cut short, will return to finish this soon.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

That's it for now. Just spam. I need to get this oil pan installed, make this AN line, put the AN drain fitting on the turbo side, I have two T's coming off my heater hoses that are plastic, I am swapping these out for metal ones. I have a vacuum issue that I haven't wrapped my head around yet. I have a T off a vacuum port. One side goes to my BOV, the other to my boost controller. Pulling the line off the boost controller changes my idle. Pulling the line of my BOV does not impact idle (and I can feel the vacuum). I am chasing at least one issue where my BOV is not opening at all and I am getting compressor surge.

After that, I need to troubleshoot my brakes sticking after the brake is pressed. I am 90% sure I have 30mm calipers on 30mm rotors. I will be referencing the sizes in importnut brake article to ensure I have the correct calipers and rotors. Hopefully my booster or mbc isn't bad (though mbc wouldn't really bother me but I have ~$100 in gold foil on my booster).


10/15/20 - Got the oil pan installed! Woot woot! It was a battle to get the old one off and out since I had the car sitting to high on jack stands and didn't have enough height on the jack when lifting the motor. After repositioning everything I was able to get it out. Next battle was getting the engine mounts to line up, the passenger side was about half an inch back (towards the rear) and I had to fight with it to get it in the slot but with a little help from a friend I was able to get it done. Hopefully I can get the rest of the work knocked out Saturday, I am itching to drive this thing so badly. Just a note, I think this is the absolute best position for an oil drain on a bottom mount setup. I can't speak for a top mount but I can't see how it could be bad. I have SO much room and my line is going to be ~9 inches or so. It clears the AC easily, the low profile 90 helps immensely clearing engine mounts and I definitely think my issue should be resolved.

Image
Image
Image


10/18/20 - Made my first AN lines, very easy to do with a cutting wheel on an angle grinder and the electrical tape method. Ran into fitment issues everywhere. I had to cut the excess of the back side of my engine mount about a 1/4 inch in, about 1 inch down so that I could put the AN fitting on the turbo. Afterwards I fought to get the AN line on and was able to do so, but only finger tight. I cant get tools in there. Hmmmm. Probably going to take the AC compressor off so I can reach the hose but damn I dont want to do that right now. In the meantime, it was good enough to not leak and I got to drive it a bit more (Only goal for this weekend that I was dead set on). After letting it run for an hour and putting around a bit I pulled it back in the garage to cool off before shutting it down...when I noticed a sweet smell in the air. My old radiator hoses gave up the ghost before I replaced them and sprung a leak. I also got some advice from a mechanic friend that told me to bleed my brakes a million and one times before I replaced my brake booster/MC. Brakes will start dragging after a bit and after the car is off for a little bit, they stop being stuck. Hmmm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rrFOYrzOhk

10/19/20 - Replacing radiator hoses and heater core T with metal ones.

10/22/20 - I was not able to get my hands in the area for the heater core T's so I did not get that done on 10/19 however, I had a friend help me last night and he got things done. I had to purchase a set of crows foot wrenches, in particular a 26MM to tighten my AN lines. Worked SO well. I replaced my Master Cylinder for my brakes but while I was in there, I realized the rod for the booster was threaded all the way out. I threaded this in with a 7mm wrench and held the rod with some vice grips. Afterwards, my brakes were no longer getting stuck on. I am pretty sure my issue was the booster rod not my MC but its done now. I managed to get my bumper on as well. I've been looking at it for so long without it, it looks so much more tame with the shark nose on it. Time to get these break-in miles done and get this thing re-tuned. As is the drivability is not great, it breaks up hard below 3000 rpm and my redline is currently set at 6000 for my own good. Sometime in between, I need to replace my coils. The back left is 100% blown and sitting all the way compressed causing my exhaust to hang dangerously low. The bank account can't handle another 3k expense for coils just yet, let alone the 3k in GKTech **** I want. Soon. I post on Instagram occasionally @watthefluff. Very excited for this weekend, Battle of the Bay drift event is running in Hampton and it's by far the closest FD level action I can see.


10/25/20 - I ***** love this thing. G25-660 is a everything I wanted from a turbo. She whistles starting at around 1500 rpm and I built this car for noises alone lol. I've put 150 miles on it since dyno day and will be racking up more once the rain stops. I need to bleed my brakes again, I plan on getting a pneumatic bleeder, I do enough car stuff nowadays it's worth it to me to own it. I desperately need to order my suspension, these blown eBay coils are killing me and even worse, might kill someone else if they decide to exit the vehicle at any speed. I am hoping to score a deal on some stuff for Black Friday if GKTech and Fortune have any deals. I got a finishing nail in my rear tire last night and in the sidewall of all places...but I guess I needed to move up to 255's anyways. Soon. I'll post some videos and what not once I get the next tune done and turn the boost up, for now it's on 12 psi and a 6000 rpm redline to be safe while I complete these break-in miles. Since I fixed the vacuum issue (No vacuum not leaking oddly enough) I have a high idle but I will get that taken care of soon.

10/30/20 - Welp. Figured out why I have a high idle. My brake booster was failing, it has now failed. Prior to having identified it as failed I picked up a pneumatic brake bleeder (Pretty useful) and brake bleeding wrenches which are a must have. Waiting for a new booster ( I have a rock hard pedal, have gone through a test procedure and it failed the tests).

Image
After more research, my opinion is the only thing that would improve brake bleeding life over these, is Speed Bleeders.


Image
Figured out why my headlights weren't going up and down.....I forgot to plug them in! Yay for easy fixes.

Soon as I get these brakes to cooperate with me I will get he rest of these brake in miles done followed by more dyno tuning.

11/1/20 - 12/1/20
Lots has happened. I have replaced my booster, taped it all up and what not. Resolved my brake issue, the next day the diff seized up. Totally my fault. I apparently did not tighten the bottom diff cover bolts when I installed the subframe and I have only been paying attention to fluid leaks up front.
Hunted all over for a J30 diff, I like not having to change my axles and the 3.92 ratio, only to find the 6 bolt ones are terribly hard to locate in a pinch. I ended up buying a 5 bolt and swapping my flanges. Had a guy respond with that he had a 6 bolt to an ad I posted and I went and scooped it. Exterior was in horrible condition 2/10. I put the first unit I purchased in the car, it seems to be working well.
Have an issue I was having at my dyno day. Losing tach signal. I think my distributor is failing but I've never troubleshot an issue like this. Symptoms are, I can be cruising (shortly after warmup or after a while) and it seems to start breaking up sometimes it will drop tach signal and when this happens it begins to die if it doesn't come back quickly. Hasn't shut off on me yet. I just began replacing components troubleshooting.
I ordered some more parts. I shouldn't have, but I did. Fortune Auto coilovers and everything Dorki Dori currently makes for the type x stuff. Side skirts, front lip, valances, side bumper things.

Goals are to figure out what is going on ignition wise, ensure the car is sorted enough to belong on the dyno, pick the hottest day I can and go turn it up a few pounds.

12/1/20 - 12/17/20
I've just passed 1000 miles on the build. Playing around with noise filter settings seems to be doing something for my sync errors, could just be me. Still having an occasional issue, but it seems random. I want to find some EMI shielding to put over my wires but my google fu is failing me. I think I will replace the distributor when I see my tuner again. I don't want to have an issue with trigger angles and setting the timing again.

I've had another small issue with my oil drain, the connection loosened just a small amount but enough to kink the hose and cause some smoking. It's been addressed but it is still an area that could use improvement. Impatiently waiting for my coilovers to arrive, regretting not having purchased my GKTech kit, still need to install my headlights.

I need to fix my seat belts not retracting. Plan on starting here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC7W7Fd6XJU

12/26/20 - December has not been kind to me. The alternator on the 240 died while I was driving. This is on me, I left this thing outside for months while I worked on the car and still chose to use it.


1/6/20 - Since I needed to replace the alternator, I chose to do the 125 amp quest upgrade. I ordered my alternator while waiting on a tow truck, my tensioner took ages to come in. I took a few photos but nothing special here. I needed to drill my bottom fitting out, I pressed the old one out but it did not fit snug. I used an adjustable heim turnbuckle, m8x1.25x70mm bolt to attach it (Timing cover side). pretty straight forward.
Image
Last edited by erik02 on Wed Jan 06, 2021 2:39 pm, edited 16 times in total.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Reserved
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Reserved
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Reserved
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Reserved
NukeKS14
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 157
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:33 pm
Location: Northeastern KS

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by NukeKS14 »

Nice progress. You're building essentially the same bottom end that I did. I had my rod/main bearings coated at Calico but it's nearly identical. I ended up running a 1.0mm Tomei headgasket and, having taken 10 mils off between the head and deck, I came up with a 9.59:1 final compression ratio. it's very very fun and responsive. The powerband looks very similar to the LS3 in my camaro. Running a Borg Warner S257 SX-E on mine (just a hair above a Garrett 3076 series). I'm interested to hear your impression of the ATi damper. It's on my laundry list of parts down the road. Pretty penny for them. Count me subscribed. :character-count:
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

NukeKS14 wrote: Sat May 16, 2020 1:22 pm Nice progress. You're building essentially the same bottom end that I did. I had my rod/main bearings coated at Calico but it's nearly identical. I ended up running a 1.0mm Tomei headgasket and, having taken 10 mils off between the head and deck, I came up with a 9.59:1 final compression ratio. it's very very fun and responsive. The powerband looks very similar to the LS3 in my camaro. Running a Borg Warner S257 SX-E on mine (just a hair above a Garrett 3076 series). I'm interested to hear your impression of the ATi damper. It's on my laundry list of parts down the road. Pretty penny for them. Count me subscribed. :character-count:
I just got done catching up on your build! Looks so much fun and really that's all I am after. The BW you are running was something that came up over and over in my research, that is a known good setup. Your powerband kind of surprised me though, power comes on a bit earlier than I expected. That was one of the number one driving factors that led me to the turbo I chose. Very interested to see how these setups compare.

The ATI damper is a must for me. I've killed main bearings on 2 or 3 KA's so far all of which were my fault but I'm shook. I just want reliable.

Glad to see more people posting here!
NukeKS14
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 157
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:33 pm
Location: Northeastern KS

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by NukeKS14 »

I want real world feedback from someone before I drop $500 on a pulley. It isn't THAT derivative I know, but...

As for the powerband, I think there's more to be found there. I'll most likely get a pair of Tomei adjustable cam gears (I like their design over the knock pin JWT style) and degree the cams. Another reason I'm considering the ATi damper.

Not knocking you here, I'm trying to word this so it doesn't come off that way but, why drop $2200 on a turbo but skimp on the timing set? Just curious why you didn't use the OEM Nissan set.

I also didn't see anything about ignition. What are your plans for that? You've at least got the option of upgrading your ignition coil with an MSD blaster unit and hard-wiring it. I'd recommend doing that at a minimum unless you're going full COP. BKR7E-11 plugs will do the trick as they're 2 stages colder than the stockers. I used the thread on here about doing the Maxima COP conversion and most things worked out pretty well for me. I'm running BKR7E-11's at .045" gap up to 19psi with no stutter or blowout. Let me know if you have any questions. I didn't have the option of just upgrading my ignition coil though or I may have done that instead. I did end up with slightly different settings than they had for dwell time but I have had zero issues with the coil packs in about 5-6k miles of driving at this point.

I missed your exhaust too. I ran a BRM on my white pignose SOHC KA-T. Favorite exhaust ever! Marcus has it now. Greg does fantastic work. He's friends with a couple of my IRL buddies from Nico. Really glad to see his stuff is still out there. You won't be disappointed.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

NukeKS14 wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 2:41 pm Not knocking you here, I'm trying to word this so it doesn't come off that way but, why drop $2200 on a turbo but skimp on the timing set? Just curious why you didn't use the OEM Nissan set.
I honestly did not know the OEM one existed still until just the other day. I thought I had searched high and low for it but maybe I got ahead of myself, that is 100% possible. I've researched the OSK kit I have and I believe I will be good with it. The quality looks good. I have new bolts for the tensioner rather than what came with the kit (Only bad thing I saw).

I am open to feedback, good or bad. I am learning. Doing some things the uphill way, going against a few knowns.
NukeKS14 wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 2:41 pm I also didn't see anything about ignition. What are your plans for that?
First phase- Get it running. I will be staying within limits on the stock setup. I have boxes of BKR7E ready to go that I have been slowly accumulating.
Second phase- I plan on doing a new wiring harness and rather than covert it over and cut it up I think I will just do a GTR/R8/K20 cop conversion and new wiring harness at the same time. From what I have researched it looks like the GTR is the king for efficiency right now for a stock COP. I plan on picking up one of the two machined pieces for valve cover that I've seen around.

I might be failing on my research again but I struggled to find settings for Megasquirt on COP settings that were not on a Photobucket link lost long ago.

NukeKS14 wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 2:41 pm I missed your exhaust too. I ran a BRM on my white pignose SOHC KA-T. Favorite exhaust ever! Marcus has it now. Greg does fantastic work. He's friends with a couple of my IRL buddies from Nico. Really glad to see his stuff is still out there. You won't be disappointed.
Might be reading this wrong but I picked up a BRM exhaust. 3 inch, biggest resonator I could get, high flow cat. Greg's work is incredible, this exhaust is art. I look forward to posting a high quality clip for others to hear!
NukeKS14
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 157
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:33 pm
Location: Northeastern KS

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by NukeKS14 »

erik02 wrote: Wed May 27, 2020 6:12 pm
NukeKS14 wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 2:41 pm I also didn't see anything about ignition. What are your plans for that?
First phase- Get it running. I will be staying within limits on the stock setup. I have boxes of BKR7E ready to go that I have been slowly accumulating.
Second phase- I plan on doing a new wiring harness and rather than covert it over and cut it up I think I will just do a GTR/R8/K20 cop conversion and new wiring harness at the same time. From what I have researched it looks like the GTR is the king for efficiency right now for a stock COP. I plan on picking up one of the two machined pieces for valve cover that I've seen around.

I might be failing on my research again but I struggled to find settings for Megasquirt on COP settings that were not on a Photobucket link lost long ago.

Gotcha. I did a cost/benefit ratio. If I can run stock gaps on the Maxima coils up to AT LEAST 20# with no blowout... and they're way cheaper than the GTR coils are... and they fit on the head like stock then why not? Guess it's just overkill in my mind to go way bigger than necessary, I'd like to spend that money on the chassis instead. Between the trigger disk for the CAS, harness, and coils I think I was out maybe $200ish. I'll have to check my receipts if you're genuinely curious. I didn't see this as corner cutting, just efficient design.

Here are my settings for the DIYpnp trigger wheel and maxima coils. I don't imagine there's going to be much, if any, difference regardless of what coil you run (GM LS/Maxima/K20, etc...) aside from dwell time provided you wire them up as a wasted spark setup. So many options. Love the megasquirt for that very reason.

Image

red circled items are those important to the coils and will be dependent on how you wire them up. Wasted spark means that the coils fire in pairs. It simplifies the wiring as you only need 2 outputs from the megasquirt to fire 4 coils. I started with a much lower dwell time, i think 1ms and worked up. get this and spark duration too high for the given coil and you risk burning it up. You can usually do a search, and for K20 and R35 coils, I'm sure there are people out there who have done proper testing to determine what optimal spark/dwell times are. I've driven this for a couple of hours at length and checked the coils and they're warm but I can hold them in my bare hand indefinitely and not get burnt.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

I had a nice long reply written out the other day but chrome crashed on me. Thank you very much for taking the time to post the screenshot (These seem to be near impossible to find if they are old) and taking the time to give some explanation. I will absolutely be putting more time to research this subject and have already begun to do so.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Admin please delete.
Last edited by erik02 on Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:49 am, edited 8 times in total.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Admin please delete.
Last edited by erik02 on Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

Admin please delete.
krashtestdummiez
NooB
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:25 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by krashtestdummiez »

erik02 wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 7:53 pm I had a nice long reply written out the other day but chrome crashed on me. Thank you very much for taking the time to post the screenshot (These seem to be near impossible to find if they are old) and taking the time to give some explanation. I will absolutely be putting more time to research this subject and have already begun to do so.
I just stumbled upon your project/thread, I'm curious to know if you finished it or have any updates. I also remember seeing your post about the cam gap, how did that turn out? I'm interested in your project as it motivates me
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

krashtestdummiez wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 3:07 pm
erik02 wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 7:53 pm I had a nice long reply written out the other day but chrome crashed on me. Thank you very much for taking the time to post the screenshot (These seem to be near impossible to find if they are old) and taking the time to give some explanation. I will absolutely be putting more time to research this subject and have already begun to do so.
I just stumbled upon your project/thread, I'm curious to know if you finished it or have any updates. I also remember seeing your post about the cam gap, how did that turn out? I'm interested in your project as it motivates me

Almost there. Fab work took longer than expected. Cam gap on the last lobe is normal. I did some additional research and found the S14 head doesn't even have a cap for that lobe. Working as hard and fast as I can to get this on the ground and running!!
tuzzio
240sx Wannabe
Posts: 102
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:02 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by tuzzio »

Man, this thread delivers. Solid stuff. Solid work. Clean. I like it.
erik02
Learners Permit
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Re: My 1991 Nissan 240sx build in progress

Post by erik02 »

I need to update this thread. Guys....This thing is a ***** riot at 20psi.
Post Reply