Hey everyone, I'm Brian. I got my 240sx in 2012 when I graduated high school at age 16. It was my first car and I don't plan on getting rid of her anytime soon! I have moved on to a Subaru BRZ as my daily, and the 240 is now enjoying her life in the garage waiting for the weekends. She lived the first 5 years parked in the street at various homes, but I recently bought a house in 2016 so now I have a place to do real work on her! This build will start off with the progress over the "infant" years, and I will update as I start doing the bigger things.
Here is a before/after as of 4/26/2017:
Here is the current spec sheet:
Exterior
- Staggered 350z anniversary wheels
- 235/40/18 front, 245/40/18 rear
- Clear Headlights
- Clear corner lights
- Clear side markers
- OEM Front spoiler/ Rear Spoiler
Interior
- Aftermarket head unit
- Bluetooth capability
- Custom Radio Bezel
Engine / driveline
- Rebuilt stock specs
- - Arp head studs
- - Bored 0.020" over
- - New pistons
- - FelPro head gasket
- - Bottom/head rebuilt
- - Bored block, guidelines installed,pressure checked,resurfaced, valvejob,cleaned block,polish crank, freeze plugs installed were all done by a local shop.
- 4-2-1 DC Sports header
- Injen cold air intake
- 3.5" AEM dryflow air filter
- Hi-flow cat, 1 deleted from header
- 2.5 inch cat back exhaust
- DC Sports strut bar
- Megan Racing Engine mounts
- Megan Racing Transmission mount
- Rebuilt steering rack
- Aftermarket spark plug wires, maybe NGK?
Suspension
- SPL Tension Rods @209k
- SPL Toe Arms @209k
- SPL Traction Rods @209k
- SPL RUCAS
- Tokiko / Skunk2 Lowering spring/shock combo @200k
Brakes
- Blue 300zx Front calipers with bracket to support 350z slotted track rotors
- Blue 300zx Rear calipers/rotors
- SS Brake Lines
- SPL Brake Deflectors @209k
- Hawk HPS Pads
- High temp brake fluid
- Master Cylinder Upgrade (1 1/16") w/automatic car's bigger brake booster
Maintenance of note
- New water pump, thermostat, radiator flush
- New EGR
- New IACV or Idle Air Control Valve
- New Sparkplugs @ 200k
- New Knock Sensor
- Front end replaced
- -Bumper, fenders, headlights, side markers, corner lights, new fog lights, new paint.
- Replaced driver window switch (aftermarket), regulator (new), and motor (new), though window still needs alignment tweaks for routine use.
- New Air filter 07-2023
Pictures of when I bought her in 2012:
Drew this as a representation of what I eventually wanted the car to look like:
After replacing the water pump, thermostat and radiator hoses, a friend of mine helped with an engine rebuild, to stock specs for reliability and uncertainty for the future (still didn't know much about cars at this point but this was a great opportunity to learn.) Here are some pictures of the engine rebuild:
YUCK, tear down:
Sent the pieces to the shop and they came back....Ohh, shiny...
^^^I regret not being able to afford forged internals now a days, oh well. new pistons, old rods.
This will always look like a Stormtrooper to me..
New Engine was put back in, drove like a champ, still is today. All done @ 193k miles btw. Not even a month later, some guy decided to run a red light and swipe the front end on my way home from college. So here's the damage that stayed with the car for while, looks like a real 240 now huh? :
Time for a DC Sports Strut bar! Super beefy, makes the steering nice and tight!
Time to finally get those Nissan 350z Anniversary wheels I drew beforehand!! Paid $400 for them with tires, drove 3 hours to pick up. The guy said he would swap my stocks on so he could drive home and install his mb battles, and the ship the stocks back to me since the had brand new tires on them. Unfortunately he failed to inform me of the curb rash on the wheels despite me asking about it before hand, and I noticed after 2 weeks of driving that the tires each had some kind of nail in it causing the pressures to drop every day... I was waiting on him to ship my stocks back so I could wear the tread out on those until I could afford the tires on the 350z wheels... but he screwed me there too saying he couldn't afford to send the wheels back and he went to a drift even and shredded the new tires up, still refused to send just the wheels. This was my first experience dealing with a fellow 240sx owner. On the bright side, I love the wheels!
More updates to follow...