Throwback Coupe Build

[sidewaysil80]

Well I've had a lot of 240's and all had SR20DET's in them. I am very comfortable with this motor and know it like the back of my hand. Here are few pics of some of my favorites...

Track car








Track car




Street car aka the last one (Nov 2012 Modified Mag feature)










Heading to Modified shoot with WishIHadaSilvia aka Knoop


Anyway, as much as I love the s-chassis I got bored/burnt out with the last build and sold it shortly after feature. I toyed with getting back into one but they were all beat to shit and frankly I was too busy with my career. Living within two hours of Summit Point Raceway, Dominion Speedway, and three hours from VIR caused me to search a little harder for a new project. Fast forward 5 years and I stumbled across and real gem that was so clean I decided to buy it and build it and get back into 240's.




While not an original owner, it's only a two owner car. Fully loaded auto coupe with 166k and full maintenance history. It has a working hud, crack free dash, the cleanest interior on a 240 I've ever seen, and not a spec of rust.

In fact, the only real issue were the wipers made a grinding noise and eventually stopped working. The rod that connects the passenger side to the driver side was bent downwards and rubbing the firewall area. Eventually it popped off. Technically this repair was the first part of the build so here it is


Slight effort bending on my part and whoila, now the car is officially flawless!


I decided to part the front end and the motor as I wouldn't be using them.

My savage barefoot daughter helping


Some of the pinch welds were bent and prohibited me from getting to the fender bolts. I used a couple of c-clamps to rectify the issue and it worked quite well actually.


Front end completely off and sold!


28 years worth of shit collected behind the fenders...


Salvaged this as I can use it when I switch to a Silvia front end


Quite the clean motor/engine bay for almost 30 years old


Took about 6 hours but got the SOHC out, luckily some dude in PA needed one so he drove down and bought it a few days later. (Disregard the BP oil spill that took place)




Wasn't sure what motor to do and debated several options. Ultimately I just decided to stick with what I know an keep it simple. Found an S13 block with blown ring land and S14 head. My initial plan was to run a S15 turbo, shoot for 300-320whp, and have fun car that I could drive on the street and also track.


Initially I was going to hybrid the head and block but for ease of install I just traded it for a s13 head. I decided to keep this rebuild all OEM for the most part. Mainly so I can follow the factory service manual, but also so there would be no guess work for clearances/measurements.


Huge fan of Tomei products. They have been an pioneer in the Nissan world forever and I trust their R&D. Went with their 87mm/1.2mm head gasket so coupled with the 86.5mm pistons I'll gain a slight bump in compression. I usually use ARP studs, but I've had a mixed track record with them. With that Idecided to use new OEM head bolts. I will only be running a max of 15-17psi on a S15 turbo so the ARP is overkill and a lot of verified professionals recommend them over aftermarket for lower hp goals.


Because the S15 runs out of breathe a little early, I was hoping some Pon Cams would shift the power band a little. I then said "fuck it" and got some other Tomei stuff to address oil. After all, it will see some HPDE's.


I'm 31 years old and living well enough to avoid headaches when needed. Went with the Pro harness, lower harness, and coil pack harness. I despise wiring, absolutely despise it.


Because I'm paranoid about oiling issues to include blow by, snagged a red top valve cover to make a hybrid. But thats a "down the road project", maybe when the machine work on the short block is being done.


Here is my collection of z32 brakes (bmc not pictured) and equipment. I will eventually swap all four corners to z32 aluminum calipers.


Black friday deal was too good to pass up, fell victim to marketing.


Finally got off my ass and started tearing down the SR for measurements yesterday.




Toyed with the idea of reusing water pump, glad I ordered a new one after all.


Other than the broken ring land this was the only other issue with the motor. Luckily it didn't affect bearings, the assembly rotates very smooth.


So, it was pretty late and my lighting sucked (excuses first), I could have SWORN I saw a torx head on the timing chain guides. I grabbed one and sure as shit it fit pretty snug. Applied some torque and...good thing Harbor Freight tools are cheap, it snapped the head clean off


Ryobi to the rescue to relieve some pressure.


It worked and the damn thing just kind of fell out


After that adventure I called it quits for the evening.



Powered through the motor teardown over the Christmas break.


Made a little box type stand to keep bolts in order, I dunno why as I'm replacing them with new oem, but at least I can use the originals to torque empty mains in place for when I measure them for main bearings.


Rotating assembly...rotating


Fully disassembled, Next I'm going to measure the crank, main caps, and con rods so I can figure out what grade of Nissan bearings to get.


Here is a close up of the damage done by the broken ring land, I'm pretty sure this won't hone out but am prepared to do a slight overbore if need be.