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Old 06-29-2015, 11:18 PM   #1
Vatche
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the MaD armenian

I have had my coupe since October of 2002. 104k miles. Salvage title. I have been through hell and back with this car. It has become part of who I am. Part of my soul. I have taken 2000+ pictures over the years. Gone to many track events and meets. Had a hell of a lot of fun with it.




When I bought the car it had some of the worst wheels I have seen to this day. So when I was like 19 or 20 I decided to get some wheels. I found these Mutegi MR-7's online and at the time nobody had them. As soon as I bought them overnight they were on every honda out there. Plus I didnt know shit about offsets and wheel fitment then. I was a newb once too




When I first bought the car it came with a SOHC KA with 104k. At 113k my sohc blew up as I was pulling into the original Drift Speed shop to just get a quote. I ended up pushing my car into their parking lot and letting them know I needed a SR swap My car was broken into. And then my car was stolen while I was at work in South Coast Plaza. That was the most terrifying experience I have ever been in. Luckily got my coupe back with the SR, but they took all the new gauges and turbo timer, wheels, fucked up all of my studs, half way cut off my muffler and changed their mind. Insurance didnt help me out much. Started to rebuild, my car got broken into again at some point outside my apt in Fountain Valley. I hate theives btw. They can all die in a fire.

From the start since I owned my 240, people always asked me if I was going to drift it, since D1 first came here about a year or so after I bought it too, but I was never really big into the JDM scene or drifting my car. I enjoyed watching OG japanese drifting videos, but I always wants to road race. I was more interested in grip driving. At the time when I was young drag racing was still fun too. I didnt meet anyone with with a 240 who was interested in grip until a few years in. And I started going to the track with them, I thought I had such a cool car(I did), but I didnt truly understand the importance of the simpler things. I always was poor so I would buy any tires I could get. That was never helpful in drag racing or grip driving haha. I have progressed as slow as a snail because this hobby is an expensive one. But I always learned to do things right and I have always tried to preach that to the new comers. It's been a fun trip.














I always knew the frame wasnt perfect. But my Nismo powerbrace bolted right on. My tension rods were not perfect so I took it to a body shop and they pulled my frame. They did something wrong, so they re-pulled it again. Still was not right but I was sick of not having my car. I drove the car for a couple of months after that. Strut tower split.



Result of frame pulls and stiff ass suspension. I thought about ways of repairing it. Welding thing sheet metal back together, patching it some how. Replacing the strut tower. None of them sounded right. I Wanted my shit to be done right. I refused to dump my shell and get a new one. And I had a parts car with a perfect front end. So I got started.








I rested my motor in a third chassis I had at the time




The damage




I started to cut




Had my good friend John Capati helping out




To do the job properly I had to remove my old front end from all the spot welds.


















I decided to remove one frame rail to clean it up and help with the install of the new front end.








At this point I decided I was going to stitch weld the whole car since it was already stripped. And I wanted to do things right, while I had the time, and I no longer used my coupe as my daily driver.




I prepped the new front end as well from the spot welds. I bolted on the crossmember, Nismo powerbrace, Carbing one piece strut bar and the bumper support to help me square it as much as possible.




Using an engine hoist I test fit the new front end.








Needing to slip it into the frame rail was kind of a pain. But it also helped get it to where it should be.




This bad boy is one of my favorite tools. I started cleaning everything with the wire brush.








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Primed with weld thru primer.








I borrowed a tram gauge to measure and match numbers to spec and was given a bit more information about the process of aligning the parts together which I could not do because I didnt have a frame machine. But I did what I could with what I had. I also did not have a lot of welding experience. But --Let the welding begin.











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Old 06-30-2015, 04:09 PM   #2
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Purchased myself a set of Tanabe Pro Seven coilovers I always wanted.
















Fender Braces were also used to help line everything up.




Prior to welding I cleaned out the sound deadening.








I began stitch welding. I decided to stitch weld inside and out.

































Ground down some welds.






After stitch welding I primered it all and sat back in awe.













I used 3M Seam Sealer before paint. My goal was to do this job to the best of my abilities , as professionally as I could in my garage.









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Old 06-30-2015, 04:11 PM   #3
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This project took a lot of hours to complete. I would say I spent at least 40% of that time underneath the car, wire brushing -> welding -> applying seam sealer. I have a few good memories of laying there taking a break, calmly relaxing. But most of the time I spent under the car was horrendous. All the shit flying all over the place, all the shit I had to wear to keep myself from being coated. Most of the time I was under there I couldn't turn the fan on so I was just melting away in the heat. Add all the welding splatter to that. And seam sealer is an unforgivingly sticky substance that likes to get all over everything. Oh what fun I had. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Painting everything was such sweet satisfaction.










After doing some research on undercoating, I decided to give bed liner a try. Originally I was thinking I could get it done with 8-12 cans, due to my experience with undercoating but boy was I wrong. If I had known I would have bought it by the gallon or something. I also was not planning to run interior so I used the bed liner inside also.


















Turned 30.






For shits and giggle I bedlinered the bottom of my front subframe




Cat was chillen on my completed work. Testing the strength of the welds.




I cleaned up my gas tank and sprayed it with bed liner. It started to leak because I removed the sealer from the seams where the two halves meet. Lesson learned.






Started reassembly.










Gas tank didn't stay clean for long.




Started to look like a car again.




Took apart my upper engine harness and front engine bay main harness, removed all the unnecessary wires, cleaned them up and rewrapped it.






I had mocked up some clean fenders after the initial welds, but putting my own fenders on and seeing them line up so well. Was an amazing feeling.










Good Zilvia memories



Oh crap , after sitting for about a year in the garage it finally went outside.








Wind blew my hood over and it cracked at the seams. So I refiberglassed it.




Sunroof was weighed at 36 lbs for the assembly. Took that shit out. Tac-welded a lip.
( The first one I put in flew off a few months later, I used a different adhesive sealer, and it has held up for a couple of years. Sitting in the sun the plexiglass started to crack. I need to eventually weld a piece of metal in :/ )








Put the engine back in, I was getting impatient towards the end.











After completion, I was at the track as often as I could get there. Went to almost every Nissan Challenge event through Corner 3 Motorsports.















Lap at Buttonwillow


Better than ever! Everything aligned perfectly. I completed the car in October of 2013 and have been driving it since. It took me awhile to get around to creating this thread, but it needed to be done. Been to the track around ten times, have been keeping an eye on everything and so far so good. Passion, motivation, joy, happiness. I better my times every time I go to the track and I still have a lot of room for improvement. Keep it real guys. Hope you enjoyed the glimpse into the adventure that was had. Keep in mind this was only 1 year of the 12-13 years I have owned the car now :P

Edit: Google ruined all the links in my original post, so I did my best to fix everything.

Edit: I believe it will be 15 years this November 2017
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The Ultimate For Sale Thread <> Review Thread

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Old 06-30-2015, 09:14 PM   #4
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Old 06-30-2015, 10:03 PM   #5
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Wow this gives me hope with my own slightly tweaked frame. Subbed to see more.

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Old 06-30-2015, 11:24 PM   #6
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.



Wow, thanks for posting these pictures.


I hope everybody will understand now how important these framerails are in supporting the whole chassis.
Not many of 240sx owners care about properly repairing and replacing them when rust eats through right there.


Thanks man for great pictures and keep adding them. Good job!


Fender Braces and Three Point Front Strut Bar move to the top of my shopping list RIGHT NOW!


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Old 07-01-2015, 10:00 AM   #7
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buttonwillow video doesn't work
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Old 07-01-2015, 12:33 PM   #8
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Awesome read and great work!
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Old 07-01-2015, 01:32 PM   #9
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buttonwillow video doesn't work
Fixed

thanks, i messed up the code
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Old 07-01-2015, 01:57 PM   #10
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good job. Lot's of work. I have been there.
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Old 08-18-2017, 12:04 AM   #11
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Edit(8/21/17): I had to go through again for a third time to fix more broken links. Sorry guys google really screwed me up.

Had to go through and fix all the broken picture links, added a few new ones from the last couple of years. I havent been able to afford doing anything with my car. Clutch is on its way out, needs new electric fans, needs a tune etc. One of my front stitch mesh wheels has a crack in the spoke But it will be back soon.


This day messed up my electrical a bit. lol :/







And the only picture of my new personalized plate
(MAD MAN was taken, MAD M4N was rejected because they said no numbers for letters, and I threw this one in for fun and they accepted it)
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The Ultimate For Sale Thread <> Review Thread

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Old 08-21-2017, 05:04 PM   #12
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Good times!! Can't wait for what the future holds.
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Old 08-23-2017, 10:48 PM   #13
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Dude! Great build. For some reason this whole time I thought your car was KA.
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Old 08-24-2017, 10:17 AM   #14
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can't wait till next event!
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Old 08-24-2017, 12:48 PM   #15
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Damn, what a journey.
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Old 03-13-2018, 08:17 AM   #16
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Goddamn dude, this is one of the coolest builds on here I've ever seen. Just a straight-up, no bullshit, hardcore track car build. My coupe has been in my life for seven years now, and I've tackled a lot of the rust but there's certainly a lot more to go. The work you've done here is nothing short of spectacular. Inspiring. Thanks!

Also, thanks for re-upping the pictures. Fuck photobucket.
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Old 04-11-2018, 09:26 AM   #17
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damn, this car has been through some shit!
great fucking job, though, dude. car looks great now.
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