My 97 S14.5 RB25 Project

[K'netic]

Well guys, I've been a member on here for a while and I've always been a Honda guy but a few years ago I decided to pick up a 97 S14 off an old buddy and this is it's story.


I bought the car around July of 08 pretty much stock, drove it around for about a month, then decided it wasn't good enough so the tear down began.

This is how she looked when I got her.




This was the initial build plan. Turbo the stock KA24DE and see how that felt...

First came the parts...



Then the tear down and rebuild.
























Well, the KA had 220k on it so I didn't expect it to last long... And it didn't. It got out of the driveway, then it blew up.

Oh well. Time to rebuild... Again.

At this time I was working out of town about 9 months out of the year so I didn't have the time to do any of the work to the car myself. I also had a CBR954RR that kept me pretty occupied and put the 240 on back burner for a while.

Because I was gone so much I decided to do a swap through a local shop. And so, while I was working in Cleveland, this happened.

RB25 FTW



I won't get into specifics but around this time the car was in the hands of a "friend" of mine and to make a long story short, my front end, my blown motor and turbo kit, my seats and other miscellaneous interior parts "disappeared".

So, being that I'm captain positive, I said screw it! New wheels and tires, Bride seats and an S15 front end conversion were in my garage within a week.

























So that's how the car sat for another seven months while I left to work out of state yet again.



Then I quit my job... Finally, I can work on the 240 again!

Well, sorta.

Apparently when you quit your job they stop paying you. Who'd have thought that would happen?

Unfortunately, this led me to the difficult conclusion that I had to sell my 96 Accord DD project. It still bums me out sometimes to think of that car. It had so much potential...













Oh well.

At least I got $1200 for it.


The next day I picked up everything I'd need to do a 5-lug conversion and ordered an S15 core support from Nissan, then got on the horn and riled up some friends to help me weld it in and and fab up a charge pipe for me.

We were done with the core support and piping in two days and then I finally got to drive my beast, after having a running RB25 in the car for nearly a full year I finally got to drive it! I couldn't believe the power. I took it down the road and it was tearin up the tires through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd! --- Oh wait, that's because the vacuum line came off the wastegate and it was peaking at 27psi on the gauge... :scared:

Well, 5 minutes later we were back down to the stock and very safe boost level of 6psi. And thankfully, I didn't have another blown motor on my hands after 300ft of road use.

After that frightening episode I decided it was time to grab my trusty Nikon and snap a few quick shots of her. Unfortunately I left my ISO setting on HI so they turned out really grainy.















Then I got home and turned down the ISO and got a couple shots with some decent quality.








I got it running just in time to take it to a local drag/drift event called Midnight Madness @ Gateway Intl. Raceway.

The car was in no condition to drift, mostly because they are really strict on safety and my car didn't have seatbelts or a working e-brake, so I was relegated to the "Hard Parking" area in the pits where I got to let everybody ogle her all night long.

It was on this 120 mile round trip that I discovered my highway fuel mileage was in the single digits. I knew it was running rich but damn! Something was wrong. And thus began the research.

As it turns out, when you put a Wahlbro 255 fuel pump on an RB with a stock FPR you end up pushing 12psi of fuel over the stock rating across the board and your injectors start leaking.

So, adjustable FPR: Check.

As of right now I'm still waiting on a few things to show up. (Adj. FPR fuel rail adapter, passenger seat bracket, HID's, wheel spacers, and other random crap that I need)

Since the car was gonna have some downtime I decided it was time to start the 5-lug conversion.



After I got that one done I started the others and ended up ****ing up the threads on my ball joints when I hammered them out of the old spindles so now I need to either bevel the top edge of the bolt or get a tap and die set and try to re-die the threads.

[K'netic]

Well, now I have some more down time so I started thinking about the badass vertical two-tone I had going on and decided it was time to fix it... After discussing the pro's and con's of three stage or single stage paint job with a friend who works at a body shop I decided to take option 3 and wrap the front end in black vinyl!





































Then I said "Hey! I wonder what my rear wheels would look like on the front?"

The answer is: Pretty sick!




















Hmmm... So since I'm still waiting for parts, it's time to add some color to my basically all-black beauty.

What color could it be?... Hmmm... Methinks PURPLE! HKS Purple to be exact.











BTW, if anyone is interested in the difference between VHT's and DupliColor's anodized purple, here ya go. Both have 4 coats of purple over the same silver base.




So now that I got the purple outta my system I had to come up with something to occupy myself until my parts get here.

I know!

Car cover.

I had a huge bolt of tan microsuede layin around and I know how to sew, so why not, right?

About 30 yds of fabric and 4 hours later...










Well, that's all I have to report for now. Hopefully the rest of my parts will be here by the start of next week and I'll be able to get everything buttoned up and rollin.

First on my agenda is to do a proper photoshoot for the old girl. I've had the car for going on 3 years and I've never done a photoshoot for myself. That's quite odd if you know how nuts I can be about photoshoots.


Here are some samples of my work.






























I've always done photography as a hobby. All the shoots above were done for close friends. If you're ever in the St. Louis area and wanna snap a few shots let me know.

[HPKMotorsports3]

nice work...

[bllabong89]

For sure. Looks good. I'm from the St. Charles area. Is that Chris's green hatch? I don't know if he still has it but the 89 ef hatch that he had was mine previously.

What kind of tails are those? I just ordered my dmax LED tails and were wondering if they are the same ones.

[stricnynel0s]

wow i am i mpressed !!! what did u do with that kouki hood ? lol

[blueshark123]

it got stolen i believe

[tricky_ab]

I'm behind the engine swap! I'm not feeling the straberry face conversion...Anyways keep it going! Any major engine plans?

[K'netic]

Originally Posted by bllabong89

For sure. Looks good. I'm from the St. Charles area. Is that Chris's green hatch? I don't know if he still has it but the 89 ef hatch that he had was mine previously.

What kind of tails are those? I just ordered my dmax LED tails and were wondering if they are the same ones.

Haha, yes, that was Hanley's Civic, although it actually belongs to my buddy Tommy now. They traded Civic for an Integra.

And yes, they are the DMAX tails. Surprisingly that's what I'm getting the most crap for is having those tails on the car.

I would like to say, before you all assume, that when I got the car it had some crappy old faded and busted up Zenki tails on it, NOT KOUKI TAILS!

I would never swap a good set of Kouki tails for the LED's; just wanna let that be known.

Originally Posted by stricnynel0s

wow i am i mpressed !!! what did u do with that kouki hood ? lol

Originally Posted by blueshark123

it got stolen i believe

blueshark is correct, it "disappeared" with the rest of the front end panels.

Originally Posted by tricky_ab

I'm behind the engine swap! I'm not feeling the straberry face conversion...Anyways keep it going! Any major engine plans?

The front end wasn't my initial plan for the car but after the Kouki front "disappeared" I asked my buddy Dewey from JDMHookup.com and he got me the S15 panels (minus the headlights) for a pretty reasonable $1100, then I sourced the headlights from an old friend in Japan for $350 so it ended up being less than I would have paid for a Kouki front end in good condition.

As for engine plans, I don't have anything major planned yet, and to be honest, I'm probably gonna sell the car so I can start my dream RWD Honda Prelude project. But I'm gonna wait until I get the right price for the car.

[Coolwhip]

love the build looks top notch!

[JOeS]

Car looks great!

[97nismo]

i like it. needs some spacers, lower and kouki sides and it will be perfect.

[K'netic]

Originally Posted by 97nismo

i like it. needs some spacers, lower and kouki sides and it will be perfect.

The 1/2" spacers showed up yesterday but yes, I agree, it does need to be lower, but I can't bring myself to sacrifice ride quality for coilovers yet.

[97nismo]

well kouki sides at least

[K'netic]

True, Kouki sides would be very nice. And some decent rear valances as well.


I've been looking for some good looking front lips for the stock s15 front bumper but I haven't had much luck.

I don't particularly care for the Greddy front lip.

I'm open to some suggestions if you guys can think of any.

[jbballa9876]

I really like how you have hidden the intercooler! Doesnt look too much of a sleeper but doesnt give away the turbo!

[tricky_ab]

Originally Posted by K'netic

True, Kouki sides would be very nice. And some decent rear valances as well.


I've been looking for some good looking front lips for the stock s15 front bumper but I haven't had much luck.

I don't particularly care for the Greddy front lip.

I'm open to some suggestions if you guys can think of any.

I can take a quick flip through some Silvia Hyper Rev mooks to see what's out there. Off the top of my head, not much

[97nismo]

the greddy lip looks amazing on the s15 front bumper and here are some other options.
Also the factory fog lights look perfect as well

[97nismo]

Spec R front bumper is an option too and you dont need a lip just factory fogs.

[JOeS]

Originally Posted by 97nismo

Spec R front bumper is an option too and you dont need a lip just factory fogs.

Looks like my DRFT style front bumper. See the link in my sig.

I always liked the Masa one:

[jklein122]

Wow, I read the whole thing. I laughed out like (like literally) when you were like "I didn't expect it to go far... and it... didn't". Dude, you had some rough life beats... your "friend" basically jacked your parts, and then your job decided to stop paying you? It's good hear you're being optimistic though, and I LOVE what you've done to the car. Props dude, and I hope things have turned around for you (or will in the future).

[fliprayzin240sx]

SO what conversion mounts did you use for your RB swap?

[K'netic]

Originally Posted by 97nismo

Oooooohhhhhh. I like that one. Who makes it?

Originally Posted by fliprayzin240sx

SO what conversion mounts did you use for your RB swap?

I ended up using the McKinney mounts and they worked out great.

Originally Posted by jklein122

Wow, I read the whole thing. I laughed out like (like literally) when you were like "I didn't expect it to go far... and it... didn't". Dude, you had some rough life beats... your "friend" basically jacked your parts, and then your job decided to stop paying you? It's good hear you're being optimistic though, and I LOVE what you've done to the car. Props dude, and I hope things have turned around for you (or will in the future).

Thanks for the props. It's nice to see that someone appreciates the effort I've put into the car.

Unfortunately things haven't quite turned around for me yet. I actually just got out of the hospital. I've been having odd heart problems for about a week now and I started getting major chest pains today around noon. It got to the point where I decided an ER visit would be a good idea.

The pain went away after some morphine and they discharged me but I have to go back tomorrow to get a full battery of tests and get a 24hr event monitor put on to see just what's going on with my heart.

The doc says to stay away from stress... That's easier said than done these days but I'll do my best. It may mean putting the car on back burner again for a month or so but as long as my heart keeps tickin after I straighten out my health problems it'll be worth the downtime.

On a lighter note, I took a heat gun and tore apart my old Zenki tails so I can convert them to full LED (including making the center panel functional). I randomly bought a bag of 5000 red LEDs a couple years ago so I think I'll finally put them to good use.

I'll post up some pics of the progress and finished product after I paint and re-clear them.

Who knows, if they turn out well (and I think they'll look amazing) I might offer it as a service. It'll make your "crappy" Zenki tails look way more pimp than any Kouki or aftermarket setup out there.

And I sure as FUCK won't charge $1500 like clearcorners.com does (overpriced bastards).

[K'netic]

Well guys, it's finally coming along again. I had a job, for about 3 weeks, then I got laid off. But that was long enough to get my lower control arms. I've been working on it off and on for the last week and tonight I finished putting the rear suspension together and I'm almost done with the front. I'm missing a collar for one of the ball joint shanks so once I find a place that sells them I'll put an order in for one. Yesterday I took my rotors to have them turned and guess what! They've been done before and are to thin to turn again. Great! I'm out of money and I need new rotors now.

Oh well, that's as good an excuse as any to get some slotted rotors for the car, so what's another couple weeks. I should be starting a new job at CitiGroup as soon as my background check and drug tests go through so now I can start getting some money and get back to work on the car.

So I realized that I, in my infinite wisdom, set the MAF in a blow-thru configuration when I made my "I'm-too-broke-to-afford-an-intercooler" cheater pipe and that, combined with my stock FPR, has been causing all the drivability issues so I've finally decided that before the car sees the road again I'm gonna have to crack down and get a front mount. After I get one I'm gonna switch back to a draw-thru MAF configuration since I'll probably stick with a recirculated BOV. (BTW, I've decided I don't want an SSQV so I'm getting rid of it. It's a Series 2 and it comes with an aluminum flange and an O-ring. All it needs is a C-clip and it's good to go. PM me if you're interested.)

I've been hesitant to get an FMIC because if I got a same-side inlet/outlet intercooler I would have to get a new one when I get a new intake manifold, and I don't have the room to plumb piping back around to the stock intake manifold if I used a standard intercooler but I think I've found a solution. I'll get a twin turbo intercooler that has four inlets (2 on each side) which split the core into a top half and bottom half. For now I can have the charge go into the top inlet, flow thru the top half of the intercooler, come out the other side, make a u-turn, come into the bottom half, and flow out the bottom inlet, thus effectively making it the same as a same-side inlet/outlet intercooler. Then, when I get a new intake manifold, I can just have the charge piping split into a Y and flow thru the top and bottom half and then have another Y on the other side. Problem solved.

So, to get the car back on the ground and driving I need to:

(deep breath)

get the front driver side suspension finished
get new rotors
get new brake pad clips
bleed the brakes all around
dial in the suspension close enough to get it to an alignment shop
get the car aligned
put the interior back together
find the bolts to mount the seat bracket
figure out how to mount the seat TO the bracket
dial in the fuel pressure
get an intercooler
make some charge piping
wire up the HIDs

AND, (maybe)

take the projectors apart and fix the RHD cutoff


Whew.


I've had some tentative interest on buying the car from a guy in Wisconsin but nothing is definite yet so I'm going to continue on as I would normally. But, let's just say if he gives me what I'm asking, the next set of pictures may be the last I post on this thread. Then it would be time to get another bike and start my "Drift Prelude" project. But for now, it'll stay business as usual.


So that's what's up at the moment...

Keep your fingers crossed and hope that I don't hit any more snags. As soon as the car is on the ground and drivable I'll get some pics and post them up (I'm hoping for sometime within the next 2 weeks)

[ixfxi]

this car looks bunk

[Creeper]

Question, Did you modified the Silvia S15 fenders to fit your S14? Or Did they fit without a problem? Thanks in Advance.

[K'netic]

The fenders are purpose made FRP conversion fenders. I'm not sure what brand they are since I got them straight off a container from Japan.

If you use OEM S15 metal fenders you have to splice in the back half of an S14 OEM fender (the half where the fender meets the door)

A body shop could do it but it would be pricey. Unless you're looking for Concourse quality panel gaps I'd say just get Origin conversion fenders.






UPDATE:

Just got the passenger seat mounted. In the famous words of the late Macho Man Randy Savage... OH YEAH!!!!!

[K'netic]

Originally Posted by ixfxi

this car looks bunk

Huh?
I don't understand the lingo...

[singlecamslam]

Good choice on the rb25, ever since i went from sr to rb25 i've been loving it.

[K'netic]

Originally Posted by singlecamslam

Good choice on the rb25, ever since i went from sr to rb25 i've been loving it.

I know what you mean. I've been in a 400hp SR and a 400hp RB and there's just no way to describe the difference. It's not exactly faster, it's just the way it delivers the power. It's a much more satisfying surge than a 4 cyl.

My favorite bit is the sound though. I think the RB is one of the best sounding platforms ever. If I could ever find one I'd love to do an RB30/25 hybrid. But those RB30 blocks are a BITCH to get in the states.

[Creeper]

Yeah I just had to ask since Im looking for a pair of fenders for my conversation because Im tired of fiber glass but Im looking into buying S15 oem fenders for my convesation, good thing I have a cousin who owns a body shop .