Quarter Million Refresh

[Corvus]

Hi all,

Long time lurker and finally an owner of a new to me 98 240SX SE. I've always been into old American muscle and have built Chevelles, Camaros, and most recently a 70 Monte Carlo. However, I've been recently getting addicted to the drift scene and wanted to try my hand at a Japanese build for going sideways. I also am going to focus on bringing this car back to former/improved glory.

I had been scouring the eastern seaboard on every marketplace imaginable for a car in decent enough shape and relatively stock for me to begin my 240 learning and building. I had run into a couple potentials and wasn't picky between S13/14 or hatch/coupe. It was a Monday evening and I had plans to see a very clean looking S13 couple about 3 hours from me that next day...but the seller was being hesitant getting me the VIN to run a Carfax. Late that night, someone responded to my posted local want ad with a white 1998 that he claimed was very clean.

Turns out, it was. He bought it from the original owner who bought it new in that town that was only an hour from me. It had right at 260k miles and was stock in every way imaginable. Every. Way. It has the original cassette/CD deck...the original factory optioned wind deflector on the sunroof...the original floormats and mud guards...nothing was touched on the engine. Needless to say, this was exactly what I was looking for. It needed lots of help to get up to snuff, but it was all there and was not ragged on.

I limped it home with low air in the rear tires, lights on one side not working, some misfiring or bucking from who knows what, and really sketchy brakes...but, even in its sorry state, it was more fun to drive than my 07 Mustang GT...I guess I miss cable throttle bodies

I took some pictures of it right when I got it home late at night...and promptly shoved the mustang into a corner to make room for it

It has:

-Sunroof
-Leather interior
-Factory 5spd
-Non-ABS
-5 Lug
-Stock white

[rawgarage]

Very nice ... congrats

[lunchmeat]

Damn good find.

[Malik]

the wolf brigade is a great movie

[Corvus]

Thanks, and yeah love the wolf brigade.

Been already working through some issues on the 240. Low and high beam on the right side were out when I got it, and looking through the harness found some troubling things. The fuse for the ignition had melted in its original location and looked like it was re-wired with the power from the right side lights. I may be wrong, but the 15A fuse was at least bypassed on the right side and pulling the box I found that there was no power going to it anyways.

So, the hunt for the right side power began. I wanted to get this done quick to get the thing registered ASAP. Looking closer in the car, it appears it sat for a while as the oil change sticker was within mileage, but from June 2016...

Looking at the grounds on the right side, I was pleasantly surprised to find the battery tray was rust-free...



/sarcasm

You can see the melted ignition fuse spot on the box in the top left too -.-

I cleaned up the tray and vacuumed out as much oxidation as I could. Started inspecting the harness for what I was sure was an oxidized ground now. After a couple days of peeling back harness and testing all along the wires, I decided to take a look inside closer to the stalk switch. Looking under the dash, there was a bare wire dangling that definitely wasn't stock. Pulling the steering clamshell apart, there was a wire going to the headlight connecter that someone stuffed a 15A fuse in-line to. But I could not find the wire that the terminating splice connector was supposed to go to. It may be the smoking gun, may not...I didn't find out, because I said screw it and just bridged over the power from both the low and high from the left side...

All lit up now:



Also, while everything was yanked out, I took it on myself to spray the MAF, cuz why not, right? It has been idling well, but it was bucking and power leveling at ~3500RPM. After cleaning, it threw some codes: P0100, P0110, and P1448

After some research, I found where the EGR control valves were and cleaned the front and rear with some B12 (Protip: Don't wear your plastic watch while spraying that shit, basically ruined my Pathfinder cuz my dumb ass forgot to take it off). I had cleared the codes and they haven't come back yet. It's still intermittent if it decides it wants to pull with full power.

I think it's the clutch actually. There's a pinging sound at idle in neutral that goes away when I push the pedal in. I'm no master at diagnosing clutches, but I'll be putting in a new (or newER) one. Also ordered up a 255lph ISIS fuel pump in case that's the issue.

Sorry for the shit pictures, I'll be dragging it to a local car show tomorrow morning and get some better ones as well as interior.