So I picked up this S13 hatch on a cold, rainy day last February from some kid and his dad. I went to check it out and took it for a test drive. Brakes were soft, suspension was iffy and the car smelled like Yee Yee, Monster energy sipping Marlboro Man. After some negotiating with the kids dad we shook hands and I bought this turd. I shouldn?t have bought it but I have no self control so here we are.
Driving home I noticed the brakes becoming gradually worse and stopping more a question of IF not when it would stop. (kids dad said he would take this car to the East coast no problem LOL) Once I get home I jacked up the car and made some more discoveries.
? Motor mounts are toast
? Bluetooth tension rod bushings
? Brake line running to rear brakes is rusted through with fluid dripping out. Each press of the pedal literally squirted out fluid. I didn?t notice any fluids under the car when I was checking it out but the car had been sitting in the same spot for 3 months not being driven so I must have busted the line open on the test drive or way home.
? Frame rails are rusty in typical spots. I should have done a better job inspecting but given the weather at the time they appeared not as bad as they are. Someone has patched them in the past and did a lackluster job
The car ran ok and had its obvious issues but I was stoked to have another S Chassis in my life again. I?ve had two others before this one. The first was an immaculate 89 coupe. Old man owned, auto, like 90k miles. I regret selling this car on a regular basis. Sold it to some Honda kid who probably basterdized it or crashed it. I will have to dig up some pictures but here is one i have of the sweet XXRs I had cuz i was a broke college kid.
A few years later I got an S14 drift turd that I ended up selling to a kid who rolled up with 10 of his closest homies. Then as I awkwardly waited at the credit union with the kids dad for him to do paperwork to get the loan his dad questioned me like I was trying to date his daughter or something. Kid later blows up the car and his dad is texting me blaming me
Back to the hatch.
First order of business was to replace the rusted-out brake line. I made new lines and got that sorted which was not fun. Then I replaced the tension rods since those bushings didn?t exist. While replacing the steering rack bushings I managed to crack a rusted power steering line?.so I ordered Chase Bays lines and replaced that.
At this point the car had been sitting in my garage for about a month and decided it didn?t want to start after sitting for a bit. Upon further inspection I discovered the typical hodge podge emissions delete attempt and random things unplugged. Deleted EGR and cleaned IACV. Got it running but it idled high and didn?t want to start without giving it gas. Drove it around a couple times before it ended up sitting out at my parents for a couple months. My apartment building got bought out and dude gave us 30 days to move out so he could renovate the building. Naturally, I had just started house hunting so I moved in with the parents for a couple months while I found a place. Car sat there and the rest of my possessions waited in a storage unit. Found a house after multiple offers on other places. The market was crazy- houses selling same day they were listed, selling 10-20k over asking. Wild.
Fast forward in time and I am moved into my new place and got the S13 into the garage. I compromised with the one car garage and almost immediately decided I would need more space but oh well.
Got right to work and I started tearing into the engine bay and pulled the motor for disassembly and rebuild. Motor was making some wonky noises and I plan to build the KA because why not. This is my first time tearing into a motor outside of doing timing jobs and stuff like that.
You can see how cramped it is with that monstrous hoist.
Got the motor out and pushed the car outside so I had room to work.
I discovered someone has had the head off before and did not do an awesome job of reassembly. ARP studs were installed but they were loose and some of the nuts weren't even torqued all the way. I think this was done with a timing refresh.
Here you can see the wear on the bearings. There is some serious wear on the sides of the main bearing in the middle as well.
Rod bearings also show wear and some pitting
Cylinder walls
Got the head disassembled. After 2 attempts at getting the right valve spring compressor I ended up using the hammer and socket method to smash the springs into submission. This felt super sketchy but I guess this is the way. I'll have to track down the proper tool when I install new springs.
Also, appears as if someone used the oil pan for some prospecting....
So that catches us up to where I currently am with the car. Now I need to get the motor off to the machine shop for bore, hone, deck, valve job, etc. Once the motor is out of the garage I'll roll the car back in and get to work on next steps.
First order of business is repair the frame rails. I work at a structural steel fab shop so I will get the plates cut at work. Not sure if I wanna tackle the welding yet or not since I am an extremely amateur welder at best. We'll see.
Then the plan is install the suspension components I have been accumulating:
-BC Super Low coils
-ISR Pro arms
-Tie rod ends
-Moog ball joints
Goal for the car (as of now) is just a street car with maybe some track days. Going to work with what I have and build the KA and stay NA for now. Been toying with the idea of ITBs but we will see if that comes to fruition. Maybe I will go full Zilvia and wait 6 months then part out the car.
I have a million projects for the house as well so time and money will be stretched all over the place.
I think that about does it for now. Thanks for sticking around if you've made it this far.