My project/build

[SinisterSntra91]

If you are a first time reader, before you continue reading, know that I never finished this project, I opted for a different chassis due to lack of interest, a new link to the new build will be posted.

Well I posted the start of my project a little while ago, it wasnt enough of a start for the moderators, so Ill try this again, here goes:

I picked up this S14 not to long ago, she was used and abused, but now its time for her to be restored. I got her off a guy on ebay, drove all the way to florida to pick her up and drug her ass back to ohio via my frontier. This is how she looked when I got her:




And here are some shots of the interior:



Im not a fan of the stock Zenki front end, so roaming ebay one day I found this, S15 Full metal and urethane (Just say no to fiberglass) Yeah I know boo but its what I like:

Silver housing projectors, from what I have heard they are rare...





I didnt plan on getting the conversion so soon but a deal just happend to pop up so I bought it up.

Well as you all know S15 fenders are not just a bolt on application, well they are but they arent, they line up with every bolt hole except for one the problem is where they meet the doors, it is slightly different, but different enough to where the ends have to be cut off each fender, swapped and welded back together. For those of you who want to know what is all involved in getting the real metal S15 fenders to fit, I took some pics and I will describe as best as I can.
First remove the S14 fenders from the car:

Then get your S15 fenders:

If you examine the fenders you will see that almost every bolt hole is the same as the S14 fender except for one. But this one bolt hole can be used you just have to drill a hole and run a bolt threw it.
Lower bolt hole comparrison:

Upper bolt hole comparrison:

One would think these fenders should bolt right on, but they dont. There is a slight difference in the shape of the doors and how high the fender goes up the A-pillar on the S15. Also the hood is wider on a S15, so if you bolt the S15 hood on with the S14 fenders the hood will overlap the fenders near the front. So the method to make these fit is either cut and weld, which will give you better durability and fit, or buy fiberglass conversion fenders which often dont fit right and crack from stress. Since I have had enough of fiberglass I paid the extra money for the metal OEM fenders. So here is my method on how I made the metal conversion happened. Using the points, (it comes to an actual point) where both fenders meet the A pillar and the lower bolt holes as reference points, I took masking tape and strung it from point to bolt holes in order to cut a straight line on a curved surface. I left about a half inch more than I needed on each section, so they will overlap. So the S14 fender is taped up like so:

Repeat the same process on the S15 fenders:

Now if you look at both fenders near the bottom you will notice the S14 fender curves in more radically than the S15 fender. So what I did is cut the S15 fender right above the lower body line. So the S15 fender will look like this once taped up and ready to cut:

Now using a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade cut both fenders along the tape edge, once finished they will look like so:

You can throw whats left of the S15 fender away, put whats left of the S14 fender to the side. Make sure the S15 hood is mounted to your vehicle, this will help in making sure the fenders properly line up with the body lines. Bolt both sections of the S15 fender and S14 fender to the car. Unfortunately my camera battery died at this point so all I can do is describe from this point. 3 out of 4 bolt holes on the S15 fender should line up on the dog house, the only one that does not lines up with a bolt hole that does not exist. Bolt the S14 fenders as it normally bolts up. The fenders should overlap eachother if they are cut right. Now this is where you need welding skills or someone who has welding skills. Paying attention to where the fenders line up with the car start from the top and tack weld the fenders together working your way down. Once you get to the point where you need the lower section of the S14 fender to complete the fender, Grab whats left of the S14 fender and hold it up to the fender on the car. Mark the fender on both sides. Using the masking tape, stretch a piece from point to point and cut. Make sure you leave enough to overlap on all sides again. Making sure you pay attention to the body lines once more. Take that section weld it up. Now remove the fender from the car, should look like this:

Here are some pics I have of the passenger side being done:
My buddy Mike working his magic:

Checking the welds:

The end result and how it looks on the car:




Take it to a good body man and have him smooth out the welds and fade in the sections and your good to go. My body lines did not line up which I am ok with, I hate body lines they will get shaved off my car. With a little more cutting and welding you can get the body lines to line up, so you can retain them. Do not I repeat DO NOT cut the fenders at the wheel arches and expect them to line up, S15 fenders are wider. You can cut the section off the fenders that go around the lights and swap them using the same welding method, But I opted for the wider S15 fenders, as I plan for wide body rear and I wanted to retain the turn signal lamps.
All I have to do now is cut out my S14 core support and weld in a S15 one. You can modify your existing S14 core support and finish the conversion after you rewire the headlights, but mine is bent all to hell on top and I want a cleaner factory look, so stay tuned for that install.
Hope that helps anyone who is pondering this conversion.

Got my fenders back from my grandpa and boy am I pleased/excited with the results, he added a high strength glue to them before he smoothed them out so they are extra sturdy. Fitment is awesome, here are some pics of the test fit:






Hmm some greddy goodness to compliment the front:

S15 Gracer Urethane lip, no fiberglass for this car, here is the test fit:

Flawless fitment And thats just sitting on the bumper, no screws!

Looks like this when painted:

Factory S15 fog lights, chyeah!

The power plant to be installed:

This is a motor out of a 05 Infiniti G35X, it had 28k on the od. I scored this off ebay for $400, yeah $400. But here is the catch it was damaged. The pictures werent real clear on the listing. So I took a chance, rolled the dice and came out on top. Turns out everything that was damaged is replaceable. And IF I were to purchase all the parts from the stealership it will run me $900 worse case scenario. I say worse case because I am not sure if this is the 300 hp motor, parts for that motor are more expensive. With the money I save it gives me a chance to build it a bit.
The good shots:


The bad:


The money shot in its transporter to the shop:

All in all the crank turns just fine it seems to have great compression, it just took a good licking to the outer components. I am happy, it was what I was wanting it to be.
Got the car to my shop and me and my brother started taking what will eventually be the beast apart. Here is some pics of the distruction:



My brother and I removing the body harness:

The biatch removed:

The result with the super low steering column:

[TPS240sxS13]

looking good so far

[SinisterSntra91]

Factory sound deadening removal via dry ice:



Uncovered some bad spots on the floor boards:


The start of the removal of the rust:

The dumb chit I have to fix:




The rear view:

Air view:

Seals removed for the next phase:


Some of you weight concerned people will hate this others may like it....

You know that Ford truck commercial where they boast about there quietness of their interior due in part to the "heat activated foam" inside the dead areas of the car? I can do that too and my "heat activated foam" is aka Great Stuff, about 12 cans to be exact. Take that Ford.
Here are some pics of the mess, I would highly recommend having no interior while doing this chit gets everywhere! These are pics after the foam has cured, I forgot my camera when I went to inject everything.





This should take care of the roof rattle I have seen alot of S14 guys complain about.

Great stuff is easliy trimmed/broken away so all your interior pieces can be put back in or if your interior is gutted for cleanliness. You dont have to worry much about weight as it is super light. It also is a sealent so it has its advantages in stopping rust from forming in places we cant get to if we tried. I went ahead and did this for all of the above reasons and I wanted to do it before the car gets blasted to keep glass bead from getting into areas I cant vacume out.
Here are some pics of the clean up:


Everything trimmed and the interior gutted free of everything:




This is just the first phase of my noise control, I absolutely hate road noise, and since this will in no way be a track car, I am not to concerned about a little added weight to quiet down the cabin.

[Modrified]

nice. i like it.

[blu808]

Cool build man. Sorry but that foam is not the correct type. You need the super high density type. And on the vq. Sorry but most likely that engine is toast. Anytime and I mean anytime a crank pulley gets hit or the crank gets hit the engine is toast.

On the plus side you could prob sell that vq for parts and come out ahead.
I also have 2 kits in stock from my shop when I closed it down. These are the vqswap.com kits for the s13 and s14. I will sell them for retarded cheap if you want them.

Let me know and hope you dont find any damage in that engine.

[SinisterSntra91]

Originally Posted by blu808

Cool build man. Sorry but that foam is not the correct type. You need the super high density type. And on the vq. Sorry but most likely that engine is toast. Anytime and I mean anytime a crank pulley gets hit or the crank gets hit the engine is toast.

On the plus side you could prob sell that vq for parts and come out ahead.
I also have 2 kits in stock from my shop when I closed it down. These are the vqswap.com kits for the s13 and s14. I will sell them for retarded cheap if you want them.

Let me know and hope you dont find any damage in that engine.

Yeah I have been told about the super high density type but I opted for something more local and accessable. I didnt want to spend much money on something thats not a huge problem for me and it wont ever be seen, I am still pretty sure it will take care of the problem I was aiming to solve anyway which is to take care of rattles. This is a nice polyureathane base foam that wont absorb water so it does the trick for me at least. As far as the VQ, I am going to dismantle it and build it for turbo, so its not like im going to fix the broken parts and hope for the best.

On the swap kit im hella interested, ill shoot you a PM.

[heyitzalan]

damn, i love ur front end s15 fender mod. Will you make one for me? i'll pay u. lol

[babowc]

looks good.
good luck with the build!

[BLKS13]

Coming along nicely! Hoping to see it come together quick!

[I10cruiser]

looks really awesome and cleann

[gregfarz78]

Quality work really nice job you did there, I'll be watching this thread b/c I'm swapping a vq into my s13

[clark]

i like where this is going, keep us updated!

[yarou]

Great start, Keep the updates coming!

[SinisterSntra91]

Thanks guys, here is part of my 350z harnesses, here is where I begin for the wiring, main harness:

Here is my command station while I fumble through my factory FSMs on my lap top while labeling plugs and watching tv lol:

[pbcstylez]

lol good to see u working hard or hardly working Brennan

[Ca_laurier]

looks like a good start, but that bottom end is toast. have you opened it up yet?

[alindeman1989]

Dam that looks good so far. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

[s13drob]

Originally Posted by Ca_laurier

looks like a good start, but that bottom end is toast. have you opened it up yet?

+111 daaamn. nice work on the fender conversion. great build. do they not have 2 many s14s in ohio? because thats a long way 2 travel for 1

keep tha bride as furniture. thats tite hahaha

[SinisterSntra91]

Originally Posted by s13drob

+111 daaamn. nice work on the fender conversion. great build. do they not have 2 many s14s in ohio? because thats a long way 2 travel for 1

keep tha bride as furniture. thats tite hahaha

not to many in the price range and condition i was looking for, I wanted a rolling chassis with no motor or trans or a chassis that had a blown motor or trans and I ended up finding this for $1k which isnt bad for a decent body S14 SE. the motor already being gone was a plus, saved me time and work

[Lordrandall]

Nice start, hopefully the VQ isn't toast....

[BBSilvia]

nice build look forward to seeing more!!

[need for drift]

nice project .

[SinisterSntra91]

Originally Posted by Ca_laurier

looks like a good start, but that bottom end is toast. have you opened it up yet?

No, I went to buy a new engine stand today being that it was pay day and all so I can get working on the dismantle of it, but some cork sucker busted the window out on my work van and jacked my GPS. So instead of the stand I had to spend my extra cash on buying a new window and a new tomtom

[juice.def]

nice nice looks like you know what your doing

[SinisterSntra91]

Small update:
I went to see a customer of mine who is going to let me use his blast booth for my car to see how well his bead blasting will strip the under coating of the car and the interior, so I took the rusted portion of the floor board that I cut out and he let me blast it and I was pleased with the results:

Interior side before:


After:


Underside before:


After:


As you can see the bead blast takes it down to bare metal nicely, it leaves a smooth finish do to it being a fine grain. The interior will be no sweat to strip as the paint is thin, and due to the fine grain it will lightly strip the factory caulk/seam sealent that nissan uses which is great because I didnt want to remove that stuff completely. The underside will take a little time to do, but he said once I get her completely stripped down he will let me get into his shop on the weekends and go to town. I know its not exciting information, but I am a dork and it excites me, lol.

[SinisterSntra91]

Another update:
Removed the windows tonight, getting closer and closer to sending her to the blast booth!
For those of you who have never removed windows from a car before its pretty easy, you just need wire cutter, buy a windshield removal kit, (Habor Freight $20 FTW!), 2 window suction cups (Harbor Freight again, $8 for both) grab a friend and do work son!
Remove seals:

Cut a decently long length of the instrument wire thats included in the kit:


Push wire through the silicone seal between the window and the car with the pick type tool that is also included in the kit:

Thread both ends of wire through the handles included in the kit (see directions):

With you on the inside of the car and your buddy on the outside of the car or vice versa, pull on the handles back in forth in a sort of tug-o-war / lumber jack sawing motion, this will cut through the silicone seal freeing the glass from the car. Becareful not to go to fast as the wire heats up and the glass is tempered (take that advice, I cracked my perfectly good windshield doing this) you will know when its hot cause you will see smoke lol. Also try not to saw back and forth on one small area of the wire or it will wear down and snap, do long back and forth sawing motions.
Once you have gone around the perimeter of the glass attach the glass suction cups to the windshield on both sides and you and your buddy lift the glass of the car, make sure you hold one hand on the suction cup and the other on the bottom of the glass incase the suction cup is not on there as well as you thought. Store in a safe place till later use.

As the car sits, engine bay and suspension to be stripped completely next.




Stay tuned.....

[The Inflicted]

Thank you so much for the description of the fender splice. I've been looking for a properly-written and photographed walk-through for nearly 5 months.
You have no idea what a help this is to me!

[ZenkiCam]

nice build bro! looks like you know what your doing!

i hope that VQ isnt trashed..

[SinisterSntra91]

Originally Posted by The Inflicted

Thank you so much for the description of the fender splice. I've been looking for a properly-written and photographed walk-through for nearly 5 months.
You have no idea what a help this is to me!

Beware of the body line I didnt take the extra steps to make them match up as my body line will be shaved.

Havent been able to do much but I started on my 350z/240sx hybrid steering column. I am doing this for the nats security needed to start the car and my column is broken from when the previous owner had it stolen from him.

I ran into a slight problem and figured out that my 240sx column is literally broken well bent anyway. I was told when thieves steal cars like ours they drill into the ignition key cylinder and wedge a piece of metal in there keeping the wheel from locking. Well when the thieves stole my car this was not the case. They bent the hell out of the column causing the wheel to lock in funny places:



Anyone have a not so bent/busted column they want to sell me?

[ByeByeSti]

looks like your going to town on this bitch, hope to see more pics of the progress up soon