#Project180 a story involving rotary, type x, SR & 2j

[2stepGoesPowPow]

well, i been on this forum for almost 2 years now and always wanted to have a build thread of my own to be proud of and since my project has a good amount of progress i figured its time to start one.

Since i was about 13 i was obsessed with imports, while all the other kids talked about exotic cars, like ferrari's, lamborghini, etc. i was talking about the orange supra from The Fast and the Furious , so after years of dreaming of being behind the wheel of a japanese import, 18 finally came around, i got my license & it was time to find my first car. I wanted a RWD import, something cool like in all the movies, youtube videos i was always watching at home and in school but, My dad always kept telling me i had to get something AWD for safety so i was pushing for an eclipse GSX or a bugeye 02 wrx, something that was awd since i had no choice, an import, and boosted. However as most kids hopes for there first car mine did not go as planned. August 3rd 2010 Me and my dad went to a Marshals auction in Brooklyn, We had walked into the lot after inspection time had ended and they had started auctioning off cars one by one. We had no intention of buying a car. They began bidding on a car in the corner of the lot i couldnt really see exactly what it was, all i saw a car with shiny rims, my dad mentioned if the price was rite it could be worth it just to buy the car to sell the rims and part it out. The car looked cool to me from the little bit of the front end i could see so i said yeah sure lets bid, we ended up winning the auction for $600. It was in crap condition for the most part, faded paint, cracked bumpers, one headlight didnt work, stock seats were slashed up, had a broken passanger mirror, pleanty of rust underneath and like 170k miles. However it had a muffler missing so it rediculously loud, had lowering springs but once i saw it was a 1989 Mazda RX-7 i thought it was the coolest car ever! All it needed was a battery and it started rite up. This was the car as i bought it fresh out of the auction lot.











After realizing the wheels were just XXR's and explaining to my dad that the wheels are pretty much worthless and a bunch of begging my dad let me have it for my first car. I was psyched, i was going to have a RWD after all. Since we got it for so cheap my dad agree'd to get the car a nice quality paintjob that consisted of pleanty of drips and dirt in the paint from some hole in the wall body shop in brooklyn. I also order'd a AIT G4 body kit. It took like 3 months for it to get painted, it was rediculous. Everytime we went to check on the car the guy said it would be ready next week, that he just had to polish it. So we finally said screw the polish, went there with a uhaul car trailer and said give us the car, he still went on with the BS so we called the cops and told them he wouldnt give us the car back and so he finally took it out and gave it to us, since it was on springs and the kit the car was really low to the ground and we cracked the front bumper going on the trailer but nothing major. also was a nightmare getting it off the trailer but we had finally got it home. You cant really see the paint drips and dirt in the paint obviously but note the overspray on the rear tire and muffler -_-






So after being rejected by many shops to get my mufflers done because my car was too low, i had finally found a shop. Note the no paint under the lip of the rear bumper lol.




So i drove the car through high school, daily driving a rotary was pretty awesome. The roulette you play starting it in the morning wondering how easy it was going to be to start that day, i loved it While everyone at high school had there new cars, i was lovin my old school RX-7 A lot of kids thought it was some sort of super fast racecar, a supra?, a conquest?, people didnt know what the hell i was driving, or that it only had like 150hp LOL. So here are some pictures of the car as i drove it through high school.










So since the car had an intake and exhaust that pretty much concluded my extent of knowledge with modding rotaries and i wanted something i could do more with. Nobody around me had 240's and i was always reading Super Street magazine's and other import mags. So my search began, i had put my car for sale. I had a bunch of tire kickers and low ballers, until about a month later i had finally found a guy that was willing to trade me an SR20 S13 for my Rx-7, i was hyped. However a week before i was supposed to meet with the guy to trade.... I was driving in the left lane of a 2 lane highway when a lady made a uturn from opposing traffic in front of me, went into the right lane and then immediately back into the left lane. I had no time to downshift, my brakes locked up, i slid about 20 feet while beeping my horn the whole time, she didnt move and i slid into the back of her honda pilot.





So i was basically screwed all summer with no car. Mid august the insurance gave me $2000 and i ended up selling the car for $2200 with salvaged title. I then moved down from Suffolk long island to Nassau and got a job at a AAA service station/mechanic/towing place. I ran around changing tires, helping people get there keys that they locked in there car, jump starts etc. I also hung around the shop a lot and learned a bunch of stuff. So i was saving money from there as i was looking for an S13. I ended up seeing a red S13 SR swapped, s15 turbo, bolt ons etc. he wanted $4,700, it ran and looked mint however underneath it had a lot of rust and the frame rails were horrible from bottoming out everywhere. I started offering low and went all the way up to $4,400. i was really stupid.. however he was even more stupid because he wanted to get full price out of me and didn't accept my offer. Next day he texted me saying hell take my offer however i was already on my way driving the 100 miles to PA to see another SR swapped S13. This S13 had no rust, Power windows and sun roof, stock suspension, 5 lug swap, 300zx TT front calipers, Front mount intercooler, Walbro pump, exhaust, Mishimoto radiator, and came with a greddy profec B spec 2 boost controller. Only bad thing really was the cheap paint job it had, the door jams and engine bay were still red... So we went on a test drive and i loved the car. It was a rocket compared to my old RX-7. So i got the car for $3,700 on sept 11 2011. I drove it all the way back home and that was the first time i got to enjoy 5 speed through manhatten traffic rush hour. So this was the car as i bought it:









So the first thing i did when i brought it home was take off the type x replica spoiler and bondo the holes i left. I loved the car, first 5 speed boosted car i ever drove. So with my extra money i had i started buying mods. I didnt know much about boosted cars or the whole "you get what you pay for" when buying parts. So the mods began, i ordered Godspeed coilovers, got a Greddy Ti-C catback from a local to replace the ebay catback it had, a front mount piping kit to replace all the chopped up home made piping, Greddy RZ bov to replace the knock off SSQV, a new shift knob to replace the extremely rice burner-ish plastic one [which ended up being a nightmare to remove because the previous owner put some king of adhesive and it wouldnt unscrew..], New ebay seats because the stock ones were worn to crap, And relocated the battery to trunk to get rid of the baby dry cell battery and had known 240 shop Tarmac SPL clean up the vacuum lines.



















So i drove the car like that until about october, i was planning on putting the car away for the winter to save and prevent rust from NY snow&salt, however the car always seems to be the one that chooses when its time to stop driving it. When i bought the car the previous owner told me it had some sort of exhaust leak, it ended up being the gasket from the turbo to the manifold leaking and one day in october i did a pull down my block and upon slowing down to enter my driveway idle got really choppy like it was cammed and i struggled to pull it into my driveway, i opened the hood and saw the gasket half way blown out of the side. So as usual i took this opportunity to replace what was wrong with an upgrade. So i decided on doing a GT2871r upgrade & all winter i saved and collected parts.









So the list was: Tomei expreme exhaust manifold & Turbo elbow, NGK AFX wideband, Isis z32 maf, Tomei 740cc Injectors, ARP head studs, apexi head gasket, Nistune ecu, Nismo fuel pressure regulator, 300zx fuel filter, isis lightweight pulleys and the garrett gt2871r dual ball bearing, i also took the opportunity to put in glowshift gauges, oil pressure, water temp & boost, but i later decided to sell the head gasket and head studs, i was originally aiming for 400hp but decided i didn't wanna push the SR to its limits, just something reliable with some more power. i Since i had very little knowledge with working on cars at the time i had Tarmac SPL do the install, once spring came i had the car towed to the shop, perks of working for a towing company .











The car ran real nice, Felt like a whole new beast. Heres an acceleration video i took on the way back from picking up a Bee*r limiter, only on 9psi and shifting at 6k and below: 9psi acceleration SR20DET - YouTube

So after getting it back the next thing on the list was to get engine and transmission mounts because my motor was teaching me how to dougie everytime i started the car and i couldn't really shift that fast because with my shot mounts my shifter would jump and wobble around like lindsay lohan on coke withdrawals, so i got Nismo motor and tranny mounts and put them in with one of the mechanics from my job on the side of the street in front of his house






So the car drove real nice after the new mounts, really fun to drive, quick spool, and i was lovin the gas mileage!, it got a little worse after the new setup but it was still WAY better than the 13B. only problem was i began having overheating problems which ended up being the 16" mishimoto electric fan was no longer good enough to keep temp down, i bought isis dual 12" fans and shroud and that made it worse, finally put the clutch fan back and everyhthing ran perfect. I also began meeting more & more S-chassis people.



Also bumped into a bunch of people on the road like this 350z that wanted some nissan on nissan crime, we exchanged words at the light after this he was a real cool guy, 2nd person on the road that already knew i had an sr20 lol.



Also saw this viper on the service road flipped one day while i was at work..



So i couldnt stand S14 SE wheels anymore, i needed wheels so i started looking. I was never a fan of 17's like most 240's have, i always wanted 18's & I always wanted gold rims for my car. i found a local who i ended up becoming friends with was selling a set of MB battles 18x9.5 +15 off his kouki S14 [Built SR Holset powered]









So it was on to spraying!, the wheels were in mint condition. I washed them, scuffed them, and sprayed them with metallic gold engine enamel.

[2stepGoesPowPow]

I mounted & balanced the wheels at work then rolled/pulled my fenders with a heatgun & hammer in May 2012, then my car finally looked a little better. daily drove it everywhere & started going to automotive school. i slowly started noticing the rubbing, tucked my harness before it rubbed through and made myself a lil more clearence. Heres a pic of how it looked rite after i put the wheels on, then after i adjusted the height a little bit.




















Then one night i was meeting up w/ friends at a local drift spot and i went like 40mph over a huge bump, "caught like 6 feet of air", and upon landing my car felt a little funny, kept driving and got to the spot, looked at my car and my front driver coilover had snapped!!!!!the metal rod that goes into the shock had busted rite out and the car was resting on the spring.



I ended up having to drive 12 miles home while the tire was rubbing on the spring going 10mph because any faster and the tire would start smoking... it took me an hour to get home... So after that i ended up getting some used KTS/SPL coilovers and i bought a godspeed gen 2 suspension arm package. here is a pic of the broken godspeed coil over next to the new coils and the new suspension.





I should have learned when my coilover broke not to continue buying godspeed..., some of the arms needed the pivot bushings to be trimmed because they didnt fit... but after that they were fine i suppose.

Then because my front bumper wasn't really secured rite [zip ties from bumper to fenders on both sides, and just bolted to the headlight supports] over time the drivers side headlight support bracket where the bumper bolts onto began to crack so i just took the bumper off. [ended up staying off for 3 months], i also got type X rear valances and side skirts. I sprayed the valances and put them on, left the skirts in my basement to one day be re painted to match the car.



Then one day i backed out of my driveway and into my neighbors cobble stone lined front yard and freakin bent my exhaust..




ended up getting a 3" ebay catback for like a hundred bucks and getting the Ti-C muffler welded on to it. It was pretty nice, didnt have the big resonator that the greddy had, more of a straight through design, & Then i went to a bunch more meets, had a bunch of mini photo shoots with homies & enjoyed the car pretty much everyday.

[Idahos13]

In for more. Looks like you are headed in a good direction. Nice build!

[2stepGoesPowPow]

I started thinking about what i wanted to do with the car, i didnt really wanna go any further with the SR & I was kinda missing my FC. I considered selling the car but i knew i wouldn't get anything close to what i invested in it. So i kept driving the car and continued to think over my options.

I was pretty close to having my whole type x kit so i jumped on the chance to get a type x front bumper from local hombre josh/ ka24debt as soon as he told me he was selling it. So since i didn't have a front bumper on i test fitted it real quick.





Now my type x kit was pretty much complete i just needed kouki tail lights.

I started hosting S-Chassis meet's at sonic about once a month. There was pretty good turnouts, mostly JDM RWD cars & no ricer's doing burnouts or any other stupid shit.













September 29th 2012 i did the normal 3k mile oil change.







I had a Sonic meet that saturday i believe it was the next day, a little while before everyone started leaving i realized a puddle under my car i had leaked out about half a quart of oil, I thought i probably forgot the rubber gasket ring around the oil filter from the last one but i felt the filter and drain plug and there was no oil on either. A friend had some oil so i topped off before leaving and drove home taking it real easy. The next day i checked out the car and it ended up leaking from the oil pressure switch for the gauge. Very weird, i was pretty confused how the hell that happened. It was almost time to put the car away for the season so i had pretty much narrowed it down to two options. I was going to either sell my car for probably $5k and save all winter long to get an FD rx-7, which for a clean stock one would easily be $11k or do a complete overhaul on my car. I figured it was kinda stupid to save so much and then have a much slower car then spending half the money for an FD on performance for the S13 and have a beast. Plus if i got an FD id want to go straight for Street port, seals & single turbo so thats another ton of money. So i decieded to stick with the S13 and take it to its full potential and wasted little time pulling the motor with my friend Alex & parting most of the stuff out.

[Big Zee]

love it, start to finish!!

wheres the 2j ? lol

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by Idahos13

In for more. Looks like you are headed in a good direction. Nice build!

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by Big Zee

love it, start to finish!!

wheres the 2j ? lol

Patience!, its coming!

[2stepGoesPowPow]

So i was thinking about going R25 but after some convincing from my buddy pat [JDM SPUG] i decieded 2J was the way. So i sold all the SR supporting mods relatively quick but ended up selling the motor pretty cheap because i didn't feel like waiting anymore.





I ended up getting lucky and through a friend found someone that wanted to trade me a brand new GT3582R dual ball bearing for my GT2871r, so i jumped rite on that.









Since the motor was out i decided to have the front tubbed, so i cut out most of the stock tubs.









I then let my friend Dustin [alloverdajoint] do the tubs & stitch welding.

[alloverdajoint]

Ahhhhhhhh!! A black guy welding!!!!!!

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Buddy of mine kept asking to buy my wheels, i needed funds so i let them go :/




Then i didn't have anything to roll the car around on for a lil while. So i started sanding the car down to prep it for paint, Also sold the stock fenders.







Got some mk3 supra wheels for rollers... that ended up not fitting rite 100%.












Got some 20mm fenders from local Bayspeed Aero.





Then the day finally came to go pick up my baby , I took the trip to JDM Engine Depot In NJ.










Got 2jz?



& there was my baby....





So they compression tested it for me, and it was onto loading it up for the ride back home.













Took off the auto transmission.







Took off the twin turbo piping.







Took off the twin turbo's.







Got her on the engine stand.





Took the valve cover's off, So Fresh & So Clean!!!!!





Sold my ebay seat's & got some Bride Reps.







Got some Kouki Lights!

[No 240.. No id]

Did you do a research before you buy from "JDM Engine Depot" ??

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by No 240.. No id

Did you do a research before you buy from "JDM Engine Depot" ??

Yes. My compression was awesome, motor is clean inside & the turbo's had no shaft play, Like new. So far no complaints.

[Oakville]

Nice build!

I understand buying fake body pieces or exhaust pieces, but using a knock off seat man....one of your cars most important safety features that could buckle like nothing in the event of an accident. Food for thought.

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by Oakville

Nice build!

I understand buying fake body pieces or exhaust pieces, but using a knock off seat man....one of your cars most important safety features that could buckle like nothing in the event of an accident. Food for thought.

This is true.. but at the same time the same bride rep seat i got vs the real one i cant really imagine much difference, there both fiberglass. & BTW @ur sig if u get a gtr v spec id be super jealous, after i finish this i really wanna chase after an R33

[Oakville]

Originally Posted by 2stepGoesPowPow

This is true.. but at the same time the same bride rep seat i got vs the real one i cant really imagine much difference, there both fiberglass. & BTW @ur sig if u get a gtr v spec id be super jealous, after i finish this i really wanna chase after an R33

I've seen a lot of replica seats do some silly things even in minor collisions. mounting points from hardware snap, its not so much the shell of the seat itself. Idk given the fact that we all drive 25 year old nissans without air bags, one thing I dont chince out on is safety.

And thanks man, I know your exact position very well. Im a 1992 kid and bought a 1990 honda accord sedan in 2009 when I was 16. I now daily drive a clean and bone stock 2001 Civic sedan (auto), but I've been lucky enough to stumble across a few cheap Skylines over the years as projects. Went back to university this year after doing 2 years of community college so I sold off my GTR. I will be importing a v-spec this fall, I can't wait.

Its super cool to see guys our age tackling big projects like this...every 20 year old in Ontario is usually in a slammed civic or vw, very little nissan/toyota love up here.

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Dropped the welded diff that i had in my car.





Swapped in a Q45 diff for the better final drive & stronger axels.





Also replaced the passengers side knuckle because the thread that the bolt which holds the coilover to the knuckle was stripped out, also replace the rear lower control arm with brand new oem goodness.





Deleted the A/C condenser off the 2j





Since i sold my ebay seats i got an S14 driver seat to take the car to paint and do whatever else without having to mess up the new seats, a new un-cracked dash since mine has a few cracks from [Leung] 's parts car. heres the stuff packed into the daily.





So then i got S14 SE wheels AGAIN [i sold the ones i used to have] & put in a ton of hours sanding the car down until this was the end result.









I also power washed my engine bay, sprayed simple green everywhere, let it sit for about 20-30 mins and washed it all off. Here's before & after







Then the day finally came to take the car to the shop the begin the paint process.

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by Oakville

I've seen a lot of replica seats do some silly things even in minor collisions. mounting points from hardware snap, its not so much the shell of the seat itself. Idk given the fact that we all drive 25 year old nissans without air bags, one thing I dont chince out on is safety.

And thanks man, I know your exact position very well. Im a 1992 kid and bought a 1990 honda accord sedan in 2009 when I was 16. I now daily drive a clean and bone stock 2001 Civic sedan (auto), but I've been lucky enough to stumble across a few cheap Skylines over the years as projects. Went back to university this year after doing 2 years of community college so I sold off my GTR. I will be importing a v-spec this fall, I can't wait.

Its super cool to see guys our age tackling big projects like this...every 20 year old in Ontario is usually in a slammed civic or vw, very little nissan/toyota love up here.

yeah im gunna put in a harness bar with the reps this time too, i might get real seats in the future but for now the reps will have to do. Thats sick though, skylines are really rare here in the U.S, R33 GTR V-spec is my dream skyline. It is cool though being our age, its kinda like competing with the older crowd, gives me more inspiration lol.

[No 240.. No id]

Originally Posted by 2stepGoesPowPow

Yes. My compression was awesome, motor is clean inside & the turbo's had no shaft play, Like new. So far no complaints.

Well since you are close to them, you can just drive up there.
I had a done business with them before, didn't go so well. They sent me a knocking sr, with cut harness and blown turbo that is barley bolted to the manifold.
Looked them up online and they are the worst to do business with.

But good luck with the build.

[BiG MiKE86]

Dope build!

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by No 240.. No id

Well since you are close to them, you can just drive up there.
I had a done business with them before, didn't go so well. They sent me a knocking sr, with cut harness and blown turbo that is barley bolted to the manifold.
Looked them up online and they are the worst to do business with.

But good luck with the build.

Wow. Yeah all jdm places have mixed reviews and most of them don't have great customer service. When I got to jdmenginedepot I found my motor and when I asked then to comp test it they said there cables broke and they couldn't test it unless I had cables, so I went from the engine warehouse back to there office and asked the owner if he had cables I could borrow, one of the employees ended up having and I used his and everything was fine. The owner also told me I should come get the motor when I'm ready to put it in the car because I would be voiding the warranty waiting more then the 30 days but I already knew that. The situation you were in is pretty fucked up. Finding a good SR is way more difficult then getting a good 2j in my opinion. There's tons of ppl in Japan beating on SR's if you think about it. 2j's coming from an aristo sedan or soarer not so much.

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by BiG MiKE86

Dope build!

Thanks man, jus took a quick look at your build, sellin SR's for 2j's ftw! Lol

[BiG MiKE86]

Originally Posted by 2stepGoesPowPow

Thanks man, jus took a quick look at your build, sellin SR's for 2j's ftw! Lol

Yes Sir 2JZ>SR! Got tired of junk breaking and making lil boy power

What engine mounts/brackets are you using?

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by BiG MiKE86

Yes Sir 2JZ>SR! Got tired of junk breaking and making lil boy power

What engine mounts/brackets are you using?

Yeah that's one of the main reasons I ditched the SR I didn't wanna push it and have to worry about shit breakin at any time when a 2j makes power effortlessly & I also plan on getting xcessive motor n transmission mounts

[BiG MiKE86]

Originally Posted by 2stepGoesPowPow

Yeah that's one of the main reasons I ditched the SR I didn't wanna push it and have to worry about shit breakin at any time when a 2j makes power effortlessly & I also plan on getting xcessive motor n transmission mounts

Just as an FYI my hood does not close with xcessive mounts and brackets. I'm going to take a look at It this weekend to see if I can get it to work if not ill be selling the mounts and reusing my nismo mounts which are shorter

[2stepGoesPowPow]

Originally Posted by BiG MiKE86

Just as an FYI my hood does not close with xcessive mounts and brackets. I'm going to take a look at It this weekend to see if I can get it to work if not ill be selling the mounts and reusing my nismo mounts which are shorter

That's weird, ill prob get nismo mounts again then, I didn't realize I'd need mine for the 2j and sold them lol.

[BiG MiKE86]

Originally Posted by 2stepGoesPowPow

That's weird, ill prob get nismo mounts again then, I didn't realize I'd need mine for the 2j and sold them lol.

Check the 2j thread - the xcessive mounts compared to others are the tallest. But I'm going to try and remove the fiberglass under the hood too see if that helps first before I change em

[EmpyreS13]

Go with Get Nutz Labs mounts. Forrest has done the research and runs them in all of his personal cars. Have not heard 1 bad thing about them

[BiG MiKE86]

Originally Posted by EmpyreS13

Go with Get Nutz Labs mounts. Forrest has done the research and runs them in all of his personal cars. Have not heard 1 bad thing about them

Mounts or brackets?

[EmpyreS13]

Brackets my bad. Get Nuts Lab JZ to S-Chassis Engine Brackets - Ace Up Motorsports

[2stepGoesPowPow]

One day i was roaming the for sale section and stumbled on a deal i couldn't pass up from [jk26], Brand new, dual ball bearing, Polished, Precision 6776 for under $1k.






Here's the T67 next to the GT35







I sat on the GT35 for a while until i finally sold it to a guy from NJ that was boosting an S2000. Meanwhile my car was getting body work fixing all the minor dent's and imperfections, i also got the holes for the wiper fluid squirter's on the hood and roof closed along with the hole where the radio antenna was.











Then i took the intake manifold off the motor, i decided to polish it, so i started the process... Never again will i polish something in my life lol. Takes a ton of time and effort.













Then i went to Englishtown (NJ) to check out Club Loose opening moves.
I made this half way decent video from all my iPhone footage from that day:

Club Loose 3/30/2013 - YouTube

But if you're too cool and ain't got time fo dat you can just skim through these pictures.























Then the car got primered











I got to work taking off the water pump & timing belt, since i was waiting for the new water pump & timing belt kit i decided to send out the valve covers and cam pulleys to be powder coated.





Engine bay & under the hood got painted, black with gold flake. Fenders also got fitted.















Car got painted!













Picked up a fuel injector clinic rail brand new locally for a good price, dual -8 feed -6 return, after talking with [2muchboost] i decided e85 was the way to go. e85 pumps are all over my area.





Got my valve cover's & pulleys in the mail today. Car also got polished and ready for me to pick it up tomorrow!.

[BiG MiKE86]

Omg... Drooling so hard right now