Cason's 240sx Hatch Build

[theStig880]

Sup Zilvia, I’m not really sure why I haven’t made a build thread yet here. I guess I never felt I had a car “finished” enough to justify writing one but Im pretty bored and a little nostalgic. I bought my first 240sx on November 18, 2010 so I just recently celebrated the 8 year anniversary with it. Forgive me if its a little out of order, there's a lot to remember. I was 15 when I got the car and I found this car at a dealership in rural North Carolina. It was bone stock, 1989 manual with only 121k miles on the clock.



I was pretty excited to get a stock car even back then. Weirdly enough, the car was brought to Germany from California in 1992 and brought back around 1997. Over there, the quarter glass got broken and replaced with a 200sx glass. Kinda neat.



It didn’t take long for me to tear into it though. Being 16 and wanting a drift car, I did all of the stereotypical mods. I had a friend weld the diff and ordered some PBM coilovers. I bought a shitload of SE wheels and drove it for around a year.



I went to a couple local drift events but I mostly spectated around this time. I bought some XXRs 002s somewhere along the way and pretty much drove like this for another year. I worked part time as a waiter after school and saved pretty much all my money for car stuff. I ended up buying a set of Work VSXXs around Christmas of that year.






I remember at the time being really excited and I threw them on the car pretty quick. They were especially cool because they were 4 lug. I didn’t have an alignment in this next picture.



I attribute these to starting a fanaticism with wheels. Almost immediately, I decided to order some new rear lips to have them rebuilt. I also ordered rear overfenders and cut that beautiful stock body up. Ugh. I don’t have a ton of regrets with this car but that's on the list. My tastes now definitely lean towards clean stock body cars.






So around this time, I was a senior in highschool and I took automotive technical classes as an elective. A friend was in the autobody program so I had him paint the fenders and shave the third brake light.




I remember this being one of the few times the car had all four Works and paint. I got a flat in a front tire a week after paint and I sold the set shortly after. After graduating high school, I decided to swap the engine for an SR. I ordered my redtop and a huge list of bits about a week after graduation.




So the summer before school, I threw the engine into the car. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish in time and I moved to Charlotte without my car. Progress halted a little but eventually I finished the swap and bought a set of Weds Cerberus 1s. Swapped to 5 lug at the same time. This is also when I discovered the Yahoo Auctions haha. Really missed out early on, I pretty much only bought new stuff until then.







So over the next summer, I hastily threw on some roller wheels and rebuilt the Weds. With the engine running, I drove this ugly piece to school with me and drove around for a long time like this. I bought some 40mm fenders with the intention of rebuilding the other pair. I never did that and I hated the way the fenders looked so I sold them off. Not a ton really happened in between but eventually I sold the Weds and bought a set of Work XT7s.







I also bought some replica 180sx skirts and OEM valances. I got the XT7s with 255-40 tires which actually looked pretty cool but didn’t steer at all. I bought new tires and drove like this for around a year.





I decided after a couple of breakdowns, I wanted a daily driver. I bought a Subaru Forester and parked the 240 back at my parents house. This was the last time I drove the car for about 3 years.






Honestly nothing major was really wrong with it. I just wanted to refresh everything and get it decent again. But with a daily and the car being a hour away, it got forgotten. Sort of, I continued to buy pieces for it when I could. Fufilling a long time dream, I bought a set of Kouki tails.





Around this time was very exciting for me. I bought a pair of 18x10 +22 Blitz 03s and a Bride Zeta 1. I also found some 17x8.5 03s and a pair of 18x9 Model 5s. I sold the Model 5s because they were cracked but it was pretty cool to have all these wheels I had lusted over for years.





More random maintenance things happened, I pulled the subframe and bought some steplip Work Equips and some more VSXXs. I told myself they were drift spares but I never kept them very long. I eventually got the Blitz 03s on the car.







The car ran this whole time but I never registered it because I wanted to finish the aero and have it painted. Kinda dumb looking back. I bought a 180sx wing and a Shine Auto Sexy Style kit.





Continued....

[theStig880]

Part 2:

I’ve always liked the big aero look but something felt off to me. I think the fitment of the 8.5 Blitz was too weak and I didn’t have money to paint it at the time. So I sold off the kit and the front Blitz. I held onto the rears for a long time because of the rarity but eventually I sold them off too. Wish I didn’t, I’d love a set again soon.









The Subaru decided to kill itself so I was back in the market for a new daily. I settled on a F150 under the assumption I would use it as a work truck. Lol




To replace the Blitz, I bought the some more Model Vs, this time 18x10 +19 all around. Also got a Nardi Classic too and had the front suspension modified by Villains Drift around this time.








Just like every other set of wheels Ive owned, I sold the Advans shortly after they got on the car. Looked cool but not what I wanted in the end.



So with the car aeroless and wheel less, I started accumulating parts. I bought a Type X bumper and some skirts. Unfortunately, I sold the valances I had so I couldn’t finish the look immediately. I also bought a holy grail set of wheels for me. My 17x9 +22 Nismo LMGT4s.






These things were perfect condition and one of my favorites wheels ever made so I was beyond excited to finally own them. Getting them on the car spurred me to wash the car for the first time in a year.






Bought some Hurricane mirrors and a Thrash seat that popped up locally. I mounted up all the new 180sx aero and took more pictures. If you cant tell, the car really never got out of my parents driveway in this period.







Still collecting bits and pieces for the build, I somehow stumbled on a pair of Abflug headlights. They were beat up but I had to jump on them.





So at this point, I graduated from school and finally got a job. I moved to a little house with a single car garage and quickly shoved all my car stuff inside. Every room of the house has parts from the 240.







Cont.

[theStig880]

Part 3:

This was the first time in a couple years the car left my parents driveway. I raised the car really high and put spares on the front to get it on the trailer. The next week, I lowered the car back down and put some new tires on the front wheels.










I ordered a Koguchi Power hood and a Hotroad lip through Japanese Parts Service and picked them up. I was super eager to see the car in full aero form.





I started looking for a pair of 18” LMGT4s and eventually found a pair on the auctions. But they were 9.5 +30 and needed a big spacer with my overfenders.




About a week after they arrived, I bought a set of 18x10.5 +15 from Australia. I paid too much, but they are absolutely grail wheels. I quickly became a hoarder of all bronze Nismo wheels.





I probably should sell some of them but I haven’t really decided. Anyway, I started tearing apart the car again. I definitely could have quickly painted all the pieces and started driving again, but I wanted to restore the car a bit and have the whole thing painted at once.






Since I still needed rear aero, I finally found a G-grow rear valance. It hits my exhaust at the moment but looks really cool with the OEM skirts. Also put my LMGT4s on a buddies WRX. They really look cool on everything.






I also bought a pair of 20mm Origin fenders and a DMAX roof wing.





So that pretty much takes us to now. The rear suspension needs to be buttoned up and then the car will be back off jack stands. The plan is to pull the engine sometime next week for a refresh and S15 turbo. Ill send the car off to paint after I finish fitting all the pieces. I haven’t decided if I want to a simply 90s/00 inspired livery or no stickers but that’s a couple months away. Thanks for reading in any case.

[Fuglychuki91]

Crazy parts man. I wish I had some of those lmgt4’s haha sick build nonetheless

[EFITTZY]

Super nice build so far man. Subbed for updates

[afishysilvia]

Wheel whore my lord, looking good though.

[pignose_drift:)]

Sooo good! Cant wait to see whats next

[JrDarknes]

Nice to read and see the back story of this thing. Wish I had those wheels :/.

[UJCD]

I loved every bit of it until it lost the pop ups Dx

[CamryOnBronze]

Love your taste in parts and seeing the progression through your ownership and the different stages of life. You know I am a big fan of this thing man! Glad you finally made a build thread. Looking forward to seeing more!

[tuzzio]

This car is awesome. Wishing it was stock sheet metal. Very cool taste in parts.

[theStig880]

Thanks all for the kind words! Im hoping to keep this more updated than my instagram especially as I start to dig into the detailed stuff.

I got the car running last week and the suspension buttoned up. I had a ton of set backs with the z32 ebrake, especially the cables. I think I got sent the wrong pair like four or five times. So my goal of paint this year likely isn't happening. With that I've decided to yank the SR sometime this weekend or next week. Nothing wrong with it but I feel like switching to a S15 turbo and refreshing all the gaskets.






Ignore my jank aero fitment, it started to rain when I was taking pictures, lol. PS, does anyone have a better free image host? Im using Imgur but it compresses everything really badly.

[Drew_kar]

woooo Cason! Too bad I only saw your car once during our undergrad

[Romango3]

Use Flickr


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hillclimb240sx]

this thing is super sick!!!!

[Olly]

Sick car.

Try wordpress for media, have been using it for year's with no issue.

[theStig880]

Wow, I have really neglected to update this thread. Oh well, lets do one big update at once. Fortunately, a lot of progress has been made. THE CAR IS RED AGAIN.

Anyway, I guess I left off in December of 2018. Part of the lack of updates started because I bought a dream car of mine a 1976 Porsche 912e. I had been looking for an aircooled 911 for a while and this one happened to pop up for a pretty decent deal. There is definently a build planned for it but I wont clog this thread with too much of that.




Shortly after a bunch of maintenance items on that car and switching to the Fuchs, I reset my sights on the s13. Basically finishing aero fitment from December and some mechanical finishing up. I bought a set of Ganadors but I havent ended up using them. Just hoarding for another project I have in mind.




I flip flopped a few times on what I wanted the car to look like. I switched from the 180sx skirts to Shine Auto Spec-G. Revgasm's 180sx when it had the white TEs was a pretty big inspiration at this point.




Sidenote, I drove to New York at the beginning of this year to pick up a 2.7 engine for my Porsche. That was an adventure in its own right and much needed. The 912e is by far the slowest car I have ever driven.





Prep towards painting the car has been happening in some capacity the entire duration. A majority of the recent progress actually came from the Corona virus. I was notified of furloughs at my work and needed something to occupy my two weeks off. The fire was lit and I worked my ass off to meet my deadline.





Keep in mind, I have never done autobody in my life. The extent of my knowledge came from forums, Youtube, and bugging the shit out of my more talented friends. Primer went relatively smoothly all things considers. I could use a bit more space but otherwise it was fine. Unfortunately I spilled Acetone on the passenger fender and fucked it up so that had to be redone.







After fixing a few dents in the roof and hatch, I primed again and sealed the car. The color (AH3 Cherry Red) really looked amazing in the can but I was just excited to see the car all in one shade (even if it was grey). My problems began here though. For whatever reason, I was getting fisheyes like crazy on the basecoat.





I must have bought four dryers and a million moisture traps but nothing worked. The minute the pump turned on, they would fill with water and oil. Frustrating. I laid in my driveway for like an hour making a list on my phone with partout prices. I was beyond done with the car. Fortunately, a buddy of mine with more experience came down with a better compressor, lines, and water traps. Seemed to resolve a lot of my problems. Thanks Michael! He sprayed the base and clear and given the conditions did a great job.















Thats pretty much where we are now. Im basically doing some work to inspect and register the car now. A few people have asked about the Abflugs and they will be installed eventually. I need to make/buy the lenses and didnt finish before I had to go back to work. Here's my most recent pictures, I havent installed the G-grow valance either but itll be on shortly too.






Thanks for looking!

[xitsalgin]

This thing is sick!

[Krusty_s13]

Love cherry red on 180. Its perfect!

[tuzzio]

its so refreshing when people actually build nice S13s. Now if only we could get the coupe guys to try..

[Dolph_KYAS13]

Originally Posted by tuzzio

its so refreshing when people actually build nice S13s. Now if only we could get the coupe guys to try..

Thinking the same thing. Keep up the good work OP

[Green Arrow]

Bravo! Very nice build!

[rogues13]

NC's finest!

[-kenny-]

wow that's an awesome build. I love how many times you changed your set up. I like the finish stage the most

[da_crew10]

In b4 partout. I call dibs on the Abflug headlights and honda mirrors!

[collegekid]

I?m extremely happy that you attempted to paint this yourself. It turned out great in the end.

Do you mind posting up your paint setup when you were having problems?
Can you also tell me what your friend brought over that corrected the issue?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[koukizhang]

Yesssss!!!!!!!!!!

[theStig880]

Originally Posted by xitsalgin

This thing is sick!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Krusty_s13

Love cherry red on 180. Its perfect!

One of my favorite colors, it really looks great when its fresh.

Originally Posted by tuzzio

its so refreshing when people actually build nice S13s. Now if only we could get the coupe guys to try..

Hatch's have the easy recipe I think. Id love to build a coupe one day.

Originally Posted by Dolph_KYAS13

Thinking the same thing. Keep up the good work OP

Cheers, thanks.

Originally Posted by Green Arrow

Bravo! Very nice build!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by rogues13

NC's finest!

We need to get our cars together soon.

Originally Posted by -kenny-

wow that's an awesome build. I love how many times you changed your set up. I like the finish stage the most

Im rarely content with a setup for too long haha. This is one of the first times Ive been really satisfied with the car.

Originally Posted by da_crew10

In b4 partout. I call dibs on the Abflug headlights and honda mirrors!

Man, just a few weeks ago and I wouldve consider it. Knock wood, I wont ever part it out.

Originally Posted by collegekid

I?m extremely happy that you attempted to paint this yourself. It turned out great in the end.

Do you mind posting up your paint setup when you were having problems?
Can you also tell me what your friend brought over that corrected the issue?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Im happy with it now, despite all the roadblocks. Im not sure exactly which part fixed. The water separators I used hung right off the pump which I think was too close to the heat. We ran a new line to two much bigger water seperators and a filter on the wall about 3' away from the pump. Different hoses, spray gun and in-line filters too. One other theory was that my cheap Harbor Freight oiled pump that may have had a bad seal. My buddy's compressor was oil-less and new. Ill shoot him a message to get specifics on the gun, compressor, etc.

Originally Posted by koukizhang

Yesssss!!!!!!!!!!

My feelings too!

[Unit 02]

looking good chief

[95 maxima se]

one of my favorite s13 on IG! car is looking mint! looking to buy another s13 hatch but they're beat to sht!