RSM's 570SX SIKKY S13 Build & Restore

[rsm777]

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
P1 Performance Wholesale DIST **Please contact me for purchasing items, such as the SIKKY kit, as you are required to setup a wholesale business account in order to purchase from them (p1), but they deserve the business for all their help.**
SIKKY MANUFACTURING - For Making the awesome products of course and great tech support!
AARDVARK MOTORSPORTS - Funny name, but great people to work with. Got me my carpet and similar and they have the right carpet to fit the non-hicas and hatchback models **Ask for George**
Spacecoastmotorworks - http://stores.ebay.com/Domestic-Sports-Car-Auto-Parts . Great guy to work with, PLEASE tell him I sent you, so he knows I am trying. 02 Camaro LS1 w/49k miles - Charlie Evanchyk - He can supply your LS1/2 pullouts, OEM parts, etc.
Huntsville Fastener - For all my hardware neeeeedz

WRITE-UPS - INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:
KA24DE ENGINE REMOVAL - http://forums.nicoclub.com/s13-ka24de-engine-removal-t299950.html
240SX DASH REMOVAL - http://forums.nicoclub.com/s13-dash-removal-t228752.html
LS1 P/S REMOVAL - http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/new-ls1-owners-newbie-tech/1281701-solution-ls1-no-power-steering.html
SIKKY MOUNT KIT INSTALLATION - http://www.sikky.com/images/pdf/1250256145S13-S14%20Mounting%20Instructions.pdf
SIKKY OIL PAN INSTALLATION - http://www.sikky.com/images/pdf/1250256145Oil%20pan%20install.pdf
SIKKY HEADER INSTALLATION - http://www.sikky.com/images/pdf/1250256145S13-S14%20Mounting%20Instructions.pdf
COMPLETE NICO (240sx) TUTORIAL LIST - http://forums.nicoclub.com/tutorials-t253879.html

Welp, I guess its finally time. I usually wait until its done and over, but the last piece I was waiting on (the harness) came in today, so I thought I'd go ahead and start. I am actually restoring it as I build it up (which was somewhat of a mistake), but it should be as nice as a new car when finished. I do not have a manufacturing facility/welding skills/etc so for those looking for the most complete plug and play kit you can imagine and cost of said kit, this will be it. Other than installing it all myself, I will not be doing any custom fab to make it work. I have basically 3-4 weeks to do this swap as that's about all I have time wise to borrow cars and similar in the meantime.

Purchased a 1992 S13 240SX Hatchback from a buddy of mine. It had been sitting in a field at his house for about 9 months. I think he planned on doing a swap himself, but never got around to it. He has a nice 06 Subaru WRX STI so it may just have not been the timing for it. Anyways, that being said it was pretty rough. Camo painted body panels (and some trim overspray, yay), tons of tree sex and nastiness stuck to the body, peeling old tint on the rear windows, etc. Looked like fun, but I traded a set of schroth harnesses and a harness bar for it, so it was definitely worth it (clean title, no major damage or rust).




Needless to say it has a lot of work that needs to be done. My plans were to rebuild the interior, repaint (even if primer'd for the time being) the exterior, and drop an LS1 into it. Its been my dream swap for a long time, and finally sold my car so it could come to be.

_________________
92 Fastback 570SX
02 Camaro LS1 + T56
LS6 Hot Cam, LS6 Ported Intake, Ported TB, SIKKY Mount Kit, SIKKY 1 7/8 Headers, SIKKY D/S, SIKKY O.F. Relocation Kit, Custom 4" CAI, Mishimoto Radiator/Shroud

[rsm777]

I started with the interior... it was a mess to say the least. Driver side seat was torn up good, passenger was ok. Rear had panels and junk everywhere. Rear seats looked ok at least. Hatch had oil and all sorts of nastiness inside.




After seeing this I started in the rear... pulled the trunk out and found some minor surface rust. Nothing too serious, but it will be getting some POR 15 or something to take care of the issue.

[rsm777]

Engine looked ok. He drove it until he parked it in the field, so I think everything was good on it, but just laying the ground work here, so here are some shots (lovely duct tape coolant reservoir):




Nothing too horrible, but MAN is the stock battery tray the stupidest idea in the world. 10 spot welds? really? A couple bolts wouldn't suffice? Its the only thing on the car covered in massive rust btw.

[rsm777]

More interior shots... Pulled out the back seat, and panels, and all the nasty stuff that was in there. Lots of dirt, weird insulation hair thats blue-green from mold I guess and other wonderful stuff. The rear seat (upper/lower) and panel will all stay out. I took the back seatbelt receptacles and similar out as well. Seemed like it would shave a lot of weight and until I figure out a way to reupholster it, they are staying out.



Now comes the fun, I pulled all of the seats and similar out to get to the carpet. Its nasty/moldy/coke stains/etc. New carpet will definitely be going in.



After that I start pulling the major panels and similar starting from the hatch, moving forward. Unplug/unbolt the seat belt "ecu" and the rear panels.

[rsm777]

After the panels are out I am getting tired of the window tint and so its time to fix it. Simply take a can of Aircraft Stripper (it is VERY strong/potent, use a mask and similar when doing this and make sure to get ventilated/good air while doing this) and a razor blade. It takes about 15 minutes, but man that stuff works AWESOME.

Before:

After:


After that I start focusing back on the dash/carpet. I pulled out the shifter boot (undo the 4 bolts), glove box (unpin and look behind on the shroud, there are 4 bolts/screws), and the console. It just kinda pops up with some persuasion . **UPDATE: There are some bolts I think that you will have to remove if your car has them... mine did not so it just popped up and out**

[rsm777]

I don't have time to pull the dash out yet, but I am determined to get the carpet out, so I cut a slit all the way up the side and pull it out in two pieces. Its disgusting to say the least and the stuff under it is even better. Easily 1/2 5 gallon bucket worth of shale hard adhesive just sitting the floor on both sides. Along with that good stuff is greenish blue fur (molding padding I am guessing) that is stuck to the floor like crazy. The carpet smells awful and immediately comes out to be trashed.





Be glad to get the new carpet in...

[rsm777]

Now the entire major interior panels are out... minus the dash. Its next.




After using the dash removal thread in NICO, the dash is out after about 2-3 hours. Originally planned on getting the dash 'sueded' or something, but in the end, I ran out of time, just basically back to black'd it and called it a day. I will probably wind up just doing a cover or similar, but sucks as it was a pain in the butt to pull out just to have to put back in cracked

[rsm777]

Next I pull out the headliner. Its dirty and similar. I also hate that gray color as it seems to collect finger prints, dirt and similar like crazy. So how do you fix this? Either pay an auto shop $75-100 to re headline it or simply go to wal-mart, buy their $5 black fleece package and a can of 3M Headliner spray (i think its called something different now, but at wal-mart they had ONE can of this left and it was called "headliner spray" by 3m vs adhesive or general purpose adh or etc). They have 3M sprays I saw this last weekend that had different ranges from light to medium to heavy adhering properties... so chances are you'll need heavy as all the other sprays say "NOT FOR USE with headliner". Anyways... $10 and you have a new headliner that is very very nice.

Pull off the old headliner gently. It is just held on by spray adhesive and the easier you go on it, the less it tears up and rips. To lay the new headliner, just simply lay out the cloth. Cut it to size (leave about 3 inches all around). After you have it sized up, I folded it back and did it in 3 sections. Bottom/mid/top. Spray the bottom and work the fabric into the curves/holes. Repeat for the other areas and you should be easily good to go. It was not hard at all. I let it dry overnight (I doubt this was needed) and then pulled the excess around the back edges and sprayed adhesive to keep it nice and tout so that it looks like a factory job. Here is the before/after. Definitely worth the $10:



After it dries, take a sharp razor and cut out the slits in the holes as necessary to reinstall the middle dome light, visors and rear view mirror. Just make sure to work all the fabric into the corners/creases/etc very well so it has a nice shape/lines to it.

[rsm777]

Now its time for the magic. After countless hours of scrubbing, ripping, etc, I've pulled out all the old shale (its behind the dash, behind panels, etc) adhesive, all the old adhesive "fur" off the ground (buy a can of adhesive remover - walmart .. smells like vinegar) and basically soaked the padding/fur in it and with a wire brush I scraped it all up. After that all is left are the actual pads on the floor. I didn't fool with this as with the rest gone, it was nice and clean. That and I felt like I pulled 50lbs in just that shale, so further stripping didn't seem necessary. Now the look good stuff. Get about 5-6 cans of BOOM-MAT spray. I am not a fan of the dynamatt or similar aluminum backed stuff as it seems to help keep noises IN the car as well as it keeps noises out. What I mean is, if its not perfect, it seems that any noise that the hatchback lets in, DRONES, like CRAZY. Its probably more on how I am laying it, but I can't stand the stuff. BOOMMAT is about $6-7/can and will cost a LOT less, weigh a LOT less, sound deaden very well and looks very clean when finished. I believe it took 5-6 cans total to do the hatch and all the floor panels. I didn't get crazy about getting into side panels and similar. It wasn't necessary and they're easily accessible later if need be.

BEFORE (pulling up the fur/padding):


AFTER (5-6 cans of boom mat and similar... very nice texture/finish. Panels are noticeably "denser" for lack of a better word as echos were no where near as bad inside (With all the panels out) and tapping on metal panels made considerably less noise/resonance):



Direct BEFORE AND AFTER.. Love This Stuff:


Give it a day or so to dry. It's very tacky for the first couple days, then that seemed to go away. The only thing I'd like to note is that it isn't "light". It doesn't float around or similar.

[rsm777]

Test fitting new carpet from Aardvark Motors. They have the right carpet that fits the hatchback / nonhicas models. After lots of emails and similar, the whole "hicas only" carpet seems to just be a mistake on the carpet MFG's part as the humps they are assuming is for the HICAS model car are just the seat belt receptacles. Sorry for the horrible second picture. I am going to retake all the interior photos once everything is installed and similar.

New trunk carpet and New Passenger area Carpet with mass backing. Very durable/nice stuff! In black to match headliner and similar.



Carpet has to be significantly trimmed to fit properly =( not looking forward to that...

[rsm777]

Ok now to get back on track to the performance stuff... New parts are in to get ready to put the LS1 in. Starting from the top... Taylor battery relocation kit, radiator hoses (THANKS silviav8... in the complete list of parts build thread), Mishimoto KA series radiator, Vibrant 4" Muffler (4" in/out), Optima Yellow Top Battery, 3"/3.5"/4" Exhaust tubing, Fuel Pump (Walbro 255), DAFT fuel conversion kit, Cans of goodness (boommat, wheel spray, flame proof (headers), vinyl fabric dye (gloss black, we'll get to this later), amsoil synthetic oil, percy's header gaskets (no leaks PLZ!), NRG upper front/rear strut tower bars, front lower brace, magnaflow muffler (dual 3" to single 4"), edlebrock 2 piece timing cover (up for sale), NRG steering wheel kit (sport hub/wheel/quick release) (up for sale), Sparco Seat brackets. Pictures will follow shortly, then more tonight/tomorrow.

[rsm777]

Now before I leave to go work on the car tonight (putting the engine in today), here is a picture of the pullout! 2002 Camaro 5.7L V8 with ported intake, ls6 hotcam, among other goodies. I bought it from spacecoastmotorwerks on ebay. Big shoutout to him as everything looked great when I pulled the valvecover and similar off. Supposed to only have 49,500 miles on it, so I am very excited! New valvecover gaskets while im at it

[Otto347]

Damn its coming along nicely!

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Fueled wrote:

Funny shit, I hope no one was dumb enough to buy these pans and think they will work with the 240sx.

[rsx664]

you have a link to the seller?? I couldn't find them on ebay.

[rsm777]