Daily Driver 5.3L/4L60E S14 Build

[bprzybyl]

more crappy tiny updates:

Got the OEM bushings out of the tension rods from my original donor chassis. Oddly enough, it seems one had an OEM bushing (which was leaking) and the other had a Nismo Bushing? no idea why. What was even more weird was that it was very easy to get them out (Used a hydraulic press, but still usually everything is ridiculously hard to do on this car...)


And also

Freshly painted, but I did manage to miss a few spots which sucks because you're supposed to let this paint dry 7 days before recoating. I might, then again I might not.

Tomorrow I should finish up putting bushings in the rear suspension regardless, with the exception of the swaybar ones. But they're easy.

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1995 Nissan 240SX - 5.3L/4L60E Daily Driver

Daily Driver 5.3L/4L60E S14 Build Thread

[RPS13]

[kirk]

Working on cars can be so dumb. Hope you can get this thing back together soon!

[2Fass240us]

[bprzybyl]

Yessir, This Stuff-


I was going to put up an update as well, but didn't have any pictures so i figured I'd wait until the next time I did. Since I've already posted... I managed to finish up the uprights! they went surprisingly quick, about an hour to press in the bushings and install the zerks in both. I'm not thrilled with the zerk location, but it'll do. WORST case I'll just have to regrease these the old fashioned way, the bushings on the other end of the arms are where the adjustment is (toe & camber). Hopefully they all work there.

And I repainted the uprights as well, 2 days after the original paint job. It does specify 7 days after the original coating (if not within an hour of first coat). But, (1) I painted fresh metal, not painted metal (I'm sure some got on painted metal, but I'm not super worried about poor appearance) and (2) they're located inside the wheel pretty much out of sight. As long as the paint slows down rust, I'm satisfied. The arms are what I wanted to make sure had no rust as they're all thin metal and I'd prefer to not rust through a suspension arm.

[bprzybyl]

Scroll to the top of the page for a before, and here's after-



So with that, tension arms/rods/whatever are done. That leaves the FLCAs to be stripped-painted-ball jointed-bushed-zerked, and MAYBE the front spindles to be painted. At this point I'm done with everything in the back suspension-wise except the subframe, hopefully I'll finish that this weekend (should). I miserably failed getting the gas tank in this week, been at work or school for pretty much all my awake hours (not a routine I want to get back into again....).

Other than that, kinda looking into an OBX helical again, might pick it up with some birthday money I should be saving. If not, I'm just gonna transfer the ring and pinion from the Q45 onto the J30 LSD. Then the rear end will be done and the only other big tasks are transmission related (shifter & mount).

[NoClassic]

You may want to shave down the tension rod bushings. They have a habit of binding in their mounts at full width.

[bprzybyl]

Was thinking about doing that. With the other bushings I've installed, the metal sleeve has been very close to the poly bushing width wise. I noticed when assembling the tension rod bushings that they have roughly 2mm of extra poly on each side.

Only Bushings left to replace are rear diff bushings, subframe bushings (really just waiting on getting the subframe painted), swaybar bushings, and FLCA bushings. After that, there will be no rubber bushings on the car. Motor mounts are already prothanes. Oh no, I do have rubber radiator bushings....

Been doing some research to help grow cohones for doing the ring and pinion swap. The hard part seems to be setting the pinion height, and this is where I'd like some opinions if anyone has any. The first link below says when installing a new ring gear, to take the old ring and pinion and measure the height of the pinion gear and washer behind it, then make the new pinion gear and washer match that. Anyone heard this before and have any opinions? Some insight would be much appreciated as it makes sense to me that this method would work.

http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/5ohcpa/cpa5ohtech009.htm (lol...angelfire)

http://www.differentials.com/install.html

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Q45/1994_Q45/pd.pdf

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/Yukon%20Gear%20Ring%20and%20Pinion%20installation%20instructions.pdf

http://www.superstallions.com/tech/drive/gears/gears.html

http://www.richmondgear.com/01instructions.html

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Gear_Setup/ AMAZING LINK, REALLY COVERS A LOT

(Kinda just using this thread to put a bunch of links for setting up a rear end. LOTS of good info there on the subject)

EDIT: http://www.ka-t.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8863&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=70 That guy does it. BALLURRRRRR

[2Fass240us]

[bprzybyl]

^^ We used some on an oven in the house, has held up really well.

So another boring (yet interesting!) update. Managed to get the gas tank back in with minimal effort, besides lifting what seemed to be 50 lbs worth of tank and gas back up into the car with one hand.

Also removed the inside metal part of the subframe bushing that had rusted onto the stud. After quite a bit of faffing (thanks FlikstRR) and some angle grinder action it came off.

Also got the gas line completely mounted up with adel style clamps. I just noticed that I wrote about all those things in the reverse order I did them in order to reduce the chance of mixing sparks and gas.

BUT THE FUN PART! I managed to get some grit in my eye, which I promptly rubbed to get out. I thought I did, but in actuality I managed to grind a little piece into the lens of my eye (sweet!). Did that saturday night, went to "Immediate Care" on sunday, only to get a q-tip shoved in my eye and the lady to say "Yeah it looks like I got it all out". I went to the car and noticed there was still shit in there. So I went to the eye doctor today, and he took care of it. What sucks (besides the fact I don't have gory pics like everyone else when they cut themselves on saws & fan blades & such) is that I didn't get crap in my eye when angle grinding or anything exciting, it was when I was just sliding around under the car. I was wearing goggles while grinding.

[robmc11]

hahah ya i know that suffering well! all that dust,dirt and grit will always manage to get you right in the eye ball!

oh and goodjob with your gas tank, s14/15 gas tanks are mother loving frustrating to work on..

[RPS13]

I got a piece of steel in my eye from doing exhaust work once and the lady at the ER picked it out with a needle she said that it wasnt in my eye long enough to cause a rust ring, otherwise they would have to buff my eyeball to get the rust out not fun

[bprzybyl]

lol, stupid eyes getting stuff in them while we're trying to get stuff done.

Been doing a lot of thinking about the diff swap, and I'm about to do it. If anyone knows about this stuff or read the links, there are 4 things that need to be set...Pinion height, pinion preload, diff preload, and ring height. My thought is I'll be able to maintain pinion preload by using the same spacer and bearings on the original pinion. the diff preload will be maintained by using the same bearings and shims from the original diff(and original VLSD for now). Ring height will be adjusted with nissan shims if needed.

That leaves the pinion height, which seems to need a spacer not available from nissan. doing some research, I should be able to use a bunch of spacers from mcmaster-carr in order to make the pinion height I'll need.

Other than that, minimal progress. Working on getting the empty subframe back in with the ES bushings so I can finally start putting suspension parts back on. then I can move on to the trans crossmember.

[bprzybyl]

Subframe is back in...just need some bolts for the Camber & Toe Arms. Otherwise, going to try and get the rear end as together as possible. (NOTICE GREASE ZERKS AND POLY BUSHINGS URRRVVRYWHERE)



Just need to order a bunch of shims for the differential rebuild, hoping to break into that this weekend. After that, it's just redoing the trans mount & shifter, then tightening up the power steering fittings.

Aiming for completion by May 1.

[devlmaycry]

After I get mine up and running I would like to refurb my rear subframe like yours. I'm tired of my rusty spindles and subframe looking ugly.