| Back in the summer of 2003 I purchased a crashed S14 240sx. As far as I can piece together the car had been crashed some time in 2002 and then broken into after the fact while in storage @ a repair facility. The break in left the stereo torn out, the intake missing and MUCH damage to any wire or electrical connector in the thief's way. Later I also found that the PS door lock cylinder had been shanked and attempted to be forced. In the end I found it sitting on blocks (thankfully not belly down in the dirt), immobile but still largely intact and thankfully not open to the elements. The plan was something like "fix it up over the winter, maybe install some Z32 brakes and have a pretty fun daily driver to mess around in... Well one thing after another and that plan has completely gone to Hell over the years. Other car projects, life, work, marriage, and family events have pushed this always off the to do list. Every single year I'd say that "this is the summer we finish the 240" but then someones car breaks down before Zcon and we scramble, or I up & move and things get boxed in and 2 other cars have to be finished before I can even consider getting the 240 out from storage. The 240 has seen an awful lot of wrenches turned around it over the years - every single project that we've done has happened while it sat torn apart and in a pile of boxes and bins. This really has been a project of false starts or fits and stops. It has been the one thing that I could never seem to get onto the white board for a project layout. Over the years a lot of people have lent a hand in helping nudge it along or at least put up w. me talking about it over and over. I'd like to thank them: Kuah @ SPLParts, Seb @ Specialty, Coz @ Concept Z Performance and the guys @ the local Nissan parts counter all helped w. generous pricing and parts service. My buddy Nate who helped me tow it home on a stupid hot day in the middle of summer. We both nearly put ourselves in the hospital w. dehydration. Spencer (Spee) helped w. the early tear down, and certainly pushed it in and out of the garage back @ the town house enough times. Even sourced a 5 speed trans, spare motor and wholesale parts when he was working at Altered Atmosphere all those years ago. Adam (was still Junxster at the time) happened to have a empty trailer one night when I was getting ready to move into the garage space - the 240 was the 1st thing that I moved into my new house. My buddy Glenn who did all the paint & sheet metal work after I stripped the front end down to the frame rails. I barely knew him at the time and to be honest he wasn't even my 1st choice :-) I'm lucky I defaulted back to him - as the work he did really turned out to be fantastic. Jon (Kaz) and his little brother got the me dealer price hook up on some of the larger sheet metal parts and trucked them up from VA Beach one weekend in late 2003. Ed M. (ed01) came through in classic form and just happened to be in the right place with the right part when I needed him. Harry (SpdDemon13) has def. watched this thing since the beginning and for the most part been supportive :-) Zluster did a junkyard run in Colorado and shipped me a ton of odds & ends years ago as well. Ric (Halo) for dealing w. my noob 240 questions and for looking for parts for me. Wayne & Raj for letting me know the car was there in the 1st place. I'm sure there are others that I have forgotten along the way - however the last person who has really been the true hero(ine) and has been instrumental in getting this project out of the cob webs has been Ashley (TTXTZ). Since Thanksgiving of this year she's put in just about equal time, many really late nights, weekends, holidays and has simply gone above and beyond. I think I would have lost my mind in that cold garage by now without her help on this - and really for most of this years garage projects which got me to a position that I could focus on this. A brief history of pictures: Day 1.
07/2003
 cleaning the wreckage
11/2003
 yugo cameo, and lets push it out of the garage (again)
04/2204
 glenn worked his magic
09/2004
 boxed in behind other cars in the garage - just a sample...
2005-2008 *fuck me*
Covered & forgotten...
.jpg) On the 5 years anniversary of ownership...
the extraction from storage
06/2008
 The rest of the summer passed w. the 240 perched, ready for action and aside form an evening or 2 not much happened around it. I did start getting refocused on getting the remaining parts that I needed - at some point over the years I had decided that a 5 speed conversion would have to happen so I went after the parts I would need for it. I nearly bought an entire parts car donor out of Texas thanks thanks to JohnY & Kong but the seller flaked out and I just started to piece things together. This time for real:
11/2008
auto trans out, Z32 BMC conversion, Z32 rear ebrake & LSD diff conversion
 AC system reassembled, pulleys installed,
 Suspension, intake, Evo brakes
 5 speed in, radio & interior coming together
 OMG door handles for the 1st time in half a decade
 getting there
 damn
 The gas in the tank was at least 6 years old.
Started up on the first try after they system primed.
after 10 min the idle was rock smooth @ 750rpms
No codes, fully OBD2 compliant transconversion as well. On Inauguration Day after the ceremonies down town I got tags for it - no line, no waiting @ the DMV - time for a change indeed. Took it around a 70 mile loop of beltway night before last and to work today. In the words of EasyE
"a 100 miles and running"
 So yeah - the plan about just fix it and some Z32 brakes, I guess I can say I accomplished that - then again not really I ended up with Evo Brembo calipers on the front. So only the rear set up is from a Z32. The rest of the goodies are in my profile below the stats on my Z if your curious. Ding list:
wash nozzles are prob clogged or the line is kinked - I can hear the pump running but not getting fluid.
gauge float in the tank is acting wonky - gonna use up this tank of gas rather then stick my arm shoulder deep into gas to resecure it.
6 years over due for its first wash - gotta wait for better weather. I think I can live w. that. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.
SILVER HI Overdrive Water Pump Pulleys Are Here!
 Bernie Bilski berniebilski@cox.net
1995 Nissan 300ZX TwinTurbo in Cobalt Green
1997 Nissan 240SX SE in Ultra Red
1995 Nissan Pick-Up XE in Super Black
ZCCNV #390 ~ ECZA #368 Need SERVICE, DIAGNOSTICS, or PARTS in the NoVA/DC/MD area?
Please email me or check out my current inventory. |
My long delayed 1997 240SX Project... - 
