Tuesday, November 23, 2010

DChaus gets a S14.5

DC Haus has recently purchased a 1995 240SX SE and wanted to keep of log of the things that I'm doing and things that I want to do. My goal is to keep it clean and proper, while eventually attaining >300 whps while avoiding getting it crushed (aka staying street legal).

Cars previous owner, a middle aged woman that did not drive the car for years due to back problems, purchased the car new. The car seems to have been garage kept and fairly clean with a few problems.

  • Healthy number of door dings (not terrible for a
  • Roof dents (WTF)
  • Peeling clear coat on the hood and trunk
  • Mechanical problems o’ plenty
  • Unregistered for about 5 years.

Troublesome teen-ager...

So when we finally got the car first order of business was to smog and register. We took it to our shop, Nishikawa Auto in Pasadena, to replace the O2 sensor, catalytic converter, and get some 100 octane in her. Done. After 800 dollars at the DMV the car belongs to us, registered and insured. Woot! I’m just super glad to be the proud second owner of a beautiful teen-aged Ruby Pearl 240sx SE.

Back to Nishikawa for work on the power steering pump, clutch master cylinder, blown shocks, mushed up sub-frame bushings and some tlc. The car came with some KYB’s so we slapped those on and replaced the sub-frame bushings with the Energy Suspension bushings.

Now a personal little history: DCHaus'es better half is a beautiful woman that came with the rare female 240 obsession option (yes I am the luckiest guy I know). She owns an automatic '95 240SX with an S15 front end. So a while back she requested that I drive it because the car was getting dinged in her work parking lot. First day out on my way to work a Civic piles slowly into my diverside door. Long story short, it paid $8k in insurance money minus the $500 to keep it with a dirty title. So we kept her in our driveway for several years while we purchased a Lexus, got married, honeymooned, survived economic turmoil and bought a condo. Now we’re finally ready to spend some attention on our hobbies.
Our older one and some of the damage that totaled her...

Before the salvaged 240 gets its transfer of title, it’s getting all her goodies removed and swapped to the new one.

Body Parts:
  • S15 radiator support
  • S15 headlights,
  • JDM Kouki rear bumper
  • Carbon fiber hood
  • S14 fenders (modified by Premier Auto Body)
  • S15 bumper reinforcement bar(new and pending installation)
  • S15 Pearl White font bumper (purchased before the accident) mounted

Interior:
  • Seats
  • HVAC controls and misc interior panels switched over
  • Unspoiled trunk
  • Clarion head unit

Performance parts:
  • Jim Wolf Pop Charger
  • Eibach springs (pending swap) and kyb shocks

In our messy garage with a new front end.

A little more history: Back in ‘05 my brother owned a 96 240sx that met with a tree. Insurance paid that one out and took the car, but not before it it lost a few parts:
  • 5zigen exhaust
  • Ingen intake system
  • Sun Shades
  • Momo shift knob (for sale or trade for s13 shift knob with good condition leather)
So here is the list of things to do for a respray:
  • Polyurethane S14 side-skirts
  • Mount S15 bumper reinforcement bar
  • S14 Fog light modification
  • S15 Headlight LHD conversion, HID install
  • Paint to even the 4 tones on the car (faded ruby pearl, good condition ruby pearl, carbon fiber, and pearl white) hmmm ruby pearl or …... charcoal?
Return to showroom stock...ish:
Eventual Goals...
  • Heh

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