91 240sx build

C

cjernigan

New member
Just picked up my "new-to-me" 240. It was my girlfriends first car and her two female cousins car before that. So it's been through a lot in terms of body damage. Both front fenders are beat up, front headlight lid, and both rear quarters are dented. The driver side much more than the pass.

Anyway it's a 5 spd begging to become my new race car. Apparently she had the waterpump, thermostat and radiator changed all at one time. Then under daily driving conditions she overheated the car on the interstate. She let it cool off, fired it back up and drove it home. Then she took it to a shop and they told her it had a cracked head.

I consider that to be very unlikely. So I'm filling it with water tomorrow and firing it up. A compression and leakdown test is in order. I've started the car and driven it on and off the trailer. It runs very well so I'm hoping for good results in the compression tests.

I'm going to go through standard service items once I fix the overheating problem that may or may not exist at all.
Engine, trans, diff oil change. Brake/Clutch system flush. Hoses/belts/chains or whatever items necessary to reliably race the car.
I'll drive it on the street for awhile until I'm ready to strip and cage the car.
I'm planning on building my own pneumatic hydarulic tubing bender and machining my own dies on the CNC mill at work. Hopefully that works out as planned. I'll be doing all of my own fabrication for the project, except for the exhaust header.

I'm excited to start a new project on a car that is completely new to me and un-molested by another racer.
I'm selling off my 99 turbo miata, car is just too small for me. I'm hoping I fit better in the 240.
 
Welcome, and good luck with the build. I would also suggest you run a pressure test on the cooling system, as a crack in the head might not necessarily show up on compression and leakdown tests. I'm not as familiar with the DOHC motors, but the SOHC version is known for running hot under hard use conditions, so it is possible that the car just overheated because of those conditions. One of the first things you'll want to look into if you're going to put it on the track is a better radiator. I have a Koyo in mine, and have never seen temps go above 220 on track. Pretty much any quality oversized radiator should do the trick. A lot of guys also run an oil cooler with this car.

I would also note - just to be fair - that the 240SX has never really been a front-runner in ITS. I'm sure there are guys who will come on and say so-and-so had a good running ITS 240 (we used to have a pretty good one in the MARRS series), but when put up against a top-shelf ITS RX7, 240Z, or even a well built Integra it will almost always come up short. I'm not trying to discourage you, but since I don't know what you expectations are I wanted you to be aware.

Have fun.
 
I did take a few pictures of the car before I loaded it up and when I was towing it home.

I've read about how this cars inability to run with the best of them in ITS. At this point though I'm really just going to focus on the experience of building my own car from the ground up then on my driving skill.

The primary reason for wanting a track dedicated car is to have a car I can go have fun on track safely when ever I'm available to do so. Then I'll be focusing on driving ability and data analysis. Then if all that goes well I'll move on to becoming more competitive.

Thank you for all the advice. Hopefully I'll be able to do the coolant pressure test as well this week. I have the tools at work to get it all done.

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cjernigan said:
Both front fenders are beat up, front headlight lid, and both rear quarters are dented. The driver side much more than the pass.
.
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Sounds like the perfect IT car!! :D




If you've never done a cage before, be very, VERY careful. Read the rules over and over. Maybe have a local tech guy check it out along the way to make sure you're headed in the right direction.

Good luck!

.
 
Yay for Coupes! :)

These cars a blast to drive, handle decent and are reasonable to work on... Parts are not bad, tho much of the aftermarket is skewed towards a younger crowd and driving sideways...

The DOHC "DE" that you have does not share all the weeknesses of the SOHC "E" but must be cooled well, run on the rich side and not spun to the moon.

Do a search, there is literally years of info about these cars on here!

Check out ka-t.org and nissanroadracing.com as well...

These cars are great, welcome to the fold!
 
JLawton said:
Sounds like the perfect IT car!! :D




If you've never done a cage before, be very, VERY careful. Read the rules over and over. Maybe have a local tech guy check it out along the way to make sure you're headed in the right direction.

Good luck!

.
Click to expand...
I'm looking forward to the project. I'll be looking at other ITA ITS 240 cages online and building it according to the rulebook for sure. I need to find out if I have a local tech guy around Auburn.


CRallo said:
Yay for Coupes! :)

These cars a blast to drive, handle decent and are reasonable to work on... Parts are not bad, tho much of the aftermarket is skewed towards a younger crowd and driving sideways...

The DOHC "DE" that you have does not share all the weeknesses of the SOHC "E" but must be cooled well, run on the rich side and not spun to the moon.

Do a search, there is literally years of info about these cars on here!

Check out ka-t.org and nissanroadracing.com as well...

These cars are great, welcome to the fold!
Click to expand...

Cooling will be the first thing addressed on the car. Reliability is going to take priority over power and other go fast parts. Now I need to figure out what ECU control I'm going to get into. I've read some about the EPROM possibilities and other aftermarket ECUs. I'm very experienced with Megasquirt and Adaptronic. I have not yet read about how open engine management is for ITS though.
 
Coolant system holds 15 psi with a very small leak. I found out where it is. The coolant bleed screw on top of the intake manifold where the coolant runs to the cylinder head. It's broken off and leaking pressure right there.

I filled the car with water and powersteering fluid. Brought it up to temp and drove it around my work parking lot for a while. The temp didn't rise and everything seems to be working as it should. The brakes and clutch need bled but they're functional so far so I'm optimistic.

I did a compression test with the engine warm, plugs out, throttle wide open.
Cyl 1 = 180
Cyl 2 = 175
Cyl 3 = 175
Cyl 4 = 175

So all seems well once I fix that bleed screw in the manifold. Its sheared off flat with the aluminum intake so I'll be drilling and extracting the piece hopefully with it still on the car. Otherwise I'll pull the upper and do it in the machine shop.
 
Changing the oil/filter, fuel filter and inspecting everything else that's "bad" on the car. It's turning out to be a long list so it's I'll prioritize it all and get my but to work on it. The basic things have to take place before this car can ever even consider becoming a race car.
It needs a steering rack rebuild, tie rods, front ball joints, drive shaft carrier bushing, passenger motormount, muffler is rotted out almost all the way through. Front main seal is leaking some, diff axle seals are leaking some. It needs a thorough soaking and pressure washing for sure to locate all the individual problems.
Rockauto.com is going to be my savior on this one.

Unless someone has a connection with a dealer that will supply me with Nissan factory parts at cost?
 
Call NISMO here in the states, sign up as a Nissan driver and car owner and you can get a decent discount on parts. Certain items like wheel bearings and motor bits and pieces I would make sure you buy Nissan parts. You can get away with aftermarket for a most of the rest.
 
Two things on the car, which looks like you got a good starting point!
1. I built my own bender, patterned off the Speedway motors unit, I enjoyed the build and it works great, I hope yours does too. I use the speedway dies, at $150 per set, it is hard to justify the time and material cost to make your own. But I don't have access to CNC.
2. For parts, especially the Nissan must have stuff, call Rielly Curtis, I hope I spelled that right. He is at Lynchburg Nissan in Va. Great guy, helps out the racers. Their number is 1-800-443-2117. He will really go above and beyond to help a racer out.

Mike
 
I'll look into the NISMO support, I found their contact information. I too am hesitant to use non nissan bearings and other rotating parts when compared to cheap aftermarket pieces.


I'll look into the Speedway motors unit, that is a great price for dies. I couldn't make them for that once I factor in material, programming and machine time. Plus the beer to get our machinist to help me. Then there is the possibility of scrapping parts so that would negate any cost savings right there.

Thank you guys for the great info. I'm putting together a parts list to call Rielly Curtis about.

I pumped the two year old deep yellow colored fuel from the tank, there was no way I was going to run that terrible gunk through the new filter.
It's very convenient plugging a jump box into the fuel pump connector in the trunk, makes it very easy.
 
cjernigan said:
Changing the oil/filter, fuel filter and inspecting everything else that's "bad" on the car. It's turning out to be a long list so it's I'll prioritize it all and get my but to work on it. The basic things have to take place before this car can ever even consider becoming a race car.
It needs a steering rack rebuild, tie rods, front ball joints, drive shaft carrier bushing, passenger motormount, muffler is rotted out almost all the way through. Front main seal is leaking some, diff axle seals are leaking some. It needs a thorough soaking and pressure washing for sure to locate all the individual problems.
Rockauto.com is going to be my savior on this one.

Unless someone has a connection with a dealer that will supply me with Nissan factory parts at cost?
Click to expand...

Call Riley at Lynchburg Nissan (Lynchburg, VA, parts at lynchburgnissan.com, (434) 385-7733), one of the best/knowledgeable/nicest/racer friendly and in the loop Parts Man in the business. He should be able to provide good prices on parts, not sure about the shipping (since I can pickup my parts).
 
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Two votes for Riley, sounds like he's my man then. I'll get in touch with him this week hopefully.

I extracted the air relief and replaced it with another bolt with thread sealant. No more pressure leak.
Took the car out on it's maiden street driving voyage in 2 years. All went well, the brakes need bled bad and the shocks are beyond blown. I think the clutch slave is failing as well, it's hard to get it gear sometimes so that system needs a bleed as well to see what the problem is.
 
Sounds like a fun project and welcome to the Nissan madness. I was in Auburn Friday. My oldest son graduated. Wish I had read this before as I could have dropped by and said hello.

Riley will take care of you. He is A-1 in my book. Consider attending the Time Trials school at Little Talladega next year. I can also offer up the opportunity to work a hill climb or a road race in North Alabama or Southern Tenn. I am sure they would be glad to have you at Barber as well.

Good luck with the build.

Paul
 
pballance said:
Sounds like a fun project and welcome to the Nissan madness. I was in Auburn Friday. My oldest son graduated. Wish I had read this before as I could have dropped by and said hello.

Riley will take care of you. He is A-1 in my book. Consider attending the Time Trials school at Little Talladega next year. I can also offer up the opportunity to work a hill climb or a road race in North Alabama or Southern Tenn. I am sure they would be glad to have you at Barber as well.

Good luck with the build.

Paul
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Should be a fun project, hopefully I'll hit up a couple autocrosses for the heck of it while I get prepared to strip the interior. What time of year is the Time Trials school at TGPR? Hopefully I'll get some sort of HPDE/PDX in before the end of the year. I want to have the car in full race trim for the 2011 IT season.

I would be interested in checking out a hill climb or road race. I've spent a fair amount of time at Barber, TGPR, and Nashville Super Speedway but I've never driven any of them.

Where do they hold hill climbs? I'd be interested in that kind of racing as well.
 
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