I finally got the S14 up and running, and got some time for a picture thread. I guess I can start in Ontario, the guys had to get a flat bed tow truck and block the wheels to get the car up to height, then load it onto the shipping truck.
The shipping truck showed up late on a Sunday night (2 weeks ago), so I decided to take the front bumper off and block the ramps in order to get it off.
Well, first drive, and this happened. You guys probably saw the “cylinder not firing” thread, so I spent about 2 evenings after work swapping out coils, plugs, injectors, etc. testing spark, compression, the AEM, etc. etc.
Finally I pulled the valve cover and found the rocker lodged in the back of the head. Later I found the retainer in 2 pieces in the pan, the shim is still yet to be found.
While I was waiting on parts, I decided to strip down the interior and trunk, etc. I prepped and painted any small surface rust, and cleaned up the wiring a bit. The only pictures that I have here are after I cleaned up the wiring a bit, and before I cleaned and painted any of the interior and trunk parts.
This is what my apartment looked like for about 5 days before I got the car back together. The GF was nice enough to not kick me out during the process, and even cleaned the interior bits for me
Now for a few pictures of AutoX.
I got the car back together and running at about 2:30am Friday night…I’m sure my neighbors love me now.
7:00 Saturday morning I was off to AutoX, hoping that the parts I machined would hold up.
I don’t have any pictures, but I couldn’t get any retainers and shims quickly enough, so I headed over to the machine shop at the university and got the guys to hook me up with some 4140 steel to lathe and mill into shape. The next day I got the guys at the materials lab to heat treat them to get their harness up, and after a surface polish, I re-installed the cams, timing chain, oil pickup, etc.
After fumbling with the cam angle sensor, she roared to life late Friday night, and was itching for the first day of driving on Saturday.
I figured that competing in AutoX the first day that I got to drive the car would be a little tangly, and I was right…
I either spun the car, or drifted the end pin and slalom sections (not in the pictures, it was over the crest) on all 6 of my runs. I somehow still ended up finishing 3rd place of 24 competitors at the end of the day ??
The fastest time of the day was 64 seconds, my best run was 65 seconds. However, on one of my runs, I spun 180 degrees and to a stop, turned around and finished the course in 69 seconds. I would have destroyed the fastest time of the day, and there was still a lot of time left out on the course since I haven’t really gotten used to the car yet. It should be a good season.
Little R32 GTR action. I got a run in the passenger seat with this guy, he was a pretty good driver for his first time out, and the car handled and performed pretty great.
Not quite sure what the hell this thing is, but a local must have combined an atv and a dirt bike to make this thing. He went up and down a side road a few times throughout the day.
Lol, thanks.
I finished work the Wednesday after the car showed up, then strung together a week of 2am nights to get the car ready.
I ran into one of my profs in the machine shop at the university and had to explain why I hadn’t been to class yet.
Looking closely at those pics, the sideways/spin pictures are from different runs.
I got a bit sideways through the slalom section with a buddy in the car and drove out of it, but spun all by myself…haha
4 bolts removed from the cross braces and they’re quite useful…lol
Plus leather is much more respectable / “baller” than a stripped interior. The same reason that I cut and installed the back panels around the down sections, I wanted a full interior.
I literally drove less than 1km when I left with them. I rolled slowly through my neighborhood through maybe 3 stop signs, then pulled 1/2 of first and most of second, I don’t think I ever even hit redline.
There’s a soft limiter at 7300 that I would have hit, but it just seems like really bad timing for the rocker to break. I don’t know who shimmed the rockers, but that one could have been off?
Yeah it’s painted with bedliner…lol
The interior includes only 2 racing seats, a shifter, rear strut bar, and an aluminum plate on the floor with essential switches (ignition, etc.)
It’s a true race car, there’s nothing but the essentials.
It broke a brake line during tech after sitting all winter, so it couldn’t race on the weekend.
It’s a beast when it does run though…haha
