Wondering if you can share who did the work so nobody else has to go through it…
some guy in burlington, he’s jamaican guy, older guy, retired, he does the work privately in his garage…
Like he did the work so sloppily… he did use sheet metal to weld, cut rust, etc… that’s all fine and dandy, but when it came to painting painting… well… he was very f’en sloppy. He didn’t take off trim… which he could have and it would have taken him like 5minutes i swear… the more I work on my car the more I know around it but honestly… just yesterday, I was taking stuff off and the stuff he messed up he could have done in less than 5 minutes I am not even kidding.
So much orange peel… fucker… and when he painted it was dripping in many places… so he redid it, my dad and I complained… but still, when he did it… he oversprayed so much that you know those lines in the car they slightly filled up, the HICAS line well he removed it, but I mean those edges got slightly filled so the yaren’t sharp… shit like that.
Then on some parts of paint he I guess sprayed closer and some parts further so there are certain parts whre there are darker or lighter spots…
Then the weather stripping, moulds, etc… he painted over them, poorly masked (but I swear it was so easy to take off for me… wtf…). Paint lines visible.
Then overspray over quarter panel windows and trunk window (i used razor to clean up and its so nice now though like new)
I am slowly trying to restore it all… I could prep my car properly and get it painted I’m sure that wouldn’t be much of a prob now, I’d like just a proper respray with mirror finish clearcoat… The colour the same, maybe less flakes or a little darker, whatever is easy to respray on.
And yeah… stitch welding… since I want to build up the car even more… and I don’t care about road racing or autocross rules, I am just building a personal car, could care less about restrictions or whatever, I want the body all stitch welded.
Anyways thanks for listening to my woes, I’ve been cursing that bitchy guy for the last 8 months since I got the car and did the work. The car’s been relatively restored very very well, but what pisses me off is that I spent money… and he did it sloppily…
Why would you spend your money on stitch welding if you aren’t tracking your car? Or are you tracking it, just not road racing or autocross. I don’t think it would be worth it to stitch weld if you aren’t tracking it.
Even if you’re tracking it, it’s a bit excessive for a beginner. Get coilovers before you get into that kinda stuff, way more return on your investment.
*edit
s13’s (s14’s too?) are wet noodles. Even on stock suspension, wheels and shitty all-seasons you can feel the car twisting.
IMO, regardless of where and how you drive you car - even just to work and back - the stitching is worth it if you’ve got the money to drop.
If you think otherwise, you’ve probably never driven a car with a reasonably rigid chassis before.
i agree my s13 feels kinda like a wet noodle… feels soft when taking hard turns… when i have the time i’m doing full seem welding and fabricating al sorts of chassis stiffeners like fander braces and what not
The only two cars I have to compare are mine and Andrew’s. Mine is sloppy as hell, and his feels perfect. Then again, mine had low end shock spring, hicas and full trim, his was gutted, 6pt cage and stance coils. I dunno, I say cage the bitch if you really want to track it. It’ll stiffen it up good, and as an added bonus it’ll save your life.
Out of curiousity, do you have pics of the paint job? I wanna see how sloppy it is…
to stitch weld a car it has to be completely stripped and all seams have to be prepared. If you don’t do this kind of work yourself or have a friend that can, its going to be an expensive outing.
A properlly build cage will run you in and around 2g’s. This will be alot less hasle free and cheaper then stitch welding. Not too mention, if any of the seams have rust you’ll be into more work.
If you don’t track your car, why bother stiffening the chassis at all.
Andrew.
well i intend to strip down the whole car… and take engine out too (i have a plan… rb20det in it goes…)
Stage 1 of my car was:
Restoring car from crap bucket (well frame was always good thank God), to mean lil sleeper. Body was fixed (fair enough), changed from green to silver repaint 4 coats (albeit sloppily/lazily), new whiteline polyuthernae bushings on everything front and rear, new endlinks with poly bushings, subframe spacers, new moog inne rand outer tie rods, agx shocks + stech springs, new top bearing mounts, new dust boots, new lca, new balljoints, new brake lines, new fuel lines, 300zx fuel filter, hicas removal, 2ws ps pump, ss brake lines near calipers, 300zx 26mm front, 300zx calipers rear with e-brake shoe package, 300zx mbc, powerslot rear rotors, hps rear pads, motul brake 5.1 fluid, newer used brake booster, 5 lug conversion front and rear (hubs and bearings), skyline gts 16" 6.5 +40 rims, goodyear eagle f1 gs-d3 tyres, new iridum ix spark plugs, intake and k&n cone filter, new valve gasket, new rotor cap, new belts, new water pump, new oil pump, new lift support shocks, new wiper blades, new fuel tank straps, new oil (haha), new oil filter, newer carbon canister (mine was clogged up and DAMN heavy, once replaced my car reved better I swear).
And alot more. The total amount of parts comes to about 2 pages of notepad printage…
Stage 2 is:
I want to strip the car entirely, engine taken out, everything out, clean it up, prepare it (all the body imperfections to be… perfected… any rust removed if any, as most was all removed, etc…), the body sanded down, all sound dreadening and other shit taken out, smoothed down, perfected, welded fixes where needed, the body stitch welded for rigidity, the body painted properly to a mirror finish, new sound dreadening (b-quiet, dynamat, etc… trunk, roof, firewall, floor, doors), renovate pieces that are worn/old (eg; exterior trim, fix, repaint, complete, renew, rehab, whatever… and put back on, new weather stripping, new seals, etc…), new carpet, rb20det install (also preferably skyline gts or gtr cluster instead of the s13 one, wired in) and manual conversation whatever’s needed (as my car is auto for now…), interior back in refurbished, new seats (s14 leather with lambard support adjustability), 180sx rear leathers.
18" (17"…?), rims, goodyear tires again? (very very very good tires…but i might experiment with something else just for the heck of it, f1 gs-d3 are amazing tires, no noise, maybe a lil soft sidewall but maybe from a track point of view, very responsive, very sticky, etc…)
I’ll definetely need a new exhaust, right now I’m thinking 2.5" all the way with flanges for cat, one large tip or two large tips… however for turbo I’d want 3.0"… all the way through…my current exhaust was actually a replacment… my old one was leaking badly, my new one didn’t leak but after driving it for quite some time… it strarted leaking even worse than the other one was lol… that needs fixing.
I need to fix my driver’s window… it doesn’t go ALL THE WAY UP into the little passage… so I hear noise at high speed… I tried the 4 bolts and to put it up but oculdnt… and I need to make the sunroof NOT rattle and NOT whistle what so ever, but be completely properly sealed shut and tight without a chance to rattle, shake or bounce or anything…
Stage 2.5 to 3.0:
I am currently getting new calipers I’m going to sell my 26mm 300zx calipers, I will eihter get 30mm or I am wondering about the 32mm gtr calipers… but I wonder what options i have when i want to do caliper relocation rotor upgrade brackets with the 32mm ones. (3000gt, 350z, 350z track, cobra, etc…)
Definetely new swaybars that would affect the handling and balance of the car greatly, I hate a soft and rolly ride (people think my car is too hard too stiff too harsh but hell no to me). I am thinking largus… as they make the biggest front and rears.
Stance coilovers, however, they’re coming out with something new better than even GR+ pro, I also know they are in the proces of making an EDF for their coils just as tein does.
That should pretty much satisfy this is my stage 2 on my project.
Stage 3 might dwell on things such as brake bias adjustablilty (I currently feel the rears are not braking as much as I’d want them to… from 200km/hr braking on some roads the car would swerve a bit… but then again my current rotors are a bit overused hehe… so they may not be equal to each other and that may be the issue).
Engine upgrades then? Intercooler, better turbo, custom computer fuel, spark, ignition, managment… etc…
My carputer and interior is stage zero, it is an on going lazy phase of progress… I want to have GPS, touchscreen, reworking my interior slowly.
That’s my plan more or less. And as I mentioned already seals, weather stripping, window mouldings, etc… refurbishing renewing trim I have… I want to have the car dead silent and as aerodynamic as possible.
I’d drop the car another .5" I think or maybe even 1"… currently its 1.5"
Definetely need new front bumper there is virtually no downforce… taking some corners at high speed I can feel it and of course when going 180-200. GT wing (yea… but one that’s functional… and I can have downforce adjusted), most definetely new wider front fenders frp and frp hood with hinges to keep it not from flying…
the rb20det is about 70lbs heavier than the KA package as I’ve heard (not my personal weighting), however the auto is heavier as is… so i’ll see how ill balance that… corner weighting.
I am building this car purely for myself, not to show off, not to brag, not to whatever… I am not intersted in competitions where I follow rules or restrictions, I could less give a damn about auto-x or road racing rules, I want to do my own auto-x, my own road racing on track, for my own enjoyment and pleasure, my own challenge, my own pushing myself and the car to the limit… to perfect and better this car to the limit.
I’ll keep the car streetable but only when there is no lame salt and snow (gah canada and winter weather…), I will buy a beater for the rest of the time…
And inshAllah God willing thats my plan 
My stage 1 had 2 pages of parts…
So far I’ve invested 16000 into the car (thats -2000 on labour alone, -2300 on body and paint work, -850 on as is car as it was).
And there you have it… I’m very serious about this hobby…and I love it… and have planned what I have for years since even high school and hell I’m done college now for more than half a year
I have pix of the car when purchased:
After:
I’ve gotten new front turn signals and new dayilight running lights, which look better. Unfortunately I have not been able to take new pix as I don’t have a digital camera right now.
This is also some silly idea I had:
-smoking rear tail lights
-shaving rear trunk brake light
-shaving rear side markers
-tinting
-repainting rims to a darkish color not gunmetal but something like it.
I also intend to have my ‘special’ color be blue (eg; calipers, pipings, valve color, etc…) I’m not 100% sure yet on that.
And the repaint color when I do it again might be a silver which is highly reflective, less blueish (as this is mitsubishi cool silver metalic), more silverish, no metallic flakes (as this one has heavy metallic flakes).
Some colours I thought of are bright blue, baby blue, variations of silver, bright orange, ferrari red, bright yellow, some purple-blue variations, some speciifc green variations (i hate green colors in general).
I don’t know…
So this is my project buildup summary and plans basically…
Stage 3-4+ would include pillowball front lca, tc rod, etc… and rear well entire multilink as pillowball. Maybe some better tie rods (moog vs tein/others how are they?).
Some kind of better power steering system than the stock crap, especially if i go with bigger tires, i want the car to have very good turn in, be nimble, be responsive, yet very firm and predictable and confident…
Fender braces, c-pillar, strut tower bars here and there bracings whenever possible.
stage 5-6+ if i ever get there i cant even imagine… so I wont talk about it but that could be the ultimate extreme… that I could use my imagination and talk about custom drive shaft, axles, widebody, diffusers, underbody panels, aerodynamics perfected, 6-8 piston calipers front, 4 rear. cut fenders and arches to fit crazy things…
So yeah i’m pretty darn serious about my car…
Holy shit, that was YOU that I saw on trafalgar. The car looks pretty good.
I’m jealous of your tires. I think I might get those next but they aren’t ideal for track due to squishy sidewalls.
That’s what I was thinking as well. If the car is stripped (as Andrew said) then go for it if you can do the work yourself. Otherwise, cage it.
I agree that a stock 240 feels like a wet noodle. Atutt, it looks like you’ve though this thing out. Good luck 
"Definetely need new front bumper there is virtually no downforce… taking some corners at high speed I can feel it and of course when going 180-200. GT wing (yea… but one that’s functional… and I can have downforce adjusted), most definetely new wider front fenders frp and frp hood with hinges to keep it not from flying… "
So you got all this from driving your stock auto KA on the street?
Does engine power mean shit when you’re in a corner (yes it does actually alot, very much so, but it doesn’t make a car handle better on its own)? Does auto mean shit if you are going 180-200? (and yeah for sure my car can go 193km/hr lol… i got pulled over by a cop going that… yeah i was a moron, but it was 2am and no body anywhere, he let me go… and i can only thank God for that, otherwise my ass would have been grass… i never speed otherwise, i drove all the way from toronto to oakville at top speed for about 10minutes or so without letting go off the pedal (im impressed wtih the durability), i even went 160-190 through the bridges and curvatures… and just near the exit one of the bridges, a cop happened to be there. Since then i’ve never ever speeded at all, as fast as i go now is 120-130km/hr and 160km/hr to take over people…). Point in case, I’ve felt what it feels like going at those speeds plenty times… including when i make increments and decrements of adjustments to my car, and yes with my crappy ass ka24de auto (I was quite impressed with the fact that I could drive at top speed without letting go off pedal with the ka continually and not blowing it or overheating it – well a few days later i saw the oil level was low lol… and that there was no coolant… but oops… the ka engine is quite durable…)
Does it mean shit when you’re going 120km/hr in an exit ramp (well the 40km ones, can’t do that in the 30km ones). Just as having an auto doesn’t mean you can’t drift that car (it’s doable, as long as it’s rwd, just more difficult and limited, and im not as interested in drifting as i am in grip and time attack, sure it would help to push out of certain corners with power over, but that’s okay.).
So my ka auto is just fine for now A less powerful engine doesn’t mean jack shit when you’re talking about downforce of a car in a corner and how it feels or playing with the chassis. I am purely interested in the chassis and other factors other than power… Think about the ae86, corolla gts, with a 4age and how mean those lil buggers can be, it’s not about power…
The lighter the car, the less stable it is at high speeds, you can lift off, you can bump and fly off, especially with a stiffer suspension, a heavier car doesn’t have this problem… it’s planted, but its heavy… Thus what substitutes that in a light car? More downforce… so that the damn car doesn’t flip, jump, swerve off due to it’s lightness.
I’ve taken out a bunch of stuff from the car as well and even such small things make a difference, taking out spare tire, tools, having or not having a passenger, even riding on a near empty fuel tank, all of these things affect the stability of the car, the handling, how the rear end feels when i go over bumps, whether it bounces up and down or is more planted, or firm. These factors all increase when you are driving tripple digit speeds, even at speeds of 60-80km/hr i can feel a difference when I make a minor change in the car, am driving with an empty or full fuel tank, etc… Making small increments of stiffness or decrements of softness in the dampers makes a huge difference too and i notice it all, it’s the tiny things that make such a huge difference and you can feel them more when you go faster and faster.
If I just went with power in my car, i would never learn about how the chassis feels… and probably get myself killed instead, and probably just be a retard doing burnouts, if I wanted that, I would have gotten a different rwd car, a mustang.
So unless you have a more constructive post than oh you ka auto, dont post, thanks A sardine 20 det doesn’t make you handle, it makes you go faster in a straight line and gives you the ability to power drift through a corner or push out of a corner better that my neat lil krap 24 de can not :o
Honestly, without the power, I am getting to feel the chassis better and understand the car better, I could have like some people just gotten an sr20det and think im done, but i am taking things a different route.
Ah, my bad then, from what you just wrote you clearly proved that you are indeed a hardcore racer. Continue on with your hardcore racing. People like Sasha and ADAM should be ashamed for not being anywhere nearly as hardcore as you. I mean, street drifting and taking 40km/h off ramps at 120km/h, that’s the shit dawg.