new acquisition

[Allch Chcar]

Originally Posted by Midship Runabout

Those are s13 headlights. Just from a sylvia (240sx out side of the states) but swapping s14 lights is super common. Look up s13.4.

I actually looked for that swap and failed. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

And yes I do know the the S in S13/S14 stand for Silvia . I also know it was only a "240sx" in the US hence why some people when they hear "200sx" think of the Sentra... The 240sx was Nissan's replacement for the 180sx which was also turbo based like the S13's SR20 in Japan. Whereas the KA24 was a N/A motor.

[NESW20]

i replaced the timing chain today. i'm really glad i did because if i had driven the car with the bad timing chain guides, i would have caused A LOT more damage. on to the pictures...

just getting started...


valve cover, distributor, a/c, p/s pump, thermostat, crank pulley all removed.


timing cover is off. see the problem?


a closer look. those two allen bolts should have a guide between them.


here's the inside of the timing cover where the chain was chewing away toward a coolant passage.


i should have pictures of the finished product in the next couple days. i'm waiting on a few parts, which should only take an hour or two to put in. i can't wait to get this thing on the road!

[Allch Chcar]

That could have been bad.

[Siriusly.Andrew]

any updates?

[NESW20]

yep! just haven't had a good chance to get on here and post.

new alternator is in. oil is changed to Rotella 15w40. i tracked down an intermittent cylinder #4 dead misfire to the injector wiring. it's sort of fixed for now, but i think eventually i'll wire in a new harness connector. only thing left to sort out is the high idle. also, did i mention that the HUD works???



it's hard to see in the picture, but you can see the 0 on the windshield.

finished engine pictures:





total investment (not including purchase price) up to this point is:
$110 for new timing chain & gasket kit
$90 for the alternator
$10 for coolant
$20 for oil (got free filters from a friend)

so about $230 and a few hours of my time and it's turning out to be a pretty decent here-to-there car. only things left to do really is figure out the headlight issue. i'm pretty certain it's the multifunction/headlight switch on the steering column, so i'm gonna swap in a known-good switch and see if that fixes it. if that's the problem, a new one is $75-90, or i could try to source a used part for cheeeeap.

i'm also still working on sorting out the wheels. and the exhaust is way louder than i'd like for a car that isn't fast at all, so maybe i'll see about picking up a quieter exhaust soon. however, both of these things are minor annoyances that are easy enough to deal with.

[Siriusly.Andrew]

Hah I can relate to the exhaust bit, the exhaust on my civic finally rusted out, had a cat-converter and that was it. I'm so glad I got the new system installed. All thats left for my civic is suspension and wheels but that might be a while before I can tackle that. Eventually it'll need a new clutch, its getting short but still grabs properly.


Sounds like it was a wicked buy though. Not a lot sunk into fixing it so far. Do you notice that misfire often? Does it ever actually trigger a CEL? I hate messing with electrical, its a nightmare.

[NESW20]

it seems to be pretty well fixed now, but when it was misfiring, it was BAD. you could definitely tell it was a dead miss, only running on 3 cylinders. i actually haven't seen a light on the dash for the CEL, so couldn't tell you, but i'd be amazed if it wasn't throwing a code.

so far i'm extremely pleased with the car. everything has been super easy to fix and work on, and it's not too bad to drive, haha.

[Random_Art]

Originally Posted by Siriusly.Andrew

I hate messing with electrical, its a nightmare.

Tell me about it. Both of my rear turn signals and brakelights are out on my Mountaineer and giving all the symptoms of a blown fuse. but, it appears that either the geniuses at Ford either didn't give me a fuse for that system, or they hid it in some silly spot far from the rest of the fuses.

[RRnold]

Sweet!

Is that HUD oem? I never knew they had them.

Good catch on timing chain guide! Did the original owner remove it?

[NESW20]

Originally Posted by RRnold

Sweet!

Is that HUD oem? I never knew they had them.

Good catch on timing chain guide! Did the original owner remove it?

yep, it's an OEM HUD. it's actually pretty cool, and works well. also, i can switch it from mph to km/h if i feel like it, haha.

the original timing chain guide design was all plastic, so after 20 years it got brittle and broke into pieces, leaving only those bolts. the new design is a metal guide with a plastic face, so that won't happen again.

[RRnold]

Right on! :happy0180: The HUD are pretty cool, I've seen them on the GM cars and never knew the 240 had it.

[Allch Chcar]

HUD on a early 90's car, where did all the nerdiness go?

[NESW20]

well, i made some more progress tonight! the high idle is caused by a faulty connector for the ECT sensor. i'll see about rewiring it tomorrow and then get the idle and timing set properly. once it's fixed i also expect to pick up some power, driveability, and fuel economy. right now the ECU thinks the engine is COLD all the time, so it's dumping extra fuel constantly.

swapped in a friend's working headlight switch and that fixed the headlights perfectly, so i need to order a new switch for myself. after that, i'm almost sad that i'm running out of things to do, haha.

i pulled codes, and it flashed "55" which means no codes are stored.

[NikostC]

Nice man ! time for a SR20DET swap a set of coilovers and engine management and your good to go!