Hey everyone thanks for taking a look! So a little about me I'm a tech at Toyota but have been wrenching on things since before i could legally work. I've been out of working on my own cars for fun for a while now. Going from my 86 jeep cherokee rock crawler to the 4 nissan 240sx I've had the pleasure of abusing (while they abuse my wallet in return). For the past three years my thrilling daily driver has been a 86 2wd Toyota pickup, reliable however not to exciting. I finally threw the towel in and that is when the search began!

Scanning craigslist for a couple of days looking for a decent 240sx was not very promising. Everything decent was way overpriced and even a beater people wanted arm and a leg. In the few years I have not been in the import loop I guess they got really popular. Searching for rwd based imports I came across this ad with a picture of some red beast with sexy body lines for a grand. The guy not putting the make in the ad (clearly sells cars for a living) Me seeing what it was called the guy right away. In broken English he went into detail about the clutch needed to be replaced and how he can have it towed to my house. Being over an hour away I was sold. Went and checked it out him living in San Fransico and letting his wife daily drive it to work even If the clutch wasn't slipping it was going to be replaced. Checked it out besides some wear and tear looked pretty good. Waiting for the tow truck to arrive the huge Somoan dude fed us, split some beers with us and shot the **** until the truck arrived.



on her way home

 

once i got her home pushed it up on my ghetto block/stand/jack/ramp lift and started diving in.

 

Got underneath it and everything was just saturated with wet oil. Removed transmission and everything in the way and this is what it looked like.

 

started cleaning what i could exhaust shields all hardware that I removed and little things

 

oh man, i wish i had access to a parts washer like that.. all my stuff would be so clean!

the oil inside the bell housing and leaking down behind the flywheel makes it seem like the rear main seal is shot. luckily if that's the case the part is cheap ($10 or so) and fairly easy to replace if you can get the flywheel etc off.


getting the flywheel off is another story. the oem counterweighted flywheel is held on to the e-shaft by a monster 54mm (2 1/8") nut that gets torqued to nearly 300lb/ft


since you said you're a toyota tech and have access to that badass parts washer, this shouldn't be a problem for you.

your flywheel looks like the stock counterweighted variety, and if you're going to keep using it, then just a new clutch disc/pressure plate/bearings etc. should be needed. if you wanted to use an aftermarket flywheel, keep in mind that they are not counterweighted, so you will need to get a counterweight from an automatic rx7 (can be expensive if you can't find one used) Link to brand new counterweight from Atkins Rotary

other than the clutch issue the previous owner was telling you about and the obvious oil problem, how does the car run? it looks like it's in good shape otherwise (especially for a grand!) and it should be a great new project.

coming from the s chassis nissan world, i'm sure you can't wait to get in a little nimble rwd sports car again. what are your plans for it?

good luck and have fun man

-sean

 

thanks sean ya thanks for the info i figured out the whole counterweight deal the hard way. i already have an ACT one with flywheel which cost some $$$ ill post pics in a bit. But my plans so far is get it cleaned up and sound then work from the ground up suspension brakes all new bushing. fix all leaks and clean it up get a LSD make the car sound first and keep it N/a then at that point once im used to driving the car and get comfortable if I feel it needs more go from there.

 

this is what my old clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel looks like

 

another pic of bell housing

what she looks like with no flywheel just a hot mess


I ordered a new seal and stationary gear o-ring. I found a TSB on the o-ring so figured i would replace it while I had the chance and seeing that It was as hard as a rock and not round anymore thought it was a good idea.

pulled stat gear ....



replaced o-ring


installed new seal and installed housing


still need to clean it up more... post more later going to go work on it!

 

nice man, looks like you're well on your way

starting with suspension/brakes etc is a good idea, handling and control is definitely the strong suit for these cars (especially the n/a ones) but making it better will just add to the enjoyment.

what trim level is the car? it might have a viscous lsd already (though it's more than likely not holding up too well after all this time). good lsd options are hard to find for the n/a diffs, and unfortunately tII diffs are getting rare

if you're anything like me, it won't take long driving it to find the power to be lacking though. without a turbo i find the low an mid range to be almost nonexistant, you've got to keep the revs up to make it do anything fun.

keep it up buddy, i can't wait to hear how it drives!

-sean

 

Well its a 91 wich im guessing us a s5 (correct me if im wrong).
It has power everything a sun roof, 5 lug not sure from what I have researched its open my plan was to find a lsd wirh clutch packs and replace them but I didn't want to get ahead of myself just dealing with what I have in front of me

 

don't mind my grammar and run on sentences........ removed this little B^tch probably the hardest part of all of this so far.

 

ok cleaned it up a little here is the installed act counterweight and flywheel

 

i decided while I was all dirty and underneath it I would replace the oil pan gasket and see if i could find any other oil leaks.


all cleaned!

 

when loosening the engine mounts the passenger side one just fell out the rubber detached itself from the rest of the mount. I attempted to use a cheap oem replacement one and it snapped during install with little to no torque applied! So I have some polyurethane mounts that should be getting here tomorrow

 

still waiting on the mounts. noticed oil coming from the oil cooler and cooler lines. its looking like this.





I cleaned it up pretty good but what aftermarket lines do you guys recommend?

 

I believe that Racing Beat, Mazdatrix, and Corksport all make braided stainless replacement oil cooler lines. If I remember correctly, the Corksport ones are the cheapest, but not as fancy looking as the others

-sean

 

Nice build and pics... Go with the Corksport lines, found they are best for the buck...

 

Thanks you guys was looking at the rb and corksports just wanted to see the consumer feed back. Probably going to go with the corksport lines. Just need to throw everything in finally got my mounts shipped! Going to pick npull for some small things then smog and dmv. Will post pics later

 

Cool man, if you get the Corksport lines let me know how you like them. I've been thinking about picking some up

-sean

 

the oil cooler lines are on hold until i get it smogged but cleaned up the 5 speed and threw a new output seal in

also scored at pick n scrape picked up a new wing, like this style more, and unblown tokico blues with eibachi springs. I want a set of powered by max coils but ill roll on these until then.





the tokicos and springs cleaned up good this is a before pic

 

hate to drill into my baby but off with the old wing and on with the new(ish)




Got my engine and tranny mounts in

 

also spent most of my time dropping my buddys KA-T into is s14

 

dawm looks like the project im going to start.

 

fun stuff dude good luck

 

That kouki s14 looks dope.