Doug's S12

Well im finally starting a thread for my new baby so everyone can follow my progress. Try to keep up with me because this project should be completed in less than a month (horray for unemployment lol). I bought my 1985 200sx for 500 bucks with a blown clutch and quite a few minor rust spots. A new clutch came with the car and it was literally around the corner from my house so i drove it home and installed the new clutch. After a quick rip through the parking lot across the street i parked the car in my garage and began tearing the interior apart for reupholstering. Black vinyl, black carpet, black seats, black everything inside (at least you can't call me racist ). 3 days later the interior was done but not put back in yet because the body work still has to be completed. This is my progress as of a week ago and i will update with more pictures tonite.

How it was when i bought it (notice the passenger side rusted quarter compared to how clean the driver side is, result of a previously crappy body job):


Painted interior incl. carpet:

Caravan fenders being used to create new quarter panel flares:

Ready for flares and welding:

Passenger side caravan fender welded on and ready for bodywork:

don't bad what do you plan on doing to it

sweet lookin repair job, but i think i seen these pictures somewere else before. i look forward to seeing more progress with your new panels.

OK so today i finished all the patch welding (i hope) on my car. I also began to make my seat rails for my racing seats. overall it was a semi-productive day for me as i ran into a snag when my jack decided to die on me and i had to go get it replaced through warranty. By the time i got back i was too tired/lazy to do anymore work on the car tonite.

Here is the door patches i welded on, i also had to patch the inner door panel so total of 3 here:

passenger side quarter panel flare (caravan fender):


This is what came off the trunk lid from the spoiler mounting points:

And this is what it looks like now:

Custom seat rails designed using the stock seat rails and flat bar welded across to support the narrow sliders of the racing seat:


Racing seats that are going in the car:


The plan for tomorrow is to finish off the seat rails and reassemble the interior, i would like to have my body work finished by the end of the weekend as the car has a paint booth booked for next week.

Wow, nice work, dude! Turbo hatch FTW! Keep us posted as you complete the bodywork.

Nice to see rust repair done right.

And a reminder, please update your location information in your profile.

bump more pics please

OK time for an update, ive been busy with the car, although its going slower than i expected because i was called back to work and they are VERY busy with lots of overtime. I have the bodywork all finished save for a few stone chips on the hood. The interior is all done although i think i may take the dash out and get it covered with black vinyl or black suede (however the suede is an expensive option). The driver door needs the black vinyl redone as the glue i used on that side wasnt as strong as the glue i used on the passenger side (which is the same glue i used on the rear quarter panel vinyls but i dont care how the back seat area looks really). I've received my j30 calipers, s13 spindles/hub, s13 LCA/balljoints, s13 inner and outer tie rods, stainless brake lines, tein hr coilovers, prothane full z31 bushing kit, HKS camshafts, and BC valve springs. I still need to order my 5x8 rear springs, adjustable perch, fox body agx's, and s15 helical LSD. I also will be ordering in the next month Work Equip 03 style rims at 15x10 for the rear (maybe 15x9 if i think the 10s are too big) and 15x8 for the front. Not too mention lots more motor parts incl BOV, FMIC, SAFC Neo, Turbo timer, electronic boost controller andmore. And now for the pictures:

Interior:


dusty door panel


Body work (just before applying the final layer of body fill):
nice shot of the width of the rear caravan flares





Thats it for now, ill have more pics once i get the primer and single stage sealer sprayed over the bodywork.

looks like you've been busy. is that my old trim strip? you straightened that out nice if it was. glad to see someone still knows how to do body work the right way

well i love this car and i want it to last so im making sure to do it proper once so i never (crosses fingers, knock on wood) have to do it again. Actually your trim piece isnt on there yet, if you look closer youll see there is no trim piece in that spot lol.

Wow... You know I'll be honest, I squirmed a bit when I saw the pictures of you hacking up the rear fenders lol.. but it's comming along nicely. I can't wait to see the primer shots to get a better idea of the look of those fenders. Definitely will let you run a nice wide wheel back there, too.

Ok small update here, slow progress still with all the hours im putting in at work, body work is going to be done by the end of this long easter weekend coming up, that includes primer and first stage of sealer style paint. Last weekend i was busy picking up my motor s13 sr20det blacktop. heres some eye candy for you guys to drool over (although im sure most of you wont be drooling because how common sr20det swaps are).





More updates and pics this weekend!

may I ask what kind of welder you are using?

It's a hobart top of the line gas/electric MIG welder, however i dont have any gas so its just electric with flux cored wire.

get the bottle flux core sucks. or at least I dont like it at all. its like your welding with a stick welder. you will lose the slag and be able to see what your weld looks like as you go. you can tell how much you are burning in a lot easier.  how high are your seats? I did my mounts the exact same way and my seats are to high. I think I am going to make them a fixed mount so I can get them lower. sliders take up alot of room. and I am the only one that drives the car.

Lol at the caravan fenders .. it came out really nice !
Who tought someone would use parts from a minivan to modify their sports car

Nice project you got there!

Frank @ spoolsport.com

I'm not gonna drool over the SR, no, but when you get this car together, I'm gonna drool over the nice package you're driving. Your build is comming along nicely, good job!

nismo200sx16 - yea the seats are high, im about 1.5 inches down from the roof and im only 5'10"! i was thinkin the same thing about fixed mount seats, but i dont really wanna go that route with these seats, im thinking about getting oldschool prelude seats like i have in my paseo and doing them up in black leather, i love the original shape of the seat and the way that you sit in them. But definately the seats are too high. I've welded so much with flux core that im really good at it now, it all depends on what your doing, but usually when i go back to gas welding i'm totally pro at it haha.

Frank - yea the caravan fenders worked out a little better than i expected, the only difference is the width of the wheel well at the very bottom is 1" wider than stock. Other than caravan fenders the next best thing would be oldschool mustang fenders, nice fat lip on them and they have a very similar body line as the s12, but there all rusted to shit in the junkyards around here.

Arro - i get more and more parts daily, im close to having everything i need, most of the motor work will be done within the length of a week and the suspension mods will be the following week.
I'm still having trouble figuring out what to do with my flywheel, its crappy looking and broken studs, i could get it turned and then new studs put in but i can also get a 15lb flywheel for near the same price... i know lightweight flywheels are not good with turbo cars from everything ive heard but a moderately weight flywheel has to have the benefits of both, correct? its not 10lbs and its not 22lbs, somewhere in between could there be a happy balance?

well what kind of power are you planning to run ?

280-350hp range, probably closer to the higher end of that.

Ok small update, just test fit my side skirts and spoiler last nite, not sure if i like the side skirts yet... they're from an s13. I also go my s13 front bumper and lip so ill be fitting those parts in the next week.

what happended to your turbo spoiler? wanna sell it? nice job on the fenders! it looked pretty bad at first when you had the 1/4's cut up but it came together nicely. i wanna see that silvia bumper fitted. any more pics of the side skirts from further away?

Ah the turbo spoiler doesnt have "turbo" emblems on the sides anymore, and its got a few cuts and gouges out of the foam, dont know if that would be worth anything to anyone. the first picture of the sideskirts is the furthest shot i could get (small garage lol). I put the silvia bumper on, for the most part it bolts right on, i took out the small metal strip from the back that had bolts in. This part is used on the silvia rebar. Instead i drilled small holes in the backside plastic so it can bolt into the rebar like the stock bumper, small trimmings at the corner edge to fit the fender. And then the final task is to weld a new lower panel on to the front of the fenders, similar to the 240sx front ends, so that the bumper lines up with the fenders properly. Ill be getting more pics of all that work this week.

Another update - big news because all my buildup parts came in (engine and suspension). the unfortunate aspect is that the used front tein coilovers i got had one side with a seal gone, so for now all i can do is send it out and hope that they can fix it SOON!

Duuuuude pix of the silvia bumper!

Ok so today after work i decided to finish up the silvia bumper conversion. I ended up using the strip of steel with the bolts in it from the stock silvia bumper and drilling holes in the top edge of the rebar to bolt it on, the bumpers are a SLIGHTLY different shape across the front (s12 coming straight back on an angle from the center whereas the s13 curves back away from the centre) but not enough to really notice much of a difference, it has made fitting the bumper a pain in the ass though lol. I've trimmed away about half an inch to an inch from the top corners of the bumper to make it sit flush against the fender. That corner area is my least favorite of the conversion, it doesnt match well and needs to be perfectly cut to blend it in. However, im sure it will look ok once the bumper is red and matches the paint. The lower portion of the s12 fenders curves in too soon for the bumper so i restructured it to match the bumper with a metal patch on each side, that worked out very well and now the fenders match awesome at the bottom. Overall i love the look of the s13 bumper compared to the s12 bumper, it gives the whole front end a more modern sleek look and i think that the now longer fenders match the body lines that the rocker panels create giving the side profile more flow in the styling. My next task is to finish the putty work (that i've been trying to finish for weeks now haha) and to figure out what to do with the grill area and the gap between the red strip under the grill and the bumper. Without further adieu, the pictures lol:

First test fit:


With only one bolt in each side there is a HUGE gap between fender and bumper:


Fully bolted in, barely anymore gap:


Fender restructured, bumper mostly bolted on:


After i get some bodywork done on the fenders tomorrow i'll take some more pictures of the front end with the test fit of the s13 lower poly lip.

update -  the car is going in for paint saturday morning, look for updated pics this weekend!

looks great...can't wait to see the new paint

Ok here she is, front bumper wont be on for a while, at least until i get the motor in the car, then ill be putting it back on. Still looking for rims, desparately needed haha. Can't wait to see it with everything on it. I have been taking the motor apart and i found that the turbo that came on the motor someone had thrown sand and rocks inside it... probably hoping i would blow up the motor by just putting it in and starting it. Good thing i'm taking everything apart first to rebuild it (bonus that i have a brand new turbo LOL).

Paint looks really nice!

pssst. paint the door handles black.

haha yea thats my next step, the chrome peeled off the driver side so i've been trying to figure out what material is underneath so that i can make sure it has good adhesion.

Very job there, what are the arcches off??

the wheel arches are front fenders from a dodge caravan.

kudos on the paint job! the rear fender looks awsome. i wanna see the lip and bumper fitted now. probably looks better with matching paint.

too cooooooool, I was going to try a stock silvia bumper but I couldn't find one in my area. Looks good man!

edit: i dunno about using a pignose lip on the silvia bumper, it always looked janky too me because it fits retarded. look around for a nice lip!

i was a little worried about the lip fitting wrong as well because of the different bumper styles and whatnot between 240sx and s13, however, when i test fit it on there it matched up awesome, all it needs is a zip tie on each fender and a rivet through the center of the bumper/lip and its a snug match. It might fit better because the different width of the s12 fenders as oppposed to the 240 fenders, dont know... ill be putting the bumper on as soon as the motor is in the car (hopefully within the next two weeks). I only plan on putting it on once because its such a tight fit that i dont wanna damage anything by taking it off again.

Sad day indeed for my s12... due to financial issues the sr20det swap and all related fun stuff is going to be sold.  im a little sad to see that aspect of this project go down the drain. however i am happy that ill be putting my lowering springs and poly bushings on the rear of my car this weekend. And i will also be looking for a KA24E to start building (since thats something i can afford)

SILVIA BUMPER ON! woohoo, night pictures only for now...

i think a mk2 grill would flow better with the vents in the s13 bumber, you can probly score one for under 20 bucks

Looks good, hows it look without the lip though?

i didnt take any pictures without the lip, i've been considering taking the lip off and painting the lower portion black not only for protection but to have the option of no lip... im dont hate the look of it, but im not crazy about it... something about the way it goes in at the fenders is bothering me, but until i can figure out a cure i stays this way lol.

callaro- if i get an mk2 grill wouldnt i need mk2 turn signals? i would go this route if i could source the parts.

Dougi didnt take any pictures without the lip, i've been considering taking the lip off and painting the lower portion black not only for protection but to have the option of no lip... im dont hate the look of it, but im not crazy about it... something about the way it goes in at the fenders is bothering me, but until i can figure out a cure i stays this way lol.

callaro- if i get an mk2 grill wouldnt i need mk2 turn signals? i would go this route if i could source the parts.

Doug i didnt take any pictures without the lip, i've been considering taking the lip off and painting the lower portion black not only for protection but to have the option of no lip... im dont hate the look of it, but im not crazy about it... something about the way it goes in at the fenders is bothering me, but until i can figure out a cure i stays this way lol.

callaro- if i get an mk2 grill wouldnt i need mk2 turn signals? i would go this route if i could source the parts.

thanx guys. i pm'd him regarding the grill and possibly corner lens as well since i like the look better.

Ok its been a while since i updated on my build, a lot has been going on. I finally got the motor back from the machine shop and i reassembled it yesterday. Friday i pulled the old motor out and now today i will be tackling the wiring harness. The motor will be going in next weekend and then i will update again once its on the road that week. Heres a few quick pics:

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg104/doug_tiger/IMG_0265.jpg)

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg104/doug_tiger/IMG_0277.jpg)

(http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg104/doug_tiger/IMG_0280.jpg)

how do you spell jealous? cause im trying to find out how to describe my feelings right now...

NICE BUILD MAN THOSE FENDER FLARES IN THE REAR SUIT THE CAR REAL WELL NICE CRAFTSMANSHIP DUDE JOB WELL DONE!!! HOPE 2 SEE SOME VIDS THIS SHOULD BE 1 BADDAZZ 12 DUDE!!!!

Ok im not posting any spoilers or updating right now, but what i will say is look for a FINISHED car this weekend, i will update with pictures as soon as i get my hands unglued from the wheel. I've been hard at work on this thing for the past few months just trying to get it done and on the road.

wow, i need to read these build pages more often...

the car is stupid nice and you do great body work
and using a caravan fender for metal? priceless

my hat off to you man

Well this is what it looks like now... now to get it running and on the road. The gov't made me get it appraised because its older than 20 years so things have been taking a while.

no power steering for you. looks like you got the super hicas pump on their.