Attention: This Soffish Do Not Eat - Schizo's Second S12

So, on 1/20/15 I bought another S12, a 1985 XE automatic, for $400. Seized motor, dead battery, some kind of wiring gremlin, and a dead door handle. But it's a one-owner bone stock hatch, which is what I've been looking for.

I have some pretty big plans for this car.

Day One Photo:



Day One Interior:

















First Order of Business

When I bought the car, the PO told me the head gasket had blown, so I went about pulling the head to swap the gasket- I'm willing to spend as much as $25 on a CA20E. Got the head pulled today, these were my findings:





Yeah, real blown that head gasket is. Right through the coolant jacket for cylinder 2.  :rolleyes2:

I ain't even mad though. KA time.

That's a fine looking boat anchor my friend!

why are they ALWAYS missing the parcel shelf? I swear those things are like unobtainium.

Yea, looks boat anchor. That gasket also looks new, like really new, like it's still got that felpro blue on it, and it didn't fuse to the head and block like a years old gasket does.

I suspect they may have not followed the heat, and UN torque and re torque instructions that came with the gasket.

I'm beginning to think whoever rebuilt this engine didn't realize Nissans have a 5-step head torquing process. Of course, whoever rebuilt the engine did so some years ago, because they reset the odometer when they did it, and the oil change sticker in the windshield is dated in 2011, for about 1000 miles from where the odo is now.

Oh well, KA time.

Dave, do you want the block? You know, to anchor your boat?

SchizophrenicMC on 09:36:09 PM / 23-Jan-15
Dave, do you want the block? You know, to anchor your boat?

Good man.

with two CA20 blocks you could have a pretty good coffee table...

If Schizo cleans his up & ships to me I'll post lots of pics of my creation

Maybe if things work out I'll be able to take that road trip up to WA. If I do, I'll make every effort to cram the CA block into whatever I take.

The beer will be cold and BBQ hot! Maybe even change the sheets in the guest room for you.

I started my KA swap this weekend, on the one weekend a year we get snow and ice. Fortunately, I got to use the Dallas Makerspace's facilities to effect the swap. Unfortunately, the Dallas Makerspace is almost 40 miles from my house.

What a spiteful, hateful, little engine


She's so wet


What I collected from the oil pan


Got the head out of the way (being as it was only held on by a few hoses)


Some disassembly required


The new engine's old clutch


The thing was just coming apart in shreds. Fibers everywhere.


Much better




Locked the keys in the car


End of Day 2


Engine and transmission are mated though. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

I just don't get why you are so hateful to that poor innocent CA? I'm on my 3rd one and they have kind of grown on me!

Got the stupid little CA out today

should be cake to get that KA in and wired and vroom vroom.

Man, it looked like someone had eaten buffalo wings then took a $h!t in the engine oil.
I'm trying to go through a KA swap right now, so it's nice to see someone else going through the same pain.

What transmission do you have mating up to that KA?
Have you had any luck finding a wiring harness that isn't stupid expensive?

It's an S14 KA transmission (identical to an S13 KA trans). My KA swap came from a guy who pulled it all to swap an SR20DE+T into his S14. As such, mine came with engine, transmission, accessories, harness, and ECU. He also threw in his car's chassis harness because he had a spare, and his chassis harness had been a bit hacked up. I got all that for $300. Best deal I ever got.

That means, excluding gas, I'm into this car less than $900 right now.

I kind of want to vomit at how much I've spent on just a rusty F'n roller and an engine with a chopped harness.
The midwest sucks when it comes to finding parts.
If you come across any more deals like that, I'm still looking for ECU, harness, and maybe Trans / bell housing.

just don't try to mold it out of plastic my friend!

rednucleus on 11:40:11 PM / 04-Mar-15just don't try to mold it out of plastic my friend!

I thought you guys don't have rust down there... Even my clutch box isn't that rusty! :lol:

The clutch box came off a car from Kentucky. I don't know the full story, but I needed one on account of my car is automatic, and the only person who would sell me one was from that way. The existing brake pedal box on the car is in much better shape than this box was.

By the by, for future reference, automatic and manual S12 brake pedal arms are the same, the only difference between them is the metal foot plate welded on the end.

Pulled the battery out of the S12 yesterday to put it in the S13. To be fair, the battery originally belonged to the S13. With the use of some spare parts, I've finally gotten the S13 running. I'm not sure if this makes my work on the S12 easier or harder, because now it's going to be especially hard to justify the car to my parents, who I unfortunately still live with, as a poor 21-year-old college dropout. (Of course, it's totally fine if my deaf social-security-collecting father wants to buy a plane and restore it in the garage, alongside all the other junk, but it's a major travesty if I want to have a project car. Or two)

But, it was good to drive an S again. I missed it.

Nice S13, i miss mine . Any plans for the S13?

Big plans. Turbocharging plans. But it's admittedly hard to feel that way when it's running after so long not being able to drive it.

This is the only S13 I've ever seen in person without a cracked dashboard and tons of ridiculous cheapskate mods. All I've done to this car so far is replace the factory stereo system with some not-25-year-old Pioneer stuff I had lying around, swapped an S14 KA in (because the original engine seized up within 2 miles me owning it), and I deleted the emissions equipment as part of my vacuum simplification. (Which is ultimately what got it back on the road) I also painted it, I suppose, but my surface prep wasn't the best, so you can see scratches under the paint at about 5 feet away, and some of the painted plastics are exhibiting bubbling and dimpling, which is concerning. Also, the front bumper spent 6 months off the car, and I believe it to be warped. (You can see next to the driver headlight, where it doesn't sit flush. It appears to all be mounted correctly) I intend to strip it back down to bare metal eventually, and repaint it properly in a climate controlled shop, rather than in my driveway. No matter how professional the rest of your equipment is, it's hard to get professional results in a driveway.

At the moment, it's basically stock, and there is a certain magic to that. But this does kind of throw a wrench into my S12 plans. I need to compensate for that by making more money. Somehow.

I'm confused, most people have to make some sort of custom trans crossmember when swapping S13 stuff into their S12. I bought an S13 with a CA18DET and the stock crossmember bolted in just fine on my S12.

Your car is a mk1.5, probably has a Mk2 floorpan. My car is a Mk1, originally automatic even.

Lol  the clutch pedal has been sitting on a shop floor that floods when it gets wet when it pours raIn lol...i had it laying around because no used hafter rhd swap

Well, a quick pass through the blasting cabinet and it cleaned up nicely. It's in the car now, I just haven't had a chance to cut the brake pedal short. Among other things.

After a long silent period, VICTORY:

Congratulations man.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dope. Glad to see your dedication beat out the tribulations on this project.

Mission accomplished!  Love to see any S12 rolling in the streets!  Still got those steelies if your still interested.

Knew if I stuck around here long enough you would be seen driving an S12!
BTW do you miss the CA yet?

I wasn't even driving- that's Ryan. He's actually the owner now. I'm just the technician. What with the S13, the Jeep, and plans for a new daily, I don't have time, money, or space for the S12. So the torch has been passed, kind of. Ryan's totally out of his depth when it comes to this stuff, but he's really interested in the car, and he's learning. During all of this, I'm going to be the one who turns idea into running car, and he does have some ideas, believe you me. This thread might not update too frequently, but when it does, expect cool stuff I guess.

Still, it doesn't feel like any less of a victory to have this car running. It's been a long time coming. This is the first time I've gotten an S12 started since I bought my first car, back in 2011. Feels good, man.

Señor Gonzaga, Ryan does want to get the appropriate steelies, but shipping may preclude that for awhile. He's probably gonna need that window guide before the wheels become enough of a problem to deal with. (Especially since the spare is one of the original wheels to the car, which makes me wonder where the 2 black steel wheels on the one side came from)

Red, hell no. I've got the block sitting in my garage, waiting to be turned into the worst coffee table ever. Eventually.

I've got a line on some SE wheels and may swap them in place of my steelies but it may be September before it happens. I'll have moved to TX by then.

We've got time on the wheel front. Gotta get the exhaust and starter sorted before that becomes a problem.

We eagerly await your arrival in the Lone Star state, even if it is just in Wichita Falls.

Do you know what this means? Nuff said.

lol