TheFro's S14, New Pictures and Stuff.

[thefro526]

So, I don't have an E46 anymore so I needed a new daily. I went back and forth between older cars and newer cars and I finally settled on an S14 for the time being.

Here's how I bought it, base model S14, converted to 5-speed, 5-lug, sitting on stance coils with Z32 brakes.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/img_13281.jpg?w=608&h=454

First purchase was a set of LED kouki tails... not sure why I bought them but they're kind of cool.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/img_13461.jpg?w=608&h=454

Then I bought some skirts and rear valances off of a friend of a friend.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/img_1394.jpg?w=608&h=454

Found a Navan Bumper on eBay and scooped it up. Shipped from Japan, only took like a week to get here.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/img_1408.jpg?w=608&h=454

Another shot of the front, I think I took it to compare the headlights pre and post polish.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/img_1468.jpg?w=608&h=454

Bought some Rota Grids and mocked them up on the car. Super Sketch.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/hella-flush.jpg?w=608&h=454

Car on the ground after mounting some 225/40/18 Falken 452's to the Grids.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/img_1525.jpg?w=608&h=454

Got the car out of the driveway for the first time... Only took 10 minutes.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/photo-1.jpg?w=640

POS S13 and the S14.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_1578.jpg?w=608&h=454

Bought a clean black hood off of a friend at some point, also tinted the corners amber.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_1594.jpg?w=608&h=454

Then I took the car apart for paint.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_1611.jpg?w=608&h=454

Creeped by the paint shop one day, saw my car sitting out front.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53934155/IMG_1660.JPG

Got the car home and dyed the front and rear seats black. (not sure why picture is upside down, long hair, don't care.)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53934155/IMG_1676.JPG

Put the interior back together.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53934155/IMG_1685.JPG

Put the car back together and attempted to align it to be somewhat straight. At this point I cleaned up some of the inner fender stuff and leveled out the car. Also installed RUCA's and replaced a worn tie rod end.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/img_1688.jpg

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/img_1689.jpg

Second day on the road, stopped by the mall to buy some pants and sweaters.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53934155/IMG_1709.JPG

Rico at 215 Motoring hooked me up with some tint. 35% all around, awesome job.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/53934155/IMG_1710.JPG

Then I washed it and drove it to the FDR meet. (images are hosted on FB, might not be visible to some)

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/9041_2472912640038_1022769877_n.jpg

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/403595_4797769068439_1644282910_n.jpg

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/546978_10151058127077693_862744541_n1.jpg

The last two were taken by Mike Young, he's got an account on here, I just can't remember his user name. Pictures came out awesome.

Car still needs some work, little maintenance stuff, an alignment, some spacers, etc, but for right now I'm having a blast driving it.

[SikneSS]

i'm digging it man. keep up the good work.

[mcperson2k]

Looks good!

[Saab93Aero]

yo dustin, it's mike, i took the last 2 photos. crazy to see how far the car came along, awesome work:thumbup:

here are the last 2 photos, incase anyone cant see them due to being hosted on FB...

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii47/fivestar_08/Dope%20Cars/DSC_66972.jpg

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii47/fivestar_08/Dope%20Cars/DSC_6681.jpg

[Teku18]

God damn son. First time I actually like the look of the navan bumper. Color is sweetness as well.

[AWD GS]

sweet color!

[Foolinaround]

So happy the world can now enjoy this.

[JerseyTuscani]

So happy the world can now enjoy this.
+1

agreed. I'm really digging the color Fro.

[Big_Jim]

The color rocks.

[Shipman]

I really like the color a lot

[kdc]

Wow i love this car.

[mr_eh]

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120607035837_auto.gif
that is all.

[Sublime1304]

Damn that was yours? This car is gorgeous!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[the a3k]

very nice.

join the page if you want

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NorthJersey240SX/

[Muggus]

Very nice color. Weird how it looks like a sky blue in some lighting and a teal color in other lighting.

[TROLL]

Woah sweet, nice progress!
I feel like I'd like the corners clear more, but you probably have better style than I do so I'll trust your judgement on that one. Everything else looks really good, thumbs up. Are you neglecting the S13 now?

[DPancoast]

Purty

[thefro526]

Thanks for all of the kind words guys! It's nice to actually finish a project sort of.

Very nice color. Weird how it looks like a sky blue in some lighting and a teal color in other lighting.

You hit the nail on the head. I have some pictures where the car looks blue, some green and some teal. Anyone who's seen the car in person knows what the color is, lol.

Woah sweet, nice progress!
I feel like I'd like the corners clear more, but you probably have better style than I do so I'll trust your judgement on that one. Everything else looks really good, thumbs up. Are you neglecting the S13 now?

S13 is still around, it runs, it's just not right. I keep my build thread on here pretty up to date.

[dastpe]

I like the simplicity of the wheels that make the car color POP. How exactly did you dye your seats? What did you use?

[thefro526]

I like the simplicity of the wheels that make the car color POP. How exactly did you dye your seats? What did you use?

I used Dupli-Color vinyl and fabric paint: http://www.duplicolor.com/products/vinylFabricCoating/

It's really easy to work with. Like any spray paint, it will get darker depending on how heavily you apply it. Some stains will still be present (I had a paint mark on my seat and something that appeared to be sharpie) after painting, also any burns in the seat won't go away either.

I found that it's best to let the seats dry for about 24 hours before working with them because the paint will harden after it's applied and you might end up leaving indentations in the seats if it hardens in place (happened to me). After a few days the seats will soften up again, especially if they're sat in a lot.

[PunkboySL2]

color is super dope! Looks great.

[dudewheresmycar]

very nice

[dastpe]

I used Dupli-Color vinyl and fabric paint: http://www.duplicolor.com/products/vinylFabricCoating/

It's really easy to work with. Like any spray paint, it will get darker depending on how heavily you apply it. Some stains will still be present (I had a paint mark on my seat and something that appeared to be sharpie) after painting, also any burns in the seat won't go away either.

I found that it's best to let the seats dry for about 24 hours before working with them because the paint will harden after it's applied and you might end up leaving indentations in the seats if it hardens in place (happened to me). After a few days the seats will soften up again, especially if they're sat in a lot.

nice. thanks for the info.

any engine pictures? plans for the engine?

[thefro526]

nice. thanks for the info.

any engine pictures? plans for the engine?

I don't think I've ever taken a picture of the engine bay.

It's just an ugly dirty nasty stock KA with 217,000 miles on it.

Maybe, eventually, I'll swap an SR into the car or something, maybe KA-T, but there's really no point.

[thefro526]

http://fantasticvoyagesunlimited.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/you-betta-pick-yo-afro-daddy-cuz-its-flat-on-one-side/

Worth a read.

[thefro526]

Finally found an alignment rack and shop that would work on my car.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/img_1730.jpg?w=487

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/img_1734.jpg?w=487

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/img_1737.jpg?w=487

Alignment is awesome, I wouldn't hesitate to take my car back to Tire Corral. If you go, ask for Richard Domm.

It goes without saying, that I've finally been able to push the car a bit, and it drives like a dream.

[OBEEWON]

Somehow we need to work a deal where I put my 1J in that car and drift it.

[Teku18]

Trade the M3 haha

[thefro526]

Trade the M3 haha

This may or may not have been discussed.

[Teku18]

Oh Shi-

[Foolinaround]

Those guys are good people,down the street from my old house.

I still get a broner over this car

[OutToWinPAHC]

looking good dusty

[thefro526]

Did something like 350-400 miles of driving in the past three days. Really enjoy this car. At some point during all of that I did some interior cleanup, flipped the sun visors around so that I didn't have to look at the stupid warning labels, fixed my shift boot for what seems like the 10th time, got my driver's side door speaker and got the 12V Aux port to work. No pictures of that interior stuff, I didn't have the camera with me when I was doing it and It's boring.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/dsc_0001-2.jpg?w=608&h=404

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/dsc_0018-2.jpg?w=608&h=404

Pretty sure my transmission mount, diff bushings and sub frame bushings are all bad... Getting some weird clunks when applying power to the drivel line. Probably going to replace all of that stuff shortly and source a diff. Should be fun.

[cmr076]

Very cool! I don't usually like crazy color non-stock painted cars, but this one is sweet... The back lights and stocking front bumper with aggressive skirts works really well and the wheel finish is on point. What I'm trying to say, is I love it! Out a supercharged vq in it and itd be perfect!

[caldwell]

VQ swap would be nasty ! N/A or F/I

[Slasher]

like!

[dastpe]

bought the duplicolor fabric paint today. making my evo backseats all black instead of blue/black. did you use gloss black or flat black? anything special as far as prepping?

[thefro526]

Very cool! I don't usually like crazy color non-stock painted cars, but this one is sweet... The back lights and stocking front bumper with aggressive skirts works really well and the wheel finish is on point. What I'm trying to say, is I love it! Out a supercharged vq in it and itd be perfect!

Thanks!

Seems like everyone's first reaction to the car is that it should have a different/better/faster/etc motor. Kind of cool with the stock KA for now, slow enough to keep me out of trouble but enough torque to make cornering fun.

bought the duplicolor fabric paint today. making my evo backseats all black instead of blue/black. did you use gloss black or flat black? anything special as far as prepping?

IIRC, I used gloss back.

On fabric, the difference between gloss and matte shouldn't be too noticeable since most fabrics are sort of a matte finish anyway.

As far as prepping, just remove the seat, beat any dirt/food/hair/reproductive matter off of it like you would a floor mat and then vacuum - or at least that's what I did.

[BrandonW]

liking the car dude, put the 1j in this and the ka in the other car

but i can't even hate if you keep the ka in this the car is clean and like others have said i like the choice of color

[gregonfire]

Pretty sure it was you I beeped at today on 295. Nice car man.

[thefro526]

Pretty sure it was you I beeped at today on 295. Nice car man.

Yup, that was me. You kind of scared the crap out of me, but then I saw the TST License plate bracket.

Update: So, I think I previously mentioned somewhere that my subframe bushings were going to complete s***. Upon further inspection of my subframe and related components I also found a torn axle boot. Figured I'd make a weekend out of doing the subframe work, so I decided to swap a better diff into the car too.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1770.jpg?w=580

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1771.jpg?w=580

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1772.jpg?w=580

As you can see, my bushings were pretty thrashed. The front two bushings were so worn that the sleeves basically broke out once I started playing with them outside of the car.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1773.jpg?w=580

Torn Axle Boot, Low Car Problems.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1775.jpg?w=580

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1777.jpg?w=580

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1780.jpg?w=580

Funny story, I bought a 'VLSD'.... but it turned out to be some sort of two way... Once I found that out, this was my response:

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/files/2012/10/i_m_ok_with_this__n1296497202304__super.png

So that's where the pictures of the subframe job ends, it took a total of 14hrs over two days, both of which were like 45* at the high, which was fun. I ended up getting the subframe wrapped up and installed in the dark, so no pictures of that. It's really just a dirty S14 Subframe with New Axles, a Clean Diff and Poly Subframe Bushings... All in all worth the effort.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1788.jpg?w=580

That's one of the most recent shots of the car, I got it realigned after the subframe work and ended up going with .1* Toe in Up front, 0* Toe in the Rear, -4* Camber in the front and -2.5* Camber in the rear. All in all, it's a pretty fun setup, likes to follow the road a bit more than I'd like, but that's a by product of the front camber - which I can live with since it makes my front look less weird than when it was at -2*.

Got some extended studs and 15mm spacers coming in the mail to install this weekend a long with some new lights to change the look up a bit. Probably getting some 17x9's eventually to toss some snow tires onto as well.

[Teku18]

This car makes me want an S14.

[gregonfire]

Yup, that was me. You kind of scared the crap out of me, but then I saw the TST License plate bracket.

Yeah, that would be the Hella horns :mrgreen:

[Foolinaround]

new lights you say?

[s3xrapt0r]

car looks great man i dig the color !!! i can also vouce for the duplicolor fabric and vinyl paint.. i used it on my mr2s seats.. dickhead before me had them upholstered with blue and red pleather EWW did them with the semigloss black so far 4 months and only had to touch up a spot on the drivers seat its great stuff.. good luck with the rest of the build !

[thefro526]

new lights you say?

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/img_1810.jpg?w=640&h=478

[Foolinaround]

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lltzgnHi5F1qzib3wo1_400.jpg

[thefro526]

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/dsc_0096.jpg?w=640&h=425

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/dsc_0094.jpg?w=640&h=425

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/dsc_0087.jpg?w=640&h=425

[Foolinaround]

Now sell it to me for the miata and an angry handy J.

[Got Insulin?]

That color is soooo good. Show off yo' trunk box.

[thefro526]

That color is soooo good. Show off yo' trunk box.

Lol-ed.

Built a cargo shelf a while back, just because I was tired of hearing everything move around in the trunk.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/img_2154.jpg?w=640&h=425

For $30 total investment, I think I did alright. It's so nice not to have to use the front/rear seats for everything.

Also, car's on winter wheels now, kind of sucks, kind of nice to have some sidewall on the road again.

I really, really need some exhaust work done, my flange is getting beat to crap right at the rear subframe so I have to put new bolts in it every other week or so...

Plans for the spring are new wheels, susp overhaul, bucket seat and some cool exterior stuff.

[Foolinaround]

Plans should be to figure out dat 1j and drive to fl to hangout with Jbresch

[thefro526]

Electrical Issues with the car have me stumped.

Saturday, start the car, drop my little brother off at school, car's fine.

Stop at Lowes, car's fine.

Drive to PA, car's fine.

Start the car around lunch time, car acted a bit weird, but I got it back to where I was for the day without issue.

Go to leave around 9pm, put the key in the ignition, NOTHING.

Start trying to do a quick systems diag to see if I just needed a jump or something and was able to gather the following data:

Lighting circuits work (Hazards, headlights, interior lights, cluster illumination)

Door Chime works.

Nothing through the ignition seems to work, no acc circuits, no ignition circuits, no run circuits.

Checked the ground, found a sketchy battery ground lug, so I replaced that. Still nothing.

Checked all of the fuses and fusible links, nothing.

Took the ignition apart and tried to screwdriver start, nothing.

Checked the switch for continuity, appear to be getting it when the ignition is turned to the 'run' position, but nothing in the ACC position.

I just ordered a new ignition switch, so that should be here tomorrow, going to replace the battery at the same time... if it's not either of those, I'm stumped.

[thefro526]

So this thread has been a bit neglected over the last few months. As per my usual story, I got busy, didn't play cars as much as I wanted, etc.

Anywho, last I posted, I was chasing electrical issues, which resulted in a lot of this:

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2289.jpg?w=640&h=478

Which was because I wore through my harness twice? I think.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2218.jpg?w=640&h=856

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2221.jpg?w=640&h=478

Started to fix stuff, and initially I took the car to a shop for the 'first' round of electrical problems, which turned out to be due to a corroded terminal in the SMJ under the dash. Found this as I played with the harness:

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2312.jpg?w=640&h=856

Basically, they probed a bunch of wires and never rewrapped them... LOL

Bit the bullet and took a day off of work, IIRC it was a Tuesday, and fixed the harness:

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2313.jpg?w=640&h=478

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2340.jpg?w=640&h=478

Not some of my best work, but it'll do until I have the time to reroute the wires through the engine bay. It's hard to tell from that angle, but the wires are sitting above the lowest point of the wheel well, so in theory, they cannot be hit by the wheel except for in VERY extreme cases. (full compression at lock might hit them, haven't been able to figure out yet.)

So, then I went to start the car and it derped. Couldn't pull enough current to run any of the high draw subsystems which pointed to the battery. Checked the ground and it appeared to be acceptable so I moved onto the positive cable and found cool stuff.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2342.jpg?w=640&h=856

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2346.jpg?w=640&h=856

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_2362.jpg?w=640&h=856

S14's have this funky battery cable with a removable multiplug that piggybacks the positive connection from the fusebox onto the main cable to the starter. Needless to say, mine was corroded to all hell. A quick resistance check showed that I was seeing in excess of 2M Ohm across the connector. 20 minutes or so with some sandpaper removed a lot of the corrosion and resistance was down into the < 1Ohm range. (last picture.)

Then I drove the car all daily style for a while and started to chase some of the smaller things that bothered me about the car.

Got a new steering wheel (Custom)

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_23711.jpg?w=487

(It's since faded in the center from black to this sweet dark bronze)

Then did a bunch of stuff that I don't have pictures of. Cleaned the interior and applied sound deadening to most of the interior surfaces, it helped to cut down a lot on the road noise. Removed the carpet and painted it black, which is pretty rad. Replaced the front LCA Ball Joints, Front Tension Roads (Got some sweet Stance units), inner and outer tie rods, cleaned a bunch of crap and painted it black (where appropriate) since I was tired of randomly finding RED everywhere. Probably maybe might take some pictures of the nitty gritty stuff as time permits, but I might not, who knows.

Went out last night with the 'real' camera for once with the goal of taking some pictures of my car that actually showed the real color. I'm no photographer by any means, but I'm super happy with how these came out considering they're right off of the memory card.

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_0444-copy.jpg?w=677

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_0456-copy.jpg?w=677

http://thefro526.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dsc_0427-copy.jpg?w=677

So yeah, that's that.

At the moment, I STILL need to get the rear half of the exhaust on, but I'm lazy and that doesn't make the car more cool... Lol. Probably going to play with the suspension a bit more and see if I can finally get it to sit how I'd like it to. Otherwise, it's a daily, a cool one too..... I think.

-Dustin.

[Foolinaround]

At first i was like "Where'd the frotas go?" then I see they're back.

Nissan is good at running their harnesses above the tires and eventually it gets chewed up.

So ill be seeing this car soon.

Dat griproyal wheel <3

[Mosheh1am]

Wow, this is a lucky car to find an owner like you. Beautiful progress and a Great car

[Big_Jim]

I lol'd at frotas

Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk 2

[Foolinaround]

I lol'd at frotas

Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk 2

Somewhere between the time of purchase and putting them on I think taylor decided they would be called frotas

[nismo300zxjdm]

Awesome car man, I need to get myself an s14!

[thefro526]

At first i was like "Where'd the frotas go?" then I see they're back.

Nissan is good at running their harnesses above the tires and eventually it gets chewed up.

So ill be seeing this car soon.

Dat griproyal wheel <3

From the end of December to the Beginning of March, I was driving around on some snow tires/S14 SE wheels that I got from Elite Nick for a steal. For the 2" or so of snow that this car did see, it was kind of an amazing setup, especially with the diff and stuff.

Sadly, the snow tires were part of the harness issue, they are a more abrasive compound than 'peformance' tires because of some of the additional materials (mainly silica - you know, sand) which made for more of a 'rubbing through' effect rather than the 'rubbing off' that was normal.

But yes, come see and drive this with your own eyes so that you can help propagate the legend through the entirety of the internet.

Wow, this is a lucky car to find an owner like you. Beautiful progress and a Great car

Thanks!

I lol'd at frotas

Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk 2

Somewhere between the time of purchase and putting them on I think taylor decided they would be called frotas

It was either Insulinbro or Seanzors in the DoD Group - I can probably pull up the convo but I'm lazy.

Awesome car man, I need to get myself an s14!

Thanks dude! S14 is nice, there are still a handful of cars that I'd look into before buying another one though.

Looks like I'm going to be backing off on S14 stuff for a bit, now that I've gotten it somewhat dialed in. Need to get my S13 running/driving, destroying the street.

Also, I played with a Maserati last night while I was out driving in circles and found that this car corners surprisingly well, or that a Maserati corners like poop. Considering that the former is more believable than the later, I'm quite content.

[Foolinaround]

in4s13 updates now.

[Got Insulin?]

Keep waiting, he's trying to stick the landing on my 2015 prediction....

[Foolinaround]

Rofl; does it count if i sold my 2 though?

[Got Insulin?]

I guess I'm your second in that battle....

Race to the Derp! 2015!