Comprehensive S14a refurb

**CrazySx** · 08-07-2009, 23:13

same here, i used draper soldering and it has been fine for over year now. I think if u read back, the issue was that the card was not put back in its hole. It gets cooled in the hole, melts outside the hole

Oh and the Almera one plugs in but will not fit the hole. I tried a 1997 almera one.

**fritzkrackers** · 11-07-2009, 14:49

jeez petrol, dont drive the car when its complete. it'd be so sad for even general wear and tear to set in! isnt your missus peeved with the time you've spent on it? mine is and i barely get near my s14a!!!!

on another note, mr nissan may well buy the car from you. iirc one of the banzai mag peeps had an ae86 which toyota bought from him after a refurb and its now displayed in a showroom somewhere.

its been said a hundred times before but i am in awe of your work. you should win a prize! im all for the sxoc coughing up and award or certificate of acheivement at the very least! rare to see someone do so much work and stay so close to the standard car too.

p.s. have you been to the doc's.....?

about your ocd!

lol! jus' playin'!

**redlinezak** · 25-08-2009, 19:40

Hello mate. I am trying to clean up my radiator expansion tank and PSteering reservoir. I have soaked them in a washing tab solution for 24 hours so far and to be honest it hasnt done a thing? Is there something i am missing? Is it a certain type of washing powder you used or anything.
Amazing project by the way your dedication is phenomenal.

Many thanks

Nath

**Petrol** · 25-08-2009, 21:01

I left mine soaking for about a week, just shook the solution once a day. It does takes quite a while for the brown deposits to go though. I just used an ordinary washing tab, nothing special. If it's not budging it might be worth trying one of those bottle cleaning brushes. I bet most pound shops sell them.

I could do to finish this car off, started it up a couple of days ago but still haven’t the motivation to finish it

It’s so close and wouldn’t take long

**redlinezak** · 25-08-2009, 21:19

Thank you Pete. I will leave it soaking for as long as possible although the mrs is requesting her sink back as i didnt have a bucket big enough to totally submerge it in .

**Evilchap** · 25-08-2009, 21:21

Use the bath

**redlinezak** · 25-08-2009, 22:14

did think of that but it might go down worse than the kitchen sink so a trip to asda for the purchase of 1 washing up bowl tomorrow. The tabs even have softener in them so not only will it look white n new but will be lovely to the touch

**Petrol** · 18-09-2009, 22:20

Took the fan controller out from under the passenger side

footwell

Bit of a monkey to get to - it's up here

The controller card looks like it has resistors in it for the speed control – makes sense but why the soldered link? Mine was that bad I couldn’t actually see the link

I would love to have a look at a new one and measure the resistance across the link. If anyone could throw any light on this I would appreciate it

I soldered it with plumber's solder and it's working again

The last time I worked on the car I left it like this

Front wheels sat on blocks ready for a spanner check

After you have stripped a car down to the bare bones a spanner check is important – it’s easy to miss something like this!

Sorry the pic is poor but that’s an un-torqued nut on an engine mount. It’s so easy to miss something like this, especially after such a long time of refurbing.

Spanner checks are worth doing!

**30psi** · 18-09-2009, 22:23

Good to see you back in action mate

**DanS14a** · 19-09-2009, 08:43

/\/\/\/\ Indeed! Keep it coming!

**CrazySx** · 19-09-2009, 22:28

yay!! my favourite thread is alive!! I discovered some nasty rust at MOT time, so gonna have to do something similar soon

**Petrol** · 24-09-2009, 21:29

It would be nice to get this car finished before winter

All it needs now (I think) is –

Split pins in the lower ball joints / track rod ends.
Front splitter / undertray finishing.
Air con gassing.
Suspension aligning.

I brush painted a thick coat of gelcoat on the visible side of the front splitter. The reason I did this is to get rid of any unsightly ripples often found in plastic moulded parts. The Plan is to sand it flat with an orbital sander and spray it gloss black. I'm pretty confident I can sort this

The top of the undertray is gelcoat and looks OK from the engine bay

The underside however is a bit of a mess and you can see the matting.

Closer pic

I’ve had a long time to think about what to do but can only think of paining it matt black. A matt finish tends to hide any discrepancies. The other option is to stonechip it. Either way it’s not going to look like a factory part which is not really what I want. A stock, perfect condition undertray would be my No.1 choice but if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate them.

I’m 99.9% there with this car but seem to be struggling with the last 2 parts to be fitted

**30psi** · 24-09-2009, 22:19

See if you can find anywhere that can press mould one up. That way the finish is smooth on both sides.

All I know is that this how is it's achieved on corvette panels. How hard it is, dunno

**Evilchap** · 24-09-2009, 22:44

A quick fill, sand and paint will have that looking how you want I would think.

**Petrol** · 25-09-2009, 20:18

Originally Posted by Evilchap

A quick fill, sand and paint will have that looking how you want I would think.

Thanks, I will give it a try. Thought I would get back into the swing of it with the easy bit first

If you remember I chopped the splitter up to improve the fit. The reason I brush painted a load of gelcoat on was to give sufficient thickness to hide where I had joined it. Sanded it down with 80’s, 240’s and finally 400’s grade wet and dry. I used an orbital sander and various blocks to prevent ripples in the finish. If you use the paper in your hands, it’s easy to end up with a rippled finish especially when removing a lot of material.

I then primed it with 2K paint which offers the best adhesion.

**Robbie** · 26-09-2009, 07:39

Splitter is looking good. Can't wait to see some photos of it fitted as the car will look finished.

**Petrol** · 26-09-2009, 20:30

Originally Posted by Robbie

Splitter is looking good. Can't wait to see some photos of it fitted as the car will look finished.

To be honest, I will be glad when it’s all done

Spent all afternoon on it sorting a few bits and bats out. Split pins all cut to length are in

I found 3 paint chips like this

Just touched them in with a brush. Despite using 2K, I didn’t mix any hardener. It will go off, it just takes a bit more time. Not really worth bothering for such a small amount of paint

Going to ask a friend that works at the local Mazda dealership if he can get someone down to re gas the air con. I don’t know anything about the stuff they use but I bet there’s lots of cowboys out there. If I use a main dealer at least they will fill it with pukka stuff

I also had a really good look underneath the car and have to say I am really impressed with the carcoon

It’s been stored in there for quite some time now and I was expecting the gearbox casing and engine block to have the dreaded white deposits on it. It doesn’t look any different from the day it went in, even the unprotected disks have no signs of rust. The drawback with car covers is condensation during the winter but since the outdoor carcoon is double skinned, it prevents any condensation forming inside

**Jem** · 26-09-2009, 20:39

Pete, as you've had the aircon system open to the atmosphere you should really have a new receiver drier fitted when you have the system recharged

**Evilchap** · 26-09-2009, 20:45

Looking really good Pete

Another solution and a popular one in boat building for a good sanding finish is long-boarding, which is exactly how it sounds. Long board (1ft long +) with your selected grade of sand paper, job's a good one, if you dont have access to power tools

**mercedessx** · 26-09-2009, 21:02

Does this car get driven ?????? it looks awesome

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