The ongoing life of my red S14A.

[mike_je94]

Hi everyone

Name is Mike,I'm the owner of a red 14a, which I actually bought nearly 2 years ago when it was pretty standard, will get to that in a min. Here is a quick picture of mine of how it looks now before rewinding back to how it looked when I first got it.

Some of you may of seen this 14a about in the south east area and Essex.

200sx2.jpg

Basically, I did sign up on here about a year and a bit ago, not long after buying my S14A, should of started a project thread back when I got it, but never really got round to it and also progress was slow on the car at getting stuff done so I probably wouldn't of had many updates to give on it.

Nearly 2 years after owning the car it's now starting to make progress, now I feel like it's time to start one and get it out there for you guys to see and start interacting with you ladies and gentleman on the forum.

Anyway I'll quit flapping my gums, here it goes and hope you enjoy reading.

___________________________________________

FEBRUARY 2013:

After attending a lot of car shows and meets, I just had to have an s14a, inFact one year went to a lakeside cruise and spoke to a guy who had a kitted 14a and was slammed on a massive set of chrome wheels, was absolutely in love with the way it looked, sounded and went!

I decided it was time to start looking for one. I wanted one that was pretty standard-ish, so that I could do it right up from a blank canvas to my personal taste.

At the time I didn't know much about s-bodies, it was fortunate my friend Shane (shane_evans) on here was willing to come with me to inspect one I found down in Chatham kent.

Anyway we got down there and here she was.

Initially I had my doubts about it...

301739_320539578059576_922736758_n.jpg

S14A.jpg


How the engine was when I first got it


200sx4.jpg

A Little spec I can remember this far back at the time.

It had just clocked 93,000 at the time.

Tein Coilovers,

17 inch Rota Grids on the back and Rays TE37 copies on the front.

Blitz Air Filter

Apex exhaust

Apexi downpipe

Tein Strut brace

Engine damper

Bailey dump valve aka leak valve.

The turbo gaskets were all blown and sounded like a tractor, also the previous owner didn't plumb the dump valve in properly and it was pissing out boost and was slow as anything, didn't even come on boost. Also sills were a little bit rusty but apart from that it was okay, to a certain degree, providing I did some work on it.

Anyway so I went with it, and got it home... It then sat for about 6 months on my drive, due to not being able to insure it till my 19th birthday in July. But this was okay, as it gave me time to get it working reasonably well for when I could finally drive it.

First job was replacing the turbo gaskets, fitting some braided turbo hoses and giving it a bloody good service including new plugs, oil, coolant etc.

This was the only photo I could find from back then.

200sx3.jpg

So with me, Shane along with Mark Evans ("Hugh Janus" - On here, lol) gave up their time to really help me out that day. I couldn't of done most of the work on this car without their help so thank's a lot guys!

So at the end of the day she had new turbo gaskets, new fluids and also blocked up the recirc piping, so was running a pigeon mod at the time for a while till I could find a better Dump/Recirc valve. Shane took it out for a drive after we were done and it ran so much better and seemed all good for the time being...

[mike_je94]

So a few weeks after the last major piece of work Shane also fitted:

52mm aluminium radiator,
Walbro 255lph fuel pump,
Apex uprated wing mount intercooler (Till I go bigger power and get a FMIC)
Apex clear indicators
Manual boost valve from H-Dev
AEM Air/Fuel ratio gauge
Apex stainless turbo elbow

Here are the indicators, the standard orange ones were looking black and grimey.

clearindicators.jpg

Fitted gauges also carbon wrapped centre console:

934107_10151394912268240_823091105_n.jpg

And invested in LED tail lights from Australia

Anyway, these would get fitted when the car went in the bodyshop for a full repsray.

942805_377485769023701_572942102_n.jpg

[mike_je94]

MAY 2013

Bought some wheels for her, went for XXR 527's 18x9.75 ET20 with 235/40/18 tyres, they look a bit baloon spec but once on the car they were alright.

Fancied some XXR's as a lot of people have gone with Rota's (nothing against them ) Just fancied something a little different, also at the time didn't see many with XXR's on.

wheels1.jpg

Had to flare the arches to get them to fit with spacers,

Next bit will be when it went to the bodyshop to get a full red respray, as the paint was starting to fade..

[mike_je94]

JUNE 2013

Went into the bodyshop to get a full red respray to also fit some side skirts and rear bumper (which I later removed)

bodyshop1.jpg

bodyshop3.jpg

Eventually after prepping she was getting there..

The car was properly primered before paint just never got a photo of that stage.

Also while it was in here I got it fully undersealed and the sills welded out, also grinded away some patches of surface rust..

bodyshop5.jpg

Got put back together not long after..

bodyshop7.jpg

[mike_je94]

JULY/AUGUST 2013

So recently I picked it up out the bodyshop, first thing was to lower it and get it sitting decent, also fitted some 8000k HID's

However the Tein Coilovers it come with, were maxed out and didn't go any lower, so had to invest in some HSD Dualtech coilovers to drop it more.

Was starting to look better gradually...

outtabodyshop.jpg

Just needed some spacers to puff out the rears a bit better.

While it was in the bodyshop I also bought a SRB Type 1 Splitter in Gloss black, later removed it as didn't think that the black went well with the rest of the car, So I changed it to a standard splitter and got it painted red so everything was colour coded.

outtabodyshop2.jpg

[mike_je94]

MID 2013 - NEAR END OF 2014

Once again, can't stress how annoyed I was for not starting a thread sooner, and once again sorry for lack of pics from the past.

Throughout the rest of 2013 and most of 2014 I just took it to a few shows/meets and stuff, also just kept it regularly maintained and did a few little jobs on it e.g. tiny bits of rust removal and a few little tlc bits, nothing major exciting but just to keep it in good shape!


200sx2.jpg

I also recently fitted a heat wrapped tubular manifold, which I'll get a picture with along with the engine how it stands at the end of 2014.

Also installed more gauges in a triple a-pillar pod. They look bright in the picture but they aren't that blinding in real life,

Boost gauge (moved from steering column in a 52mm pod previously)

Oil Pressure gauge,

Oil Temperature gauge

note the dished steering wheel I also fitted previously but from what you can see.. Along with the plasma dials.

gauges.jpg

[mike_je94]

END OF 2014

The last year and a bit I have been focusing on getting it looking a bit better and mechanically sound, which it appears to be.

________________________________________________

CURRENT SPEC OF CAR:

enginebay1.jpg

ENGINE:

Trust Air Filter W/Standard rubber intake

52mm aluminium radiator W/Blue silicone hoses and D1 Spec 1.3 bar radiator cap.

Heat wrapped Tubular Manifold (Unsure of make, was just advertised on Ebay as seen, probably a Japspeed one)

Apex upgraded wingmount intercooler. (Will be upgrading to Driftworks supercool kit in 2015)

Apex turbo elbow

Japspeed Downpipe

Custom Powerflow shotgun exhaust

Walbro 255lph fuel pump

Manual boost controller (Will upgrade to Apexi AVCR in 2015 when goes for mapping)

HKS SSQV Blow Off Valve

Standard T28 Turbo

Standard 370cc injectors

Standard inlet manifold

________________________________________________

EXTERIOR

XXR 527 18X9.75 ET20

Vertex skirts

SRB Power rear spats

Zenki rear bumper

LED tail lights

Colour coded splitter

________________________________________________

INTERIOR

R32 GTR Seats reupholstered in custom leather with modded rails to fit s14a.

Momo Model 08 steering wheel on HKB Boss

Boost gauge

AEM AFR Gauge

Oil pressure gauge

Oil temperature gauge

Volt gauge

Trust gear knob
________________________________________________

DRIVELINE AND TRANSMISSION

HSD Dualtech coilovers

15mm spacers front

20mm spacers rear

Japspeed tension rods

Exedy Organic clutch

Apex Short shifter

______________________________________

Currently, I have a hell load of stuff in boxes in my room waiting to all be fitted in the new year..

partsy0.jpg

WAITING IN MY ROOM AND NEED TO FIT:

Driftworks Supercool Intercooler kit

Driftworks Lightweight flywheel W/ARP Flywheel bolts.

Exedy Paddle clutch W/New spigot bearing, stronger clutch pivot and braided clutch line.

480cc S15 injectors - These will suffice for power aim in new year rather than splashing out for new 555's or 740's. And in addition running the standard 370cc's at their max at around 300bhp, would rather play safe tbh.

Japspeed Tie Rods and Ends W/New steering boots.

Apex'i AVCR Electronic boost controller.

Cusco strut brace

Driftworks Catch Tank

WILL BE BUYING AND FITTING SOON

Upgrade Turbo: Maybe a GT2860RS (Aka Disco Potato), or GT2871R

Custom Nistune Board Map or H-Dev Custom Map

MAN SPEC BRAKES, so maybe a big K-Sport or Wilwood kit. Or at least a R33 front setup.

Replace Factory Suspension components, e.g. ARB's, Traction, Toe, Camber arms etc.

Also gotta fit this rocker cover my mate painted up for me, hopefully this should add about 20hp, maybe another 5 with a different oil filler cap.

camcover.jpg

Few recent pictures..

web1.jpg

driveway.jpg

Once again, apologies for the rush/lack of upgrades and spec.

Comments welcome

[AdamRPS13]

Very nice car there mate the red looks fantastic, looking forward to the updates

[mike_je94]

Thanks Adam much appreciated man yeah as I kept mentioning everything you just looked is from what I could find from the last nearly 2 years! Keep an eye on the previous posts still gotta add more stuff lol. Same for everyone else who reads.

[NathanR]

Looks spot on mate!

[nash`s]

car looks spot on mate. love the look of it from the rear. not sure if I'm too keen on the splitter painted red, actually thought the srb splitter looked nice.

look forward to more updates

[mike_je94]

Looks spot on mate!

Thanks Man :-)

[mike_je94]

Thank's Nash I see where you are coming from about the splitter, I still do have the SRB Power one, it does cross my mind to do the cut away bumper for when the front mount is installed and put the splitter back on then! Will debate that in the future though!

[nash`s]

either that or maybe go down the kouki route if you like the oem look

[mike_je94]

either that or maybe go down the kouki route if you like the oem look

That too is another possibility That will be when the time comes the current looking is getting a little stale and is in need of a refresh!

[auz200sx]

Cool looking good

can i ask where you got your neon speed and rev counter overlays. Cheers

ps we don't actually throw shrimps on the barby a bit like you don't shine peoples shoes for a quid governor lol

[mike_je94]

Cool looking good

can i ask where you got your neon speed and rev counter overlays. Cheers

ps we don't actually throw shrimps on the barby a bit like you don't shine peoples shoes for a quid governor lol

Thanks man

Lol! Just joking bud.

And think I just got them off ebay. Maybe just search on ebay "s14 Plasma Dials" or something? That's what I did

[auz200sx]

Its all cool

We chuck a few dim Sims on the there though lol

Cheers buddy.

[mike_je94]

Just want to do one last bit of picture whoring:

Here's a few interior shots, as I haven't got any to show you'se yet.

All that is missing is a fancy looking electronic boost controller, but as I've mentioned I have an Apexi AVCR in my room which will go in here at some point:

interior1.jpg

Here are the seats, they are R32 GTR Seats which I got reupholstered in black leather with red stitching to match the rest of the OEM Black leather interior. (This was back in June/July 2013 and have been in ever since.) Luckily when I bought them they had modified rails to fit into an S-Body.

I didn't really want bucket seats because I don't use the car for skidding (F*ck me right) I also want to keep it kind of comfy inside, but here is how they look below:

interior2.jpg

I will get a photo of the underside of the car also at some point to show you, but will probably do this in the new year in my mates garage when it's up on the ramps, no point laying under my car in the garage and getting crushed ha.

Once the winter is out the way I will be carrying on with getting everything I previously mentioned fitted,

so keep an eye on this

[Actual_Ben_Taylor]

Nice car, seats look fantastic