Zenki Power!

[misterjake]

Well as some of you may know, I sold my first true love about a month ago to fund a new project - I wanted to have a go at skidding, and decided my S14a was a little bit too clean to go mash into crap BMWs.



So, I thought i'd sit on the cash until something cheap came up, a bit of a project for the summer...

12 hours later I was in Birmingham buying this



The spec and the price were just too awesome and tempting. As much as I dislike buying instead of building, this is pretty much exactly what i'd build - but at a fraction of the price


Full Vertex kit.
Lipped and pulled arches.
Works Emotion XD9s - 18x9 ET20 front, plus a 25mm spacer, 18x10 ET18 rears, plus a 15mm spacer. I love them.

Personal steering wheel.
Sparco seat and 4-point.

Exhaust system is soon to be torn to bits and replaced with a decent non-bodge setup.

Rebuilt SR20 and T28 from Garage D - fitted in 2012, about 12k ago.

Crap generic coilovers, on the lookout for some cheap HSD replacements.
Full Driftworks/Japspeed adjustable arm setup all round.
Full R33 Skyline rear end.

Perfect beginners car, I reckon

First thing I did was fit a backbox - the straight through pipe is great fun but neighbours complained after I set both their car alarms off leaving the drive.



So it was a pretty effing good buy, I think. Sure it looks rough, its been painted in the past (simple blow over job) so first things first is to strip it, service it, check it over, get my fibreglass repair kit out, and spray the car in my garage

[misterjake]

Got a load of work done today. I'd stripped the bumpers, wings and skirts last week - pop riveted and wood screwed on...

Just to assess if any welding was needed and so on. Thankfully it only needs a small patch on the sill - the rears look to have been done to a good standard before and apart from that its damn good underneath for a 1995 car, just a lot of accumulated dirt from the lack of wheelarch liners.





I suspected the rear coilovers were leaking (despite the sellers claims they were only a year old) so I pulled them off and set to work cleaning them up - they should last me the summer I think. Only problem is, I have no idea what make they are - 8kg front 6kg rears with 20 stage damping adjustment, any ideas?



Ta daaa! Copper greased and ready to fight again.



Next, was to address the non functioning windscreen washers and the dodgy HID wiring kit. Looked a bit messy for me so i'm pulling it all to tidy up a bit.



Then I pulled the stereo with the innocent intention of running an auxilary jack to the centre console for my iPod...



Wired by a blind man. Behind the stereo was a mess. It appears that this car had some "awesome sound system" at some point, as I pulled out about 20ft of wiring for both a subwoofer, amplifier, and DVD system.



Thats all for today - tomorrow I'll hopefully clean up the front coilovers and start putting the interior back in.

[Sharpy]

I'm liking this

[racs]

I think I need to start one of these to keep me going I keep looking at my garage and think I really can't be arsed!! But good work jake will keep an eye on this!

[sukhy96]

Both of my mates owned this before you have, i loved this car when i drove it with that diff ratio in it, its pretty cool, keep up the good work on it.

[liamjrhodes]

Woo progress!!!


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[Kieran O'Quick]

Nice one, looks good - subscribed

[misterjake]

Both of my mates owned this before you have, i loved this car when i drove it with that diff ratio in it, its pretty cool, keep up the good work on it.

Yeah I bought it from Gaz, I think Alex was the one before him who actually built it? I'm waiting for him to get back to me about the full spec.

Today was a bit slow, serviced it and finished sorting the stereo and gauge wiring. Lights in the boost gauge are a bit temperamental so i'm stripping it tonight to do some soldering.

Unfortunately looks like the coilovers have some leaks; and they are pretty cheap quality ones im led to believe - should last for this summer tho, and i'll buy some better ones later in the year.

Now i'm on the hunt for a spoiler, bucket seat, harness and half cage.

[liamjrhodes]

Matthew speak is selling a full cusco dash dodger for £350 if you fancy a full one

[racs]

No he's not!! ��

[misterjake]

No he's not!! ��

Let me guess, you just nicked it

Todays S-Body lesson learnt - do it right first time.
Sorted the stereo and gauge wiring, realised my new oil filter (being a tall one rather than shallow) is obstructed by a load of shite wiring around the alternator, and that the fuel filter isn't even held in as the bracket is somewhere else.

Battery out, fuse box out, sort out all the wiring bodges from whoever put this engine in haha...

[racs]

Don't no what ur talking about jake

[misterjake]

haha sure... also looks like the parts shop supplied the wrong oil filter, yay. Currently trying to figure out what all these spare wires and sockets leading to nowhere are for :S

[liamjrhodes]

haha sure... also looks like the parts shop supplied the wrong oil filter, yay. Currently trying to figure out what all these spare wires and sockets leading to nowhere are for :S

Whole new loom would be easier haha

[nessie]

Like this already!

Are ya staying with the red or some color change too at some stage?

[sukhy96]

If you ever want to sell the rear xd9s let me know! as i got a set of 17x9.5 et17 of them and i would like to run a staggered setup

[misterjake]

Haha im never getting rid of the Works, I love them.

Probably going to stick with red, simplest to do nicely as its going to be a home spray job.

Hopefully the car will be fully stripped next year and properly restored once I finish my degree.

[GarageSR]

Zenki's are coolestest! All the chavvy kids want the "bad boi" bonnet of the 14a but we all know Zenki is best

[misterjake]

Major update! I've let this lapse a little.

Finished cleaning up the coilovers, and undersealed the arches.

Painted up the front supports and slam panel, and rearranged the HID wiring.



Then, the horrible bit. Refitting the wings and bumper, which is crap quality, badly painted, and slightly smashed fibreglass.


A little welding on the sills, as per every single S-body.



I forgot to take pictures of remounting the rest of the kit, but in essence, it was a pain - however its all properly secured with nuts and bolts and the right trim clips now. And liberal silicone to keep it sealed and secure (because the fibreglass is very distorted in some places).



Gave it a wash and it doesnt look half bad from a distance.



Next is the wheel fitment. I know all the coilovers are set the the same height on each side, but the car doesnt sit right - i know the arches are all rolled fairly similarly so i think the tracking is the culprit. Drivers side has barely any arch gap, but the arch is a good 3cm higher from the ground than the passenger side rear, which i can fit my hand in.

Or maybe the fabled old wives tale of S14 rear subframes being a bit to the side?



But the important steps left are painting the spoiler (already done) and sorting the dash lights for MOT next week. Happy days.

[liamjrhodes]

What spoiler is going back on it? It looks good without one


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