A LOOK BACK AT FREDDY THE GM POWERED S14

Over the past 4 years I have owned and have been building this 1997 240sx.  It was a project that all started with a motor.  I picked up an LS1 from a friend that had spun a rod bearing, then spent the winter rebuilding it.  I went all threw the motor.  It got a new rod, all new pistons, crank, bearings, heads, valve train, cam, etc.  Like many other car guys, I enjoy the build more than owning the car.  I liked the idea of learning a new motor and the time spent going through it.  Now, at the time I started on the motor, I had no idea what car I would put this LS1 into.  To be honest, I wasn't even sure that it would going into a car.  I have always wanted to build a series of motors, just to collect and let sit around my garage.  The same as a model car hobbyist builds for the enjoyment.  

After some time I remember seeing a local guy swap this motor into his 1998 Nissan 240sx.  I was blown away at how he made the motor look at home in this chasis.  He was one of the first people I had even seen complete this motor swap.  At this time there were no motor count conversions of driveshafts that were built to length.  After reading about how capable the car's suspension was, I knew that I needed to find a 240 and get to work right away.

I searched the internet for almost a year before I found a car that I believed to be worth the money.  I found the car on a forum and had it shipped down here from Boston.  The car was a completely stock, automatic, 1997.  The day I bought the car I ordered wheels, tires, coilovers, and every adjustable suspension arm.  I drove the car like this for about 6 months before I was ready to pull the motor.

Looking clean but still VERY slow!

HARRISON'S 5.3L LS CONVERSION PT.3

After a few final steps Harrison's 5.3 swap was finished and ready to get some miles under its belt.  Since we are using the Holley EFI system everything needed to be plumbed, fluids topped off, and a full exhaust system installed.  With all of those things finished we were ready to load the base map and get it started.  As I said before, the Holley system is amazing.  We selected a map that was within our displacement and cam profile range.  From there we specified injector size, fuel pressure, IAC type, etc.  Once everything was entered, the programming was sent to the ecu and a test fire was in order.  On the first try she fired to life and sounded great.  Now that the motor was running we put it in learn mode and connected the supplied wideband O2 sensor.  After checking for any leaks and making sure everything was operating correctly, we sent it down the road.  As of now the car has about 800 miles on it so we will get it back in and take it out of learn mode.  Here are a few final photos of the car before we gave it back to Harrison.

HARRISON'S 5.3L LS CONVERSION PT. 2

Now that the motor was installed for the last time we were able to address the wiring and plumbing.  For the engine wiring and ecu we decided to go with Holley's new EFI system.  The system comes with the engine harness and a new stand alone ecu.  As with any aftermarket harness it comes with all new factory colored wiring and plugs.  The harness is completely independent so it has an integrated fuse box for the ecu and fuel pump powers.  Where the Holley EFI stands apart from the the rest is it's ability to self learn.  Once all of the basic perameters are entered and the car is running, you can put it in learn mode and let the ecu tune itself.    Our 5.3L had a cam, valvetrain, LS6 intake, throttle body, and the MAF was eliminated.  I was new to the software and it took me about 30 minutes to plug in all of the information.  Once I had it loaded the car fired up on the first try.   

The ECU itself is quite compact and was right at home mounted in the glove box. 

HARRISON'S 5.3L LS CONVERSION

We just finished doing another LS conversion in a customer's 1998 240sx.  It was a great project for a great customer.  I will try to cover as much as possible in 3 or 4 write ups.

This job started a little different than most but ending up working out great.  I had a customer, Harrison, who wanted to do an LS motor swap into his 1995 240sx.  His car was completely stock and would need suspension, brakes, and a diff to even make the motor swap logical.  After pricing the motor swap as well as everything else we set a date and would start ordering parts.  That night a good friend of mine stopped by the shop and told me that he was going to get his of his 1998 240sx as well as his 5.3L LS swap.  He had previously planned to do the same build but, being a married man, family came first and we all know how that story goes.

That week I introduced the two, money transferred hands, and Harrison ended up with a newer car.  The 98 240 already had an aftermarket diff, suspension, brakes, and the stock motor had already been pulled.  Now the car just needed to be finished.  

Since we build all of our own motor mounts, we first set the motor in the engine bay and took all of our measurements.

Tune into SPEED

Tune into SPEED channel today at 1 EST to watch me compete in the Ultimate Street Car invitational in Arlington.

BUILDS>> MY XS400 BOBBER PT.3

I came out to the shop this morning to get some work done on my frame.  I got the upper tubes, seat hinge, and cross bars welded on.  Next time I need to make the axle plates and seat pan.  Till then!

BUILDS>> MY XS400 BOBBER PT.2

Not much has happened since the first post, however I still wanted to touch on the plans for this thing.  I recently started building the frame my self.  I looked around on the internet for an XS650 weld on kit that I could cut up but I couldnt find any that I liked.  Instead I took some measurements and had a friend bend some chromoly.  The smaller tubes are 7/8" and the back bone is 1.25"  Its all been sleeved and tacked together in these pictures.  I have changed the wheelbase to 59" and the rear axle has moved up to 5.25" over stock.

I did ended up buying a frisco mounted sporty tank from LowBrow and a pair of Shinko enduro tires.  This week I plan on finished the frame and making the axle plates.  After that I can make the seat pan and get the mounts welded on.  Thats about it for now.


Jesse

BUILDS>> MARKS MODERN C10

Last winter, while I was first building my shop, I had a neighbor stop by to say hello and see how things where going.  After a few minutes of chit chat, he asked what I was going to be using the building for.  I informed him that we were a performance / restoration shop and that I had a passion for motorcycles and older vehicles.  He looked at me and said, "Uh oh, I better stay away from here, I'll end up spending too much money."  Fast forward a few months and he has come to be a good customer and a great neighbor.  After a lot of discussion and planning we have finally started building his 1970 C10 short bed pickup.  Plans are to build a modern truck with a classic street truck appearance.  The motor will be a GM based LS 5.3L with a 4L60E.  Suspension will be all new from hotchkis.  All new interior with A/C from Vintage Air.  For safety we will be changing the fuel tank to a rail mounted cell, and installing disc brakes all around.  For now we have stripped the truck down, blasted the frame, and powder coated it and the rear end housing.  In the next few weeks we will be setting the motor in and getting some of the drivetrain lined out.  In the next entry I will explain the motor mounts and headers.

I have no idea how long this truck sat, but it's last title was last transferred in '05.

CHRIS' GTO>> FRONT BRAKES

A couple of months ago we did an interesting front brake conversion on a friends GTO.  We upgraded his calipers to '05 Cadillac CTS-V Brembos and rotors to BMW 745i.  After all new Russell lines and wilwood fluid, it gets this monster stopped in a hurry.

 

BUILDS>> MY XS400 BOBBER

Growing up I was always around motor cylces or some sort of atv.  My dad always had some type of dirt bike that he would buy, ride, fix up, and sell.  When I was 4 he thought I would be ready for a go cart...  During our first ride I remember flying around our 8 acre field just having a blast.  He, for some reason, was wearing flip flops.  During our ride one of these things flew off.   He then pulled over and hopped off the get it.  When he stood up he says, "Take over for me."  I, being 4 years of age, instantly assumed it was my turn at the wheel.  I slid over in the seat and stabbed the throttle.  Now my dad was just like me, why build something unless it was fast.  He had put this go cart together out of an old frame he bought cheap and a tiller motor.  It was a 5hp motor and from what he says was geared pretty crazy on this frame.  In typical Vaughn fashion, Im sure not every bug had been worked out of the system.  Because when I planted my foot to the floor of this contraption, the throttle stuck wide open.  Now keep in mind that I am 4 years old and weigh close to nothing.  I am speeding across the field wide open, bouncing up and down in the seat, totally unaware of what will happen next.  My dad can see what is happening and is helpless to the situation.  Mom mom is standing on the back porch watching the entire event unfold.  As she watches her son fly across the field, she notices where I am headed.  I am on course to run head on into my father's parked truck.  As I speed directly at it, her and my dad are screaming for me to hit the kill switch.  I was so small that I was being bounced all over the place.  I just could not reach it.  Then all of the sudden, the cart ran out of gas and I coasted to a stop right in front of the truck.

From that moment on I have always been on motorcycles.  Growing up my dad and I would get home in the afternoons and go riding for hours.  As I got older I learned a lot of my mechanical skills from having to work on my bikes.  I didn't have money to buy a good bike so we would buy $100 stuff and get them going.  I never learned how to take it easy on those bike though.  No matter what I would still just beat the hell out of them and have to replace a bunch of stuff.  My dad would take me down to the Honda shop and have me tell the old guy at the counter what all I needed.  There was just something about the whole process that still appeals to me.  Even now that I have the money to buy a newer bike I still seek out the old fixer-uppers.

For the past year or so I have been wanting to build a little bobber to ride around town.  I looked all over craigslist and ebay for a good deal on a Yamaha XS650.  I like them so much because they closely resemble an old Triumph.  I know there are tons of people out there that hate metric bobbers, and I get it.  I'll just say this, show me a Harley, Triumph, etc that you can put together for $1000 and have as much fun.  Reliably.  I went to look at what was listed as an XS650 for $750.  When I got there it was really an XS400.  The difference is that they have smaller frames, shorter wheelbase, obviously less power, and most importantly not as much support from the aftermarket.  To make a long story short, the owner could not get it started so I left paying $350 for the bike.  I came home, charged the batter, and she fired right up.  After a few "spirited" rides up and down the street I realized that I had a good bike to start with.

BOOKS>> HELL'S ANGEL

I picked this book up last week and so far I cant put it down.  Im half way through and just thought it was worth recommending.