240SX "the Blue Ghost"

After much debate, thought, research and reading and fanatically browsing Craigslist I finally bought my first "project"

Yes I know the answer is ALWAYS "Miata", but in this case the answer turned out to be "1993 240sx"

Let me introduce the Blue Ghost!

She's not the prettiest Belle at the ball and she's got 188k on the clock, but the engine has been cared for and the price was right.

I plan on using her for AutoX and maybe the occasional track day, but we'll see what the future holds.

This is my first project ever. I've changed oil and I've changed tires. That is the extent of my automotive knowledge.

(my Grassroots sticker is in the mail)

That looks clean!

Nice choice! Lots of parts availability, fun to drive, reliable. Not bad for your first project car. Definitely an interesting paint job though.

Yeah previous owner said plastidip looked better to them than peeling clear coat. Rims are plastidip too.

Should be able to get it off if I want.

I may stick with it though. It's unique and looks better than primer!!

with that 4x4 stance I'm thinkin rallycross!

Wait. 240sx's didn't all come with terribly painted interior trim pieces of ridiculous colors? Must just be the ones that I see.

Nice looking car!

Hey! Don't make fun of my berber carpet interior trim pieces.

RossD wrote: Wait. 240sx's didn't all come with terribly painted interior trim pieces of ridiculous colors? Must just be the ones that I see. Nice looking car!

Mine has no interior...

In reply to N Sperlo:

Gotten hot foot yet? Even with carpet I can feel some heat from the down pipe on my feet. Some heat wrapping ought to fix that.

I just got the car yesterday so I haven't done anything yet. A good cleaning is order first. I'm "excited" to find what lurks underneath the seats.

erm87 wrote: In reply to N Sperlo: Gotten hot foot yet? Even with carpet I can feel some heat from the down pipe on my feet. Some heat wrapping ought to fix that.

I think his would have to be running to get hot feet.

Cool! Check out nissanroadracing.com for lots of specific track and autox info. They're easy to work on, easy to find parts, and pretty easy to drive as long as you don't screw them up with drift suspension stuff that doesn't work.

RossD wrote: Wait. 240sx's didn't all come with terribly painted interior trim pieces of ridiculous colors? Must just be the ones that I see. Nice looking car!

I was confused when all the corners were relatively straight, the bumpers weren't more ziptie than OEM plastic, and it didn't have some berkeleytard drift stance on it. That's about all I've seen for the last 5 years.

That's a fun car to drive and a competent chassis. When J-ro won the ST Nationals in his I was sure I could build at least a competitive car with it.

It's been a slow build, but I am finally winning SM class with mine locally.

It has a E36 M3 ton of support, you just need to weed through all the drift crap.

In reply to Cone_Junky:

I'm just shooting for GS right now and having fun.

After I give it a good once over I plan on taking it down to Charleston, SC for the next SCCA SCR event.

In reply to erm87:

It always starts with having fun. It only gets expensive when you want to actually win

Nice looking 240SX! I miss my old one every now and then. I actually prefer the 240SX to the Miata so I think that you did good

My old car is actually now down in Florida. When I was ready to sell it a buddy of mine flew up to Oregon, bought my car and drove it back down there.

fidelity101 wrote: with that 4x4 stance I'm thinkin rallycross!

this! I'd love to see how a 240 does at rallycross. I'd think pretty well considering their light weight.

In reply to irish44j:

I'd love to try rally cross too, but there just aren't any events in SC. Unless some private clubs are doing them and back 40 races and it's all hush hush. I'm in the midlands SC and there are plenty of old farms and tracts of land that'd be perfect.

irish44j wrote:

fidelity101 wrote: with that 4x4 stance I'm thinkin rallycross!

this! I'd love to see how a 240 does at rallycross. I'd think pretty well considering their light weight.

And torquey with a vlsd! Its already 4x4 stance. Plenty of room for some tall gravel tires

Well I've been driving the 240 for about a week now.

Transmission seems fine, steering felt great.

Couldn't start it one afternoon, but it was just a loose and dirty battery cable. I cleaned those up and was looking forward for another ride when I noticed fluid spurting out of one the hoses.

Power steering hose! It's like a squirt gun when you turn the wheel.

That isn't my engine bay, but other folks have the same issue in the same spot. And that engine bay is about as filthy as mine. The underside is just caked in 20 years worth of oil and road gunk.

So for my first repair I'm replacing that hose. I didn't notice leaks anywhere else and found the hose at Advanced Auto for like $80. Everywhere else sells the hose with the hardline attached and it's like $200! Even more if you need a replacement pressure sensor.

Apparently the sensor ups the revs if your steering at low speeds so the engine doesn't stall. A lot of people bypass it, but I see no reason to.

It's going to take some interesting acrobatics to disconnect the hose from the hardline. Absolutely no room under there at all.

have you checked rockauto? I remember when I owned a 240sx it was common to get them from junkyards and sell them for good coin. Looks like they are still in demand.

In reply to fidelity101:

Rock Auto has the same exact one/same price after shipping.

Advanced just had to transfer it from another store to my local one. I'm getting it today.

Trying to get it fixed before Saturday for an Auto-X!!

I need to go check out some junk yards for misc parts. I'm new to all this so I don't know which yards in my area are worth checking out. We do have a pull-a-part nearby.

I guess I'm taking it somewhere and putting out the money for the whole assembly like this one. Again this isn't my engine bay, but this nut is impossible to remove:

Tried using vice grips from the bottom while someone wrenched from the top. Not enough room to use line wrench, other wrenches rounding it off more. It's not as bad as the one in the picture, but it's getting pretty bad.

I've never turned a wrench on a car before and I thought I'd be able to tackle this, but it just ain't happening.

I guess the only way to do this is to take the hard line off at the rack and pinion and I don't know if I have any business doing that.

Good News: Well, my local shop was able to use the hose I already purchased and no more power steering leak.

Bad News: Small crack in the radiator and my overflow tank has a big old hole in it and can't hold fluid at all.

Temps stay good and I'm just going to keep an eye on the fluid levels.

What I think I"ll do is replace the overflow tank first so that I can keep an eye on fluid levels more easily.

Honestly swapping a radiator doesn't look all that difficult on this car and is well documented, but that's what I thought about the power steering hose, so I guess we'll see!

Radiator is much easier than a power steering hose..