Tim's 1992 N14 SSS Build

[TimmyMA70]

Tim's 1992 N14 SSS Build

Hi guys and girls,

So a bit of a background on me. I built up an N15 SSS a few years ago, loved that car, was my pride and joy. Long story short, life happened and I needed to buy a house, the toys suffered. (old build thread here)

Anyway, I'm back, with another Pulsar, this time an N14 SSS. When I bought my N14 it ticked alot of boxes: SSS, SR20, 140k kms, owned by an older person, mostly original. Some of the down sides were that is was Auto...boooo, the paint isn't mint, being red.

Simple goals this time, it will be slightly more street orientated this time:

-Handling
*Change every bush on the car to Nolathane
*Fit some quality Whiteline handling products (rear sway bar, camber bolts for the rear and front/rear strut braces)
*BC BR Coilovers with 6kg/mm F springs 4kg/mm R springs

-Brakes
*A32 Maxima twin piston front brakes 278mm rotors (from 252 single piston calipers)
*N15 SSS (15/16") Front Brake Master Cylinder (stock is 7/8")
*GTiR Rear Calipers
*ADR Approved Braided lines all round

-Interior
*Source mint N14 Dash surround (mine is cracked)
*Retrim hood lining (hood lining is sagged)
*Retrim all 4 door cards (sagging material)
*Clean the seats up - they'll do for now
*Source unmolested parcel shelf. Mine has 6x9 holes cut in it.
*Fix fuel gauge

-Engine
*SR20VE
I won't let too much info out yet

-Gearbox
*Manual conversion
*Some form of LSD
*Change the final drive to 4.7x or 4.8x:1
*Reco the box

 

Here are a few happy snaps of my N14

[TimmyMA70]

I've been busy accumulating a few parts for the first stage on my N14 build.

The door cards and hood lining are currently out of the car getting retrimmed. OEM door card material, as close to original for the hood lining (a light grey)

These are some parts which are ready to go on..

 

A32 Maxima twin pot calipers 278mm rotors (redrilled to 4x100) mounted on N16 hubs, also (redrilled to 4x100)

BC BR Coilovers 6kg/mm Front 4kg/mm Rear springs

Whiteline 18mm adjustable rear sway bar

Whiteline Rear Strut brace

And lastly about half of the ordered bushes to completely rebush the whole N14 with Nolathane.

That's all for now, I'll try to update this thread as often as possible.

[PranK]

Oh yes. I'm loving this.

I love the OEM+ thing. Maxima brakes sound like such a good, sane, upgrade for example.

Do the bushes make a big difference? I'm thinking of doing similar to my Bora. 

I'm looking forward to the updates.

[TimmyMA70]

2 minutes ago, PranK said:

Oh yes. I'm loving this.

I love the OEM+ thing. Maxima brakes sound like such a good, sane, upgrade for example.

Do the bushes make a big difference? I'm thinking of doing similar to my Bora. 

I'm looking forward to the updates.

Thanks man

I like OEM parts. All my OEM parts will be refurbished before use of course. In my old N15 I used R33 GTST calipers and bought blank GTST rotors redrilled to 4x100. Although the N14 hasn't quiet got the guard clearance of the N15, so I would struggle with wheels to clear the brakes. It isn't undoable, although this option is a much more streetable one.

With the Maxima upgrade I can use N15 SSS wheels with the center bore machined out to suit the N16 hubs if I wanted to.

 

I haven't fitted the bushes yet, but yet again with the N15 I had before the bushes gave the whole car a much 'sportier feel' didn't feel as squirrely under hard power or hard brakes. Definitely worth the upgrade!

[vxsr33]

Nice car man, it's nice to see something different. Should handle great after all the suspension mods.
I'll be following this build

[TimmyMA70]

On 15/05/2017 at 0:01 PM, vxsr33 said:

Nice car man, it's nice to see something different. Should handle great after all the suspension mods.
I'll be following this build

Thanks very much man
It'll be a little slow going, so be patient with me.

[TimmyMA70]

Alright guys, a bit of progress this weekend. The sway bar mount was completely torn out of the chassis rail. I could see that someone had tried to repair it once before.

Simple fact of the matter is that the area obviously just isn't strong enough to deal with the forces that it has to go through. I've repaired the area under strict guidance of a qualified panel beater to ensure the repair is every bit as strong as OEM to begin with, then we will strengthen both sides to cope with the 18mm sway bar that will be going in place of the stock one. I'd like the area to be stronger again than OEM so I don't have to redo the repair in 12 or 18 months time.

Removed the rear suspension to fix up the broken sway bar mount, thought it would be the perfect opportunity to remove the bushes and start replacing them with the Nolathane ones.

Out with the old

In with the new

Much better!

Other side

I have to strengthen the area around the sway bar mount now, then I can fully reassemble the rear end.

That's all for now guys. I will update this again soon.

Edited May 21, 2017 by TimmyMA70

[PranK]

One of the most satisfying posts ever. Old and dirty to clean and new!

 

[TimmyMA70]

On 22/05/2017 at 10:21 AM, PranK said:

One of the most satisfying posts ever. Old and dirty to clean and new!

 

There is going to be alot of that man! It's a dirty old car

[TimmyMA70]

Alright, so after quiet a bit of time, cutting, grinding, welding, strengthening, welding, grinding, grinding. Oh did I mention grinding, the sway bar mounts are finally solid.

It is my first attempt at a car repair of this sort, I was guided by a very reputable panel shop after hours. I have experience welding and fabrication, but haven't been exposed to it too much.

 

Anyway, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

 

This was before:

 

During:

 

Mounts tacked in place:

 

After: - seam sealed, painted and rustproofed on the inside

 

That's all for now. I will reassemble the rear end (for the last time) this week and then it'll be onto the front suspension.

 

Thanks for reading

Edited May 28, 2017 by TimmyMA70

[TimmyMA70]

A few more updates guys...

Bought some GTiR rear calipers a while ago. They were in pretty rough condition, so gave them a bead blast. They will be getting rebuilt. I have a genuine Nissan overhaul kit sitting there for them.

Before

After:

Also the rear end is officially done, back together.

I assembled the front end, with the stock lower control arms. (I have some N15 ones to replace the stock ones. N15 gives you another 10mm track per side) I wanted to see what the height was like. It's a bit low, the control arms are inverted a bit.

That's all for now guys.

[TimmyMA70]

Stripped one of my GTIR calipers and found that the piston has some bad corrosion which has rusted straight through the chrome coating. After some part number cross referencing from another forum member on PGA. I ended up finding an aftermarket option that I'll give a go. I have ordered 2 replacement pistons. The funny thing is that the caliper bore is perfect. The rust had actually formed outside the bore. Where the dust boot sat. It must have held moisture. 

[TimmyMA70]

Quick, reasonably small update guys, have both of the caliper rebuild kits for the brakes now and the kit to overhaul the N15 SSS brake master cylinder (15/16") VS stock N14 which is (7/8")

A couple of photos:
GTIR rear caliper genuine Nissan rebuild kit - P/N D4ABM-61E26

A32 Maxima Front Twin Piston Caliper Genuine Nissan Rebuild Kit - P/N D1ABM-38U25

N15 SSS Brake Master Cylinder Genuine Nissan Rebuild Kit - P/N 46011-69C27

Genuine Nissan N14 SSS Steering Rack Boots, note left and right are actually a different length - P/N 48203-53Y25 & 48204-53Y25

[TimmyMA70]

Another small update:

Put the rear interior back in, I had it out when I was welding up those rear sway bar mounts, prevent any potential fires

Mounted the rear strut brace too.

Excuse the crease in the boot mat. It was folded up.

Also, picked up some mint N15 SSS wheels off another member. The reason I am running these is that they will clear the bigger brakes without any spacing required. I will have to machine the centerbore out to suit the N16 front hubs though, that's the only downside.

[TimmyMA70]

Alright, been a little slack keeping this build thread updated guys..

I've been busy rebuilding brake calipers. right now I've completely rebuilt both rear GTIR calipers and have done one of the A32 Maxima Calipers.

I wanted to share how I rebuilt the rear internal handbrake calipers. They are a bit tricky as they have an internal spring which is held down under tension with a circlip. So compressing the spring and popping in the circlip is easier said than done in a 32mm ID bore, let alone 50mm or so down.

I used a long 'F' clamp typically used for wood work and a 16mm OD tube in order to compress the spring to then get the circlip in. I also went to Bunnings and bought some cheap 'Trojan' internal circlip pliers which I modified, ground the pivoting part down quiet a bit in order for it to fit in the bore. I had to cut the grips off them and I had to grind the diameter of the pins which compress the circlip to fit in the small circlip at the bottom of the bore.

Here are a few photos of the setup:

You can see there the circlip you need to access and the top of the spring and the spring 'hat'

That's the fit with the tube located in the spring

The overall setup:

I just put the bottom jaw of the F clamp on the bottom of the caliper

[TimmyMA70]

Also, here is the finished product of the 3 calipers I have rebuilt thus far.

And a before and after of the A32 Maxima Calipers:

BEFORE:

BLASTED:

REBUILT AND PAINTED:

[Trex]

love the build mate!

 

those brakes turned out like new!

[PranK]

Man I'm loving this. Something seriously satisfying about seeing those calipers cleaned and rebuilt. 

How did you blast them? 

[shaunus]

Please throw a gtir bonnet on it

[TimmyMA70]

21 hours ago, Trex said:

love the build mate!

 

those brakes turned out like new!

Thanks man! I'm hoping progress will be steady like it has been so far.

 

7 hours ago, PranK said:

Man I'm loving this. Something seriously satisfying about seeing those calipers cleaned and rebuilt. 

How did you blast them? 

I love them, really happy with how they turned out!  Cannot wait to get them on the car though.

I have access to a more industrial type of bead blasting cabinet. The media in it is glass base. It's excellent as it doesn't blast too deep and is good for finer objects.

 

3 hours ago, shaunus said:

Please throw a gtir bonnet on it

I really like the GTIR bonnets, they are unique and are a 90's icon. Although unfortunately I believe they belong on one car, a GTIR.