Hey all, my name is Brandon, I'm from Surrey, BC, Canada and I've been lurking on the forums now for quite a bit and after hmm'ing and haw'ing about what to do with the car, I've finally decided to start my own little build thread.
A little backstory on the car, it's a "panda" (it's navy blue and white but the navy blue is so faded it looks black, hence the panda) 1986 Nissan 200sx turbo, it belonged to my uncle who bought it new back in '86. He's a mechanic so he took pretty good care of it, up until 1999 when the car started bogging out on him. It was at this point that he just decided to park it on his lot, so it just sat, for 13 years in the weather, with the sunroof open... So one day he called me up and asked me if I wanted some cars (just recently got my license at the time) so I said yeah sure why not. This led to me discovering the whole S12 community which I just thought was awesome. Classic 80's RWD turbo'd hatchback on mesh rims, what is there to dislike?
I had to replace the alternator, clutch slave cylinder, fuel pump (funny story on that later) and I had to remove the tank and flush all the bad gas out of it. Here's what she looked like after a basic cleaning. The thing had sat for so long, that there was actually imprints of maple leaves on the hood that won't come out...true Canadian car eh?
My primary goals for this car right now: CA18DET swap, S13 suspension swap for coilovers, upgraded brakes (probably z32) repainting the lower half of the car (to a true panda) and an S13 LSD. Also important but not as immediate; de-rusting the entire car....fun...
I should also mention that I am not alone on this build, Prolowtone has kindly offered to help me with the build, so he's the brains of this operation.
Let the disassembly...BEGIN!
Hatch spoiler and lip kit removed for cleaning and repainting
It appears my uncle decided to repaint the back at some point...
This is the inside of one of the rails that the rear bumper mounts to...it appears that a squirrel took up residence in there at some point in time...Mmm, nuts.
Dat ghetto window tint...
My AC condensor was painted fire engine red....
My jenky external (yes you read that right EXTERNAL) fuel pump contraption from a VW golf, don't ask how it works, I can't figure it out either...
Pretty decent interior, no cracked dashboards! Not bad considering the sunroof was open for all those years, carpet needs a wash though
164,141 original kms
The vinyl could use a bit of a wash, but otherwise, no rips!
Original spare, rubber still in decent condition
Tried painting the hatch spoiler in the dark, from a distance, it turned out pretty good until...
You get up close...accidently grabbed the sparkly clearcoat...that's what I get for painting in the dark, oh well at least it's... FABULOUS!
S13 parts ready for the front swap, just need a little bit of paint/cleaning
Found a replacement back panel for the piece under the tail lights as mine was rusted to shit. Was a little rusty when I got it, had it all sandblasted, then primed and painted it.
Rear and front bumpers and crashbars removed for painting.
Both fenders rusted out on the bottoms and behind the mudflaps. Though you couldn't tell when they were on since they were hiding the rust, it isn't too bad.
Not much of an actual build so far, but I just thought I'd take some "before" pictures so I can compare them with the finished product.
The DET swap will come once I have a nice clean body to work with. Hopefully over spring break...
Any comments/opinions/questions are appreciated!
Mar 4, 2013, 11:34 pm · #1
