Thread: New '91 Classic Owner - new to Japanese, low on funds, in need of advice

Other updates:

I did the rear brakes, which were pretty much the same as the front without the gouging. There was awful uneven wear on the pads at the rear left, that ran and a vicious diagonal. Not sure what that means but it's probably not good. I might replace the calipers in the back at some point in the future. Either way, I've got new pads and rotors back there.

S13 shift knob:





Also discovered previous owner thought some spacers were a good idea, without getting longer studs. Result:



Lug threads don't even poke out on the other side of the lug nuts. Good thing they hadn't been removed in 2+ years. Geez, that **** is dangerous.

Removal of spacers fixed the problem. You can also see the new rotors.





I also finally bought some 6.5"s for the rear:



I also have the compressor waiting for me at the apartment main office. I'll let you know how that goes. Man I hope I get A/C soon.

And just for kicks, a closeup of things hanging from my mirror:

Oh and by the way, the rear calipers are the same as the front, except the torque member bolts are 12mm, and the face of the pistons have two little grooves and need to be screwed in as Ben pointed out. I used a 15mm open ended wrench and a socket extension.

Here's a crappy diagram for how to use them:

Fit the points of the open ended wrench into the grooves in the face of the piston, then stick an extension through the closed end and turn it like a factory jack sort of thing.

I bought it in Richardson from a guy named Azim whose family runs Western Auto Group right off 75 and Arapaho. He said he put a JDM engine in it 2 years ago, drove it a month, it sat for 2 years, and then he spent about 2 months trying to sell it before I picked it up off him. From the carfax, it was built in Smyrna, TN, sold originally in CA in 1991, was registered in FW, TX in 1998 with around 116k mi, stayed in FW till a move to Allen in 2004, then something about Richardson around 2006. I'm guessing that's around the time Azim or his dad picked it up. She's got 193k on her at the moment. Any of this ringing a bell?

Uneven pad wear can result if you caliper pins are sticking. It's pretty common and can generally be mitigated by just cleaning the old grease out, making sure that the pin moves freely in the bracket (clean and remove rust as needed - often rust builds up under the rubber sleeve) and relub the pin.

(Now Apparently) Weekly Check-In:

Car's been a pain in the ass lately. Finally put in driver's side hinges that I got from SERfanatic, dropped the door twice and scratched the hell out of the rocker panels in a couple places. Fun. Then I went to clean the rear calipers per billc's advice (thanks bill!), and did so without a hitch - that is until I was putting the passenger side wheel back on and stripped a lug because I was tired (it was about 102 with no shade on asphalt). I spent most of today removing the hub (the outer race on the wheel bearing was a pain to slide off the spindle, not sure how I did that one) and finally taking it to PEP Boys for them to press out the stripped lug and put in the new one. Oh and turns out the exhaust is BONE STOCK. Focker told me it wasn't. Murphy has been an asshole lately with that law of his.

On the plus side, the hinges kick ass, I cleaned the MAF and filter again and now the TB, changed the oil, replaced the front sway bar end links (bushings had disentegrated pretty much, being large cause of clunkage), and discovered that to eliminate the clunkage one and for all, all I need to do is replace engine and tranny mounts with prothanes. I think I'll be pestering Andreas Miko for pre-pressed ones here pretty soon. Also glad to know that axles and wheel bearings are just fine at the moment, but I may end up replacing those rear calipers after all.

I also have OEM springs, front GR2s and OBX underdrive pulleys I found for cheap on the way, and maybe a replacement power steering pump, finally. I'm also really broke now lol. However, I found a boneyard called Mazda-Nissan Heaven that just happens to be ridiculously close to my brother's shop, so if the PS pump doesn't come through (which was my fault for not moving fast enough in the first place), I should have somewhere to look.

Jesus: out

Wheel studs can be hammered out and torqued (instead of pressed) back in with regular tools and without removing anything but the wheel.
Now you know.

I knew that but someone sided against it in the discussions for the ARP extended studs, claiming that it was dangerous and either it might not go in straight or the splines might get screwed and slowly back themselves out. Also, after so much of Murphy's law on my head, I decided against it.

Alrighty, well, at the moment, OBX underdrive pulleys, front KYB Excel-Gs (apparently GR2 equivalents) and OEM springs are here, but the car is at my parents' house as my dad has successfully repaired the A/C. I've been out of my car since Sunday and I'm itching to get back behind the wheel. I also managed to score a big box o' B13 stuff for just under $100 shipped and still waiting on a response from Andreas Miko to buy a set of pre-pressed Prothane mounts. In the meantime, I created this for my avatar. Sadly, as an avatar, it is too small. Enjoy my spurt of creativity.

hey man, sounds all good, glad to hear you got bit by the SE-R bug, and restoring an old classic.

remineds me, i have to get some new hinges for my car, fukking doors sagging suck!

The power steering pump at Nissan Mazda heaven should be up on the rack in the back. Hell, I know, I bought it and return it couple months ago.

Hehe..I got alot of hook up from the owner.\\ Yes my old car did had the JDM motor in it, the registration sounds like my car and the time frame. I sold it to a guy in Dallas around 2004 or 2005.