Cars X Girl

Sometimes the best laid plans with the best intentions just don’t work out the way they were, well, planned. But that’s okay, because not being open to change isn’t exactly a good thing, either. Plans change, people change, life changes… And if you can’t adapt to those changes, you’re probably going to be a rather miserable person. Believe me, I know… I’m always getting new surprises in my life, both good and bad. (Military life is pretty crazy, even without kid stress.)

So now what’s up?

I’m very, very pleased to announce that I am just full of good news lately! Well, I could dig up bad news if I wanted… But what fun is that? Besides, even my bad news isn’t entirely bad — Work holiday hours suck, but that just means extra money in December… No, cars aren’t as expensive as a lot of people think, but they still need quite a bit of money!

Anyhow, this latest bit of news has to do with my ever-lovely Nissan 240SX. After just five and a half months of ownership, I’ve fallen for the car in ways I couldn’t have ever expected… And she’s definitely both been extremely good to us and very handy. (We recently brought home a new tv, and couldn’t have done it without her massive amounts of interior space.)

That said, I’m only too pleased that I can do for her what I’m about to do… She deserves it. Even if it’ll make the other two a bit jealous.

The engine swap is imminent.

On November 18th, I went ahead and purchased a Red Top SR20DET for my little lovely. Over Christmas break As soon as all the parts get here, my husband and two friends will be swapping out her stock, ~300k mile KA24E and transmission for the “proper” JDM engine. I can’t even begin to share with anyone how excited I am, because it all feels like some crazy sort of dream yet. Getting to see that engine, in a box when it gets here, is going to be one of the happiest days I can imagine having. (For anyone following me on Twitter, you’ve already heard about this purchase. )

I waffled quite a bit on the decision, because I’m still making payments on the car. However, I know that there isn’t any chance we can’t handle the loan, so I’m completely fine with it. In fact, my husband assured me that he would chip in if anything happens and help me out. He’s already agreed to fund the “other half” of necessary engine swap supplies — all the little nitnoid necessities, upgrades and parts that comprise about half of the estimated $3,000 expense.

Why now?

Of course, this was a pretty sudden thing for me to come out with. I always planned on doing the SR20DET swap, so that wasn’t really new. But to do it so quickly… Yeah, it surprised me too.

Part of it was the deal we got on the engine — Yes, off of ebay, but one of our friends checked out everything before giving us the go-ahead, and I also checked as much as I could. The seller has sold quite a few engines and has nearly perfect feedback. It was $1,650 for the engine and matching five-speed transmission, and listed all the goodies. Pictures looked good.

No, it wasn’t everything, but many of the other expenses are upgrades, such as a new radiator and better intercooler. Or other cool bits like a boost gauge (maybe some others) and a new blow-off valve. So yeah… It’s gonna be awesome. And while it’s not super cheap, we plan on doing it right the first time, so we don’t have to spend a lot more later on…. Even though I plan on fully building the engine. Eventually.

I know I said I’d build the Miata right, but for some reason, I’m more excited about doing an awesome 240SX build right now… The Miata is a lot of fun as is, but hard to get respected for, a problem I don’t have with the 240. I’m not giving her up, though, and I’ll still turbo her someday. She’s gonna be my track monster, after all. The 240 is more for show/cruising/drifting.

Also, we figured it would be beneficial to do it while we’re here rather than after we move. We’ve got a friend who has an engine hoist and all the tools we’ll be needing, as well as another who’s done engine swaps before. Thanks to this, we’ll get to save on the cost we would otherwise pay to have someone else do the swap for us… And yeah, we already will be saving money from the deal we got on the engine itself. Budgets, people, budgets.

What’s in store…

All this is great news for my blog, I think. Why? Because I’ll be sharing as much as I can about the engine swap process, as I learn it myself. I won’t be present for a vast majority of the actual swap, for two main reasons: 1, it’s hard to get time off during the holidays and 2, I wouldn’t be much help anyways. I’m still learning about engines and their parts and stuff, but I don’t know enough nor have enough confidence to be of any help. (I’d worry about screwing it up.)

I really love it for a few reasons, mostly: I’m cementing myself firmly in the tuning community through this project, it’s one of the first cars I feel like I’m making a huge difference to (she needed TLC and I can provide that, the Miata’s always been a good car), the car actually attracts attention (almost fans, ha, and 240 owners are a friendly bunch and mostly in my age group! big plus) and is just overall an awesome car that really does fit me. Oh, and I get to learn first hand about turbos, because I’ll finally have a turbo myself.

Yes, it promises to be quite the awesome journey.

Related posts:

1. New Suspension Bits for my Girl
2. Installing JDM Tail Lights on a USDM S13
3. New Project Idea — Opinions Wanted