S14a to S15 full conversion projeX by markr

He bought this car about 2 years ago, and then start saving and buying from bitz japan.

This is how was the car's looks like.

The items that he bought.

Work emotion Cr's 17x9 bronze - japan

Tein super street coilovers - japan

Version select s15 conversion parts, including bumper, wings and side skirts - DME imported from USA




HKS hi power - Sumo power


Carbon fibre s15 bonnet - SRB power





Then start to build.




First job once the car was stripped was to put the bonnet on and line up the wings for a trial fit people say they dont ever line up and there right, something isnt quite right, but they wernt too bad as u can see, He used s15 bonnet hinges as when used s14a ones the bonnet touched and flexed on the hinge upwards at the corners.



He had the wings drilled put the bonnet on and tried to line everything upthe gaps are close about half an inch, and look the same as the doors so when the cars painted black again, the gaps will be lost anyway.





Next was the headlights, not the easiest thing to do as the slam panel neds to be cut in order for the s15 lighhts to go back further into the car, hopefully the pics will show you where he cut etc...This shows behind the lights on a standard s14a.



Then cut it into this in order for the lights to fit, note the oval holes bulging upwards for the lights.



Then because the lights wrap around the wings, the corners need triming for the s15 ones, you can see it on the right hand side where ive cut stright downwards.



Cleaned them all up, and welded all the double skins back together to get more strength back into the front end... the 1st one was a nightmare, but i easily copied it to the other side.


Once all the welding done he attempted to mount the lights, this needed custom brackets making to hold the lights, and the bonnet and wings needed tweeking in order to get everything aligned and correct,I didnt use the s15 light brackets, just fabricated his own ones, which turned out just fine when painted black.






Once the front was all on, he had enough of hard front end bitz....had to cut the s14a bumper support away and fab his own one, u can see what he cut away in this pic, u can see where the metal should go where the piece is sticking stright down, he had to curve the support, and then weld a piece back in into that curve area...simple job really.




He had enough and wanted something easy to do, so put his skirts on, not exactly easy, lots of trimming and door alterations to stop them catching when they open... but there on!!




Right back to the job or fixing the front bumper...needed to file quite abit out of the bumper grill area, think it was just a over kill from the moulding... nothing too major just time consuming, but if u want it right it takes time, just below where an intercooler would sit, and two on the old s14a support bar...this made it very strong, because the bumper also has two bolts each side going through into the wings, making the whole thing like factory!This is how it stands,the car looks like the following.. all the inner arches go back on with slight cutting near the skirts but are ok, hope everyone likes it, patients and long hours with effort have finally rewarded!!!




Had to put some clear side repeators on, easy job with a nice paper cut out to followhe have now stripped it all down, and bought it for paint.
Got his bits back from painter , look really good, not actually finished because couldnt cut and buff them off the car as well as would have liked so left them until he got them on the car, then ill have the whole car done.



Started putting the parts on ...cleaned up the slam panel, and painted all the brackets he made and sprayed the slam panel aswell, to freshen everything up... it looks stop on now.




Had the parts back from paint to 1st job was to fix the bonnet down and in place...nice and easy being carbon fibre.






Fiber glassed the mesh into the wings after they had been painted, sprayed them a grey colour, so not to have shiny aluminium mesh, which would have looked a bit bright... they look quite bright as they are but assure u they are grey in the flesh.



Once the two wings were on, he put all attachment bolts in but left them all loose, the new painted slam panel looks well nice with the nicely painted wings...



Then started on the headlights....while the lights were off at paint, bought some male/female connectors,(you can see them just under the light if u look) the jap s15 lights had different connectors to the s14a car, so cut all of them off on both car and light and soldered connectors on, this made a really nice factor look, and easy of taking the lights out much better....


Again when we got the lights on, the car looked brand new at the front, everything so so fresh and clean... really really looks something now.










Tested the lights now before hide the wires, look really nice, whilst being different as well Sidelight.


Sidelight & Headlight


Headlight & Beam


Sidelight & indicator


After fitted the lights and wired them up like in the last post, finally set the bonnet up, with the lights and wings...Trying to get the gaps correct takes a bit of time but well worth it.



Once had the lights right, tightened down the wings, and made sure they were all correct Quite happy with the gaps, and the seal around the wings & front lights-bonnet look like its all good, look the same so got to be good.




Right before tackeled the front, started to put the inner arches back on!


They took abit of time, but they went on with the new wings as factory really, the front onees that go under the front bumper were alittle more awkward. .and with a small amount of trimming, they went on...

The inner arches are all one, which was well chuffed about! BUT, we then tried to put the front bumper on....what a state!, the inner arches were stopping it going on....oh god Well he took the front ones off, then the bumper went on easily....mounted and fixed, with 2 bolts into each wing, two custom brackets below where a front mount would go off the chassis rails, as u can see in previous pictures when he made them, and two bolts on the crash support bars than protrude outwards of each side the rad.



A few more from a distance to give the whole impression!also fitted the new side repeators, they are clear with a black inner part, so makes them look like the headlights really, almost black glass like....


the inner arches went back on aswell.

Had some issues with his wheels,so ill be waiting for time to arrive before its finished but he put both skirts on now.. looks a whole different car now everythings in black....firstly how it looks without.



then the car with the skirts bolton on...



With most of the body work on, minus the rear spats and rear bumper,started on the coilovers and stripped the brakes down and painted them... brakes next.



Painted them with hammerite,stripped and cleaned them, and then smoothed all the bumps etc.. about 3 coats later and they looked great, the colour is grey with red letters, which he think will look really nice behind the bronze works emotions....


Mounted them all back up, and they look real nice....


Coilovers - Very easy job once got the standard shocks off, but they took some getting off, in the end he used some heat to free up the bolts, which was tricky with the ABS lines near where needed the heat!Nicer than the standard items, top mounts included, as well as damper adjustment, which should be nice enough for the road...




Once mounted, they look real nice, and fit excellent.




Apex S14a Elbow

Apex S14a Downpipe

Apex Decat

HKS Hi-Power Cat back


Took some getting off, but once on the fit is good, the only concern is the hks hanging down under the diff, with car running very low on 17's speed bumps are propably a no no now, but it doesnt hang any lower than the side skirts, so where the front end/skirts can go the exhaust can and vise versa.


The rear can is massive, and looks awesome, with the lazer ettched lettering on the tip....nice angled up and outwards, without being too much.


Started it up for the first time earlier, and my god what a nice sound, a lovely burble ticking over once warm, really really deep sounding.. loud when u want it to be, and silent on half/light throttle, the turbo sound is just so nice now, lovely hiss, woosh when u accelerate, oh and the odd bang.....

Waiting for other wheels to come from "works", so stuck the standard ones on, for the cars first role out, and my god does it look nice now.


Still waiting to go in for pollishing, but he's not using the car till get his wheels , so not going to get it pollished just yet, but you can see what it may look like...



Got painted up spats back...make a lovely difference to the back end, just finishes, the back off now, flows into the skirts and still remains higher, which a car should at the back.
Before.



After



Had the car mopped, and buffed, which has made the black colour stay shiney for longer instead of going dull, and has a excellent glass finish now...



Had two new plates made now,slightly smaller than the jap size, which really sets off the front now.


Lovely Works Emotion Rims


Firstly tried the rim on the car, 17x9 +17mm 255/40/17 rubber at the rear, have it down around 30mm at the min, so about 2 deg on the back phil seamed to think.


Phil did recon that he would only need a lip roll really, maybe a small pull, but he wanted something what looked somewhere near the front arches, as he got wider on the front, the rears look quite lost...Phil got one with heating the lip, and slowly folding it back, then started to pull and flare it out...



As you can see from the pic the arch is now flared out, it is in line with the fronts now, can just see from the side of the car the paint work reflection, making a lovely flare, nothing too massive just nice.


Put some sealer on the rolled lip, to stop any unwanted water and dirt going down.



Then refitted the wheel, and it looked even better.



Tackle the back end ...the state of the rear end wasnt the best with rust, and dirt.


stripped the parts down





Got all the parts stripped down and shot blasted them all, with very fine grade grit, so that it would not damage and threads, and leave the surface smooth ready for paint.




Painted everything and powder coated the items required, he was going to be different and go for white and green (tein green to match the coilovers)underbody... the paint is a kind of stove enemel/plastic paint which i picked up free from my mate, it is as hard as rock once set, and makes powder coat look like water based wall paint! it was awesome stuff.




Bought a fully adjustable suspension arm set, and painted them the same green as the tein parts.


With all the parts coated, they were left to dry for about 2 days.



Took delivery of some nice new anti roll bar sets from Dan, and also the brackets for them were painted in the tein green.



Started colecting all my parts together, but first cleaned all the arches out..got rid of all the dirt, and cleaned them up with a wire wheel on a grinder, then a nylon wheel on a drill... got them up like new,then painted them in hammerite black to protect them uven more and put a nice hard finish n them.


Half painted!took this to show how much better it looks!!!



Took all the brackets off, and brake lines etc back to the hard lines...dont worry about the front subframe this is done later, and the brake lines.

Got together all parts now ready for the rebuild.. lovely shiny and clean parts, everything is painted up, shocks cleaned, and pollished.. heat shields painted, and note, the full drift works orange bush kit , all round front and rear... should look nice in athe white and green parts.




All the bolts took out shotblasted at work and zinc plated them all, so they were brand new.


Once the arches were all painted, started to put together the subframe off the car, the diff has been cleaned & painted, and also installed all the driftworks subframe bushes...
Note: the new bolts freshly zinc plated, made it well easy to install with alittle grease on them all, should be nice when someone comes to strip it down again.


Greased up the car mounting points and lifted the subframe assemble into position.


Note: cleaned, wire brushes/wheel and nylon wheeled the under side of the car.



Firstly installed both the lower arms, and bolted them onto the car, with the new driftworks orange bushes also.


When the lower arms were installed,assembled the hubs and adjustable arms off the car, the bushes took ages to get in, and they were extreamly tight, which is probebly good when it comes to the handling....We assembled the hubs,and the brake back plates first, with the DW bushes.




Before set about doing any more to the rear end, parts came for the front end conversion, so set about installing them, he can do it with his hand s behind his back now, and the lines are even better than last time...












Got some nice new sideskirts.











Once had the hub assembly's made up with all the new bushes in, and adjustable arms ready and all greased up,assembled them on the car...the drive shafts were all shot blasted and painted also in black to match the diff, and nice clips on the rubber boots pollished up.


In the picture below you can see the exhaust shields which also painted black to keep the underside all the same, with fresh bolts it really makes a difference.



Cleaned the rear teins up, and bolted them onto the rear.





Once the coilovers were in place, got around to looking at the ARB, lovely red colour,painted the drop links what came with them though, to match the greeni painted the brackets aswell which hold the ARB onto the car, they came with all the new rubbers aswell.



Just got the rear calipers to mount,brake lines, diff oil to go back in and the back is done.


Quickly painted the disks, and mounted the brake caliper, after its clean up and paint...only painted were they can go rusty.


Next up was the front running gear..cleaned up, shot blasted all the front as the rear,lovely new driftworks polybushed arm and adjustable caster arms.


Zinc plated some new bolts to use with the arms as well..
The length of the caster arm was just put so that the polybush wasnt under any stress either way, so could go have it aligned.


Took off the steering arm rod ends, blasted them and coated them, with new castle nuts.



With everything ready and greased up, they went onto the car..also took delivery of a front lower brace.


Got the exhaust sitting about 2-3 inch higher than before, so the ground clearrance now when lowered more.


Polish it up afterwards on the car.



Cleaned the front coilovers and front calipers up and painted them.




Set of front and rear braided hoses.



1. Front strut adapter was the wrong way aroud on the hose!

2. The rears were too long, and hit the wheel


so solution...

1. Cut the front open flipped around the strut adapter, and also replaced the ends with banjo's.



2. Cut the rears to the right length and replaced the ends with a banjo, so could swing them into the car away from the wheel


Assembled everything onto the front hubs...






Got hold of some new hose, and put the rear oil cooler back into place.



Vented wider wings were the first thing back on the car, went on a treat, brilliant fit.











Front Bumper.











Everything looks factory fit under the bonnet, time for a few nice shiny bits and pollish up.









The first look olf the car from the side.

Rolled the car out with its standard wheel on.

The rims mounted and onto the car.

Rims:

work emotion cr kai17x9+28 offset

bronze colour

tyres: yoks

F- 235 45 17 R -255 40 17

Masked up all the rear lights ready for tinting

before:

Masked.

More masking & after 2 coats of tint.

After 7 coats of tint, reverve lights gone, also side reflectors gone.

Gave it a 4 coats of clear laquer about 12 hours.

Result: