'98 Kouki build

i got this car and it was already painted with a spray paint that feels like sand paper, but it looks really sharp in the light or when wet. its purely temporary, it will get a legit paint job.

but as for the rest of the car. i got it for $1500. not running. and the transmission was in the trunk of the car. the owner said that the transmission was bad. we brought it home and it took about 3 days to finally get the engine to crank under its own power. when it finally tried to start it made a knocking sound. well that was it. the tear down began. what we found to be the problem was, was that the oil pump case cracked and it lost oil pressure, i'm assuming that he continued to run the car because he spun 3 bearings and bent the crankshaft.

after finding out that the shops in appleton didn't have the equipment to line bore the block and make it straight again, i got a different lower end and rotating assembly from a friend, and i invested in a very cheap ebay rebuild kit. (i was a senior in high school at the time, working part time, and paying for all of this out of my pocket). i had the head cleaned and put a different trans in it. the rebuild kit is still holding up at about 19,000 miles. crossing my fingers. i just want to make it back from texas then a real build will begin.


when i first slammed it. it's on Godspeed coilovers. im not really impressed with the quality, but you get what you pay for and i went cheap. i learned my lesson.


from a different angle.


first day i had my new wheels. they came off of an '01 Mustang GT.


17"x9"






Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Current mods are:
Headers
CAI
Battery relocation
Coilovers
Cat-back
-
list will grow in the future, funds are just a little low currently

I likeeee! Which coilovers are you running?

you might be more impressed with the coilovers if you raise the car to a "sane" height. slamming it off the ground isnt doing you any good. never had those though. i have jic magic's. they are great. hell of a deal on that car though!

are both of those koukis yours??? if so im so jealous!!!!!!!!! btw looks good but what ^^ said, try raising it up a bit

I don't see any reason to raise it. Looks good and mine is lower with no problems so yea. Anyways the kouki looks good I'm looking forward to seeing this build.

Lower would be nice for say a show car....but IMHO what's the point of lowering a car so low that if you hit a bump in a corner you put the front tire through the fender??

j240sxxx wrote:

I don't see any reason to raise it. Looks good

you just summed it up. it looks good (depending who you ask) but doesnt have much functionality. smashing your bumper and exhaust on the ground isnt cool. neither is the suspension geometry that it has. the roads in wi and il are garbage. i feel bad driving my car around thats about 2 inches higher than that one lol. idk. when you buy cheap parts you get what you pay for. for the most part anyways.

93sapphirecoupe wrote:

j240sxxx wrote:

I don't see any reason to raise it. Looks good

you just summed it up. it looks good (depending who you ask) but doesnt have much functionality. smashing your bumper and exhaust on the ground isnt cool. neither is the suspension geometry that it has. the roads in wi and il are garbage. i feel bad driving my car around thats about 2 inches higher than that one lol. idk. when you buy cheap parts you get what you pay for. for the most part anyways.

^100% agreed.

The "MOAR LOWER" crowd are usually just a bunch of hard parkers.

Try a lapping day, auto-x, or drift event at those heights. It becomes quickly obvious you have passed the "too low" threshold once you are behind the wheel. Bump steer is constant, coil springs bind on turn in and your roll center/instant center are beyond off.

Looks cool though, just crappy if you actually want to use your car.

BTW, welcome, hope to see you around!

Sorry to threadjack!

Welcome, car looks like a good start. i've heard alot of complaints on the godspeed stuff so there is a good chance it is the coils and not the height, altho the height does come into play like riggle and sapphire coupe mentioned.

Also whose black kouki is that in the first pic?

i just got my block line honed at Automotive Specialist off hwy76 inbetween oshkosh and appleton.

okay, so the black kouki is my roommates car, its a 98 with an s13 sr blacktop.

as for coilovers, im running godspeed type rs.

as for the ride height. i will be raising it up when i move back to wisconsin in august. right now i need it to get me to and from school and work. so i havent been tracking it yet. when i have a back up vehicle i will be tracking this car. but right now its low for "stance" and there is no snow in texas i have to worry about getting stuck in.

as for the engine machining, i had taken the block and crank to Appleton Crankshaft and the owner i guess had misinformed me. however i didn't worry about it too much seeing as how a friend got me a complete lower end for free.

nice, and just keep your car how you like it. not a fan of slammed cars but yours looks good.

I haven't had my car on a track yet so yea I guess I wouldn't know about being too low. Either way the car looks good

thank you. and i'll lift it up some, i gotta drive it through the winter, but i dont know how high i can get these coilovers

Any updates? Are you up here yet?

i bet the paint feels like sand paper cuz theres not much clear coat on it... throw 2 or 3 layers on it and ull be fine.

sorry, not really any new updates as im broke, but ill be moving back to wisconsin around the 20th of august.

and as for the paint, i believe its spray paint because more of it comes off everytime i wash it, but as soon as i have money for a legitimate paint job it'll happen, unless a motor swap comes first.

paints sweet, its that color that makes you not care what the appearance of your car is, and allows you to beat it with out remorse. Once you paint it, and get it looking nice, youll never play with it or use it to its potential. SO i say leave the color. If your serious about tracking the car that is. If you want to become a hard parker then paint tht thing and make it how quality.

As for being too low. That thing i guarantee could be lower with no problems. S14's are forgiving where s13's suspension geo gets crazy out of wack. If you like how it rides and how it looks then keep i how it is. WI & IL roads suck yes, but theres usually ways around the crappy roads.

theboy wrote:

Once you paint it, and get it looking nice, youll never play with it or use it to its potential. SO i say leave the color. If your serious about tracking the car that is. If you want to become a hard parker then paint tht thing and make it how quality.

Are you sure? Damn, it's good I haven't painted mine yet... even though it's clean, cause I'm not ready to just hard park yet.

believe me when i say Houston roads are worse. but as for stance, ill see what i have to do to track it as hard as i can and still daily it. and paint can be redone, there is nothing wrong with looking good and tracking it.

98kouki240sx wrote:

... and paint can be redone, there is nothing wrong with looking good and tracking it.

+1

600SX wrote:

98kouki240sx wrote:

... and paint can be redone, there is nothing wrong with looking good and tracking it.

+1

+2

600SX wrote:

theboy wrote:

Once you paint it, and get it looking nice, youll never play with it or use it to its potential. SO i say leave the color. If your serious about tracking the car that is. If you want to become a hard parker then paint tht thing and make it how quality.

Are you sure? Damn, it's good I haven't painted mine yet... even though it's clean, cause I'm not ready to just hard park yet.

yes im sure. From what ive read/seen, your car is still oem paint, which honestly oem paint on an s-chassis isnt that nice. Sure it might look nice from 5ft but get close and look at the swirls and orange peel. Plus from what ive seen, you take your car in a straight line. Dont get me wrong, going fast on the drag strip you can look pretty all you want and theres nothing wrong with that. But my comment, that you neg rep'd me for, was more towards auto cross or door to door racing on a track. Where your going to drag bumpers and have the chance to rub with other cars. I personally dont know any racer thats going out to spend thousands on a making something pretty to just scratch and rub the crap out of it. Thats what vinyl is for.

I didn't neg rep you, and thanks for your opinion.