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Author Topic: Project: Phoenix  (Read 64782 times)

Offline deco

Project: Phoenix
« on: 10:27:51 PM / 05-May-11 »
Ok so i guess ill start this out now. I am the one that ended up with this gem. yes it is one hell of a car. its in outstanding shape. the paint is so clean. you would never guess it was 27 years old, and yes I am the 2nd owner. I think that may put me in a very elite club of s-12 owners :yes: so anyway, thanks to the help of walon its now home and in my garage, just dyeing to be put back on the road.

Well I guess Ill start by giving everyone a lil history, at least what i know. This car was taken off the lot brand new sometime in 1983. the guy that got it was planning on retiring in 85 and got it as a gift to himself. well he didnt retire and drove this thing to and from work for about 13-14 years. he babyed this car like you wouldnt beleave. He said that if he was my age he would replace the motor and keep it, said nothing was ever done except he had the timing belt replaced at 96k. I guess something went wrong and the cranck pully snapped off when he was driving down the road, but he said it didnt make any noise, it just died. he looked very sad to see it go, took one last picture and he even wanted to back it out of the drive way when walon and i were there to tow it home, he may have even had a little tear in his eye when we pulled away.

Today I started pulling stuff off the motor to see how much damage there really was. first thing i found was a brand new looking head. from the outside you can tell it was rebuilt cuz all the grees build up on the block just stops when you get to the head and it looks new. I pulled the valve cover and the inside looks the same, so I am going to assume the head had to have been rebuilt, hot tanked and all. The cam shaft turns a little, it looks to be at tdc cuz the intake lobe is just starting to open the cylinder 1 intake valve. it doesnt move much past that and stops, i turn it the other way and the exhaust valve does the same thing. I didnt want to pull the head just yet, not quite ready to dig that deap, but i needed to know why i had so little range when trying to turn the cam, so i pulled the plugs and i could see that piston 1 was up, i checked all 4 this way and the 2 i could see looked good. so now im thinking that this motor may not be in all that bad of shape. if thats the case it may be back on the road sooner than later. anyway here are some pics of the car in my garage, as i go i will unload pics on this thread so enjoy, and thanks to everyone for any help.





here you can see the snapped off crank, If only they grew on trees

here you can see just how clean the head is,( and he said nothing was ever done) Ill take it, a new head, hell ya :yay!:

I know he wasnt compleatly full of crap, have you ever seen 27 year old paint that can still do this?

and the head lights work just fine...
« Last Edit: 08:13:28 AM / 31-Mar-15 by deco »

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Offline newby200sx

Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #1 on: 10:28:58 PM / 05-May-11 »
damn you lucky bee!!!!
Drifting is like my job, and I take my job seriously

Offline Jeremy A

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #2 on: 10:59:48 PM / 05-May-11 »
So, damn, awesome!  S12's are the business.
« Last Edit: 11:00:01 PM / 05-May-11 by Jeremy A »

Offline Wonderingraven

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #3 on: 11:16:00 PM / 05-May-11 »
nice that is a nice silvia there, awesome find.
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Offline Drft-s12

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #4 on: 12:42:59 PM / 06-May-11 »
Man i wish my paint was in that good of condition lol....i have the same car and my paint is oxidized to hell :\

Nice car though. I do recommend if your thinking of rebuilding the ca18 dont because the amount of money i spent on the rebuild i could of swapped in a Sr or at least a Ca18det.

Offline deco

Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #5 on: 01:56:09 PM / 06-May-11 »
Ya I'm under a lot of presser on that issue. What I need to do is make it run again for a cheep as I can. If its running ok then my wife will be much more understanding on what I do to it. Once I get it up and drop the oil pan ill be able to know a lil more if it only needs a crank, then that's what it will get. For now.

Offline zastaba

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #6 on: 02:11:31 PM / 06-May-11 »
Looks great man. Sounds like it's found a good home. A ca18det is a pretty straight up swap and would give you more pep then the ca18et.

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Offline deco

Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #7 on: 05:55:13 PM / 06-May-11 »
Id love , just not right away.

Ok so today I dug a lil deeper. Took the valve cover back off, pulled the plugs back out, and I found a tap that wedges into the hole that's left on the end of the crank. Useing this I was able to turn the crank. First I turned the cam so all valves would clear, the I rotated the crank it spends freely, I checked all the plug ports and from what I can see everything moves up and down just fine. So I set the crank so all the pistons would clear and rotated through the cam shaft. All valves open and close fully, no issues. After that I figured id like to see how much compression the cylenders would make when hand cranking the thing. Stuck my compression tester in #1 and closed both intake and exhaust valves. Spun the crank and the needel didn't move at all. I even noticed that there wasn't any air moving out of the plug holes when the pistons would move up. So what's going on? I don't know, but as easy as it is to spin the crank it feels like there isn't any rings at all, and if there is, well, I'm going with not.

The good news now is that yes the head is good, and at very worst needs a valve job. Also thatt the rotating asimbly is probably good, but I need a crank cuz its broken. So that's where I'm at. As soon as I can do anything else ill post it here.

Offline 8SixS12

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #8 on: 09:59:41 PM / 06-May-11 »
Really good find!  Reminds me of mine when I first got it.  Welcome to the club!
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Offline Prolowtone

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #9 on: 04:35:49 AM / 08-May-11 »
FACK Very nice grab dude. The ONLY other color i would want to have other then mine (But yours has a full turbo kit).
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Offline IggyEGuana

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #10 on: 07:22:15 AM / 08-May-11 »
imo swapping out the complete longblock is ur quickest and cheapest option. itll get the car up and running quick and u can always tear down the original motor later

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Offline deco

Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #11 on: 04:00:51 PM / 10-May-11 »
ok so not much to update, all i have done is really clean the piss out of this thing, i waxed it the other day so now, the good news is the women is finally over the whole thing, and her wanting it out is no longer a problem. i still cant really drop any coin right yet, (i really need a job first,) but what i can do is countinue to tear it down and get it ready for a new motor. i would also keep cleaning the bay and anyother hard to get to spots. so thanks for the coments, if all goes well i will be driving withen the next few months.

Offline deco

Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #12 on: 12:20:20 PM / 21-May-11 »
Ok, so everyone here knows how this goes. We sit around thinking how cool it would be to put motor x in our cars. Well, when you can't do anything but dream you end up doing a lot of that. Sooo keeping this thing compleatly stock is out the window. I have found way to many things wrong, that have To be fixed. I have been reading a lot into motors. A ca18det would be nice cuz its at home. Was in our cars other places, and is basicly the same block. However, they never sold in anything here in the us, so I need to know how to get by the dmv. My other choice at this point is a ka, and going t with it, but that's a more involved swap, plus its a non turbo motor. Really id rather not spend 2-300 bucks on a old beat up motor, if I am going to need to drop another grand in a few months anyway. I really just want to start driving it, but don't want to rush it so I'm going to ask everyone here. What do you guys think, ka or cadet. Who can help me find a busted det that has all the parts, that I can build. Ka's are a dime a dozon, but I need your help deciding. Thanks.

Offline IggyEGuana

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #13 on: 01:02:45 PM / 21-May-11 »
ca18det

get on the NICO ca section and read around. shoot a few PMs to knowledgable members there and see where they say to get one or if they know of one available. post a wtb ad on nico too. you can do it on Zilvia too if u want. I have bought 2 things on zilvia ans got screwed both times so i dont bother with it. nothing but con-men on there imo

i would still just toss in a ca20 longblock and run it stock with all the original stuff for a while. btw even if u snag a second hand ca18det that maybe needs work u will still end up spending just as much or more than what u would spend if u just bought one from a stateside importer. 1400 bucks or so with get u a fresh one with good compression, warranty, and no parts missing

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Offline deco

Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #14 on: 04:24:59 PM / 21-May-11 »
how about the install. I have read through the tech section on it over and over, it looks easy enough, however easy isnt the only worry. will it pass as the org motor at the dmv. will the smog hut notice its a twin cam not a single. I had a guy that passed my colt befor it was even done, so I know there are ways around it. I just dont feel like dealing with them is all. the blocks are the same right, so do the stock mounts work, how about tranny? should i use the det tranny, or the stock one. I am starting to look into it now, I have some things lined up so getting the motor may not be to hard, but I want to make sure I get everything I can, or need.

Offline IggyEGuana

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #15 on: 06:21:49 PM / 21-May-11 »
if u do a very oem looking install you might pass just cuz ur car is originally turbo. but the evap diagram on the underside of the hood wont match up. i wouldnt even bother. dirty smog is easy and not that expensive here. making it look stock and have all the smog crap is a big pain in the ass anyways.

you can use the s13 trans that comes with the motor if u want. it takes more modification but after ur done the shifter will sit in a more comfortable location anyway.  or just use ur stock tranny. it bolts right up without any issue. dnt worry about wheather the B trans can "handle" the power or not. trannies can pop at any time on any car.

yes mounts work fine. the motor will (should) come with the mount brackets which will bolt straight to the s12 mounts.. or s13 mounts, s14 mounts, usdm/jdm, stock or nismo or any aftermarket or hockey pucks. doesnt matter.

the swap is very simple and straight forward. and rewarding. The ca18det is everything the S12 was lacking in the US originally.. POWER

IMO just get a reliable motorset from a reputable importer and swap it in stock, simplified, and refreshed. dirty smog, register and drive it. then do suspension as u desire (street or track) and then do simple and effiecient mods to the motor later

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phantommaggot2

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #16 on: 11:48:35 AM / 24-May-11 »
MAN i wish the car i inherited was that clean on the outside...

you could always get a SOCH ka... probably dirt cheap if your in the right spots.
not exactly the most powerful thing out there.. but it works.
« Last Edit: 11:48:59 AM / 24-May-11 by phantommaggot2 »

Offline deco

Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #17 on: 12:58:46 PM / 26-May-11 »
ok so im having more and more reservations on swapping the motor. when i got this thing the plan was to stick with the single cam and go from there. i would love to take the easy road and just swap the det but for some reason the more i read up, the more part of me wants to ust build the et. so we will see. I just thought id put my thoughts up for everyone to read. when your jobless, and board out of your own head this is what happens.

Offline Jay

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #18 on: 07:53:51 PM / 26-May-11 »
When I was jobless, and bored, I swapped to a KA.
Just my thoughts...

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Offline sideways_s12

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Re: Project: Phoenix
« Reply #19 on: 01:39:48 AM / 27-May-11 »
Well if you do decide to swap I will def take your single cam off your hands....