I haven't decided on the hood yet... I'm going to convert the front end to the s14a or JDM "kouki" style which looks like this:
The 97-98 Model years had the same headlights in the us but the bumper cover and grill are slightly different:
There are a few other minor differences between the zenki and kouki styles such as the taillights, they're the same overall shape but the kouki tailights are darker and they have horizonal ridges going across them while the kouki tails are smooth. I think the factory lips are slightly different too but I'm not too sure
I basically have to swap out the headlights, hood, and fenders. I can either replace the radiator brace to fit the headlights or they make cheap converter brackets, and of course the bumper cover corner lights and turn signal indicators. Overall the parts for the front end swap run about $2200 if I were to walk into a Nissan dealership and order them all outright and order the bumper cover direct from the Nissan in Japan. though I can get the stuff for $1500 if I ebay it and forum scour.
I'm not entirely sure if I'll go USDM on the hood or after market CF. Also the bumper cover I could go JDM or get a more aggressive aftermarket bumper cover in a similar style. I'm definitely going 3rd party on the corner lights and turn signals to get them clear instead of orange. I'll also definitely go USDM headlights since they're projectors already and they're only $400 for the set from a dealer... I might go aftermarket on the fenders too since I can probably get them in fiberglass instead of steel and that will save a whole lot of weight.... I'm not sure about swapping out the radiator brace or getting the headlight swap brackets... the cost is roughly the same but the new brace would have to be painted and I'd have to drain and pull the radiator to swap it out where as the brackets just drop in.
The 95-96 with the oval headlights that I have is called "zenki" style
the reason I went with the 95 was for a few reasons
1. there were approximately 32K Zenki Style 240sx sold in the us and only 5K of the Kouki style made... so the Kouki style is a whole lot harder to find, who knows how many have been wrecked at this point.
2. since the kouki is the more desirable style and there are a whole lot less floating around they're WAY more expensive... case and point, a few days ago a base model 98 kouki automatic with 100K miles went up for sale for $13K in my area... so yeah. It probably works out cheaper to just swap out the front end.
3. OBDII was mandated in 96, meaning that 95 and prior don't need to conform to OBDII emissions testing (just a visual inspection and smog) This means that a 96-98 240sx cannot have the engine swapped with a JDM engine since the JDM computers don't support OBDII... with a 95 I can put an SR20DET in there and never have to worry about emissions testing as long as keep a cat on the exhaust... and as long as the shop doesn't recognize the engine under the hood as being JDM when they peek at it (if they even bother)
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On another note I trailered the car back to my house today
I'm so friggin happy right now it's not even funny. I also think I might know what was causing the sputtering. when we went to take it off the trailer it wouldn't turn over (didn't even try) and peeking under the hoot the culprit was a ridiculously loose connection on the negative battery terminal. tightening that up it fired right up and didn't give an inkling of a problem on the quick jaunt up the street to my house from the parking lot where we unloaded.
Here's hoping it was just a loose wire that was causing the hiccups earlier.
Now does anyone know where I could get a repair manual for this thing... I'd love to start tearing into it tomorrow after work
