The Problem:
Many people who swap an LS series motor into their 240SX or RX-7 tend to complain that the power steering pump is simply too powerful for the chassis. The steering ends up feeling “disconnected” since there is almost not feedback though the steering wheel.

The pumps run notoriously hot too,  enough such that later model LS equipped vehicles come standard with a power steering cooler.

TurnONE:
There is however a company that specializes in Performance Power Steering Pumps; TurnONE. I heard about them after I read an article on GM High Tech Performance of their replacement pump and pulley products. Their pump not only fixed the overheating issue, but it improved steering feedback, improved the engine performance by several hp across the board.

I called them up explaining that my 99Vette LS1 was going into a Nissan and I wanted to know if they had a larger pulley  that would effectively reduce the pump speed. I was told that a new pulley wouldn’t really solve my problem and rather than spending money on a whole new pump I could get the reduced flow and improved feedback I was looking for by simply replacing the output nozzle with one that had reduced output. This product isn’t listed anywhere on their site, you’ll have to call to order it. The reducer ran me about $40 shipped, which is half the price of a new pulley, and about 1/5th the price of one of their high performance pumps.

Tools Needed:

• Power Steering Pulley Remover/Installer Kit (can be rented from Autozone for $30)
• torque wrench
• 22mm socket
• 14mm, 17mm, 21mm open end wrenches

Installation:
1. Remove parts to get at the pump
Because of the location of the output nozzle you’ll need to remove the pulley from the pump. So that also means you’ll have to remove the accessory belt and disconnect the high pressure power steering line from the pump as well. I hadn’t installed these pieces on my car yet because I knew I would need to install the reducer first. Also depending on the placement of things in your engine bay you may have to remove other items too, for instance I removed the intake.

2. Remove the Pulley
The next thing you’ll want to do is to remove the pulley. The removal tool hooks onto the snout of the pulley with 2 sleeves.

once both sleeves are placed on there is a collar that slides over them to hold them in place.

Using a 19mm wrench to hold the base and a 17mm wrench at the tip; tightening the bolt will “pull” the pulley off of the shaft.

3. Remove the old Nozzle
Once the pulley has been removed you can remove the old high pressure nozzle. This requires a 22mm socket, or wrench. Depending on the placement of your power steering pump you may have to remove other things too, I removed a near by idler pulley to give my ratchet some breathing room.

Be careful once the nozzle is almost out, it’s spring loaded and you’ll have a stopper and spring  fly out of the pump once the nozzle is removed.

4. Install the new Nozzle
The difference between the original GM nozzle (left) and the new Turn One nozzle (right) is pretty clear.

Make sure you place the spring and stopper back in the pump before installing the nozzle, if you lost track this picture will show you the order and position required for re-installation:

With the stopper and spring back in place tighten the nozzle back down. Use your torque wrench and torque it down to 55ft-lbs.

If you need to re-install a near-by idler pulley like I did, than that will need to be torqued to 18ft-lbs. Also most accessories require their bracket bolts are torqued to 38ft-lbs.

5. Re-Install the Pulley
To get the pulley back on you’ll have to use a pulley installation tool, this is nothing more than a large bolt with a large pusher nut. Turn the pusher so it’s up near the head of the bolt then place the pulley on the bolt like a giant washer. Thread the bolt into the center-bore of the pump shaft. Thread the bolt all the way in then turn it back out once or twice. Then hold the bolt in place and turn the pusher until it’s snug against the pulley, make sure the pulley is lined up properly with the shaft.

Use a 21mm wrench on the pusher and a 14mm wrench on the bolt head. You’ll want to hold the bolt in place and turn the nut, opposite of what you did when removing the pulley.

6. Put everything back together
You’re pretty much done, just re-install anything that removed to get to the pump and enjoy your improved steering response.

The Vehicle Speed Sensor used by the T-56 and other transmissions popular with the LSx swap output a signal in the 4000 pulses per minute range. Unfortunately the Speedometer in the 240sx requires a signal in the 2000 pulses per minute range.

One option is to buy a Dakota Digital SGI-5 “Universal Speedometer Signal Interface“. These go for about $80 and will wire up easily.

Since the conversion being applied to the signal is fairly straight forward (cut the pulse rate in half) building a circuit to deal with this change is pretty straight forward.

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Maybe you want to modify your gauge cluster, or maybe you need to replace a broken one, or maybe you bought a JDM cluster and want to swap it in. Either way, replacing the gauge cluster in an S14 is a quick and simple process.
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If you’re swapping a T-56 6-speed into your 240 along with your LSx then you will need to replace the factory Nissan clutch master for something more beefy, along with that you’ll also  need to make your own custom hydraulic clutch line as well as a custom bleeder line. This guide will walk you through the steps of constructing these parts as well  as installing them. Keep in mind that this is only one possible way to accomplish this, like most custom swaps there are many different ways to get things done.  This guide represents the most commonly used parts and method of accomplishing this.

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Whether you’re putting your car on an engine bay diet, trying to stick it to mother nature, or something else altogether (in my case I had a leaky EGR tube) removing the EGR system from a KA24DE is a fairly popular modification. In this guide I show you step by step how to remove it without having to tear apart your whole car in the process.

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Which Intake to use:
The Factory intake piping likely wont fit in your S-chassis, Some aftermarket GTO setups might work with a little modification but it’s so easy and relatively inexpensive to just piece together your own that there’s no good reason not to.

There are three different setups that are relatively easy to go with, I’ll will discuss all three. Read the rest of this entry »

Every so often the question comes up “is there a difference between the S13 and S14 clutch pedals”. The answer is “YES” however the differences are slight. I had spare clutch pedals from both an S13 and S14 handy so I took pictures of both so you could easily see the differences.
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The Problem:
Ok so I wanted to buy kouki tails for my S14 since the day I brought it home. After finding what I though was a good deal on a clean set I open the box to find out they’re faded as hell… the black surrounds look Grey and almost purple in some light.

After the ‘09 CIP meet and seeing nearly every set of kouki tails there looking faded to garbage it’s pretty clear that this isn’t a unique problem.

The Idea:

I’d used spay on Vinyl Die on plastics before to good success so I decided to test it out on the taillight and see how it goes. This is just generic stuff that I picked up at my local Auto parts store. It’s designed to repair or re-color interior pieces. Read the rest of this entry »

So maybe you’re driving along and the Orange Check Engine Light (CEL) pops on (OHS NOES!) or maybe you bought a 240sx and the light was already on and you’re wondering why… Well it’s not very difficult nor very hard to find out. Nissan made it easy and I’m going to show you how you can check it yourself. This method actually works for nearly all Nissans (including Maxima, Altima, etc, even those with SR20s and JDM Computers) but I’m going to walk through the process for a factory spec S14. Read the rest of this entry »