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Thread: My Nugget S13

  1. #1
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    My Nugget S13

    So, early March this year after months of searching and saving I found an RS13 online and the next day, me and a mate traveled up to Nottingham to have a look at it. After a once over, test drive and some smiles I decided to bring it back with me.

    This will be my second car coming from a 1.9 diesel Mk5 Golf so it is fairly different to say the least. I've read countless stories about them being sketchy especially in the wet so I will be sure to be careful. Unfortunately it won't be on the road until December purely because insurance prices and young ages don't go well together. It'll also be my daily through every season so I want to get reliability out of it while also upping the power as time goes on as well as keeping the body in the best condition I can. I've made this thread mainly for me to look back on, but it'd be cool to give any other young ones some inspiration or confidence to just get on with what you want to do.

    It's a 1993 manual on 82k. Stock other than what the previous owner who had it for the past 17 years added:
    Cat-back exhaust(Unknown brand)
    Kenwood head unit with 4 new speakers, a sub, amp and equalizer.
    Full PSG bodykit
    17" Toora alloys - 17x7 ET40

    Some of you may have already seen the pics of when I bought it, looking hideous with body kit it had on. I just can't see why anyone would do this to such a great looking car.








    ----2018-----







    First and most importantly(of course) I stuck an air filter on to gain that important and addictive compressor surge goodness. I left the factory ducting in place in hopes of making up a cold air feed for it. I'm yet to make a bracket to secure the filter to the chassis.




    Next up I collected the original bumpers for it. It was missing a few of the bumper brackets but I've now sourced everything for them. They aren't in the best condition but there are worse problems to be dealt with.



    Following on from that, it was time for the body kit to be dealt with Jeremy clarkson style... brute force. It started with the rear spoiler being yanked off and chiseled away and moved towards an angle grinder getting its use.





    Quick before and after


    At the end of it I was left with this lot.


    I also decided to swap the cat-back for a japspeed cannon since the one before was horrible and simply arse and this was very cheap. I may change this in the future for something better but for now it fulfills my ears with joy.


    After getting the body back to original standard, it has become apparent I own a nugget. Since just about every corner of the car was covered by the kit, more than enough rust has made itself present. The rear quarters are shot and the rear sills need work/cleaning up after the MOT welding it's had in the past. The wings were bad at the bottoms(holey) so I sourced two new wings which need to be cleaned up/sprayed. I will add more to this as soon as possible which will account for everything I've done up to this month. Then from then on I will update this when ever something else is done to the car. I am determined not to let another s-body float to car heaven how ever much it ends up costing.
    Last edited by JackB; 03-03-2019 at 18:19.

  2. #2
    Guest Matas's Avatar
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    Straight nugget. Stop buying gauges and fix your rust!!

  3. #3
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by matas View Post
    Straight nugget. Stop buying gauges and fix your rust!!
    But that's more fun than cleaning up rusty metal

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    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Next up I got some coilovers off of the cool man himself LED Sandwich. A set a of Apex gen 2's with 4/5 spring rates known as the comfy coilovers of their range. These are perfect for me as I'm not about insane lowness so I don't need the stiffness. They're also ideal for a daily as well. Driving up and down my lane would also be even worse with stiffer springs, it's bumpy and pot-holey so really not ideal for any nice cars and their suspension.





    I then decided to stick some wheels on too. Rota torques in 17x9 et 30 all around. Coilover clearance then became an issue upfront and with 5mm spacers it's still way too close so I've got some 15mm bolt on spacers ready to be fitted. I appear to be doing the less important things first, but it's more fun than playing with the rust







    The springs will be resprayed at some point. Annoying about the clearance though and in hindsight 8.5 up front would be perfect but oh well, I will make them fit.

    I then had a go at filling some of the holes in the bootlid. First time using filler and it turned out alright although I've now realised that filler will end up just cracking in the future so I've got that to look forward to unless I just get all the holes plated up at once. There was much less rust than expected on it, only 2 patches that will need some re-plating doing but other than that it's not bad.

    Last edited by JackB; 12-08-2016 at 15:47.

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    looks like your putting some good work into it

    do think it looks a bit S14ish with that rear bumper though

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    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ireloaded View Post
    looks like your putting some good work into it

    do think it looks a bit S14ish with that rear bumper though
    Cheers mate, in the next coming months the underside is going to be restored and treated best I can to preserve it for as long as possible. That huge bumper from the first post is gone now and the original bumper has been put back on.

    From the small amount of driving i've done in it, it's more than I could ask for it's everything I want. I see you're looking at getting a 13 too, just make sure you don't buy something that's 50% rust

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    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    I then replaced the cluster bulbs with some LED's. They look very blue in the picture but in person they look much better with no where near as much blue-tint.



    I then decided it was time to start refreshing the underside on bits that I can do. I removed the fuel tank and still have it out nearly 2 months later. It's a pain to clean up around the filler neck so I got the neck sand blasted which revealed loads of small holes. I used some Q-bond to fill in the holes after being recommended it by a classics restorer. Hopefully it holds up. The inside was pristine though which was a nice surprise. The plan with the tank is to zinc prime the whole thing and then either stonechip over or epoxy mastic and then stonechip over that. The tank will then be re-fitted with a walbro 255.



    Wire wheel and then deox gel to strip the rust off.








    Made good use of the garden furniture



    I then decided to remove the hot start solenoid. I learned why and how from a couple threads floating about on here.



    Added stainless rocker cover/spark plug cover bolts. Half of the screws holding the rocker covers on where not even done up hand tight



    My good friend matas then picked up an s14 and I had it on my drive for 2 weeks while he sorted out how to get it back up to Leeds. They make a good couple




    The next thing I done was a custom gauge holder for the radio surround. I didn't want to remove the fans in the centre of the dash so I moved the head unit down a slot and used the old din pocket to bodge up something that holds 3 52mm gauges. I went for stack gauges as they're fairly cheap and I haven't heard anything bad about them. I also think they look the part too, just nice and simple.





    Then decided to paint it black as I'm not a fan of the carbon look.(blurrrrrry pic sorry)



    I never really liked A pillar gauges but after seeing my friends one in his s14 and noticing it wasn't distracting or got in the way at all, I decided to make a gauge holder on the pillar trim. I followed another thread on here on how to achieve the look I got. I didn't turn out perfect but I'm happy with it for now and it wasn't bad for my first attempt. I bought a universal gauge pod and trimmed down the edges then screwed it into the trim.



    I then filled all around the edges and sanded them down and filled again until it was a smooth enough surface for paint.



    After that I used a few layers of filler primer and then a few layers of regular grey primer.



    And after some coats of textured paint and then satin black, this was the final product.




    So that's pretty much where the car is at, I'm currently trying to get quotes on some of the work that will need to be done to the body. By the end of the month it may be somewhere getting welded up. The bits need doing would be too much for me as a base to learn to weld and I'd rather it get done properly so it looks perfect. Pics will follow of the bad bits on my s13 nugget.

    Once the main bits of welding are done, the plan is to underseal the car and possibly refurb the subframe with some blasting/paint and then bushes. Adjustable arms are also on the list and I have the turbo elbow, downpipe and silenced decat to fit. Once the tank is in and the car is running I'll have the opportunity again to diagnose a miss-fire it randomly developed as well. There's also a nice little boot leak for me to source and fix as well
    Last edited by JackB; 08-08-2016 at 17:05.

  8. #8
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Picked up a couple goodies and stuck them on.








  9. #9
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Managed to make a setup for sandblasting and fully cleaned up the fuel tank. It's currently in zinc primer while I choose what to buy to paint it in.

    I used a 2.5hp 50ltr tank which worked fine. Definitely would be nice with some more power behind it and higher CFM but it got the job done it just took a while.







    I also picked up a Tomei Duracon 90mm knob and a new s14 suede shift boot to tidy things up. Had to cut slots on the gaiter to fit but it looks great on. All the gauges are now wired up and have a switch on them so I can turn the gauge lights on/off whenever I want. Centre console holds the oil temp, oil pressure and water temp gauges and a boost gauge is on the a pillar.





    A couple nice boxes also turned up for me!



    Some major rust pictures will be incoming soon! A lot of work needs to be done but at the end of it this s13 should live on just a while longer. Financially it's stupid but I don't want to break or scrap this as that's all people seem to do with them. So the plan currently is to get the majority of the rust/bodywork sorted up and sprayed, then move onto cleaning and underselaling the underside. I'll refurb the rear subframe and bush it along with sticking on adjustable arms all around.
    Last edited by JackB; 28-09-2016 at 23:02.

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    Good progress so far, looks like mine except youre able to drive yours! Had mine 6 days before it needed a new engine What gear shifter is that? ive been looking for a good one for mine and that looks the part, does it make any difference to the drive?

  11. #11
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by s13joss View Post
    Good progress so far, looks like mine except youre able to drive yours! Had mine 6 days before it needed a new engine What gear shifter is that? ive been looking for a good one for mine and that looks the part, does it make any difference to the drive?
    Thanks mate I've been doing bits where I can. Lots of welding needs doing but it should be pretty good afterwards, the engine seems pretty solid. That's very unfortunate for you tho, I'd be pissed off to say the least I saw your welcome thread a while back and thought yours looked really nice.

    I however don't get to drive it as I can't insure until December due to price. Since getting it back home I've done 10 miles in it if that

    The short shifter is an Apex Performance one but I haven't had a chance to drive it with it on yet since the fuel tank isn't back in. Moving it about in the car though it feels very solid and there is 0 wiggle or slop in the shifter when in neutral or in a gear and it takes a bit of effort to push it into each gear compared to stock. I really like it though and can't wait to actually drive with it.

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    Do you have a link to where you got it from dude? cheers!

  13. #13
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by s13joss View Post
    Do you have a link to where you got it from dude? cheers!
    I bought it off a friend second hand, don't think it had even seen 500 miles on it though.

    I believe it's same as this one although it doesn't say if it's for a 13 or 14. I would definitely just give them a call and get one that way instead of buying off the site.

    http://www.apexperformance.co.uk/cat...dac8fcd969c9cc

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    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Stuck a Nardi horn button in a while back. You can also see all the gauges that have the backlights controlled by this switch.



    Fuel tank also got fully sealed. Decided to use Jotamastic which will also be used as my underseal. Layers in order were - Zinc Primer - Jotun Jotamastic 87 - Stonechip



    The jotamastic turned out looking great. It was brushed on and dried to a solid shiny metallic-like grey.









    It was then stonechipped and had the anti-vibration rubber pads stuck back on.





    And a Walbro 255 went in at the same time

  15. #15
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    My rust issues also persuaded me to pick up a donor car as it seemed a wiser option in the long run, cost wise. I do want to keep it away from the scrapyard though so bigger things may come to it in the future

    Many of you will certainly know this car, such a shame it was wrecked as it was perfect...





    If you couldn't tell who's it was, it was LED Sandwich's. The build thread is definitely worth a read - http://sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?5...13-project-34k


    RUST....Yes rust...Shock. The repairs have started. Both rear sills and rear quarters are pretty ugly and so lots of work needs to be put in. The previous body kit hid all these points and so dirt built up and rot had it's fun. I got a pretty large quote to get all of it sorted however it would'v probably ended up being more as once you start poking you find more and more rot. Me and a friend are having ago at doing it all instead, or at least the bits easy enough to get done. The driver side rear quarter may need some professional attention as it is very bad.

    So, the passenger rear quarter is the first to get cleaned up. It looked like this when the rear bumper came off.





    After poking around it ended up looking like this.





    All of it was cut out and replaced with an 'exact' replacement from the donor shell.



    Welded and filled, them primed.





    Inner panel. Slapped some primer on as a little bit of protection while I get some more supplies. The surrounding metal is all good just looks bad. I'll be cleaning it all up, possibly adding in some more weld and then fully sealing it all. The big hole in the middle will also be plated not just left like that.

    Last edited by JackB; 09-01-2017 at 19:30.

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    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Got some more done.

    Passenger side sill after poking.





    Went to the other shell and cut the back part of the sill out. Then welded filled and primed it all.






    The only bit of actual rot was cut out and replaced. And the rest of the holes were plated/filled.






  17. #17
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Driver side previous repair looked pretty bad however managed to clean it up and get it looking good without having to cut and weld any of it.





    Filled and primed. Then another skim of filler for low points.




    Two days later I was greeted with this when going to start on getting more done.



    Pissed off to say the least, must have been the welding on the lid however the heat was very contained and we took it slow. It was fine hours after we'd finished as well so I don't get why.
    And here's a pic of what's next to do. FUN!


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    Guest Maff_1991's Avatar
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    And I thought mine was rusty , is there any lower rear 1/4 left on that?

    Great work so far

  19. #19
    Guest Maff_1991's Avatar
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    Oh and do you want to send the plastic scuttle from the donor car to me?

  20. #20
    Guest JackB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maff_1991 View Post
    Oh and do you want to send the plastic scuttle from the donor car to me?
    Not much left of it at all to say the least



    I can go have a look at the scuttle and send you some pics to see the condition of it if you like

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