"Brick in a box" - (1991) 245 "stealth" project car

Went to the junk yard, and much to my surprise they had a decent selection (90' 245 --92' 244-- 84 242 turbo -- and a couple turbo 740's)


After doing some research, I've decided to go with the garret t25, the unit on this car was in excellent condition (minimal left to right, and zero in-and-out shaft play) I guess that shouldn't be surprising with only 105k. The mitsu might spool a little faster, but with high compression, and a 90+ manifold, I doubt it will be a problem. Plus, it looks like I can swap over the compressor/wheel from a spare RX-7 HT-18 turbo. It's good for about 230-240 @ 12-15 psi on a rotary. Given that rotaries like a LOT of air, it should at least make 250+ in this application.

Also, picked up most of a black interior, turbo power mirrors, and a cool "Diplomat Edition" velvet booklet out of the turbo 740 wagon


On the way back home however, I noticed temps start to rise, and all the idiot lights came on.......snapped alt/wp belt ;-( Fortunately I already had the replacements in the car, so I just changed them at the gas station. However while doing so, I noticed that the alt mounting point seems to be broken, I tightened it until it started to bend the adjustment bolt, but within a few miles it was loose again. Also, the watever pump seems to be bad, so we can add that to the list.

slow240 said:

coilovers with proper dampers and spring rates and you might have a lot more fun than you thought possible.

then its time for g80 locker, +t, 3" exhaust, bigger intercooler, MegaSquirt n Spark..... its easy to get bitten by this bug. something really attractive about making an ugly slow car do things no one thinks are possible.


fwiw, my 242 has a stock '95 b230f+t, .55a/r t3, 3" exhaust, lh2.4 with no chips, and a few other easy bolt ons and it outran a brand new 370z (still had 30 day tags, he was a little pissed)

have fun!

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Don't think coilovers are in the budget right now, the car cost a 1,000, and I should have the +T and manual swap in hand for another 1,000 total budget is between 2500 - 3000. So lowering springs/ sways/ maybe some shocks will have to do for now.

I'll take a look at the G80 once its running, and a 3" exhaust is definitely in the plans, budget will dictate when; the T+ kit I'm getting includes a DP, so I can rig something short term at least.

What size compressor are you running on that t3? How is response? When do you see full boost?

That's a pretty nice looking 242 to be sitting in a JY.

Went to pick up the manual swap parts, and the drive was pretty uneventful. Damn, this thing is slow as molasses on a winter day! The trans and turbo should help with that. I'm working on the stage zero parts/maintaininace list, and it's starting to become apparent that the best course of action is to just pull the engine and trans and do everything outside the car.

JohnMc said:

That's a pretty nice looking 242 to be sitting in a JY.

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Indeed! You could still feel the wax in the paint with your finger. It had 105k, a full interior and there are do dents. The only preceptible flaw was that there was tape around the sunroof, so perhaps it leaked?

Fuel pump even looked like it had recently been replaced (wish I knew it was an upgrade to the LH pump, or I would have snagged it)

Hey, you are in JAX right?

How were the headlights on the 90 and 92, I need a set that doesn't have broken reflectors and there is NOTHING here.

That 242 turbo belt line trim is hard to find! Go get it before its crushed!

My turbo has .48 hotside, and a .55 coldside. I see boost pretty quickly, but my wg actuator isn't behaving so I don't see full boost till pretty late :/

Was about to say that too, that car looks clean and you could pull a bunch of stuff off it, like oil cooler, intercooler pipes, turbo, manifold, transmission, gauges and various interior parts.

Simi said:

Hey, you are in JAX right?

How were the headlights on the 90 and 92, I need a set that doesn't have broken reflectors and there is NOTHING here.

Was about to say that too, that car looks clean and you could pull a bunch of stuff off it, like oil cooler, intercooler pipes, turbo, manifold, transmission, gauges and various interior parts.

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90 is gone (damn shame, it had the rest of the black interior) and the 92 was in a front end collision, no dice on headlights there. Trust me, I full planned to yank a whole heap of stuff, but I've already spoken to someone local who has all the parts boxed up and ready to go , so I'd rather save the time and trouble and get them from him. Gauges and intereior were gone before I got there.

slow240 said:

That 242 turbo belt line trim is hard to find! Go get it before its crushed!

My turbo has .48 hotside, and a .55 coldside. I see boost pretty quickly, but my wg actuator isn't behaving so I don't see full boost till pretty late :/

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Is it now? I thought it was just regular trim painted black...

Any idea on whp? I was going to look for a .63 A/R housing, but for $ sake I may just run the stock 42/48 T3 from the 242, it should at least spool quicker with 9.8 CR and a 90+ manifold.

Also, I looked up the measurements for the garret and the FC compressor wheel, and the FC is 3mm bigger on the inducer and exducer, so I might throw that combo together a little later, after its up and running. What kind of power do people typically make on the stock garret?

Picked up the aforementioned +T kit, and man is this complete! Definitely a much better idea than wasting the 2 days (and probably just as much $) it would have taken to pull it all myself.



As a bonus it even came with a factory optional trans cooler, and some custom 240 3" down pipe in addition to a 740 dp. Plus, the pedal box and clutch cable to complete my manual swap.

FWIW DIY coilovers can be built for the front pretty easily if you have an angle grinder. More spring options that way.

If you cut and weld the strut tube, you can make them shorter too, and run Saab inserts for plenty of travel with a good bit of low.

thebornotaku said:

FWIW DIY coilovers can be built for the front pretty easily if you have an angle grinder. More spring options that way.

If you cut and weld the strut tube, you can make them shorter too, and run Saab inserts for plenty of travel with a good bit of low.

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While I do have access to an angle grinder, I'll be using that to cut stock springs, as cheap as coil overs may be, they can't be cheaper than chopping 1-2 coils with some good condition struts.

This is more of a fun utility vehicle with a dash of style, so I'd rather get wheel adapters than coilovers for now.

Another junkyard foray, I started off looking for an lh2.4 flywheel/ clutch since that was the only thing missing from my m46 swap. However , since my car was a "diplomat" 745 turbo, with hydro clutch (and apparently, people go through these transmissions faster than underwear), I decided to take the whole setup.

I went to help my brother work on the gf's car, the takeaway....

"Needs moaar low"

So, while I was under that car in the yard, it got me to thinking... what cars came with an lsd that I can use? 745 turbo? I wasn't going to pull it that day, but it would be nice to know what to look for.

Another successful day at the yard, only $29! (Rx7 headlights, throttle cable and shift knob not pictured) But man was that firewall panel a pain in the a$$ to remove!

For anyone wondering why I'm going through the trouble of pulling this panel, I'm going hydraulic clutch since that's what my second m46 came with, and this panel (unlike mine) has the matter cylinder mounts cutout, which I'd have to remove my current panel to do anyway.

Also did a compression test once I got home to see if I should +t this engine or grab another from the yard:

Cylinder 1: 134 psi
Cylinder 2: 135 psi
Cylinder 3: 133 psi
Cylinder 4: 136 psi

Certainly not the strongst of readings, but at least it's even, and the first pulse was between 90-100psi on each cylinder (according to my manual that's a good thing)

So it turns out I forgot to hold the throttle open during the compression test, so numbers are a bit low. Not sure by how much, but I figure it should work well enough.

Sweet, I just did an M46 swap on mine and it took a whole weekend from 8:30 am till 10:30pm the next day.

It was a pain but doable, I am enjoying it so far though. If have any questions, let me know.

Also was there by chance another 740 M46 in that yard?

Dang! I'm planning on this taking about a week for everything. Since I'm refreshing the engine and converting to hydro clutch.Fortunately it's not yet my daily, so I can take my time.

I'm trying to do as much research as possible, so everything goes smoothly.

Not in that yard, but there's an 85' 744t with m46 in another yard up here.

Well no real updates yet, still researching and gathering parts, but did see this while I was@ work on Saturday...

300td merc wagon, never saw the owner, but I doubt they are an enthusiast...neat nonetheless.