Posts Tagged ‘240sx’

Words & Photos by Zach Taiji

Back in March, we did a feature on a street-styled S14 Silvia, and appended to the end of it was a teaser of the owner’s track car, a flat black pro-am S13. So here we are, call it part deux if you will.

I wanted to give an introduction about the owner, Tyler Grimsley, a bit since I didn’t so much in the other feature. He comes from the backwoods of Port Angeles, WA. “I’ve been into cars ever since I was a kid, my dad drag races and I used to go with him when I was younger. I saw drifting on tv one day and knew it was something I had to try. There isn’t a huge scene up where I live in Port Angeles, but the few guys who do actually do it are very passionate and hardcore.” Tyler’s dad owns a local automotive shop called Strait Alignment, so he was destined to do something with cars. If you’re ever in the quaint town of Port Angeles for some suspension related work, I recommend you check them out. They do some great work at great prices.

“I started drifting when I was 13 in a 1980 Toyota corolla in a huge field behind my house, when I turned 16 I got my first s13 and I have had 6 since then. I drove in my first drift event when I was 17 at South Sound Speedway in Tenino, WA.” Since then, Tyler has done many events all over Washington, which I will mention in a bit.

But first I want to introduce the car that you see above. It’s a 1989 Nissan 240sx, and you’d be surprised to know that this beast has taken quite a beating in its previous life. “I’ve owned this car for around 2 years, this car actually came to be after I wrecked my first drift car at Evergreen Speedway. My old coupe shell was ruined, so I bought this one off a buddy for like 200 bucks and swapped all of my parts over. Wrecking my first car really sucked, but in the end this car is a much better platform.”

The drivetrain is a KA series engine with a Turbonetics t3/t4 .63a/r turbo to give it more than enough power through the corners, and pushes 395whp and 370wtq (click here for dyno sheet). Other goodies like an ACT 6 puck clutch, built internals, and 740cc injectors give it a performance boost. “We haven’t had any major issues with this car, the biggest thing was getting the new shell prepped for the parts we had to put in it. In its previous life this car had a pretty major engine fire so the whole bay was nasty.”

On the exterior, you’ll notice the flat black paint and Origin Aggressive aero kit. There are also various sponsor decals that he reps, including one from his family’s shop, Strait Alignment, and an ASD Motorsports decal which is one of his recent big sponsors. A bozo exhaust finishes the rear of the car.

Suspension-wise, it sits on 17×8 +27 and 17×9 +17 MB Weapons wrapped in 235/40 Falken tires. Falken is one of Tyler’s major sponsors, be sure to check them out! KTS coilovers give it a functional stance. “This car wasn’t really inspired by anyone, I just took things I saw and made them fit my application. I wanted to be different so I did a KA-T, but in the end the whole direction was to make the most competitive drift car we could.”

The interior is something I really enjoyed looking at, the first thing I noticed was the welded Position 1 FD legal roll cage and custom TYGR Racing cut-out (his team). Buddy Club seats bolster Tyler into the car when drifting and RJS harnesses keep the driver safe.

“This year, I plan to run all of the Evergreen Drift Pro-Am series, XDC round 6 at PGP and every open drift day I can make it out to. My main goals are to represent my partners well and to eventually earn a Formula Drift Pro License. Coming in second place in the Evergreen Drift Grassroots Championship last year was pretty memorable because it was my first full season at Evergreen.”

“My dad and I built the whole car ourselves. Im about a 9 out 10 on this build, there are still things in the works that I’d like to change, but so far the car is doing exactly what it’s supposed to.”

Engine
KA-T
Bored .020 over
O-Ringed
Arias Pistions
Carrillo Rods
Turbonetics t3/t4 .63a/r turbo
HKS SSQV
ACT 6 puck race clutch
Z32 MAF
740cc injectors
Nistune Fuel Management
395whp, 370wtq

Exterior
Origin Aggressive aero kit
Vented hood
Bozo exhaust
Dmax 30mm rear overfenders

Wheel & Tires
17×8 + 28 A-tech weapon wheels with 25mm spacers (front)
17×9 + 17 A-tech weapon wheels with 25mm spacers (rear)
235/40/17 Falken Azenis RT615K tires (front and rear)

Suspension
KTS coilovers
PBM Knuckles
SPC suspension arms
Nismo power brace
Kaaz 2 way diff

Interior
Position 1 FD legal roll cage
Buddy club seats
NRG steering wheel and hub
RJS harnesses “

Photos and Words by Zach Taiji exclusively for nw-built.com

A week or two ago I was browsing the local car forums for possible feature cars, and photos of an interesting Black S14 showed up on Northwest Nissans. So I proceeded to click on the user’s profile and send him a message, when I discovered that they were from Port Angeles, WA which is about 20 minutes from where I reside, a short distance for being on the isolated Olympic Peninsula.

The owner texts me about a week later, telling me to meet up at his family’s local auto shop since he was back for spring break from Eastern Washington University. He gives me the address, and I realize that the place we’re meeting is Strait Alignment, a pretty popular shop around the area. They do all sorts of cool suspension related work. So I head out on one of the few sunny days that us Washingtonians pine for, and as I arrive, I see two guys standing next to a flat black Pro-Am drift S13, the owner (Tyler Grimsley) and his buddy Matthew.

Both of these guys are really cool, we got to chat a bunch and talk cars; I was really surprised to see such genuine auto enthusiasts around these parts of town. If you grew up around here, you’d know that there isn’t much of an auto scene other than Classic Cars and 4×4 Pickups. Anyways, I got to shooting his drift car, which you will see in another feature (let this be part 1 of 2), and then we headed up to Hurricane Ridge, a beautiful mountain, to get some photos of this 1998 Nissan S14 240sx.

“I’ve had this car for about 1.5 years. We bought it wrecked. It was yellow and had one of those horrid invader style body kits on it, cheap wheels, and lowering springs. This biggest issue with this build was time, between waiting for the body parts and wheels to show up, I was close to losing my patience. My Dad and I built the car. Paint and Body was done by Danny Kvam.”

Tyler prevailed, and created a simple and clean Silvia built for the street. The wheels are Work VS-MD, 18×9 +3 front and 18×10 +23 rear. They’re wrapped in 215/40/18 (F) 235/40/18 (R). An authentic JDM S14 Silvia K’s body kit finishes the exterior, among a few other things. “This car was inspired by more of a street styled, almost VIP direction. It’s not a race car, so I can get away with some negative camber and lower ride height.”

But wait – this car isn’t all looks. With a quick glance, you’ll see a nice front mount intercooler to supplement the already aggressive front end look of the Kouki. Pop the hood, and it’s got a Garrett t3/t4 turbo, bigger injectors, and a Greddy ti-c exhaust.

The interior is pretty straightforward, with Bride Gias low max seats to help support the driver around sharp corners, and a Nismo shift knob and gauges to aid Tyler with information on the turbo setup.

“It’s hard to pick just one thing that’s my favorite, but I’m going to have to go with the open wastegate dump. I love scaring pedestrians with it. I love it whenever someone stops me to ask what kind of car it is. Normal people have no idea a Nissan could look like this.”

Stay tuned for part 2, a pro-am drift car that Tyler and his Dad built. Here’s a teaser.

Engine:
KA-T
Garrett t3/t4 turbo
Turboxs bov
Greddy ti-c exhaust
HKS wastegate
52lb injectors
Cobra MAF
JWT ROM tune

Exterior:
Full Authentic JDM S14 Silvia K’s body kit

Wheel & Tires:
Work VS-MD wheels, 18×9 +3 front, 18×10 +23 rear
Federal ss595 tires
215/40/18 (F) 235/40/18 (R)

Suspension:
Fortune Auto Coilovers
SPC suspension arms
VLSD

Interior:
Bride Gias low max seats
Nismo shift knob

Words / Photos by David Green

“And put an extra gear in it!” That’s what the angry warehouse employee yelled at Zach and me as we loaded my camera gear back into my car. I’ve done quite a few photoshoots since I got into this scene, but before this one nobody had ever threatened to call the cops. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning.

This is Derrik Pompeo’s 1990 Nissan 240sx, and damn is it clean. Derrik bought the car two years ago with 147k miles on the bone stock single cam automatic. But when the motor started to knock, all Derrik heard was opportunity at his door.

He decided to swap in a dual cam KA from a ’93 240sx and throw a turbo on it while Doug’s Auto Body did the body work and painted both the car and the wheels. With a tune by Garage Autohero, Derrik’s new KA-T idles and runs like a champ.

Derrik came out to Speedware’s open house last weekend to check out the cars and so that we could sneak away and do this shoot for you guys. And that brings us back to what I mentioned earlier. Neither of us knew the area around Speedware very well, so Derrik just followed Zach and me to the parking lot of a nearby warehouse. We got the car set up in a good spot and I starting doing my thing.

The shoot went just like any other right up until the end when Derrik asked me, “Hey, want me to drift it?” And me being the agreeable guy I am replied, “Sure, why not?” So he did.

It was actually pretty surprising that he got away with it as long as he did. It was a good five minutes before the guy came out of the warehouse yelling about us leaving and him calling the cops. So once again, since I’m so agreeable, we told him we’d leave.

This was definitely the most fun I’ve had at a shoot and I’d like to thank Derrik for risking it for us. Derrik has some people of his own he’d like to thank as well for helping him build this rad 240: Ray at Garage Autohero, Sean at Lake Town Motorsports, Doug at Doug’s Auto Body, his good buddy Gleb, Doug at Performance Nissan and last but definitely not least his parents.

Engine

• Ka24de 2.4l 16v
• NRG 10.2 sparkplug wires
• XS Power turbo manifold
• Garrent t28rs
• Megan turbo elbow
• Trust downpipe
• Megan test pipe
• Apexi N1 catback exhaust 80mm
• CX Racing Intercooler kit
• OBX silcone radiator hoses
• Megan Racing radiator
• Derrik’s Custom intake
• AMS oil air filter
• 8 Velocity oil feed/drain and sandwich plate
• Tomei Fuel Pressure Regulator
• 370cc injectors
• Walbro 255 fuel pump
• Z32 fuel filter
• N60 MAF

Drivetrain

• Stock 5 speed tranny
• Exedy pressure plate
• XTD stage two clutch disc
• Welded diff

Electronics

• MSD ignition
• Apexi safc2 neo
• JDM khm cluster
• Glow Shift boost gauge

Suspension

• JIC FLT-A2
• Rear strut bar
• Lower tie bar

Exterior

• Pignose lip
• Rolled front and rear fenders
• OEM kouki type x sideskirts
• OEM type x rear valences
• Kouki tail lights
• Rota p45r’s 17×9.5 +12 and -13

Interior

• Bride Brix low max
• Buddy Club super low down seat rails
• NRG harness
• NRG Wheel
• Nismo shift knob
• Hello Kitty horn button

Photography / Words by David Green

Yesterday was day two of the first annual Bigfoot Bash at PGP. The sun was out and it was a great day to see some cars go balls-out around the track’s fifteen corners.

There was a pretty good variety of cars on display along with drivers of differing styles and skill levels.

There was even a big group of cars that came down all the way from Canada to get in on the action.

All in all it was a blast. Lots of cars, lots of people and the drivers were just there to get out and have fun before winter ruins it for everyone.

Unfortunately, the harsh sun also meant that a lot of my pictures didn’t turn out. So blame the sun for the lack of variety here.

This next shot is a little teaser for my next feature. I won’t say what the car is, but I will say that there are hints in the picture. If you figure it out, don’t spoil the surprise!