1993 Nissan 240SX - Part 3: Making it Stick and Stop! - Ignition Ep. 110
On this episode of Ignition
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Welcome to 240SX episode three.
00:05 Finally, we're back.
00:07 It's been a long time coming.
00:09 We've been busy with things like testing the Porsche 918
00:12 and McLaren P1, but now we're back to what's important,
00:16 a 21-year-old Nissan.
00:17 Seriously, we've been dying to work on this car
00:21 for a long time.
00:22 It's been a while, so let's go over what we did.
00:25 We tested it, drifted it, and then it broke.
00:29 With it running on three cylinders,
00:31 we decided, of course, to work on the wheels,
00:33 tires, and brakes.
00:34 It's what you do, right?
00:36 A five-lug hub conversion allowed us to install
00:38 17-inch raised-gram lights, which we wrapped
00:41 with massive BFGoodrich tires.
00:43 And underneath that went big, awesome Brembos up front.
00:47 The cost of those brakes made a lot of people angry,
00:49 as they easily exceeded the value of the car.
00:53 If you're one of those people,
00:54 you should probably stop watching now.
00:56 (engine revving)
01:00 (tires screeching)
01:03 So this week, we're gonna finish what we started last year,
01:19 which is get the 240SX set up for stopping and handling
01:22 before we add what'll probably end up being
01:25 way too much horsepower.
01:26 Mark Lidardon's back with his magical wink of magic.
01:30 Mark knows what he's doing.
01:31 (laughing)
01:32 So all you guys in the forums who complain about our build,
01:35 you can blame me.
01:36 But anyway, let's go over the parts.
01:38 We have coilovers from KW, they're club sports.
01:42 - We also have Injuku Isis,
01:44 their full suspension package.
01:46 - Also, we have a 300ZX set of rear brakes,
01:49 Brembo replacement rotors for those brakes.
01:52 - And as well as these fine Recaro seats.
01:55 - On the bodywork side, we overnighted from Japan
01:58 these fenders from Origin,
02:00 and they'll be nice 'cause they'll make,
02:02 actually, wide bodies are just cool.
02:04 That's why the real reason why.
02:05 Wide bodies are just cool.
02:06 - And plus we have three inches of front tire sticking out.
02:08 - Which is not a bad thing.
02:10 First up, suspension.
02:12 The blue Tokikos are a decent replacement budget shock,
02:15 but we wanted something better, a lot better.
02:18 And KW club sports are a vast improvement
02:20 in pretty much every way.
02:23 KW positions these coilovers as a solution for cars
02:26 prepped for street and track use.
02:28 They're easy to install and look great once in place.
02:31 - So I just put in the KW club sport coilover on this side.
02:35 I took out the old strut, it was an old Tokiko,
02:38 and right off the bat, it saves about 20 pounds.
02:40 That old Tokiko is really heavy.
02:42 One of the big things that's awesome about KW coilovers
02:45 is that these are completely rebuildable
02:46 and you can revalve them to any setting that you like.
02:50 - We're also replacing the tension rods up front,
02:53 the rear tow links, upper control arms, and traction links
02:56 with a kit from Isis and Injuku Racing.
02:58 Though easy on the budget,
03:00 these links are tough and adjustable,
03:02 so we'll be able to tailor caster, tow, and camber.
03:05 Injuku backs them strongly
03:07 and uses them on the company's drift car.
03:09 Installation is simple.
03:11 Unbolt the stock parts and bolt in the new ones.
03:13 It's a good idea to measure the stock arms for length
03:16 before installing the new ones,
03:17 as it'll save you some alignment work.
03:20 We're just about finished with the front end of the car.
03:22 We have the KW Club Sports on, we have the tension rods in,
03:26 and the nice thing is is all the colors match,
03:28 which is very important
03:29 when it comes to suspension design and tuning.
03:32 Well, we've basically finished disassembling
03:35 the rear end of the 240SX.
03:37 It's the second time we've done it,
03:38 and we're getting pretty good at it.
03:39 If we're lucky, we may get to disassemble it a third time,
03:42 maybe a fourth time,
03:43 depending on how things go with the build.
03:45 I'm holding in my hand a upper control arm
03:47 from Isis/Injuku, and it replaces this guy,
03:51 this upper control arm.
03:52 We're also replacing the traction rod
03:55 and the tow control links with components like these.
03:59 These are adjustable, they're durable, they're strong.
04:02 That's why we're using them.
04:03 We've already replaced the 240SX brakes
04:05 with 300ZX brakes, which is nice.
04:07 We've actually replaced the hubs themselves.
04:11 We've got the new dust shield on,
04:12 and we've been able to keep the 240SX knuckle,
04:15 which is nice 'cause the suspension
04:16 will bolt right up to that.
04:18 If you ever find yourself underneath
04:22 a 20-year-old Nissan 240SX,
04:24 you're gonna find that everything's corroded.
04:28 All the bolts are screwed up, stripped,
04:30 because it's probably been stolen
04:32 like this one was and put together.
04:34 Kind of not so great.
04:36 - Not stolen by us.
04:37 - What?
04:38 - Not stolen by us.
04:39 - Not stolen by us.
04:40 That's a very important thing to point out.
04:43 If you find yourself in this position,
04:45 and you need to take apart the rear end,
04:47 start with the lower control arm.
04:50 It's easier.
04:51 - What's really sweet about these
04:53 is that each side is opposite threads.
04:56 One's regular, one's reverse.
04:58 But just to adjust toe, even at this point right now,
05:00 so we can eyeball it, you can just pretty much twist it
05:03 and make on-the-fly stuff real easy.
05:05 - And you lock it with that nut?
05:06 - Yeah, you just lock it with each hex jam nut.
05:08 And the same thing with the upper control arm
05:10 and traction rod, and the same thing with the front end
05:12 with the tension rods and stuff.
05:13 It makes it super easy.
05:15 For the rear brakes, we turned to the second generation
05:18 300ZX, it's a common upgrade for 240SXs.
05:21 We assembled the replacement kit,
05:23 combining used parts and OE hardware
05:25 from Nissan Online's parts store.
05:27 And for pads, we went to Project Mu.
05:30 Despite the fact you're changing
05:31 the entire rear braking system,
05:33 it's largely a simple bolt-on process.
05:36 I'm a huge advocate for functional interiors in fast cars.
05:40 The easier it is to use the pedals, shifter, and wheel,
05:43 the faster you can go.
05:45 Problem is getting decent seats
05:47 that fit into the S13 chassis is a pain.
05:51 There isn't much headroom,
05:52 and most side bolsters poke out past the door.
05:54 Bulges in the floor pan create a fitment problem, too.
05:58 We got a pair of beautiful and comfortable
06:00 Recaro pole positions, which we were told
06:03 would fit low-mount Buddy Club seat rails.
06:05 That's almost true.
06:07 In order to fit the stock mounting holes,
06:09 the seats have to be at the highest position on the bracket,
06:12 which leads to a terrible seating position.
06:15 In order to mount the seats properly,
06:16 we had to weld a tab onto one of the brackets on the rail.
06:19 Doing so allowed us to put the seat at the perfect height,
06:22 giving us a great seating position.
06:24 With all the important stuff bolted together,
06:27 we thought it wise to look at the fenders.
06:29 With the suspension slightly lower,
06:31 we were just at maybe a little bit beyond
06:34 the max tire size the wheel wells would take.
06:37 Just about everything cleared,
06:38 except for the fenders and quarter panels.
06:41 Neither of those are particularly important,
06:43 so we took off the fronts and cut out the rears.
06:46 We also trimmed out more non-essential parts
06:48 from the front wheel wells
06:49 and relocated the wiring harness.
06:51 The fronts replaced the stock units,
06:54 and the rears bolt over the existing quarter panel.
06:57 If you want to end up with a really nice-looking
06:59 wide-body kit on your car, you go to a professional,
07:02 you spend good money, and you wait 'til it's done.
07:04 If you just care about tire clearance,
07:06 you cut out the quarter panel, you rivet on your overs,
07:09 and you call it a day,
07:10 because there's more important things to do.
07:12 When we left off last year, the 240 was running
07:16 like a Subaru, because it was on three cylinders.
07:20 And we weren't really sure what was up,
07:21 and we didn't really look at it too hard,
07:22 but once we did, we found out that the problem was this guy,
07:26 bad fuel injector.
07:27 We checked the cylinders, and we found out
07:30 it was number four that wasn't firing.
07:32 Mark checked, cylinder was dry,
07:34 so there's no fuel going there,
07:35 so that means either the injector's bad or the ECU's bad.
07:37 - Yep, injector driver, or the injector itself.
07:41 - So next, we moved injectors around,
07:43 and when we did that, we were able to move
07:45 the problem around, so that meant
07:46 it was definitely the injector.
07:49 Tripped the AutoZone, this guy,
07:50 and now we're good to go, purring like a kitten.
07:53 So now you're probably wondering, with these brakes,
08:01 with the suspension, with the tires, with the bodywork,
08:04 why we've done all this.
08:06 - Yeah, why don't we tell them?
08:08 - Well, that's because of what's in this crate.
08:11 In here is a 430 horsepower LS3
08:14 from Chevy Performance Parts.
08:16 It's an E-Rod motor, so it's smog legal.
08:19 We also have a T56 Super Magnum six-speed manual,
08:22 and at the end of this year, it's all going inside the car.
08:26 Looking like it just emerged from the junkyard,
08:28 we were eager to see how much of a difference
08:30 the new parts made.
08:32 Never mind that we hadn't checked the alignment or anything,
08:34 we just went to the test track to see what would happen.
08:36 It's a lesson we learned from our friends at Roadkill.
08:39 Despite installing heavier and stronger parts,
08:42 bigger wheels and brakes, we were surprised
08:45 that the Nissan only gained about 33 pounds.
08:47 That gain was worth it.
08:49 Our best stop from 60 miles an hour dropped to 115 feet,
08:53 which is a huge improvement from the 157 feet
08:56 it took it when we first got the car.
08:58 We noticed the rear brakes locked up before the fronts,
09:01 showing that we're leaving some performance on the table.
09:05 We were feeling pretty good about the braking performance,
09:07 but then we went over to the handling track.
09:09 There, the 240SX was simply hilarious.
09:13 It's the definition of a momentum car.
09:15 The 118 rear-wheel horsepower means it isn't very fast,
09:18 but it's so light and grippy,
09:20 you don't really have to stop for corners.
09:22 And even with those big, sticky tires and no power,
09:25 the chassis was still flexible enough to drift.
09:29 (car engine revving)
09:32 Its best lap at 25.4 seconds matches what we've recorded
09:37 from the Focus ST and Subaru WRX.
09:40 And it's worth repeating,
09:41 this thing dynoed at 118 horsepower.
09:44 It's making up all that time in the corners,
09:47 as evident by its 1.01 G average around the skid pad.
09:51 Over one G, without tuning.
09:57 (upbeat music)
09:59 - Hey Cameron, how was that?
10:14 - Yeah.
10:15 - No, it's not.
10:16 - That was good.
10:17 - No problem.
10:18 (upbeat music)
10:21 (car engine revving)
10:24 (upbeat music)
10:26 (car engine revving)
10:29 (upbeat music)
10:32 (car engine revving)
10:35 (upbeat music)
10:38 (car engine revving)
10:41 (upbeat music)
10:43 (car engine revving)
10:46 (upbeat music)
10:49 (car engine revving)
10:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]