1 Topic by coolhand454 (edited by coolhand454 2014-07-17 09:22 AM)

  • From: South Side Of Chicago
  • Registered: 2010-11-29
  • Posts: 618

Topic: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

Me and my teammate are kicking around the idea to switch to a RWD car. After doing some research, the 91-96 Nissan 240SX seems like a good car to use.

I know the 90 and earlier ones have the 3 valve engines and they can be problematic.

Cheaty parts are cheap, but due to the drifting/import crowd finding one at Lemons prices will be challenging. 

Questions for teams crazy enough to run them:

  • How do they holdup in races?

  • What are the weak points?

  • How do they handle?

Thanks for your help.

Byte Marks Racing - "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it Fred."
1992 Nissan 240SX DM Edition (Drift Master)

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

One of my friends bought this car:


http://www.murileemartin.com/LNO09/LNO09-0198.jpg

We used it in place of our blown up mustang, he got in it and I went out in our miata, never saw each other the entire stint. We were running nearly the same lap times. The brakes cooked, because ECR.

He bought it with a bad engine, replaced it, and only took it to a few autocrosses (and this one short day of Lemons) before selling it. No real help for the mechanical side.

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

Guy in my local car club has one. He recently blew up his 3rd KA. Thrown rod, melted piston, something else. Great chassis, maybe not great engine.

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

I think the biggest issue is that their prices are totally overinflated due to all the totally awesome drifters buying them all.  I'd assume any you can find cheap will be a total nightmare.

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  • From: St Louis
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

The drifters are a menace and blessing.

I started following STL drifters on Facebook and often see screaming deals on partly finished drift missiles. Usually some young guy in way over his head selling for pennies on the dollar for the aftermarket parts already installed. Lots of cheap wheels etc for sale as well.

Clearly you would be rebuilding any engines etc but there are deals to be had.

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

Still not sure why you'd bother with a foreign car when you can have something as American as this
http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/cto/4560139681.html

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  • From: Villa Park, IL
  • Registered: 2010-12-12
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

BoB wrote:

Still not sure why you'd bother with a foreign car when you can have something as American as this
http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/cto/4560139681.html

That thing's been for sale since last year. It's calling your name!

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

Have you considered an SC300?
they do come up occasionally for Lemons money. Sure they start heavy but there is a lot of weight to remove from a luxury coupe and all of the engine options are strong. There maybe SC400 parts that interchange as well.

I would be looking hard at that platform if i was building a new car.

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  • From: Aurora, IL
  • Registered: 2013-06-11
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

Brett85p wrote:

Have you considered an SC300?
they do come up occasionally for Lemons money. Sure they start heavy but there is a lot of weight to remove from a luxury coupe and all of the engine options are strong. There maybe SC400 parts that interchange as well.

I would be looking hard at that platform if i was building a new car.

Agreed. Or even the LS400.

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  • From: South Side Of Chicago
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

GMTURBO wrote:
Brett85p wrote:

Have you considered an SC300?
they do come up occasionally for Lemons money. Sure they start heavy but there is a lot of weight to remove from a luxury coupe and all of the engine options are strong. There maybe SC400 parts that interchange as well.

I would be looking hard at that platform if i was building a new car.

Agreed. Or even the LS400.

I did think about these. The 400 is too complicated and 300 is not as complicated and not as reliable. 

The biggest reason is that I have a soft spot for Nissan's and familiar with them.

Byte Marks Racing - "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it Fred."
1992 Nissan 240SX DM Edition (Drift Master)

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  • From: Aurora, IL
  • Registered: 2013-06-11
  • Posts: 76

Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

You're familiar with them because you have to work on them smile

I like the platform I just don't think it's right for this style of racing. The drifters have made the prices too high for what it is. The engines aren't known for gas mileage or reliability. 3 bad marks IMHO.

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

What they really need is 3.8 Buick power

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13 Reply by JMo (edited by JMo 2014-07-21 11:15 AM)

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

Parkwod60 wrote:

What they really need is 3.8 Buick power

Funny you should mention that. we're thinking of a V6 swap for ours. We have been running a KA powered 91 240SX since 2010. we absolutely love our car and have a few top 5 finishes. we were running in second at summit last year with 2 hours left when the head gasket blew. These cars can be made to handle really well. just add some camber and put the widest tires you can fit under there (we currently run 245s). we had some brake bias issues early on but fixed that with a simple rear caliper swap. If you are interested in running the 240 shoot me an email and we can talk about all of the lessons we've learned with ours.

John

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

If you're not partial to having a roof, the convertibles came with an automatic only and are kryptonium to the drfiting crowd. You can probably struggle through a manual (or whole drivetrain) swap if you find one with a blown engine but a good ragtop.Any chassis rigidity issues should be bolstered by a rollcage.

Talk to Trevor from the Little Lebowski team. I know he bought one earlier this year with this same strategy.

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  • From: South Side Of Chicago
  • Registered: 2010-11-29
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

We did talk therood and he mention that it is little harder to convert those then it seems. I would be better to have a donor car available.

JMo - Thanks for the info. We are probably going to start searching near the end of this year depending on if we get some full time members to help financially.

Byte Marks Racing - "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it Fred."
1992 Nissan 240SX DM Edition (Drift Master)

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  • From: Kelso, WA
  • Registered: 2014-01-09
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

The biggest issue with the KA24DE is that the oil galley in the block runs right next to the exhaust manifold and it causes the oil to carbon up in the block and plug up and then you have oil starvation for the cyl head and other components. thus causing the engine to puke eveything it has on the inside out. That is the reason why alot of the S14/240SX guys put 1.8L, OR 2.0L(SR20DE/DET'S) in there drift cars.

  • From: Van Nuys, CA
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

But if you are building one for Lemons there should still be tons of usable Nissan trucks in the junkyards with a 2.4l/5 speed drivetrain. Sure it won't be very fast, but I know from the rime I had a 15 year old 80s Nissan truck, they are not easy to kill. I would change the oil once a year and otherwise just wait for the cam chain to start clacking, then add oil.

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  • From: Choctaw, Oklahoma
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

When I was a Nissan tech I always wanted to try a S14 VH45DE swap.

  • From: Alvin, TX
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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/4541359124.html

^^^ Caged Dorifto 240SUX Roller

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Re: How Is Your 240SX Working Out For You?

Kind of late to the game here, but 240's are a great platform and the KA24DE is actually very robust, reliable, and very simple to work on.  Piston oil squirters, shim over bucket valve train, timing chain, 9.5:1 compression ratio, etc.  The problem is when people drive it like it's a Honda I4 that makes all it's power at the redline.  Factory redline is 7k RPM and no one should be shifting anywhere near there because anything above 6200 RPM is just noise.  They are torquey (160 lbs*ft @ 4400 RPM, 155 bhp @ 5400 RPM) and should be driven that way and more than hold their own against higher output Lemons cars. 

Even though lap times should be the least of your worries in Lemons/endurance racing, the 2 races our 240 was alive (it was totaled in only an hour in it's 3rd race after resolving a fuel pump issue), it recorded the 6th fastest and 2nd fastest times of the weekend (NJMP 8/2013 and New Hampshire 10/2013).  The platform has already won a couple of Chump Car races so it's only a matter of time it'll get the overall win at a Lemons race.

But, like others have said, the Dorifto crowd has inflated prices to a laughable point for even the biggest POS's.  Rust on the frame rails and rocker panels is almost always an issue in the snow belt at this price point.  There is obviously a lot more to talk about, so you can email me if you'd like.

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