The 240sx That Nobody Wanted To Happen
Everyone’s got a sob story. The engine you blew to
smithereens before you realized tuning is kind of important. The six weeks you
waited for that ultrarare, Japanese-only ashtray that nobody else cares about.
The hangnail you got when lowering your bucket. It’s time to wipe those tears
away because Justin Nakamoto’s story is a whole lot more disparaging than
yours.
Nakamoto wasn’t asking for a whole lot, which was to put
together his version of the ideal 240SX. Its aesthetics, its styling- that’s
what he says first attracted him to the chassis more than 10 years ago. “I love
all types of cars,” he admits, “but I fell in love with Nissans.” It was
Nakamoto’s first car, the only one of which he’s modified to date, which means
the buying process, its ownership and every single change he’s made to it has a
sort of sentimentality associated with it that you just don’t get when plopping
a B-series into your 14th Civic hatchback. But then the state of
Hawaii got in the way.
1991 Nissan 240SX
back view
You think Hawaii is the bastion of sleeveless shirts and
year-round flip-flops that the rest of the country tells you it is, and you’re
mostly right. But it’s no friend to car lovers. Tuning shops are sparse, and
the state’s lone racetrack has long been shuttered. Hawaii’s labyrinth of
automotive safety and emissions regulations are the real enemy, though. Here,
annual safety inspections that penalize not just powertrain modifications but
also those made to the body, suspension and brakes mean registering and legally
driving around in something like Nakamoto’s S13 is nearly impossible and almost
always unlawful. “Usually, no modified vehicle will pass this inspection,” Nakamoto
warns. Just like any other lawworth its weight in bureaucratic ink, there are
ways around it,which Nakamoto intends on following up with later this year. He
shares: “If you want to modify your car in Hawaii, you have to pay a tax and,
yet again, pass another inspection. After [that], you’re [sent] back to a
station with [approval] saying that it’s now safe to get a safety check.”
1991 Nissan 240SX
front view
If the whole process sounds expensive, silly and
convoluted,that’s because it is, which is exactly what prompted Nakamototo
relegate his already completed 240SX to dedicated show duty. Before any of
that, though, the 31-year-old dabbled in the drifting movement. The project
began with the ubiquitous,factory-turbocharged SR20DET engine. “I’ve always
wanted tgo SR20,” Nakamoto says. “[But] I never expected the motor to be how it
is today. It was supposed to be a plain SR swap with mild upgrades for daily
use.” What it turned into was something entirely different. First, the block
was upgraded with the usual suspects that include forged pistons and rods, and
up top Tomei valvetrain and cams were put into place. All of this works in
tandem with the Garrett GT2871R turbo that’regulated by a SARD boost controller
and an A’PEXi SAFC-2. It’s a whole lot of excitement going on underneath the
hood of a car that’s got no place to race.
1991 Nissan 240SX
interior
