Project 240
Here it is...the final draft of Project
240. It’s been two years since I
sold my 240 and I felt it necessary to update, complete and finalize this
page. My hope is that you find this
page and find some great advice to help you with your project.
Not too long after I finished up the
swap project on the civic, back in 2000, I started to dream up another
project. With the bulk of the swap out of the way, I felt that I needed a
bigger better goal.
Queue up Nissan’s 240SX. I wanted boost, but not in a Honda. I
wanted a very fast car, but with creature comforts. Add to that the desire for
RWD and I realized why I needed to get a Nissan 240SX. The 240SX is
one of the only RWD imports that doesn't carry the
ridiculous price tag of a Supra, RX7 or 300ZX. The car's chassis is
very well balanced and offers a significant level of opportunity.
While researching potential
modifications for the 240SX, I discovered a general lacking of 240SX
information. There are several sites and clubs that provide quite a
bit of information, but again, not what I was looking for.
This write-up is set up to walk you
through my time with my 240SX. The
modifications, repairs, ideas and so on are all listed here from start to
finish.
Now that I’ve sold my 240, I want to
wrap up a few more details and close this page with a few thoughts on what
I would have done differently and what I would do again. I never got to the engine build/swap but
I did nail down nearly every other aspect of the project.
July 27, 2001 (181,000 mi)
The 240…
Through a friend, I was able to locate a
'95 240SX SE with a 5spd. The 240 had quite a few miles, 181k to be
exact. The service record on the 240 was flawless. The body was
straight and it ran like a top. There was a bit of rust, but nothing
that couldn't be resolved with a little care. While driving this high
mileage car, I discovered that the suspension had a serious amount of
potential. The handling was crisp and very solid even though the
shocks and bushings were original! All in all, the only concern that
I had, was the fact that the interior color was nasty! Whatever you
want to call it, it was just wrong. I'll get to the resolution
shortly.
August 22, 2001 (182,932 mi)
Maintenance
One of the first tasks was to replace
the clutch and water pump. The clutch was slipping from the day that
I picked up the car. It was still drivable, but it wouldn't last
long. I managed to toast it, along with the water pump, on one of my
power slide attempts.
Here are a few pics
of the operation:
When I completed this operation, I
didn’t reinstall the fan and shroud.
For the most part, there was no noticeable difference in cooling as
the auxiliary fan was more than adequate.
I did discover that the auxiliary fan is cannot properly cool the
condenser in the summer making the ice cold air conditioning less than
satisfactory. I quickly reinstalled
the fan and restored the AC’s potency!
September 15, 2001 (185,300 mi)
Tint
Clear glass is not my friend.
Having grown accustomed to tinted glass, I find it quite necessary to have
it. A quick call to my tint guy and my problem was solved!
December 30, 2001 (190,000 mi)
Interior Swap
During this time, I wrapped up the
interior color swap and steering wheel swap. This process was quite
easy as there really isn't much to the interior. Even the dashboard
is a synch to pull out.
Momo Steering Wheel
Since I wasn't very enthusiastic about
buying a new airbag simply for the fact that it was black, to match the new
interior, I decided that it was time to pull the airbags and install a Momo
steering wheel. The process took quite a bit of trial and error, but my
time and effort paid off with an excellent looking steering wheel that
allowed me to utilize the horn as well as cruise control. To top it
all of, the steering feedback is superb!
June 18, 2002 (192,845 mi)
Body Work, Brakes and Diff
Back in February of 2002, I started a
project that finally ended in June. My 240 was fairly clean except
for a bit of rust in a few spots. Along with some nasty touch-up
paint from the previous owner, the 240 was just not clean enough for
me! After many hours of sanding, repairing, sandblasting and welding,
the body looks great! Painted in original Emerald Blue Pearl, my 240
looks great! During the operation, I took the time to replace the
bumpers and chin spoiler. I also dyed the roof liner black to match
the rest of the interior.
While the car was laying dormant at my
uncle's auto body shop, I sniped a few parts from
eBay. These parts lead to a complete 300ZX brake swap and LSD
install.
The brake swap was a great success and
worth every last penny and ounce of effort that it took to do the work.
The LSD swap was also a piece of cake
and yielded excellent results
Another project that helped fill down
time was the installation of PDM's poly urethane
tension rod mounts. These mounts are liquid filled from the factory
and will eventually leak. Once the bushing has deteriorated, the 240,
as well as the 300ZX, will exhibit very bizarre handling
characteristics. Braking will feel strange, and the car will steer
itself through fast sweepers or lane changes on the highway. Along
with all of the, the issue will cause improper tire wear.
The solution can be to either replace
the tension rod with the factory equivalent or go with an upgrade such as Whiteline's poly bushings.
The aftermarket bushings made a
substantial difference and feel great.
July 31, 2002 (194,863 mi)
More Maintenance
With the new tension rods in place, it was
apparent that I still had some quirky handling issues. Upon close
inspection, it was obvious that my 195000 mile ball joints and tie rod ends
were to blame. With a fresh set of parts, my 240 finally has
confidence inspiring handing.
October 5, 2002 (198,734 mi)
Master Cylinder
Several months had gone by before I
finally picked up a 300ZX MC. On this day, I finally finished the
installation which yielded the most positive braking responses that I had
ever experienced.
November 10, 2002 (199,397 mi)
I picked up a pair of 300zx calipers and
rotors from Tire Rack Luke for a good price. Powerstop
rotors and hawk pads. Nice!
November 18, 2002
200,000 miles!
March 17, 2004 (202,383 mi)
Short Throw Shifter and Sub Frame
Bushings
It's been a long time since I've done
anything to the 240. Finally, I got a chance to install the 300zx sub
frame bushings and B&M's short throw
shifter. The sub frame bushing install was rather difficult.
The bushings were designed for the 300zx and are not exactly the same as
those found on the 240. After a little welding and torching, I installed
the bushings. I still need to cut about half an inch out of each
bushing. The improvement in the stiffness of the rear of my 240 was
immediately obvious, even with 204K mile shocks. A worthy
investment...especially if you can find bushings designed for the 240.
The B&M shifter wasn't too difficult
to install. The difficulty was accessing the two front bolts.
Read the shifter install write-up for suggestions to make that
easier. I can't even begin to explain the difference in the new
shifter. The old equipment was very, very sloppy and an all around
pain to manipulate. The new shifter results in a substantially
shorter throw as well as eliminates any slop the old shifter
exhibited. The only draw back is that the shifter will buzz when you
rev past 5000 rpms. The improvement in
shift feel is worth the buzzing.
May 30, 2004 (205,000
mi)
Tires, shocks, and a header
A fresh set of tires and a new set of KYB
GR2 shocks set me in the right direction for general duty this
summer. With the big civic
build-up, I just needed some hardware to get the 240 rolling reliably.
Just for fun, I picked up a
header. It's a cheap OBX header, but for $200, I didn't think I could
go wrong. Given the fact that I had a few exhaust leaks in the
manifold I was happy to replace it with a header and fresh gaskets.
Header install here
June 10, 2004 (206,070 mi)
Engine
Mounts
Anyone that
owns a 240SX has probably experienced the slop in the engine. The mounts can be filled with Window Weld. I wanted to try a set of Nismo mounts
before I went for the window weld.
My thought was that I would have stiffer mounts which I could fill
if I needed more. In the end, I
stuck with the Nismo mounts without filling them. This was another very important
transformation on my 240SX
If you need stiffer mounts, you can fill
them with window weld.
September 5, 2004 (208,492 mi)
I picked up a set of front Porterfield
R4S pads. I love Porterfield pads for the street. Driving
confidence has been improved substantially with the addition of the pads.
February 2, 2005
Wheels
In the spirit of trying to cut costs for
my project, I decided to pic up a set of 300ZX
twin turbo Wheels. I think they look great, and 16" tires should
be cheaper in the long run.
April 22, 2005 (209,840
mi)
Speed Bleeders
I installed a set of Russell Speed
bleeders. I’ve heard mixed reviews
from people that have had great success with this and those that have
thrown them away for one reason or another.
I have installed three sets on three different cars and I’ve been
very happy with them. The only
problem I had with them on the 240 was the fact that I could not get them
tight enough of my aluminum Z32 calipers.
I was concerned about stripping the threads. By the time I sold it, I managed to get
the last one to stop leaking. If you
have iron calipers, you won’t have the same problem.
Springs
I knew that my plans for the 240 would
include a set of coil-overs in the form of JIC’s FLT-A2’s but in the mean
time, I wanted some tighter springs to get me by. I picked up a set of Eibach Sportlines
and threw them on.
I was very happy with the results. After an alignment, I took it to my first
autocross with excellent results!
Plus, it looked better too!
As with most strut equipped Nissans, shock
travel is limited in stock form and severely limited when lowered. Tall
bumps usually resulted in bottoming out the suspension.
Summer 2005
New,
Deep Offset Steering Wheel
Something that
many people may think about is the limited headroom in the 240sx. Those of us taller than 6’ run into
problems. One thing I realized, with
the stock seats, is that as the seat moves to the end of the rails, the
seat is lower in the car. Head room
with a helmet is greatly improved!
The only problem I had with this is that the steering wheel was a
little too far away for my liking.
My solution was to install a deep offset steering wheel. I picked out Nardi’s
Deep Offset wheel and installed it using an S13 Nismo hub. Both Nismo and Nardi
use a different bolt pattern from the Momo/Sparco
type hubs.
The upgrade
was a success! The only drawback
from this wheel is that the turn signal and wiper stalks are farther away.
October, 2005 (217,951 mi)
Bushings, Bushings and E-brake
I was never very pleased with the
install of my Energy Suspension rear sub frame bushings. They are taller
than the OE bushings which prevent you from being able to properly tighten
down the sub frame nuts. Beyond the
Energy Suspension bushings, the only direct replacement available, other
than buying a brand new sub-frame from Nissan, was to buy Nismo’s upgraded
bushings. They are of a higher durometer rubber and will reduce sub-frame slop. For the money, I knew I could do better.
Armed with a fresh junk yard sub frame I
set out to overhaul the rear suspension.
SPL offers aluminum replacement bushings. These bushings are the extreme in that
there is no slop and no vibration dampening. As with the Nismo bushings, these are a
full replacement. You can completely
remove the old bushings. While I was
doing this project, I also installed SPL’s aluminum differential bushings
as well as White Line’s rear control arm poly urethane bushings.
The installation of the sub-frame, diff
and control arm bushings was a long and drawn out process but worth more
than I can possibly explain. I
strongly believe that the best coil over kits, wheels and tires cannot
improve the handling as much as replacing all of the bushings. Even with my soggy Fusion ZRi tires, handling was much tighter and definitely
more confidence inspiring.
Along with the bushings, I also reworked
the e-brake cables in a configuration that worked. E-brake install
Exhaust
This was on of the last things I did to
my 240SX before I sold it. I
installed a Blitz Realize TT exhaust.
This is a 3” mandrel bent exhaust. Along with that, I installed a 3”
test pipe. I was able to mate the 3”
test pipe with the 2.5” header using a 2.5” exhaust gasket and didn’t
encounter any leaks. Overall, the
fitment of the exhaust was superb!
I had gone with the 3” header back
exhaust with turbo power in mind but the power gains I experienced with the
header, test pipe and exhaust was amazing!
High end power was remarkable greater! Hitting the speed limiter was very easy
as compared to stock. No discernable
losses in lower end torque.
Final thought, 3” exhaust = good!
April 11, 2006
(219,500 mi)
I delivered my 240sx to it's new owner! It was
heartbreaking to see it go, but at the time, it really felt like I needed to
move on. Funny....I really wish I could have it back now!
Here are a few final pictures of my 240.
In closing…
I miss my 240…
Feelings aside, I wanted to go over some
thoughts about what I did, what I would have chosen to do differently, and
what I would do with the power plant if I started over.
Brakes
In review, the brake upgrade was a huge success!
The original brakes were not up to the task of high performance
driving. Yes, if you are no a tight
budget, a set of track compound pads would work but they are not ideal for
street use. My only issues with the
entire brake upgrade were the master cylinder and the e-brake setup. Using the 1 1/16” master cylinder with
the stock manual transmission brake booster created a pedal that was tight
and crisp, but was very difficult to operate. My braking effort was rather high and
often resulted in odd wheel lock-up issues.
Alternative
Brakes
My alternative would have been to use a 1” or even the automatic 15/16”
with the booster from the automatic equipped 240SX. The idea here is that the larger booster
would help with pedal effort giving you better control. I have heard people complain that the
pedal effort is very high. You don’t
need the biggest master cylinder to get the job done. I knew of one individual that went as far
as swapping in a 300ZX booster along with the master cylinder with
satisfying results.
I would probably skip the rear brakes on
a second project. For the e-brake, I
wish that I would have had the opportunity to try the R33 e-brake
cables. People have used these cables
on the S14 with great success. In
the grand scheme of things, doing the front brakes and upgrading the master
cylinder along with a good set of pads would have done the job, even for
heavy track use.
Bushings
All I have to say is that going
through and replacing all of the bushings with poly urethane or aluminum
was the biggest transformation on this car!
It is also one of the most labor intensive projects you can do. Not having a good press with proper
tooling makes this project rather difficult. However you get it done, it will be worth
it!
Short shifter
I loved the B&M short
shifter. It was one of the tightest
and shortest throws I’ve ever felt.
If B&M had maintained the rubber damper that is found on the
original shifter I strongly believe that they could have avoided the
shifter rattle. I would certainly do
this again!
Exhaust
I was very pleased with the
exhaust that I picked. I’m not
certain that I would do a Blitz realize TT again, but I would definitely go
with a 3” exhaust. I would also
install a catalytic converter to make the car more “green” and cut down on
the smell. Going with 3” hardware
from the header back was a huge improvement in performance all around.
LSD
I was never very happy with the
VLSD unit from Nissan. Given my
efforts and expenses, I would have been much better off holding out for a quaife, Kaaz or some other
aftermarket equivalent. By the time
I sold the car, the VLSD unit was not working very well. If I were to build another 240sx, I would
most certainly pick up a Quaife or comparable unit. Save your money and skip on the factory
VLSD.
Engine
I’ve witnessed my fair share of KA vs SR vs RB arguments online and I will tell you this: Do what you want…don’t worry what
everyone else thinks! I’m always a sucker
for a small car with a big engine…drop in an LS1, or even an LS7 Nothing like a small block 427 to kick
start your day.
That crazy idea aside, I want to lay out
the Nissan alternatives in a way so that you can make an educated decision
based on facts rather than opinions.
SR20DET
Factory turbo power. Out of the box, it is a sturdy engine and
can make great horsepower with stock internals. This engine can rev fairly high and be
reliable in the process. Had I kept
my 240sx, this would be my choice for power. With a goal of around 275-300 whp, a small turbo like the Disco Potato would suit my
needs and avoid too much turbo lag.
The SR20 is an engine that is better
suited for road course racing or any kind of extended high performance driving. The engine has a shorter stroke and more appropriate
piston speeds.
Another element to consider is the
bountiful aftermarket for the SR20DET.
It’s also important to note that you would
have to swap in an SR20.
Mechanically, there is no difference between the KA or SR but you do have to tackle some wiring.
KA24DET aka KA-T
I really liked this engine. Anyone whom I spoke to in the time before
I sold my 240 will tell you that I was very serious about going with a
built and turbo powered KA. Big
block 4 cylinder power, long stroke, huge torque…that’s where I focused my thoughts. The KA24DE has a sibling, the KA20DE
which used a much shorter stroke.
Similar to the QR25 being a stroked version of the QR20 found in Japan. I’ve ready countless articles discussing
how it is difficult to raise the redline for
road-course bound QR25’s because of the massive stroke. Same holds true for the KA24. This isn’t a problem if you are going to
autocross or drag race where you aren’t going to have extended periods of
maximum use.
Ivan from Turbo 240 mentioned at one
time, while discussing stroker kits for the KA24,
that the KA already has excessive stroke.
He suggested the alternative of destroking
to 2.3L would result in a much more reliable setup for extended use.
In the past couple of years, support for
the KA24DE has improved but is still lacking the massive aftermarket
support of the SR20DET.
The KA is a very stout engine with a
great deal of potential. If you are
not going to take it out on a road course, you can make some serious
reliable horsepower!
Lastly, if you aren’t in the mood to
modify wiring harnesses or sourcing out engines, going with the KA means
that you don’t have to swap and you don’t have to worry about making sure
you have everything together. Just a
thought.
Any RB
I don’t care what anyone says, this is
just an awesome idea. There will be
issues of weight, but not as much as you would think. A good set of coilovers
with custom spring rates will help you compensate for the extra
weight.
Naturally, there is serious potential
for massive horsepower, depending on which variant you choose. Many companies offer conversion mounting
kits that tackle the driveshaft, motor mount and transmission mount issues. Getting an RB in the car is not going to
be the issue.
The issue I always fixated on was the
fact that something as simple as a valve cover gasket is not going to be
readily available at your local auto parts store. If this isn’t an issue for you, the by
all means, do an RB swap and send me videos!
Who knows, maybe one day I’ll revisit
the 240sx. Updating this page has
been trip down memory lane. I’m
thinking of every project and remembering the blood sweat and tears that I
put into it and wishing I had it back.
Given the feedback I’ve received from people I know that the pages I
created on my site through the work on my 240 have helped people all around
the world. It feels good helping
others!
Good Luck!
-Alex
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