Generally speaking, magazine feature cars come in three flavors: street, show and competition. When it comes to cover cars, an overwhelming majority of our entrants are of the second type, fully prepped show vehicles that have been massaged for maximum aesthetic appeal and sport expensive specialty paint jobs, rare imported body kits and more latent body tricks than you'd find on a Beverly Hills prostitute. Cars like these have so much invested in them--not to mention numerous sponsorship obligations--they don't see a whole lot of actual street time for fear of flushing all that time and money down the proverbial toilet should the unthinkable happen.
That said, a portion of our cover cars are in fact street-prepped daily drivers that deal with city streets--and the many hazards thereon--on an intimate basis. And an even smaller portion of our cover features are actual competition-prepped vehicles built for the most hardcore application of all: dedicated track time. This month, we've got just such a vehicle gracing the cover of this year's final issue. The 1990 240SX has been built with the full array of JDM upgrades and is one of our first domestic examples of a dedicated, professionally-prepped drift car.
The car's owner, City of Industry, Calif., resident Richard Tang, is a confirmed car nut that's owned his fair share of hot imports in his young life. He caught the drift virus after he blew the motor on his 300ZX TT and went out looking for a replacement. His search led him to a 240SX, one that had already been converted over to JDM spec with an SR20DET and front-mount intercooler, as well as an aftermarket intake, exhaust, suspension and wheels. Tang took the car for a spin around the block and got promptly pulled over by the police. The cop just laughed at him, incredulous as to why he'd buy such a car, but Tang had fallen in love and made the purchase as soon as he got back to the owner's house.
Tang later learned the 240SX had been around the block more than once or twice, if you get my meaning, and had some hard miles put on its odometer during its life. The motor was strong but needed to be freshened and tuned, the FMIC was beat to hell from years of dealing with road debris, the suspension was basically blown, and the car's GT exhaust had a dent on the muffler tip big enough to prevent the silencer from being inserted. Tang wasn't worried though; he did his homework and immersed himself in the SR community. He purchased a new exhaust, Blitz boost controller and A'PEXi AFC, and took his car to XS Engineering for some tuning and dyno time.
When the car was finally running correctly, Tang hit the track. He got his first taste of drifting at Willow Springs, and hasn't looked back since.
"I still remember, it was rainy that day--it even hailed, it was absolutely crazy," he says. "I met Tommy from SpeedTrial, Moto from Club4AG, Alex C. from 5Zigen, and Alex P. from Battle Version. Best of all, I got a taste of drifting from Alex P. for the first time."
Even as he progressed in his love for the sport, Tang's 240 remained a work in progress. He had never really intended it to be a show car, but eventually put work into the body, some fender flares and a custom paint job by the famous P.J. Bonafacio. Tang was further inspired by the vehicles at the Tokyo Auto Salon, where many of the "show cars" double as fearsome race machines. This influence allowed Tang to attain one of the most elusive goals for the holistic car enthusiast: building a working competition vehicle with show stopping visual quality.
Then, as it is prone to do, disaster struck. Tang was at a drift event in Las Vegas one weekend trying out some new techniques he'd learned, lost control at a crucial moment and careened into a light pole. Though he walked away unhurt, the 240 was totaled. The rest of the day he sat a trackside in a state of shock.
"I was thinking to myself: This can't be it. This can't be it," he recalls. The car cost him a lot of money to this point, and Tang didn't know if he'd be able to afford to buy a completely new car right away, much less modify it to the specification of his old one. As it happened, one of the guys at the track took pity on him and offered to give him a new 240 chassis--for free. Tang picked the car up the next weekend and found it to be in pretty rough condition--but hey, who can beat the price? He took it home and began stripping the chassis to bare metal. At the same time he began stripping the totaled 240, saving anything and everything that could be salvaged and applied to the new one, including the engine, wiring harness, dash, seats, interior panels, suspension pieces and rear subframe. Then Tang borrowed a friend's spot welder and went through the entire chassis, spending an entire month getting it ready for paint.
The rest of the story is history, and the final product is the vehicle you see pictured here. From the project's beginning Tang approached the build from two angles, performance and aesthetics, so the car would be even better than his first. He imported a full Bomex body kit and fender flares and had Mr. Bonifacio concoct a new paint color for him, one that would stand out but that no one had, a bright, searing magenta custom mixed at Bonifacio's shop. Within the cockpit, Tang installed a pair of Bride competition buckets and six-point roll cage, as well as five-point Sparco harnesses. There is a small sound system comprised of a Kenwood MP3 player and Infinity speakers, but for the most part the interior remains largely stripped.
Underneath it all, Tang adapted the undamaged suspension components from his first car to the new one, including full JIC coilovers all around. Up front he added JIC tie rods and Kazama ends, Battle Version tension rods and a Nismo power brace, and in the rear Battle Version toe links and forward links, and upper control arms. The brakes have been upgraded in front with a Rotara Big Brake kit, including 328mm rotors, six-piston calipers and ceramic pads. The rears received slotted Rotara replacements and Axxis Metal Master pads in stock calipers. The wheels are Work Meister S1s in 18x9.5-in. format in front and a meaty 18x11.5-in. rear, wrapped in Falken Azenis and Falken GR-B rubber front and rear, respectively.
The engine, believe it or not, is the same SR mill that was in the old car, and it's still running as strong as ever. It's been modified with a GReddy oil pan, but other than that retains a completely stock bottom end. The head was match ported with the intake manifold and modified with TODA cams and HKS valve springs by Phase2 Motortrend. The forced induction system was upgraded and tuned by XSEngineering and now incorporates a T28 ball-bearing turbo in place of the larger T04E Tang used to run, as well as XS Power FC tuning, a 300ZX fuel pump and larger Blitz injectors. Possibly the trickest part of the system is the V-mount intercooler setup, where the radiator and intercooler cores are angled backward to allow improved airflow. Doing this required notching the radiator support to allow the cores to fit properly, and reinforcing it so as not to compromise the chassis' rigidity.
By the time you read this Tang's Pink Devil will have been tested and tuned at its inaugural track appearance. Tang has some people to thank for help in his pursuits. In no particular order, they are: P.J. Bonifacio, Nick and Kelvin at Falken, Moto and Nayoki at Club4AG, the crew at Rotora and XS Engineering, Sam at Jspec.com, Phase2Motortrend, Tuyoshi and Alex at 5Zigen, John and Lance at TG Race Design, Alex at Battle Version and Kenji at G Speed Corp. We also can't forget: Mike at Clearcorners.com, Harp at Takamotorsports, Don at LNRonline.com, Tee's USA for the Bride buckets, Garage Life, Freshalloy.com and Zilvia.net, and all Tang's friends for their support.