Before we begin, there are three basic facts you need to know about Mickey Andrade's 1993 S13 convertible: #1: It does not have an SR20DET motor swap under the hood. #2: It is a real convertible, and not a coupe with the top sawed off like an exercise in Photoshop. #3: It is the perfect example of how to apply Japanese VIP style to a car that costs under $5,000 and does not have four doors.
Although most Japanese and European VIP luxury cars are sedans, enthusiasts agree that abiding by the VIP mindset is more important than whether you say coup or saloon.
As a certified Honda-head, he found his front-wheel-drive ethics challenged as he slowly gravitated more and more towards buying a-gasp!-rear-wheel-drive Nissan 240SX convertible. He sat on his decision for a year, and closed the deal when he wisely hit up an extremely intoxicated friend to sell his daily driver. A convertible, you ask? Jeez, whatever happened to priorities like torsional rigidity and keeping your pride as a man? "Negative," says Mr. Andrade, as 240SX convertibles are very rare, and have developed a cult following. Besides, who wants to drive a boring old coupe anyway? But, he didn't want his car to be a trailer queen; he intended to drive it frequently, whether for occasional track days or to visit his girlfriend's family.
Like a mail order bride, the new car wasn't pretty but she sure had a lot of sex potential. Nearly every gauge, knob and switch on the car was broken, but it had a straight, clean chassis. Lipstick red paint, an automatic transmission and plain Jane, four-spoke alloy wheels came standard. Andrade immediately began to modify the car for the track with basic, but much-needed improvements like a new exhaust system, bigger brakes, lighter wheels and new tires. It was also converted to a five-speed manual transmission. And that's when things really blew up, literally.
The stock KA24 motor blew up one day. Funny, we know a few other people that have gone through a similar experience. Bummed, but not defeated, Andrade called up former Nissan North America performance guru Steve Mitchell of M-Workz in Gardena, Calif. Mitchell provided fatherly counsel and helped Andrade obtain a new VQ35 motor and transmission. In a 240SX? Whoa.
A 240SX with a VQ35 motor is a unique project, and requires technical expertise that goes beyond high school auto shop. Since it is not a factory swap like an SR20DET conversion, it requires a considerable amount of extra work fabricating and designing custom engine components. So Andrade turned his project over to Gary Castillo and Design Craft Fabrication in Lake Forest, Calif. Castillo and his team spent three months performing surgery on the car. Before the engine could go in, they had to first create a new driveshaft, as well as a new wiring harness and transmission mounts. They spent three days designing a new shifter because of the differing driveshaft lengths between a 240SX and a 350Z. They used Peak Performance 240SX motor mounts and modified them to work with the new motor. They fabricated a custom exhaust system, with a 2 1/4-inch Y-pipe into a 3-inch stainless dual tip exhaust. All of the other moving parts in the engine were left alone. Even without major internal modifications, it made 229 hp at the wheels, which is better than stock.