Everything we do expresses who were are; every question we ask, every answer we give, every breath we take, every cake we bake... Although a car is metal, glass, plastic, and rubber, with nuts, bolts, clips, and welds, requiring technical expertise and craftsmanship, it's as much a piece of art as any oil-on-canvas creation hanging in a gallery. Art is expression.
So, who is Yoshinori Koguchi and what does his '93 Nissan 180SX RPS13 drift machine say about him? This is a man with a passion. Even his hobby involves cars: radio-controlled ones. This is someone for whom attention to detail is almost a religion. And because our actions not only say who we are, but also where we are, a project is a journey of inner and outer discovery.
This particular journey began when Koguchi bought the car because, in his words, "it's easy to drive and looks good." Actually, it likely began 30 odd years before, when he was a kid in Tochigi-ken-more or less smack in the middle of Japan-on the island of Honshu. Koguchi would watch car racing on TV. Years later, when drifting came along, the confluence of man and moment sparked a two-year mission: To build a machine that could provide victory and Ichiban status.
It started with the quest for power. Koguchi's choice here doesn't display a quirky imagination, but it highlights his intelligence and taste. In went a special SR20DET, a complete Genesis four-cylinder engine built by top Japanese constructors Tomei, bored out to 2.2L and fed by a Blitz K5-660 turbocharger running 1.5-bar of boost. But here's the crucial difference, this one sits lower in the bay, bringing the car's center of gravity nearer to the ground; a bold, unusual move.
Chosen from a plethora of dedicated parts available for this engine, Blitz 850cc/min injectors join a GReddy intake plenum and pulley, and a Nismo fuel pump. At the intake, Tomei's cams are set up for 260 degrees of duration and 12.5mm of lift. On the exhaust side, they're fixed at 268 degrees and 12.5mm. Gases evacuate to the turbo through a Blitz exhaust manifold, and out through one-off titanium 90mm exhaust-one of many pieces made especially for this project. And anyone who knows how difficult it is to fashion things from titanium is beginning to understand the determination of the person behind this build. At least the HPI radiator and intercooler, JUN water pump, and Blitz wastegate were relatively simple options, with the custom-made oil pan complicating things ever so slightly.
Koguchi is obviously not the type to cut corners, nor is he particularly partisan. Holinger is an Australian company that specializes in transmissions for supercars. And if what they make is good enough for an RH9 Skyline, it's good enough for Koguchi's S13. He couples this with an Ogura Racing Clutch (ORC) twin-plate item and flywheel. Taking a leaf from the 350Z's book, a carbon-fiber propeller shaft spins into a Nismo GT limited-slip differential with a 4.6 final drive. Omega oils are Koguchi's lube of choice for all the moving parts: Expert VX 15W-50 for the engine, 690 75W-140 for the trans, and 75W-250 Super EP gear oil for the LSD.
After a full spot-welding of the body, a custom-made rollcage, side bar, and engine member went in. On top of those is a full BN Sports body kit, wider fenders on the front and rear, lightweight acrylic replacing the glass, G-Grow Euro-style taillights, and C-West GT carbon-fiber mirrors.
Considering no less a person than drift ace Keiichi Tsuchiya designed the DG-5 suspension, it was a no-brainer for Koguchi, who uses 7kg/mm and 6kg/mm spring rates front and rear, respectively, along with 1.5kg/mm helper springs. TEIN tie-rod ends, a Nismo power brace, and stock antiroll bars augment this setup.