The Nissan 240SX-to-Silvia conversion seems to be one of the most popular show car formulas for the new millennium. We've seen numerous clean examples of converted 240s in the last year or so, and even had one or two on the cover in the last few months; get ready to add one more to the growing list.
To tell you the truth, though, the car pictured here isn't exactly new to the import show scene, and to say that Southern Cal resident Non Fujita is a follower of the Silvia conversion movement, rather than one of its progenitors, would be a gross mistake. Fujita is not a stranger to the show car circuit. He's had a modified Miata and a tricked-out RX-7 in the past, but the desire to try something new influenced him to make the jump from Mazda to Nissan, and, inevitably, to the Silvia. More accurately, he made the jump to the U.S. version of Japan's Silvia, the 240SX. Fujita's been building this car for nearly three years, and those who have seen it will testify that it's one of the most accurate Japanese conversions to be found on today's show circuit. The owner's incredible attention to detail is one good reason this car is what it is, and it's probably the reason this car cleans up in the Nissan category wherever it goes.
Fujita first directed attention to dressing his 240 to play the part of Japanese supercar. He accomplished this by molding a custom ground effects kit in with the sedate factory panels. Fujita fabricated a set of side skirts and a rear bumper under his shop name, Enonvativ. Up front he went with the popular Bomex S14 bumper conversion, an aggressive piece of work that allows for unrestricted airflow through the engine bay. A carbonfiber hood with quick release pins replaces the factory hood, and, perching on the trunk lid, a fully adjustable Cusco wing completes the kit. Other custom mods include a single wiper arm, R33 clear side markers and a custom JDM-style headlight conversion using Philips HID lamps.
The car's suspension underpinnings were next on the list of improvements. Fujita elected to optimize it for drag racing and installed super-stiff HKS springs and Hyperdampers. Upper strut braces front and rear, from Cusco and Nismo, respectively, work with Nissan lower stabilizers to keep the chassis stiff. A Brembo brake conversion beefs up the factory binders, using enlarged rotors, four-piston calipers and Endless pads up front to improve the 240's stopping power. In the rear, relocated stock calipers accommodate the enlarged discs, and pressure is applied to critical areas at all four corners using Earl's braided lines. Of course, the factory running gear was immediately shit-canned, and has since been replaced with 18-inch Rojh wheels with a dark anthracite five-spoke pattern and a polished rim. These have been wrapped with Nitto rubber, sized 235/35-18 and 255/35-18 front and rear.
You'll agree with me that the car's exterior and overall posture is pretty damn nice, but poke your head inside the cockpit and you'll see that's where things get out of hand. Suede-covered Nismo racing buckets replace the factory units, and GReddy harnesses keep their occupants in place, while a Cusco six-point roll cage frames the cockpit in case the unthinkable would happen. A MOMO carbon-fiber e-brake handle and MOMO aluminum pedals replace the respective factory components, and driver input is facilitated through a Veilside steering wheel, Veilside shift knob with boot and a super-short C's short shifter. Allowing Fujita to keep an eye on his engine (more on that in a minute) is a vast array of HKS system meters mounted on either side of the steering wheel and along the passenger-side dash panel. Readouts are present for oil temperature, oil pressure, exhaust temperature, fuel pressure, and boost. A 120mm A'PEXi tachometer has been mounted on the steering column directly in front of the sluggish factory tach. Various engine-monitoring electronics have also been ingested into various areas within the car's interior, like the HKS AIC III and the HKS EVC on the lower portion of the dash, and the HKS CAMP system monitor in the glove compartment. Fujita has also added a huge, multi-component entertainment system which includes a Kenwood mini disc player and 400-watt amplifier, Panasonic CDVTR player, a Clarion component speaker system, and an Addzest multimedia station with a TV antenna and Playstation 2. Hell, with all this stuff in your car, who needs a house?
All this stuff is fun and great, but without something substantial under the hood, what good is it? The final area that Fujita turned his attention to was the engine, and it is his current powerplant that makes this car the American Silvia it is. He tore out the torque-happy KA motor and installed an honest-to-God Japanese SR21DET, but with a twist. This SR engine is a fully built Tomei race motor; I've been told that it cost well over $10,000-and that's just for the long block and head. Tomei bases the mill on a balanced Nissan crankshaft, and ups the bore and stroke to 86.5x86 mm, respectively, to effect a displacement of 2021 cc (about 2.1 liters, a tenth of a liter over the original displacement). The modified crank then gets planted in the modified block along with forged Tomei rods, bolts, 8.0:1 pistons and rings, and a Tomei-modified head with special porting, cams, cam drivers, valves, springs and retainers.
The factory Nissan forced-induction system has been cast out in favor of a complete catalog of goods from HKS. Air enters the system through a TSR intake pipe, then flows into an HKS GT2835R ball-bearing turbo, which mounts to a stainless steel HKS exhaust manifold. The compressed charge then blows through custom plumbing and across a king-sized, front-mount intercooler core from a Skyline GTR application. From the chiller, the charge moves into a special Japanese intake manifold where fuel enrichment is provided by 550 cc injectors and a NISMO fuel pump. New, aggressive air-fuel ratios are provided by a re-programmed Tomei ECU. At the far end of the induction system, spent gasses get squirted out of the mix by a full HKS exhaust and high-flow cat. Though I don't have a valid dyno sheet on this car, those who know the vehicle and its owner have informed me it makes a lot more than the factory power rating (about 240hp). Assisting Fujita in transferring the power to the ground are an HKS twin-plate racing clutch and Tomei limited slip differential.
Probably the only thing more impressive than the car itself is the fact that most of the installation work-motor, suspension, body mods-was performed by Non Fujita and his friends. He'd like to extend his thanks to those that deserve it (you know who you are) and to his sponsors, listed below. Keep an eye out for more "Enonvativ" project cars from one guy who really knows how to build one sick show car.