In the quest to put our 240SX on rails, we finally put our aftermarket upgrades to the test.
The InstallationsOnce we received all our parts, the crew at CTC Motorsports got busy on the installations. Ace wrench Arthur Hernandez rolled our project car onto the lift and got down to business. Installing our upgrades was surprisingly simple and hassle free. Arthur got started by pulling the stock wheels, shocks, brakes, anti-sway bars and rear upper A-arms. Meanwhile, I took the 5Zigen FN01-R wheels and Toyo Proxes RA-1s to the nearest tire center to get the them mounted and balanced.
By the time I got back, Arthur had most of the stock parts off and was getting ready to start installing the good stuff. He began by unpacking all of the components and laying them out to check that we had everything we ordered. "I like to double check just to be on the safe side," he said. "It wouldn't be the first time I found a part missing in a package, and there's nothing worse than waiting a few days extra for missing parts."
When everything checked out, Arthur got started by bolting the front JIC FLT-A2 shocks into place, and then he installed the pillow tension rods.
"I'm just going to eyeball the settings for now, because we'll need to set the alignment on a four-wheel rack to get it right," he said. "At least we can drive the car to the alignment shop without screwing anything up."
With that done, Arthur installed our Nissan brake upgrade kit, along with the braided steel lines at the front and rear. After carefully flushing the old brake fluid out of the system, we filled the master cylinder with AP performance fluid and bled the system using a pressure bleeder.
Next, our man Arthur moved to the rear of the car and installed the rear shocks, along with the adjustable upper A-arms. So far so good. Next on our list were the front and rear anti-sway bars. These bolted up without any hassle in about 30 minutes. We then lowered the car and installed the JIC front and rear strut braces. The front took all of 5 minutes and the rear about 20 (we had to cut two small holes in the parcel shelf with a box-cutter).
Lastly, we fitted the wheels and tires using a torque wrench to tighten the wheel-nuts to 70 ft-lb of torque. With the car finally sitting on the ground, we dropped the ride height 2 in. by loosening the locking rings on the shock body and turning the shocks using a large ratchet and socket on the top nut. It really couldn't have been easier.
Probably the most time-consuming tasks were installing the Indigo Speed aluminum flywheel and ACT clutch. This installation took Arthur around 2 hours from start to finish. Our final chore before heading back to the Motorsport Ranch was to get our 240 aligned correctly at a shop with a quality four-wheel alignment rack. We researched the best settings for autocross/road-racing and decided on the following specs:
According to our experts, these settings would give us extremely positive turn-in and excellent steering characteristics, while maximizing the tire contact patch under hard cornering. Now it was time to hand the car back to Jeff Harrison and find out exactly what we had gained.
Driving our S14 from Dallas to the Motorsports Ranch was a real eye-opener. On the street the JIC suspension performed flawlessly. Although it's very firm compared to the stock suspension, it still absorbs the minor bumps without shaking the fillings out of your teeth. Obviously, you need to be careful to avoid potholes and such, but I have no concerns about using the JIC suspension on a daily basis (although I did set the damping on the softest setting as a precaution, and you might suggest your lady invest in a good sports bra). On freeway off-ramps the 240 seemed to really come into its own. The car stays perfectly flat in the turns and the feedback from the tires is nothing short of incredible. I saw no sign of understeer on the street, and the unsettling dive under hard braking had completely disappeared.