Nissan Newbie Question

Paul

New member
Hi All.
I am thinking about what to build next (About a year out) and was considering a 240SX, among other possibilities. Does anyone have any advice or links on where to start researching? Any suggestions or opinions between the DOHC vs. SOHC? Is one or the other or both particularly troublesome for any reason?
Thanks.
Paul
 
Originally posted by Paul:
Hi All.
I am thinking about what to build next (About a year out) and was considering a 240SX, among other possibilities. Does anyone have any advice or links on where to start researching? Any suggestions or opinions between the DOHC vs. SOHC? Is one or the other or both particularly troublesome for any reason?
Thanks.
Paul

Try 240SX.org. You won't likely get a racer's outlook (maybe a street racers), but you can get some idea of the potential of the two engines.

You could also consider a Sentra SE-R. It gets overlooked a lot and racing up front is an uphill battle (but then it usually is), but it's a wonderful car - very forgiving and very easy to drive. I have one for a road car and I race my friend's ITS SE-R. These cars can be very rewarding. There are lots of good performance parts out there and more being developed every day.


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George Roffe

84 944 ITS car under construction
 
Paul,
Here are some of things that you need to consider on the 240sx. They aren't cheap to build. I haven't seen too many for sale over the years, so you might have no choice but to build one. Many people have said that the 240sx is "THE" car to have in ITA, but other than Bob Stretch, no one has been dominant in one (but folks have been very competitive). The consensus that I have heard is that the car is a bit underpowerd and heavy in ITS, and a bit heavy in ITA. Areas where you will have to spend money is in the rear suspension, replacing all the stock bushings with alternate material, spherical bearings being the hot set up, but are expensive to have done, and very labor intensive to do yourself. Transmissions can be a bit delicate, especially if you get heavy handed. If you have someone build a good IT motor for you (like Sunbelt or Rebello)it will obviously cost you more, but I have heard they are easy to do yourself and there is no advantage to having a motor shop do it. I would budget around 15 grand to build from scratch, and that is with you doing most of the work. You may very well be able to build for less, but keep that number in mind. The ITS car is a very simular car, with the twin cam motor being the obvious difference. As far as places that spell all of this out for you........well there aren't any. There are not a ton of these cars out there racing, so unlike a Honda there isn't one aftermarket shop/website/location where you can get all the answers and parts you will need. I think that you'll find a couple of different answers is you ask different drivers about what and how they built the car. Ground control has a basic suspension set up, if that helps. Hope that answers some of your questions.

Tristan Smith
ITA Nissan 240sx #56
 
I run a 95 in ITS. This is the first year for the car and it looks promising for the future. The DOHC motors are very durable (it's actually the hardbody truck motor), but could use a bit more power. I think the car will be competitive in S.

As Tristan mentioned they are expensive to build mainly due to the complexity of the rear suspension. There is a growing number of aftermarket parts, definately nothing like a Honda or VW. The cars are popular in Australia and Japan, just not here.

Try www.PDM-racing.com for some performance parts, Don is a great guy. Unfortunately the "drifting" crowd has taken a liking to the car so most of the sites and forums are street racers and are not that helpful.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Mike
240sx ITS #12
 
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