The goal of this build is to drift a Datsun 240Z. I've had a Nissan S13 Silvia in Japan, as well as a Nissan S13 240SX here in the states. Being that I'm accustomed to that S13 chassis, feel, and suspension setup, I felt it only proper to incorporate as much of that as possible into the Datsun 240Z. After two years, I feel that I have done just that. While the build still has a long way to go before it's road worthy, the work I have put into it thus far was by far the most difficult. Prior to this build, I had no welding nor fabrication experience...I just taught myself as I went along.
There is a story behind my current unique build...
I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan with the Air Force from 2004-2007, and it was there that I became addicted to drifting. I owned a 1990 Nissan Silvia and went to the track every chance I could. When I got out of the Air Force, they would not let me take the car with me. Because of this I decided to completely strip the entire car down to the shell and pack everything in footlockers to have them ship the parts back to the states. When I finally got back to the states and settled in, I bought a 1990 Nissan 240SX. Once our household goods shipment came in (which included all my car parts), I went to work building my car far better than it was in Japan. I was a few weeks away from putting a roll cage in the car...then on May 30th 2008 I was driving it to work and got hit by a truck. I spent almost 3 months in the hospital. I had multiple injuries:
- Crushed left foot
- Compound fracture of my right wrist
- Fractured bones in my face
- 3 broke ribs
- Both lungs collapsed
- Lacerated organs
- Ruptured spleen that was removed
- I had a few blood transfusions
After a few days I developed ARDS, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, which is where the lungs completely fill with fluid and turn to mush. I had to be place in an induced coma and paralyzed state until hopefully my lungs would heal. I stayed this way for about two months or so, and then one day my lungs just started healing. A few days later they slowly started taking me off of all the drugs they had me on and I woke up. It was a long and difficult road to overcome all of that, but I did and I feel that I'm better than I was before the wreck.
If you care to see the scene photos of the wreck, please check them out here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.153764614798970.1073741831.153602634815168&type=3
Luckily my wife wouldn't let them junk my car; she had the car taken to her Dads house. The car sat for about three years until I finally decided to do something with it. I wanted to drift again; however, I wanted the car to be different and unique, so that presented a challenge. I thought about it for quite sometime and decided to look for a Datsun 240Z because I've always loved those cars. After a few months I located one locally that had minimal rust. I bought it for $900 and brought it home. As for my wrecked car, well, the truck essentially hit me in the driver door so the engine, transmission, suspension, rear end, etc were all fine. My research indicated that the Datsun 240Z's were really poor at drifting due to their short wheelbase and lack of heavy aftermarket support for it. I knew that my Nissan 240SX would handle and drift excessively well...so I thought, how can I merge the two? I had no idea what I was about to get into! None of the suspension components from my Nissan would bolt into the Datsun. I could not find any write up on the Internet where someone had successfully accomplished what I wanted to do--that was both stressful and exciting at the same time. I had never welded nor fabricated anything before; I didn't even own a welder. I eventually bought a welder and taught myself how to weld, and after two years I'm still learning. As far as what has been done to the Datsun, here is a very short list of the major modifications:
- S13 rear subframe with complete IRS setup.
- Custom rear strut towers to accommodate the S13 coilovers
- Custom rear strut tower along with supplemental bracing to the subframe
- Cut out front strut towers and moved them forward 7.5", this also effectively extended the wheelbase
- Custom front strut towers
- Custom front strut brace
- sr20det red top
- Custom solid motor mounts
- Custom transmission mount
- S13 front crossmember so I can use all of the S13 suspension and steering components
- Extended fenders and hood
- Made hood open normal as opposed to the Datsun way
- Gutted doors
- Custom aircraft door latches/openers
- Custom bash bar
This is an excerpt from a post I made on my build page concerning the build itself: "Here is the deal with this build... Virtually the entire build so far has been done with scrap metal, hardware that friends have given me, parts from my s13 that I almost died in, a cheap harbor freight flux core welder (until recently that is), and anything else that I could use, get, or otherwise obtain for cheap, trade, or barter. I have bought very few things to make this work; it's really just an extreme budget, 1 car garage, junk yard parts, limited tools, mad max, rat rod build. Hell, prior to this I had zero fabrication nor welding experience. I'm glad people like this build, and I'm glad people hate it--there will always be haters. The car may look, on the surface, rough in its current state; however, in the end, I guarantee that it will be awesome and extremely unique. This is far from a show car, but rather a track car (with a story) that will get beat on. No one will ever like 100% of anything on any car; it's just the nature of being human."
To keep up to date with the build, please visit the facebook build page and click the Like button: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectSR71
I have extensively documented the build over the last 2 years and have over 1,000 photos, so posting photos of the progress would be quite daunting. It's best to check out the build page for the car. But I'll go ahead and post a few photos.
