The SCC staff is chock-full of brainwashed 240SX worshippers (umm, that's because it's cheap and can make real power, Andy -JL). Geek-at-large Dave Coleman's flat-black Project Silvia has been well documented and there's the one that Editor Leh purchased from Editor-at-large Ed Loh. Even Engineering Editor Chen has one tucked away somewhere. They wander the corridors chanting about rear-wheel-drive and boost, but I ignore them like the Hare Krishnas in the arrivals terminal.
Truthfully, I know less about these cars than anyone else on the magazine. I come from a Honda background, where dialed-in front-drive monsters are commonplace at the racetrack. But, that's why I'm writing this. I want to know what the 240SX/Silvia platform can really do, not just hear about their unproven potential. There's all this talk about inexpensive power and aftermarket control arms, but I hardly ever see one at the track even trying to get dialed in, except maybe to go drifting and get even more sideways. I want to know: are any 240SXs out there actually made to go fast around a track?
First a little background on the lineage. Nissan sold just over 250,000 240SXs in the US between the model years 1989 and '98. More than half of those sales came in the first two years. Those early cars (known as 'Pig Nose' S13s, due to the front bumper design) came with a 12-valve SOHC KA24E motor rated at 140bhp. The '91-and-up cars came with an upgraded KA24DE which had a 16-valve twin-cam head producing a measly 155bhp. In '95, the more rigid S14 chassis was released. With a slightly longer wheelbase and wider track, the S14 was a better chassis but, with the same 2.4-liter under the hood, it wasn't any faster. The bottom line is that any 240SX with a stock motor isn't much to brag about. But stock cars are getting rare.
With so many 20-year old KA24Es rod knocking at death's door, engine swaps have become quite common. The most popular replacement is the turbocharged SR20DET out of the JDM Silvia. But some owners have gone so far as to put Skyline and even Corvette motors into the bay. Horsepower ratings can be anywhere from 200 for an early stock SR to well over 500 for one of the big swaps. That solves the power deficiency issue, but it still doesn't show how fast the cars are. To see if they could put that power to the ground, SCC needed to get some out on the track.
When organizing this shootout, we had several generations of chassis to choose from, with half a dozen engines available for each. In order to get an overall impression on what modified 240SXs can do, we went with three different chassis with three of the most popular engines. For power, we aimed for roughly 300 wheel-hp, since that was our best guess on what would work at the track and still be somewhat streetable. This kept the cars in the same ballpark in order to evaluate the differences between options. However, this isn't the most scientific testing SCC has ever done. With no constants between the cars, there's no accurate way to test the effectiveness of any specific parts. Still, this random sampling gives a pretty good idea of what the various 240SXs out there are capable of.