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Boost Bio's No. 1 - Rob Hartson's 1JZ VVTI 240sx Drift Car
If you are here reading this, I am assuming you are a car enthusiast, addict, lover, whichever term best describes your commitment to rolling metal. If this is true of you, then you are in the right place, and if not... keep reading and maybe we can change that. Boost Bio’s will be a blog of sorts, where we will be sharing features of Builds that come through our shop, educational content regarding Components, whether Performance, OEM Replacement or Custom related. Engine Building, Dyno Tuning, you’ll find it all here. You can also expect written, combined with media coverage of events that we attend and/or have a Boost Factory driver participating in. You’ll notice an Import theme as Boost Bio’s grows, as we do specialize in Performance upgrades and the customization of Import Vehicles.
Moving into today’s 240sx 1JZ VVTI Drift Build,
we have a 1989 Nissan 240sx, which has had a heart transplant in the form of a 1JZ-GTE VVTI. This car’s owner is... well it’s me. My name is Rob Hartson, I do all the Media here at Boost Factory. If you have come across our YouTube videos, I am the one behind the camera. I do also drive for Boost Factory, as an amateur, grassroots drifter. But, moving onto the 35-year-old yellow mix of fibreglass and metal, let's get into the details of my car.
We’ll start with the aesthetics of the car. I, along with many other S-Chassis owners and lovers, am drawn to the aggressive style and vibe that the Origin Labo kits give the car. I chose the Origin Labo Race line kit, combined with the Type 3, +55mm front and rear over fenders. I am running the OEM hood with Koncept Industries hood vents, and an OEM Style 180sx Kouki Spoiler. The car was then fully re-sprayed with a front to rear fade of BMW Estoril Blue & BMW Purple Silk Metallic. Being a drift car, obviously the wheels are always changing but my spares consist of a full set of SSR S1 3P’s, full set of Rays 57XR’s, and a pair of Rays 57DR’s.
Alright, it’s time to talk about where all the lovely noises come from. Let's get into the 1JZ and how I, with the guidance of the team here at Boost Factory, decided to build it, with it being a dedicated drift car in mind. My goal for this car, to maximize seat-time and not be working on the car in the pits all the time, was reliability. The first step to achieve this, was to have Boost Factory complete the work. I love working on my own cars, but when it came to this level of financial commitment to drifting, not to mention the safety aspect, I needed to know everything was done as properly, and reliably as possible (while working within my budget).
I drifted the car with the 1JZ in stock-form making roughly 300WHP for 2 seasons, and then decided I was ready for more power. A responsive 450-500WHP was the goal for this edition of my car. To achieve the power goals I had in mind, we went with the Garrett GBC-35-700 Supercore and T4/V-Band 0.95 A/R, combined with a 6 Boost, External Waste Gate High Mount Manifold and Turbosmart Gen V Pro-Gate 50. This Turbo is from Garrett’s newer line of Turbo’s (GBC), that is essentially G Series technology but with a Journal Bearing Core. With the Turbo being Journal, it comes in at a fraction of the price of a Ball Bearing G Series Turbo, which was great for my budget. Going with the 35-700, it did mean sacrificing a little bit of response, but when the power come on, it stays on all the way to red line.
To keep the head of the engine happy sitting at high RPM (sometimes longer than I should), we installed Kelford’s 264/272 Street/Track Performance Cams along with their High-Performance Valve Springs. Of course, we installed Supertech Valve Stem Seals during this process. With reliability at the forefront of the build, we changed, I’d say 95% of the lines on the engine to AN fittings. Getting rid of those nasty old rubber hoses that will inevitably leak someday.
Moving onto the fuel system, I am running a Walbro 450 fuel pump, fed through the Radium Fuel Filter and Radium Fuel Rail before reaching the 1000CC PFI Injectors. Maintaining control of the temperatures of a drift car is not easy, especially when you stuff a different engine in the chassis that is significantly larger than the engine that the bay was designed for. So, let's talk about my cooling solutions. To fit this large Koyo Radiator and Flex-A-Lite fans, we removed the centre section of the Rad Support, and a new custom Rad Support was built, and welded in by Colton. Clearance to the Crank Pulley is very minimal, but it does all fit and is easily serviceable thanks to Colton’s attention to detail.
The new rad support also accommodates my 25 Row -10AN Oil Cooler, 16 Row -10AN Power Steering Cooler, and Treadstone 1035 Intercooler. With the engine living in the higher RPMs on track, the oil cooler is great peace of mind that oil temps are under control. I found a power steering cooler was necessary, as I was constantly boiling over the fluid without a cooler. Controlling water temps has always been the biggest struggle with my car. In addition to the larger Koyo Radiator, a custom swirl-pot was welded up and installed on the upper water neck. The addition of this swirl pot added roughly 750ml’s more volume to the water capacity of the system, helping massively with temperatures. If I am hot lapping the car, and not doing sufficient cool down laps, it will inevitably get hot but the duration to get to that point, is exponentially longer than previously.
When Vitali had my car on the Dyno for the ECU Calibration, he did implement fail safes in the ECU. It is currently calibrated to limit my RPM to 5500 if temperatures reach 100 Degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit). While driving a long track, it’s not always easy to look down and check temps, so having this fail safe, that I have experienced more times that I would like to admit, of course is noticeable and I can immediately start the cool down process.
Saying drifting is fun, does not do it justice. Sometimes you’re having the time of your life and get a little carried away with the back-to-back laps...temps rise... it happens.
Choosing to do the 1JZ was easy. It has always been a dream of mine to build and drift a JZ s-chassis. What I didn’t have planned out, was what the rest of the drivetrain was going to look like. I ended up choosing to run a CD 6 speed transmission out of a 2006 G35, adapted to the 1JZ using the Collins Stage 5 Twin Disc Swap Kit. The 850ftlb twin disc was overkill for the build, but I got a great deal on the kit so that’s what I went with. I then had a custom 1-piece driveshaft built locally, linking the CD to my Nismo 2 Way rear differential. I use OEM or OEM Replacement axles in the car, they have proven to take the abuse quite well with the current power levels.
Before we continue onto the electronics of the car, there’s a few more noteworthy details of the car. I used ISR mounts for the engine and transmission. Getting the transmission bolted into the car was little-to no fun... my low mileage, rust free chassis endured an unholy amount of hammering to make room for the big CD bell housing. The exhaust was custom built by Vitali here at Boost Factory. Turbo, all the way to the exhaust tip, including the waste-gate dump. Intercooler piping is modified pipe that came with my old CX-Racing kit that I had installed on the car while the engine was stock, and I was in the beginning stages of learning how to drive sideways. I do plan to redo the intercooler piping in the future.
The 240sx received a new heart, and all the extremities to go with it... but none of it is any use, without a brain to control it. I spent a great deal of time researching Standalone ECUs, as this was going to be my first Standalone ECU car. ECUMaster is who stood out to me throughout my research, especially on the topic of DBW (Drive by Wire), as I planned to utilize the factory ETCS-I throttle body on the 1JZ-VVTI (Electronic Throttle Control System - Intelligent). ECUMaster’s calibration technology for DBW is amazing and I couldn't be happier with the feel of the throttle and response in the car.
I chose the ECUMaster EMU Black, adapted to the factory 1JZ Engine harness using the ECUMaster WHP PNP-Harness. To see the values for each sensor on the car that the ECU is controlling, I run the ECUMaster 7" Advanced Display Unit. The ADU 7, is one of my favourite modifications on the car. The customization and versatility of the dash is unbelievable. While my car was having the ECU Calibrated on the Dyno with Vitali, it was clear that I was going to need a strong Alternator to combat the load that the electrical system was now under. I chose to do the DC-Power 180AMP High Output Alternator. Voltage is now consistently at 14.2V under full load.
You have reached the end of Boost Bio’s No.1. I hope it was an informative and/or valuable read for you and if you have any unanswered questions regarding the details of this build please reach out.