So... What is it exactly that we like about the S13/S14???

SON240sx Automotive
21

I’m not riding any high horse here; I’m simply trying to separate cold hard fact from personal opinion, which can be influenced in many ways. Simply saying, “This car is built like garbage” does not constitute as a fact. Sadly, there are too many impressionable people that do not take such statements with a grain of salt, instead they run with it.

Sure, there are an infinite amount of areas for improvement to the 240.

However, as Sasha said, it’s a $20,000 road car, what can you expect? Stainless steel tubular control arms? Titanium connecting rods? Aluminum uni-body?

If you do not put the car through stresses never intended for it (I.E. Drifting) then you have no worries about tweaking anything. Otherwise, you will obviously need improvements.

It is as if you pushed a Porsche off a cliff and complained it broke. What do you expect, it was never built with that in mind. Similarly, the 240 was not built with the stresses of drifting in mind.

Simply because a machine doesn’t withstand conditions it was never designed for, hardly makes it built like garbage.

Contrary to popular belief, the 240’s popularity in drifting is a consequence of coincidence. Not the product of an engineer yelling ‘Dori Dori’ at his drafting board back in the mid-80’s.

22

I have a real question for those of you that have put 15 G’s and more into your 240sx.

Why didn’t you save up and buy a 1990 GT-R instead?

And does anyone on here have a skyline? They arent that expensive, especially not for some of the older members with real jobs and such.

I must be missing something ^^

23

Because then you have a stock used GTR of which mechanical condition is unknown.

Plus you have to register it, which can be a hassle for some.

Certain replacement parts, I can imagien, are difficult and expensive to come by.

And most realistic of all, most people don’t dump 15k into a 240 all at once. It’s a culmination of years of spending.

Lastly, for 15G, you can a make a 240 quicker then a stock GTR.

24

That doesn’t make much sense really… back in the 80’s, Nissan had tons of money… that’s where the R32 and the RB26 came from really…and the S13 was built in the mid-late 80’s.

Their financial troubles started back in mid-late 90s… iirc, Renault bought 44% of Nissan in 1999.

So technically, the S14 should have been the one with all the “corner cuttings” and not the S13 :slight_smile:

25

reasons I love my S13 Hatch;

1.) near perfect weight distribution 54/46
2.) progressive oversteer, easy to control
3.) Hicas rules ice/snow
4.) cheap parts
5.) oldschool hotrod comradery
----Like Bing, who stopped me @ U of G 3.5 years ago to invite me to SON240sSX

things I hate;

1.) S-chassis hardparkers/bandwagoners
2.) Cops that profile my ish and pull me over for nothing…
3.) S-chasis homos/elitists (like ed, AKA applesauce)
—that try to cause beef with folks they don’t know

26

:D/

27

Sure, but the S13 is certainly much worse in that regard than 90% of “90’s cars” out there, and yes, I do have examples and facts to back that up, the quality of the metal certainly not being the least of which.

Take a look at an S12, FC, Z31, or SW20 chassis and compare it to an S13. You should notice that while these cars are older than the S13, they’re constructed with better/thicker metals, more consistent welds, properly engineered drain hole locations and have few or no ‘corners cut’ in comparions. I’d be willing to bet they also all have a LOT less rust and corosion.

28

i got my s14 because its rear wheel looks cool and i hate civics OK

29

Cheap, unique, understated tuner car that has tonnes of potential. period.

30

I have no problems with people liking them for looks… I think that they are quite sexy. And done tastefuly VERY SEXY! But they really were built with an american market in mind. Same as the difference in something as simple as shocks. Almost all american market OEM shocks are designed to induce understeer. Oversteer is a bad thing, so they try to reduce it as much as possible and the S13/S14 chassis design and suspesion geometry reflects this.

Why is it the AE86 guys don’t need 300+ hp to stay with the 400 to 600hp cars in competion?! Its a far better platform to start with. To take this to be an insult, remember, I like them (240SX) for what they are… A good all-around street car. But they are not [/i]NOT a suitable race car platform.

And the Frenchies had a controling share in the company in the mid eighties…

31

[quote=“prodigy”]

Sure, but the S13 is certainly much worse in that regard than 90% of “90’s cars” out there, and yes, I do have examples and facts to back that up, the quality of the metal certainly not being the least of which.

Take a look at an S12, FC, Z31, or SW20 chassis and compare it to an S13. You should notice that while these cars are older than the S13, they’re constructed with better/thicker metals, more consistent welds, properly engineered drain hole locations and have few or no ‘corners cut’ in comparions. I’d be willing to bet they also all have a LOT less rust and corosion.[/quote]

MR2’s and Z31’s never sold in the same price range as S-chassis cars, so those are discluded from this discussion. The Z31 was Nissan’s flagship grand touring car, where as the 240 was just an economical fuel efficient sports car. The toyota MR2 was not exactly a class ahead of the S13, but it most definatly wasn’t on the same playing feild. A fully loaded MR2 was a luxury tourer, however a base model cloth/NA MR2 would have likely been around the same price as an S13, but having had both cars the S13 isn’t lacking as much as you’d think, a base model MR2 is pretty trashy.

FC may have some advantages but it also has fall backs. FC and S13 are very close imo. FC’s rust a lot too, so its not like they are leaps and bounds ahead of S13’s as far as materials go. Their shell may be stiffer I don’t personally know, however they are also known to be harder to drive and less forgiving than S13s, so its give and take. Personally I never had a problem driving an FC and I have a feeling its more internet bullshit than anything. Do they tend to go positive camber upon suspension compression? thats what it felt like to me, when you loaded the front the car gave up really quickly.

S13’s are also very very very easy to work on compared with almost any other car. S14’s are the same just a bit more complicated because of OBD II and a bit more electronics i.e. airbag harness etc.

Have you guys tried working on an MR2 before? Just a total piss off. FC’s are pretty good, Z32’s can really get you if you break the wrong part and have known to be unreliable etc etc etc.

If I had 15,000$ to do it all over again i’d have an R32. The truely are fantastic cars, im absolutly in love with them. Unfortunatly like someone above said most guys cant throw down 15k all at once

32

word.

33

I think the biggest reason hachi’s dont need that much power to keep up with D1 cars is because they are very light and they run them on very very very small tires (175 or even 185s) where as most guys are on 235-255s. But the best hachi’s have 250-280whp SR’s in them. Awesome cars for sliding around, reliable as fuck (engine anyways) and so nimble. mmmm i wants

34

but still, even if a 240 is faster than a gt-r, i mean, after all, who the hell owns a gtr anyways?!

whats hard with registering it ?

35

i’ll put my opinion in this,

i bought a 240 cause i love it for what it is and what it has the potential to be.

simply, to me it’s awesome.

i love my 240sx

36

i have a 1998 s14 Kouki and i love it because you hardly see them around they get tonnes of looks. i also like 240’s because they are rear wheel drive and i love rear wheel. price is right and lots of aftermarket goodies. i like the look of an s14 kouki better than an r32 skyline

37

You can make this car understeer or oversteer quite easily. Fwd’s sure cant do both without touching the e brake. Coming from a racing background id never want a fwd…their just no fun. 240s are pretty sporty and not too bold getting everyones attention around you. What i really like is old school camaros chevelles gtos etc…ive watched google vids of these guys drifting these heavey monters!! that was impressive and it looked siiick…not sumthing u see all the time. I dont think id change my car for anything…unless money was offered to me or won the lotto…
-Devin

38

I love 240 because they are RWD, and you can do lots of shit to it.

39

dunno about u guys but i like the 240s. Everything about the car is driver orientated. I get a lot of driver feedback when driving an s13/s14. Just pisses me off that nissan didnt send the nice engines over :slight_smile:

40

yes they did , its called a ka24de, they just decided to be a little sneaky and let us figure out they turbo stuff…

why i bought my s13… saved up money at the age of 16, so my options in my mind were mk3 supra(which i later bought and realized was a peice of shit yet i still miss it ) , a z31… those were the only 2 i wanted, so we went out and test drove them, and well daddy was with me , and was not sure about letting me get one seeing as how i was a novice driver, so he converses with his best freind about it , and his best freind calls me, and we tlk about what i want, so i tell him the crieteria, and he says get a miata, i say phuc dat, so one car pops into my head 240sx( just havibg driven one the week prior while learnig to drive manual from an older freind) he says good choice, the rest is history, have not gone a a day since i was 16 with out owning one, why do i love it?

i just do, why am i on my fourth one? cuz im fucked in the head , and i will always own an s-chassis, dorifto is ghey, i just like driving the car, fuck tha policia es-ay