Sometimes going off to college means not being able to have the nicest car, or eating Ramen noodles every day for 4 years. Sometimes though, it doesn’t mean all that. The 1996 Nissan 240 SX SE you see here, is testament to that fact. The owner of this sexy FR is indeed a "poor" college student. We should all be so lucky, but enough of hearing me whine about being broke. Let’s gown to why we’re all here.

Here on these pages is by far one of the cleanest 240’s to ever grace our shores. Equipped with products from all the "right" manufacturers and all placed on the car in all the "right" places, with lots of tender loving care. Meticulous is a word that should be used sparingly and carefully, I can honestly say that meticulous care has been taken to prepare the car you see here.

The first thing to grab your attention is the blazing red paint, which appears almost flawless from any angle. Considering that this is a daily driven street car, it is one of the cleanest examples around. Bomex Aero mirrors, OEM Nissan parts from North America, and Japan find residence in places like the JDM grille, tail lights, front lip, side skirts, and front end conversion. There is still some room for the aftermarket to help out from time to time. Yoshio Factory supplied the carbon fiber hood, and Sparco came through with a set of their hood pins for added security. Most people that see this car on the street would get a better chance to see the tail lights rather than being able to take it all in, in all its glory.

Moving under the carbon fiber hood is where we find that the heart of this beast is a perfect compliment to the beauty on the outside. Starting with an S13 Blacktop SR20DET Engine/Transmission, and adding components from Garret (GT2871R .64 a/r Turbo) and Greddy (Intake Plenum, Rocker Arm Stoppers, 1.2mm Metal Head Gasket, Oil Filter Relocation Kit, Oil Catch Can, Oil Cap, Oil Pan) NISMO added the 550CC fuel injectors, and HKS cams help this rwd menace breathe better. ARB helps keep the head attached to the block with a set of their head studs, and a Blitz intercooler kit helps get the air into that head. Keeping the A/F ratio in a safe stoichomteric range is an Enthalpy tuned ECU.

Now that you’ve got a car that looks great, and has enough power to keep most of us satisfied, getting it all to the ground, and helping keep it there is where the wheels, tires, and suspension come into play. Keeping with the JDM theme used on most of the rest of that car are a set of Work VS-KF 19 on the front and 110 on the rear, wrapped with 225/40-18’s and 265/35-18’s respectively. At this point you’d have a great looking car with nice wheels, and a HUGE fender gap. Now we all know that, that looks horrible, so a set of JIC FLT-A2 Coilovers were ordered and installed to get the adjustability that we all crave, and can use to get the exact right stance that we’re after. JIC also supplied a set of their upper control arms, and Front tension rods. Tanabe was called in for their rear toe rod set, and Tein came across with a hard tie rod set. Suspension Techniques supplied the front and rear sway bars. The last thing to take care of in the mechanical department was the brakes. A Q45 front brake conversion from Nissan Motorsports with a set of Goodridge stainless steel braided lines was installed.

Electronics on this car have been kept to a bare minimum, with a pair of Greddy 60mm gauges (boost, and oil pressure) and a plethora of security devices being the only additions the owner chose to make.

Most of us would never part with a car like this after painstakingly building it, and then only driving it 4000 or so miles. But like I said at the start, sometimes college students just don’t have the means to keep a car like this while in school. The owner tells us, that he just doesn’t have the time to truly enjoy the car. I offered to take care of it for him, until he was done school, but he said he’d rather sell it to help pay for his education. Ah well, can’t say I didn’t try.