Brendan Walker's 1998 Nissan Silvia 240SX SE

Drifting is all about power, control and feedback. It's a ballet on wheels, where the dancers perform behind a hazy screen of blue tire smoke.

From his home base in Goleta, Calif., just north of Santa Barbara, Brendan Walker is active in a number of sports car and drifting clubs, including the UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) Sports Car Club, the SOCAL 240SX club, Club4AG and the Santa Barbara Drift Crew. Together with his brother Adam, Walker has slowly and steadily been massaging his '98 240SX SE into a streetable daily driver that can drift with the best.

Walker's first mod was a set of Tein Flex coil-overs that boosted spring rates to 8 kg/mm (447 lb/in) up front, and 7 kg/mm (391 lb/in) at the rear. Later came front and rear anti-roll bars from Suspension Techniques, as well as a set of subframe bushings from Whiteline.

To keep the Nissan's chassis from folding like a futon, he installed front and rear strut tower braces from Nismo, a Nismo front-end Power Bar, Tein tension rods, an HPI engine torque dampener, Do-Luck USA rear cross bar, front/rear ladder bars and a floor-support bar.

Where the rubber meets the road, Walker elected to go with Volk Racing SE-37K wheels, measuring 17x8.5 with a 30mm offset, at all four corners. For the moment, tires are Falken Azenis ST-115 sized 215/45-17 all around. Importantly, Walker opted for Falken's special drift-spec rubber compound for the rear-driving wheels.

"I've only competed twice with the car," Walker admits. "But already it's obvious that the right type of tire is essential. You've gotta have grip, but the tire has also got to be predictable when it loses traction. So far, these Falkens seem to fit these criteria very consistently."

For his track setup, Walker usually dials in -3.5 camber up front and -2.5 at the rear.

Walker found the car's S14 SR20DET at ABCD Automotive in El Monte, Calif. He called over there a week before the National 240SX convention and track event at Streets of Willow, hoping to locate some rear suspension arms for camber and toe control. Well, one thing led to another, and before he knew it, Walker was dropping his car off at ABCD to have the Silvia powerplant installed. That was Monday. On Wednesday he picked it up, and on Sunday he was shaking it down on the Streets of Willow.

The powerplant is an S14 black-top with variable-intake cam timing control that can manipulate timing over a 20-degree range between 1100 rpm and 5700 rpm. The compressor is the stock Garrett T28.

Intercooling chores are handled by an R32 Skyline GT-R intercooler, using East Bear's piping kit designed specifically for fitting that intercooler onto an S14 Silvia. Turbo management is all A'PEXi and includes a boost controller, turbo timer and twin-chamber blow-off valve.

For fuel management, Walker opted for A'PEXi's Power FC unit for the S14 SR20DET, which he says "gives me more control over the engine so I'm not so totally dependent on a particular shop for tuning." Injectors are from Nismo, rated 555cc/min, and the fuel pump is a Walbro, rated 255 liter/hr.

Although a cam upgrade is in the cards, for now there are no internal mods. Rounding out the underhood package is an HKS Super Mega Flow intake, a Koyo aluminum race radiator with Samco hoses and Nismo high-pressure cap, and a Trust oil cooler/filter relocation kit. For scavenging duties, Walker opted for a 3-inch system incorporating a Blitz downpipe Catco catalytic converter and Tanabe Racing's Medalion stainless-steel cat-back for bringing up the rear.

Walker does his own tuning, and says the car consistently dials up 242 rear wheel hp at 0.8 bar (12 psi) on a SuperFlow Dyno (we have no idea what that means in Dynojet land) at Bottleblown Racing in Oxnard, Calif. In competition trim, Walker typically raises boost to 0.9 bar (13 psi).

Getting it all to the road is a box-stock transmission, assisted by a 1.5-way clutch-type limited-slip differential, single-plate clutch and flywheel, all from Nismo. Nismo also supplied the engine and tranny mounts.

Brakes are four-piston aluminum calipers up front from the 300ZX clamping a pair of 12-inch rotors. Stainless-steel braided lines full of Super Blue racing fluid handle the plumbing, and the pads are Metal Masters.

Walker's interior and exterior mods are spare but effective. Enhancing the silhouette are a front lip from Nismo and some rear effects pieces from Bomex. Inside, it's the Zeta II racing bucket from Bride that attracts all the attention, particularly because of the ultra-low-position mounting brackets and sliders. An Alpine CD unit provides the tunes, although as Walker readily admits, "Audio is not the focus of this car at all."

And why should it be? Walker can make plenty of joyful noise of his own, simply by getting behind the wheel of his 240SX/Silvia hybrid and skating through space accompanied by a symphony of powerslides and counter-steers. It's music to his ears, and it's the sound everyone eventually learns to love when they, too, finally get the drift.