Jim Schumacher isn’t exactly a newbie. At 46-years-old, he’s owned a lot of cool cars over the years, including an old school Mustang, Chevelle, and Nova during his misspent youth. More recently, he built a killer B13 Nissan Sentra SE-R for track days and time trials, but having gutted the interior, installed a super stiff suspension and a roll bar, his SR20VE-powered SE-R was working his kidneys over like a young Mike Tyson. A little too much spinal compression and a bruised internal organ or two was enough for “Shoe” (as he’s affectionately known) to decide that it was time to build a more civilized and street-worthy machine, this time based upon a RWD platform in order to reconnect with his muscle car roots, but with modern sports car styling and handling still capable of tearing it up at his favorite racing circuit. Having developed a deep appreciation for Nissan and the SR20 powerplant during his Sentra days, Schumacher also wanted his next project car to remain within the Nissan stable and to be powered by a turbo version of the ubiquitous SR motor family, making this gloss black S14 Nissan 240SX the perfect starting point. Having built himself a hot rod Nissan before, Schumacher knew exactly what he wanted before he even began shopping for a 240SX. In fact, Shoe already had a S14 SR20DET and a bunch of other go-fast goodies on the shelf just waiting for the right 240SX to come along.
After having bought a S14 on eBay that was falsely advertised and turned out to be a total rust bucket, Schumacher dumped that heap in favor of a sweet deal he found in North Carolina, where a young woman who just graduated from college was selling this spotless Nissan. With a seized engine and a seller who wanted to upgrade to a Bimmer as a graduation gift, Shoe snagged this babied 1995 240SX SE for the paltry sum of $1,000. It’s not every day that you find a rust-free, no accidents, all original S14 for that kind of money – blown engine or not. With a friend in the shipping business taking care of getting the car from North Carolina to his stomping grounds in Rochester, New York, Schumacher immediately began transforming this black beauty from a college girl’s cushy commuter to one of the cleanest and meanest S14’s you’ll ever have the pleasure of being passed by, whether you’re on the way to Home Depot or doing some open lapping with the Performance Drivers Association (www.pdadrivingschool.com) at Watkins Glen or Lime Rock. Either way, unless you’re driving a full-blown race car, chances are you’re going to get spanked.
The spanking you’re likely to receive is courtesy of Shoe’s considerable skills behind the wheel (he’s a long-time track driver and occasional driving instructor) and as a Nissan tuner. Knowing that he wanted a SR20DET, Schumacher sourced a complete JDM Silvia front clip showing a mere 35,000 miles on the odometer. He was also pleased to find a few signs of the donor car having been lady driven, given the lipstick and other, um, female sanitary products he found inside it. Having likely led an easy life in Japan, Shoe was about to transform the donor SR into a seriously powerful track attack motivator. Despite its virginal condition, Schumacher wasn’t afraid to pull the valve cover off his low mileage mill in order to swap in a set of HKS 256/264 Step 1 camshafts along with a complete set of Comp Cam valve springs and Crower titanium valve retainers. The valvetrain was further fortified by installing GReddy rocker arm stoppers, an inexpensive and effective way to prevent the SR’s magnetic rockers from kicking off during high RPM use. While he was at it Shoe pulled the SR’s head and replaced the stock head gasket with an A’PEXi 0.8mm metal gasket and installed a set of ARP head studs to ensure a boost-proof seal. Having fully revamped the head package, Schumacher and his buddy Randy Ames from Phoenix Imports busted out their socket sets and went to town on pretty much everything that bolts to it.
With big horsepower numbers in mind, the fuel system was fully upgraded with Tomei 740cc injectors, Walbro 255lph fuel pump, and an adjustable Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator. Putting all this extra fuel flow to good use is a Garrett GT3076 turbocharger, fed by a custom cold-air intake with Z32 MAF and HKS air filter along with a Greddy R-Spec intercooler. The big Garrett turbo is mounted to a Peak Boost equal length tubular top mount exhaust manifold, exhaling through a 3-inch Peak Boost downpipe and 80mm Invidia stainless steel exhaust system. Regulating manifold boost pressure is one of TiAL’s bulletproof 38mm wastegates, while an HKS SSQV blow-off valve vents excess boost pressure on the hot side and a Stealth FX BOV does the same on the cold side. One of the advantages of having been around the block a few times is having experience enough to know that turbochargers and circuit driving both have a way of creating a lot of heat. To address this issue, Shoe wisely opted for a GReddy 5-quart cast aluminum baffled oil pan to help prevent the oil pick-up from sucking air instead of oil and a Mocal 19-row oil cooler to help keep the life’s blood of the engine within a track-friendly temperature range. Further insuring his SR against heat soak, the cooling system has been completely upgraded too including a Koyo full-width aluminum radiator, Samco hoses, and a Nismo low temp thermostat.
By David Pratte
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