Drift Diaries – This is a “True Story” of my journey to drifting – no I am not a pro driver, no I am not made out of money but, I do have one thing, my brother is Ernie Manansala A.K.A emanansala.com, or better now know as Mr. NOS Energy Drinks. It was his idea to put this program together with Jason Siu of Tunerzine.com to help me on this journey to drifting.
Every month you will read and see all the ups and downs, good times and bad times, to see what it really takes to drift! I’ve been through a lot with this car, and Tunerzine is going to tell you all about it from when “I got my car” to when “my F@#$*kin brother blew up my car” and much more!! I am now 17 but I have been watching my brother build cars since I was 11. I have had six cars since I was 12 (all hand me down POS’s cars from my brother – “figures”) then I started getting into 240’s and drifting!
My original plan was to drop a SR20DET into the car. I was on the bandwagon to put a “JDM” motor into the 240. As I waited, I came across a 240 with a KA that was turbo charged. When I researched about motors everyone would bash on the “truck motor” all day long. Luckily the seller gave me a hell of a deal on the car. I purchased the 240 for $2,000 dollars. Soon I found out the hard way to why he sold it to me for so cheap. Turns out the car wasn’t tuned at all, but I stuck with the car and fixed the bugs. The first week I owned the car, it was literally already in the shop. I was prepping the car for HIN in my hometown. An Origin wide body kit along with a Silvia front end off my old 240 was being matched up with the car. It took about two weeks for the car to be prepped, painted, and sitting pretty. Right after the car was done, it was in the hands of the guys at Turbo XS. There the car received their new D-TEC engine management, and RFL blow off valve. When the guys at Turbo XS were tuning the car, they came across a bunch of concerns and weren’t able to fully tune the car. Turns out the wastegate was held open and the clutch fan was shot. This was the starting point of car headaches. My brother and I had to weld the clutch fan, just to make it back home! We went back to research and ordered a Turbosmart wastegate to replace the held open wastegate. And a set of FAL dual fans to replace the broken clutch fan.
The deadline for HIN was creeping up on me faster then I thought. And the car still wasn’t the way I wanted it to be. While the car was at various shops, my brother and I hung out with a couple of the guys in the MD area. One of my brother’s long time friend, Dan Lopez of Obsession Motorsports, told us about his Korean friend who is said to hold some pretty rare parts. And I was in need of a set of coilovers. So we swung by this guy’s house to see what he had. As I walked up his driveway from afar I saw about six 240’s in his backyard. All of them with SR20’s, these 240’s were set up for serious times at the strip. Just to show how serious some of the cars were, one of the six was running a T70 turbo and was said to be running 10s, while all the others had plenty of eye candy for me to envy over. From just seeing their cars I could tell these guys were serious tuners and with half the parts on the cars. I was anxious to see what he was selling. Once he took me inside his house, and led us to his basement, I was mind boggled at the parts he had. Sitting on the floor were a set of Zeal coilovers for an S14, a full JUN stroker kit, HKS manifolds, and turbos to make any car scream. As I was looking for a set of coilovers, he opened his closet and showed me a set of OHLIN coilovers. I picked these babies up with no hesitation, along with a pair of Recaro racing seats, an A’PEXi catless exhaust, and a set of 180SX tail lights. When we put on the coilovers, I decided to go with a set of Sportmax 962 (18×9.5) wheels to finish off the stance on the car. Now my car was starting to look evil. =) Stay tuned as Drift Diaries continues.
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