Drifting is an incredible sport. It receives quite a bit of hate compared to other forms of motorsport since it’s more about the driver's ability to control the car in the slide and less about speed; and it's that skill of control that makes it so awesome. Although it's possible to drift almost any rear-wheel drive car, even an electric Porsche Taycan, there are certain chassis, like the Nissan 240SX, that are known to be incredible at it and therefore are very commonplace at the track. Unlike most 240s, however, one owned by Sloan from Top Garage has a rather uncommon engine swap, which makes it even more awesome.
The S13 Rips With Its 500-HP RB25
While covering the Gridlife Midwest event recently, Larry Chen with Hoonigan got the chance to cover a couple of Top Garage's cars including this 500-HP 1JZ 240. Unlike the other 240s in the group, however, Sloan's is a breath of fresh, unique air, as he decided to go against the pull to put the all-too-common 1JZ/2JZ engines that power a majority of 240s still on the road. Instead, he kept it in the Nissan family and swapped in a 2.5L straight six RB25 engine out of an R32 Skyline GTST.
Sloan has slowly built his RB25 over the years from bone stock all the way up to a fully built 500-HP single turbo motor with a forged bottom end and Tomei heads and cams. At 500-HP, this S-Chassis car is definitely not an insane Formula Drift build, but the beauty of it is that it doesn't have to be.
Drifting For Fun, Not Chasing A Horsepower Number
As Larry and Sloan go through the car, there is a definite theme that Sloan had with the car. He makes it very clear that the goal wasn't to be the fastest one on the track, but to just enjoy driving. Sloan even mentions how he and Top Garage created a mold for the doors so they can swap out the door skins of their cars when they get damaged. He also mentions how, unlike what a lot of people do, he only changed out the suspension components necessary to make it a great drift car and left the rest of it alone.
That's the great thing about drifting, is that you don't need an incredibly overbuilt car to compete. Drifting's foundation is based on having a blast with whatever car you have, and as many others have figured out like Sloan, having a setup that gives you more seat time on track offers more fun with your friends, which is way more important than chasing down a horsepower number.
Source: YouTube