How2Day: Performance Upgrades for a Nissan 240Sx

The Nissan 240SX sport compact coupe has rock-solid rear-wheel drive handling, a low entry price and lots of aftermarket parts from which to choose from. There are two U.S.-market 240SX generations, the 1989-to-1994 S13 and the 1995-to-1998 S14. You may be wondering which performance upgrades you should start with and which will give your S13 or S14 the most significant gains. Tuning your 240SX can turn a solid sport compact coupe into a monster on wheels.

The most important performance upgrade you can give your Nissan 240SX is a new set of tires. The Nissan 240SX is equipped with quality wheels and tires, especially on the second-generation S14 model. Switching to wider wheels creates a larger contact with the road and thus improves stability and handling. Lighter wheels also will have a positive impact. Your 240SX's wheels and tires count as unsprung weight, which means they are not supported by the suspension. Unsprung weight creates a negative handling impact by jarringly moving in response to road and cornering conditions, reducing the suspension's effectiveness. Investing in good-quality tires is even more important. Performance tires with a speed rating of "V" or greater are expensive but will work in conjunction with your other upgrades to provide a tight, controlled ride.

Replace your on-board computer to tune your engine response more aggressively. This will affect fuel economy and require the use of premium fuel and results in more aggressive timing that will allow your engine to burn more air and fuel and thus make more power. Replacing the 240SX's stock air intake with a cold-air unit will result in a small gain in performance, especially when paired with a free-breathing larger muffler.

Turbocharging the 240SX's stock KA24-series engine can result in horsepower gains. A turbocharged setup will likely require engine modification, so expect to make a serious investment if your are going this route. A bolt-on turbo setup without modifying the KA24E or KA24DE might result in a blown head if you are running too much turbo boost. These are solid engines but are not built to run under heavily turbocharged conditions in stock form.

The 240SX line is known as the Nissan 180SX and Nissan Silvia for the Japanese domestic market. Importing an SR20DET engine pulled from one of these or several other Japanese Nissan cars will result in 201 to 245 horsepower, depending on which variant of the engine. Some even go so far as to drop the Nissan 350Z's VQ-series engine into a 240SX for even bigger power gains, though this swap is much more complicated and expensive. The SR20DET engine is a solid starting point for high-boost turbo builds, so if you have the money it is a better investment than turbocharging your stock KA24 engine.

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