Here are some quick shots of his car from last night.

Good luck to Andrew and the rest of the Pro-Am and Formula D drifters.

"White Apocalypse" in front of the PSI trailer at South Sound Speedway

After driving up early this morning, Andrew was ready to begin drifting.  The 3 hour drive only built up Andrew’s excitement even further.  We worked until midnight last night to fine tune the car for today’s test and tune session.  The front end was modified to incorporate a bar around the lower part of the radiator.  This support will strengthen the front end and protect the raditator.  This support was also designed with points to jack the car up, thus making working on it easier. 

"White Apocalypse" is ready

After a final inspection, it was finally time to test “White Apocalypse” on the track.  Andrew was definitely up to the challenge.

Andrew began with donuts

To get a feel for the car, Andrew began the day by doing donuts.  The LS2 definitely has enough power to burn up the tires.  He was going around the cone and leaving white smoke behind him.  At times, “White Apocalypse” disappeared in the smoke, but the V8 was clearly audible. 

The aftermath of donuts

Once the smoke cleared, the power and control are evident from the donuts left on the track.  Andrew was able to easily keep the car moving around in closely concentric circles. 

After doing donuts for awhile, the real shakedown began. 

"White Apocalypse" drifting

"White Apocalypse" drifting

"White Apocalypse" drifting

The result of a day of drifting

After a long day of drifting, many of Andrew’s tires looked like the one above.  “White Apocalypse” easily ate through many sets of tires.

Alex welding the front supports.

Alex welding the front supports

Putting in over 15 hour work days for the past 3 days, we are excited to have Andrew’s drift car ready to test and compete.  Andrew and his crew, accompanied by Jason Oefelein and Gary Rayevich, left for Monroe, WA.  They are heading to Evergreen Speedway for a day of testing and tuning.  This is Andrew’s first time driving his LS2 powered S13.  In previous competitions, Andrew was driving a SR powered S13.  The new LS2 setup has many improvements over the old setup.

Work on the front end continued with the addition of supports for the front fenders, bumper, and headlights.

Front supports

Headlight

A custom battery tray was fabricated and installed.

Welding the battery tray.Battery trayBattery in battery tray

The oil lines were run and a Moroso oil accumulator was installed.  The accumulator helps maintain oil pressure.

Moroso accumulator

Behind the radiator sits a power steering fluid cooler.

Power steering fluid cooler

The issue of the shifter position has been solved.  The issue was that the TKO transmission does not match up exactly to the 240 shifter hole.  To solve this issue, a Hurst shifter was modified to allow the shifter to come up through the original shifter boot.  The shifter position was moved back about 6 inches.  Along with the shifter, the hydro e-brake was also installed.

Shifter and E-brake

The AiM Sports MXL Strada dash was transferred over from the old car.  This digital dash display will give Andrew all the important information he needs while drifting.

AiM Sports MXL Strada dash

Very early Thursday morning, the engine was started for the first time.

Jason creating the base map.

The engine was idled at 2500 rpm for 20 minutes to allow the cams to break-in.  After the 20 minutes, the oem valve springs were replaced with Comp Cam’s dual springs.  At this time, new Comp Cam valve stem seals were installed as well.

Original valve springs

Comp cam dual valve springs in the front.

After the valve springs were replaced with Comp Cam dual valve springs, the car was put on the dyno.  Jason is tuning this LS2 with a MoTec EMS.

LS2 in the engine bay

Jason Oefelein tuning on the dyno.

After recieving a tune, the car was put on the alignment rack for some suspension tuning.  Once the suspension was setup for drifting, the oil was changed and the car was loaded onto the trailer.  Andrew and his crew are on there way to Monroe, WA.  Good luck Andrew.

The front end needed to be fabricated because the original one was not up to our standards.  We needed one that would be able to support the new radiator.  The front end also needed to be changed because a large radiator would be replacing the radiator and intercooler combination used with the turbo SR setup. 

Welding the front supports

Hammering the supports into shape.

Fabricated front support.

Welding on radiator mounts.

Custom radiator mount.

 While fabrication on the front end was taking place, others began working on the rear fenders.  The fenders needed to be cut for the proper fitment of the wheels.  Wide body fender flares will give the car the aggressive look it deserves. 

Cutting the rear fender.

Grinding the rear fender.

Bending up the edges of the fender.

Riveting the fender flares.

 The rear suspension was another area that recieved attention yesterday.  The rubber bushings were replaced with aluminum ones.  The coilovers were transferred over from Andrew Coomes old race car.  New SPL suspension components were installed. 

Rear subgrame with aluminum bushings.

SPL suspension components

Rear suspension with SPL components

 The fuel system was installed in preparation for getting this engine started for the first time.  The fuel pressure regulator was mounted and the fuel lines were run.  The fuel lines were run close to the bottom of the car to keep them as safe as possible.  Billet fuel rails from FAST were also installed. 

Fuel pressure regulator.

Fuel lines and fuel filter.

 A custom throttle cable mount needed to be fabricated. 

Throtte cable mount.

We hope to be finished soon, so Andrew can tear up the track this Friday at the Evergreen Drift Pro-Am competition.  Check back for an update later today.

As of  this past weekend, there was a lot of work to do.  The LS2 currently sits in the engine bay, but has yet to be wired since some front end fabrication is currently taking place. 

LS2 sits on Sikky engine mounts.

While Gary and Alex work on the front end, Mark is working on the wiring and dash. 

Mark wiring up the harness for MoTeC

The gas tank has been put in and the hatch was installed. 

Installing the hatch.

Fabrication on the radiator and fan supports are continuing. 

We also are currently working on a transmission and shifter solution.  We have a TKO transmission hooked up to the LS2 however the shifter location does not match the 240’s stock location.  The new driveline we recieved will also have to be modified to make it work.  We are using a 5-speed transmission as opposed to the 6-speed transmission that is normally mated to the LS2. 

Check back later today to see the progress of Andrew Coomes’ LS2 powered 240 drift car.

For Pro-Am driver, Andrew Coomes, of AJC Drift, a roll cage is a must for his Nissan 240SX.  Andrew came to PSI to have a roll cage built into his 240.  He needs it not only to meet XDC requirements but to protect himself in case of an accident, while competing.

Before fabrication can begin, his 240 was stripped down.  The inside of the shell was then sprayed with primer.  Alex Laventure began fabricating the base plates for the roll cage.

In this photo, you can see four base plates for the roll cage being fabricated. 

The base plates are fabricated out of multiple pieces of metal to fit the contours of the chassis. 

The base plate on the rear strut tower being fabricated.

After fabricating the rear base plate, Alex Laventure welds the plate to the strut tower. 

After a base plate is welded in, Alex grinds down the burrs. 

The base plate is then primered like the rest of the chassis.  The welds are left rough so that they can pass a tech inspection.  If the welds were smoothed out, it would be harder for the inspectors to see them.

Once the base plates were installed, the bending of tube began.  The tube needs to pass XDC guidelines to be a race legal cage for their series.  The cage is welded in cage. 

Alex welding the cage in.

The cage in the process of being fabricated.

Interior of the cage, still a work in progress. 

The cage is still being built.  Check back for more details on this cage and the progress of Andrew Coomes’ drift car being built.

Andrew Coomes’ SR20 powered 240

All these drivers will be prepared for 2010 drift season after being tuned by Jason Oefelein.  Good luck to all the competitors.

They created a plan of attack to prepare this SR20 powered 240 for the 2010 season.  Check out AJC’s blog at AJCDrift.com for more about the rebuild process. 

Tonight, Jason began creating a map for the SR.  The 240 was strapped down on the dyno.

Unfortunately there are no whp numbers because the car is still in the build process.  Once Jason begins to this 240 for drifting, we will post up some impressive numbers.