The Queen of Hearts – Erin Sanford’s LS-powered Time Attack 240SX
Shifter, center console and aluminum machined emergency brake handle
You might think that with all of the LS1 power that you’d find a T56 transmission underneath that shifter. You’d be wrong.

Erin felt that using the T56 was a bit like trying to play croquet with a flamingo as a mallet and a hedgehog as a ball. In its place, he decided to go for a buttery smooth Nissan CD009. That transmission is affixed to the engine using a Collins Adapter and the GM T56 bellhousing. The shifter you see here is actually a GK Tech unit for the CD009.

In between the engine and the transmission is a Competition Clutch assembly consisting of their flywheel and a 7.25″ custom twin-disc clutch and a Tilton adjustable hydraulic release bearing. Part of the reason that Erin suffered clutch slippage issues was because the setup was an experiment for both Sanford and Competition Clutch. It turned out that only one of the two discs was engaging on the input shaft, and that was why Erin could only manage part throttle acceleration. The other disc wasn’t doing anything and the single remaining functional disc couldn’t quite hang on. Fortunately for Erin, Competition Clutch was interested in his success and in keeping their customer happy, so the kit was revised and Erin got the new parts that now work great.

The ASD pull-up hydraulic e-brake assembly is a holdover from the drift days. Who knows — the car might make it to another drift event…

 

Fuel Safe fuel cell dropped into hole in the trunk and lots of plumbing and fabrication work
Still “inside” the car, Sanford chopped out the spare tire well to install a fuel cell.

12-gallons of E85 are housed here in a flex fuel setup with an external surge tank. The rear bulkhead was firewalled to keep all that fuel in its own space. But where does that filler neck go?

 

fuel door mounted to top of trunk
Erin fabricated this trick fuel door to the top of the trunk, which allows the cell to be filled without having to undo the entire trunk lid.
vauxhall electric power steering pump assembly mounted in trunk
You don’t normally find the power steering for an S13 in the trunk.

This is an electric power steering pump and reservoir from a Vauxhall Vectra. It is hooked to a switch so that it can be powered for easier movement around the garage or pits without running the car. Due to the massive current draw, it has its own heavy gauge power cable and 50A fuse. Sanford wanted to maintain the feel of hydraulically assisted steering, but the low buck column assist setups (most often GM ones) tend to feel crappy. They’re also way harder to install than simply wiring a pump and running lines. The system has plenty of assist for track tires and track speeds, and even with constant use the steering feel holds up.

So with the interior all sorted, what about the exterior?

6 comments

  1. Nice to see some DefSport parts being used in anger. Cool build.

    BTW – did you ever get the Astra power steering pump to quiet down? Based on my recent MR2 experience, I think maybe using Redline D4 ATF in it could have been the cause for the loud pump. It seems they like this special thicker hydraulic fluid blend (Pentosin makes one).

    1. It’s not all that loud, I couldn’t hear it over all of the other noise the car makes. I just sounds like a small turbine engine on startup then turns into an electric forklift noise after it settles in.

    2. I never found it to be all that loud, especially compared to all the other noise the car makes. It sort of resembles a jet turbine starting up 😂

  2. Mike – it’s mounted up about as high as it can be in the trunk of an S13. The SW20 MR2 installation has it down in the frunk just above the steering rack – but it has a big rubber condom over it to help muffle noise.

    I probably wouldn’t have minded it on the track, but for a sometimes street driven car it seemed annoying to me. Then again, I had a hatch S13 so maybe it was a bit more open.

  3. Any chance of seeing how the wastegate flow was prioritized? This is the 2nd recent MotoIQ car-ticle with a similar size turbo and gate. I feel I am running a near identical setup to this particular car though and similarly put extra effort into making wastegate flow entry a relatively shallow angle from my exhaust flow path. Truck manifolds, v banded, near equal length 2.25 inch up pipes, merge into 3″ before tapering down to undivided T4 flange. I have a precision gen 2 7675 CEA .96 a/r with full 3.5″ turbo back exhaust. This is on a 5.3 with ~10:1 compression and timing backed off for tuning, 12* base timing. I’m having trouble with boost creep with a precision turbo 46mm wastegate dumping to atmo. I have a 3psi spring in it and in full throttle 4th gear pulls from 40-100ish it can hold boost steady at 3.5 psi up to 5500rpm, on the way past that to my ‘safe for tuning’ limiter of 6000rpm it loses control and boost spikes to ~8psi, it will likely be even worse with a proper redline. I was contemplating going to a PW66.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
*