D1GP Koguchi-Inspired Drift 240sx Drift Car

Larry Chen Video Transcript

[Applause] This is an absolutely beautiful Booth car so we’re at the types Booth Formula Drift Seattle actually Monroe Washington but this is a left-hand Drive 240SX not 180sx no this is a US car yep that you’ve built into this crazy kuchi look yep yeah it’s basically like paying homage to somebody that inspired

Me and I guess what I’m more than anything in love with is like the car itself right kuchi is a spectacular driver he’s a legend over there and kind of all over the world too right but to me I like this is the 240SX hatchback is my first car I’ve ever had

And it obviously your first car creates a creates that Monumental memory you know and and the fact that I fell in love with this particular car and kind of wanted to recreate my Hero’s car so then what did this start life as this wasn’t your formula drift car no my

Formula drift car I’m actually in the process of repurchasing again buying it back and that’s the one that I want to put together to send to Japan and but so this is just like a Survivor or what was yeah a friend of mine he he lives in

Japan now his name is Terrell and I always see him when we go down there purchased a car from him motor and everything for most part was what he put together and I just wanted to slowly acquiring all the parts that I wanted to to achieve this just kind of wanted to

Do this okay so then parts let’s talk about it so first of all tell me about the color the color it’s trying to I was trying to achieve the color that kuchi himself had on his 180 which from what I gathered he had few different shades of

Green over the I think two three years that he’s had the green color and I kind of put three of them together it was really hard to find a proper color but this is a Audi RS6 Sonoma green and it’s like it’s very particular there’s only a

Couple other companies that do this sort of a green I think Porsche’s most recently did a similar green and it’s really hard to find there’s British racing green and things like that but it’s it’s too dark it doesn’t stick out cuz once the sun goes down the shade

Changes and the Flop on the paint usually from the side if you look at it when it’s like this when it’s dust it get turns to black but it’s hard to maintain a green like this and so it took took me like a year and a half

Almost two years to pick the color cuz it was a different green before it was a Toyota green that had that flop and it was more of a forest green like a British racing green but yeah that car is okay it’s not bad right I love that thing it’s my favorites you’re my

Favorite you’re my favorite B baby yes sir baby all right so then yeah that was your nickname huh yeah yeah so then okay the color went through Great Lengths to figure out the color painted it inside out tell me about the Livery the liery it was this was the mo the most

Memorable moment to me of like kuchi like 180 Journey was this car and this Livery the Livery changed throughout the few years that he had the car in in this color or green color and it he acquired more and more sponsors but this one in particular is just um there’s a there’s

A few few runs that are very memorable that he has done that like I really liked and it had this particular liery and this is the bare minimum and the most I’m I was willing to do but I want to preserve it I don’t want anything

Else on it this is how I fell in love with the car and I wanted to keep it like this and the next step is actually getting rid of the decals and I’m I want somebody to paint delivery on so it’s like forever ingrained and so you can

Polish it and all that kind of stuff right over so he competed with this in D1 he did looking looking similar to this this is an inspiration build yep but looking from the outside I just cannot believe how much money you put into an S chassis I mean obviously now

These are worth more but just wheels and brakes alone and then your second your second caliper y you have an ismo caliper just for the second caliper yep and this is the only what a flex what’s what’s cool is this is the only car actually in the world who that has this

Brake setup cuz I I had to make this the so Nissan I think this was uh maybe four four or 5 years ago we were at SEMA and I saw that Nissan made a an upgrade for the 350Z and they made these specifically and even back then planning

Kind of this build I knew that I wanted to run it because I know that all those parts are interchangeable between the Z and the s13 1415 platforms and so just kind of keeping that in mind acquired the brakes and we had to design our own brackets and things like that to make

Them work obviously but now they’re on the car and this is the only wait but but it is five lug though it is five lug so then you converted it to S14 yeah it’s got a S14 front knuckle and then a z32 or S14 S15 rear hub that directly

Bolts onto any s chassis knuckle and then real Nismo LM LM GT4 so like GT whe the three cool things about the car uh are the oldest things on the car which is the wheels are 2002 build the body kit is like mid to late ’90s

And so are the headlights so those three things are over 20 years old the headlights are an AB flug or AB flug however you want to name them and this the build is basically a few Renditions of the green car that kuchi had squeezed into one plus added a little bit of his

Own products like this is the hood that he makes by kuchi power the Fenders by kuchi power and the wing and so I wanted to utilize the products that he makes because obviously an inspiration to me right and uh just kind of being able to put this whole ensemble together you

Know all right so let’s just go over the kit right now so it’s front bumper right yep these are separate these are those separate that’s the hood the hood the hood is a it’s not part of the body kit the hood the fenders and the rear

Quarter panels and the wing was a they came later after the body K the body is Ikea formula body kit and they were I guess his sponsor back then and those are our kuchi power offenders oh that he himself produces got it so then and then what else s skirt that’s different the

The side Splitter on the side that is a OS side splitter out of off of a R34 that I’m building or was building and then sold and resold and bought another one and then the front canards are origin it’s this is just a mish mash of

All these awesome Parts huh is it is I just I wanted to make it so like aesthetically this body kit is very tight on the body and the fenders the fenders unfortunately stick out quite a bit and so I like that look though I think it’s pretty cool if the if the

Body is wide yeah I like it too um I to me I thought that it was going to be too bulky up top and very narrow on the bottom and aesthetically I didn’t think it would give it a nice look and that’s why having a side splitter pushes it out

And so aesthetically it it it looks square you know instead of diving in and looking like a V so tell me about this piece what is this piece this so Ikea formula this is actually a very like desired s skirt setup this is a Ikea formula s skirt and they have a door

Card that 3M tapes over the factory door I’ve never seen this before this is super cool is a very rare there’s even a gap here for you to be able to open the door it doesn’t damage when you open the door no that is so cool a lot of people think

That it’s a dent I actually had a comment today about it I love that like those are the those are the little things that I really really like on a build you know and where did you find that did you find some some a friend down in Oregon yeah picked up the body

Kit from him and he put a car together and he just wasn’t feeling it and me finding the kit I was like okay I can finally I can do what I’ve want wanted to do for the longest time which to make this thing all right so then let’s let’s

Move on to the back yeah let’s talk about the back here so these are a kuchi power rear quarter panel and then this again is a hodge podge this these are made by Urus as well they’re they’re uh Vortex generators the lip here it mounts over

The factory rear bumper and that is a Ikea formula add-on and then obviously everybody K tail lights yeah love the K tail lights this Center garnish panel thing yep I’m surprised you didn’t do the 180 glass I I just it’s not a 180 you know that’s and that’s where you get the the

Weird purus that always like oh this is not a true 180 it’s a 240 but it’s the same car it’s literally the same car I’m I’m surprised that this came with like a cap for this it’s not you modified it yeah so so if if you look in here had to

Basically make a spacer to have the door be completely compl flush and you even painted the inside yeah as much as you can you know and so that’s really nice it’s I’m I’m very big into Aesthetics and trying to make things look good and I like I own a I I

Own a shop and so when people come to me like and they ask me to set up their car it’s there’s a long list you can’t just you can’t just climb in the ring because you think you can box right right you know you have to you have to do things

Like roll fenders tuck wiring and things like that so do you actually drift this car mhm this is your drift car yeah this is my only drift car and we’re actually drifting next week in Idaho uh with forest and uh Jeff and a couple other

Guys and some of the pros too this is so clean how is this your this is a show car this is not a drift car sir this is I like I like cars more than I like a lot of other things in life and I want I

Want my cars to be utilized in everything I like car the car show scene I like drifting I like drag racing I like to be able to get get get my son into the car and go for a drive you know and so and that’s one of the reasons why

I want to get rid of the samsonas do you have type S lights on this uh they are now yeah they’re on all right I just I just couldn’t get them to work I couldn’t I didn’t wire them up in time I I’ve gotten really good at it I can wire

A whole car in 3 hours I like that I like that but um with that said tell me about the motor so S14 motor this is a s13 quote unquote black top okay it’s got the little the little vertical fins on the on the head the Red Top doesn’t

Have them but this has a TF forx makes a valve cover a hybrid valve cover they use the s13 front half and the S14 rear half just better better baffling the block was built by just racing out of Las Vegas FR uh friend of mine and the heads has Pawn

Cams and for most part it’s pretty stocked the car makes only 320 horsepower with the Sams sonus in there feels like it’s around 400 because it’s geared so so high orow I love that you just drop it you just drop the mic there just as a sequential the sequential was

Supposed to go behind an LS originally I I have I had two r34s the first one I sold that I originally was supposed to put the samsonas behind so then okay 320 horsepower did you tub all this stuff yourself did you do all this stuff so a

Friend of mine who uh built my car before for Formula Drift he’s a guy that I you if I can’t do it I take it to him and he originally did the tubs for me he built the first motor I had I had some motor issues down the road but he’s the

One that took care of me when I was doing FD and he took took care of this car actually quite a bit quite a bit this is such beautiful work it is it’s great it looks so good I love it I mean this looks stock so better than stock

Obviously how Stitch welded it is so that’s not stitch weld oh what’s that that’s seal oh oh so the car the towers are Stitch welded but a friend of mine the friend that painted this car he has a body shop and so I asked him to do

Like a factory type of look to the engine bay and I don’t like just welds being exposed I wanted I want it to look like this and that’s you know people are like oh those are really big WS I’m like well they’re not it’s just seal you know

And the car that I’m building now is getting the same treatment and it’s going to look a little bit better than this one so does this Run pump gas mhm just 92 amazing I am I’m so blown away at how clean everything is and and the

Fact that you actually drift it I mean I I see that these are pretty worn fronts yep and it’s all the Sid skirts are all chipped up and stuff and so so then when you actually drift it do you change the wheels yeah yeah I have uh I have

Another uh pair of 18 x 10 and a halfs and then I run some Advan Wheels as well and I kind of started making my own wheels a little bit like a Shameless plug but just messing around with stuff you know that’s cool yeah I I would be

So afraid to drift these nah I like I I come out here we’re in a big track kind of open space but then again I kind of I kind of throw down from side to side do a little backies and things like that so

I treat I treat it how it needs to I like I drive it how it needs to be driven and then so suspension Knuckles what what are you running on this then so suspension wise I I’ve ran stance suspension for the longest time I still

I love the company I swear by them I run their coilover setup they’re the xr1 they’re just custom valved and sprung for the car and they will build them inhouse and stuff like that and then are using wise Fab top hats to be able to push the coil over out cuz the track

Width is wider on the car so I don’t use spacers and things like that might trying to keep the scar radius real tight and it’s just a way I’ve kind of learned how to drive and I’ve set up my car and dude I’m very crude when it

Comes to like drifting but in this you drift in this height mhm yeah I I can’t believe that yeah I mean you can see actually you can see like there’s a little bit of bluing from from the tire rubbing on the fender and you can feel the fender it’s like sharp uhhuh it’s

Because the tire is like rubbing against the fender how is they not cracking this though it’s not it’s because the shape of the fender so the way I always see is like when when you’re drifting a car that’s low if you have a fender Arch that’s round and you have a tire that’s

Slightly stretched and round it’s going to as the fender sits like that the tire is going to want to rub against it and so that way it’s not pushing up into it now if you had a if you had a fender that had a a hard cut on it it’ll catch

It and it’ll break it but if you have a roll on the fender like these fenders are designed it’s going to more rub against it let’s take a look at the interior go go on that side let me check this out yeah it’s a little scratch up

It’s a little scratched up but no it’s great if there was smell Vision this is just I just got hit in the face with squash dude I’m a I’m a early 2000s kid man when it comes to cars like this is this is the iconic like when I started

Going to Performance shops back in like 2000 99 2000 this was this is It’s it smells like back then you know it brings back so many memories and so I mean this is just kind of the stuff I’m used to you know it’s so good I like it so why

Did you put a samsonas in here go because you wanted to do a uh this was supposed to go behind an LS uh I did a z33 swap but before we even started the car I was like I kind of want to use it so I spent extra, 1500

2,000 bucks getting all the parts to be able to utilize it and with this setup I can still use a clutch like I don’t have to do a swap flywheel or anything like that I use a exi hypers single on this thing and so the the bell housing bolts

Right up I use a automatic Sr bell housing It Bolts right on and then no cage no cage I tand them but you know at a safe distance at a dude if somebody hits this thing come on I’m we’re going to have to square up wow I like the C when I go

Driving I like driving with my friends but they have to most of my friends have this kind of caliber build and so I know that they’re not going to yeah 100% so they’re not going to just smack their car you know so they they love their

Cars I love my car you know and so and it plays kind of a historic thing like even uncracked Dash this is It’s a Northwest thing we don’t have we don’t have the Sun that we have that issue but I can’t believe how clean all the

Plastic is yeah so you got link ECU Dash yep just keep it nice and simple it’s I had uh I run these Momo seats actually they’re very comfortable I had the door cards the rear seats actually the center grading match on the rear seats the oh

The glove box is also done and so that way it’s kind of complete you know like most people would do like period correct like bread seats with bread rear stuff and then some kind of material brid material over the dashboard or the glove box but I just wanted to go a little bit

Different you know and I like the dark color the only thing I didn’t really do is up here the only thing that would be left to do really is like redo the interior like full stitched Alcantara Dash and things like that but I kind of

Want to keep a little bit of the old s13 alive in it you know this is probably one of the most developed S3s I’ve ever seen thank you thank you I like I like that but that’s kind of what you were going for yeah yeah like almost Money No Object no s13

I think I’m upwards of like 100 some odd thousand over 100 over that’s including the price of the car yeah the car was like five grand six grand right well I mean the transmission alone is what 20 uh I think 15 14 something like that yeah yeah so engine coilovers paint

Paint was like 15 something like that I mean this is all honest too like you I’m I’m sure you did a lot of the work yeah too so that’s not including your labor cost and usually you don’t you don’t really include labor it’s just like a

Lot of the parts and things like that just Parts alone over 100 yeah h a little bit under I guess with a little bit of Labor yeah it’s like over 100 right but then if you like my headlights are $3,000 $3,000 just for those headlights I

Looked for them for like two and a half three years and uh every single time I bid on them I got all bid Because the bidding is in Japan and I never pay attention the only time I’ve ever seen him a buy now price I did it and it was

$3,000 plus shipping and all that stuff you know but it’s like if if you want it you’ll spend the money you know and it’s this is like this is a very important car to me because this was my first car like the 240 hatchback was my very first

Car like that was my own that wasn’t a borrowed from my dad or my mom or anything so it play plays a big important part in my Automotive growth can’t believe you still drift this and you tanm this yeah and I mean one little incident you know drifting is drifting

It’s just so wild it is and like I I drift within reason like with this thing like if I go on solar runs I can let it hang out drifting I’m like tandem I’m a little more cautious you know because this this to me this is my Mona Lisa

This is my Vango painting like I really love this car you know and I once I redo a couple more things and I I want to update the motor and things like that and redo the liery have it fully painted on just so it’s it’s like sealed you

Know I can park in my garage and it’s like it’s an accomplishment for me you know it’s so good this is such an interesting build interesting in that the s13 specifically mhm you could say it’s been overdone 100% you know how many times have people built this chassis

It’s countless mhm but for you to be able to build it and stand out I’m going to put on the filter so you guys can see how beautiful this paint is so you guys can see oh dude and in the sun it’s completely different yeah there’s a lot of gold there’s a lot

Of gold in it too we we’ll we’ll take a look at it in the sun tomorrow yep I I mean I love these I I had one I had a white one a 91 MH and I regret greatly selling that I regret so much I’ve built

Three type x’s uhhuh and I regret every single one that I sold I sold most recent one when I was starting my business I needed money and sold it to a good friend of mine and LU he’s he’s local and he’s going to be here tomorrow

At a car at the car show and I was able to put that one together and every single time I regret it but I already have one that’s why I sold the other one but again I want to build another one just because I don’t know this is my car

Like I don’t want anything else but this like most people when when some of us were young and we were looking and putting posters up of koses in our in our bedrooms this is this was that for me you know like I came from Russia and

I started my journey a little late than most people like we got here in ’96 and I got in the car shortly after and so 99 2000’s when I got my car you know and so that was 3 years after being here turning 16 and now I’m almost 40 and

This is my my dream car I I didn’t even mention how much those brakes cost like I I don’t even know I don’t even know I don’t even and like honestly they’re not that crazy I think maybe four grand for for like just four calipers plus another

I don’t know 1,500 bucks for the rear and it’s it money is No Object when you’re trying to create something like this and to me this is again it’s so important because it was my first car and I’m I’m in love with it and I just

Wanted to make the best version of it to me so so good well thank you for walking us around yeah yeah one of the coolest things is that exhaust right there okay that was on my FD car oh and that was made by my same friend that built the

Motor did the tubs this is the very first exhaust he ever made there was a company back then uh it was called Apex right around 056 or aec sorry a speec and they made that muffler and that is the first exhaust that actually came off my first

240 that he made and I got to put it on this car this was on the pistachio car okay yep and and so now I found a local person who has my old car and I’m going to be bringing that back and again building another one but in this style

But to send over to Japan to do some competition stuff what years did you uh compete in FD uh 2010 2011 but because you know broke kid I think I was like 24 25 as most of us were you know everybody that competes on this level now um low

Minimum wage job and living with parents and kind kind of living the dream and I got to do I I feel I was very fortunate to be part of the few that got to do this and still be around today yeah and again be part of a few that like

Yourself to to do something amazing I think you know so most people they don’t they don’t understand this they don’t understand us they don’t understand Motorsports they get in their cars go to work things like that this is very special so I still love it I see that hey thanks

For watching if if you want to support us directly go to Larry Chen prints.com I print and sign every single one of these this is the perfect gift or it’s the perfect piece of art for your Wall [Applause] TR