Some cars draw a crowd because they're loud. This one drew a crowd with the bonnet up and the engine off. In the car park after Slammedenuff Gatlinburg 2023 sat a khaki Nissan 240SX S14 with its arches pulled wide, deep-dish wheels tucked under them and, where a KA24 or SR20 should be, a V8.
The S14
The S14 is the 240SX that Nissan sold in North America from 1995 to 1998, the cousin of the Japanese Silvia. Here it came with a 2.4-litre KA24DE making 155 bhp; the turbocharged SR20DET stayed in Japan. The 1997 facelift, the "kouki", brought sharper projector headlights, a new bumper, bonnet and wings, and this car wears that later face.
Source: Wikipedia: Nissan 240SX.
Why a V8
The S-chassis is light, rear-wheel drive and has a big engine bay. In America, the obvious answer to "more power" is often a GM LS V8, and the swap is common enough that off-the-shelf header and mount kits exist for the S13 and S14. That's the recipe here: lots of torque, very little drama, and a sound that turns heads in a car park full of turbo fours.
The walkaround
The video starts with the car park in full swing: a white 370Z sliding through, an orange Golf rolling past, and plenty of flashing blue lights, a reminder that the night meets are watched closely. Then it settles on the S14: widened front wings, a deep front bumper with a big opening, an exposed intake, and the V8 sitting low and far back in the bay.
A year later
When we returned for Slammedenuff Gatlinburg 2024, the same khaki S14 was there again, bonnet up, V8 on show. If you've seen our gas-station gallery, you've already met it.
More from those nights in Gatlinburg Gas Stations by Night. And for Silvias at full angle, see our D1GP Ebisu coverage.
Video: One Breath Pictures.
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