by





After exactly two years since the day I started chopping the van to swap into independent rear suspension, the Van is finally back o the track!

It’s been too long, too expensive and sometimes too complicated to the point of making me rethink if I should keep going with the van or just focus on my 1JZ-280Z. But after finally driving it again this past weekend I realize how much it was worth it.

The Suspension

It all started with a sawsall, I decided I wanted to have a full independent rear suspension but I didn’t want to use the JDM Previa (Estima) IRS because it was too expensive to ship and if I bent something it was going to be impossible to keep sourcing parts from Japan, also wanted to be able to use aftermarket products already available, so I decided to swap an entire S14 rear end so I could use 240SX coilovers and control arms, axles, differential, etc. So one day I grabbed my saw and cut a big hole on the back of the van in order to make room to the S14 chassis/subframe, eventually we decided to ditch the chassis and just fabricate everything to make the subframe fit.

I also wanted to add a rollcage so it made sense to fabricate everything all together and Insane Innovations did a great job.



Specs:

S14 Rear subframe.

S13 KSport Kontrol Pro coilovers.

Maverick Motorsports dual brake caliper bracket.

Four Z32 rear brake calipers.

Mustang Cobra Rotora brake rotors.

KSport hydraulic e-brake.

Isis Performance 5 lug hubs.

S14 welded differential.

After a little bit of paint (since the cage was getting all rusty) I got everything together, hooked all the hoses and pipes, made a seat bracket, installed a cheap-o-seat, and I was ready to try sliding for the first time in 2 years!!

The first thing I noticed is that the hydro ebrake just wasn’t working properly, but after some extra bleeding it “kinda” worked enough to allow me to initiate and after that it was all about sliding on 2nd gear all day long! Of course I spun a couple times… well more like many many times, but once I got it all figured out I managed to link the entire track which to me was a huge success!!!

The balance felt perfect, the rear suspension was smooth and it would break loose fairly easy, the front had tons of grip, didn’t experienced any understeering at all. The only things I could think of changing was adding more steering angle (having such a long wheel base) and of course adding more power!

In order to get more power I was going to use a 1UZ (Toyota V8) but after realizing that moving the engine towards the back was going to cause a lot of bad weight distribution for drifting, I decided to use an EG33 (Subaru Flat 6) which in stock form already puts 3 times more HP and Torque than my weak and tired 2TZ 4 banger. and I found a guy who makes a bellhousing that allows a W58 manual to bolt into a subaru engine and it would fit exactly on the same place than the original engine (under the driver’s seat) So that is going to be the next modification in line!

Wish me luck!