1989 240SX Drift Car - Eugene Feygelman

A 240sx Truck is not something you see everyday. To make it even weirder, you put a front end from a different 240sx (Kouki) which never even came in those years, and that leaves you with an extremely wild one of a kind car.

Merrick Harding

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1989 240sx Drift Car

Eugene Feygelman

Instagram: @efracing414

Photographer: Merrick Harding

Instagram: @merrick_media

Eugene Feygelman is a Russian refugee that was fortunate enough to come over to the US during the Communist revolution. At the time, Russia was a dangerous place to be and his parents took him and his brother to a better place leaving everything they knew behind. He was brought up in a household where you had to work for everything you get because that is what being an immigrant means. This instilled a strong work ethic and ambition that has resulted in him chasing his dream today. Today, he lives in Texas and competes as a Formula Drift Pro-Am driver.

Driving and racing have always been a huge passion for Eugene. It even dates back to when he was a baby and his first real word, after mama and dada, was a car. Cars have effectively taken over his life. In reality, this passion is genetic. When his family was still in Russia, his father would compete in grassroots-style rally competitions. His father worked at a car factory and would help assemble cars and would customize cars the way that Russia at the time had not yet really seen. The apple did not fall far from the tree.

About 16 years ago, Eugene began racing in auto-cross. He also participated in some rallies and hill climb events but, drifting has always caught his eye. About 10 years ago, he purchased his first Nissan 240sx, welded the diff, installed coil overs, and started drifting. It consumed his life and he began doing everything he could to do more driving. That first 240 has unfortunately met a not so pleasant end. That led to him getting his current 240sx.

8 years ago, the original 240sx that Eugene started with got totalled. After countless drift, and accidents having broken suspension, body, and anything else you can think of it was time for a new chassis. It just so happened that right at that time this 240sx "truck" became available. This truck has quite some history behind it. A gentleman named Daniel Savage built a competitive race car out of a pretty bare chassis and used it to get his Formula Drift Pro license. It was time for him to Build a new car and he ended up selling the complete car to Matthew Madrigali. Matt took the parts off the car that he needed to build his own competition car leaving it, a bare rolling shell.

Eugene bought just the shell for a great price and started building it. First, he installed a KA24DET in the car with some basic suspension. That engine blew up pretty quickly. Several years later he introduced a VH45 Inifiniti V8 with slightly better suspension. He drove the car that way for 3 years and got a huge amount of seat time. Finally, it was time to make the car more competitive. That is when it received an LS1 Turbo motor, a lot more suspension work, and a lot more fabrication and setup. This car has been through quite a lot but it is still really cool and today, very competitive.

Drifting is not the fastest form of driving, it might not even be the hardest and it might not even be the most strategic or dangerous. However, it definitely has a lot of flare! Eugene first saw drifting videos online when he was about 10 years old. This is before Ken Block opened the eyes of the world to his greatness. That smoke, style and all the sounds were impossible for him to forget. Finally, after several years of working on cars and racing in different disciplines, Eugene bought that first s13. However, the s13 was not enough to get him addicted the way he is now.

The drifting community is like no other. People welcome you, respect you, and would help you just because you had the same hobby. When he was just starting, experienced drivers would come over, give advice, lend parts and tools, and even help work on the car with him, not expecting a single thing in return. But the real drug lies in the moment of clarity that a drifter experiences behind the wheel. It is the ultimate battle of man vs machine vs nature. To bend the laws of physics by using a tool that has 4 wheels and a steering wheel is truly a profound experience. That is why drifting is the strongest drug there is. It's cool, all your friends are telling you to do it, the community has an abundance of the drug, and the high is unparalleled.

240sx, s13, s14, s15, and s-chassis have all become synonymous with drifting. The presence of the Nissan s-chassis has become so common in drifting that it is surprising if you ever hear of one being used for something else. It is also half of a huge rivalry (only amongst enthusiasts) of whether BMW or Nissan is better for drifting. If you are a part of the post-covid world then you know that drift tax is an unbelievable phenomenon but, it wasn't always this way. Before their popularity, the s-chassis was one of the cheapest and best ways to get into drifting.

The car is simple, light, easy to work on, and has an incredible amount of aftermarket support. It also helps that it comes stock with IRS making it extremely easy to modify and adjust with simple bolt-on parts. With each iteration of the s-chassis, there were continued improvements. They got longer, and wider, and developed better geometry for suspension travel. As popularity grew, more research and development continued. Now, there are parts available to make the car do anything you would like it to do. The downside, cheap is no longer cheap. As the car continues to age, and its popularity continues to grow, the abundance of parts has tremendously diminished. Now, if you want to drift a 240, you better be resourceful to find those hard-to-find parts and be ready to pay a premium.

A 240sx Truck is not something you see every day. To make it even weirder, you put a front end from a different 240sx (Kouki) which never even came in those years. That leaves you with an extremely wild one of kind car. When Eugene was first in the market for a 240, he had seen a pic of a 240 Truck from Japan and thought it was amazing. At the time he used to BMX and thought the convenience of a car/truck would be awesome. Unfortunately, it is expensive to fabricate and not something that you would find on craigslist. So that dream was forgotten for a couple of years.

Then magically realized with this car! Do you believe in manifesting the future? You decide. Any car guy knows that the longer you have a car, the fonder you grow. It does not matter how many times it broke, how many thousands of hours were put into it, or how many knuckles it has busted. Eugene became a competitive driver in this car. It helped him stand out in a sport dominated by s-chassis. It was as much a tool for his growth as it was for drifting. When Eugene gets his Pro license, he will be obligated to build a new chassis for competition as this one is not legal at the pro level. However, he will never get rid of this car. It has seen him through his best times, and his worst times, and will continue to be with him until the end of time.

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Specs
Engine: 611whp 635 wftlb @8psi
- Camaro SS LS1 Turbo
- Holley EFI Terminator ECU
- Tuned by Patterson Performance
- Borg Warner S366 T4 Twinscroll Turbo .91 AR
- CX Racing Turbo Kit
- Turbo Smart Wastegates
- Oil Accusump system
- Canton Racing Oil Pan
- Melling Performance high-pressure oil pump
- Setrab Oil Cooler
- LS6 Intake Manifold
- Ported Throttle Body
- PRC Stage 1 LS6 Cylinder Heads
- Single Beehive .625 Springs
- Texas Speed 228R Camshaft: 228/228, .588/.588, 114 LSA
- Texas Speed 7.40 Chromoly Pushrods
- GM Performance Tall Valve Covers
- MSD Ignition Wires
- Speedway 31" Dual Row Rear Mounted Radiator
- Derale 4000CFM dual fans with aluminum shroud
- Chase Bays power steering conversion kit
- Setrab power steering cooler
- Optima Yellow Top gel Battery

Drivetrain
- T56 Stage 2 Transmission
- Competition Clutch Dual Disc Racing Clutch
- Competition Clutch Lightweight Flywheel
- Single Piece CX Racing Driveshaft
- RS200 welded 240sx manual diff
- Driveshaft Shop 650hp Axles

Wheels/Tires:
- Kansei Corsa Bronze Textured 18x9.5 +22 w/ 235/40/18 Accelera 651 Sport Tires
- Kansei Corsa Bronze Textured 18x9.5 +22 w/ 285/35/18 Accelera 651 Sport Tires

Suspension:
- Yellow Speed Racing Dynamic Pro 3-way Coilovers
- Yellow Speed Racing 356mm 6-pot Brakes
- Wisefab v1.5 240sx angle kit with ackerman adjustment
- Nismo Power Brace
ISR Pro Traction, Camber, Toe Rods in Rear
GKTech Rear Lower Control Arms
Parts Shop Max aluminum subframe bushings

Interior:
- Full 8-point DOM Roll cage with Halo and Nascar Style Doorbars
- NRG Innovations FIA driver's seat
- Cobra racing bucket passenger seat
- DND Interior Performance Carbon Fiber Steering Wheel
- DND Interior Performance Quick Spline Release Hub
- DND Interior Performance Low Profile Steering wheel hub adapter
- DND Interior Performance SFI Racing 5-point harnesses
- DND Interior Performance Hydraulic E-brake
- Simpson Racing Fire Suppression System
- Battery Relocation Kit

Exterior:
- Custom Origin 55mm Conversion front fenders
- JPFiberShop s13 type III side skirts
- JPFiberShop s13 hatch 30mm rear overfenders
- Circuit Sport Clear 180sx Tail Lights
- KBD polyurethane rear bumper
- S14 Kouki Duraflex Fiberglass Hood
- Uras S14 Kouki Front Fiberglass bumper
- AeroCatch Hood pins
- Clear Kouki Headlight Housings with Custom LED Headlights
- Duraflex Duckbill Rear Wing

Future
Even though the car was competitive in 2022 with all of the modifications, there is always room for improvement. One of the biggest holdbacks of the car was its reliability. Given that the car was still using the Wisefab V1 angle kit, Eugene went through 3 different steering racks that year. The v1 kit uses offset spacers on the tie rods imitating the rack itself being put at a more forward position. The solution was in the offseason to modify the subframe and actually move the rack forward. In the process of modifying the subframe, the oil pan had to be changed only to discover some chunks.

This resulted in a motor rebuild right before the season. In reality, the motor has not been gone through in over 4 years of drifting. It was about time. All of that is also getting paired with the installation of the Oil Accusump system and the Setrab Oil Cooler. The new interior from DND performance is going in, the new brakes from Yellow Speed Racing, and the addition of the Kansei Corsa wheels. The car is close to completion and will also be fully aligned and even corner balanced. Finally, the T56 transmission got rebuilt and is getting paired with a Competition Clutch and flywheel. All of this creates the opportunity for a slightly more powerful Tune from Patterson Performance and more grip to be dialled in. All of this is just a fancy way to say, the car is gonna be better than ever before.

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'The future is bright as long as we can still Smell the Fumes'

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