Overlook it guys. She’s taken! But we can dream… If we first discovered this ’95 Nissan 240SX, and then found out that it was owned by someone, our hearts fluttered. Badass car with a badass chick… Holla! Although with all great girls there exists a great guy as well. La Bouakham had the help of her other half, Thon Southithong, and together they’ve created one sick S14.
We sat down to hear her story, right before our shoot with La in the hometown of Phoenix. We learned that she didn’t get older dreaming about cars 24/7 like many of us. Her inspiration came after a casual stroll through Hot Import Nights. She liked cars but didn’t know them out and inside, and didn’t own anything worth modifying at the time. That all changed after watching her first drift demo followed by a ride-along with professional Formula Drift driver, Forrest Wang. That ride changed her life because before she knew it, she was looking for a 240SX to acquire.The complete goal was to make it a street legal drift build while keeping it clean, La told us. Street drift, neat and legal don’t always go hand-in-hand but La’s done exactly that. From the beginning, the car was actually a blank canvas until she added a front-end Kouki conversion, carbon hood and a DMax widebody kit giving the 240 its aggressive drift style. All the aero pieces were installed in her garage just before the car was dropped off at local body shop Intense Power for a repaint in sexy Royal Sapphire Pearl-a factory Toyota Supra paint color.
From there, the automobile was slammed on coilovers and given all the necessary suspension bits from ISIS for a stiff chassis which included tension rods, rear control arms and more. The top section of the chassis was also stitch-welded in anticipation of future drift abuse, which La plans to do after our photoshoot as well as someRealise It
Underneath the fenders, La went with the well tested Work Meister S1 wheels in the Burning Black finish. The dish on these rims is massive as well as a perfect complement to her ride’s theme.
Touching around the interior, the stock seats were ditched for Sparcos while accessories like Takata harnesses along with a MOMO controls give the cockpit a track-ready feel. For now she wants to retain an entire interior for comfort, even though la intends to add a rollcage and possibly strip out each of the panels and back end once she starts drifting.An Excellent Girl So You Know It
The engine bay came last and pays homage to La’s ride along with Forrest Wang, who drifts a 2JZ-swapped S13. She followed suit with another twin-turbo Toyota engine, the 1JZ. This particular motor was taken out of a JDM Toyota Chaser along with the five-speed manual. The entire transplant was performed by Thon in her garage, and also required a custom engine downpipe, exhaust and harness constructed from scratch.
While the turbos and internals are stock, she’s actually pretty satisfied with the power and drivability in theRealise It
We know this S14 is simple compared to many S-chassis builds in the past. But this build has great theme while done on a budget. It’s also planned out and owned by a woman who didn’t expect she’d ever build a project car five years ago but now owns one of the sickest, street-driven, drift-ready 240SXs in theBe Aware Of It
Engine JDM 2.5-liter twin-turbo 1JZ-GTE swap; Circuit Sports engine mount; Drift Motion pulleys; custom exhaust, engine and downpipe harness; ISIS dual 4 blast pipes; Magnaflow cat; braided fuel lines; Earl’s inline fuel filter; Walbro 255lph fuel pump; HKS Sequential blow-off valve; Suspicious Garage power steering line; aluminum steering reservoir; nylon supply and returnAn Effective Girl And You Also Know It
Footwork & Chassis Moon Face Racing coilovers; ISIS front tension rods, rear upper control arms, traction toe and linksKnow It
Exterior Dmax Type 3 body kit with 20mm front and 40mm rear fenders, D1-spec carbon hood; Kouki front-end conversion; black LED taillights; HID conversion; Toyota Supra Royal Sapphire Pearl paint
Interior Sparco Evo seats; Takata Drift3 harnesses; Bride seat rails; NRG harness bar; Prosport gauges; suede headliner; MOMO steering wheel and hub adapter; Pioneer head unit; Sony speakers
Thanks You My other half and partner in crime Thon Southithong; Kyle Onzuka and Tommy Vonn for pulling late nights when we had deadlines in order to meet; Chris Smollack for showing us the ropes of fabrication; my good friends (you know who you are) for giving us a helping hand; my awesome roommate Nookie Somsanuk; Oliver Butrus and Han Wong at intensepower.com; Brian Fox at Takata Racing; Gilbert Valdez at Valdez Auto Body; Vitaly Spokin and Brianna Pebbles at AceUp Motorsports; Mike Valera at mvphoto.net; Dax Justin and Rodriguez Derendal at streetsweepergang.com