Owner: Darren Balico
Location: Paramus, NJ, USA
Vehicle: 1996 Nissan 240SX
Horsepower: 380 hp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dvbalico
Instagram: phoshizzl3
Car Club Affiliation: SNTRL

Photography Credit: The Chronicles (stickydiljoe.com), SNTRL (SNTRL.com)

STORY
I have been into cars ever since my mom took my brother and I to the NY International Auto Show when I was in the 8th grade. I have been doing maintenance on my parent's vehicles and modding cars for friends ever since. I went to school/college to be a surgeon or a physician assistant. I don't have any formal education in cars, so everything was learned through reading or actual hands-on experience. I
would disassemble my own cars and put them back together. I really wanted to test my passion and skill as an enthusiast so I set out and bought an S14 shell – while this isn't my first build, it would be my first thorough build, actually building one from scratch from body work, metal work, to electrical and mechanical work, touching on every aspect that involves building a car.

In 2005, I had friends that were into drifting and occasionally they would let me slide and have fun. I can tell you it was a feeling I deeply missed, especially when those friends moved to different countries. So I set out to build a drift car that focused on all aspects testing my skills and my style so I went with an S14 which was a car I've always loved. I built this car with the Japanese car building mentality which was build a car out of fun, love and your style and not competition.

Today, while the car scene has grown I feel like most builds today are way more competitive than they should be, like who has the best wheels, who's lower. People in my opinion have gotten way into the competitive aspect and strayed away from the whole fun aspect in building a car. I have always been a perfectionist so I did countless amounts of research on parts. I chose not to buy any fake parts as my homage to the big companies that have done the proper R&D. I was inspired to do ‘Itasha’ by my friend Allen Castillo, who had an Itasha-styled Supra in Chicago. I also felt that the Itasha would draw in the anime fans and the young crowd into the car scene plus I love watching anime, so why not incorporate it into my build. As for the motor, it originally planned to do put the Tundra 1UZFE V8, but I found it more beneficial to go with a different motor since the vehicle would be my competition drift car as well. So I went with the RB25DET NEO; it is a bit different but has a wide range of aftermarket parts to help me attain 500 whp. The majority of the car was built in my garage. Building it has made me more appreciative of the car scene, more knowledgeable, and has made my passion burn more. I hope to inspire just one person to go out and build something out of love and passion.

ENGINE / PERFORMANCE
RB25DET NEO Motor
HKS (purple powdercoated valve covers, intercooler piping, BOV)
Black thermal coated stock turbo manifold
Front tubs cut out of engine bay
RB26DET valve & Cam cover
Raw Brokerage (Impact GT GReddy style intake manifold, underdrive pulley kit, intercooler piping kit)
Nismo oil filter
90mm Q45 throttle body
J2 engineering black intercooler
Nismo thermostat
80 PSI inline fuel filter
Chasebays (tucked radiator w/ slim rad fans, tucked power steering line kit with cooler)
Moroso catch can
Zerolift motor & transmission mount kit
Wiring specialties full engine harness
Walboro 255 LPH fuel pump
Hallman manual boost controller
Syko performance turbo elbow
ISIS 4-in. blast pipes
Rear mounted battery relocation

DRIVETRAIN
RB25 Series 1 transmission
Nismo Type SSS 2-way rear diff

WHEELS / TIRES / BRAKES
Custom built Work VSXX wheels - 18x10.5 w/ 5-in. polished step lip (f), 18x11.5 w/ 5.5-in. polished step lip (r)
Powder-coated gloss white center caps
OEM 5-lug conversion all around
Tires – 225/40R18, 255/35R18
Z32 brake calipers (f/r)
Chasebays (brake booster delay, in-interior line relocation, stainless braided z32 brake lines)
R32 rear e-brake cables

CHASSIS / SUSPENSION
Poweredbymax (competition coilovers 10/8, front lower control arms/ tension arms combo - bent type, spherical bearing CRMO inner tie rods, forged super angle knuckles, solid rear subframe bushings, rear upper control arms, rear toe arms )
Abercrombie Motorsports 1-in. lengthened outer tie rods
Gold rear subframe
SPL rear diff solid bushings

EXTERIOR
Atlantis Blue Metallic E92 BMW paint
Rocket Bunny (35mm front fenders, rear duckbill spoiler)
Origin Lab (Stylish front bumper, Stylish rear bumper, Stylish side skirts)
Circuit Sports clear headlamp covers
‘Highschool of the Dead’ (Itasha inspired vinyl graphics, Itasha wrapped hood)
Drift Armor front bash bar
Retrofit source Morimoto HID 55 watt kit

INTERIOR
Toyota Super white II painted interior
OMP deep concave black suede 320 mm steering wheel
NRG neo chrome/black 2.0 quick release
Custom built formula D spec full roll cage
Touge factory racing seats (2)
Teamtech purple racing 4-point harness
Digital delay switch panel
Asian girl pleasure shift knob
Autometer tachometer
Blox racing boost gauge
Autometer fuel guage
Innovate MTX-L air/fuel ratio gauge

AUDIO / MULTIMEDIA
Removed

FAVORITE MODIFICATION
Paint job, ‘Highschool of the Dead’ Itasha

SPONSORS
Englewood Auto Body
Slidewayz Motorsports
SNTRL
Needpowdercoating

SHOPS
Englewood Auto Body
Slidewayz motorsports