Slide Dog Millionaire

Let's face it.  In today's world, some people take things way too seriously, and the automotive scene is no different.  Everyone should be in it for the love of the scene and enjoying the journey one takes with a car.  Sadly, there are some who just make things unbearable.  Whether they are voicing their disapproval over someone's car, or someone being too hard on him or herself for a poor performance, it's easy to take the fun out of the culture which is something that needs to be avoided to keep everything going.  Drifting is one aspect of the automotive culture that has this problem.  What started out as a fun, grassroots type sport has now exploded into the mainstream and international fame.  The competition is fierce and the competitors no less.  You have to be at the top of your game to stay up top, but does that mean the sport can't be fun anymore?  Surely not.

Meet Chris Hooker, also known as C.J the Husky, and the owner of this 240sx here.  Although young and somewhat new to the scene, his attitude is something that a lot of people can learn from.  While he strives to get better, he doesn't let that stop him from enjoying every minute he is behind the wheel of his car, whether he's driving it to a convention, or sliding it at a local drift event.  This car gets driven a lot and driven hard being that it is his drift machine/road-trip vehicle, and it's great to see Chris having such an awesome attitude towards everything.

Chris's story begins in the summer of 2008 when he picked up this 1991 240sx for the fair sum of $1,250.  The car, however, barely ran, suffering from rod-knock.  Chris said the car died after he got the car off of the trailer and into his driveway.  Not one to be discouraged, he jumped right in, getting his paws dirty, and the following week the motor was out of the car and ready to be torn down for the rebuild.  Ready for the challenge, and armed with only his willingness to learn, Chris set about reading all he could on building up his KA motor for boost.  During this time, he worked as much as he could at his job at the local grocers, and his free time was spent gathering all the information he needed to do the job himself.  After securing a small bank loan to fund the build, Chris started ordering the parts needed to build the motor.  During the winter months, the motor was sent to the machine shop for the necessary machining for over-sized pistons and having everything checked and cleaned.  Once back in his possession, Chris busted out his trusty service manual, and set about re-assembling his new KA motor.  The block has been fitted with CP pistons mounted on a set of Eagle rods with Clevite 77 bearings.  The head consists of a set of '91 DE cams and a Cometic head-gasket.  He finished the rebuild by spring of '09 and broke the motor in in NA form.

By the summer of '09, everything was broken in and running smooth.  It was at this time that Chris purchased a set of coilovers to get the car sitting right, along with a set of 16x8 +0 Sportmax wheels wrapped in 205/50/16 tires to get the stance on point.  This was how the car sat for most of 2009, and as it came to a close with Chris putting the car in the garage for the winter, he started to plan his latest makeover which would start in early 2010.  The winter months were spent reading and researching about boosting the KA motor, and collecting parts.  In March, Chris stripped the chassis down to take care of some body work and give the chassis a new coat of paint.  He decided on bright pink because...well, why the hell not!  Remember that thing called "fun"?  Well, this doggy was certainly having a blast building up his car.  With the body work and paint completed, it was time to bolt on all those turbo goodies Chris had been collecting.  Centered around a Turbonetics t3 50-trim turbo and a JGS top-mount, turbo manifold, everything was a straight-forward affair.  A Godspeed intercooler and Koyo radiator with dual Altima fans keep things cool while an Apex-i 3" down-pipe and 3" exhaust expel the fumes.  A Z32 MAF feeds the turbo with a JGS 400 waste-gate coupled with an AEM Tru-boost keep boost under control.  An EFI Specialists ECU, combined with an Apex-i NEO, AEM wide-band, Turbo XS Knock-Lite, and ISIS FPR keep fuel and timing in check, and everything running smoothly.  Lastly, an ACT 6-puck clutch and familiar welded diff get the power to both wheels and keep them spinning.  By May of 2010, the car was all done and Chris was ready to have some fun.

With the summer filled with drift events and conventions, this husky certainly enjoyed his car, built with his own two paws, to its fullest.  The two have become a regular site at the local drift events on the east coast as well as the surrounding area fur conventions.  Chris certainly had a great time building his drift machine, and even a better time using it.  Now isn't that what this hobby is all about?  Sounds a lot more appealing than dealing with drama, internet critics, and inflating egos.  Just build it, beat on it, and have a damn good time doing it.  With the car put away for the winter, Chris has a few things up his sleeve for 2011 which I can't wait  to see.  What is for certain though, is that Chris is going to have fun doing it.  So, from one husky to another, keep on it and have a blast!  You and your car are what this culture is all about.

Photos provided by:  Brenden Romus

My stance on "Stance"

I have been in the scene for what I consider to be a decent amount of time, 8 years, however I've been a car enthusiast since a little boy.  In my 8 years of being in the scene, mainly the Japanese and VW/Audi groups, I have seen a number of trends come up over the years, from the body-kitted Fast & Furious days, to the DTM/Euro look, the JDM craze, and the less-is-more Euro look, I have seen enough to know what happens to trends.  The trend that has caught the spotlight as of late is unarguably the stance and Hellalfush trend.  In the last few years, the stance scene has gained a lot of momentum and no one can stop talking about it.

Of course, there are two main groups in every trend like this; those that love it, support and embrace it, and those that absolutely hate it.  I have seen a lot of the trends over the years, but I have yet to see one that has such an adamant group of haters.  It's kind of funny at times to see how passionate these people are about being so negative about a trend that they go out of their way to say their two-cents about it.  Instead of keeping their mouths shut, they speak up about how dumb they think the whole fitment game is and how it is "unsafe" and counter-active to modifying a vehicle.  Some helpful words here:  attention, whether good or bad, is still attention.

Thing is, for all you haters out there, the stance and fitment movement is here to stay.  It's not going anywhere and is only growing stronger each day.  The fact is, with all these trends that have popped up, none have really gone anywhere.  You may say the body-kit era and JDM fads have all gone, but they really haven't, they have just evolved and changed.  Body-kits haven't gone away and neither has tuning cars in the JDM fashion.  Cars are still rocking body-kits and adding JDM touches here and there, just in a different manner now that still captures just as much attention, just in a different way.  The same thing goes for the stance movement.  It will change, most definitely, but it is never going to go away.

More and more sites and groups are popping up that support the movement with the "originators" still leading the way, sites like Hellaflush, Stanceworks, and Stance Nation setting the standards for others to follow, learn from and build upon.  More and more shows and events are being organized which are centered around stance and fitment.  The movement is only growing with more people coming to embrace it and see it as another form of tuning.  Contrary to what most naysayers believe, it's not easy to get a car sitting low with the perfect fitment.  There's a lot of suspension work and calculating wheel offsets and tire sizes.  It's far more difficult than just getting a set of coils, winding them down, bolting up a set of wheels and hoping for the best.

Now, I'm not trying to come off as some know-it-all, or some sort of "prophet" for the stance scene.  I'm just some enthusiast who is taking his experience from being in the game for a good amount of time and voicing my opinion on the movement.  I understand the scene and live within it, love it and embrace it, yet I still appreciate a car that's setup for road-racing or drag racing, and give credit where credit is due.  I guess every successful group will have its share of haters, and we all deal with it.  So, to the haters, keep on hating!  Stance and fitment aren't going anywhere!  Everyone else, keep it low and clean....