Since the beginning of this year I have been on a mission to finish off what the 12 year old in me had always wanted, a clean daily driven RPS13 that can hunt the curves on the canyons with ease and bears all the right parts. This is a story of how I fell in love with my car and the progress of my build from beginning to end… for now.

As a kid I was always obsessed with car culture. I remember going to the hot rod and lowrider shows that occasionally happened around town. At home I played with nothing but car related toys from Hot Wheels, Matchboxes, and Micro Machines to the Gran Turismo series on Playstation until the Internet came about. Now there wasn’t much you could do with dial-up but when DSL became available, it gave me the ability to stream videos with reasonable load times. It was almost natural for me to find out about the world of Initial D, Best Motoring, Smokey Nagoya, and the illegal drifting in Japan all before high school. From car buying in Gran Turismo 2, I learned about the Supras, Skylines, and a handful of other Japanese and Euro cars that were forbidden fruit to the USA thanks to the strict import laws.

As I drooled over the early generation Lancer Evolutions, Impreza’s, and Skylines, I realized, due to price and legality, that most of these cars are more of a dream than a reality. Fortunately for me there was one car that stuck out from the sea of 90’s Japanese glory. This car also happened to fit my budget when it came time to own my first car. That was the 240sx, which yields many variations. Some of you might know it as the Silvia, Onevia, 180sx, 200sx, Sileighty, Type X, S13, S14, S15…I mean the list goes on but I’ll save you the explaination between variants because Wikipedia can cover you on that. Now it wasn’t the girlfriends from Impact Blue driving the Sileighty, or the white 180sx Chuki hatchback, or even the white S14 Keiichi Tsuchiya drove in the Drift Bible video that made me fall in love with the S-Chassis. What made me like the car so much was the plethora of body and engine variations that came with the S-Chassis. The idea of owning a car with so many versatile options of customization symbolized the freedom and ease of tailoring the car to my taste. This picture I saw in middle school of a red Type X with Blitz wheels probably also played a small part in convincing me.

Coming from my part of town, I had to earn my keep and make something out of nothing. Once out of high school, my options were either to buy a car or use that money go to college, I chose the latter and put my car dreams on hold. Being undocumented also meant that owning a car was too big of a risk. It would pain me to have my car taken away off a technicality or be slapped with a big fine that I couldn’t afford. By my third year of college I was commuting by bike to my community college and worked several freelance jobs. Public transportation sucks around my part of town and without a car it made it very difficult getting anywhere on time. Fortunately my parents were nice enough to match my savings so I can purchase my first car. All the while Deferred Action had also just been implemented by Obama’s executive action meaning I finally had the ability to get my drivers license in California. My eyes were set on getting a RPS13. Although the prices of the 240sx’s had plummeted in the early to mid 2000’s, by 2011 people were starting to realize how much potential of track car it can be and prices slowly inflated. The drift scene was picking up in the states and it was slowly getting difficult to find a car that was not abused, engine swapped, or gutted. A clean blank canvas would cost a few hundred more and this was known as the dreaded drift tax.

My goal was to find a chassis that didn’t have any detrimental dents and was not gutted or abused. It had to be a hatchback, a sunroof, and most importantly a manual transmission. Although it isn’t as hard as today to find a clean untouched sample for a decent price, it still took some effort. I remembered searching online for about four months before I had found what could potentially be “the one” and even then, the seller was a three-hour drive away. I remember being excited because it was exactly what I was looking for, a grey hatchback with a sunroof and manual transmission with a few nice surprises on top. It had rare un-cracked dashboard, clean title, and only 112k miles on the dash. I managed to score the car for much less than the asking drift tax price due to it having some simple maintenance issues. The car was an early 89-90 model therefore holds the single cam engine. Despite it not having the better dual cam motor it was match meant to be because it was made the same year I was born, 1990. Those pleasant surprises made me instantly attached to the car. When it came time to register the car, it actually got better. According to the DMV records, I was officially the second owner, making it a rare two-owner RPS13. This was verified by my friends’ Carfax report. Not bad for a 21 year old car at the time.

Stage 1 of my build was to make it a reliable daily driver; doing tune-ups and only fixing things that were broken. I completed that within the first two years of ownership. Being a broke college student at the time, I didn’t believe in doing heavier modifications until I got my first career out of college. I didn’t like the idea of building a car when I wasn’t financially stable. I patiently planned my build through an Excel sheet and tried to stay away from buying cheap knockoff parts. No shortcuts here. With the post 2010 trend of 240s being stripped down into drift missiles and unloved by many of its newer owners, I had a different goal in mind. Horsepower didn’t matter to me, so an engine swap or turbo is off the table until this one dies. The idea was to make mine a reliable, period correct, daily driver with only a few hints of modern amenities. Suspension is important because I want it to handle tight corners and small roads with ease. Throughout the past two years, I’ve been crossing off many parts from that long list which brings us here now.

I will get into more details of what parts are on the car in part two. In the mean time, my goal of completing stage 2 of my build is almost done. All the suspension, interior, and exterior upgrades I wanted were purchased and installed. It was finally time to send it off for paint at SoCal Auto Image in Long Beach to make this a rare, non-drift slutted 240sx with color-matched panels. Now we wait.

The post Running in the ’90s: Period-Correct 240SX Build Part One appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Men’s hair has been through a lot already in the 21st century. Undercuts, the Hard Part, and Man Buns have all come and gone in just the last decade. We are getting more creative with our hair, this is a good thing – great even. But with interesting and longer styles comes maintenance. I still know plenty of men who wash their hair with the same bodywash they use on their arm pits. That’s not okay.

As a sex, we are also extremely active and tend to be more involved with extreme sports than our fairer counterparts. All that physical activity and stress, longer hair, and lack of maintenance does not go together well however.

Weak or thin hair is something that affects many men of all ages. For many, it can be soul-destroying.  And before you get to the point where you need a FUE hair transplant, you should look into your daily hair care routine.

This world doesn’t need any more weak or thin hair, so FactoryTwoFour has teamed up with Dove Men’s+Care and skateboarder/entrepreneur/author/YouTube star Andy Schrock to talk through why skateboarding is life, date night, and why proper haircare matters.

Andy, what makes you original?

What makes me original is that I do exactly what I want to do with my life. I have a lot of passions; skateboarding, making videos, writing, music… the list goes on. I used to think you had to pick one thing and make a career based on that, but eventually I threw that idea out the window and figured out a way to make a life for myself that I could incorporate all of my passions. I wake up every day and work hard everything I love in my life.

What are you excited about today?

Every day brings something new and I love that! Today I’m very excited to be planning my third company that is set to launch early next year. Also it’s date night! Which doesn’t happen enough, haha. I’m excited to go out to dinner with my wife!

What’s your next goal you are working toward?

I have quite a few goals I’m working toward right now. I’m writing a sequel book to the first book I published a few years back, I’m working on that new company I mentioned, but the biggest project on my plate right now is a full length DVD skate video for my first company ReVive Skateboards.

Why should I – or anyone – skateboard?

You should skate because skateboarding is fun! It can be whatever you want it to be. There are so many different ways you can skateboard; vert, street skating, freestyle, etc. Really whatever trick you can imagine, you can figure out a way to do it on your board.

It’s the ultimate therapeutic/creative outlet. There are no coaches or anyone trying to be the boss of you. It’s just you setting goals for yourself and is extremely fun and rewarding. It teaches you how to fail and how to get back up and try again.

I’ve never skateboarded. How do you recommend I – or anyone – start?

To start skateboarding is simple. Get a board, get on it, and try to have fun. There’s plenty of how to skateboarding videos on the internet to help with specific tricks, but really, there’s no wrong way to skateboard as long as you’re having fun.

Are you a shower once a day, or once a month kind of guy?

I am definitely a shower every day kind of guy. Showering and washing my hair every day is critical for having healthy hair and scalp. I spend a lot of time outside playing with my son, shooting videos or skating, and I don’t like to have the dirt or sweat sitting in my hair too long. Plus, Dove Men+Care’s extensive line of 2-in-1 daily shampoo and conditioners are specifically formulated to help make men’s hair stronger and more resilient – I’ve seen a difference since I first started using them.

How much more skating do you get in because you don’t have to separately shampoo and condition?

I spend a lot more time skating since I’ve been using Dove Men+Care’s 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner regularly. I have always been a fan of their products, but their 2-in-1’s cut down on the amount of time I spend washing my hair, which I can use to spend time with my wife and son, Ryden, edit videos or skate.

What have you learned from working with Dove Men+Care?

I learned quite a bit from working with Dove Men+Care, especially from their research study they conducted. In the study, 90% of the dermatologists agreed that men aren’t aware of how every day activities can contribute to hair fall and I was definitely one of those men. Nearly half of the dermatologists that participated in the study stated that UV rays and chlorine can contribute to hair fall. Knowing that beach days with my family, or even rubbing my hair too aggressively with a towel were causing damage to my hair was important to learn.

As I get older and balance more responsibilities, these are things I have to start caring about. The campaign definitely served as a reminder for that. Small adjustments like wearing a hat at the beach with your kids, or patting your hair dry with a towel are simple fixes that make huge a difference.

The post Andy Schrock Explains Why Your Hair is Sad appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.