So, this is a double act! These are the cars driven by me and my brother, this photo is circa 2004.
Firstly we have the silvia. Bought in 2002 from a chap in the ACT who got it complianced but never registered, it was about the 10th one I had looked at but had me sold at first sight. It was the colour I wanted and looked mean on 16" wheels, with an exhaust, lowered sports suspension and although I didnt know it at the time, a factory fitted Nissan aero kit (nismo kit).
Unfortunately, the wheels had fractures in them and the suspension was too low for rego. The 2.25" fujibtso exhaust passed the inspection after a $200 engineers certificate.
So when it got home it looked like this
First mod was a CD player and speakers
Second was a new grill (see below) that a few people on here got together on.
Third was a set of 17x7 wheels as seen in the top pic...in 2003 these were still pretty wide!
The car then went to my brother, he had a bit more of an idea than me and installed tein flex coilovers, Greddy strut brace and adjustable geometry arms.
It stayed like this for another couple of years, not missing a beat and getting the occasional spirited drive in the mountains before the water pump failed blowing the head gasket. This was replaced by a family friend, but around the same time it was becoming apparent before he had outgrown the sr20de powerplant.
First however, we thought we'd sort the brakes. We threw on a set of s14 calipers and discs, using japanese billet hubs on the front and s15 rear hubs. A set of buddyclub p1s in 17x8 +20 came up for sale for a super cheap price and that completed the 5 stud brake upgrade.
It then looked like this:
When it came to an engine we were hoping for either a semi worked redtop or a s15 engine, we found a JDM s15 engine and got autosport engineering to swap the engines. Since the gearbox came with a nismo clutch, we thought we'd grab that as well since we werent chasing huge power we thought the closer ratios would be of some benefit.
Things went a bit pear-shaped at this point. Installing an s15 engine isnt quite as straightforward as you might think. The ECU didnt want to know about the immobiliser, the AC loom was completly incompatable and without a gearbox speed sensor another method had to be thought of. In addition the tailshaft needed to be modded a bit.
The most annoying thing was when the gearbox and engine were in the silvia, there was one really odd transmission noise on deceleration! Like a cog had come loose and was interfering with something.
Autosport pulled down the gearbox, inspected it. Nothing wrong, then tried another gearbox. No change. All Took about a month, but still no progress or improvement. To their credit, autosport did rig up a AC switch and didnt charge for their time, labour or the new gearbox.
Eventually I discovered nismo clutch/flywheels seem to be noisy and although this one seems excessively so, for the time being we decided to leave it well alone. If it fails, then we might do something about it.
Working out the speedo was a little bit more weird. We knew that the s15s use a ABS sensor to trigger the speedo, so after experimenting with mounting one on the tailshaft, we decided to use s14 front hubs (s13 LCAs) with ABS sensors. My brother (who fortunately is an electrical engineering student) rigged up a circuit to convert the ABS signal into something the speedo can use. This was an absolute prick of a job and had about 5 prototypes but seems to be working now.
Other than that, I fucked off the HICAS system, fixed a few bits of dodgy wiring, threw in a Bride Ergo seat, an old school trust boost gauge and a Nardi classic with a steering spacer.
Future plans include getting another strut brace (s13 sr20det one does not clear the inlet plenum of an s15 engine!!
)installing the R33 calipers that we have, install the kamikomto 3" exhaust, throw it on the dyno and replace the fuel pump if needed.
Its a very very tight example, the body has the least flex of any s13 car Ive been in and the s15 JDM engine feels significantly quicker than my 190kw 180sx so I reckon it will put down a pretty good power figure even with an essentially stock engine!
As it stands now:
92 Qs with JDM s15 sr20det engine, turbo and gearbox.
nismo HD clutch and flywheel
Nissan aero (nismo) factory front bar, skirts and rear pods
tein flex coilovers with adj. geometry arms
s14 brakes with Project Mu B spec pads
2.25 fujibtso exhaust and 3" greddy dump (exhaust to be replaced with kamikomoto 3")
Buddy club p1s currently with no-name shit rubber.
Bride Ergo drivers seat
Nardi Classic
Trust boost gauge.
silviansw grille.
The next is my 180sx.
Bought in 2004/5, it came with 17x7 wheels, some sort of lowered springs a Hybrid FMIC. 3" turbo back exhaust and a microtech lt8. It made 170kw when I got it and the photo at the top is how it looked at the time.
I realised pretty early on the struts were borked and the brakes lacking!
The shocks were replaced with a 2nd hand set of tein flex shocks, which lasted 6 months before the rears started leaking and generally being all over the place round corners.... 2nd hand shocks FTL. Replaced these with new Super Streets which are much better. Means I dont have independent height adjustment but at standard height is what Id set it to anyway, so not an issue for me.
Next was a set of R33 brakes front and rear, coupled with r33 rear hubs, (after I discovered r33 GTR hubs use larger half shafts with much amusement as I tried to move the car under its own power!) Justjap front hubs and 17x8 and 17x9 work meisters (with 215 tyres initially!!). More recently I put on some slotted DBA 4000 discs and project mu pads.
The justjap hubs had the bearings go within 6 months because the casting was so dodgy there was play in the interference fit, so the bearings failed again even after being replaced. So I installed s14 hubs and s15 LCAs, coupled with cusco caster arms and a new s15 steering rack (old one was leaking) and all new bushings at the front.
In terms of the interior, I got a nardi classic, a few gauges and a steering spacer. I also grabbed a set of just-jap fake brides and bride rails. With a bit of modifying of the seat base, I could lower the sitting height. Not bad for $300 + rails and much better than stock. However, theres no comparison to a real bride seat, so at some point I might grab a genuine brix 1.5.
I thought Id have a go of retriming the glovebox and door cards with a similar material to the seats, and grabbed a $40 front and rear seat cover from kmart. The rear cover went on the rear seat, the front covers were cut to fit the door trims and glove box and look pretty bloody good for the money! The dash also got pulled out and replaced with one without a crack and a cd player put in.
Along the way I thought Id grab a set of just jap rear arms, which will be fucked off when I get a moment to throw in the cusco rear arms I recently got.
Other little things were done along the way including a ARC s14 radiator, alloy catch cans, alloy radiator reservior, cusco strut brace and home made aluminum pod enclosure. The rear hatch was replaced with one without a wing. A stainless steel exhaust manifold replaced the steampipe one that was on it and failed. The PS pump, lines and engine mounts were also replaced when they failed, as was the fuel pump when it ate a load of bad fuel, it got another tune and made the same 170rwkw on std injectors and turbo.
Shortly after I decided to invest in some rice, and grabbed a front lip and pods and ghetto them up myself using a spray can. Actually wasnt too bad.
However, I managed to reverse into a fucking pole one morning while still dopey eyed and put a decent dent into the O/S/R 1/4 panel. The paint on the whole car has never been brilliant and I figured I might as well get the whole car resprayed. Although I wanted a electric blue, that was simply too pricey, so it got resprayed in gloss black.
After that, I was happy with how it stopped, turned and looked, so figured I might chase a bit more power. Its a street car primarily so figured a 200rwkw target was adequate and I didnt really want to crack the engine open, so threw on a t28 bb turbo and grabbed some 550cc injectors and sent it off to unigroup to install a nismo board and z32 afm after I pulled out the microtech and restored the original wiring.
It came back with 190rwkw on about 14psi but with a lot more responsiveness, particularly off boost, which was desirable for a street car. I may go with cams to get to that 200rwkw mark on the wall but this wont be for some time I imagine.
As it stands:
92 180sx 190rwkw
respray in black
front lip, rear pods and nissan sideskirts
R33 brakes F+R, s15 LCAs, s14 hubs, work meister wheels in 17x8 and 17x9.
tein superstreet coilovers
cusco geometry arms and strut brace
t28bb turbo
Hybrid FMIC.
exedy HD clutch
nismo 550cc injectors z32afm, apexi pod, nistune daughterboard
bride copy seats, nardi classic, gauges, retrimmed interior
Its worth mentioning a few People who have helped along the way with both cars including: Proconcept, Unigroup, Autosport engineering, Heasmans suspension, My immediate and extended family and everyone on SNSW (particularly dumhed, BHD, tmb, lawsy, fergo308 and mayhem)