My silly old overpriced Nissan thread. S15 content here.

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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So, quite a while back at the beginning of August I posted some rubbish about buying a Silvia, soon after I did just that, waited a long time for it to sail most the way around the world before last week it landed at Southampton.

So, owing to some hooliganism at Anglesey causing some delay, I roped a friend into helping me collect it. Turned into a super long day, over 12 hours on the road, but we saw some interesting stuff.

So, arrived, spoke to a couple of people, few minutes later and she was loaded up.
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There were a few other interesting motors there.
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Toyota Will Vi, an unusual car.. What's that in the background though...
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Another 15, a Spec-R with Origin aero. Love it, the security is so lax at the docks we could have easily loaded up that one and drove it out, bit shocking really.

You thought that Figaros were old hat and consigned to history? Apparently there are still plenty more where they came from..
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Back to my car though, home and parked next to her older sister.
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Inside..
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The nav remembered it's last known location, Port of Kanda, Japan.
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The navi system is entirely in Japanese, and has no maps outside of Japan. This makes it illegible and useless, but it is a cool toy and does have some car info like fuel use, service reminders, trip computer. In traditional JDM style, Radio 2 is the only thing I can listen to :D

Today I had the chance to get it out, have a poke around, fit the wheels I bought a few weeks back and give it a wash.

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It looks a bit monster trucky, desperately needs lowering and the arches will need a roll since these wheels are a pretty manly fitment. I'm not entirely sold on them, but they might work if done in gloss white and lowered.

My favourite part of it though is how immaculate it is underneath, no word of a lie it is like a brand new car, I can't believe it's 12 years old. Even the exposed threads on bolts look box fresh. I snapped a couple of quick videos while swapping the wheels to show you.


Impressions of it so far...
It's a light car, 1210kg and you can tell. Feels light on it's feet to drive. It has little in the way of noise insulation or posh trim, polar opposite to the BMW in this regard. It doesn't make a nice 'thunk' when shutting the boot or bonnet for instance.
The cabin feels small, overall dimensions not that much smaller than the e36 though, 3 or 4 inches shorter I guess. Rear visibility is good though, driving position seems strange can't quite get used to it. Maybe I'm just too used to sitting low down in a bucket seat with a deep cone wheel up in my chest. This will be getting the bucket seat and probably a Nardi deep corn, I hope to swap the Cobra/Driftworks seat for a Recaro SPG in good time.
Steering is really light, more than I would like, bit heavier with the 235/45/17 on, should be tighter still with the caster up to 7.5deg.
Diff appears to be open which really sucks, probably put a Nismo GT Pro in it.
Engine is NASP 2l so obviously is weak, goal is to put a Spec-R motor in, light tuned 325hp or so.

Will be an ongoing project for a while, a bit more interesting than my battle wagon BMW, so will try and keep this updated.
 
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As long as there's no mention of Godzilla attack in the service history, it should be pretty hassle free

Didn't come with much history, only 1 receipt for a service 10k km ago. The oil looks fresh though, nice light golden colour although the computer keeps popping up and telling me to PIT, listing oil and filter change and tyre rotation. I like the Japanesey ness of calling it a pit stop rather than a service :p The engine purrs lovely though, and no VVT rattle at all.

It did come with the handbook though, this is not quite as amusing as the Fairlady Z one. It does have a whole page covering the car becoming stuck on a level crossing though, a bit random. Apparently franticly waving at the train driver is an ok last resort if the other options don't work, such as getting 3 blokes to push it :confused:
 
any plans to put the spec r aero kit on it Clarkey?

love S15s.

looking forward to seeing your progress with this.

are those wheels Evo 9 Enkeis?


cant remember if i asked you previously,
how much more economically viable would it be to buy a spec R over converting an NA?
 
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I have a set of Aero skirts, want the rear spats but they are mega rare and expensive, don't like the optional Aero front bumper, might do the DC2 front lip thing on the stock bumper.

FWIW Spec-S had the same Aero options, it is not exclusive to R.
 
The BNR32 was one of those cars you don't want to look at too closely hence I didn't. Go and take it though lol, the keys will be inside.
 
Looks pretty nice man.

Surprised you went for a N/A one.

I would imagine based on condition though as most turbos have probably been drifted!

To get a Spec-R in this condition would have cost a LOT more, putting a SR20DET motor in this will cost less than £1k. I would like an original Spec-R of course, but it's not worth 5k+ just for a badge on the side.
 
To get a Spec-R in this condition would have cost a LOT more, putting a SR20DET motor in this will cost less than £1k. I would like an original Spec-R of course, but it's not worth 5k+ just for a badge on the side.

Makes sense tbh man.

People buy facelift NA supras and do the same, as facelift TT's command more ££ than they are worth really.
 
other than the motor swap, what ancillaries need to be fitted to bring your car to spec r level?

are the brakes etc the same?
 
other than the motor swap, what ancillaries need to be fitted to bring your car to spec r level?

are the brakes etc the same?

Brakes are different, 2 pot instead of 4 pot callipers on the front, same size disc though, it's a sub £100 swap and going to the 296mm Skyline setup is only marginally more cost.

Chassis wise, the Spec-R has a couple of extra strengthening braces, most of which seems to focus on strengthening the boot floor. I may or may not bother with this, it's all bolt on anyway.
 
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