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.
There were a few other interesting motors there.
Toyota Will Vi, an unusual car.. What's that in the background though...
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..
Back to my car though, home and parked next to her older sister.
Inside..
The nav remembered it's last known location, Port of Kanda, Japan.
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
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.
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.
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.
There were a few other interesting motors there.
Toyota Will Vi, an unusual car.. What's that in the background though...
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..
Back to my car though, home and parked next to her older sister.
Inside..
The nav remembered it's last known location, Port of Kanda, Japan.
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
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.
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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The engine purrs lovely though, and no VVT rattle at all.
