blessard

While I’ve been dumping cash into this build for over a year now, I’ve finally found the motivation to start this thread. One day I’m going to want to look back where this all started anyways. With that said, I’ll be going off memory for most of this, with the few pictures I still have, so bear with me if you will..


My name is Brandon, and I bought this car in Mid-June of 2018 from a small scale importer local to Greenville, SC. I had been saving up for a couple years, and knew exactly what I wanted. To my knowledge, the car had been in the states for quite some time. The car had been resprayed to seafoam green from its original blue/gray two tone. Being a Q’s, the car was non-hicas, non-ABS, and originally CA18DE (was SR20DET swapped in the states a couple years ago). Apart from this, the car had a fully stock interior with Type X front seats, Dmax Coils, Nismo power brace and a few suspension arms, cusco strut braces, and SSR Professor Wheels.



My first move was to get rid of the dual blast pipes and perform some basic engine maintenance (replacing the infamous turbo inlet gasket). Going conservative, and on a stiff budget after buying the car, I went with an HKS high power for now.

Shortly after I found some Twin Cam Trim moldings to go around the car. The Qs badges were later additions. It’s amazing how such small things can really change the look of the car..



Several weeks passed with some minor changes- Grex knob, new radio/speakers, and probably some other things I can’t remember. Being a Clemson student with part time work, it takes some patience at times to keep the build on the move. Regardless, I still remember the day my man Teddyless hit me up after class, telling me about some Blitz Type 03 Wheels that just landed on yahoo japan. Fast forwarding to three weeks later..


Specs are:
18x10 +45
18x9 +45

This was sometime around October. The next two months consisted of me spending way too much money on a 5 lug conversion (Z32 brakes, Ichiba conversion hubs, SS StopTech Lines, nothing special here). Sometime before December of 2018 I also spent way too much money on brick style headlights (almost mint), but I don’t remember when exactly. While I can’t see a damn thing now, I love the look the bricks have to offer.



I went with Toyo Proxes R1R tires. Could’ve used a bit more stretch, but I’ve learned for next time. With the wheels fitted, I finally felt the car had a taste of my own style. Eventually I will need 17” 03’s for the front so I can once again lower the car back down, but I’m still in search of these.

Within the first months of the new year, I was able to add a Coolbox to the collection, a Nardi Classic wheel with Daikei Hub, and most importantly (and goodbye Christmas bonus), a set of Recaro SR3s with Authentic Lemans Confetti Fabric. Fitted with Bride MO rails, they are a direct fit onto the seats with the adapter plate, and overall an easy install. The seats are honestly on the bigger and wider side, and would have my head through the roof if it weren’t for the extra low rails. Nonetheless, I’m super happy with them, and may even spice up my door panels with more skating rink fabric later this year.



Even with all this, I still felt like the car needed something more. It needed to stand out, especially parked next to this all the time..



So I started collecting some of the rarest optional /aftermarket parts available for Silvia’s. The hunt is never ending, but I will share what I have collected so far-

I found an original tomei cluster for sale quite a few months ago, and had originally planned to install it this winter (along with an uncracked dash I have stored away). However, I plan to trade this out for a Nismo cluster as my car is going a different direction now.



In April of this year, I was able to get my hands on a Nismo GTR style grill. Not in the best shape by any means, but still very presentable and came with the original mesh backing. In May or June I picked up a second one in much better condition. Shooting for a Hippo Sleek Grill next..



At the same time I also purchased a Nissan optional Superwoofer. The Superwoofer was part of an optional audio package for S13 Silvia’s. It was called specifically the “N’Fit” package. Customers could choose between three options within this package: Kenwood equipment, Alpine equipment, or Addzest equipment. The Superwoofer was only available with the Addzest option. Addzest was a brand only available in Japanese markets until 2006. The same products carried the name Clarion in international markets, and starting in 2006 the Addzest name went away entirely. Other than the Superwoofer, this package included two box-style deck speakers, door speakers, a double din head unit with equalizer, an amplifier of some kind, and a CD changer.



While I had the Superwoofer itself, I was missing the wiring connector, mounting brackets, and star-patterned tightening knobs that went with it. I began disassembling it and mocking up a ghetto wiring system just for testing purposes. I can post pictures here, but if you want to check out some videos of the original equipment in action check out our FB page Garage Abstract. I was honestly surprised it all worked, and was able to purchase a replacement Mid-Woofer and toss the original, rotted out component. The Superwoofer acrylic piece was originally mounted with a rubber surround, but this had rotted away as well. I bought some chipboard and neoprene rubber to replace the old components, drew out exact replicas on AutoCAD, and cut them myself using 60ksi water jets at my workplace.



I was able to source a matching wiring connector, and will soon be using SolidWorks to create some custom brackets for the Woofer. Will post updates on that soon. As for the hold-down knobs I was able to find the original Japanese manufacturer, who is still making the exact same part after 30 years. $20 and an email to Jesse Streeter later..



I’ve also been trying to source the rest of the N’fit audio package, in hopes of completing one of the most genuine and unique setups around. So far I’ve found a pair of working deck speakers (Addzest R515 I believe), and am still needing an OEM deck lid panel to mount these. A month back or so, my man Teddyless hooked me up with an optional air refiner as well, which I plan to test and mount soon.



And finally, my most recent addition came earlier this week. I found some Silvia light up Louvres. The light up feature works, with only a minor crack/scratch. Can’t wait to get these mounted on my car later this week, so I will provide more pictures soon.



That pretty much does it for the important stuff, thank you guys for reading this far. I have a few things left I haven’t mentioned, but I’ll wait to discuss those until I have my build plans sorted out. Please let me know your thoughts and comments, as I continue to update this thread with more progress!







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s1421

Nice car buddy! Heading in a great direction!!

tuzzio

Love me some two tone. keep up the good work.

Krusty_s13

Looks good! I concur with the lack of visibility with the bricks haha

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crash n' burn

"Lame two tone"...you shut your dirty whore mouth.

Looks really good though, I wish mine had started out that clean. I want to say I've seen this somewhere before, the Super Woofer is definitely not something you come across very often and I remember it standing out when I saw it.

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@jz_2tone

CamryOnBronze

Very cool! Super jealous of the Nismo GTR grille.

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CamryOnBronze.com

EFITTZY

Looks super good man! Love all the rare Silvia bits, keep it up.

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(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ T E A M B L O O M

blessard

Thanks everyone for your feedback/comments. I have a few updates to share-

Since the last edit I was able to finish installing the Superwoofer after fabricating some custom brackets. We used a 3D scan of the trunk area to calculate the depth and curvature that was needed, and from there were able to cut and weld them together:





I had them powder coated and fitted with Crosslinked foam as well, but I forgot to get a picture of the final version.

I also bought some new tires in hopes the extra stretch would help me get a little lower. I went with a 235/40 rear and 215/35 front on a 10” and 9.5” wheel. To help out with the new stance, I had the flca extended 25mm, and had some new Ikeya Formula inner tie rods fitted.





I was able to go ~1.5 inches lower for now.

While I’ve been gone I also had a few coil packs go out, so I went with splitfires because I like expensive stuff.



Since the car was down anyways, I went ahead and bought a new Greddy intercooler Kit to support my future engine build. I’ve had a Greddy Intake, ARP studs, HKS cams/cam gears, and a Tomei exhaust manifold collecting dust for a while now, so I’m hoping to throw those on pretty soon. Have no pictures on any of this so maybe I’ll grab some later today.

During the past few months I also picked up another Tomei cluster, a couple extra sets of louvres, and finally some trunk carpet/plastic. I’m sure I’m forgetting some other stuff, but I’ll try to keep this updated more frequently going forward.








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dizzariot

Dude nice. I want to work on mine this upcoming year!

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S14rebuild

Build looks sweet...loven those seats!

ingmar F

very nice build, love al the period correct parts.