PS13 Silvia drift car
Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:42 pm
As Stuart has already posted, yesterday we took a little trip across the country to pick up my new drift toy:
A PS13 drift demo car freshly imported from Japan:
It was 12 hours and almost 500 miles in a noisy transit, but well worth the trip. Thanks again Stu for the help an giving up your free time.
This afternoon I had a few free hours so rather than spend it on a 60s volvo shell as normal (another project) I started to play with the car, take it all in, and as usual make more plans for it. It is already at a crazy spec, and is pretty much competition ready, but I want to bring it up to my standard of fit and finish, and check that I trust all the changes and re-engineering that has gone into it.
I was originally planning to keep this off the road and for the track only, but temptation got the better of me. So...First task was to re-wire the rear lights for a fog light, and swap out some bodged LED mods to a regular bulb that worked much better (and brighter?) for a brake light. Nothing exiting to show, but once I have connected up a switch on the dash it will be a step closer to its first MOT. Then I started pulling out bits of interior to find the more interesting hidden toys under the dash and center console:
hmm, Apexi FC commander ( and matching shiny control box in the car too all wired up) I wonder what this does?
More toys - again i have no idea how to use it yet:
? now this one is really confusing:
I also found a Greedy boost gauge, HKS turbo timer, and eventually the Nismo gearknob and handbrake button (fly-off or ratchet) stashed under a few more panels. They all fitted easily, but I need to work out what they all do and how not to blow up the engine with them.
Next job was to line up the composite front end as all the panel gaps were shcking. The wings were an easy unbolt and reattach, but as usual with the aftermarket stuff the fit and gaps of a carbon bonnet and composite wings and bodykit were awful. I think it is about as good as they can get now, but the bumper still didnt fit under the D/S headlight, and the gap to the bonnet was all wrong. It looked like the headlight was in the wrong place but cold not be adjusted. A bit more investigation around the front end (what was left anyway as you can see below there was very little of the bumper support left after some mad jap got carried away with an angle grinder)
eventually i spotted a bent beam that the headlight attached too (again cut out for the huge intercooler) so removed it for some repair:
It was easily straightened, repainted and everything put back on the car, now with much better fitting gaps:
There were a few other little jobs done, but strangely the most satisfying one was to remake the radiator brackets. They were just cut plates of ally (non standard radiator and an S15 engine in a PS13) and stopped the bonnet stay being clipped in when down. 10 minutes and they were off, reprofiled with a couple of bends, refitted and it all worked as it should, and improved the sealing of the radiator foams.
Plenty of jobs for tomorrow left including dealing with 28mm of ground clearance to my sump guard (hiding a big wing sump pan) so i can handle Norfolks speed bump problem, finding out what on earth that JDM coke bottle is connected to?!?! and deciding do i keep the JDM sparkle paint on the center console? (the aircon is staying! I may like lightweight cars, but I hate a sweaty in a race suit more)
Can't wait until I can actually drive it, but the first track outing booked is a few weeks away yet.
A PS13 drift demo car freshly imported from Japan:
It was 12 hours and almost 500 miles in a noisy transit, but well worth the trip. Thanks again Stu for the help an giving up your free time.
This afternoon I had a few free hours so rather than spend it on a 60s volvo shell as normal (another project) I started to play with the car, take it all in, and as usual make more plans for it. It is already at a crazy spec, and is pretty much competition ready, but I want to bring it up to my standard of fit and finish, and check that I trust all the changes and re-engineering that has gone into it.
I was originally planning to keep this off the road and for the track only, but temptation got the better of me. So...First task was to re-wire the rear lights for a fog light, and swap out some bodged LED mods to a regular bulb that worked much better (and brighter?) for a brake light. Nothing exiting to show, but once I have connected up a switch on the dash it will be a step closer to its first MOT. Then I started pulling out bits of interior to find the more interesting hidden toys under the dash and center console:
hmm, Apexi FC commander ( and matching shiny control box in the car too all wired up) I wonder what this does?
More toys - again i have no idea how to use it yet:
? now this one is really confusing:
I also found a Greedy boost gauge, HKS turbo timer, and eventually the Nismo gearknob and handbrake button (fly-off or ratchet) stashed under a few more panels. They all fitted easily, but I need to work out what they all do and how not to blow up the engine with them.
Next job was to line up the composite front end as all the panel gaps were shcking. The wings were an easy unbolt and reattach, but as usual with the aftermarket stuff the fit and gaps of a carbon bonnet and composite wings and bodykit were awful. I think it is about as good as they can get now, but the bumper still didnt fit under the D/S headlight, and the gap to the bonnet was all wrong. It looked like the headlight was in the wrong place but cold not be adjusted. A bit more investigation around the front end (what was left anyway as you can see below there was very little of the bumper support left after some mad jap got carried away with an angle grinder)
eventually i spotted a bent beam that the headlight attached too (again cut out for the huge intercooler) so removed it for some repair:
It was easily straightened, repainted and everything put back on the car, now with much better fitting gaps:
There were a few other little jobs done, but strangely the most satisfying one was to remake the radiator brackets. They were just cut plates of ally (non standard radiator and an S15 engine in a PS13) and stopped the bonnet stay being clipped in when down. 10 minutes and they were off, reprofiled with a couple of bends, refitted and it all worked as it should, and improved the sealing of the radiator foams.
Plenty of jobs for tomorrow left including dealing with 28mm of ground clearance to my sump guard (hiding a big wing sump pan) so i can handle Norfolks speed bump problem, finding out what on earth that JDM coke bottle is connected to?!?! and deciding do i keep the JDM sparkle paint on the center console? (the aircon is staying! I may like lightweight cars, but I hate a sweaty in a race suit more)
Can't wait until I can actually drive it, but the first track outing booked is a few weeks away yet.
He's got it bad . bless 'im!
non drift stylee