Nissan S14A
February 10th, 2016
Before I’d actually started looking for a Nissan Silvia I was actually in the market for a R32 Skyline GTR. Now after going through quite a few of those Skylines I found they were and are at the point in their lives where they are either really really beaten up and abused and required a lot of work or were in decent shape but they are astronomically priced and another thing was also the RB26DETT engine which was extremely expensive for parts. I mean for example the injectors alone for stock Nissan injectors are $700. Also the age of these cars were starting to show rust as I looked more and more into it. Also the last production year was I believe 1992 and back in 2013 am now looking at a fairly old car.
So when I came across the Sylvia which in the United States and Canada is known as the Nissan 240SX it was something that I knew about, but wasn’t too keen on it until I saw them in person and it was only then did I realize that it did happen to route back to the original Z cars from Nissan and before Datsun. Only then did I realize it was an actual lightweight performance car and when I got into the one that I ended up buying it was already almost completely modified and whatnot and was literally fantastic. It was beautiful to look at, it was super light, I mean it weighed about 2457 pounds I believe and it handled so sharply. It had Tien fully adjustable suspension (coilovers), it had a Kakimoto cat-back exhaust, it had an HKS cold air intake and Greddy front mount intercooler, Blitz blow off valve, Nismo strut tower braces, Nissan 300ZX twin turbo brake upgrade including brake booster I mean a whole array of things had been done to it already when I bought it and it was pure, pure race car.
So I ended up seeing the car it was already imported and in registered here in BC, I bought it from Campbell River on the island and ended up flying back and forth about 3 times and total just to see the car and arrange for inspections and so forth and ended up driving back onto the ferry of course and it was a fantastic car. I did end up doing some more modifications to it. The car came with an open diff so we ended up putting in a VLSD R200 from another a Nissan 240, that right away made the car killer fearsome because now with the Rays three piece wheels were stanced and had to be tucked under the fenders so they didn’t rub so I wasn’t fully utilizing all of the rear tires which I believe were 255′s in the rear. It wanted to kill you, and every turn it would break loose if you weren’t careful.
I can definitely see why these are drift cars, it was such a fun and a killer car to drive and it is a bare bones car, as you drive over or gravel and puddles you hear the tires kick it up in the wheel well, every little little rock on the road you would hear a ping ping, it was literally a race car and I can see why the after market scene is in such high demand for these cars. I mean you had the power amenities you had the power steering, power brakes, and power windows power mirrors and yet the roof and the the floorboards and everything was just tin, there wasn’t any sound insulation you heard everything you felt everything those coilovers are rock hard. I put full racing brides Lowmax seats I put all the gauges in it too, boost, air fuel ratio, coolant and oil temp and oil pressure. I did a lot of work to it and I even fitted 4300K HIDs and there were new brand new headlights from Nissan with glass projectors and yellow high beams. It was a fantastic and a great car in and out. I also fitted a pioneer double din deck in there as well.
I was sort of getting kind of hesitant to sell it but the only reason why I did was it was getting really hard to find parts for the SR20DET motor, also I did an actual transmission swap to it that was upwards of $2,500. So I ended up swapping the diff the transmission and we put a SCT stage 2 clutch in it as well a Walbro 255 lph fuel pump all these upgrades were done at Force Fed performance and we were running I believe 12 pounds of boost that made 222 wheel horsepower and about 244 foot pounds of torque if I remember correctly. It was tons for a car that weighed 2700 pounds so as soon as boost kicked in and if it was anything but dry on the road the rear would just break loose and it was so much fun to drive and the ability to be so unpredictable it was this and a little bit of fear but at the same time, it was such a rewarding experience. There was also the 300zx brakes that meant when you wanted to stop it really stopped. I upgraded the rotors and pads in the front to Power Slot rotors and Hawk Pads and that really really grabbed.
It was a good car and got attention everywhere I went. I was glad I ended up going with this Sylvia not skyline because the Sylvia was the 1998 model, it was later in the 90′s so it was newer when I got in and it wasn’t so old and and dated to the early 90′s with the oil leaks and whatnot and the super HICAS 4 wheel steering. It was an option but it didn’t even come with it and have a lock up bar, it didn’t have any of that extra mechanisms in the back that people use to block out and all this is extra weight, thankfully this didn’t come with any that was so easy to swap it out I took the whole rear end section of the subframe out with about 8 bolts and nuts and a good hour and a half and that’s how I swapped and out rear end of few times. I was going through diffs of course because the way I drove it. I definitely, definitely would get another one if I had a chance to but in really good shape like that though. But I moved on now my priorities have changed but I’m still in the turbo cars, now I have a STi and it’s a little different category. The car actually ended up going back to Victoria as the owner came here bought it and took it with him. We do still keep in contact at least once a month, I’ll receive a text from him. It was the most fun I believe for under 15k. And the right hand drive stigma, not a big deal at all. I had my Ford Lightning and this at the same time and going from LHD to RHD wasn’t even an issue after about 2 months (also me being a lefty was nice shifting gears too haha) If you want to be different and don’t want a run of the mill Mustang or Camaro any rwd jdm car can offer you years of fun and admiration from car lovers throughout.
-Perry Takhar
