My Project Car Build Up

[Sammy34]

So for the past month or so I have been considering buying a new daily driver. After weeks and weeks of looking over the internet and through car yards I came to the conclusion that rather than buy a brand new 2 door compact shoe box as a daily driver I would combine a few things that have been in the back of mind, by build myself a car for daily driving that not only is a reasonable size for the day to day traffic but can also be classed as a sleeper.

First step was to find a cheap car with body/engine damage within the price range I had given myself. After sorting through car types on the net considering looks, size, potential and taking in consideration how difficult parts are to get for each type of car I came to the conclusion that an s13 was what I was looking for and seeing as you can pick them up within my budget, parts are cheap, they have a good sized engine bay and can look quite tastefull I decided this was the road to head down and within a week I had found exactly what I was looking for.

1989 Silvia - $1400 CAde automatic.

170,000 km's

Mechanicly the car was in excellent condition but front fenders/bonnet/boot would need replacing. The interior was also in excellent condition upon inpection and I was actually prepared for the interior to be in quite alot worse condition than it was.

1. First step replacing all the panels that need to be replaced

2. sanding the car back ready for a respray

so its been a week since I recieved the car and as of sunday every damage panel will have been replace. I have a bonnet on the way, boot has been replaced as the rust holes were too severe, right panel I recieved today. Door cards have been replaced. Sanding will behind on the weekend.

All to do for the moment is sit at work and think over my engine choice for the car. At the moment its leaning towards a 1uz 4.0L v8. I've been in contact with brindog on nissansilvia.com who has been through the 1uz install on his 180sx and been getting a run down cost wise and what modifications that need to be done to fit the engine.

So thats all for the moment, will be back soon hopefullys with an update.

[Danski]

That sounds awesome man.

Cant wait to hear how you go with the rest.

Good luck

[Sammy34]

That sounds awesome man.

Cant wait to hear how you go with the rest.

Good luck

cheers mate.

BN kit is on the way now, bonnet fell through so no bonnet for now lol. Car is completely sanded back ready for spray although im considering filling the creveses in the body where the standard silver pin stripe was. Next week end should see the car preped and primer done, looking atm for how im gana go with a 5 stud conversion, theres almost too many ways to do it these days, prefer not to do too much screwing around. May look at the standard replacement 5 studs hubs, s14 hubs need LCA's and aparently cause more track, also required s13 bearings to be pressed in. Hrm need to have a think over this one... photos will be up next weekend.

On another note, r34 stocko wheels off my 34, had them lying around for god knows how long, may as well use them. May need to stretch some 215/45/17's onto the front though

[Danski]

Sounds like you got it all figured out.

Now the hard part.......getting all the work done

[Phobic]

i thought you were making a sleeper, the bn kit is on of the bigger kits out ther for the s13, definately not a sleeper kit lol

[KezR33]

i thought you were making a sleeper, the bn kit is on of the bigger kits out ther for the s13, definately not a sleeper kit lol

Well, kit or no I seriously doubt many people expect to pull up beside a V8 S13.

Not a subtle choice, but still unexpected.

[RBwhatever]

i thought you were making a sleeper, the bn kit is on of the bigger kits out ther for the s13, definately not a sleeper kit lol

Yeah, pretty much what I was thinking. If you wanted to make it a sleeper you'd leave it the way it looks now. Cos everybody looks at a s13 and doesn't expect it too perform.....

[zebra]

Hmm Bn kit....with a no doubt loud V8....not the makings of a sleeper

[Medium Dave]

Is there any chance you might be able to relay the info on the V8 into 180sx - its something I have been curious about for a while and might end up on my list of future projects, cheers

[Silvia GTR]

You should have gone supermade 'instant gentleman' for the body kit they arent too aggressive but look schmick ...

Allbeit you don't see many v8 silvias, I can't see a v8 being that good for a daily? Are you planning on throwing a lot of money into this?

[pos513]

I would reconsider the v8. Lots of fabrication and toyota manual gearboxs are expensive. I think its illegal. Not allowed to double the capacity when doing engine conversion.

[SYKO5]

Thats a rather big engine for a little car, hows the traction control gonna work

[StealthX]

talk about negative camber on that silvia pic few posts up!!!

[levizzle]

I love projects, gives u something to do!

[babyskyline]

good luck its going to be one hell of an expensive project to get it all working right but like the other guys said it wont be any sort of sleeper doing it the way you want to

[sleazy]

good luck its going to be one hell of an expensive project to get it all working right but like the other guys said it wont be any sort of sleeper doing it the way you want to

if it legal do it i did a 1uz into my lexus is200 and never looked back just think it throu and don't buy stuff you don't need like i did and it wont cost that much dellow autootive do a 5 speed conversion for the motor for $2750 rebuilt supra bos and when you buy it ask for the speedo drive it around $88 and put that on first save you finding out the hard way.

[gregor]

sounds expensive, but when its all done before and after pics will be pretty crazy.

[BoostAddict]

haha yeah it does lol

[RUN.FREE]

haha I think I saw that s13 on ebay or one of the forums im on.

ive also got an s13 but a V8? wow ballsy!

many people wouldnt approve but looking foward to see it come up!

[shnoog]

Ahh someone else is doing a v8 swap. I bought an s13 shell to do the same thing but ended up going for the ls1 rather than the 1uz. I was considering a 1uz but i could get a cheap ls1 from a friend.

Good luck though. I've been planning my swap for about a year and only just now started to fit parts.