engineless Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 So once upon a time I was a young buck super keen on an s13 to build as my first "proper build" and learn to drift in etc etc so made the really sensible decision of buying the cheapest one there was on trademe at the time, albeit 6 hours away in Wellington. The thing was a piece in hindsight, cut for widebody, and fuel cell, and realistically was never going to end up back on the road. On the way home the RH front guard wasnt attached properly and managed to split itself and destroy the side skirt along with it. Spent like 20 mins trying to pick up the pieces on the side of the road just out of Wellington. Ohwell I had a sick dog widebody s13!! Picked up some different wheels, some crappy used coilovers, most interior, s15 seats and a nicer bodykit because now i had decided i would go back to stock guards... So at this stage what did I have? I had a 1989 S13 Silvia, with destroyed rear guards, no fuel tank, no engine, a shaved and painted engine bay, a boot with a giant hole in it and I still didnt care. I kept telling myself this was gonna be the cleanest S13 in NZ once i was done. Not long after I had a special delivery... 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 Special Delivery!! So now i had a rusty ass front cut, and a rolling body that desperately needed and engine. Stripped all the good bits and swapped the motor in. Halfway through the install i remembered to take a photo And in!! So from here it was on to wiring and plumbing, but in the mean time styling was also on the agenda. I found a guy stripping a wrecked chassis and asked for the rear guards. Neither of us knew what we were doing, and obviously this was never going to work in this was, but had him cut just the outer skins off for me... Got it outside for some beauty shots now that it was running and driving under its own power. Funny story, took it up the road the first time and wondered why the rear brakes made so much noise, turns out the inner pad on one side was missing. So around this point I started to realise just how shit this chassis was, and although I'd found some sick as wheels from this place called yahoo auctions, I just couldnt bear the fact that so much work would need to be done and the amount of money i would need to spend for such a shitty shell. This was also about the time i realised with so much money into a car there was no way I would be drifting it. Managed to pick up another shell for $1500, after selling this body with all my spares and rego on hold for $800. Never thought they would be going for what they are now!! New wheels were cool though So new plan was factory two tone, big brakes, 17x8 and 17x9.5 vs-xx and for it to be slammed and pretty stock motor wise. Bit of stancey boi poke here, but once lowered it was perfect and had no rub! Assume this was due to the solid subframe bushes slightly raising the rear subframe along with the small pull on the rear guards. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post engineless Posted August 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 21, 2021 Around this time I managed to do this... Legal baby! Was pretty damn stoked with myself, I had managed to turn a rolling body into a fully street legal S13 of my dream. However we all know projects are never done and I had started down a rabbit hole of buying wheels from Japan. Quite the collection at this stage, and the seed had been sown to one day live the small wheel life. Only issue was the car still looked like a bag of dicks. Decided now was the time to tidy the rear guards and get some rust sorted. Also had the wheels powdercoated in a gold that really popped in the sun, unlike in the photo. Decided they needed to be the same colour even if nothing else on the car was. Daily drove it like this for a while, trying to find a painter that wasnt going to sting me for doing a job I couldn't. In the mean time had a friend weld together a s13 and s14 rocker cover for what is now quite a common mod. To be fair this was more about looks than anything and has actually caused issues with strut braces but again it looks cool so meh. Gave it a lick of wrinkle blue. One day my wife drove it, maybe her second or third time ever, and it was broken into. New front wheels Looking good but the small wheel life kept calling. Eventually got a recert, which as it turns out could have just had it certed for both size of wheels! Much better but the paint still lets the car down. Eventually found a painter who could also take care of some rust in the cowl panel so bought front cut. managed to sell all the random bits i didn't need so that this cost me $0. Score! Boom. In my mind I now had the cleanest S13 in NZ. Stoked was an understatement. The culmination of 7 years ownership, 2 certs, a motor swap, almost every single nut and bolt touched by me, you can shove your ferraris, commodores and whatever other car most people lust after, I finally had my dream car! 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post engineless Posted August 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 21, 2021 Cue 4 and Rotary 2017, and I ticked off a personal bucket list item, put a car into a show. Then a week later was selected by Nissan NZ to display on their stand at Leadfoot 2017. Was a pretty proud moment for both. Around this time it developed an exhaust leak so figured it was the right time to install my new manifold and cams. The Manifold went on without a hitch, however when I went to put the cams in, I thought I would be super onto it and torque the cam caps down. Turns out this is a dumb idea as the only need a 1/4 to nip them up, and I managed to strip a thread and snap a bolt. Kicked myself for it at the time but got it sorted. Once the cams were in it never really ran right so after a few weeks i put the factory ones back in. Turns out the issue was with me reinstalling the CAS at the wrong marks. Dang! Few more pics of the paint process... At least the inside of the motor is clean, this is what oil changes every 6 months looks like. On display at 4nR, stupidly this was the only pic i took. First leadfoot weekend and it was a stunner. Such a good event and a shame to see it cancelled again this year. continued to take pictures of the car. Picked up a pair of single piece Work Equip 01 and fell in love. While hunting for some more I tried out some longchamps Sold the longchamps and went back to MK3s for Leadfoot 2018 Few more beauties Managed to leave the handbrake off one day and did this So off came the bumper 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 Managed to get tyres on the equips and all fitted up Pretty happy with the result, however the rear is a 15x8.5 -4 so ever so slightly too aggressive at the moment. Also managed to put together a fairly hori sub setup in the boot. Ive always been annoyed that the sub means a lack of boot space and knew a 12inch would fit in the pass through behind the rear seats so whipped this up. Isnt as good as the old box setup but way more space so thats ideal. Really need to get the full audio setup pulled out and properly planned in future. Can at least fit 2 15s with tyres so winning. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 21, 2021 Author Share Posted August 21, 2021 Working on getting the pics sorted sorry guys! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudley Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 @kpr could have been daubrey aye cobba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpr Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 Two tone and wheel game on point 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted August 21, 2021 Share Posted August 21, 2021 It's fucking sick man. You should be super proud. I'm mad envious! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roman Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 +1 to above, this is god damn glorious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhead96 Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 This is damn impressive, so many s13’s that were in a better state have been all cut up yet you resurrected this from what could have been the same fate. Top notch shit dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 Thanks for the kind words guys, have been a lurker on here for a few years so means a lot to me! Still trying to work the image thing out but once I do theres more refining to come! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taistorm Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 Awesome build man! Turned it super clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted August 22, 2021 Share Posted August 22, 2021 also i really thinks s13s are pretty nearly if not definitely oldschool these days. what is it? an '89 or something? my crown and my chevron are both '88 and pretty oldschool. s13s were well ahead of the curve in terms of styling, they must have looks like spaceships in their day, epic resurrection 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 This one is a 90, always been a fan of the style, i specifically remember 2 cars that solidified them as the car to have for me. One was a blue on gold wheels when i was working at supercheap. Middle age guy in a suit and tie came in to buy a trolley jack and thought that was legit. Second was one that would so a skid every morning outside my flat before heading to the building site up the road. Stripped, caged and widebody. Both at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of how to build one but both leaving lasting impressions 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyteler Posted August 23, 2021 Share Posted August 23, 2021 I almost bought a two tone green one from a car yard back in the early 2000s. They fit me perfectly, everything just feels like it's in the right place. Decided against it and ended up buying the 110. Maybe one day I'll get one.. Maybe.. Has to be factory kit and two tone or pure white with a slat grille. It's amazing how you made yours from a drift project into a beautiful street car. I've come back to this thread multiple times to gaze upon its awesomeness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 51 minutes ago, kyteler said: I almost bought a two tone green one from a car yard back in the early 2000s. They fit me perfectly, everything just feels like it's in the right place. Decided against it and ended up buying the 110. Maybe one day I'll get one.. Maybe.. Has to be factory kit and two tone or pure white with a slat grille. It's amazing how you made yours from a drift project into a beautiful street car. I've come back to this thread multiple times to gaze upon its awesomeness. Thats not your 110 for sale on trademe at the moment is it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 So bought more wheels, wasnt a fan of sizing so moved them on Decided to tidy up the headlamps so pulled them apart and sent the reflectors for re chroming Came back looking minty and put back together with a lick of black to tidy the housing up 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 Driving home one day and noticed this on the ground... Odd.. So followed the trail I bet I know where this is from!! Yup even with a tucked exhaust, seems heatwrap doesnt enjoy the driveway. Picked up a spare motor to build. Was told it was stored under a bench for years and at $900 was a steal. Once picked up and brought home i drained the oil... Clearly was stored under a bench that had a hole in it or something. The inside wasnt terrible but wasnt something i wanted to deal with so moved it on to a mate who has stripped it down. Also picked up a link ecu for cheap as, however wrong pin count so that was also sold. It seems like each time i try to do something to increase power the car tells me no. And then we hit lockdown 1.0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
engineless Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 As im sure all us car guys decided, i thought now was a great time to pull the car apart again and sort some niggles. Main ones for me were dash rattles and engine bay wiring/general tidy up. Pulled the interior apart And some of the front end Found a little rust at the bottom of the guard. Also need to address some in the A pillar but really dont want to deal with that at the moment. Then onto more front end removal so i could cut out the battery try and try tidy the rad support up 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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