Does love at first sight exist? Find out the continuation without registration and SMS.
Some cars are a marriage of convenience. You buy them because they are cheap, inexpensive to maintain, or, on the contrary, expensive and prestigious. In the first case, you prefer to simply stick a couple of stickers on the rust spots and a spoiler from the nearest market on the trunk lid, in the second case – simply enjoy the immensely increased status. Increased, however, only for you. At the same time, you may not have a great love for the appearance of the car, but it is exactly what you need here and now. You know, that’s how a newly minted Ford Scorpio owner once explained his action to me, having bought it instead of a VAZ 2113.
But with some cars, the same spark can flash as between a young man and a woman during the period of the apple blossom. And that’s what happened between the heroine of our article, Alexandra, and her SX200.
One beautiful sunny day in 2008, among a stream of cars, Alexandra spotted a beautiful, bright, and low coupe – this was before the era of stancing. The body lines and overall appearance of the car captivated her so much that when she got home, she tried to find out more about the car. All she had to go on was the Nissan emblem on the back of the car. Soon, the model was identified: it was a Nissan Silvia S14. At that time, such cars were not yet widely associated with drifting, but she was able to learn more details thanks to the internet and a file with the eloquent name silvia_drift.jpg. That changed everything. There were no more doubts or weighing of mythical “pros and cons,” there was only the search.
The search led her to Krasnodar, where she purchased the car in the zenki body style in a beautiful crimson color. The configuration didn’t matter much at the time since the engine was already dead and needed to be replaced with something more alive. The car was transported to Moscow, where its turbulent life, filled with the smell of burning rubber, began.
At the end of the 2000s, the JDM craze had not yet reached Russia, so in the car’s first reincarnation, a fresh SR20DET engine from a Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-R was installed – we talked about such cars a little earlier. In addition, a better suspension and D-Max Aggressive body kit were installed. A period of admiration and happiness began with the stunning car’s excellent dynamics and aggressive appearance. It can’t be said that they raced the car, but one day, in a strong rainstorm, the rear of the car decided to turn a little in a turn, turning the life of the car and its owner along with it.
The Silvia chassis is rightly called the queen of drift. For many years, these cars have not left the top of all imaginable drift series in the world and remain objects of worship and adoration for thousands of people. But for someone who has never done drifting before, the car definitely wasn’t going to forgive all mistakes: if you don’t want to end up in a ditch, learn how to control it. The result can be seen in the photos.
In the very first wave of JZ engine installations in everything that moves and doesn’t look like a tractor, the 1JZ-GTE engine was installed, which turned out to be a very good decision over time. The SR20DET engine has great potential, as demonstrated year after year by a certain yellow S15, but bringing it to such a state is very costly, and it’s not always reliable.
The mechanical transmission for the turbo JZ series is the well-known R154, an expensive and not the most reliable solution. That’s why many people switch to other gearboxes installed through adapter plates to the engine. The idea is to align the mounting holes on the transmission with the mounting holes on the engine, while aligning the transmission’s input shaft and the engine’s crankshaft. The task is not always simple, but it’s almost always solvable. This car uses the W58 manual transmission, which was installed on atmospheric Mark2, Celica, and Supra models. It may not have been designed for use with turbo engines, but it is relatively reliable, creates minimal installation difficulties, and is relatively inexpensive. Everything in this world is relative.
Do you need a roll cage in a drift car, even if it’s not for competitions? Until recently, the answer to this question would have been only discussions about the cost of the cage and the waitlist for its implementation. Don’t forget that besides the driver’s passive safety (assuming the helmet is on, friends!), the roll cage also increases the body’s stiffness. Now the roll cage can easily reclassify your car from a regular car to a sports equipment without the right of transformation back – Article 12.5.1, the well-known administrative offense article.
Looking at the photos, you may have protested, “How can this be a zenki if it’s kouki!” Yes, you’re right, at some point in time, the car underwent a facelift to the “restyled” version of the S14 front end. The reason is simple – kouki looks much more aggressive, and the narrow headlights emphasize the sharp shape of the front end, visually widening the car a bit. The look becomes predatory and aggressive, as if the Silvia is preparing to eat anyone who gets in its way. The exterior is completed by an Origin plastic body kit, and yes, at one of its transformations, Nissan became black.
The car has been significantly lowered. There is a hypothesis that stance in Japan appeared specifically because of drifters who wanted to give their cars the look of sports cars with beautiful wheels and low ground clearance. The ground clearance of this car was intentionally reduced, first to achieve handling and then even lower for aesthetics. The main exercise was to lower the D2 Drift Spec coilovers. When the “lowering limit” was reached, the car became difficult to handle, so rear lower N1 and camber D2 arms, as well as lower Megan Racing longitudinal arms, had to be installed to bring all wheel angles back to normal and restore the Silvia’s responsiveness. The result is a beautiful project that can drift with smoke and stand beautifully in a parking lot.
As expected for a drift project, this Nissan has several sets of wheels: SSR Professor Sp-1 18″ 9.5J front and 10J rear, training KRAMZ wheels 16″ 7J ET O, and a set of SSR Koenig 18″ 10J. Not everyone can boast such a collection in their garage!
The interior is Spartan minimalism and auto-sport monochrome erotica. Bride LowMax bucket seats for the driver and Sabelt for the passenger, OMP 4-point safety belts, Nardi steering wheel, B&S hydraulic handbrake, and a custom torpedo from Grid Performance! For the driver’s convenience, some switches have been moved to the right hand. This is no longer a street-legal project, but an approach typical of semi-professional equipment!
Thanks to her unexpected passion for cars at the age of 18, Alexandra not only got into drifting but also became a true petrolhead. The pursuit of sensations led her to two wheels, which unfortunately ended in a tragic accident. But that same love, with which we began our story, helped her overcome the consequences and get back on her feet. And standing on her feet meant sitting behind the wheel of her beloved car. For some, it may seem strange that after an accident, even if it was while riding a motorcycle, a person strives to get behind the wheel again. But there are people who truly live for this – smoke, gasoline, the feeling of speed, and yes, I admit, risk. It’s something that is far beyond the comfort zone for many. Turning tires into a pile of black dust and a couple of clouds, spending an excellent day with friends and a beloved car – this is what really makes it worth getting up early for work. Isn’t it?