2000 Nissan S15 Silva SpecR

Race tape, 100 mile per hour tape duckt-tape, whatever you like to call it, is just as much part of the modified ride scene as the bucket seat. This crazy phenomenom is poping up everywhere, even on a street near you.

Enter the trend leader of race tape, co-founder of the dorimons and part time dorifter dragon Nick Li, and his 2000 S15 Silvia.

When nick isn’t busy applying race tape, and hes not drifting, im not actually sure what he does, he must be one of those asian mafia dudes, studies by day – ninja by night.

Nick brought this car for one reason and one reason alone…..drift. Nick has owned this car for about a year and he has been drifting the car from the day he got it. Nick really got serious in the middle of last year, stepping up to the big time and entering the D1NZ. After a promising showing in the competion last year, nick really stepped it up this year at round 1 christchurch coming 3rd overall.
On a world scale the new Zealand drift scene is still in its early stages, when reading the entry list it is littered with laurels, cefiros, and r32 skylines. So having a mint as S15 silvia for D1NZ would have to make you the bling drifter.

S15 silvias are the type of car that look pretty decent straight out of the factory, but add a set of 17” volk te37 rims (show), tein suspension, a carbon bonnet and a whole host of vertex aero parts and it goes from decent to damn! Also helping the package in terms of hotness are a set of hella projector headlights, nismo clear indicators, clear tail lights and some ganador carbon mirrors to help accentuate the lines of this slide specialist.

As you can see in the spec list, the items used in this silvia are all from reputable Japanese tuners, makes a lot of sense, to be able to depend on all your bits and pieces when your sideways in excess of 150kmh about to clutch kick the badboy and set up your entry for the next corner.

A good suspension setup is essential to be able to mix it up with the big guns of the sport, apart from the drift essential welded 4 point rollcage, the suspension parts of the car read like, hector (off the fast and the furious) walking into harrys and asking for one of everything out of the cucso footworks catalogue. There are enough bars, rods and arms that this car could host a B’n’D convention.

As the sport evolves and develops in the country, people become more and more familiar with how a vehicle scores highly the competitors will modify their cars to suit. In New Zealand the amount of smoke a vehicle makes in a run is a judged aspect. More smoke is created by more power, the sr20det isn’t a slug to start off with, but with a few tasty add ons in the form of an hks gt-rs turbine kit, nismo 740cc injectors and an apexi power fc the car now makes 250kw at the wheels.

Making sure that the engine is getting the utmost cooling is also important, both for power and engine reliability purposes. Drifting could well the be the most abuse your engine takes in the name of motorsport besides a demolition derby. To avoid the needle hitting the capital H, nick has fitted a trust RSPL HG intercooler, apexi 80mm suction kit. Sr20de 60mm throttle body, trust 3 layer alloy radiator, trust 16 row oil cooler and a U13 twin electronic fan.

Did you ever notice that cars that have roll cages look fully like they mean business.

Being a stealth ninja you would think that the car would be as inconspicuous as possible, nick is not only the black belt of race tape, he is also a 5 daan master of the vinyl graphic. Nicks car is probably the only car contesting the D1NZ that wouldn’t look out of place in the D1GP, very cool on the track super cool on the street.

Sitting in the interior, I wouldn’t balme you if you forgot that you were in the cabin of a hard core drifter. I could swear that I was sitting in some Indians modded up Daihatsu, there are gauges everywhere! Nicely slotted where the air used to vent out are 4 defi BF series gauges. Scattered around the drivers line of sight are a blitz d1 spec boost controller and blitz d1 spec power meter, an apexi auto timer, a pivot super shift light and a sony mex5di head unit to round out the rest of the interior whiz bang flashy-ness.

True to form and keeping with the bling are 2 bride race seats, the passenger gets to clench their buttocks at massive counter steer in a brix 2, while the crabwalk commander gets a more hardcore zeta 3 seat and is locked in with a 4 point harness.

Nicks car is a drift weapon right down to welds that hold the essence of the car together. With each meet he goes from strength to strength, fine tuning his ‘Chinese street drift’ orientated technique.

Drift is his kung fu and it is strong.

Look out for nick and the dorimons at D1NZ round 2 manfield.

Driver Profile

Nick Li

Location
Christchurch

Specifications

Engine
HKS GT-RS turbine kit
HKS 1.2mm metal head gasket
HKS oil filler cap
Tomei Pon-Cam Type-R (256/11.5 in/ex)
Tomei rocker arm stopper
Trust Grex cam sprocket
Blitz D1 Spec Limited SBC ID boost controller
Nismo 740cc injectors x4
Nismo fuel pump
SARD fuel pressure regulator
HPI engine torque damper
Apexi Power FC + commander
NGK Iridium plugs x4
Cusco oil catch tank
Greddy lightweight pulley kit
Trust Greddy intake manifold
Trust RSPL HG intercooler
Apexi 80mm super suction kit
Apexi air filer
Z32 80mm AFM
SR20DE (S15 ) 60mm throttle body
HKS SQV Blow off valve
HKS turbo outlet
JIC Exhaust manifold + heat wrap
Garage R front pipe
Garage R exhaust with no cat
Trust 3 layer aluminum radiator
Trust 16 rows oil cooler
Trust oil filter removal kit
Samco radiator hose
U13 Twin Electronic fan
Nismo 62′C thermostat
Driveline
Exedy single racing clutch + flywheel
Nismo 2-way GT LSD
Suspension
Tein HE coilovers
Tein tie rod and tie rod ends
Cusco front strut bar
Cusco rear strut bar
Cusco front stablizer bar
Cusco rear stablizer bar
Cusco pillow bar tension rods
Cusco tension rod bar
Cusco front lower arm
Cusco adjustable rear upper arm
Cusco rear adjustable toe control arm
URAS “drift pineapple”
URAS Gearbox mount
GP sports multi spacers
Superpro traction rod bush kit
Superpro rear lower arm bush kit
Brakes
Brembo GTR R33 Front calipers
Cusco brake master cylinder stopper
Project Mu HC Titan Kai pads
DBA 4000 R33 front rotors
Project Mu rear SCR rotors
Project Mu stainless brake lines
Wheels and Tyres
VOLK TE37 front 17×7.5jj (215/45/R17)
VOLK TE37 rear 17×8.5jj ( 235/40/R17)
Lightweight racing nuts
Exterior
Carbon aero bonnet
Vertex rumper
Vertex sideskirt
Vertex rear bumper
Ganador carbon fibre aero mirrors
Clear tail light
Nismo clear indicators
Hella 12000k purple HID kit
Interior
Welded 4 point half cage
Underseal stripped
Bride Zeta III driver seat
Bride Brix II passenger seat
Sabelt 4 point racing harness
Nardi steering wheel
Nismo bosskit with airbag sensor
Nismo gear knob
C’s short shift
Cusco spin turn knob
Sparco foot pedals
Blitz D1 Spec Limited Power Meter ID
Defi BF boost gauge
Defi BF oil temp gauge
Defi BF water temp gauge
Defi BF oil press gauge
Defi gauge control unit
Pivot Super shift lamp type-M
Apexi auto timer
I.C.E
Sony MEX5DI head unit
Kenwood speakers
Performance
Dyno Power: 250RWKW
Awards
Third Place D1NZ Round 1 2005

The Day With Nissan Silvia - Day 3

Driving Impressions
It's really amazing how something as simple as driving on the right side of the car can really throw people off. Then again, the fact that we're on the "wrong side" might not be the only reason people stare, point and stop us on the street. The Silvia is a dead sexy two-door and there hasn't been a single person whom we've spoken to that didn't like the JDM Evolution-legalized Nissan.

We were stopped by a bus driver off Market today, "It's a damn shame. Why don't Nissan release that car here? It's beautiful." We nodded in agreement and shot off looking for the 101 south, but his words are shared by many people.

The Figures
Fuel economy numbers on the 2.0L powerplant are comparable to the Lancer Evolution VIII and WRX STi. The Evo gets about 18 miles to the gallon on street and 26 on the highway; the Sub sees two more on the street and two less on the highway. Based on the numbers thus far, our JDM Evolution Silvia seems to hit about 19 on the street and roughly 28 miles to the gallon on the highway.

We did take it fairly easy on the way up to the bay area; we almost made it to the city without having to re-fuel. The 2.0L turbocharged engine seems to have a good balance of everyday drivability and go-fast power when you need it. With gas being as much as it is now, the Silvia will run a pretty penny at the pump. The fuel tank seems slightly smaller than the 240SX's 17.2 gallon one, but ran us over $30 for 91 octane.

If you insist on being a speed demon the Silvia will gladly go from 0-60 in about the same time as a Nissan 350Z. That's about 5.5 seconds if you haven't been paying attention to the performance numbers.

Comfort
Ride comfort in the Silvia is not much different than the 350Z. Actually, we take that back, the ride is a bit softer and it shows in the turns when the four-seater's body displays a bit of roll. For a vehicle with so much power we're wondering why the suspension is so soft. We can't say it doesn't help ride comfort. Even the awful streets of San Francisco don't do much to detract from the ride.

Legroom up front is almost identical to that of the previous generation Silvia/240SX. That also means that rear passengers won't be too happy with the accommodations--not if they're any taller than, say, 5'2''. In the name of design, we'll deal with some cramped interior dimensions. Ditto goes for the tiny trunk that is barely large enough to shove a bag with a week's-worth of clothing.

Fact about Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-R

The 1999 Silvia Spec-R has 6 generations that came before it. In 1964 with the CSP311 the first one was the Silvia range, a twin passenger coupe hand-built upon a modified Fairlady 240Z chassis. From this generation was sold only 500 cars. Starting with the third generation , known as the S10 the company started to make a progress and this S10 was sold well in Japan and abroad.

From generation three forward, the Silvia evolved with engine and styling updates: by 1983, the S12 Silvia set the standard for sports coupes in Japan by having the FJ20DET 190 horsepower engine. The following S13 generation came equipped with Nissan's HICAS four wheel steering which greatly increased the level of technology for all Silvia’s thereafter.

The final edition of the Silvia, the S15 was, for most parts of the world, a styling upgrade. However, in Japan, the Silvia was offered in two distinct packages: the performance orientated Spec-R and the slightly more subdued Spec-S which is similar to what shipped for export.

Among the Spec-R cars, Nissan offered several packages including the V-package, Class-B, Style-A and an Autech-produced Varietta folding hard top convertible based on the Spec-S. With the amount of versions available, S15 owners were motivated to modify their cars.

Nissan wanted to increase the performance for competition in the Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) when developed the S15. Lessons learnt with the Skyline GT-R were carried over into all models of the S15 Silvia. For instance, both cars share some aluminum suspension components and differentials. Additionally, the body and particularly the underbody were strengthened for rigidity in much the same manner as the Skyline GT-R: Front crossbar, rear floor stays, a trunk bar and a rear crossbar were added.

Alongside the Skyline, the NISMO S15s competed in the GT300 Class of the JGTC. With several key victories attained in their class, Takeshi Tsuchiya and Yuji Ide proved the Silvia as a successful racecar. After Nissan boosted the image of their S15 Silvia in JGTC, it became one of the most sought after of all the evolutions.