This mixed-duty S13 was in a sorry state before Andrew Lewis
pulled it back from the brink.
With the popularity of Nissan’s S13 Silvia soaring in recent
years, it has been getting harder and harder to find a decent example
should you be looking for one, as more and more get snapped up for big
money, stolen or punted into a ditch. This happens to most great cars at
some point, a point that can usually be found about the time enthusiasts start
trying to save buggered vehicles instead of simply scrapping them and
finding another.
Andrew Lewis’s 1992 street-legal Nissan Silvia drifter is a
perfect example of this – a car that when it first came into Andrew’s
possession was certainly looking a little worse for wear. “The S13 was just a
really rough rolling body when I bought it,” he tells us. “The front end was
heavily butchered for different intercooler set-ups, the front windscreen was
cracked and both doors were dented. There was no way the body would get a WOF
in the state it was in.”
The car also runs
a D-MAX fiberglass vented bonnet and roof spoiler, plus an Origin boot spoiler,
Nismo GT-R grille and D-MAX–style tail lights
A few years ago, this would have been a no go for most
people, but instead, Andrew decided to dig deep and make the big call. “I
decided to chop the front end off, forward of the strut towers. I managed to
find a mint front-cut locally, which was a spot of good luck [due to their
ever-increasing rarity] and began the slow, fiddly task of unpicking all the
spot welds and grafting on the new front end.”
Interestingly, none of this would have happened had Andrew
been able to find the car he really wanted at the right price: “I was actually
really keen on an R34 [Skyline]. I still am, but the money they commanded put
me off and that’s how I ended up with the Silvia. Standard S13s aren’t much to
look at in my opinion, but they look mint when they’re done right, with the
right kit, so I committed,” Andrew says. We tend to agree, and his version of
done right is spot on for us, too.
With its new front end in place, the car received fresh
doors, a full BN widebody kit, a vented bonnet and wings, which, like 95 per
cent of the car, was all done by Andrew himself, who is a mechanical engineer
by trade. It was only for the paint (and a little wiring) that he brought in
the big guns – more specifically the guys at RE Automotive – who coated the
body in a fresh coat of gloss black. Slammed on super-aggressive 18x10- and
18x12-inch Rota GTR-Ds thanks to BC Red coilovers, the S13 looks incredibly
menacing.
The R32 RB26DETT
twin-turbo straight-six has been left in factory condition internally, which is
perfectly fine when it comes to these incredibly strong motors.
It’s not just about aesthetics, however, as although Andrew
appreciates a good-looking car as much as the next guy, this is no simple
street cruiser, it was built to perform on the track, too. When it comes to
handling, the BCs are helped along by a big list of aftermarket adjustable
parts lining the freshly painted and detailed undercarriage, while the power
delivery system was also in for a treat. “I’d always intended on doing an
RB26DETT conversion,” says Andrew. “I don’t really like SRs [20DET], and the
torque and bottom-end power that an RB develops over an SR made the choice
easy. There’s that distinctive sound, too …” Andrew was actually in possession
of the R32 GT-R–sourced RB26DETT 2.6-litre twin-turbo straight-six long before
he even picked up the S13: “I had pulled the RB out of another car I had and it
had just been sitting on the floor of my shed for a year or so waiting for the
right body to put it in.”
Currently the motor is fairly stock, with a few choice
improvements that help see 270 very responsive kilowatts at the rear wheels on
only 12psi – it’s a pretty good match to the lightweight, nimble S13 and makes
for a very rapid, reliable package. The reliability factor has also improved
immensely thanks to the inclusion of a bulletproof driveline – an RB25DET
five-speed gearbox, plus a twin-plate clutch and two-way LSD from Nismo. “It’s
pretty lively on the road with plenty of low-down torque,” Andrew says. “I
haven’t had it out on the track yet to give it a good testing, but it’ll be
there plenty over summer.”
Andrew runs 18x10-
and 18x12- inch Rota GTR-Ds, wrapped in 225/40R18 Dunlop Direzzas up front and
265/40R18 Michelin Pilots at the rear
We like cars like Andrew’s S13 – not just because it looks
plain angry, or that it’s a tone of fun to drive, or even that it was built
nearly entirely by the owner himself, but because it’s a survivor. It’s one
cooler car saved from the scrap heap. In an automotive world that’s growing
ever-more homogeneous, or ‘Priusy’ as we like to say, that can only be a good
thing.
