The look of guilt is not easy to cover up. Visual expressions can give away who scoffed the last piece of leftover pizza or who gutter-scraped one of your new rims. Paul Brell - owner/manager of Sydney's BD4s service centre - owns a car with that exact same look; even before its tuned SR fires into life you can tell this car has been up to no good...
Paul discovered the car - a Nissan S13 Sileighty - out the seedy side of Japan, smoking (rubber) illegally and doing the drift thing. Before being nabbed by the local constabulary the car made a lucky get-away and was harboured by Mr Brell. That was three years ago. It has since found refuge spreading its message of anti-socialism in Sydney.
While living in downtown Japan, the Sileighty's SR20DET (red rocker cover, non-variable cam timed version) had been awoken with a Blitz HIH ball-bearing turbocharger (of the internal wastegate variety) teamed with a Japanese fabricated extractor manifold. Its exhaust gasses were - and still are - bellowed through a 3-inch mandrel stainless steel system. And note that - thanks to those tubular extractors - the beat of this SR is quite unlike those with the original cast iron made-to-a-price manifold.
On the opposite end of the combustion process, an A'PEXi pod filter screens intake smog. With turbo boost pressures up to 1.3 Bar - now using a Go Fast Bits (GFB) wastegate line bleed - charge-air heat is trampled by a dirty big Blitz front-mount air-to-air intercooler. This 'cooler - in typical Japanese brand-name fashion - is as big as would fit and is an absolute cooling monster. Aluminium plumbing takes air from the turbo, through the intercooler and into the SR's mouth. Two blow-off valves are installed - one recirculating type and one atmospherically venting type.
The engine management side of things incorporates a Japanese Nerve reprogrammed chip working with a Nissan 300ZX airflow meter and 555 injectors. The injectors are kept in supply of fuel by a Skyline GT-R pump.
All up we're talking a very naughty 173kW at the wheels - and with good response and torque at most revs.
All of this grunt is great for kicking the tail out for mid-corner drifting but, of course, the driveline has to be up to it. The standard 5-speed has been strong enough, but the stockie clutch is another matter - there's now a purposeful Kevlar clutch and heavy-duty pressure plate. Both rear tyres can create simultaneous while clouds thanks to a 4.3:1 clutch type diff.
Suspension wise, the devious Sileighty has undergone a few changes since arriving in Australia. Paul - as you may remember from his featured MR2 and MX-5 turbos - is into circuit racing, which has meant some of the hardware perfect for drifting wasn't exactly gonna help cut quick lap times. The car presently uses HKS S14 coil-overs and S14 lower control arms, which alter the front-end geometry. An adjustable pair of front strut tops allows Paul to dial in a total of around 3-degrees negative camber per front wheel; great for cornering grip. Castor is also increased over standard using Tein front arms. Interestingly, a S14 steering rack also had to be installed to suit the new front-end arrangement.
Thanks to its lowered stance, the rear suspension employs lengthened top arms to "de-camber the rear" to around 1 1/4-degrees. Poise and balance is further improved with Whiteline swaybars front and rear, plus a Cusco front and Tomei rear tower brace.
You know Paul isn't kidding about hitting the track when he fills you in on the car's recent brake upgrade. Gone are the standard anchors in favour of R33 Skyline GTS25t rotors and calipers all 'round. Not only are the R33 discs larger, the calipers are larger with 4-pot fronts and twin-pot rears. A Skyline GT-R master cylinder - without ABS - was also used, as were braided brake lines and Endless CCM pads.
As Nissan fans have probably already realised, the rims are 16-inch R32 Skyline GT-R units - these were necessary to bolt up to the R33 five stud hubs. Although tyre life is not particularly great - both because of the large amount of negative camber and, well, there are a few horses that like to run wild - Paul has enlisted 225/50 16 Dunlop semi-slicks to claw at the bitumen.
With 173kW at the wheels and massively upgraded suspension and brakes, this Sileighty's on-road and on-track performance is spectacular.
As we said at the top, Paul imported the car about three years ago; since then, though, it's had two owners before winding back with Paul. Originally, the car was painted black, but the next owner - a female drifter - thought it'd be cool to paint it pink! A pink drift machine has only so much resale appeal, so it's no surprise to lean the following owner - a bloke - had the car resprayed dark blue. This is the perfect colour hide down a back alley after a late-night rampage...
Aside from combining the looks of the 180SX and Silvia (with a 180SX as the base), you'll see the car has also grown a large bonnet vent, side skirts and aftermarket mirrors. Of course, dark window tint is necessary to hide the faces of those yet-to-be-charged...
Inside there's nothing there that doesn't need to be. A Momo wheel, CD/tuner, later model 180SX seats and a short-shift gear selector are the only items non-factory. Oh, and a half cage has also been slotted in since our shoot.
Also since our shoot, Paul was making an 'exhibit' of the SR's power and, well, that was the day it finally cried enough. The bottom-end was damaged in a fairly major way, so the engine had to be essentially rebuilt from scratch using ARP bolts - the standard ones are a weakness according to Paul - and an external oil cooler. This adds nearly a litre to the SR's oil capacity. Oh, and a GFB crack pulley was also used during reassembly.
So - fresh from its heart surgery - this Sileighty is ready to start causing public havoc all over again. If you think you can keep a leash on it, ring Paul and it could be yours if you've got a spare $18,000. Just make sure you leave some money aside for bail...
Contact:
BD4s Service Centre
+61 2 9879 3322
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