I've had these parts sitting in the cupboard for awhile, and now that the money sapping Christmas break is over I will be able to save up some coin and have the parts fitted and tuned. I am hoping I won't need new injectors for the reasonably low amount of horsepower I am after. We'll see, but I'm expecting a clutch to be on the list of 'needs' soon...
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As a follow up to the coilover news, here are a couple of pics showing how close the helper spring cup is to the wheel. To say I am unimpressed is an understatement, however, the helper springs are definitely making the main springs stay in place, unlike the rears, which rattle and clang over the slightest of bumps. As far as comfort goes, other than the noise, I am very happy with the long distance ride, as on the trip to Perth my back didn't trouble me at all. I put this down to the more supportive Skyline seats, but the coilovers have proved they are suitable for day to day driving.
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Last weekend I spent swapping the standard struts over for my coilover suspension. No real dramas, but if you are doing it yourself it would be a good idea to jack the whole front of the car up, as with only the one side jacked I found myself fighting against the swaybar to get the bolts in. My only other problem was with the thought that I would enjoy more clearance by fitting coilovers over the standard struts. I have had to set the camber tops to negative and the bottom adjustment to positive to try and make room for the spring dampers. Hopefully the required wheel alignment will sort that out.
The driving feel is surprisingly good, ie. not as firm as I thought, although I'm not sure how I'll go on a long drive. The rears are making quite a bit of noise, as the springs can move when the suspension is at full droop. If I can find helper springs to suit, like on the front, I'm pretty sure this problem will be solved.
Ahhhh... my new bling. The TuneAgent turbo manifold will make for a nice feature in the engine bay, although I'm wondering if I should get it heat-wrapped to maintain heat in the pipework, as well as protecting and close by ancillaries. I am hoping the front pipe won't hang too low, as with the current stance of the Sil and the state of Kalgoorlie's roads, I feel it won't be a match made in heaven. All of the parts appear to be well made with additional effort made with a die grinder to make the exhaust flow as smooth as possible.
I finally got my seats fitted correctly too... I ended up cutting the longer rear tabs from the old Silvia rails and having a mate at work weld them to the Skyline rails. This was actually suggested a long time ago by someone on the SilviaWA forums, but I didn't take notice at the time.
Pics of everything will be up soonish...
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After some thinking and reality checks from mates (ie. a slap to the back of the head), I have decided to hang onto my Sil and make it into something a bit special. It won't be too pretty, but with some handling mods, a bit more power and braking, I should have a weapon that will kick the butt of the Skyline I would have bought for $16k, in most areas if not all.
So now that the scary little modifying bug has taken a fairly hefty chunk out of my ass, and my wallet, my latest indulgence is a package from TuneAgent which includes a turbo manifold, dump pipe and front pipe. At this stage my plan is to fit the dump and front pipe for now, and once I get a new turbo I'll add the manifold to complete the deal.
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Geez, I'm getting slack with updates on here of late. I've reached a cross roads of sorts, do I continue along my modifying path with the Silvia, or move onto something else... The lack of storage space in the Silvia is my most frustrating annoyance with it, although the smile soon returns to my face when the boost starts to build...
I've taken a serious liking to the lard-ass R33 Skyline recently, so that is what I would be buying instead, whether it is a 2 door or 4 door, manual or dare I say it... even AUTO. I've actually heard good things about the autos in the R33s, although they supposedly don't like the heat generated by serious mods. What am I talking about... The most I'd ever do would be exhaust, air filter, fmic and maybe some boost, so I don't think the auto would be suffering from abuse.
If I could sell the Silvia for a decent price and get a slightly modded R33 GTS-T for around $16k, I think I'd be a pretty
happy fella. 
We'll see if my procrastinating comes to
fruition for a change...
On another note, the short shifter I bought went in relatively easily. Two of the six bolts at the front of the gearbox plate are quite difficult to get to. God bless Kincrome Gear(ratchet) Spanners, which made it quite a bit easier, although another set of hands was the best tool... I couldn't get a gasket to replace the original I tore while taking the original shifter plate off, so I used gasket in a tube stuff instead.
The only thing I wasn't happy about with the install is the little plastic bush that you can see at the bottom of the shifter in the pic below. I didn't check it's fit in the hole it slots into... Turns out it is a sloppy fit and thus buzzes/rattles when accelerating. So if anyone else buys one for their Sil/180sx, make sure you check that.
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Hmmm... its been awhile since the last update. I was feeling a bit antsy and wanted to waste some money, so I had a browse on eBay. Always a dangerous thing, searching eBay for things you don't need... Anyway, I found what I was looking for, well I found something at least, and that thing was a short shifter for the gearbox.
I've heard good things about the effectiveness of this particular shifter, and for $76 shipped I'm thinking it was worth a shot. The object of the new shifter is to reduce the throw required to change gears, and while the Silvia doesn't have a huge shift throw, the driving experience will definitely be improved by having a shifter with 25% less movement. If you are looking for one for your car, the place I got mine is Monsta Performance.
In case you were wondering about the coilovers, they're still not in, but soon I tell ya, soon...
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For a while now my Auto-Tecnica leather steering wheel has been looking a tad ordinary. The leather on top of the wheel
had perished and was flaking off into my hand, as well as the rest of the wheel discolouring with use. I had two options,
either repair the wheel I had or buy a new one.
With the rainy weather, the other half's Falcon required some new wiper blades, so off to Super Cheap I toddled. As a
compulsive, impulsive buyer I couldn't just spend the $5 on the wiper blades, I must NEED something else... Aahh, steering
wheels are on special... So after spending $160 on wiper blades and various other REQUIRED items, I left the shop. Here's a
pic of the new wheel.
This is a pic of what a couple of days rain, mixed with the dust and dirt on the roads of Kalgoorlie can do to the apearance of your previously clean car... I'm no clean freak by any means, but this puts me off washing it even more, as I know in a couple of days time she'll look like this again.
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To combat the 4x4 ride height that the Sil currently endures, I have bought a set of coilover shocks from a mate in my
home town. I hadn't planned on getting them so soon, but they were selling for a good price, have height, damper and
camber adjustment, as well as being fully rebuilt.
I'm not really looking forward to the expected hard ride, but at least it should handle that little bit better and most
importantly look good.
Pics when I collect the coilovers...
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