I joined the forum in search of an S15. I'm primarily looking for one located in Japan and was gonna use this forum, before I went out there, to get more information and gauge the prices better than I can using the Japanese auction sites.
I'm ideally looking for a completely stock Spec-S or Varietta with an automatic transmission. The goal would be to ship the car back to the United States after they become legal to import and turn it into a street style comfort build. I'd lower it just a bit, put a nice deep not too loud exhaust on, add a much better sound system, find some old school wheels and make it a nice stylish cruiser for car cruises and meets. The rest of the money would go into preventative maintenance to preserve the car for as long as possible.
Examples of these cars will already be rare in the states and the ones that are around will probably be ragged on beat up drift builds and heavily modified speed demons. I'm not saying this is a bad thing or that people shouldn't do this. I believe you should do whatever you want with your car and pushing it to it's full potential on the track, mountain pass, or skidpad is definitely a way to honor your car's spirit, however, knowing that this will be the norm has made me want to seek out a clean model and preserve it with touches of cosmetic mods that add to the character that Silvia's are well known for in the car community.
I've driven manuals all my life and would consider them over an auto anyday. That said, I am dead set on an automatic silvia. The RC4A-EL auto trans that came on S15s are fairly reliable, knock on wood. I've never owned an automatic car before, so it's kind've exciting trying to imagine how the build would turn out. My previous build was a very spirited driving manual NA Miata, which I still have and enjoy today, however, the poly mounts make the car vibrate, she clunks a bit, sits extremely low to the ground, has a racing seat with no back support, noisy semi slicks, no A/C, exhaust isn't the loudest but it definitely has some decibels, and the car has a hard time over cracks, bumps and potholes (no scraping thankfully) . Still though, it corners like an absolute champ and I love driving it whenever I can. In that build, I sacrificed any and all comfort for all out performance. I'd want my Silvia to be the exact opposite.
S-chassis' are extremely popular in the drift community. They aren't horrible to slide stock and with just a few mods they become drift machines- that is granted they have manual transmissions. Automatic S15s are the least desirable because of this and, in turn, probably the most taken care of examples you can find. I've read many posts and guides from users avoiding manual prices by, instead, deciding to convert an auto to manual. This isn't my plan and I'm only a novice mechanic, but it is reassuring knowing that the swap is possible if the auto decides to blow.
My price range is around $10k U.S dollars(stop laughing). Checking the auction sites like goonet.com and carsfromjapan.com, I'm just around the bottom of the barrel for S15s. I figure I'd find more likeable prices at local yards in Japan. If you have any information, listings, websites or advice you might think desirable, then please share them with me. It'd mean a lot. Also, if you own or have driven an automatic S15, then I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. Looking forward to this search and meeting all you guys in the process.
I'm ideally looking for a completely stock Spec-S or Varietta with an automatic transmission. The goal would be to ship the car back to the United States after they become legal to import and turn it into a street style comfort build. I'd lower it just a bit, put a nice deep not too loud exhaust on, add a much better sound system, find some old school wheels and make it a nice stylish cruiser for car cruises and meets. The rest of the money would go into preventative maintenance to preserve the car for as long as possible.
Examples of these cars will already be rare in the states and the ones that are around will probably be ragged on beat up drift builds and heavily modified speed demons. I'm not saying this is a bad thing or that people shouldn't do this. I believe you should do whatever you want with your car and pushing it to it's full potential on the track, mountain pass, or skidpad is definitely a way to honor your car's spirit, however, knowing that this will be the norm has made me want to seek out a clean model and preserve it with touches of cosmetic mods that add to the character that Silvia's are well known for in the car community.
I've driven manuals all my life and would consider them over an auto anyday. That said, I am dead set on an automatic silvia. The RC4A-EL auto trans that came on S15s are fairly reliable, knock on wood. I've never owned an automatic car before, so it's kind've exciting trying to imagine how the build would turn out. My previous build was a very spirited driving manual NA Miata, which I still have and enjoy today, however, the poly mounts make the car vibrate, she clunks a bit, sits extremely low to the ground, has a racing seat with no back support, noisy semi slicks, no A/C, exhaust isn't the loudest but it definitely has some decibels, and the car has a hard time over cracks, bumps and potholes (no scraping thankfully) . Still though, it corners like an absolute champ and I love driving it whenever I can. In that build, I sacrificed any and all comfort for all out performance. I'd want my Silvia to be the exact opposite.
S-chassis' are extremely popular in the drift community. They aren't horrible to slide stock and with just a few mods they become drift machines- that is granted they have manual transmissions. Automatic S15s are the least desirable because of this and, in turn, probably the most taken care of examples you can find. I've read many posts and guides from users avoiding manual prices by, instead, deciding to convert an auto to manual. This isn't my plan and I'm only a novice mechanic, but it is reassuring knowing that the swap is possible if the auto decides to blow.
My price range is around $10k U.S dollars(stop laughing). Checking the auction sites like goonet.com and carsfromjapan.com, I'm just around the bottom of the barrel for S15s. I figure I'd find more likeable prices at local yards in Japan. If you have any information, listings, websites or advice you might think desirable, then please share them with me. It'd mean a lot. Also, if you own or have driven an automatic S15, then I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. Looking forward to this search and meeting all you guys in the process.