Neith's JDM S15 Spec-R

[Neith]

Figured I'd make a start here since I'm picking the car up 1st June

The car is a 1999 model Spec-R, with Aero skirts and wing. It's covered 57,000 miles. It was sourced by DCY Europe (based near York and have been top guys since I started the import process) after 7 failed auction bids.

So far the car is completely standard aside from a rather tacky looking headunit that I'll probably change. So far all I'm waiting for is DVLA to give me a registration and then I can go collect her!

Pictures:
Yes, bonnet is open- it isn't a terrible fit :wack:

This is one of the only bad parts of the car- the mirror looks like it's been repainted at some point and the colour match isn't great.

Underneath (this is being undersealed tomorrow)

Headlights look pretty cloudy, but judging from what I've seen here it seems to be a common thing for S15s? Should hopefully be easy enough to sort out.

Plans for the car:
Firstly get some money back as it wasn't cheap getting this one. :rotfl: Once I feel less poor, I'd like to switch alloys (TE37s would be great but good luck finding those cheap, so Rota Grid Drifts might be another option). I also want to switch the exhaust but I need to do some research on these before I decide what to go for. After that I'd like to lower it slightly and get an induction kit but aside from that I'm happy with how the car is (until the inevitable mod bug kicks in, that is).

Hopefully this'll be a good few years; never owned an import before so it's all new to me. (Previous cars were a Gen 7 Celica 140 and a EP3 Civic Type-R).

1st June cannot come quick enough.

 

[S15_SAM]

Very clean and tidy!!

 

[Sparky]

Very nice, good base to start with there !

 

[John-]

Looks like a nice example. There are three of us that I've seen on this forum that are all getting a white spec r at the same time! I'm picking mine up this weekend hopefully! Just waiting on the registration.
Look forward to seeing more on this.

 

[JDM_virgin]

the three amigos haha, only 7 lost auctions, thats good going, i bid on over 30 before i won mine but so happy with it, the only better thing would be if it was sitting on my driveway now, but just waiting to get the centre console painted so should be collecting somepoint next week.

car looks nice and a good base to start from- that bug will spread like a big money grabbing disease once you get the car. good prevention is to unplug your internet

 

[Alex De Large]

Car looks so clean. A great base to start your S15 journey! You'll love it!

I also had a gen 7 celica before getting an S15.

 

[Neith]

Looks like a nice example. There are three of us that I've seen on this forum that are all getting a white spec r at the same time! I'm picking mine up this weekend hopefully! Just waiting on the registration.
Look forward to seeing more on this.

Yeah, I noticed that there's 3 of us and the cars all seem to have landed at the same time. There'll be more white S15s in the UK than Japan if this keeps up :rotfl:

Bit concerned about RWD having never driven a rear-drive car before but I'm sure provided I don't drive like a complete tool it'll be ok.

On the subject of exhausts (look, the bug's started already) does anyone know of any exhausts that aren't too loud? I really don't fancy a loud one as I do a long (~220 miles or so) trip to Norwich every so often and a loud one would irritate me to no end.

Cheers for all the comments so far, spent years wanting an S15 and only having Gran Turismo and Forza versions so this is a pretty big step up :rotfl:

 

[S15_SAM]

HKS hi power exhaust are a nice tone but without being like their nur spec which is very loud.

one thing with RWD buy good quality make tyres, Goodyear eagle F1's, Pirelli nero' etc. don't skimp on rear tyres as it will bite you in the ass, literally! With the stock wheels you can change all 4 tyre's to 225/50/16 instead of 205/55/16. This will keep the rolling radius the same! And increase contact patch!

 

[JDM_virgin]

There is a HKS silent power for sale from B9nko for 450 delivered I believe. Yeah I've never had a RWD-er either, I've heard these are pretty skittish in the wet which in this country will mean pooing myself regularly I rekon

 

[Adam L]

I ran a HKS silent high power on my car and it was perfect. Very good build quality and no droning noise on the motorway but it would rip on wot. I'd highly recommend one.

 

[eiden88]

Very clean! As per the foggy lights it won't cost you more than 60-70 pounds to have them professionally cleaned. It costed me 80 euro to have mine done,, but they were pretty badly foggy-ed out

 

[BakemonoRicer]

Nice clean base to start off with....!! Always good to be able to modify it according to your own vision.

 

[- 0h -]

very clean and a good base car to play with.
I have the same head unit. It works ok..and can use tape converter thingy to plug in my Ipod..

for the headlights, try Auto Sol...it works very well..not sure if there is one in England but I'm sure there is...

 

[JDM_virgin]

auto sol is the dogs, i think you can buy it in halfords

 

[Neith]

Well, meant to pick the car up tomorrow but got a call from DCY today to say the car's not running totally right. Apparently it's running as if it's in limp mode. Car has been in their workshop all day, and heard nothing back yet. I'll be ringing DCY tomorrow to see if it's worth picking the car up or not yet. Hopefully nothing too costly...

 

[SlidewayzS15]

Great looking S15!

 

[Neith]

Sorry to bump but as I mentioned in my last post, the car wasn't running right. Well, the mechanics at DCY worked on it yesterday and fitted another timing chain. It had just had one recently but DCY found it to be defective and as a result I was able to pick her up this morning! Lovely drive back 50 miles and the car didn't miss a beat (well, aside from me stalling it coming out of DCY :wack: ).

Everything seems to work fine and the only work I can see that needs doing at some point is the mirror that was painted badly. Aside from that, the leather round the steering wheel and the gear knob is a bit worn so might get a new gear knob and retrimmed wheel at some point. Certainly not urgent though!

Absolutely in love with the car at the moment, I was like a big kid picking it up:rotfl: The power delivery is so much different to my previous cars, in this it just feels completely effortless. Awesome car and I've already had a couple of waves (WRX STi and a Lotus Elan S2). Looking forward to the next few years!

Pictures:

Only things I've noticed so far are: 1) I need to watch my head getting out (way less headroom than my EP3, haha) and 2) trying to figure out the correct tyre pressures was fun (was all in Kg/Cm2 rather than PSI). Thankfully, I've now figured that out.

One question- what viscosity oil do you guys recommend?

 

[S15AK]

Looks great, great feeling isn't it I remember the first day with my S15.. if you are like me you will be on the Internet now looking for upgrades

 

[S15_SAM]

Oil wise the best 5w40 fully synthetic (or ester fully synthetic like redline or Titan pro s) that money can buy. Decent oil filter like, K&N gold series HP1008. Then change it every 6k or less if you drive it hard.

Thats odd one about the timing chain?! Never heard of one needing replacing on a SR20, and why did it have one in the beginning?! Also with it running bad and timing chain being the cause the timing would have been out which may have caused other issues.

Do you have a warranty with the DYC?

Love the silvia in white and a great base to start or even perfect car for using as it is daily.

 

[Neith]

No idea on the timing chain, that's what I was told anyway. Drove it 50 miles back home and it was totally fine but obviously with it being a new car for me I'll be keeping a close eye on it.

Mods will be very limited on this (at least for now anyway); it's already by far the fastest thing I've driven so for now it's just cosmetic stuff I want to do (cleaning the lights up, sorting the wing mirror that's painted badly, retrimming the bad leather bits), and a couple other things.

Thanks for the advice on the oil, will check those out.