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S13 Drift Car.
1995 Nissan 200sx S13 - CA18DET.
Similar to other Projects this car started off as a bit of a Pig !
Other people had tried their luck at modifying it into....... Something ?
It didn't work out !
This vehicle was turned back into a Street Car before taking on a New Life as a Purpose Built Drift Car !
A Weekends work Tidying this Car up, New Front and Rear Bumpers, Stage 2 Engine Mods and a Couple of Coats of Semi-Gloss Black Primer and we at least have a Car that's not a Complete embarrassment to Drive Around !
The First Stage in any Drift Car Build has got to be the Removal of all the Factory Sound Deadening material !
The main reasons for this are; Weight Saving, and with most Vehicles, Factory Sound Deadening and Seam Sealer are Toxic if Burnt !
Nissan sound deadening is a Bitumen Based material, You can be lucky and have it Chip away Cleanly (Very Rare), but generally a Hammer, Sharp Chisel, Scraper and some Thinners and Rags will do the Job !
The Colder the Temperature, The Easier the job !
The Second Light-weighting stage is to start to remove any unnecessary Metalwork, including Rear Seat Stays, Battery Tray, Surplus Brackets, Handbrake Mount and Front Seat Mounts, as we will be fitting Custom Race Buckets !
For some Bizarre reason, while discussing the Idea of building a Show Quality Drift Car, that would be of great use as a Demo Car, We decided upon the Insane Task of completely backwards wiring the entire car ?
The Idea behind this is to re-wire the engine bay into the Cabin,ie, There wont be a Single Wire visible under the Bonnet !
That takes the smooth engine bay look to the next level !
Engine Bay before we started.
Dash removed and Cable Tracing.
Components to be Re-Located.
Starting to take shape after Component and Cable removal.
Preparing Cables to be run through Inner Sills.
Before>
After>
Sorting through and Removing all Unnecessary wiring.
The majority of Engine Bay wiring now located within the Cabin.
A lot of Splicing and Tidying to do.
The Stock Engine Mounts were Removed, before Turning some Aluminum Round Stock on the Lathe to Produce a Solid Engine Mount that sits the Engine lower down in the Engine Bay !
There was also a big weight saving with these !
These will do for now, As there is still a very good chance that the Engine and Gearbox will be moved backwards in the car, through the Firewall, To make the Weight more Central !
While there were Ten Minutes free, and a Spare Rear Diff laying around, We got that welded up as well !
With the Massive Wiring Job taking shape, We started to Mock up the Roll Cage !
This thing will have 'Presence' just sitting in the local Tesco car park, Never mind Sideways in a Smoke Storm !
With the Engine Bay cleanup taking shape, It was necessary to attend to some Rust issues before we could mock-up our new Front Wheel Tubs.
The Front Foot Wells and area between the Firewall and Strut Towers are prone to corrosion on these cars.
As the Air-con has been removed, there was no need for the recess in the Firewall, also we needed clearance for the Turbo Down-pipe.
Also while we were at it, We stitch welded the Chassis, which greatly increases chassis rigidity and is necessary once the factory seam sealer has been removed.