Pictures taken during the restoration of this 1989 200SX which is still unfinished. You will notice Max my four legged friend on some of the pictures, he was a wonderful garage companion and friend, he died in autumn 2003 and will be missed. Mrs silviagod won't let me have another, but I get to fill the front room with car interiors, and I bring fibreglass projects in to set on the dining table when it's too cold in the garage. Evidence of this can be seen on some of the pictures.

Click on a thumbnail to enlarge the image.

Don't worry, I'm not keeping the wheels. There is a set ready for the car in the front room along with the interior.
3 spoke wheels now sold.

Restoration:
The car was accident damaged when I brought it home. I used a towing frame I made earlier, so, with the car being an automatic, I had to crawl underneath and disconnect the prop-shaft. As I didn't get the log book when I bought the car I decided not to start just in case it belonged to the insurance company as the previous owner said that he had received money from them. As I can sometimes be a little impatient I rang his insurance company and they said he made a claim, then withdrew it? A week later the document came from Swansea with my name on it. And so it began.

After telephone bartering with a few breaker's I ended up at Just Nissan in Farnworth. They cut a section from a 200SX containing the rear quarter panel and found a door for me. Off I went home frozen to death with the tailgate half open. I know how to drill out spot welds now! Preparing the panels took ages but once I got on with a borrowed spot welder the rear quarter panel was fitted in no time. I did have to rebuild the sill though, as when I took the rear quarter off not much of it was left.

I then decided that I would get underneath, clean it up and apply a couple of coats of Hammered finish silver paint. Everything underneath, including the differential oil cooler had been sprayed with a thick black horrible substance. The only way I could remove it was with a wire brush attachment that fitted my angle grinder! I suffered for a month with bits of wire brush appearing everywhere from jumpers, underpants and even the carpet in the house! Bet you can guess what comes next? The welder! This evil covering was there to hide the fact that the car was a death-trap! The floor pan was only attached to the back of the sills for a small part in the centre of each sill, patches with small tack welds were found on structural parts of the car, the fuel pipes were rotten, the brake pipe under the car was rotten, the fuel tank straps were ready for breaking, the front foot-wells were rotten, and at the back of the sills to the rear, I ripped the jacking points off by hand! During the welding process I decided that the floor of the car behind the passenger's seat was not as strong as the driver's side! This was due to Nissan only fitting one to the driver's side along the length of the car. So I made a box section and welded it in. Five weeks later the underneath was nice and shiny with a few different colours of paint. I took the bumpers off, dismantled them and painted the brackets. I got a little carried away and decided to fit a few air horns and a compressor. The horns were fitted so that if the bumper is removed nothing other than unplugging one extra plug is needed.

Another telephone barter with Just Nissan followed by more bartering on arrival and I came home with all the bits needed for the air conditioning. When fitted I modified it by adding a fan in front of the condenser, changing the blue relay for a brown one and adding a blue light inside that lights when the compressor operates. As the system is not charged I briefly shorted the pressure switch to check that the modifications were successful.

As I enjoy messing with wires I decided to change the central locking so that it could be locked and unlocked from both sides, and as usual the locks were seized. All working now and not only do the doors lock with the alarm, the windows close too. You won't believe this either! I found an electric tilt/slide sunroof at the breaker's and cut the factory one out. It was narrower so I had to weld two strips of metal to the roof panel. That even closes with the alarm now. I fitted bulb failure sensors to all the back lights and modified the lighting arrangements too. Rear fog lamps are now in the bumper and also have tail lights, previous rear fog position and opposite blank are now stop/tail lamps, there is a bright led array in the rear spoiler and a Rover 400 high level brake light in the back window. I also added front fog lamps in the front spoiler and 300ZX headlamp washer jets in the front bumper. Oh I had to straighten the front end and I managed to get a big dent out of the front bumper with a hot air gun. I also decided to throw the near side front wing away and fit another.


Fitting the rear spoiler was a much larger job than anticipated! Current owner's of the S13 200SX know what comes next! Two massive holes (Previously bodged to the underneath standard) along with all the factory ones. Just when I though it was all over out came the welder again. Just above the tailgate hinge on the driver's side was another hole, and it was laughing at me! I finished the tailgate and painted it, along with the rear spoiler. Whilst I had the paint gun out I painted the roof too.

With the sunroof now being electric I needed to fit a switch and do it tastefully. The only place for a switch was in the flap thing below the radio, but I've already filled that! That happened between the welding and the welding, but will be mentioned later. I fitted it next to the wash/wipe switch so there are two recessed switches either side of the steering column. To find a suitable switch I got hold of an illumination switch and tested the terminals for continuity. More problems! Opened up the switch and it was crammed with electronics. So I had to remove components and add a couple of links to make the switch operate as a standard switch. I left the symbol for the switch unchanged, as I needed a change.

On to the exhaust: more welding but more fun. Starting from the standard flange at the down-pipe I increased the diameter in increments to 3.5" then as straight as possible to a rear silencer from the breaker's yard and out through twin 4" diameter pipes sleeved in polished aluminium. The exhaust had to be offered up several times as each section was were added. I retained the joint along the length and had to use a 4 bolt wagon exhaust part. It does sound nice.

If I have a car it has to have a tow-bar, I am keeping this when it is finished so I had to have a tow-bar. I have had a few S12's given to me so I need this addition. I also reckon if someone runs up the back they will be worse off! I decided to modify a Silvia one! Another unwise decision, the back is a totally different shape. Arc welder this time and mig welder on the holes in the back panel. Think I may have to remove the ball once a year for MOT's though, as they may complain that it slightly obscures the number plate!

Lucky find at a breaker's yard, Astra GTE bonnet vents! They had to go in, and they had to be recessed! Why do I do it? The recess bit looked OK when I had done it, so to get it a little better I used a gel-coat (used in fibreglass kit making) and bolted the vents down to leave the perfect impression. I also repaired small damage to the front and side of the bonnet and then re-sprayed the underside. Not got round to painting the top yet. Whilst the bonnet was up I also cleaned in the engine bay, and added a radiator for the automatic transmission behind the main radiator. The panel where the windscreen wiper linkages was sprayed with Waxoyl at this stage.

The service included a change of differential oil, brake fluid, automatic transmission fluid, spark plugs, engine oil and filter, and checking the discs, brakes and a load of other bits. I found that the discs and pads were new, and that the handbrake was on shoes? The callipers were painted red and the rear drum bits were painted blue. I knew there was a minor oil leak but did not see anything when I did the timing belt.

Back to the timing belt! The minor oil leak either got worse or I had been running the engine more! Torch, second opinions etc and the head was suspect! I saw oil staining from the front turbo side of the engine! Remembered that I had not seen a problem when I did the timing belt and worried. I noticed there was a back-plate to the head part of the engine and thought that had there of been a problem I may not have seen it. So, belt off again, cam pulleys, back plate and camshaft oil seals replaced. Six hours later, crank pulley replaced for one without damage, a few more bits cleaned and painted, 20 minutes running and no oil leaks, and very relieved it wasn't the head. I fitted a dump valve (Bailey twin piston) and opened up the air box at the same time to cheer me up a bit, just in case! The additional relay bank fitted earlier can also be seen on this picture attached to the right of the main box. 2 of 5 possible relay slots are already filled.

On to the side vents next, I got these from the Bluebird Turbo I broke earlier. May have been a waste of time if I do a fibreglass front bumper, but I thought they would look good, and improve airflow to the standard intercooler. I only wish to do minor mechanical modifications but have a Volvo FMIC just in case. You can see one of the fog lights on that picture. I am not 100% happy with them. They may be too low and too subtle!

There was one remaining job to do under the car, and that was to change the transmission fluid. Not as straight forward as you think! As I am replicating features on my S12 I had to fit a thermo-switch and a temperature sensor in the process. The temperature sensor wire is near the battery for future reference and the thermo-switch is wired to share the extra fan in front of the air conditioning condenser. Waxoyl was sprayed into the box sections under the car at this stage.

As I was working on the bumper I decided that it would look much better with an intake on the opposite side to the intercooler one. This was another time consuming addition, but improves the appearance. I did think about adding a power steering cooler behind this intake and probably will eventually. If not it will be a good place to site the sensors for the proposed ice warning lamp and the outside temperature display.

Another check over the sills and another coat of hammered finish paint and I was ready to start the side skirt process. For my starting point I used Sunny ZX skirts and began to build up the sides. This was done on the car, so I stuck cornflake packets to the side of the car so that I could remove the basic shape when it set. Having managed this I then built up the desired profile going off some kits I had seen on other websites. Many hours later I was ready to make a mould from my efforts. I gave the skirts a coat of primer, polished them 6 times with bee's wax, and applied the gel coat. The gel coat didn't set as the temperature was too cold so they had to go on the dining table. The following day I applied the resin and matting, and after eating from trays for a few times I had the finished item. The skirts were fitted in no time with 'Sikaflex' and rivets, but the blending in took longer. Especially on top of the sill in the door opening.

This is the unfinished seven warning lamp array with the four added switches previously mentioned and covered in dust. The outer two lamps are for the heated seats either side and the remaining five are for: bulb failure sensor, coolant level sensor, automated intercooler mist system pulse, low water to mist system reservoir, and ice warning. Symbols in appropriate colours will be added later. The switches left to right are mist system switch, reversing spotlight switch with built in warning lamp, front fog light switch with built in warning lamp and air horns switch. Notice the blank Nissan button to the right of the heater controls has a blue slot. This illuminates in conjunction with the air conditioning compressor.

To cope with all the additional wiring I added an additional fuse box. This was from a Nissan Micra and holds 10 fuses. I used 2 for the alarm indicator outputs and the remainder were shared between ignition and battery circuits. I followed the main loom routing through the wheel arch where possible and have left many spare wires for later use. Many of the wires are labelled for sensors and planned devices.


I did say not to worry and that I was not keeping the wheels! This is a picture of one of the four wheels that I have bought for the car. They are comfortably resting in the front room with the interior. They have 215 x 40 x 17 tyres on that are as new. However, they are not Michelins so they shouldn't last that long. It says something like Nankang on the tyre, and when ready I will no doubt put a set of 225 x 45 x 17's on as the 200SX has enormous wheel arches.

Finally I have made a start on the rear skirt! Stage one is attaching card to form a basic shape, fibreglass matting can be added to this and a basic shape formed. The basic shape can then be removed and formed into desirable contours.

Slight change to design on this last picture. I have decided to add a rib section at the top on each side so that they follow through with the lines of the side skirts. To ensure a perfect fit the units needed to be re-attached to the car.


Eventually I have managed to create a shape that I am happy with. The next stage is to make a mould from the two sections followed by running a copy off. The skirt was fitted on 23.03.04 and has now been blended in down to 400's grade wet and dry paper.
 

Immobiliser:
Now fitted with led above the ignition barrel in the top cowl. That is all there is to see for all that effort! It is a transponder type with a little thingy on the key-ring, all you need do is hold it near the ignition barrel to operate it.

I have decided to fit this unit under the driver's seat as there are lots of extra wires and fittings above the driver's foot-well. The unit will provide interior light fade, lights left on chime rather than a horrible buzzing racket and a seat-belt warning lamp that just flashes for 5 seconds when the ignition is turned on.
The unit is wired so that only the driver's door operates the fade feature. The passenger door turns the light out instantly when the door is closed. Using two diodes it is possible, when closing either door, to instantly extinguish the "door" lamp in the instrument panel.
Also added to the interior light circuit are red step-lights fitted to each door card and foot-lights illuminating each foot-well. Finally, well almost finally, added to the interior light circuit, behind where the mirror is mounted, is now a supply for the twin spot-light map reading unit. And finally the disarming of the alarm provides an earth pulse to the interior light circuit and switches the light on in the fade state.

Second Cigarette Lighter Socket:
As silviagod's Silvia this feature has been added to facilitate simultaneous smoking and mobile phone charging. The second socket is located in the compartment under the elbow rest. The original cigarette lighter was used for this and an illuminated one was fitted in place of the non-illuminated original.

Roof Lining:
As you may have read earlier, the factory sunroof was cut out and an electric tilt/slide one fitted. The width was a little narrower, so a roof lining from a non-sunroof model was brought back from the breaker's yard. This is now fitted and is looking rather professional. I also fitted the twin spotlight map reading light unit just behind the mirror. I may paint this silver later as it looks a little grubby.

Gauge Pods:
To relieve the blandness of the dashboard, and to provide me with adequate information whilst driving, I am making a 3 gauge pod unit for above the centre console to house oil temperature, oil pressure and volt gauges. A windscreen pillar mounted gauge pod to house a boost gauge is also being made. I will be making a mould from these when completed so that I can reproduce them if necessary. The right hand picture shows the pod ready for making the mould from and supported in place by silviagod's left hand.
Here are the proposed gauges sat in place. Not wired up though! Due to the shape of the dashboard three slots had to be cut into the dash for the bottom of the gauges. I have not worked out how to attach the unit to the dashboard yet as it will need to be accessed for changing illumination bulbs etc in the future. The triple gauge pod will also look much better when all the dust is removed from the vehicle. I decided that four would look too much, so, the boost gauge will be fitted to the windscreen pillar mounted pod. The gauges fitted in the triple gauge pod will be: oil temperature, oil pressure and volts. The boost gauge is now fitted, wired up and plumbed in.  See right hand lower picture.
 

Oil Pressure Sender:
The wiring for the three gauges to be mounted on the dashboard has now been completed. I fitted a temperature sender in the automatic gearbox sump when I changed the fluid, so that was simple to wire, the voltmeter was no trouble, but the oil pressure sender took a full afternoon to fit. I wanted to unscrew the elbow connector between the block and the turbo oil feed pipe and replace it with one from a S12 that has an extra drilling for a sender to be fitted in. This way I would not loose the oil light. I undid the oil pipe and found when I tried to unscrew the elbow it was obstructed by the air conditioning compressor mounting bracket. Sump guard removed, jockey wheel slackened, three bracket bolts removed and the last one slackened it was back to the elbow. With the front of the compressor along with it's bracket elevated I was able to fit the replacement elbow and oil pressure sender. I ran the wire along the front with the factory loom and through the wheel arch into the car.
In disgust I abandoned the wiring as the oil pressure gauge didn't operate as expected. After posting a question on the forum at http://www.sxoc.co.uk it became obvious that many different senders existed and the Nissan one was not compatible with a VDO gauge. Back to the breaker's in search of the Audi I got the gauges from, but it had gone! All I could find was one off a Mercedes so I thought I would risk it as the instrument panel had the letters VDO on it. I got home to another hurdle! The threads were different! The next day I found a place in Wigan called Anchor Hydraulics, they couldn't find the correct adaptor. 10 minutes later another chap appeared with the bits I took in plus another fitting. He had just made the adapter for me and I was delighted. I got it home, tried it and it worked perfectly.

Roof Console:
As the sunroof is now electric, and the motor enclosure that came with the sunroof left much to be desired, I decided that it would look better if the twin map reading spotlights were incorporated into the enclosure, as in silviagod's car. Also I have been accustomed to knowing the air temperature outside the vehicle and needed somewhere to house an external temperature display. I decided to try to fit one behind a gauge front, so a central pod has also been added. This unit has been constructed so that a mould can be taken from it. A copy will be taken off the mould and the necessary components will be fitted to the finished product. Now fitted the sensor is mounted in the driver's front wheel arch behind the added air intake. I have retained the 1.5 volt battery but made a holder and mounted it in the relay/fuse box under the bonnet, it has also been wired through a relay so it is only in use when the ignition is switched on.

Ignition Switch Illumination:
Using an illuminated ring from a Toyota Supra (1990 I think) and a large part of an afternoon I managed to produce the item shown in the picture. There is one clear plastic ring fitted around the barrel and a second one bonded to the finishing piece. It is wired to the interior light circuit and also has the fade feature when the door is closed. The flash operated with the picture so the true effect is not clearly visible.
 

Induction Modification:
Using a modified spare air flow sensor housing I bolted it to the existing air flow meter then clamped the induction cone to it. I also extended the intake with a short section of pipe and painted it red. I was able to extend the cable easily just by removing some insulation tape from the loom and separating it from other wires. I then wrapped more insulating tape round after for a neat finish.

Intercooler Mist Spray:
Having replaced the air filter box there was room to fit a reservoir bottle for the intercooler mist spray system. I made a bracket and hung it from a metal pipe going to the intercooler. It operates from a push switch, but I intend to automate it with an electronic circuit later. The bottle has a level sensor that I have wired to the warning lamp strip inside. The nozzle for spraying was fitted previously in the duct to the intercooler.
 

Front Bumper Modifications:
Although I have previously worked on the existing front bumper it would be a shame not to create my own modified version. I decided to give it a big smile and fit fog lamps either side of where the number plate will fit. Empty Pot Noodle containers are always useful and today I found another use for them. The fog lamps will fit behind the recess created by the Pot Noodle containers. The larger vent for the wing-mounted intercooler will improve efficiency too. I still have many hours of work before I can make a mould from this as I need to fit the proposed bumper to the car so that I can complete the main air intake, the sides where I would like vents fitted, and underneath so the sump guard fixings can be established. A section has been added to the bottom that houses two small vents, these will be channelled towards the front brakes. An intake above the line of the bumper is now fitted and will channel air to the air filter. This intake is sited in the wrap-round part of the bumper below the headlamp. The bumper sides have now been constructed and the bumper is currently in primer.
I now have the mould and an able to make copies of this bumper. The first copy has been fitted to the car using all the original Nissan metal support brackets except for the side brackets that bolt to the wings. these fixings were fitted by bonding threaded bar to the bumper and the lower fixings were not necessary as the sides of the bumper were bonded and riveted to the lower part of the wings.
Mesh was painted and bonded to the back of all the intakes and "Angel Eyes" fog lights were fitted behind the bumper. 75mm diameter holes were cut into the main steel support member for rear access to the bulb holders, and some of the air horns had to be re-sited. The 300ZX washer jets were transferred from the original bumper for the headlamp washer system. The gap between the back of the main air intake and the radiator was bridged using fabricated aluminium panels. Ducts were also made to channel the air to each front brake from the lower intakes, these were also constructed using aluminium panels. Another panel was insulated and fitted in front of the washer bottle to minimise freezing in winter, and a short section was required to connect the intercooler intake to the existing duct.
A support bracket to the front wing had a section removed and a steel tube welded in the space. The front of the tube fits behind the air filter intake and the opposite end is slotted through a 52mm hole bored in the front slam-panel right in front of the air filter.
Once the bumper is prepared fully and ready for painting the next project will begin. I have decided that I would like indicators fitting in the body of the mirrors.

Power-Folding Mirrors:
Having now got the house decorated, wiring of the power-folding mirrors is underway. Only two extra wires were needed to be added to the existing switch plug and the existing switch plug fits the new switch. The mirrors function perfectly (thanks Chris) and I have even managed to get them to fold with the alarm on, and unfold with the alarm off. I have used another of Nissan's one-touch window amps to achieve this. The mirrors are wired through the accessory circuit and the alarm feature is wired from the battery, the two circuits have been isolated using two relays. Threading of the wiring through the grommets into the doors was achieved using a section of straightened metal coat hanger and the wiring taped tightly to it.
Here is a mirror near completion. I used a hacksaw to cut the horizontal lines in the mirror body and chain-drilled the verticals then filed them flat. The indicator was fitted to the back of the cut-out and bonded in place and the tinted lens fitted and bonded into the cut-out.
The indicator unit was chosen because it was only 5mm thick. It was made by Ring and was available from my local car accessory shop for £20. The smoked lens was found at the breaker's yard on a Toyota and was perfect for the job as I was able to bend it to the correct shape using a hot-air gun. Fortunately the indicators fitted in the space available. Any thicker and they would not have fitted in.
The wiring at first looked impossible as there seemed to be no through route for the wires in the centre of the hinged part. This would have been easier to do on a standard mirror. However as I had cut out the slot I had to complete the job. The top part of the power-folding motor was plastic and attached with four screws, so I removed the screws and carefully removed the plastic top. It came off successfully and I was able to see the existing wiring coming down from under the plastic cover into the mirror body. The routing of the wiring was then simple and once fed through with the existing wires the plastic cover was returned to the power-folding motor. I returned the mirrors to the car for testing and everything worked perfectly. They now need a little cellulose putty, a rub down with wet & dry paper and they are ready for painting.

Turbo Timer:
This was very easy to wire up having already fitted a turbo timer before. It is not the fully automatic one so there is no need to take feeds from the ECU. The red wire is a permanent live, there is a ground and a wire to the handbrake. The remaining two wires go to the ignition live and the accessory live. I got them the wrong way at first, so I just swapped them over before soldering them up. I didn't even have to remove the steering column shroud as there is a plug and socket attached to the steering column with a plastic clip. The turbo timer is an HKS type and offers a selection of 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes and off.

Running Lamps:
I bought these when I went to Billing this year and decided to fit them and wire them up so that they come on when the key is in the ignition position. To add a little extra touch I wired each side separately and made them flash off when the indicators for the appropriate side flashes on. This was a very simple circuit using the normally closed side of a black Nissan relay and energising the relay with the live output from the indicator.
Change of plan on the running lamps! I got some MK3 Golf ones and decided to sink them in to the panels as what I had already done looked too vulnerable.
From a sheet of fibreglass made earlier, I spent hours cutting and filing four parts to hold the lamps and four borders for around the lamps. These were cut from the sheet, bonded together and the holes in the panels cut out bigger. Once the holes were big enough the fibreglass parts were bonded to the back of the panels and blended in. Now they fit flush and are less likely to get damaged.

Wing Vents:
I saw a picture of these and decided I loved them and wanted them. I had to cut into the wing and bend the panel in a little. The right hand picture shows the vent constructed from card and the centre rib looks a little wide. Once adjusted I will lay fibreglass over and create the shape I would like, then a mould will be made for each side and I will be able to make copies and bond them in place. The vents are now completed and have been blended in. The passenger side vent will be functional and will draw hot air from the intercooler by ducting it through the space above the plastic arch guard. The driver's side vent is purely cosmetic but looks good.
The vents at this stage are virtually ready for the final painting process.
 

 Power steering Reservoir:
Just a little touch for under the bonnet. I sent the power steering reservoir pot off to be chromed along with one for my Silvia as I have wanted one for ages. They arrived back home today so they had to be fitted. I fitted the one to my Silvia first and then did this one.

 

Dump Valve:
I was offered a twin piston dump valve at a reasonable price. It makes a bigger sound than the Bailey, so I can fit the Bailey one to the Silvia that awaits restoration. I was told that this is a Le Mans dump valve and I believe that dump valves prolong the life of a turbo, and sound good.

 

Twin Headlamp conversion:
Having seen pictures of this conversion I have decided that I want to replace the standard lamps with twin round units. I am using motorcycle lamps that I am told are suitable as the lens has an 'E' mark in the glass. The backing plate for mounting the lamps is made of stainless steel, but this has made things more difficult as it is much harder to drill and cut. The beam angle and height adjustment will use the existing adjusters and the plate has been drilled and slotted to accommodate them. One lamp is set back from the other and both lamps have H4 bulbs. There is also a 5W parking lamp bulb fitted to each lamp, but I haven't decided whether to use it due to the fact that the standard lamps have the dim-dip feature. The stainless steel was very difficult to bend in order to set one lamp back from the other, and three jigsaw blades perished during the cutting of the holes. The lamps cost £55.00 a pair and £6.50 postage and were bought in the UK. This will work out much cheaper than the kits I have seen for other cars, but there is an awful amount of work involved. If you want to buy these lamps they can be bought from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BEOWULF-PERFORMANCE-PRODUCTS-LTD_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm or by telephoning them on 01422345100. They are known as Streetfighter Twin Headlamps. Part of the inner metalwork in the headlamp pod needs to be removed to accommodate the back of the lamps.
The design of the pivot point for the beam adjustment was the ultimate nightmare until after hours of thought the solution came to me. I incorporated a ball and socket mounted centrally in the headlamp pod. The ball was taken from a damaged windscreen wiper mechanism which was welded to a section cut from a linkage arm. This was then welded vertically and central in the headlamp pod. The plastic holder for the ball was fitted to the centre of the mounting plate with it's holder welded in place. Slots were cut into the mounting plates and the original Nissan adjustment fittings were able to be used. The side adjustment plastic nut needed to be tilted as the lamps only just fit in the pod and the adjustment bolt needed to be moved outwards slightly. This was achieved by making a horizontal cut above and below the location of the plastic nut, bending the section towards the front slightly then welding the saw cut closed again. Both the pods have now had the rust removed from them, they have also been treated with a rust inhibitor  and painted with a satin finish black paint. Ideally the plastic headlamp shrouds will be able to be used, but the sides and top that used to border the original lamps will need to be trimmed. I decided against spoiling the originals and the lower part needed too much adjusting. The cowls were waxed and now I have moulds taken from them, I modified the mould temporarily with card and a wooden strip before the mould was taken and I will try to work the mould rather than take a copy and use that to make another mould for the final product. I am unable to fit the lamps at the moment as I am waiting for new plastic adjusting nuts from Nissan. They have been ordered 10 days now and I am told they may take another two weeks to arrive! I am disappointed as things never took longer than 3 days before.
I spoke too soon! The adjusting nuts arrived at the weekend. Two on Friday and the other two on Saturday. Also, I have modified the moulds for the headlamp shrouds so that they have two round holes to their front faces. This may make the alignment of the headlamp beams even more awkward but will further improve the appearance of the finished job. It will be worth all the effort when completed.
To reduce the amount by which the headlights go up I had to shorten the pivot part that attaches to the motor. this reduced the amount the headlamps go up but also the amount they went down. I also had to shorten the connecting rod to bring the headlamp fully down. Fortunately the pre-1987 Silvia ones were the correct length and that saved me a little welding. The next problem was that the alignment was completely out and the headlamps were aiming down too much. I modified the mounting plate to raise the beam height and have now discovered another problem. I can only access three of the four fixing positions for the cowls as the back ones to the side of the wings have dropped below the top of the wing. The cowls seem to stay in place without the fourth fixing and are now painted black. I have left a filed out part for access to the side adjuster and welded a nut to the bottom adjuster as access with a screwdriver is impossible now the lamps don't come up as high. All that remains to complete now is extra wiring for the 5W bulbs in each lamp, and a facility to turn the inner dipped headlamps off. I will do this by adding a relay to each pod and sending a switched wire inside the car. The 5W lamps are blue and will be wired through the same circuit as the Angel Eyes and will be used for show use only. As I am putting a relay in the pods I will have to make sure the rain cannot get in. This is unlikely, but to make sure I will be cutting a strip from a tyre inner-tube and bonding it to the back of the cowl at the top.
The dim-dip system has been disabled and I have spent hours and hours trying to understand the headlamp timer. I can't make the headlamps flash with just a touch of the stick so I have made another timer circuit to do this for me.
I also wired up the blue lights and the Angel eyes so that they operate from the retract switch, but only if the ignition is on. Otherwise the switch acts as it would do normally. I ran a warning lamp into the car for this circuit, but haven't decided where to fit it yet.

Wiring Additions:
Over the Christmas period more wiring has taken place. I have made a temperature sensing circuit to monitor the temperature of the intercooler and a timer circuit. The temperature sensing circuit turns on above 40 degrees C and starts the timer circuit. The timer circuit then operates a washer motor and fires a jet of water at the intercooler for one second in every 30 seconds. Two more circuits have also been added and these operate in conjunction with the alarm. One circuit gives a gentle beep every 30 seconds to give an audible warning that the alarm is on and the other flashes three led's in sequence and is mounted to the inside of the front windscreen. This provides a visual warning that the alarm is on.
The first project of the New Year was a final feature for the alarm and is a feature already fitted to the S12's. I am surprised how few people are aware of this! When you have an alarm with internal sensors it is recommended that you close the heater vent before you turn the alarm on to prevent false triggering. This wasn't easy because I could only access the wires to the motor that shuts the vent door from behind the push-control unit for the heater. All is complete now and I have the vent controlled by a change-over relay and a timer providing power to the vent motor when the key is removed from the ignition. The timer circuit I used was an extra feature I found on the time control unit that keeps a circuit open for 20 seconds after switching off the engine.
Still on with the wiring, I have managed to illuminate the inside door catches and will be fitting led projector lights in the bottom of the doors so that puddles can be seen and not stepped in. The puddle lights are now fitted and look quite good at night. The light is produced by three light emitting diodes mounted in a section of aluminium tubing. I drilled holes in the bottom of the door and bonded the units in place with high modulus silicone.

Illuminated sill top trims:
I searched the internet and couldn't find any that were illuminated and with the 200 SX logo on. So I printed out a font I liked at the right size and stuck it on the sill trim. I then cut it out using a small tool in a small drill and finished off using needle files. For the photograph I have added some white paper behind. The next stage will be to adhere some clear Perspex behind and attempt to illuminate it with 3mm blue leds. The underside of the Perspex will have to be painted silver or a backing film attached for it's reflective qualities. The trims are not very deep so this attempt may fail. I am working on a spare pair of trims just in case.
The trims seem to have turned out very nice. I thought long and hard about making a plug and socket arrangement so the trim just pushed on and plugged in at the same time but gave up and used bullet connectors that I have put through a factory hole in the top of the sill. They can still be unplugged and removed but more awkwardly than I had hoped.

Strut Brace:
I managed to get one for a reasonable price. It is quite strong and I also got a rear one in with the price. It was made for the American 240SX so the ends had to be swapped round before it fitted. Once I have finished off the car and had a polish in the engine bay it will look much better.

Rear 200SX Panel:
To illuminate the logo you have to separate the red front from the backing part which is very awkward. It needs a hot-air gun and you have to warm the top and bottom edges enough to melt the bonding agent that Nissan use to hold the pieces together. Be very careful if you attempt this as the red part of the panel is quite delicate. Once separated I cut a section out from the back, made a stainless steel panel to fit the section and fitted 5 panel bulbs with holders to it. The panel bulbs were taken from a Silvia ashtray, cigarette lighter holder and other similar ones I found at the breaker's yard. I drilled two holes in the panel per bulb, secured them with a tie wrap and also bonded them with Araldite epoxy resin glue. The job was quite time consuming but the effect is worthwhile. Unfortunately If a bulb fails the panel will have to be removed before the plate with the bulbs attached can be accessed. Also the picture taken by the camera is not as good as it looks when seen by the eye.
This is now fitted and wired up to both the side light circuit and the brake light circuit. I have been able to do this using two diodes and a ceramic resistor. The resistor has been added to the side light circuit so that there is an increase in brightness when the brake pedal is applied when the side lights are turned on.
 

Leather Seats:
I am told that the S14 200SX leather seats will fit the S13 200SX with a slight modification to the rears, so I bought some. I am going to fit heating elements to the front seats and if there is sufficient space I will also fit the Bluebird Turbo air mats and compressor for the side and lumbar support.
I started with the driver's seat and removed the base part from the back then removed the leather and the foam. I found that some of the spot welds to the frame of the base were broken. This was a quick repair as I have a friend's spot welder on loan at the moment. Then I bonded the air mats in place using PVA adhesive as it is water based and doesn't react with the foam. I then stitched in heating elements taken from a Volvo at the breaker's yard and replaced the thermo-switch with a new one supplied by RS components. As the base has a part where the trim is attached to the foam it meant that I had to separate the element into two parts. I cut along the element and looped the wire around the trimming so that it wouldn't get trapped. Having got the elements and air mats fitted I decided to test them before I rebuilt the seat. I then had to decide on where I would be able to fit the compressor for the air mats. I managed to fit it in the seat back but I had to remove the factory lumbar support bar and replace it with springs. Fortunately the hooks for the springs to fit on were already there and I had some spare springs in the garage. Then came the problem of fitting the switches. I managed to bolt these to the frame that bolts to the seat base and cut two slots in the side finisher. I rebuilt the seat and refitted the leather trim and moved on to wiring the heating element. I fitted a time control unit under the seat and wired the heating element through a relay and a timer circuit on the time control unit so that the heater turns off 15 minutes after it has been turned on. I am also using another circuit on the time control unit that provides a circuit for 30 seconds after the ignition is turned off. This circuit shuts the heater vent so when the alarm is on there are no false triggers from gusts of wind. Having got the wiring done I then cut another slot in the side finisher and installed the seat heater switch. I had to fit a support bracket to the seat frame to prevent deflection of the trim when pressing the switch.
The passenger seat was next and I installed both the air mats and the heating element. It was slightly easier as I did not have to remove the lumbar mechanism or provide an additional circuit from the time control unit.
As with my S12's I wanted rear head restraints and I tried hard to get hold of a pair of S14 ones to match. I was not successful and after a good look round the breaker's yards I managed to find some suitable ones from the back seat of a Ford Granada. I was unable to remove the plastic inserts for the head restraints from the Ford. The rods on the head restraints looked similar to Nissan ones so I removed some from a Nissan Primera and they fitted perfectly. Armed with the head restraints and plastic fittings I found some metal tubing the correct diameter and welded sections of tubing along the steel bar in the seat for the plastic holders. I also welded a plate for each head restraint in the back to hold the foam away from the rods and also to provide additional supports to the rods in the event of a rear impact. I then returned the foam to the back seat and cut holes for each plastic insert for the head restraints. Having returned the foam the leather trim was fitted and then came the stressful part of cutting four round holes in the leather. I pressed on the leather to feel for each bracket and with a knife I cut a cross and turned it into a circle with a small pair of scissors. All went well and the head restraints were now part of the back seat. I haven't fitted any of the seats to the car yet but it looks like fitting the back of the rear seats will take more than the slight modification that was suggested.

S14 Rear seat fitting:
I had to bend the rear brackets down and weld securing plates in for the back of the rear seat base. The front fixings just required a hole drilling on each side and self-tapping screws driving into the holes. The seat back was a little more difficult as I had to relocate the catches by bringing them further in by about 40mm using a steel plate and a butt weld joint. For the hinged part I was able to use S12 rear seat brackets. I welded a nut in each bracket and welded the bracket to the back panel. The spot-welds on the panel didn't seem strong enough when I exerted force on the bracket so I added a small run of weld in the joint above the bracket. When You look at the seat fitted in position you can see the difference in width between the S13 and the S14 seats. I may be able to fill the gap by warming the side trims with the hot-air gun and bending them out sufficiently to fill the gap. Or if that is not possible I may have to make an add-in piece made from fibreglass. I have not painted the brackets yet as the seat and the side trims will have to be removed again as the side trims in the tailgate need to be fitted before all the other panels.

ABS Unit Relocation and speaker installation:
I have moved the ABS ECU further into the panel towards the door. I wanted to do this so that I could fit a bass speaker in each opening to either side of the back seat. The wires were not long enough and I didn't want to cut and join the coaxial cable going to the rear sensor. I removed the insulation tape from the wiring loom to free the coaxial cable going to the rear sensor, unplugged it under the car and brought it inside the car. I managed to re-route it behind the triangular reinforcing metal part to the side of the strut. this gave me sufficient length to relocate the ABS ECU. I also had to extend the wire that joins to the brake lights and the earth wire. The position of the ABS ECU is shown on the inner panel in marker pen, and the wiring loom has been taped back together. The speaker connection was made at the rear speaker and fed through the rear quarter to the new speaker.
Change of plan:
I decided that the speakers I fitted were not big enough so I went to the breaker's yard to see what I could find. I was in luck and found some 150 Watt 6 X 9 inch 3 way speakers. I decided that I would fit them as they will give much better bass and I am not prepared to ride round with a big box in the back. I mounted them on plywood to eliminate vibration of the panel and made a rubber backing for them out of a piece of wagon inner-tube to minimise sound being transmitted the wrong way. I didn't have to make the hole in the panel any bigger to fit these speakers and directly behind the openings is already a piece of sound deadening material on the back of the outer panel.
To protect the ABS ECU from the magnetic field of the speaker I have made a lead pocket for the speaker to sit in with an inner lead shield around the magnet. As a further precaution I have wrapped a piece of lead around the ECU itself and also around the cables to the side of the speaker enclosure.

After grinding a slot in the bracket for the rear speaker and some cutting and bending I managed to fit these two-way speakers in place of the original ones. They are just under six inches diameter. As I couldn't find anything suitable at the breaker's yard I had to buy these. I haven't planned on amplifying the system so they are connected to the existing wiring.
The plastic housings for the front speakers that are fitted to the doors required much more cutting and I thought I may have had to make new ones as I kept having to cut more and more away. Eventually I managed to fit them in the plastic enclosures. When it came to fitting the speakers and enclosures in the doors I had to trim a small amount from the door at the top centre of the hole. I offered the door card in place and found I had to trim some from the bottom of the card on the inside and loose the bottom fixing screw for the mesh. the mesh is still secure and if I have any problems in the future I can bond the bottom edge in place with a suitable adhesive. The front speaker is the same diameter as the back and is a better specification as it is a three-way unit.
I managed to fit some tweeters in the trim panel that fits over the bolts that hold the door mirrors on. I found them at the breaker's yard a while ago and though they would be of use. They were in one of the big Rovers, an 820 I think.
The trim panels are now on their way out of the front room and I have cut holes in the trims to either side of the back seat. I have used the mesh that came with the speakers and bonded it to the back of the trim panel. I offered the panels in place but the speakers were clearly visible through the mesh. It looked a little tacky so I found some black cloth and attached that to the back of the mesh. As the shape of the mesh was curved I supported the cloth with two strands of copper wire taken from twin and earth cable used in domestic wiring. The strands were bonded in place at each end.

Radio/ Head Unit Wiring.
Nissan S13                    description                           ISO connector
Large Nissan Connector
Blue                                          constant live                                          Red
Red/Black                                accessory live                                      Yellow
Not Present                              Ground                                                 Black
Black/Red                                Antenna                                                Blue
Brown                                      + front right speaker                             Grey
Brown/white                             - front right speaker                              Grey/Black
Blue/White                               + front left speaker                               White
Blue/Yellow                              - front left speaker                                White/Black
Red/Blue                                  Illumination live                                     Not Present
Small Nissan Connector
Red                                          + Rear left speaker                               Green
Green                                       - Rear left speaker                                Green/Black
Blue                                         + Rear right speaker                             Purple
Pink                                         - Rear right speaker                              Purple/Black
There is an additional plug with three wires which is for a separate cassette deck. This has wires taken from the existing wires from the constant live, the accessory live and the illumination live.

Subwoofer feature:
I know I mentioned that I am not a lover of silly boxes with subwoofers in and that I wouldn't be fitting a silly box in any of the cars. But, the head unit I fitted to the car has a subwoofer feature and at the moment I am unable to use this feature. This has upset me! Now I intend to take the speaker installation one stage further and have ordered two 10 inch subwoofers and an Alpine amplifier from eBay.
The plan is to make new side trims for the tailgate out of fibreglass and fit a subwoofer in each. The existing trims are not very well made and are not what I would have expected from Nissan. As I now will be making new side trims I can also make the S14 rear seat installation look neater too. I will then need to make a new rear trim to match, so I may as well make that with a housing so that the amplifier to be fitted neatly leaving no wiring visible.  I had to make a mould for each side and the mould when removed from the car needed a further 14 hours of patient filling and rubbing down to get an acceptable finish. This has to be done for each side and also the rear trim panel.  When these panels are made I still will not have finished! I will have to make a mould for each side piece that will be fitted to either side of the S14 rear seat back and make moulds for the access panels for each rear lamp holder and the side access panels. I am afraid it has turned out to be one of those jobs where I find myself saying "I wish I had never started!" The side trims are made now, they are not fully finished and the rear panel is also made. I used a black gel coat in the hope that I wouldn't need to paint the panels. There are one or two imperfections so I will be touching them up with a small brush and some gel coat. That will add more time to the completion date again! The rear panel has been made with a cut-out for the amplifier. The amplifier is now fitted and was a gift from a friend known as Wacomuk. It is around 120 Watts per channel and it powers two channels. It is adequate for what I need.
Next to be made are the trims that will fit around the front of the rear strut housings. These trim panels will also have to fit to the side of the S14 rear seat back and fill the gap that is present due to the back being slightly narrower. The trim panel will also enclose the catch at the top that holds the seat back in the upright position. The picture to the left shows the moulds for these trim panels.
After many more hours of work I have very little to show for it but I have been sufficiently rewarded by the improvement in sound. The speakers have now been enclosed and following an experiment where I stuffed a rag in the hole of a friend's silly box I decided that the ported sound was much deeper. Although the hole would have been better hidden I was told that doing this may lead to vibration noise. Because of this the port is on view and it doesn't look too bad. Ideally it should have been a 3 inch diameter hole, but I was unable to find the 3 inch hole cutter in the untidy garage so I made it 2 inch diameter instead and slid a short section of pipe in the hole. From research the ideal size housing for a 10 inch subwoofer is around a cubic foot I may have almost achieved this and the reason for the 3 inch diameter port is (I think) because if the port is too small the air displacement caused by the movement of the speaker can make a whistle through the port. I tried to get it to whistle and couldn't so it looks like the 2 inch port is adequate for the job. I have also decided to fit an interior light in each side panel and modified the wiring in the car for them. Now what remains is the finer detail such as cleaning the panels, touching up any imperfections in the black gel coat, getting a nice clean joint between the subwoofer trim panels and the trims in front of them and making the panels to fit in the access holes.
The access panels are now made from a sheet of fibreglass and I used panel clips that I found in a Vauxhall at the breaker's yard. The tyre well was looking a little sad so after a clean and rub down it got treated to a hammered finish paint, unfortunately it had to be left for 5 days before the tyre could be returned. Once this was done the nightmare of fitting the tailgate carpet was next. I tried a full size alloy wheel and tyre and no matter how hard I tried the carpet would not fit! I checked in another 200SX and that looked exactly the same. Back to the breaker's yard and back home with a hideous space saver wheel from a Silvia finished in a lovely bright orange colour. It fitted really well and the floor of the tailgate was perfectly flat. However I was left with a slight dip between the edge of the silly wheel and the edge of the tyre well. I replaced the hardboard circle with a larger piece of hardboard that I cut to size, so all I need to do to finish that part is to buy a sheet of under-felt and fit it to the underside of the carpet to leave me with a perfectly flat surface. As far as the back of the S14 seat goes, that was quite involved too. I used the existing S13 metal strip near the top of the seat and brought the carpet up to the top of the back of the seat. I then drilled holes in the S14 seat back to use the self tapping screws needed to attach the strip. Also to hold the carpet to the back of the seat new holes had to be drilled for the plastic clips as the holes in the carpet were not in the same positions. When I tried to put the seat back in the upright position the carpet got caught, so I had to drill four more holes and clip the carpet to the bottom edge of the seat and this cured the problem. Now all that remains to finish the job is to find someone who can add what I am told is an over-locking stitch to the edges of the carpet where I have had to cut it. However, for the moment it will catch no harm as there is plastic bonded to the back of the carpet and this will prevent the edge from fraying.
 

Strut Maintenance:
Before I put the remainder of the interior back in the car I have decided to repaint the struts and replace the damaged rubber dust boots to all four struts.  As the car was reversed into the garage I decided to do the front ones first and return the plastic arch guards. The springs were quite easy to remove but much more difficult to return and I decided to leave the second spring compressed while I painted it. Once it was returned to the strut I painted where the spring compressors had been. Even though I left the second spring compressed I was unable to put the unit back together with the top bearing in place, so I had to put the nut on the top, remove the spring compressors and recompress the unit from a different  position so that I could compress the spring sufficiently to get the top bearing on and the nut to lock it all together. They look much better now and I am glad the front ones are done. It is not one of my favourite jobs as I always worry about a spring compressor flying off and causing injury. I hope the rear springs are not as awkward as the front ones have been.
Just when I thought I had finished the front struts I read the workshop manual and found that there were 'V' marks in the top spring seats and these 'V' marks had to point to the engine bay. The manual also stated that the spring could only go one way, but I got that right. It serves me right for not reading the manual. I managed to compress the springs on the vehicle and once the springs were compressed enough I was able to turn the top spring seats to the correct position and remove the spring compressors.
The rear struts were much easier to do. The spring is only supposed to fit one way round and the manual states that the top part of the spring is flat. This was not very obvious so I made sure I knew which was the top before I reassembled it. As I could not line the top exactly correct during reassembly I applied a film of oil between the top rubber and the spring. With the top part bolted to the car I was then able to turn the unit with a bar and line it up exactly so that I could slide it into the bottom mounting pin.

25mm Hub Extensions:
Another quick addition to relieve the boredom of the subwoofer trim panel work was these 25mm hub extensions. I did expect them to bring the wheels out further. Instead they have brought them near flush with the panels and have improved the appearance considerably in my opinion. I had three friends sat on the edge of the tailgate and I was bouncing on the rear quarter to test if the wheel went anywhere near the rim of the arch. There was still an inch and a half of clearance, so no further modifications will be necessary. However, I compared the radius of the tyre to that of the wheel arch and found that it only matched at the very top and at the front and rear. The gaps between these points was much greater and to be honest it looks like it could be improved! Oops! I think I have found another modification to do!

Wide Arches:
You all knew it had to happen! This will knock back the completion date yet again too! From the picture on the left you can see that I am looking to the S12 Silvia again for inspiration. I copied the flare from the front wheel arch, but as it is only a 180 degree flare I had to copy it twice. The right hand picture shows two bonded together and blended in to the S13 panel. It is far from complete at this stage and once smoothed in it will be ready to take a mould from. Unfortunately, after the mould has been taken it will have to be removed from the car and replaced with a copy taken from the mould. At last I will have wheel arches that don't look the wrong shape. The picture of the passenger side wheel arch (With the burgundy rear quarter) shows the arch primed and waxed ready for taking a mould from.
I am still undecided about the tyre size I want on the wheels. At the moment they have 215 X 17  X 40's on but the tyre wall looks a little small to me. If I decide on a 45 profile or a 225 X 40 I may need to roll the top bit of the body-work in the rear arches. It looks like I may have to buy some tyres before I finally fit the wide arches to the rear of the car.
Then again, better safe than sorry. A few cuts, a few minutes spot welding, a skim of filler and some hammered finish paint and the arch was ready to fit the fibreglass part to it. I found a poor repair job under some filler behind the paint. That has been attended to now so I am less likely to suffer from any rust coming through in the future. The gap between the new arch and the old arch will need sealing off before the arch work is finished so that no dirt will be able to get trapped between the two.
Both arches are completed now and I have decided to replace the old 215 x 40 x17 tyres that came with the wheels for 215 x 45 x 17 tyres so that I don't loose any teeth when I go over any bumps. I have a few remaining little jobs to do to the body work on the rear and then I can turn the car round and decide on how to go about modifying the front wheel arches.
The forms for making the front arch extension are now completed. The opinion of visitors is that they look better than the standard ones so the next stage is to take a mould off them, rip them off the car and replace them with ones copied from the moulds as I have done with the rear arch extensions. The right hand picture shows a full view of the car with the rear arch extensions fitted. I hadn't started the front ones when I took the picture.
Now all the arches are completed, however, blending in around the wing vents took much longer than I expected. I have also blended the inside in to the wings so that there will be no dirt traps there that could lead to damp mud sitting in there and causing rust. I also blended them in on the outside edge of the screws that hold the plastic arch guards in place so that if they need to be removed in the future it can be done easily. Unfortunately this has led to another unexpected job that needs to be done. As I was working in the passenger front wheel arch I noticed that the paintwork I had already done was bubbling along a seam. It turns out that the ABS unit has been leaking very slightly all the time! I have removed the unit and found more rust underneath where the unit was fitted and removed it now and got the bodywork back to as I would like it. I have sourced a good second hand ABS unit and should be fitting that today. Also on one of the last pictures you can see one of the front suspension tie rods. I was given a good pair of them so I decided to replace the ones that were on. Whilst trying to remove the driver's side one I managed to rip the bush from it's outer collar due to the bolt being seized to the inner collar of the bush. I had to cut through the bolt with a cutting disk to remove it. I was out of red paint at the time so the replacement ones are painted yellow instead now. I also painted the hub part of each front disk with silver paint, as I noticed in one of the pictures that I had forgotten about painting them.
 

Another Chromed Part:
The latest arrival through the post is some more added "bling". I had forgotten that I had to remove the water pump pulley to fit the top timing cover so it took a little longer to fit than I expected. When I get round to it I will have to polish the crank angle sensor and clean the rest of the engine bay. The person who did the power steering pot and also the rocker cover on my Silvia did this for nothing for me.
 

Steering Column Joint:
Oh what an awful job that was! The joint is a rubber disk with four holes in it. The disk has four aluminium collars in the holes with two plastic collars and semicircular thin metal plates at each end. Last year at Billing I bought a metal disk to replace this rubber one with and have put off replacing it ever since. Now I know why. I managed to get the downward facing bolts off but there was no way the top two would move. Fortunately the two bolts I got out removed the joint from the top part of the steering column, so I removed the bolts holding the steering column in the car and pulled it to the rear. I then removed the bottom part from the steering rack and was able to put it in the vice and remove the stubborn bolts. The aluminium collars had to be pressed into the metal disk and the disk fitted to the bottom part of the column, then it was bolted to the top part of the column and the column fitted back to the car and the steering rack. Fortunately I had two visitors at the time so one visitor was on the driver's seat holding the wheel, the other was in the drivers foot-well fitting the bottom bit on the three studs in the bulkhead and I was underneath fitting the end of the column to the steering rack. What I thought would only take 90 minutes took around three hours to do and the column to the rack joint could not be separated without either removing the steering column bolts or loosening the steering rack and turning it towards the front.

Reversing Spotlight:
As I am accustomed to having a brighter reversing light on my Silvia I decided to fit one to the 200SX. I used a Nissan Bluebird rear fog light surround and cut it to size for mounting the unit. The spotlight gives a good light from it as it uses a 55 Watt bulb. To comply with legal requirements the lamp has it's own isolation switch and to prevent drawing too much power from the reversing light circuit it has it's own relay and fuse.

 

Front Towing Eye:
I had a very disturbing dream where I re-lived the one time in 20 years that my Silvia broke down. In this dream I was in the 200SX. The breakdown person could not recover the car because it didn't have a towing eye on the front. The breakdown man said he could drag it on to the back of the truck with the tow-bar, but the front bumper would dig into the tarmac and get damaged. I woke up in a sweat and couldn't get back to sleep. Later that day I went to the breaker's yard for a solution and came back with a Volkswagen screw-in towing eye and the front piece of the chassis from the Volkswagen with the screw-in part. I made a bracket so that I could bolt it to the existing towing eye but when I fitted it I was not happy with the appearance of it. After a slight modification to the main air intake and two more days work I finally think I got it looking good again. I haven't had any reoccurrence of the horrible dream.

 

Camp Glove Box:
Richard Kimberly gave me some leather look material that he had left over from doing some re-trimming work on his Silvia. There was enough to re-cover the glove box and stop it from looking camp! I had a spare glove box so I stripped the trim off the front of the spare one. I had one small problem where the recess for the handle is. Unfortunately the material wouldn't stretch enough so I had to add a small piece to it. I will add a small amount of black dye to the edge of this piece later, but to be honest your head would have to be in the passenger's foot-well to see the piece I added now the glove box is fitted.
 

Warning Lamp Panel:
This is the panel below the radio which has four switches and seven warning lamps. The switches from left to right are: Intercooler mist spray, reversing spotlight with warning lamp in the switch, front fog lamps with warning light in the switch and musical air horns. The warning lamps from left to right are: Heated passenger seat, low coolant, ice warning, low intercooler mist fluid, intercooler mist on auto, bulb failure and heated driver's seat. I used tracing paper for the symbols and tested it but there was too much white light shining through so I had to put coloured lenses in the holes where the light was coming through. that improved things dramatically and now it is acceptable but not perfect. The panel is made of Perspex and for the night time illumination of the panel I used the same method I used on the 200SX sill plates with 3mm blue leds. The back of the Perspex panel has been painted silver, and I may have another go at printing the symbols on to acetate in the future to see if there is any improvement. I used an S12 rear wash/wipe switch for the intercooler mist switching and the intercooler mist system has an auto feature with a thermistor sat in the fins of the intercooler. The reversing spotlight and front fog light switches are Nissan Micra rear fog lamp switches as they have a warning lamp built into them and the musical air horn switch is a S12 headlamp wash/wipe switch.
 

Air Filter Enclosure:
As usual this little job took longer than expected. I started by getting the approximate shape in card and laid fibreglass matting and resin over the card. Unfortunately once I had made the form I couldn't get the air filter in or out in the tight space available so I had to cut what I had made, rebuild it and bond it back together. The reason for this enclosure is to prevent warm air from the engine bay being drawn in by the air filter so that it can only draw air through the original intake hole and the metal pipe I fitted that is in line with the duct I fitted to the bumper. After many hours of light filling with fibreglass paste and rubbing down through the grades with abrasive paper I finally arrived at a decent finish to both inside and out. Rather than paint it black I chose sliver as this will reflect any heat from the engine bay. The enclosure does not need to be removed to remove the air filter as once the pipe is moved out of the way the filter just pulls out of the enclosure. It is such a good fit that no additional anchorage brackets are needed and there is sufficient clearance for the bonnet to close without touching. Unfortunately some of the nice induction noise will be reduced from in the car when driving but people outside the car will hear it better.
 

Front Seats now fitted:
Eventually I have managed to get the S14 front seats out of the front room and fitted in the car. They bolted in with no modifications needed and all the wiring to them is done too. The lumbar and side support air mats to both seats are working perfectly and both seat heaters work with their warning lamps lighting appropriately on the warning lamp strip. The S13 plastic covers that fit over the bolts to the back of the seat runners don't fit that well but I will have a look for some S14 ones next time I am at the breaker's yard. The seats are much more comfortable than other S14 seats I have sat in and I am very happy that I fitted the air mats in them.
 

Camp Door Cards:
Look at the picture of the seats and you will notice that the door card now looks terrible. I thought I was going to get away without doing anything to the door cards but when I fitted the front seats they looked even worse than the camp glove box! I tried to remove the camp trim to see what was underneath it. I started on the passenger one and it took about three hours to pick the rubber backing off from the camp trim that was stuck to the card. Underneath looked quite acceptable apart from the fact there were about six small holes in the trim to the front and rear of the section. I decided they looked better anyway even with the holes and I am sure they could be repaired so that they won't be seen. Because I was pleased with the results on the passenger door card I started on the driver's one. It's a good job I did the passenger one first as Nissan has done a better job of sticking the driver's one down. Six hours and sore fingernails later I got the driver's door card free from the camp trim. Mrs. Silviagod had to open my cans of beer that evening because of my sore fingernails. I thought of using the black Sikaflex adhesive/sealant I use to attach the body-kits with to repair the small holes, but if anyone can offer any better suggestions please let me know.

Painting:
Some call it a hood in a place where the fuel is cheap. It has taken a while to get round to doing this part and it is also a while since the last update. After breaking another Silvia it was time to tidy the untidy garage. It has taken 11 days and now it looks too tidy to work in. I have decided to paint the bonnet before the rest of the car so that it can be masked off to prevent problems with over-spray. Apart from getting new tyres and a few other small jobs I think that this is the beginning of the painting process.
The new tyres are fitted, the wheels are painted and on the bench hardening. After three very long days preparing the rest of the bodywork and nine hours of masking and another day cleaning and blowing dust out of the garage, the car is now painted and looking exceedingly good. Most of the trim is back on the car but I have not yet painted the door mirrors. I found another spot of rust inside the drivers door and that now has been attended to. Also two brackets that hold the rear trim to the tailgate were rusty and they have been painted too. The door cards have not yet been returned as I want to spray Waxoyl inside the doors before I can put them back and I want to leave the paint long enough to harden fully before I do it.
It looks like the 200SX Project is coming to the end of it's restoration/modifications. Or is it? I am thinking about an SAFC II next. I will also have to spoil it by fitting a front number plate. I could do with a holiday!
Well, I managed that holiday and spent two weeks in Jamaica. (I never saw a Silvia or a 200SX over there.) Now it is back to reality and I have completed the Waxoyling and am polishing away at the paint-work making sure the finish is acceptable. I also have hours of cleaning to do to the interior, painting underneath the side skirts and bumpers and the front windscreen wipers need painting. The photographs I think would have been better if we had proper daylight in this country. I haven't seen the ground dry since I returned from holiday!
All is complete now and the car goes through the MOT test next Wednesday, the interior is free from dust, the leather seats have been treated with a special polish and the front number plate is fitted. ETY the blue Silvia has just flown through the MOT and will be for sale. My bronze Silvia goes in on Friday so I paid for all three at once and got a good discount off the MOT price. I also did a little cleaning under the engine bay although it does need more, I decided to shine up the top of the inlet manifold and ended up going down the grades of abrasive paper and finishing with 1500's wet and dry. It took quite a few hours but I am very pleased with the results. Now it is done I have some extra 'bling' in the engine bay.

MOT test pass and Project Evaluation:
Oh what a traumatic day! I was very nervous on the day as I had never driven the car on the road, everything was above board and I had insured the car for 24 hours so that I was within the law for driving to and from the garage where it was booked in for the MOT test. I had a spare air-flow sensor in the back in case the emissions were too high a few tools and a tow rope. I got a couple of friends to follow me in their 4X4 just in case the car broke down and off I went. The drive down seemed very good and the car drove straight and felt very good. The gearshifts from the automatic seemed perfect and when I put my foot down it went like I was being catapulted. It was a cold day and unfortunately I managed to get some dirt on the car as the roads were greasy and full of salt. The other problem was that there was a little smoke coming out of the exhaust which leads me to believe that the turbo may be on it's way out. This may delay the time that the car will finally be used on the road.
The test itself was not free from trauma either. I had replaced all the stop/tail lamps to the back of the car and one decided to stop working and turn off the tail light when I pressed the brake. After a wriggle of the bulb in it's holder that was ok and then came the next problem. As I the lights were all on without the engine running the battery went flat. That was followed by another problem of the battery terminals being loose! They were tight before and now for some reason even with the bolts tight the terminals were still loose! That was fixed by putting a piece of solder between the clamp and the battery terminals and then came the next problem. The fuel flap that has always opened without fail decided not to open! After a good stretch with one hand pushing the lever and me pressing the flap near the front of the hinge I managed to get it open. Then came the moment I suspected that there could be a problem which was the headlamps. The side to side and the up and down alignment was perfect but the beam pattern kicked up to the right instead of the left. They would have been perfect on a left hand drive car but not for this country. The kind MOT man fitted a pair of beam deflectors on for me and said that if I could rotate each lamp so that the beam pattern kicked up to the left instead of the right it would be acceptable for MOT purposes.
Having got the MOT certificate I went for lunch with my friends and left the car at the garage so that he could carry out a four-wheel alignment out for me. Unfortunately the poor chap was having a bad day and the cars he was working on hadn't been finished. He had ordered parts and had been delivered the wrong parts so he was unable to carry out the checks on my car, so I took it back home and returned it to my garage. I enjoyed the drive home better than the drive there and managed to put my foot down a little. There was considerably more power there than what I expected and I am sure it produced a bar of boost and didn't hit the fuel-cut. This makes me think the ECU may have been chipped but I will find out more once it is on the road properly. The MOT tester was quite impressed with the colour scheme underneath the car and he also liked the rather large exhaust system I made for the car.
So, unfortunately the 200SX Project is not quite complete as there are now two more jobs to do to finish the project. The headlamp adjustment which will take a few hours and cost nothing and then the turbo problem. I will carry out a few other checks to make sure it is the turbo before I remove it and when I am sure it will be removed and sent away to be done properly so that when it comes back I will have the peace of mind that I won't have to remove it again for many years. I am very pleased with the way the car drove and it felt a little like a go-cart with very precise steering and very little body roll. Also the note produced by the exhaust was delightful.
Mrs Silviagod is very pleased too as there are no car parts in the front room anymore and now the Christmas tree is up in there. There are 2 pre-facelift S13 seats in the back bedroom though and an S12 seat and  front windscreen in the room in the loft but she hasn't mentioned those yet. The pre-facelift S13 front seats are for sale now so email me if anyone wants them. Also if anyone needs insurance for 24 hours on a car I found that Dayinsure at https://www2.dayinsure.com/retail/sec/cmNewBooking.aspx  can provide the cover for £10.50 and you can do it online and print out your cover note.

May 2006:
The car is now taxed and insured and is driving very well It has a new hybrid turbo fitted from Turbo Technics and I was a little concerned at first as there was still some smoke present in the exhaust fumes. After one blast of acceleration the smoke never came back and the only problem that remains now is that both the front and rear crank seals have a small drip from them. I may do the front seal soon but for the time being the rear seal can stay as it is because to replace that seal would involve the engine or the gearbox coming out the amount it is dripping is not sufficient to justify the job.

The next couple of modifications will be coming soon and one of them is an air/fuel ratio meter and the other will be an SAFCII. Some of the work for the air/fuel meter is already done as when I replaced the turbo I got another down-pipe with a Lambda sensor in it off a friend.

Progress is painfully slow as I am having to maintain 3 Nissan Silvia S12 vehicles and a house etc!

Headlamp adjustment and turbo repairs still remaining.

Extra space:
I have thrown up another little site with the intentions of improving it and adding more pictures. My web skills are only limited but I am trying to learn with the limited time I have available. Please have a look and feel free to offer suggestions.
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/silviagod/

Power Folding Mirrors:
Problem now resolved.