In the shed - Alex Littles 1JZ Powered Silvia
With the ready availability of world class car shows available to us in New Zealand, we sometimes forget how spoilt for choice we are.
Whether we are drooling over imports at the 4&Rotary Nationals, enjoying the sweet sound of muscle at beach Hop, or just hanging with a small group of enthusiasts who enjoy a particular platform on a Wednesday night in an underground parking lot, any itch we need scratched is available on tap.
And yet when we attend these shows and events, we tend to have a quick look, a bit of a yarn, and maybe snap a pic or 2 while not really considering what may be out there at this very moment being built.
...but on a mild summers night - if we are really quiet - we may hear the sound of someone swearing over losing another 10mm socket down the back of the firewall.
Today we bring you such a man who is bringing something to life that we think looks very special - introducing Alex Little and his Nissan S15 Silvia. But as some of you lads will have noticed, this is not ordinary Silvia, because it has the beating heart of one of Toyotas most sought after engines - the 1JZGTE.
As with most projects this started with a simple challenge from his brother - "If I were you I would buy a Silvia and put a 1JZ in it" His brother was no stranger to the 1JZ platform since he had hold of the legendary Toyota Chaser at the time.
The hunt was on. After searching long and hard for a Silvia that in Alex words hat not had "RFB detailing" and no rust, he managed to stumble across a bone stock S15 Spec S 20DE Automatic, and a the flame was lit for this project. After stripping everything back from the car that wasnt needed, he contacted the guys at Moonlight Racing to grab him a fresh 1JZ direct from Japan. After that it was picking up an R154 Gearbox from Toyota and piecing it all together which was the hard part.
Other notable goodies in the car at present are solid subframe bushings and diff bushings, and roll centre correction. Alex has changed all the arms beside the lower contol arms and installed all new dash 6 fuel lines from tank to engine. Of course he is running a fuel filter from Maniac Performance and 320lph aem fuel pump which in his words "will do for now" as the engine is running stock ecu. To make it all work - he has a fully custom pro series engine harness from wiring specialties which adapted the new 1jzx110 engine to a jzx100 ecu so that its able to work on the Silvia platform.
It doesnt stop there - the car has also been fully bedlined on the underneath, fuse box relocation to the cabin, running aem gauges all around, and all the subframe and bracing components where sand blasted and powered coated.
But Alex is not done yet - he tells us his goals for the car are to buy a link ECU and hot side and go for around 350kw at the wheels, which I am sure we can all agree is a worthy goal.
Driver Profile: Alex Little from Auckland
Occupation: Sparky
How long have you owned the S15? : Since December 2017
First car: Honda Integra B18C
Last car before this one: Nissan Skyline R34 25DET
Why did you choose this project? : I love the Nissan platform, but wanted a bit of reliability in the 1JZ engine
Where can our readers find you? Instagram is @alexander_little_ or you will find me at some local meets in the next few months!
Some pictures below for your pleasure!
