SILVIA: Wheely Good Times Ahead

Those who were active on forums, going to meets or cruises back then would probably or most definitely know of, seen pictures or if you were lucky enough to have seen Fonzy's Celica in the flesh. I had actually met him through those platforms and later became friends with him. His car was the gateway into why I chose to head down the nineties styling route. I had met two of his friends who were down in Sydney from a car club in QLD - Auszoku. Very intrigued by how they modified their cars, I decided to register an account with the forum.

 Fonzy's Celica TA22

 Dan's S13 & John's K11 Micra

From the photos above, you can clearly see why I had an interest. From that point in time, not many cars were modified this way. Seeing Dan's S13 in person also sealed the deal on my route to going fifteen inches of glory. After joining the forum, I got to know the locals. With like minded people and general knowledge help regarding wheels, the Silvia would have wheely good times ahead of itself.

As stated previously, I limited my wheel choice to fifteen inches in diameter. I already knew from the get-go that I wanted to have genuine wheels, even though they costed a bit more than fake wheels, in the long run, it would have a better outcome - support real, not fake. The Speed Star Racing Longchamp XR4s seemed to be the perfect candidate going off my inspiration photo.

I had a look at the local marketplace to see if there were any available and to my surprise, a workshop called Otomoto who were then situated in North Parramatta were selling a pair, complete with original centre caps. Went for a short drive instore to have them picked up.

They needed a fair bit of work to look pretty again, but for the price I paid for them, it'll all be worth it in the end. Final size measuring at 15x7J A type, build date 83-3. Let me also just note that this is my first time for anything car related. I have never even serviced a car before this, let alone modify. Everything that I'm posting from here on out of the Silvia, is all a learning experience.

The hunt was on for another pair to make a complete set. I had reached out to Fonz to let him know that I was in the market for another pair and he happened to have a pair in 14x7J A type. Diameter being too small for what I was after, but he did state he had a set of Mark I's he was willing to let go of.

The price was too good to pass up, so I took ownership of them. Final size measuring at 15x7.5J B type & 15x7J C type, build date 87-7.

A quick test fit of the wheels seemed to turn out sweet. It was kind of hard to tell if they would fit inside the guards or not due to not having any suspension work done yet, although it did look promising.

Bolts and nuts have seen better days, so they were removed.

Having a look through the classifieds thread on Auszoku, I noticed that Dan was selling a few things that I wanted to purchase, one of which, a Bride back protector with the old logo. Seeing as the Silvia was a daily, that would be needed to decrease attention from the fact that, one: it's a bucket seat that can get you defected for which leads to losing demerit points and unnecessary money, and two: it's carbon kevlar which is more eye catching than the usual FRP. Another item he had listed was a LED RGB shift knob light. One thing lead to another and they were both mine.

A bit of a shame to hide that carbon kevlar weave, but simplicity is the key to brilliance.

Install was pretty straight forward. There's velcro strips along the inside edge of the protector which stick straight onto the fabric of the seat.