Welcome to Another Episode of Mighty Car Mods: The Japanese Car Auction and the S15 Silvia

In a previous episode, we took you on a journey to the Japanese car auction, where we picked up our new ride. This time around, we're excited to reveal what car we bought and what we had to do to get it on the road in Australia. But before we dive into that, let's take a little trip back in time.

I remember being in the mid-90s, rolling around in my VL Commodore with my mates, and making some cash by dressing up as a giant mobile phone at the local shopping center. I eventually saved up enough cash to buy my first import, an S3 Nissan Silvia. However, I had a few problems with that one, so I used the insurance money and imported my first car from Japan - a 1994 Nissan 180SX.

The day it arrived in Australia was under all that dirt and filth, but what shone through was the famous SR20 engine, the same one that my Sylvia had. We got modding of course and added a front mount intercooler, coilovers, pod filter, blowoff valve, and a boost controller with a bar of Boost along with a full 3-in exhaust before completing a TUX conversion with a Vertex kit. It was an awesome car, but for some reason, I sold it and bought something else.

We don't talk about that anymore, after spending my first homeowner's Grand on petrol, I sold the Jeep for something more economical. Mighty Mods was born with the Datsun 280Z from our very first episode. Many more cars have since been purchased, but pertinent to our story is the all-wheel drive Nissan GTI, which we used for episodes 4 to 10. This little rocket also came equipped with the SR20 engine, the same one found in the Sylvia and the 180SX.

Without further ado, in memory of my very burnt S3 Sylvia, I'd like to introduce a little friend of mine - he's an Nissan S15. These cars are awesome, both as street cars, track cars, and drift cars, and anyone into performance cars would be very familiar with what they're capable of. In Japan, they call these things "strawberry" because of their strawberry red color.

We're going to take you back to Japan and show you how we got this car here. We won the car, and now it's our car - we own it, and we're shipping it back to Australia. Once the car arrives in Australia, it needs to go through customs and pass quarantine. All cars less than 30 years old brought into Australia need to be complied by a certified Workshop, depending on the car they may require new seat belts, child restraints, tires, a catalytic converter, and side intrusion bars amongst other things.

The cost varies depending on the car and how much work needs to be done. After a full service, you'll need to get a blue slip to prove that it's roadworthy and then a compliance plate with a green slip in hand - you can get the car registered, but not until you've got an approved alarm and immobilizer. Andrew from Rhino installed a REV 3, which has an inbuilt inverter, making sure everything is legal.

Now that we have our S15 Silvia, there's one thing we've neglected to tell everyone: what did you buy a car for? You bought the S15 Silvia.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ensee oh see buddy what what it's green man let's go welcome to another episode of Mighty Car Mods in a previous episode we took you to the Japanese car auction so we could pick up a new ride and this episode we reveal what car we bought and what we had to do to get it on the road in Australia but first we need to take a little trip back in time this is me in the mid90s I'm rolling in a VL commodor busting out with my mates on an xr250 and making my cash by dressing up as a huge mobile phone at the local shopping center I eventually saved up enough cash to buy my first import and S3 niss and Silvia but I uh had a few problems with that one so I used the insurance money and imported my first car from Japan a 1994 Nissan 180s X this is the day it arrived in Australia and under all that dirt and filth is the famous SR20 engine the same one that my sunburn Sylvia had we got modding of course and added a front mount inter cooler coilovers pod filter blowoff valve and a boost controller with a bar of Boost along with a full 3-in exhaust before completing a typex conversion with a Vertex kit yeah it was an awesome car so fantastic itic that for some reason I sold it and bought this but we don't talk about that anymore after spending my first homeowners Grand on petrol I sold the Jeep for something more economical and mighty mods was born with the D hatsu from our very first episode many more cars have since been purchased but pertinent to our story is the all-wheel drive niss and GTI which we used for episodes 4 to 10 this little rocket also came equipped with the SR20 the same engine found in the Sylvia and the 180sx so without further Ado in memory of my very burnt S3 Sylvia I'd like to introduce a little friend of mine he he so there it is it's an Nissan S15 they make awesome street cars track cars drift cars of course and anybody that's into performance cars would be very familiar with what these things are capable of did you know Martin that in Japan they call them a strawberry why you look really interested dude because they're an s155 one in Japanese is itchy five is got itchig got is Japanese for strawberry anyway so we're going to take you back to Japan and show you how we got it here they call him a strawberry dude this is the cleanest original S15 we've ever seen thank you n we won the car this is our car we own it we're shipping this back to Australia and uh I'm excited once the car's purchased the agent needs to deregister the car in Japan and transport it to the ship there'll be an fob charge which includes everything all the way from the car rolling onto the ship in Japan when the car arrives in Australia it needs to go through customs and pass quarantine all cars less than 30 years old brought into Australia need to be complied by a certified Workshop depending on the car they may require new seat belts child restraints tires a catalytic converter and side intrusion bars amongst other things the cost varies depending on the car and how much work needs to be done after a full service you'll need to get a blue slip to prove that it's roadworthy and then a compliance plate with a green slip in hand you can get the car registered but you can't ensure an S15 unless it has an approved alarm and immobilizer so Andrew from Rhino installed a REV 3 which has an inbuilt turbo timer if the alarm goes off while it's cooling down it'll cut the turbo timer off the mobilizers will be kicked on S will go off the brakes these engines respond really well with better flow so our first upgrade is a full turbo back performance exhaust which we're going to install with a bit of help a 3-in system will give you about an extra 25 KW on this car and coupled with a tune we should see gains of over 40 KW first up off with the old system we're installing an X4 system with a verax muffler which comes with a motor that activates the valves so you can adjust the performance and volume of your exhaust from as quiet a stock through to a track ready straight through system all controlled with a small remote control the modules can also be set up to open at specific RPMs by reading the ignition signal okay so the old systems removed what's the lowdown Marty so the difference between the factory exhaust and the aftermarket exhaust we're putting on comes down to flow more flow means more power starts right here in the dump pipe you can see the difference in size there the original exhaust is 2 and 1/4 in this one's three we go through to our high flow cat then as we move to the center Muffler you can see where the exhaust pipe size steps down creating restrictions you go through to the rear Muffler you can see the worlds where the chambers are the exhaust gas has to flow through those it's a reverse flow Muffler meaning that it has to change Direction with this verax you can choose and if you want you can have it straight through means less restriction more power so what's the deal with gaskets it's always better to use genuine gaskets on uh parts that are going to bolt up to the face of the turbo or the head um on the rest of the system it's okay to use the supplied aftermarket gasket but never ever use them on turbos it's always best to use genuine gaskets why is that uh because the gasket that's supplied uh are normally cheap um they're a composite gasket made of two skins of she uh thin sheet with a graphite substance in between uh which can easily blow out under the extreme pressure of turbos whereas the genuine gasket is just a far better quality gasket make sure you use an appropriate sealer on the gaskets and don't use superglue with the exhaust all fitted up we're going to do a quick debel test to make sure we're legal and it's all good so there it is niss S15 Silvia there's Parts everywhere the easy to modify and great fun to drive now there is one thing Marty that we've neglected to tell everyone what's that well dude you bought a car to\n"