Sleep. An integral part of our daily routine that is required for our minds and bodies to function properly. Without it, we as humans begin to experience mood swings, lapse of memory and, inevitably, organ failure. Case in point, in August of 2005, a 28-year-old man from Korea finished playing 50 straight hours of battle simulation games on-line, then he unexpectedly died of heart failure, which had been brought on by exhaustion and lack of sleep.
If sleep is known as the necessity of life, two men, by the names of Sugano and Nakai completely disregarded it; both are employees of TEIN USA located in Downey, Calif. For eight months straight, Ippei Sugano, an ASE certified Toyota Mechanic from Japan and avid Rally competitor, and his apprentice, Katsuma Nakai, a skillfully masterful driver at touge (mountain pass) and ferocious autocross (gymkhana) competitor, sacrificed marriage, a social life and relationships with their families and loved ones in order to meet the dreaded November 3rd deadline known as SEMA. Their goal was to produce the biggest project that TEIN has ever encountered in its 25 year historyLooking to build upon a vehicle chassis that represented the echelon of the import lifestyle, it was no surprise that the Silvia S15 was selected as the weapon of choice for TEIN. Proven to be a formidable competitor among many of the top drifting and track super stars in the land of the rising sun, the S15 is renowned as a performance-capable car, coming in a close second to its older brother, the Nissan Skyline.
Scouring the western hemisphere for that "perfect ride," TEIN came across a rolling chassis from Autoconxion of Torrance, Calif. for a smoking deal of only $13,000. With car in hand, the two TEIN engineers equipped themselves with screwdrivers and ratchets, quickly stripping the guts of the S15 to the bare shell within a week's time. With precious time wasting away, the skeletal frame of what resembled a vehicle was hoisted upon a trailer and carted off to a shop in Anaheim where it received a complete acid dip to remove paint and unnecessary material. Reduced to bare skin metal, the vehicle was loaded back on the trailer and delivered to an undisclosed chassis fabrication shop where the complete makeover began for the next.
Retaining the factory SR20DET engine might seem like the logical solution for the typical buildup, but for the Kamikaze boys of TEIN U.S.A., the perfect power plant was a RB26DETT plucked from a BNR32 Skyline. Purchased from G-Speed of Gardena, Calif., the long block was used for the next two months to fabricate the custom engine mounts and front sub frame which pulled the engine 275mm, or 11 inches, back towards the firewall. Sporting a 1.5-inch lower center of gravity, a custom larger capacity oil pan, Tomei oil pump and custom oil sump pickup were fabricated to clear the steering rack. "We decided to move the engine back for improved weight distribution. The S15 with its SR20 engine in place and a full tank of gas registered a weight balance of 58.5 front and 41.5 in the rear. After full modifications and the RB26 in place, the scales read 53/47," stated Sugano.
For the rest of the story, along with more images, pick up the March 2006 issue of Import Tuner. On newsstands now!