“MY 1990 S13 Silvia K’s has been the bane of my existence since I got it! I purchased it in early 2020, rescuing it from a shed it’d been sitting in since 2014. It was right before the dreaded spicy cough hit and the market for these car went bananas. She was honest but a bit beaten-up, and I soon discovered the CA18DET it came with was a dud.

So, between lockdowns, I swapped in a new marketplace-find CA in a mate’s shed. That engine changeover still wasn’t enough for the car to see the road, with wiring and fuel delivery gremlins grounding the car for a fair bit longer.

As far as Silvia’s go, it’s still a fairly standard car. Being a K’s it’s a factory turbo model, still running the tiny side mount intercooler, albeit with a bigger T28 from an S15. It’s still on the factory boost settings for now, with coilovers, the XR4 Longchamp wheels and R33 Skyline front brakes the only major modifications.

After a whole bunch of small issues and some decent rust repair – shout out to Gratiano Moro at Moro Accident Repair – it finally saw the road in mid-2022. I cruised it for a while, and then right-of-way argument with an SUV shortly after prompted a full respray back at Moro in the factory two-tone colours (my favourite part of the car).

Whilst undergoing the repairs, we also added a full Nismo bodykit with front lip, sideskirts and rear pods. I took on the Optima Ultimate Street Car in it earlier this year – which you can watch here – and had a blast! It did start breathing a bit of oil on the hot lap, but some head drains and a proper catch can will sort that.

It did also leave me stranded twice with a clogged fuel system, thanks to a rusty fuel tank which is a result of it sitting for seven odd years before I saved it. Massive shout out to my mate Jay Duca, who gifted me a mint S13 fuel tank in exchange for a solid handshake.

Future plans include making the most of the upgraded Deatchwerks fuel pump and Nismo fuel pressure regulator with some bigger injectors and an aftermarket ECU. With that and a front mount intercooler I should be able to squeeze around 250-300rwhp out of the CA18, and just enjoying it as a fun street and touge car!”