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Dean's S15

DeanS15

My car is so clean you could eat off it.
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ok, it's about time i put up a project thread after 2 years of never getting round to it. where to start.......some of this might be in the wrong order to what i did it, i dont remember exactly but this lot has been done over 2 years so please bear with me :thumbs:.

i bought the car from sva imports back in april 2008 after jez8553 talked me around to the s15. i had been considering a 350z, rx7 and evo, and i've never once regretted taking his advice due to the s15's exclusivity and looks.

the car was a virtually standard pewter silver spec r with 57k km on the clock, a rare hks kansai front strut brace, a nice new looking set of tein flex coilovers with edfc and a set of bronze enkei rc5 17's. that was it. otherwise dead standard, a nice and clean blank canvas.

first things first..........

this is as it was soon after picking it up


it wasnt long before i joined the sxoc and started to notice how cheaply you can get parts if you wait for the group buys and before long i had my hands on an apex type 1 intercooler, ths performance downpipe and elbow, s13 decat, uprated fuel pump and ngk 7's. i also bumped into sumo power at a show where they had all vat off on any order placed that day - so i put my name down for a nice new hks silent hi-power exhaust system. it seemed as though i was all set for stage 1......

engine.......

a trip to the rolling road expecting to get a good base figure showed detonation occuring due to a problem with base timing so i got the car home, spent a few days fitting the parts i had accumulated and took the car to jez at horsham developments to have it looked at - turns out the cas had been messed with but once he'd sorted it and fitted a greddy profec b2 boost controller and remapped it the smile was firmly back on my face.

fast forward a couple of months, i had already started to get bored of the t28r running out of puff at high rpm so started to explore other setups and collect 'bits', amassing a box full of stuff from a garrett 2871r turbo to z32 afm, apexi filter, apex hard pipes, nismo 740cc injectors, exedy hyper single clutch, arp head stud and nut kit, driftworks rocker arm stoppers, tomei poncams and type a valve springs, apex radiator, h-dev manifold and so on.......anyway after another trip to h-dev and another map, i was the proud owner of a freshly checked over and strengthened sr :D a later trip to the rolling road showed a good result, 357bhp/345lb/ft with room for improvement.........i have dressed the engine bay with lots of polished parts, painted rockers, samco hosing and decals as times gone on, but above all i like to make sure its always tidy :)





braking needed addressing..........

after putting a few miles on the new setup i decided that i needed desperately to uprate the brakes - having heard how aggressive the big brake kits from k-sport and d2 can be for fast road i looked into a dbpower big disc and pad conversion, opting for a 330mm grooved setup up front and 290mm grooved setup in the rear. running redstuff pads all round with db power braided lines and a bmc stopper on dot5.1 fluid. for the price and balance of what i required the setup works very well and continues to do so, the pads dont give off too much dust, the discs are wearing well and feel was improved 100%. i will swap the redstuffs for ferodos at some point but this is only due to cold bite, when warmed up they are very good.



 

DeanS15

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handling.......

i'd also been collecting handling parts over time too, db power again came through with some of thier godspeed anti roll bars and droplinks, apex lower brace bars, japspeed alloy upper rear strut bar, and subframe locking collars. these were all fitted apart from the locking collars which were a little too harsh for my liking. i now have poly bushes to fit and adjustable arms when they arrive :)



exterior.......

theres not much going on on the exterior, i ordered a greddy gracer front lip spoiler from the states which ties in well with the standard aero kit on the s15 and fits perfectly, and thanks to raytsang i got a set of aero spats which were all painted up and fitted asap. i have considered a couple of different kits quite seriously but for now i'm very happy with how she looks :nod:. i also got hold of a spare pewter bootlid from matt_s and de-spoilered the car while i was at it.



later on i decided that as much as i loved my bronze enkeis, they looked a little lost on the s15, so after much consideration i ordered a set of rota grid drift wheels from rarerims in 9.5 et30 and 8.5 et35 guise, and after a quick call to archenemy, arranged to have my rear arches rolled and the wheels fitted up - worked out perfectly i think.



interior.......

i found the standard s15 seats very comfortable, but not very hugging, and came across a set of nearly new cobra daytona recliners over on the sxoc for a price too good to turn down so i bought them. very nice seats and every bit as comfortable as the standards, along with the bonus of bigger bolsters and adjustable lumbar supports - these were coupled with some sparco 3 point harnesses and all in all i feel much more comfortable testing the cars ability now than i did before in the standard setabelt and seat combo. other than a set of sparco pedal covers, a few switches, gauges and controllers the interior is standard including the s15 standard issue scratched up centre console :wack:





this was a couple of months back after what seemed like a lifetime of crap weather



and heres as she stands now, sat in the garage with 2 coats of polish, ready to be rolled out on sunny weekends or to events and meets. it's gone from being a daily driver to begin with to now being my hobby and general ornament and i'm as happy with it now, if not more, than the first day i collected it.:nod:



and hopefully thats all of it up until now - i've got lots more in the pipeline to do to this car, nothing drastic for now just improving on what i think is already a fantastic car to drive, and so far i've thorughly enjoyed owning this car and being a part of this community and now that i'm up to date i'll keep this updated regularly like the rest of you do :thumbs:

i hope you like the pics as much as i like this car and apologise for the bloody great essay, you'll never get the time back it took to read it :p - i'm off for a cigarette........

DeanS15.
 

Nickichi

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long story but worth it. Its a brilliant looking car that shows u've looked after it well. hope my s15 will still be great after a couple of yrs of use on & off the track
 
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craig8585

I'm so cool, I have my own fan thread :p
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Awesome mate. Theres not much else I like more than a well kept S15 :)
 

S15AK

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Looks top class, defo one of the cleanest S15's on the site :) The missus gives me stick for cleaning mine too much, and its nowhere near as clean as yours!
 

DeanS15

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thanks for reading and your kind comments guys - took me ages lol.

steve-fctuning, got your reply buddy, i'm going to get a couple of things out of the way and come and see you about the nistune ;)
 
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Nice one mate!! Its about time you got a build thread up! :p

car has come along way and looks awesome! loving the seats and wheels :thumbs:
 

LuPix_S15

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Awesome write up mate!! And as everyone says it's gotta be the cleanest example I've seen (from underneath lol) :p


It's great to see you getting to the mods I wanna do cos at least you can provide advice and feedback :D It's always appreciated hearing what you have to say mate!!


Look forward to seeing what happens over the next few months :)
 

DeanS15

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thanks again for the kind comments - james you'll have to come out in it at the summer meet and see what you think mate :) very different power delivery to standard.
 
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Very nice and clean dean..

how much of a improvemnet you feel with the ARBs fitted? im looking at the godspeed ones
 

DeanS15

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Very nice and clean dean..

how much of a improvemnet you feel with the ARBs fitted? im looking at the godspeed ones
they are awesome mate - my coilovers are hard as nails and i still felt a massive difference after fitting them. its the back one that makes all the difference, the front ones only a little thicker than stock :)
 

DeanS15

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tiny update - can anyone spot whats now missing?



i'll give you a hint - its the most expensive rubber grommet in the world lol
 

DeanS15

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cheers mate, i tried and failed to find a proper solution and in the end stumped up for the moonface racing plug from rhdjapan - 22 quid for a rubber plug and bling sticker lol
 
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