1987 Nissan 200sx NICO Forums Ride of the Month for July 2009

      

Chris Fadul (zilvia_brothers) 1987 Nissan 200sx

It all started back in 2001 when I was 17 years old junior in high school.At that time I just got my license and working.I’ve always loved cars so by the time I got my license I wanted a car to fix up.At first I was looking into getting an mkIII Supra but could not find a decent one.I couldn’t wait for a car so my uncle wanted to give me his 1987 200sx SEV6 since he just bought another car and rarely uses it. I wasn’t ecstatic about it since it wasn’t the car that I was looking for and it needed a lot of work such a new paint job and new upholstery since the dash was cracked and door panels was just falling apart.I shouldn’t be complaining since the car was free.

Exterior:
H4 headlights with city lightsMkI marker lightsJDM s13 bumper lense
Interior:
S13 momo hub320mm momo monte carlo     steering wheelnrg quick releasesony head unitSun auto shift knobMkI shift boot
Engine Mechanical:
No name air filterCustom 2.5 catback exhaust     with Megan canister tipS13 shifter
Wheels and Tires:
16×7 Ford Crown Victoria rimsNitto Neo Gen 205/50/16
Suspension
Canuck Motosports springs280zx Tokico Illuminas –     frontsz31 300zx Tokico Illuminas –     rears

After having the car for a couple months I wanted to start modifying it already so I searched for after market parts and was very disappointed since there is practically no aftermarket support.With that I literally gave up on the car and wanted to get a car with aftermarket support.I drove the car for another 2 years until I found a 1993 Acura Integra GS-R.I started modifying the Acura while the Nissan sat in the backyard collecting dust.The only time it got driven was when I had the integra at the shop being fixed or just started every morning for 15 minutes.The integra’s life only lasted for 3 years due to thieves.Right before the car got the stolen I had the Nissan up for sale and no one wanted to buy it.I was looking for another car to modify so I went on a hunt for another car to fix up but my parents didn’t like the fact of my car getting stolen so they told me to stop fixing up cars.

It was the year 2006 when I started the Nissan’s transformation.This time I was determined that thieves was not going to stop me in building my project.I started researching everyday about the car and what parts I can use on the car.I stumbled on a forum (www.club-s12.org)that’s dedicated for the 200sx.The forum was really helpful and that’s when I was decided that I’m going to fix up the Nissan.Certain 240sx parts would fit also so I gathered certain s13 parts as well

2007 was the year of collecting parts.The progression of the car was slow since this time around I wanted to fix up this car right.So I gathered up parts first before actually installing.The first thing I did was saving up for some rims. One lucky day I was browsing through the web and saw a set of 16x7Ford Crown Victoria rims for dirt cheap.I knew I couldn’t pass it up so the next day I scooped the rims.Next was suspension, there is only one company that makes springs which is Canuck Motorsports.Luckily a fellow member was selling his set and a pair of z31 tokico illuminas for the rears.All I needed was the front shocks.I sourced ebay and found a brand new pair of tokico’s for the fronts.Since the suspension was done next was the interior. The dash looked horrific so I got a dash from another member from the forum.Once I got the dash I got a momo hub, nrg quick release with a momo steering wheel. I also changed out the stock s12 shifter to a s13 shifter to make it shorter instead of having the long truck like shifting. The other s13 part I got was the jdm s13 bumper lense that fits perfectly with the s12 bumper, only thing that I had to do was wiring to make it work.I also gathered up some mkI s12 parts such as the marker lights and shift boot.In order for the markers to work I had to cut the grill in order for them to fit.After almost a year of gathering parts I decided it was time to put it together and with the parts on it now that’s how the car currently stands..

Engine wise I decided to stick with the VG30e since I don’t want to hassle with cops about swap motors and smog issues. the only mod was an air filter and a custom 2.5 catback exhaust with a Megan canister exhaust.

Now that I look back I was very happy that I didnt sell the car. I still have a long way to go until I’m completely satisfied with it but currently I’m happy on the way it looks right now.To get it to this point it took a lot of learning experience from my previous project.I know for the fact I would want to have too low of a car since I still have to make it up on my driveway since I would not want to park it ouside since the other car was stolen in front of my house.

The whole point of this build is to be different since I rarely seen these fixed up and this project is more of a restoration than a track car. Some day I’ll hit up the track. As of now its just a lightly modded street car rolling on the streets of Los Angeles.Future plans is to get the car into show quality and enter it just to get the chassis a little bit more recognition