Heart Transplant

One of my buddies wrote off his Silvia S15 recently. He got himself 2 S14s to replace it. The first had a Tomei Power Complete 2.2 litre engine but the body was scrap. The second was an engineless body. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what needed to be done.

I didn’t get there till lunch time which already saw the engine free from the one engine bay. It was a good chance to see how they go in and what goes where. There were 4 professional mechanics/drifters/silvia experts on the scene so they made it look easy, but I did get to see and learn a few little things none the less. I gave my camera to another friend who was there to basically watch the guys play with their toys. It just so happens that she is naturally adept at taking pictures.

Whether it was the close friendship and trust or the skills involved, Everyone just set themselves a task and did it. There was no, “you do this, then that while I do this and the other” Everyone did what had to be done. If they finished they moved onto whatever else needed doing. Right from the get go I was not just a spectator. If there was something I could do, I helped out. Alot of it was just listening to what people were saying. often someone would ask what size socket certain bolts were or passing screwdrivers from the guys in the boot to the guys under the car.

But I did also tighten the intercooler seals, and help with the removal of one dashboard and the replacing of the other (so they could swap out the wiring and ECUs) Also removed a fender and a bunch of other little things from the donor car. so I wasn’t in the way even if I didn’t do more than speed things up by a few minutes. I was still happy that I could do something while I watched and learnt.

I scored a free radiator too. It’s stock but it’s from a later year than mine so it is slightly larger. I am fairly confident I can install it too.. though it will likely take me a full day with a good few checks on some of the online resources when my memory of today fails me… When I have gotten my new cams, injectors and ECU I will look into doing just that.

Everything went like clockwork and there were no major problems that couldn’t be solved quickly and efficiently. While they made it seem like simple routine, They still did a complete heart transplant  in a 9-5 time period.

The sun went down, the car started up and the tools were packed away. The suspension and roll bar will be done during the week by the owner of this new Frankenstein drift monster.