Signal SilEighty?

[blubaja]

Hey,
Have any of you modelers ever tried to make this?
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~benji...il-180%202.htm
It's the Signal Auto Sileighty. The blue n sparkles one. I have a Fujimi Silvia kit but don't know if I should get a Fujimi or Tamiya kit for the 180sx part. This is my first attempt at trying to combine 2 bodies. Any help would be awsome. Keep up the great modeling everybody. I plan on taking some pics of all my models, and posting them soon. Thanks,
Frank X.

[mike@af]

Sil-eighties have been made, but Im not sure if its the Signal Sil-Eighty.

Spooling was working on some Sil conversions, check his work out. Spoolins Sil Projects

[willimo]

You know, after all this time, I still don't fully understand why swapping the front clip of a Silvia to a 180 was beneficial. Is it cheap to find a front clip and weld it to the older car? Or is the rear suspension better on the older car than the new one? Just curious.

[kanseikid21]

i did this a loooong time ago..its one of the signal cars...but its not the original drifter x car (just imagine it with blue& sparkles) hmm. shoulda fixed my passenger side mirror lol




as for the 180 kit i would go with the fujimi since they are the only ones that make the type x version..the tamiya one doesn't have the kouki tail lights but either is good

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by willimo

You know, after all this time, I still don't fully understand why swapping the front clip of a Silvia to a 180 was beneficial. Is it cheap to find a front clip and weld it to the older car? Or is the rear suspension better on the older car than the new one? Just curious.

Because it looks cool...is that a good enough answer for ya'?

[nis.k.a.]

Originally Posted by willimo

You know, after all this time, I still don't fully understand why swapping the front clip of a Silvia to a 180 was beneficial. Is it cheap to find a front clip and weld it to the older car? Or is the rear suspension better on the older car than the new one? Just curious.

No welding involved. The only thing swapped out is the outer body parts like the fenders, front bumper, hood, lights etc. They don't actually cut a car and weld a different front clip. Similar to converting a US Integra to an ITR front-end.

[willimo]

Originally Posted by GTmike400

Because it looks cool...is that a good enough answer for ya'?

Actually, no not really...

Now it all just seems silly....

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by willimo

Actually, no not really...

Now it all just seems silly....

Why dont you write Nissan or Signal a letter why they made sil-eighties. I have no idea why except for the fact it looks pretty cool.

[erictk]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but IIRC, the Silvia front clip was cheaper to repair. A buddy told me that Toghe (and/or track drifters) drivers would originally do the swap because the mechanical pop up lights on the 180s were more expensive to fix when they slid into railings and such, whereas the Silvia with its fixed lights was cheaper to repair/replace.

The rims for that car look to be Volk GT-Ns. Has any manufacturer made those rims in scale before? If not, the CE28N's are kinda close with some painting.

[blubaja]

Hey,
Thanks so far guys. What rims are on the blue one? And does Fujimi or Aoshima make them?

kanseikid21, looks awsome!!! how'd you do the decals? I might do that version, depending on the paint. Thanks!! Frank X.

[youngdrifter_x]

i think they made the sileight because back in the day the like 89-94 they only had the s13 silvia...so first after people would wreck their 180's they would put the s13 because the lines match up perfectly...and the new silvias came out and they expiremented and blah blah..yeah. I think thats how it goes. thats my opnion. i'm goint to start build a signal sileighty. I have a signal shirt too! cost me to much though

[blubaja]

Hey,
What rims are on the blue Sileighty? And does Fujimi or Aoshima make them?
Frank X.

[Leon L]

Cost was indeed the original factor.
People would slam their 180's into a wall or something and find the new pop-up lamps extremely expensive to replace - it was cheaper to fit a Silvia front end (bolts straight on with a little rewiring for the lamps)

It would seem Nissan caught onto the trend and made a (limited) official factory run of SilEighty's.

The same used to happen a lot in the UK with the Vauxhall Nova - being a "boy racer" car, they get slammed into walls a lot, oh and they rust like hell. It's just as cheap and easy to replace the wings, lamps and grille with parts from a newer Nova (the facelifted model with a nicer front end) so lots of people do it.

[willimo]

Ok. I was curious about the whole thing. Thanks for cluein' me in... you know, if it ain't Honda I don't know squat about it. Thanks ya'll.

And sorry for derailing your thread, blubaja. You might be able to pass off some of the new Aoshima CE28's as the rims on your blue car.

[blubaja]

Hey,
Thanks all! Even if this thread did go a little off the tracks, I've learned some things about the car.
Frank X.