Engineering:Nissan Sileighty

Nissan Sileighty
The Sileighty, using a 180SX body and an S13 Silvia front-end
Overview
Manufacturer	Nissan
Also called	Nissan Onevia
Production	1989–1998
Assembly	Japan
Body and chassis
Class	Sports car
Body style	2-door coupé (Onevia) 3-door fastback/hatchback (Sileighty)
Layout	Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Platform	Nissan S platform
Related	Nissan Silvia (S13) Nissan 180SX Nissan 200SX (Europe) Nissan 240SX (North America)
Powertrain
Engine	1.8 L CA18DE I4 1.8 L CA18DET turbo I4 2.0 L SR20DE I4 2.0 L SR20DET turbo I4
Transmission	4-speed automatic 5-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,475 mm (97 in)
Length	4,480 mm (176 in) (Sileighty) 4,520–4,540 mm (178–179 in) (Onevia)
Width	1,690 mm (67 in)
Height	1,290 mm (51 in)
|uk|Kerb|Curb}} weight	1,170–1,270 kg (2,579–2,800 lb)

The Nissan Sileighty (日産 シルエイティ) is a Japanese automobile based on the Nissan Silvia S13, a small sports car produced by Nissan based on the Nissan S platform. It is created by combining the front section of a Silvia with the hatchback body of a Nissan 180SX, which is a representative example of a modification known as a "front-end swap" (i.e. replacing the front portion of a car such as the front bumper, fenders, headlamps, etc. with those from a different model).

The Sileighty is a common nickname for the Silvia-180SX combination (excluding official Kid's Heart models). Officially, the combined car retained its official name as the 180SX and was never referred to as the Sileighty, however, Nissan later registered the name as a trademark, making it exist as an official model name (see "Kid's Heart version" below).

A related model known as the Onevia (オネビア) was created as the opposite of the Sileighty by combining the front section of a 180SX with the notchback coupe body of a Silvia, which was never officially offered by Nissan in Japan and other parts of the world except in North America, which was sold as the coupe and convertible version of the 240SX for that region.

Name

The name comes from a combination of "Silvia" (the front half) and "180SX" (One-Eighty, the rear half), referring to the two halves of the cars that are used to create the vehicle. Conversely, the reverse is true for "Onevia", which in this case stands for "180SX" (One-Eighty, the front half) and "Silvia" (the rear half).

History

A Sileighty drifting at a D1GP event in 2006 during a practice run

It has become well-known among the Japanese hashiriya (street racers in Japanese) that the origins of what would eventually become the Sileighty came about when early street racers had 180SXs with damaged front-ends during races or practice runs. In order to save costs on restoring the front-ends of their 180SXs (of which the 180SX front-end with the retractable headlights would be too expensive to procure at the time), they would most likely replace them with the ones from an S13 Silvia due to the inexpensive nature of the S13 Silvia front-ends. Another factor was to replace the retractable headlights of the 180SX with the fixed relampable headlights of the S13 Silvia in order to save on weight.

The earliest documented example of such a modification was featured in the "TEST on ROAD" section on the August 1989 issue of Option magazine. It was a complete car built by a shop in Tokyo based on a then-relatively new 4-speed automatic 180SX with light tuning such as boost upgrades, on which the front section of a Silvia was transplanted. This car was known as the "Silvia 180SX", as the Sileighty name had not yet been coined.

When the S14 Silvia arrived in late 1993, it was a major departure from its S13 predecessor. The new car was redesigned significantly (meaning less compatibility with parts from the previous model) and also increased in size, which affected initial sales and popularity due to the higher road taxes for Japanese buyers imposed by the Japanese government regulations for vehicle body size. On the other hand, the 180SX, which was based on the same S13 chassis as the outgoing S13 Silvia, had a much more reasonable size that met Japanese government regulations for vehicle body size, meaning lower road taxes for Japanese buyers. At this time, most street racers who were thinking of switching to the new S14 opted to stick with the S13 chassis 180SX for the above reasons, and the creation of the Sileighty, which allowed the 180SX to be modified with the front-end of an S13 Silvia, soon gained popularity.

A model car of a Sileighty based on its appearance in Initial D

In later years, the Sileighty gained further recognition in popular culture both nationally and internationally such as Initial D (where it was featured as the car driven by Impact Blue drivers Mako Sato and her navigator Sayuki during the first few chapters in the manga and in the First Stage anime), Gran Turismo (where it was featured as the unofficial model based on the one featured in Initial D in the first two games as well as the Kid's Heart version in later games), and Tokyo Xtreme Racer (where the Sileighty appeared in Software:Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero, Software:Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift and Software:Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 and the Onevia appearing exclusively in Drift 2). In Japan, it gained prominence following its appearance in Motor Magazine Co.'s Holiday Auto biweekly automotive magazine and as a model car in Tomy's Tomica line. The Sileighty also spawned off a parody vehicle featured in Option magazine called the "Nissan Celeighty" (日産・セルエイティ), which featured a literal cut and shut (or nikoichi (ニコイチ), meaning "two-in-one" in Japanese) vehicle created by welding the front-ends of a Toyota Celsior (Japanese model of the Lexus LS 400) onto another car; this car also appeared in Atsushi Arino's manga, Kan Touge.

Kid's Heart version

On May 1, 1998, Japanese tuning company Kid's Heart released a limited run of Sileighty vehicles commissioned from a Nissan-affiliated dealer, with about 500 units being produced. Built on the late model ("Kouki") 180SX, these were official models that could be serviced at Nissan dealerships nationwide. Engine choices were the naturally aspirated SR20DE and the turbocharged SR20DET, with the same 140 or 205 PS (103 or 151 kW) as a standard 180SX. A five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic were available. Standard equipment included N1 headlights, a fin-type grill, an Aero Form bumper, side skirts, and "专用" (meaning "dedicated" in Japanese) logos in the front fenders and the rear. A NISMO limited-slip differential (LSD), a revised suspension system with stiffer springs and ECU tuning were also included as an option. Engine tuning options bumped up power outputs of the turbo engine to 230 PS (169 kW) at 13 psi (0.9 bar) of boost. Five color options were offered: Yellow, Spark Silver Metallic, Midnight Purple Pearl, Super Black, and White.

Even though the Sileighty was merely a common name for the car originally and the official name remained as 180SX, the Kid's Heart Sileighty was the only one officially granted permission by Nissan to use the registered trademark (registration number 5118200), making it in effect an official model.

Overview

The S13-chassis Nissan Silvia and 180SX, of which the parts of the Sileighty is based on

The S13 Silvia and 180SX are based on the same chassis and body structure despite being separate models sold commercially, and as a result, the compatibility of parts between the two cars are high. The Sileighty utilizes this characteristic to its advantage, creating a unique modification that uses two sections of both vehicles to create a single vehicle.

An unofficial Sileighty

To create the Sileighty, the front-end exterior parts from an S13 Silvia (such as the bumper, fenders, hood, and headlamps) are retrofitted into the body of a 180SX. These same modifications can also be applied into the 240SX hatchback sold in North America as well as the RS13U 200SX hatchback sold in other countries such as the United Kingdom among others.

Because the Silvia has a shorter front overhang than the 180SX, the overall length of the Sileighty is reduced to about 4 cm (40 mm) (equating to about 448 cm (4,480 mm) in total length), which violates the Japanese Government's Road Vehicle Act of 1951 on safety standards for road transport vehicles (Ministry of Transport Ordinance No. 67 of 1951) if it is driven on public roads. Therefore, it is necessary to either undergo a structural modification inspection to obtain a new vehicle inspection certificate or to install aftermarket aero parts to extend the overall length and make it roadworthy. Because the body monocoque remains unaltered, it is not a true "cut and shut" or nikoichi (ニコイチ) vehicle.

1993 Nissan 240SX LE coupé, similar to the Onevia

By using the front-end exterior parts from a 180SX onto the body of an S13 Silvia, another unique modification is created. This is essentially the opposite of the Sileighty known as the Onevia. While this model was never officially sold in its home region of Japan nor in other countries of the world, it was officially sold in North America as the 240SX coupe and convertible, which has the 180SX/240SX front-end on an otherwise S13 Silvia coupe body. On the other hand, applying the S13 Silvia front-end onto the body of a North American 240SX coupe and convertible essentially creates a left-hand drive version of the S13 Silvia, sometimes known as a "JDM conversion".

Variations

A Sileighty with the front end of an S15 Silvia

While the Sileighty most commonly refers to a modified 180SX with the S13 Silvia front-end, variations of this approach using the front-ends of the vastly-different-in-design S14 and S15 Silvia models have also been produced. The variant with the S15 front-end is sometimes referred to as the "strawberry face" Sileighty due to the fact that the number "15" in the model code of the S15 Silvia also means "strawberry" in Japanese. A similar rendition of this approach can also be found on the S14 Silvia, where it can be modified to use an S15 Silvia front-end.

Unlike the S13 Silvia, however, the S14 and S15 Silvias have significantly different body structures from each other including the S13 Silvia and 180SX, and thus required major modifications to the body panels (the same applies to the S14 Silvia example above). However, due to the popularity of the S13 and consequential demand, aftermarket parts manufacturers have sold conversion parts for creating these types of vehicles. These modifications makes the car somewhat similar (but not exact) to a true "cut and shut" or nikoichi (ニコイチ) vehicle in that the body structure has to be modified in order to accommodate the new parts as compared to using parts that shared the same body structure.

See also

• Nissan Silvia — Original notchback coupe model of the S13 generation with fixed headlights, of which the front-end of the Sileighty is based on
• Nissan 180SX — Three-door hatchback model of the S13 generation with retractable pop-up headlights, of which the middle and rear portion of the Sileighty is based on
  • Nissan 200SX — European version of the 180SX
  • Nissan 240SX — North American version of the 180SX, of which its coupe body style for the S13 generation is based on the Onevia