Takahito Hasegawa’s day-to-day grind is at his shop 55Motors in Yokohama. About an hour or so out of Tokyo, he doesn’t just work nine-to-five and take the train home every single day like the majority of the city. He lives and breathes every duty required of him as a mechanic and shop owner, whether creating a complete car or performing simple maintenance. In fact, he sleeps at his shop at least 3 days a week to acquire shit done! With that said, his high quality of employment has built quite a long list of loyal customers to hold him busy. And when the amount of time of the night free up, he burns the midnight oil devoting his time to his stable of company demo cars. This has included everything from Civics, Altezzas and Lancers Kei cars and this ’91 Nissan Silvia.
Building a Silvia isn’t anything revolutionary. Hasegawa-san has always wanted to take a stab at it himself and build a car that wouldn’t become the perfect typical time attack or drift car, even though they’ve been done time and time again. He wanted to theme his S13 as a fun, amateur track car-something that represents his small shop and could relate to his customers more. After all, what number of us can drop hundreds and hundreds of dollars in aSo, with a blank canvas in front of him, Hasegawa-san started as to what he knew best, that has been simple bolt-on performance. The chassis received the whole nine yards including Zeal coilovers, larger sway bars as well as a six-point rollcage, plus updated control arms and cross members. The complete chassis was spot welded by Hasegawa-san himself for greater rigidity and strength.
Next, the owner upgraded the pads and lines with Endless parts whilst swapping in the GT-R master cylinder, brake booker and Skyline calipers for improved stopping performance. tire and WheelI Purchased 55 On It
Walking around on the front of your S13 and popping open the carbon-fiber hood, we spotted Hasegawa-san’s handy work even better. Upgraded enough to net about 350hp using all the parts his customers could afford, although the factory SR20DET wasn’t taken apart or rebuilt for crazy power. The motor received an HKS header, Trust/GReddy turbo, a larger intake plenum plus a Core’s exhaust to help maximize the most out of the 2. liter. Other bolt-ons included a larger intercooler, fuel pump, injectors, stiffer motor mounts and an additional oil cooler to ensure this car may be abused yet remain reliable on weekend track events.
The transmission remained stock except for adding a Cusco diff to transfer ability to the rear wheels better plus a carbon clutch to cope with the additional torque.
Beefing up the performance of the Silvia was a breeze. But the bigger challenge came with the body. Hasegawa-san admitted to us that he or she wasn’t a paint and body guy at all. He lacked experience but that didn’t stop him from doing it anyways. After seeking some advice coming from a local body shop, he tackled the TRA Kyoto widebody Rocket Bunny kit head on. Cutting the body and installing the fenders proved to be the most complicated job for him but nothing a versed mechanic couldn’t handle. The kit was installed perfectly giving the Silvia its aggressive and wideI Purchased 55 Onto It
Finishing in the project, the inside was stripped and due to the necessary equipment for racing with Recaro seats, Sabelt harnesses and Nardi steering wheel.
In person, this car appears to be an absolute beast on the outside, but Hasegawa-san stresses that this machine is reliable and street-driven. It’s got the best of both worlds and truly is the ideal demo car for this small shop we’ll now remember as 55Motors.