-  About the Sil-Eighty  -

It's one of my favorite cars, if you're a Mako & Sayuki fan, it's probably one of yours as well. Nissan's Hybrid Wonder, the Sil-Eighty. Now this is where I get all car-techie, so if you don't want any of that, now's your chance to get out of it!

Nissan Sileighty *manga based stat Engine: SR20DET* Displacement: 1998cc Drivetrain: FR Length: 4540mm Height: 1290mm Horsepower @ rpm: 230 @ 6200* Torque (km.ft. @ rpm): 33.6km @ 4000 Aspiration: Turbo Width: 1690mm Weight: 1150kg You don't get many cars much better than this. Powered by an SR20DET (DOHC, Electronic Fuel Injection, TURBO) engine, the Sileighty was made to tackle mountain paths, chock-full of dangerous corners and hills. It's unique design and hybrid nature combines the best of two worlds, the Nissan Silvia, and the Nissan 180SX. As shown during the series, Mako has no problem dismantling competetors with the power of her car, her skill, and Sayuki's navigation.

Oooh, but this pretty picture of the Sil-Eighty (scanned from model kit box) is making you stay, right? ;)

Now the Sileighty is an interesting car... it's origins started with car accidents, which turned into a trend, and then the manufacturers realizing that they could cash in on the trend. Complicated?

Before I start, let me clear one thing up. The Nissan Silvia is the same thing as the American released Nissan 240SX. The Nissan 180SX is the same thing as the American released Nissan... 240SX HATCHBACK version with retractable headlights. Marketing reasons is why Nissan of America decided to keep both cars as "240SX," as they technically were the same vehicle, just with a different body style.

There is a difference between the Japanese and American 240/Silvias: In Japan, Silvias have three levels of trim (K's, Q's, J's) K's being the 2.0 Turbo charged SR20 engines which could pump out well over 200bhp, Q's being the non-turbo 2.0 liter engines putting out just around 150-170bhp, and the J's, being the economy model. K's, Q's, and J's directly refer to "King, Queen, and Jack." The American Nissan 240SX, although not as strong as their Japanese counterparts, did have larger engines, at 2.4 liters, but still at stock, only produced about 155bhp.

Back when Nissan was making lots of sports cars, namely the Silvia and the 180SX, many young 180SX drivers were out in the mountain paths (YES, mountain racing is quite true) or wherever, trying to drift. Results were usually unsuccessful, and many drivers ended their nights with smashed and damaged front ends. So you've just went broke buying your 180SX, how can you afford to pay for repairs??

Simple. Since the front end parts of Silvias were less expensive than that of the 180SX, and just happens to simply bolt on without many complicated steps, many 180SX drivers found themselves fixing their cars, replacing damaged front ends with ones that of a Silvia.

And just like that, a trend was born. 180SX drivers who didn't have busted-up fronts were replacing their front ends with Silvias. I wouldn't be surprised if some people intentionally drifted horribly to dent their front ends, just so they could have an excuse to hop on the trend. Before you knew it heavily modified street racing 180SXs with Silvia front ends were cruising around the streets of Japan.

It wasn't too long before Nissan realized what was going on around them, and they realized that: they weren't making any money from all of this! So, plans began to move... it wouldn't be good for Nissan's reputation to have built a car which was inspired by illegal street racing, so they kept production of the Sileighty very low key. And if I'm not mistaken, anywhere from 400-4,000 manufactured Sileighties were every made.

What's the difference between a manufacturer made Sileighty and a homemade Sil-Eighty? Well, first and obviously, the badge on the rear, which normally says "180SX" on a 180SX reads "Sileighty" on the factory manufacturer's car. And in order to entice people to buy the Sileighty, Nissan beefed up the car slightly, to give people notice. Factory manufactured Sileighties have an estimated 24.2 MORE hp, and 3.6 kms of torque. Now you've got a car that's ready to hit the mountains right out of the factory, without any outside tuning or modifications.

Nissan no longer manufactures Sileighties anymore, obviously. An estimated 5,000 180SXs are still built every year. The original manufactured Sileighties, however are hot commodities at car auctions in Japan, for example, one white Sileighty, going for a whopping 2.4 million yen, roughly the same price as the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R (a car that can kick any of our asses anyday) brand new! On a personal note, I would rather build my own Sil-Eighty out of a 180SX, and Silvia parts. Which I plan on doing before I die. ;)

Here's a crude example that I compiled of what makes a homemade Sil-Eighty
(I will take ZERO responsibility if someone at home tries this and f's up their own car.)

Mako's Sil-eighty can actually be argued if it's a true Sil-eighty. Anyone who's paid close attention will notice that the back panel of her car reads "180sx." As opposed to the actual Nissan manufactured Sileighties, in which the back panel actually reads "Sileighty." The argument of copyright laws is usually the final defense in why Mako's car still reads a 180sx badge, so that the series doesn't infringe that much into Nissan's products.

This information is thanks to the following site: http://totfc.net/tenshi/sileighty.html