Looks Like An E46, Drives Like An S15

Drifters, you gotta love them! If it wasn’t for these bunch of guys and gals I don’t think half of the cool and crazy front and rear end swaps out there would ever have materialised. But, the reality of drifting is that sooner or later – no matter how good you are or how well your car is prepared – you will crash. And as Yuuya Yoneda tells us, if you’re not doing that, then you probably aren’t driving hard enough!

Larry_Chen_Speedhunters_BMW_s15-2

The fact that Yuuya’s Silvia S15 looks somewhat different than the day it rolled off Nissan’s production line should give you some idea of how hard he pushes it at the local drift track. It was a pretty hard head-on collision that led to the transformation – something that can be credited to Nagahama-san at N-Style.

Larry_Chen_Speedhunters_BMW_s15-6

Grafting a BMW E46 front end onto the car was not an easy feat. It took months of work – adapting the bumper, fitting and aligning the lights and blending the kidney grilles onto the Silvia’s vented hood. But it was all worth it as Yuuya is now the proud owner of one of the most unique S15s in the world.

CHEN6025

The SR20DET received some attention too, and is now fitted with a Trust T518Z turbo, big intercooler, and a pair of hotter cams. Tuning through an A’PEXi Power FC engine management system has netted a nice and reliable 400hp.

CHEN5756

The car sits on a set of GP Sports adjustable coilovers and there are modified knuckles in the mix to give it the sort of steering lock you need on a proper drift car. I’m sure you’ll recognise the wheels – RAYS Volk Racing TE37SLs measuring 18×9.5J up front and 18x10J at the rear with stretched 215-section rubber all round.

Larry_Chen_Speedhunters_BMW_s15-3

Simple mods follow in the interior with a Bride Brix II half-leather bucket seat, and the must-have Nardi steering wheel. Like most of N-Style’s cars, the S15 is driven daily so there was no need to fit a roll cage or strip the trim.

Larry_Chen_Speedhunters_BMW_s15-4

On top of the front end conversion, Nagahama worked his magic by blistering the fenders for added aggression and finishing off the exterior with a two-tone paint job: N-Style gold up top and a Honda white for the lower section.

All the cars we’ve seen from N-Style have ticked the right boxes, and for this reason it really makes me wonder what these guys will come up with next. Whatever it is, I’m sure it won’t disappoint!

Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: speedhunters_dino
dino@speedhunters.com

Pictures: Larry Chen
Instagram: larry_chen_photo

N-Style related posts on Speedhunters
N-Style Customs

ADVERTISEMENT

Comments



Comments are closed.

64 comments

by Oldest
by Best by Newest by Oldest
1

Great post as always, Stancehunters.

2
flatwoodsmonster

@Jake Laird You do know this car is active in the drift community right?

3
CharlesChris15

@Jake Laird jesus christ. all you do on here is complain about how they post things you dont like. This is an awesome s15 and if you don't like it, chances are its cuz you don't own it.

4
CharlesChris15

SH, good job. Never knew about such a unique s15. Ive seen some crazy ones, like the "demon" s14 that has the s15 "shell" featured a while back

5

Finally we see one of the most recognizable cars on here!

6

Why?

7

Took you long enough. I thought you guys didn' t remember about this car. Never thought the original S15 front end could get any better, until this. Cool car.

8

haha crazy and silly but looks awesome, like a squashed e46

9

Looks good kinda like "STREET MACHINE" in the seventies all over again.Ask bryn!!! More please...

10

Lovely paint, nice and crisp

11

Why.....Just why?  I guess i just don't get this kinda stuff.

12
LukeEVOLUTIONVIII

Love bride seats, bride low max buckeys alll day long

13

So it took you almost 10 months to post this feature? Why is that?

14

wow.

and not in a good way.

wow.

15
CharlesChris15

stance_is_dum telling by your name, i can see why you dont like this. But why was it necessary for you to hate in the comment section? just because you are able to post your opinion doesnt mean people will want to see you hating on something.

16

Not my cup of tea, but I can appreciate the amount of work it must have taken to get it to fit so flawlessly. Personally, I think it would look better with a more contrasting color scheme, pre-facelift headlights, and an M3 front bumper

17

Just looks odd to me. The E46 front end looks too fat and plump with the Silvia rear which looks thinner and more lithe to me. Something like an old BMW 850 front end might look better to me than this. Looks like nice body work and execution though.

18

Beautiful, This is a great piece of craftsmanship

19
InnerToxicity

Ah drifters, you crazy sunzabitches. Where would we be without your opinion-dividing builds to brighten our days and make us lol and double take on the regular =P
Seriously tho, if I wrote the front of my pug off my first thought wouldn't be "I wonder if I can stick a supra front-cut on there..." XD
Great car tho, well executed and doesn't look odd, and I like the mini features too =)

20
e30nothingbetter

Would love to see it in one solid colour, sti blue FTW

21

While I think the reverse would look even cooler ( S15 front clip on a E46 coupe ) I definitely can appreciate the work involved here. At first, it's easy to dismiss the idea as 'hacky' but once you see the seamless fenders and how it all integrated in the engine bay, it is seriously impressive. 

I love how the two tone contrasts with the two styles meshing, I only wish the rear was all white to contrast with the all gold front ;)

22

Great craftsmanship on the repair, but this only underlines the beauty of the original S15.

23

I honestly really like the new body lines, I'm not a fan of the two tone paint, I bet this would be a show stopper in a more conservative... Less bling paint scheme like graphite, or even just a simple single tone.
Killer car, I would gladly own!

24

This car is beautiful... never seen a conversion like this and seeing it now brightened up my day..very creative !!

25

That's a Honda City Turbo II Bonnet Bulge if ever I've seen one :p

26

Phishy The 850 that you suggested is wider than the E46...

27

Great getaway car if you thinking of robbing a bank! Well done owner/builder.

28

"ticked the right boxes"

Please come up with a new phrase to overuse in every single article. This one is getting stale.

29

It must be confusing for the cops...it was BMW, no a Nissan!

30

that first pic u guys got me!! i was like wtf cool

31
speedhunters_dino

CharlesChris15 LOL maybe you should come out to Japan and we can have you take ride with Yuuya around Nikko for a few laps...

32
speedhunters_dino

@zz :)

33
speedhunters_dino

Derelict Why not?

34
speedhunters_dino

yanes Yes it did haha

35
speedhunters_dino

nyrangers199 Ehm, why not?

36
speedhunters_dino

CharlesChris15 stance_is_dum So a drift car that sits low is bad? I don't get it. It drifts, that's all it's built for

37
speedhunters_dino

799kid Someone that appreciates :)

38
speedhunters_dino

Draklore It's all white now LOL

39
speedhunters_dino

Anthraxxx lol

40
speedhunters_dino

RacingPast Interesting way to think about it...

41
speedhunters_dino

@doublestuff LOL roger that

42

lol - I was going to say this car is all white now for the colour haters :)

I was so unsure about this car, but until seeing it first hand at Nikko, I wasn't going to commit to hatred, but as soon as i snapped it up front, close and personal, i gotta say - I love it. Hopefully 'Yonekan' will be back at Nikko in August so i can see any updates.. Good stuff larry/dino, think that's all of them covered now haha.. Maybe Dino can get some Monroe Walk or Wood Village car eroctica up here for the fans at some point?

43
speedhunters_dino

Roughsmoke It's on the exceedingly long list lol....

44

sorry to say, but i think this is ugly.

45

Hopefully another story on your own car is near the top of that list too please?

46
CharlesChris15

speedhunters_dino CharlesChris15 that would be awesome XD hahaha i wouldnt mind at all :)

47
mbretschneider

speedhunters_dino Roughsmoke Also team Mature, and the bunch of subaru drifters too! 
And you still owe me that off-road japanese story from 2012!

48
Jordan_Burgess

Don't normally like to fuel these internet fires but wanted to express my opinion. I really hate this kind of thing. I can't describe why. I just do not understand why anyone would want to do something like this. It baffles me that people think this looks good. I suppose it's because I know it's not supposed to look like that.. I once saw a Toyota Supra with an E60 5 series front end. Needless to say it was revolting.

Granted it is a clean build, I appreciate the time and effort, that it is his car he can do what he wants and he doesn't care what I think, that it is meant to divide opinion yadda yadda, all of that stuff that people are going to jump down my throat and say (so don't waste your time) but it is just not for me. People are going to call me a hater and tell me I just don't get it. I do hate it, and I don't get it.

49

BOOOOOOOOOO!

50

Nothing wrong. Just different. And I like it!

51

why bmw front end on s15? because driftcar!! :D
serriously though, this things so cool!!

52

If there are more E46s in the world than S15s, surely making an S15 look like an E46 causes it to be the "least unique" rather than "most unique"
Is it time for a philosoraptor?

53

Jordan_Burgess Your comment is mature and I agree 100%.

54
CharlesChris15

Chapppers your not thinking about the whole picture. The front end may look like every other bmw out there, but it drives nothing like a bmw like the title suggests. It is very unique in that sense.

55

Nice, so it's been awhile from what I read haha

56

I quite like the way an S15 looks and the way an E46 drives. Fantastic skills though by the way.

57
greenroadster

I normally hate this kind of tuning.
But in this case, I LOVE IT.
I don't know why but it is SOOOO right.

58
tenpennyjimmy

Ok… here i go.

It's not my cup of tea, but i have ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM with this car. What i have a problem with is all this BMW hate going down on Speedhunters :(

First we have the editor-in-chief describing two drop dead gorgeous e36 coupes as "jokes" (and quoting the cars' own creators as saying they were "shitty BMWs"). Ok so they were not fully built up mechanically, but they were only started a few weeks ago... give 'em a chance!

Now we have the esteemed Mr D C trumpeting a car because it "looks like an e46, drives like a Silvia" as though that were a really good thing. While i repeat i have no problem with this particular car, personally i'd rather have an e46 that drove like an e46. 

Amongst mainstream manufacturers, dollar for dollar, car type for car type, spec level for spec level, BMW make the best-handling cars out there and have done for GENERATIONS.

Take a look at Formula D. Ok so drifting isn't necessarily the be all and end all of driving, and Formula D isn't necessarily the be all and end all of drifting… but it makes for a useful comparison. The reigning champion's car is an e46 (with the same base engine model it came from the factory with - how many other Formula Drift cars could you say that about?) and there are currently zero s15 entered in the series. As for s-chassis generally, for all the tens if not hundreds of s-chassis cars that have been campaigned in the series over the years, an s-chassis has only ever won it once.

Ok… rant over. At the end of the day, although i am a "BMW guy" (well, duh) i like any and all cool cars. But why bash on the Bavarians, Speedhunters?

59

I love this thing. Everything about it.  Who would have thought that you could make these two cars work together?  That front end swap looks seamless!  Major props :)

60
Slappy Pistons

lol why not?  it's kind of like putting michael douglas' face on catherine zeta jones' body which is something i dream about on a regular basis.

61
Slappy Pistons

tenpennyjimmy Try not to infer too much from "looks like an E46, handles like an S15," because that is just a statement of fact; it doesn't actually criticise E46s in any way and nobody cares and if you start caring about what THE INTERNETS think you are just going to go insane and that won't be good for anyone so enjoy your E46 and whatever and continue posting and enjoying speedhunters and don't worry too much because for everyone that might say something derogatory about your beemer there are probably ten positive things people say about them all the time lol

62

Take the BMW badge off of it. It may seem like such a minor detail but it bothers me. It's a Nissan, not a BMW.

63

I love and respect the work that's gone in to this, but where I live the BMW 'face' mostly represents dickhead drivers and mums taking their kids to school in X5s. I'd much rather see an S15! 
I suppose it could be the opposite where these guys live, so, I guess well done :)

64

I love and respect the work that's gone in to this, but where I live the BMW 'face' mostly represents dickhead drivers and mums taking their kids to school in X5s. I'd much rather see an S15! 
I suppose it could be the opposite where these guys live, so, I guess well done :)

OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS