The Moment of Truth

The Moment of Truth

Call every car friend you have and get them to look at your installation and find your mistakes before you start the car. Meanwhile, you should be adding octane booster to that 87-octane crap you were running in the KA24.

Fire it up. When that doesn't work, your friends can help you diagnose it. If you need a wiring diagram for the Silvia, we found scans of the diagrams and much of the Australian service manual on www.silvia.hl.com.au.

When ours finally ran, we immediately set out on a 400-mile midnight drive through the most desolate twisty two-lanes in California. Stupid? You bet. But it was also inspirational. Despite tired shocks, blown bushings and an inescapable stench, the Silvia shows amazing potential. Blowing through a tiny stock exhaust, the engine makes far more torque than power and turbo lag is far worse than it should be, but it still cruises effortlessly at triple digit speeds and shows handling balance that rivals the much smaller Miata. This one will be a giant killer.