Nissan 200SX and Silvia S13, S14 aero guide: body kits and what fits

If you are buying aero parts for a Nissan S13 or S14, the first thing to pin down is not the style but the body. The S13 came as a Silvia coupé (including the SR20-engined PS13) and as a pop-up headlight hatchback, sold as the 180SX in Japan and the 200SX in the UK. The S14 is wider and shares almost nothing at the front with the S13, and its 1996 facelift (Kouki, often called S14a in the UK) changed the bonnet, wings, headlights and front bumper. Get the body right and the rest is easy. This guide covers each version, the kit styles we make for them, and what changes between a street car and a drift car.

Every "X style" part in this guide is made in our own moulds, in our UK and EU workshops, to follow that design. They are not genuine parts from those makers, and we are not affiliated with Rocket Bunny, TRA Kyoto, Vertex, Top Secret, Voltex or Origin Lab.

S13, PS13, 180SX and 200SX: which car do you have?

The S13 family is where most of the naming confusion starts. Here is the short version.

• S13 Silvia coupé (1988 to 1993). A notchback with fixed headlights and a separate boot. Early cars had the 1.8 litre CA18DE or CA18DET. From January 1991 the Silvia got the 2.0 litre SR20DE and SR20DET, and those cars carry the PS13 chassis code. A small number of convertibles were built as well.
• 180SX (1989 to 1998). The Japanese hatchback: same platform, but with pop-up headlights and a tailgate. Chassis codes RS13 and, with the SR20 engine, RPS13.
• UK and European 200SX S13 (RS13U). This was the hatchback, not the coupé. It used the 180SX body with pop-up headlights and the CA18DET engine. The Silvia coupé was not sold new in Europe. Production ended in December 1993, but UK dealers sold from stock until the end of 1994.
• 240SX. The North American name, with the bigger KA24 engine, sold as a coupé and a fastback.

The blue car above has the S13 coupé body that Japan sold as the Silvia: fixed headlights, a separate boot and a spoiler on the boot lid. A 180SX or UK 200SX has the same doors and sills but a different nose and tail. In practice that means:

• Front bumpers, bonnets and front wings do not swap between the coupé and the hatchback. Our PS13 bonnet and PS13 ducktail spoiler are for the Silvia coupé only.
• Side parts are shared. Our S13 side steps fit the Silvia, the PS13 and the 180SX, because the sills are the same.
• A Sileighty is a 180SX wearing the Silvia front end. Japanese tuner Kid's Heart built 500 of them, and many more owners have done the swap since. Tell us if your car is one, because it takes Silvia front parts and hatchback rear parts.

Everything we make for these cars is in the S13 category, with coupé-only parts in the PS13 category.

S13 aero: front, sides, rear and wide body

This hatchback shows the S13 face most UK owners know: pop-up headlights, here raised, over a lower aftermarket bumper with a lip. For the front end of an S13 hatch, there are two routes.

• Keep the bumper you have and add a splitter. The S13 176 cm front splitter is a flat blade that mounts under the bumper, with adjustable support rods. Read our front splitter guide before you choose the height.
• Change the bumper. The RB style V2 front bumper fits the S13 hatch, 180SX and 240SX fastback. It is the bumper only, with no fitting kit.

At the rear, the Top Secret style diffuser is listed for the S13 and PS13. A Voltex style diffuser and rear spats are in the S13 category too.

The RB style V2 wide body kit

The orange hatchback above shows what a bolt-on wide body does to an S13: the arches sit proud of the original body, held on with exposed fixings. Our S13 hatch RB style V2 wide body kit is built on the same idea. The base kit has the front bumper, side skirts, front flares at +50 mm per side (with bumper extensions) and rear flares at +80 mm per side. The full kit adds a front splitter and a canard set. With 50 mm more per side at the front and 80 mm at the rear, standard S13 wheels look lost in the arches. The original arch lip also normally has to be trimmed behind the flare before a wider tyre will clear it, so choose the wheels before the body shop starts cutting.

S14: wider, and two different front ends

The S14 Silvia arrived in Japan in late 1993 and reached the UK as the 200SX in 1995, with the SR20DET turbo engine. There was no S14 hatchback: the 180SX carried on in Japan instead. It is wider than the S13: 1,730 mm against about 1,690 mm, with a 50 mm longer wheelbase. That is why S13 and S14 body parts do not swap, even where they look alike.

In 1996 the S14 was facelifted. Japanese owners call the early car Zenki and the facelift Kouki. In the UK the facelift is usually called the S14a. The headlights are the easy way to tell them apart.

	S14 Zenki (early)	S14a Kouki (facelift)
Years	1993 to 1996	1996 onwards
Headlights	Softer, rounded shape	Sharper projector headlights
Tail lights	Early lenses	Tinted lenses
Bonnet, front wings, front bumper	Zenki parts only	Kouki parts only
Our front bumpers	Version 1 (Rocket Bunny style)	Vertex style, Rocket Bunny Boss style
Parts that fit both	Boss V2 style front, side skirts, diffusers	Boss V2 style front, side skirts, diffusers

The red drift car above is a Zenki: look at the rounder headlights. The green car below is a Kouki, with the sharper facelift headlights, a vented bonnet and a front splitter held by support rods.

Two things to check before you order front parts for an S14:

1. Look at the car, not the logbook. Zenki to Kouki conversions are common, and so are S15 front ends on S14s. What matters is the front end fitted now.
2. Do not mix front parts. Owners who fit a Kouki bonnet over Zenki headlights report that it will not close properly. A Kouki bumper needs Kouki brackets.

The S14 kit styles we make

Version 1 (Rocket Bunny style), for the Zenki

Our S14 Version 1 body kit follows the Rocket Bunny style. The basic kit is a front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts and a spoiler. The full kit adds front wings at +30 mm per side and rear arches at +50 mm per side. The front bumper and front wings do not fit the S14a. You can also buy the Zenki front bumper on its own.

Vertex style, for the Kouki

The S14a Vertex style body kit is a front bumper, rear bumper and side skirts, with an optional roof spoiler. It keeps the factory width. The front bumper does not fit the Zenki, but the Vertex style side skirts and rear bumper fit both versions.

Boss V2 style, for either version

Our Boss V2 style parts follow the design of the original Rocket Bunny V2 "Boss" kit for the S14, drawn by Kei Miura of TRA Kyoto. The design replaces the pointed S14 nose with a short, flat front and round headlights, which gives the car a muscle-car face. The red car at the top of this page wears our Boss V2 style front.

Because it replaces the whole front end, the Zenki or Kouki question goes away. Our Boss V2 style body kit comes in three levels:

• Basic: front bumper, bonnet, front wings (+50 mm), rear arches (+100 mm), side skirts, headlight mounts, a pair of headlights and the front grille.
• Standard: the basic kit plus a front lip.
• Full: the standard kit plus a rear diffuser and a ducktail spoiler.

The rear arches come in two versions: bolt-on flares only, or a full rear quarter panel. The headlights take H4 bulbs, which are included, and the headlight mounts take universal or S13 side repeaters. The bonnet and front wings only fit with the Boss V2 style bumper. The Boss V2 style front bumper, lip and other parts are also sold separately.

If you have a Kouki and only want to change the bumper, there is also a Rocket Bunny Boss style front bumper sold on its own. Unlike the full Boss V2 style front, it fits the S14a Kouki only, not the Zenki.

This is what a Boss V2 style conversion looks like halfway through: the S14 above has the new front, the wide arches and the side skirts fitted and in primer, before paint. Expect a job of this size to take a body shop much longer than a bumper swap.

Smaller S14 parts

• The S14 176 cm front splitter with adjustable support rods.
• The S14 Top Secret style diffuser, with all fittings included.
• Origin Lab style side skirt extensions, side steps, a roof spoiler, a lightweight boot lid and S14 to S15 conversion parts, all in the S14 category.

Drift car or street car?

The S13 and S14 have been drift favourites for decades, and that changes how you buy aero for them.

For a street car, you can change the look a lot without touching the steel arches. On an S14a, the Vertex style kit keeps the factory width. On any S13 or S14, a 176 cm splitter, side steps and a Top Secret style diffuser lower the car visually, and none of them needs the arches cut. That matters on a clean UK 200SX, where an uncut body is worth keeping. If you go wider, read are body kits legal in the UK? first.

For a drift car, assume the bumpers and skirts will meet a wall or a tyre barrier sooner or later.

• Fibreglass makes sense. It is cheaper to replace and easy to repair. We compare the two in fibreglass vs carbon fibre body kits.
• Choose split parts where you can. Flares on their own are cheaper to replace than a full rear quarter.
• Competition bonnets have no inner frame. Our PS13, S14a and Boss V2 style bonnets are offered with that option, and it needs aftermarket fixings such as bonnet pins.

Before you order: send us a photo of the nose

On these cars the front end is where fitment goes wrong, because so many S13s and S14s have had theirs swapped. A 180SX may wear a Silvia nose, and an S14 may carry a Kouki or S15 front. Before you order, send us a photo of the front of the car and tell us which of these it is: S13 coupé, S13 hatch, Sileighty, S14 Zenki or S14a Kouki. If you are planning a full build, send us the plan and we will tell you which parts work together.

Our parts arrive unpainted, in black or white gelcoat or in carbon. Test fit every part before you drill, cut or paint, and check our returns page before you order. For more S13 and S14 builds, see our Nissan customer cars gallery.

FAQ

What is the difference between the S14 and the S14a?

The S14a is the 1996 facelift, called Kouki in Japan. It has sharper projector headlights, tinted tail lights and a different bonnet, front wings and front bumper. Front body parts made for one version do not fit the other.

Will S13 body parts fit an S14?

No. The S14 is a different, wider body: 1,730 mm wide against about 1,690 mm for the S13, with a longer wheelbase. Bumpers, skirts and wings are all specific to each chassis.

Is the 200SX the same car as the 180SX?

The UK and European S13 200SX is the 180SX hatchback body with pop-up headlights and the 1.8 litre CA18DET engine. The later UK 200SX is the S14 Silvia coupé with the SR20DET engine.

What does PS13 mean?

PS13 is the code for the S13 Silvia coupé with the 2.0 litre SR20 engine, sold in Japan from January 1991. Earlier S13 Silvias had the 1.8 litre CA18 engine. The body is the same, so most S13 Silvia aero parts fit both.

Does the Boss V2 style kit fit both Zenki and Kouki S14s?

Yes. It replaces the whole front end, including the bonnet, front wings, bumper and headlights, so the early or late front no longer matters. The Boss V2 style bonnet and wings only fit together with the Boss V2 style front bumper.