I’ve spent most of my adult life around the Nissan S-chassis, from grassroots drift events in Japan to local track days in Southern California. But nothing could have prepared me for the first time I climbed into Jake O’Donnell’s creation – an S14 Silvia transformed into something that feels less like the sports coupe it started life as and more like a trophy truck wearing the ghost of its former self.
The first time I saw Jake’s creation, half the body panels were missing, and the suspension wasn’t dialed in, but it was so bad ass. Jake let me ride in it anyway, and even in that unfinished state, I was blown away. Many months later, after seeing the build finished on Instagram, I reached back out to Jake to arrange a shoot.
Jake didn’t build this to sit on a trailer – he built it to be used and abused in an environment completely opposite to the one most S14s call home. So, we met in the desert near his house.
Climbing into this Silvia requires abandoning everything you know about getting into a ‘normal’ car. There’s no graceful entry, just an awkward process of stepping over door bars, dropping into one of the two seats, and accepting that this experience will be loud and very violent.
The intake sits at your feet, which means the moment the engine fires into life, the sound unnervingly fills the cabin from below. As we blasted through the whoops, the suspension absorbed terrain that would destroy most vehicles. The acceleration wasn’t just fast, it was disorienting.
The assault on my senses was something completely unfamiliar. I’ve ridden in trophy trucks and driven race cars, but this was something else entirely. Jake has created a Frankenstein S-chassis build.
One of the first questions people inevitably ask about builds like this is simple: Why sacrifice a perfectly good S14 chassis? But Jake didn’t destroy one, though; he saved one.
When he found the S14, it was already halfway through an ambitious Pro-Am drift car transformation. The Nissan had been cut up, partially caged, and fitted with an aluminum-block 5.3L LS V8 engine. Jake only wanted the engine, but the only way he’d get it was if he bought the entire unfinished project.
Ultimately, that’s what he did, but here’s where the story changes. Instead of removing the engine and junking the rest, Jake decided to complete the build while taking it in a whole new direction.
Learning how to weld on your own project car seems to be a rite of passage for many car nerds, and this one became a personal fabrication journey for Alex. Through trial and error, he taught himself how to bend, notch, and weld tubing. His welds, he jokes, “tell a story.” You can literally see his skill progression as you move from front to rear.
At a glance, the finished build looks like a trophy truck disguised as a Silvia, but up close, you realize it’s something far more complex. The firewall is original, much of the floor remains, and the doors are still the OEM steel items. The cabin structure still carries the DNA of Nissan’s original unibody, too. But everything was designed for pure off-road performance.
By building a custom rectangular tube frame beneath the floorpan, Alex has effectively created a full chassis while preserving key elements of the original structure. The rear half of the car has been completely transformed, incorporating Camburg trailing arms and a full trophy truck-spec rear axle with 24 inches of suspension travel.
The rear bodywork itself is an unexpected hybrid with Ford Ranger fiberglass bedside panels reshaped and blended into Silvia proportions. The front fenders are a fusion of S14 and S15 components, widened using fiberglass and donor flare sections.
Although the project only came about because of the engine, that alloy 5.7L LS is ironically nowhere to be found now. Instead, power comes from a turbocharged iron-block 6.0L LS built by Millennium Motorsports. Internally, it’s capable of handling 1,000 horsepower. For longevity and reliability, Jake has detuned it to around 700hp, which requires just seven pounds of boost.
Early testing revealed a few weaknesses. The front suspension was initially too soft, causing the nose to plow into the ground under compression. Jake compensated for it with revised spring rates and shock valving. Power steering proved to be another challenge. The system overheated and failed repeatedly until Jake redesigned it with a larger reservoir, dedicated cooler, and race-grade pump.
I love that despite the radical transformation, the essence of Nissan’s Silvia remains. From certain angles, the roofline and glass silhouette are unmistakable.
I’ve seen countless rally and safari builds in the past few years, but this is completely different. In fact, it’s not even in the same category.
Most other couple or sports car off-road builds have a mild lift and some bigger tires, but I guarantee none of them can do what Jake’s S-chassis trophy truck can do.
