Cefiro

The A31 Cefiro

The Cefiro went on sale on 1 September 1988, a four-door sedan sold through Nissan's Satio dealers, and the A31 was built until 1994. It shares its engines, gearboxes, chassis and suspension with the R32 Skyline and C33 Laurel, and Nissan sold it on choice: engine, suspension, gearbox and trim could be combined in 810 ways. The A31 is rear-wheel drive, except the turbo Cruising with ATTESA E-TS four-wheel drive, an option from August 1990.

The engines are RB straight-sixes: the 2.0-litre single-cam RB20E, the twin-cam RB20DE at 155 PS, and the intercooled RB20DET turbo at 205 PS, joined in 1992 by the 2.5-litre RB25DE with a five-speed automatic. A five-speed manual and four- and five-speed automatics were offered, and HICAS-II rear-wheel steering was an option. Facelifts in August 1990 and May 1992 changed the bumper, grille and tail lights each time.

What Cefiro owners upgrade

The A31 became a popular drift car, and most of what owners buy suits that use. Extension and dump pipes and straight pipes from the exhaust range are the top sellers for the RB20DET, with electronics to manage it, and Bride bucket seats go in on seat rails from the interior range.

Alternators and spark plugs from the ignition range, radiator caps, belts and panel filters keep a thirty-year-old RB running, and pads from the brakes range from Project Mu and DIXCEL stop it. HKS, Tomei, Nismo, ARD, Bride and D-Max are among the makers owners choose.

Genuine parts

HICAS-II is hydraulic, and on cars that have it the lines and seals leak with age. The twin-cam RBs' coil packs cause misfires as they fail, and the timing belt is due every 100,000 km or five years. Bumpers, grilles and tail lights changed in 1990 and again in 1992, so check the build date before ordering from our genuine Nissan parts catalogue.

Wheels

The A31 has four wheel studs, not five: its factory 15x6 +40 wheels sit on a 4x114.3 bolt pattern with M12 x 1.25 nuts. The full list is on the wheels that fit the A31 Cefiro.