SXDevelopments 180SX (SXD180)

[CaBS]

New tune agent rear toe arms and camber arms went in to help with the rear alignment. Also picked up an ultra racing 4 point rear strut brace I could notice far less creaking from the chassis in and out of driveways after installing this so it must have been doing something.


For the next track day I managed to pickup these stock R34GTT rims with some old kumho v70 r-comps on them. This was my first time driving on R-comps and I was totally hooked. The way they break so progressively and let the car move around. It was definitely a feeling I wanted and want to chase more of!


The car had to head in for an alignment after fitting all the arms.

I picked up this basic sparco seat for a decent price and ordered some bride rails from an NS trader. These arrived in afew days and I took them down to get modded so they'd fit the seat. I couldnt get over the amount of extra feed back you get as a driver with a fixed back. I had been under the impression that the benefit only came from not having to brace yourself on the door and console! =)


A ross tuffbond oversized water pump pulley was fitted to help reduce pump cavitation at high RPM and therefore also temp. My water temps have always remained stable after this was installed. I think they're only like 7% bigger. Looking for a slightly larger one now actually if anyone knows of any? The only ones I've seen are the NAPREC ones and they look quiet expensive.


Finally got some EBC love happening my trusty profec b has never failed me to this day. Not sure if I'll need to upgrade once the car is running more than 20psi.

[CaBS]

So the next wave of parts hit, this included a new greddy fmic as we thought the old one might be choking the power abit. A greddy oil cooler kit, nismo power brace, ultra racing front fender braces, new nissan o2 sensor and some whiteline rose jointed sway bar links.



You can really see why these make a massive difference when you look at what it replaces... When you look at how flimsily the front rad support is attached on an S13 chassis its no wonder it helps either!


New kit together.


The haul


You can see why I upgraded!


Big gap


Better in black?


Closeup of the new cooler fitted. Turned out to be a massive headache as the kit was made to sit infront of the radiator


Whiteline rose jointed swaybar links. These ended up being quite average and very overpriced. The new design is far improved!


I couldnt fit these as the fouled on the guards I had on the car =(


Better economy after this was installed!


This was on of the best purchases I've made. Lets you to all the fundamental data logging nothing fancy though but god is it a help when your looking where to improve! One handy feature is the ability to combine all your best sectors from a session so you know what the car and you are capable of if you can string them together in the same lap.

[CaBS]

The 180's first unexpected large mechanical failure which involved some decent $$ to fix. Driving on the road took off at a medium speed and then shifted into 2nd. As I did this there was a huge bang. It sounded like the engine had fallen out the bottom of the car and I was driving over it. I pulled into the nearest driveway and realised either the clutch or gearbox had let go in spectacular fashion!
It turned out to be the box. Due to the recent power increases and a very unforgiving driver who didn't think the box would break at this power level (oops) =)

Looks fine!?


Oh....




I took the gearbox to award diff and gear where they rebuilt it for me. I was suprised to find that it was actually an S14 gearbox in the car. While it was all out I thought it best to put a new clutch in. An extreme cushion button was purchased with a custom pressure plate (more pressure). This was good for 250rwkw all day every day (cause I could never want more than that!) while also being nice to drive in traffic.







[img]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/mutto_101/P4030035.jpg[img]





It all went back together without any major hassles other than doing it all on the garage floor with next to no space! =)

[CaBS]

Originally Posted by Shenita574

The brakes I had on the car were chewing through pads really quickly so I jumped on the sale of front and rear 33GTR brembos that popped up pretty cheap.

Yeh much easier to find different racing pads to suit those also.

[CaBS]

The brakes I had on the car were chewing through pads really quickly so I jumped on the sale of front and rear 33GTR brembos that popped up pretty cheap.

The first step was to strip out the crappy pads they came with and all the hardware involved in holding them in.


After about an hours worth of kero bath scrubbing they came up like this.


Another few hours picking off the flaking clear coat and sanding them back with wet and dry.


Came out like this.


The black turned out better than I had hoped




Stenciled them up with some ebay purchased stick on stencils.




Then bagged the rest of the calipers to avoid over spray.


Trimmed back the front rotor stone guards to let out more heat.


After ripping the stencils off the capilers came up looking sweet. I was really happy with them!










I moved to the drum handbrake rear setup. Removing the stone guards neatly while the assembly was still off. There is actually a hole in the standard knuckle to locate these on. Just needed to give it a quick run over with sandpaper and slot them in.


I was able to get them quite neat also without slicing my hand open which is easily done on the razor sharp edges!

[CaBS]

Fitted up some new front end arms and the new brakes all painted up. I got some new strut tops for the front which were lower profile giving me more front travel. I sourced a Z32 master brand new for the bigger brakes which cost me an arm and a leg. Along with Nismo S14 LCAS's for improved track and some tune agent tie rod ends and caster arms. =( I also ordered some new rims!

The new haul.


What came off vs what was going on.


New cusco tops

...


Fitted up, looks pretty cool =)


Put the car up to pull everything off and put the new gear on.




I had to track down some screw cap bolts to suit as the gtr ones have a huge shank on them as the hubs are alloy on the gtr and much thicker.


New hid bulbs made a big difference I I really wish I had of bought the 4300k though as the 5k are still too blue for me.

[MeSs]

Really awesome project

Do you have more pics of fitting the overfenders in rear?

[CaBS]

Originally Posted by MeSs

Really awesome project

Do you have more pics of fitting the overfenders in rear?

THanks man, ummm maybe was there something in particular you wanted to see?

[MeSs]

Originally Posted by CaBS

THanks man, ummm maybe was there something in particular you wanted to see?

From when you fitted it, i really want to mold in my origin fenders, but ive never seen the process of molding them in with a good result. This looks excellent.

So from you fit the fender, until its complete molded in Sorry for my English.

[wattupbaii]

looks like a lot of time spent on writing all this up. when do you expect to finish it?

[ayrtonlucyk]

this is a really inspiring build, i hope to build something half this good one day! awesome build man!

[CaBS]

Originally Posted by wattupbaii

looks like a lot of time spent on writing all this up. when do you expect to finish it?

Hopefully all done in the first half of next year it was supposed to be the end of this year but some stuff has taken much longer than expected.

Originally Posted by ayrtonlucyk

this is a really inspiring build, i hope to build something half this good one day! awesome build man!

Thanks alot man. Heaps more to come!

[tuktuk23]

def tuned in to his one! thats a lucky 180 to be getting all those gifts....spoiling the little bastard!

[CaBS]

I finally shelled out for some bigger cams and valve springs I picked them up in a kit for a decent price. Andrew came around and I helped him with the install. We had to rig up the air compressor to hold the valves up while we had the retainers out. Worked a treat though. I wish I had of installed the cam gear aswell though because the timing on the greddy cams seems to be slightly out and cost me more bottom end power than they really should have.








I also got my hands on some corner weight scales and learned how to use them. I could feel the difference afterwards as well the car felt much better with just the driver in it.


Bought some new dunlop direzzas which I hated. Would never buy these again. =/


The biggest thing was getting some avs track wheels doing a dogey spray can job on them and fitting up a set of brand new 235/45/17 RE55S tyres. These were unreal to drive on compared to anything else I'd driven on. The colour was pretty damn bright and paintjob shitty. There was an equal amount of lovers and haters :P









Random skidpan image. I cant really remember where this slots in so here it stays :P


The C's short shifter was sold and replaced with a standard Item. It was much nicer to shift with on the track with the standard Item even with the throw being much larger the other was just too short. (imho)

[da_crew10]

Keep it up man!, i just got doing the same thing to mine, you changing the subframe bushings? they make a big difference, go with part shop max solid , spl solids or energy suspension polyurethane! Good work!

[CaBS]

New rims arrived courtesy of Jesse Streeter. Works XT7's 17x9+17 and 17x9+28 filled the guards nicely. Quiet aggressive on the front though. I also bought a dry cell battery and relocated it to the boot for better weight distribution as well as clearing up some space in the engine bay.

Straight to the tyre shop


Bye bye to the p1's


agressive by my standards anways


Jaycar drycell


weeeeeeee


Love the colour of them

=D



weeeeee, again.


Thanks Kevin for this shot at an NSCC dynoday in 2010 thats NFI's S15 before the widebody in the background (SXDS15) and Philb's R34

[CaBS]

Found an old pic of the nismo diff still boxed up before I'd put it in. =)

[CaBS]

The car was becoming more and more track orientated so I decided to strip out the interior and sound deadening as the start of a reasonably comprehensive weight loss scheme. =)

After pulling out the seat I had to laugh at the 3x stereo cables installed in the car. It looked like it'd been done afew times and knowone had ever bothered to pull out the old wiring they'd just started again.





There were some more again under the carpet.


Plenty of dry ice works waaaaaaay better than using it sparingly.












It came up quite well after some solvent and elbow grease. It didnt take long to get used to the extra noise.




The aircon system was also pulled out. Saving me approx 20kg and creating much better airflow to the radiator.




The end result of these items netted me this total weight without much fuel in the car. It was a start but still needs to loose alot more weight!


1148 kilograms = 2 530.90677 pounds btw =)

[CaBS]

Before the upcoming NSCC day I ditched the old rotors which came with the brakes and fitted some new stoptech slotted two piece curved vein fronts and dba4000 slotted rears. The car also got treated to a reconditioning of the steering rack (it had developed some play) and some new upgraded tein rods/rod ends. I also shelled out for a new set of the whiteline ball joints. These worked much better and are sealed OEM style so should last alot longer too. I also ordered some new track rims while I was at it.

[Fracture]

wow what a classy build. im jealous that you are able to pour so many good parts into your car, not to mention that toolbox! i like the attention to suspension work. definitely a build im going to keep my eye on

[CaBS]

Originally Posted by Fracture

wow what a classy build. im jealous that you are able to pour so many good parts into your car, not to mention that toolbox! i like the attention to suspension work. definitely a build im going to keep my eye on

Thanks man, its always been aimed more at handling than power given my interest is time attack and track days this is the way it should be I think. =)

Plenty of power coming soon though cause thats always fun too! =D

[HPKMotorsports3]

Nice work so far...

[dazed]

^ Cool story, I don't think he gives two shits. Do you do anything else besides thread shitting? Even that wheel-chair dudes cancer thread was fair game for you.

Anyway this build is kinda cool. Can't stand those taillights though, needs moar Kouki.

[CaBS]

Originally Posted by DaZeD

^ Cool story, I don't think he gives two shits. Do you do anything else besides thread shitting? Even that wheel-chair dudes cancer thread was fair game for you.

Anyway this build is kinda cool. Can't stand those taillights though, needs moar Kouki.

Got you covered dude!

[c-los13]

First build i avtually read. Very interesting

[CaBS]

New new track rims I'd bought finally arrived. 17x9+22 RPF01's at only 7.2kg per rim they're a very light and well priced option. I fitted up the RE55's for the upcoming track day. I also got my rocker cover powder coated. I'd actually bought another one and got it done so I could just swap it over and not have to leave the car with nothing on it for a week. It came out really nicely I'd actually not seen any other cars with this at the time. There are quiet afew SR20 covers I've seen around with this now. =)





I also ordered an S15 OEM oil cap. These are lighter than all the other aftermarket ones and dont tighten up when the rocker cover gets hot or cold like I've had with the stock S13 oil cap and some of the aftermarket ones.


Ended up having to run almost 3 degrees neg in the rear not to scrub.






Used some red nissan gasket goo and fitted a new rocker cover gasket before we put it on.


The writing had the powder coating shaved off leaving the fresh alloy. Makes it look brand new imo. Pity about the rest of the engine bay :P


I bought new washers for the rocker cover aswell. These ended up being some stupidly expensive price well over $100 from nissan australia. I wouldn't have ordered them had I realised. But they did look nice anyhow.


Purchased a new Cusco strut brace to replace the old one which was looking rather dated and cruddy. Also the older bar was just one round section between the towers. This flat tube in theory should provide slightly more rigidity. Probably never tell the difference though. =)

[CaBS]

World time attack 2010 came around I had my car in the NSCC club display not that I really though it was show car worthy but we got a good club deal and it was a nice close place to park. A car that really changed my perception of what a 180SX could and should be was Wanyes 180. This thing had some serious styling and is hell fast. I was and still are blown away by the attention to detail on both this and later his brothers car, serious dedication to finish I've not seen matched on any other cars in the JDM scene here.

Had had the NSCC day the weekend before. This was the first superlap under the WTAC banner with all the international cars. Was an awesome event! I cant wait for this years!!












A short clip I took of Wanyes car at WTAC2010. Clean on a whole new level.

[CaBS]

Hmmm whats with you youtube tags comes up with all the embed code in the post and then doesn't actually load it?? I had a look in the faq for youtube stuff and couldnt see anything. Hmmm if someone knows what I'm doing wrong can you let me know please? I've got some more youtube vids coming.

[CaBS]

I kept having issues with the gauges I'd bought because in the daytime you could hardly see them due to reflection. The oil pressure gauge being near useless cause you couldn't look at it while driving. So I shelled out for a defi link unit and 60mm boost gauge. This let me set parameters which if anything goes outside of it sets an alarm going. Also you can record several minutes of replay and record your peak values. The alarm and peak values are very handy. Especially when setting up your boost controller or flat out on the track. You can concentrate on driving and know you dont have to check any temps unless it screams at you.

The sensor kits I got were oil temp, speed, revs, oil pressure and water temp.






Got a new carbon stereo surround. Highly doubtful its any lighter than the standard Item but it looks way cooler =)


I also imported a smart camber gauge to help us do our own alignments on the run.

[CaBS]

This is some in car of the next track day I made it too. There was so much more left in the car and I was driving reasonably conservatively due to brake locking issues and having tried too hard in the morning. The next session pissed down rain which was fun in itself but not helping me lower my pb at all :P Quickest lap in here shows as 109.2 the official timing had it as 109.16. I haven't had a chance in my car to go back to wakefield since.