A Type X build from the Rockies

[PW180SX]

Here's my slow but steady progress on my Type X inspired S13 from the mountain state of Colorado. Hope you enjoy! This isn't a crazy in depth drift build with lots of fabrication, so you hardcore drift kids probably won't find it too exciting.

Here's a short summary of how I got this car - I originally came from the Roadster scene, and had a mariner blue NA. I loved it, but I needed a bit more space. I was always a fan of the RPS13, so I decided to find a good base to start with. Here in CO, finding a clean base is very rare. Eventually I received a text offering a trade for my Miata, and even though it was a bit hard on the eye, it sure was clean. As soon as I saw it in person, I was set! People thought I was crazy for trading, but I still haven't looked back to this day.

It's a 1991 240SX LE, and the previous owner built it for show. The interior was wrapped in Katskin leather, had a new pearl white paint, and not a spot of rust. Luckily those graphics were vinyl..haha.





As soon as I got it home, I began ridding it of all the decals and the Bomex lip kit. Somehow, I sold those wheels quick as well. Picked up some S14 stock wheels after finding out it was 5 lug. She cleaned up nicely!






And then began the Type X styling. I wanted to keep this car as clean as possible, so I didn't opt for replica parts. Everything is OEM for perfect fitment!

Rear garnish plate


Rear valences


Rear spoiler


That finishes the rear end! Onto the rest..


Had some crap coilovers on it for a month or so, looked better but rode like ass.


Front signals


Front bumper



Bumper extensions


Side skirts


180SX floor mats


Eventually mocked it all up/painted and installed


For a short amount of time there, my roomate lent me his equips to roll on while his car was under the knife. They were weak, but looked much better than stock SE's! Oh, say no to replica ganadors! haha




Unfortunately, I had a mis-hap on the highway returning from work one day. A work truck cut across a solid white line to hop onto an offramp too soon and kicked up two planks of wood that were on the side of the road. It nailed my bumper and fender, causing some minor damage but enough to piss me off. He kept going, but I was blocked by other people slamming on their brakes...needless to say, he got away.


Decided to finally get some wheels. I wanted to keep it simple, so I opted for some RPF1's. Specs were 17x9.5 +18 up front, and 17x10 +18 in the rear. Grabbed some Project Kics lugs while I was at it as well



Boosted the KA as well


Here was the final product for awhile


Then I figured let's attempt to make the front end a bit more aggressive. I was inspired a lot during this build by Brian Harts old type x. I loved the bumper cutout and BNR33 ducts, so I went that route.






About this time, I had split with my current girlfriend, and my room mate moved out. I decided to buy a house and focus on other priorities for awhile. Eventually, my buddy bought a house with an amazing 4 car garage, so he was nice enough to let me store my car there while I built it since my current house was piled with a bunch of crap.

So we tucked it in a corner, and I kept on building. I got a set of 57D's for awhile, but I wasn't too keen on them so they didn't last long.





Since it was an LE, it also came with HICAS which was a downer. I couldn't for the life of me find a non-HICAS subframe until one day a guy offered me that and some cash for my pair of gramlights. I jumped on that, and finally got this.


About this time, I pulled the KA and went SR for a short while. Resprayed the bay silver while I was at it





Finally went Z32 front brakes


My buddy picked up an S14 for awhile, but ran into some cash issues so he decided to sell it. It had some Ganadors, so I talked him into selling me them before getting rid of the car. They were for an S14, so they didn't fit perfectly but I didn't care at the time!



Then decided to opt out of the SR game, and try an RB25DET. Parted the SR out and bought an RB25DET from Tiger Japanese, but guess what came in? An RB25DE with a RB20 turbo slapped on it. What a freaking waste of money. Filed a Paypal dispute but somehow lost so I was shit out of luck. Thanks Tiger Japanese..


But before making any progress on that, my buddy with the 4 car garage decided to move to TN, so I had to get my car to my house finally. Home sweet home with my daily FC..


Picked up a Key!s wheel and digital cluster


I finally got sick of the S14 Ganador fitment, and found a set of S13 Ganadors. Sold the 14's, bought the 13's. Woot!


Then finally started to get my wheel game back on track. Bought a pair of 18" BRW03's from GTR-Garage, and sourced a pair of 17's on Yahoo J. Thanks again Kunio!



Ran out of space for images, so I'll continue on with the build in the next post.