So, the car made her first appearance in daylight since last October yesterday:

I pushed it out into the driveway since the weather seems to be a lot nicer now. I’m sure it will get bad again, but some rain (and possibly snow) won’t hurt anything at this point. It was great to see the car out again- it made me really motivated to get it running again! Some updates…

-Finish Engine Assembly: Bolt up the turbo and intake manifolds, connect the lines, install the poncams+rocker arm stoppers, and finish up misc. items (PS pump, alternator, etc.)

-Transmission: I installed new gaskets, a NISMO pivot ball, and a NISMO slave cylinder onto the trans last weekend. I have decided to ditch my Peak Performance transmission mount in favor of a NISMO unit so that I will have a place for the downpipe bracket. I want my exhaust to be as rock solid as possible.

-Assembly: once the above things are done, I can bolt the engine and trans up. I will then transport them back to the barn the car is at to drop them into the car. I’ll probably use my grandpa’s truck to haul the motor back out here.

-Engine bay: I spent some time cleaning and degreasing the engine bay last night. I’m about 40% done, so I need to finish that up next week. Stock engine mounts will come out, along with the battery tray. Strut tower rust will be repaired and sprayed. For the most part though, I am just going to clean up and wax the bay- I’m not going to delay things more with a full bay repaint at this point in time.

-Aero: I have decided not to paint the whole car at this point in time. I want to tune and drive the car soon, so I have decided to have the aero painted and invest in a nice wheel and some pads/supplies to get the paint nice looking again. It is a street car after all, so I can live with this decision. The following items will be painted:

• Front fenders (OEM, mint. Mine are all sorts of banged up right now)
• Hatch (Currently spray bombed flat black)
• Kouki aero (Bumper, lip, extensions, spoiler, center valence, side skirts)
• Rear bumper (mine has a lot of scratches on it and looks pretty hit)

I have not decided on a painter yet, but when I do I will drop those items off for paint and get them installed ASAP. My rear 18′ Work wheels will hit the states on or close to March 31st- so I hope to have the wheels painted, tires mounted, and everything on the car sometime in mid April. I can’t wait to see the stance!

One other quick note since my last update- my wife and I are getting our first house! The inspection is today, and as long as everything goes well, we should close and move in sometime in late May or early June. I am beyond excited to have my own garage… the car will be done so much faster when I have my own place to work on it, right outside my door!

Thanks for reading guys! More updates with better pictures very soon.