When I had finally committed to purchasing my 180SX and sent the wire transfer over back in February, I immediately started thinking, planning, and dreaming about my vision for the car. Whether I am planning a build, listing out tasks for a large project or reassembly, or parting out a car, I always start with a list divided into a few specific categories: Interior, Exterior, Suspension, and Drivetrain. This helps me to stay organized and keep my thoughts clear during the process.

After building and tinkering with S13s for nearly 16 years now, I have a pretty good idea of what I like. When I first bought my 240SX hatch chassis back after parting it out, I felt an odd pressure to change things up. OEM aero was replaced with a Hot Road kit, the red interior setup was switched to black, a silver Nardi wheel instead of black, etc. And while it was fun to do something different, I found myself eventually returning to everything I had previously. That experience taught me that while I may have cared in the past about having a car I felt was unique or different from others I saw online, it’s best to just do what you enjoy and not worry about silly details like that.

In the spirit of my 180SX being a sort of “tribute build,” I hope to harness my past experiences and preferences to put together a car that features all of my favorite parts executed at a high level. However, if it doesn’t seem much different than my 240SX, I’ve achieved my goal. A few people asked me what my plans are regarding aero, interior, etc. and my go-to reply was something along the lines of “If things go according to plan, people likely won’t be able to tell it’s a different car in photos (aside from steering wheel placement.)

Fortunately, the car was equipped with full kouki 180SX aero from the factory, including the optional rear valences and front lip. This will certainly make things easy for me when it comes to styling the exterior. It also has a sunroof, which is a must-have for me. The original owner opted to have the 180SX window vent visors installed, which appear to have faded to a bright purple color as they often do. I will be removing those, and though I have a new set in my parts stash, I likely will not install them. I had a set on my 240 for many years, but have grown to prefer the cleaner look without them. Hopefully I can take them off without damaging the paint underneath.

As far as lighting goes, I have a pair of D-MAX clear sidemarkers left over from my 240SX that I held onto. Ideally I will be able to remove the factory turn signals and run only position lamps like I have in the past, but I’ll need to come up with a solution for converting the position lamps. The custom set I created for my 240 won’t work on a 180 due to wiring differences, and I want to hack the car up as little as possible during the build process, so I may need to get creative. I also held onto my pair of Raybrig H4 headlight lenses to use on the 180SX. For the tail lights, I’ll install a brand new set of kouki 180SX tails to freshen things up, and will likely install a kevlar RPS13 garnish again as well – though I am interested to see what the car looks like without it for a change of pace (but we know how that typically turns out.)

Let’s talk about side mirrors. I’ve been notorious for swapping mirrors over the years, often preferring the look of the factory ones over anything else, with Ganadors a close second. To attempt to end this struggle once and for all, I have sourced pairs of East Bear and Ganador mirrors to use on the car as I see fit. I am pretty excited to have the factory power folding mirrors as well – something I have purchased a few times over the years and never really got the guts to install on my 240SX. I love how much mirrors change the look of an S13, so it’ll be cool to have options available (and actually hold onto them for good this time.)

The last exterior item I plan to switch up is the front bumper. I have collected a few different options for this. I will leave the stock bumper intact, but also have a spare bumper painted with the license plate area cut out and my R33 GTR N1 ducts installed. I had this setup on my 240, but never got around to getting it painted. I am also planning to have a bumper painted with only the plate cutout, as I grew fond of that look when I had it a few years ago. I won’t have complete brackets for all three bumper setups, and likely will not swap them often due to all of the work that task involves (when bolted up properly,) but again, it will be great to have all of the various options I may want to use on hand for the future. I held onto a spare JDM crash beam as well to modify and install, as I would love to run one for a little extra insurance. Most of my 240 setups over the years did not utilize a crash beam, which is a little sketchy.

At this time, I do not plan to run an aftermarket hood. I love the Koguchi Power bonnet, but hate all of the challenges that come with it. I was not impressed with the quality of my most recent one. I have always wanted to try a Hot Road hood after ordering one and never receiving it many years ago, but I am undecided if I want to mess with it or not. Don’t count it out completely in the future, but for now I am committed to sticking with the factory unit.

I should probably talk about wheels in this post, but I typically consider those to be a suspension component. I have my bronze TE37 and LMGT4 17/18 setups from my 240SX on hand for the 180SX, but really want to add something new to the lineup – ideally something silver. More on that in a future post…

That’s about all I have planned for the exterior! I need to get my mirrors and bumpers painted in the not too distant future, but have been working on getting that lined up. The plan may change when I see the car in person, but I am hoping the paint is in decent enough shape to have the car detailed and ceramic coated. I am a terrible detailer, and my 240’s paint condition was something that bothered me from day one. With any luck, things will play out differently with this car. I still have my full set of new OEM moldings and weather stripping leftover from my 240, so my hope is to eventually install those on this car as well. I’ve been holding onto those parts for so long that it feels like it’ll never happen, but this certainly feels like my best shot at seeing it through.

180SX Shipping Update

I got the exciting news earlier this week that my car had been assigned to a ship and was ready to depart. After tracking the RoRo vessel assigned to it, I saw that it arrived at Kobe Port last night. At the time of this writing, it looks like the ship has just left the port and is underway. I’m told that the car will actually switch ships in Panama before heading up to the port in Galveston. The current estimate for the car’s arrival is mid to late May, which is slightly tricky timing for me with a few other life things going on that month. I am confident everything will fall into place though – it’s just going to remain a bit of a mystery until the details become clearer.

As for the 240, I received some brake rotors and front struts/springs from a couple of very generous guys on Instagram to get the chassis rolling again. Tomorrow I am going to meet up with my friends Nick and Allen to grab the last items needed, so I should be able to finally get it on the ground and rolling by early next week. If everyone pulls through, the SR20 drivetrain and rolling chassis will both be out of my garage next Saturday – which is sure to be a very weird feeling, but I am looking forward to finally closing this chapter and focusing 100% on what’s next.

Thanks as always for stopping by – I appreciate it! Have a great weekend.

Damon