I know I sound like a broken record, but I can’t believe we have officially entered July. I guess time flies when you’re having fun! It’s been nearly a couple weeks since my last update – let’s dive in to a few of the small improvements I have made to the car during that time.

In continuing to refresh things a little bit under the hood, I turned my attention to the core support area. I started with the hood support rod and its associated clips and brackets. I held onto the hood prop rod I bought for my coupe, as I was able to snag a brand new one from Japan prior to it being discontinued a few years back and barely put any mileage on it. I installed that onto my 180SX, along with a new rubber bushing (PN: 65512-R3000) and both of the clips that hold it in place (PNs: 65722-65F00 & 65721-D4000.)

Next, I swapped out the plastic headlight protectors for a pair that I purchased new a few years back for my 240SX fastback. These have been discontinued as well, so I figured it made since to replace the stock ones on the car with a fresher set – even if they were in decent condition anyway. My 240SX was missing these when I bought it, so I was stoked to find these as they keep a lot of water out of the engine bay.

The rubber seal along the leading edge of the hood had seen better days. I once again dove into my box of moldings and weather stripping that I sourced years ago for the 240 and fished out a brand new example (PN: 65810-40F00.) I also had some of the clips needed for installation. I had ordered four of these, but only ended up needing two (PN: 01553-00541.) Note that this seal is only suited for the pop-up hood – sadly, the Silvia version is discontinued.

Finally, I installed some fresh OEM radiator brackets leftover from my 240. Again, these weren’t in terrible condition, but it’s nice to keep things as new and fresh as possible. I installed them with new upper rubber bushings (x2 PN: 21506-10V00) and will circle back to install the lower bushings at a later date – likely when I upgrade the radiator. Last but not least, I tossed on the NISMO radiator cap from my S13 coupe.

The next order of business was addressing the wiper cowl area. I removed the crusty wiper arms and plastic cowl trim pieces, cleaned them up, and sprayed them with a fresh coat of SEM Satin Black. I purchased new wiper pivots for good measure, but elected not to install those for the time being. The nuts/studs often fail on these during removal, and it’s a job that is a bit easier when the hood is removed. I didn’t want to get into that just yet, so I will save that project for another day. I reinstalled the cowl cover with fresh clips (x2 PN: 01553-01781) and a new weather strip (PN: 66830-35F00.)

But the fun didn’t stop there! Back about 6 years ago, I sourced the metal trim that runs between the cowl plastics and the bottom of the windshield for both of my 240s (PN: 72771-35F00). As fate would have it, I realized that the notch in the center is not centered, making these pieces only usable for a RHD car. Well, luckily I just so happen to have one of those now. There’s a thin strip of rubber along the top edge of this piece, so it’s nice to have a fresh one that isn’t brittle. I secured it with new screws (x6 PN: 01452-00091). I’m super happy with how fresh the wiper cowl area looks after spending a little time and money on it. In an ideal world I would have the fresh windshield molding installed as well, but that’s gotta wait until a later date. All of my new moldings will make their way onto this car at some point.

I noticed soon after picking up the car that the cig lighter was missing. I decided to purchase a complete cig lighter assembly (PN: 25331-40Y01) and bezel (PN: 25339-7J100) for good measure even though only the lighter itself was missing. It feels good to check small improvements like this off of the list – it all adds up to make a pretty big difference in my overall enjoyment of the car.

Speaking of missing items, the first time I put gas in the car I noticed that the little orange fuel cap holder was missing from the fuel door. I scooped up one of these and installed it as well. (PN: 17255-01G00.) If your car is missing this piece, pick one up! It’s a great addition at about $2 USD.

If you know me, you know that my previous S13s never had a working radio. Car audio is something that has never really interested me much, but I’ve really wanted to get it sorted out as I have gotten older. I installed speakers in my 240 about a year before I parted it out, but I never found a head unit that I could live with. Since the 180 didn’t come with a head unit, I figured I had better take care of this problem before I let another 15 years of silence go by.

Not wanting to spend too much time and energy researching how car audio works, I picked out the least ugly head unit I could find on Crutchfield with Bluetooth capability and ordered it, along with speakers for the front and rear of the car. All of the harnesses to make things more or less plug and play were included, which made me wonder why I didn’t do this years ago. I did find that the 89-93 adapter harness was incorrect, so I had to order one for a 1997 Maxima. It sounds like Nissan changed the design of the plugs in 1995 or so. Doh, I forgot that my 180SX is so much newer than my previous S13s. Once I got the new harness from Amazon, I had things up and running in a couple of hours.

I can’t really describe how cool it felt to drive an S13 with music playing for the first time, let alone via Bluetooth and my phone in my pocket. The audio quality is definitely less than impressive, but more than enough for my use and enjoyment – especially considering the whole setup cost me less than $200. Driving around with the AC on and some music playing (and an automatic transmission no less) was definitely a welcome change to my previous S chassis experience. I am looking forward to making use of this on my wife and I’s upcoming anniversary road trip. For once we won’t have to bring our wireless Bose speaker with us and try to prop it up somewhere in the car that we can both hear it.

A few new parts arrived in the last couple of weeks. The first item I picked up is a pair of aftermarket TYC 240SX turn signals. I am going to cut these up and use the bulb sockets/housings to modify a pair of kouki 180SX position lamps to function as both running lights and turn signals, much like I did on my 240. The OEM chuki turn signals are discontinued, so I decided it would be easier to snag these from eBay rather than a pair of used ones. Since I am cutting them up anyway, they should fit the bill. My only concern is finding a way to install them without hacking up the car’s wiring, but I think I can figure something out. Stay tuned for more info on this project in a future blog post.

When we installed new spark plugs on the car in Houston, Liam and I noted that there was a little bit of oil leaking in the spark plug tubes from the valve cover. He also showed me that all four of the coil packs were cracked. To correct this issue, I ordered all of the gaskets for the valve cover and a set of fresh OEM coil packs. I need to install these on the car soon when I get some time. I plan to have the valve cover powder coated, but will wait to address that until the winter months when the car is in storage. A number of parts I bought for the car will all be installed in this general area, so it makes sense to try to tackle it all at once.

My collection of suspension items for the car is nearly complete. Once outstanding item I was waiting on was a pair of GP Sports strengthened inner and outer tie rods. Aside from some small hardware items and parts related to the brake upgrades, I should have everything on hand for the complete suspension overhaul and five lug conversion. As anxious as I am to tackle that, I want to wait until the winter months to avoid down time. It will be a real treat to install it all at once and try to complete the modifications in one fell swoop.

Finally, I purchased a Works Bell short hub and Rapfix II quick release. I have never had a quick release in any of my cars before, but figured my daughters would probably get a kick out of it. This car is supposed to embody my “dream build” in a lot of ways, so now seemed like the perfect time to splurge and try this out. I have my Nardi Classic 330mm saved from my 240SX coupe, but recently placed an order for a 340mm. I’m thinking it might be more comfortable to have a slightly larger wheel for street cruising, but I’ll likely give both a try and sell whichever one I like the least.

That’s about it for car updates! I have been driving it as much as possible. My oldest daughter celebrated her birthday last week, so I took the other two to a park, Taco Bell and the movies for the evening. We had a great time driving around town in the car, and working AC really came in clutch. Overall, it feels like owning a simpler and more refined (albeit less cool at the moment) version of my old car – the only difference is I am sitting on the other side.

Thanks for following along – hopefully there’s some useful and interesting info here for my fellow S13 nerds. Take care!

Damon