Well, here we are again. Two and a half months have gone by since my last blog post and I am not even sure where to start. The second half of summer brought a fair amount of disruption to my day-to-day routine which can always be a bit tricky to navigate. My daughters went back to school in mid August and that was certainly a shock to all of our systems, requiring us to wake up a lot earlier than we were used to during summer break. My wife Alicia also decided to rejoin the workforce for the first time since our youngest was born seven years ago and that has been a big change for all of us too. Throw a still fairly new puppy into the mix and things get downright wild. It’s been a lot of good change, but still a lot to work through.

However, on the project car side, things have been pretty chill. I continued to daily drive the 180SX whenever I had the chance throughout the last two and a half months. I would like to think I am finally adjusting to sitting on the right side of the car, but I still have the occasional wiper blip in any vehicle I am driving, LHD or RHD. While I really want to have a “cool” car again and show off my creation to the world, I’ve gotta say it sure is nice to drive around in a relatively stock car. I am always shocked at how much attention I get even in a relatively tame (and to me pretty boring) Nissan. The occasional thumbs up or random car trying to race me serve as a reminder of what enjoying car life is like, keeping me motivated and hopeful for the future.

So, let’s see here… I think the last car related task I tackled since the previous update was trying to get my brake and clutch pedal assemblies prepped for the eventual manual swap. The pedal set I got from eBay had some super old Impul pedal covers on them, so the first step was to cut those off. I disassembled both pedal setups, repainting the bracket for the brake pedal. I didn’t need to paint the clutch bracket as I am replacing it with a NISMO reinforced pedal bracket. I also repainted the pedal arms black.

I picked up new hardware for the pedals, aside from the large bolts/nuts/washers as I figured they probably weren’t needed. Sadly, the springs are not available (be careful, as the USDM clutch pedal spring will NOT fit the JDM pedal assembly. Ask me how I know.) but I got new bushings etc. However, when I went to reassemble everything, It was very difficult to press the large bolt through the plastic bushings. I posted on Instagram and found that a lot of others had this very same issue. Most said they lightly sanded the bolts to allow them to fit in the plastic bushings. Nissan discontinued the bushings at some point and assigned a replacement, but it seems the tolerances are not the same. I destroyed two bushings in the process and ended up having to order more, which took a while to arrive. I still need to revisit this soon now that the parts are here and see if I can get everything assembled correctly. Why is it that I always hit snags like this with the simplest things that you could never see coming? I swear it’s always like this!

I also threw a quick coat of paint on the manual crossmember so that it is ready to go when I tackle the manual swap.

In late July, I tossed the new OEM coil packs into the car and immediately noticed an increase in fuel economy. It feels great to have the old, cracked units out of there that have likely been there since the car was new in 1997. Check that off of the list!

Alicia and I took the car up to her family’s lake house in late August for a trip without the girls. However, we did bring our dog Farley along for the trip. I was really stressed about having a dog in this car as it is so clean inside, but thankfully it went OK. I am not sure I will be itching to do it again any time soon, but he was a good dog and we had a lot of fun. It felt really cool to be able to take the car on a road trip together and reminded us of our all of the awesome trips we took in my 240 over the years – except with air conditioning and a radio this time around! Total game changer.

Not long after our trip, I decided relatively last minute to attend the 10th Anniversary Final Bout event. I drove the car to the office a week before I was scheduled to leave for Chicago. I am a big weather nerd and have really gotten into tracking storms across the country in the last year or so. I was watching the Michigan Storm Chasers stream and saw that a cell with possible 2″ hail was popping up near my home while I was at the office and heading my way. Since it was about 4:30, I sprinted to my car to try to race the storm and get home before it hit. When I turned the key, the car refused to start – no crank, no click. Puzzled, I sat for a moment before removing the key, reinserting it, and trying again. Fortunately, the car fired right up and I pulled into the garage just before the first big gust of wind hit. My kids’ school ended up losing power for nearly 36 hours due to the storm, so two of the three got a day off out of the deal. But remember this no crank issue as it will come into play later.

Frankie from Faction Motorsports (the gentlemen that bought my old 240SX hatch shell) reached out to me and asked if I would be up for recording a podcast episode at my house on their way from New Jersey to Chicago for Final Bout. Frankie’s podcast is really professional and the quality is great, so saying yes was a no-brainer – on top of the fact that he is a great dude. I am really bad at listening to podcasts, but I try to listen to the ones my friends create or attend as guests when I am able to find the time. It ended up being a total blast and it was so cool to have Frankie, Luis and Karl at the house – a great group of guys! It’s available now for Faction Patreon members and will be released to the entire audience sometime in the next month or two. I will be sure to share a link here when it drops!

On the Thursday before Labor Day weekend, I left for Chicago in the 180SX around dinnertime. Once there, I met up with my friends Jimmy, Kev and Jakob from Houston, as well as Liam from Toronto. We stayed in Chicago that night before linking up with Tony Touch in his infamous 240SX in the morning and driving up to the track together in Shawano, Wisconsin. As it always seems to, it poured rain for the first hour and a half or so of the trek. I was dreading driving in the rain until I realized my car isn’t low, has normal tires, has working AC and defrost, and a working rear wiper. The rear defrost even works! What a treat after driving my 240 without any of those things for so many years. I was so geeked to see the lines working their way across the back window to clear the fog from the inside. I did have the random no-start issue return at a gas station on the way up, but just as I had before, I removed the key and reinserted it and the car started up just fine.

I got to see a ton of old friends that I had not seen in five years or more at the event, and that felt great. I have sometimes felt a bit disconnected from the car community over the last few years since I stopped going to Final Bout, so it was great to be reminded of all the good people in my life and this community. Brett Levan made the trek from Florida- we hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so that was a real treat. I also got to meet a ton of awesome people, including Alexi of Nori Yaro, Yev from the Western USA, and Cody (theroadishot_) from NZ. There are too many to list, but meeting people I have talked to online for years is always such a surreal and motivating experience. I definitely left feeling excited for the future of my project and diving into it during the winter months.

As for the event itself, well… I think I am getting old. There was some great driving and a lot of really cool cars present. However, I was absolutely blown away at how many people were in attendance. I am definitely an extrovert and being around people fills me up, but I felt very overwhelmed at times with so many spectators in attendance. It felt like everyone around me had a t-shirt on for an automotive YouTuber, and there were 100s of people in line at all of the merch tents all weekend waiting to spend $45 on a tee shirt. People were filming for their channels in the pits and signing autographs all weekend. It really was mind blowing to see the growth of the event over the last five years.

At one point I tried to go watch the competition and could not find a place to see the track. Everywhere I looked there were already 6-8 people in front of me. Even the dirt portion on the far side of the track was flooded with spectators from end to end. I ended up going back to JY’s pit and taking a nap under the tent during the competition, which was actually really nice as the pits were a ghost town.

Don’t get me wrong – I consider the founders of Final Bout great friends. They have brought something to the US that is absolutely unparalleled and unrivaled. So many lives have been improved by it and so many friendships have been forged. I wish them nothing but success and want the event to continue to thrive as it has so many positive impacts. I tried my best not to be one of those “I knew about this band before they were cool” people all weekend, but I definitely had a bad attitude at times. I truly think it’s just a matter of getting older and navigating change. The YouTube thing has never been my speed (again, because I am old and grew up with build threads and blogs) so that always makes me a little salty despite my best efforts to be impartial. In the end, I am stoked to see the next generation enjoying these events like I did ten years ago, even if it looks a little different now. It’s truly a one of a kind experience and I am so glad I got to have the chance to be a part of it – even despite the fact that I don’t drift! I have made and continue to make so many great friends thanks to Final Bout.

When I look back, I am glad I went to Final Bout this year. I had attended the event every year from its inception in 2014 through 2019. In 2020, I attended Special Stage South in Houston just before the world shut down due to the pandemic. That year, Alicia’s family acquired the lake house and that became my new Labor Day tradition. Each year since then I have been missing all of the great people at Final Bout, but I was reluctant to leave my family for the long weekend. It just felt more enjoyable to have a laid back weekend at the lake rather than clinging to life at a racetrack in rural Wisconsin all weekend. This year’s trip gave me peace with the decision I made to slow down a bit in recent years. Who knows, maybe I will make it back to Final Bout for another event in the future – time will tell. But I am really glad that the event is still going strong and so many people are getting to experience it.

The car was flawless on the drive home Sunday afternoon and I was thankful to finally be back with my family that night. Monday was Labor Day, so we spent the day together before going back to work and school on Tuesday morning. When I hopped in the 180 to drive to work that day, the car wouldn’t start – however, this time it was cranking but wouldn’t fire. I ended up shrugging my shoulders and taking the Vibe to work that day. I was so thankful that the car made it home safely as it would have been terrible to be stranded in Wisconsin or Illinois with an issue.

After talking to the guys about possible causes, I checked a few different things. The fuel pump was priming, fuel was coming out of the lines at the fuel rail, and the car had gas in it. I checked the plugs and the car had spark. I unplugged the MAF and there were no changes. Finally, Kev had me check if the injectors were firing and I determined they were not. Thanks to a post on Zilvia from 2011, I saw someone mention that their injectors were not firing due to a faulty wire on their ignition switch. Sure enough, I removed the steering column cover and jiggled the wires on the ignition switch while cranking the car to find that it fired right up!

Kev sent me some Minkara post with people in Japan sharing the same issue. They had to take their switch apart to repair it as the JDM ignition switch is discontinued. I had experienced a bad ignition switch in my 240SX before, but the issue was a bit different. When you turned the key, the car would act dead like my 180SX was doing before and during the Final Bout trip. But, if you moved the key back 1-2mm, it would fire. I ended up removing my switch and finding that the soldered connections all looked good. However, there was some play between the plastic end cap and the metal cylinder. I held the two halves together with a C clamp and tapped the folded “tabs” in the side of the metal cylinder with a hammer and a screwdriver to tighten them back up. This removed the play from the plastic end cap. I reinstalled it and the car has been starting without issue consistently for the last couple weeks. I’ll take that as a win!

I tried to order a brand new JDM ignition switch from Amayama only to find that the order was canceled and it had, in fact, been discontinued. I have been told that the USDM switch will work, it just has a longer wiring harness for the LHD configuration. This appears to be true from the photos I have seen online. As fate would have it, the car just started acting up again last night. I ordered a replacement USDM switch and will see if I can get the car working properly again this weekend.

As for parts, I haven’t ordered a ton lately – but I did pick up a couple different things for the car. I have found that all of the plugs on the engine harness are pretty old and brittle. My O2 sensor plug broke when we pulled the faulty turbo off of the car in Houston, and my coil pack plugs crumbled when I replaced the coils. I also lost the metal clip for the MAF in Houston and found that the plug has a crack in it anyway. At the nudging from Liam, I purchased a Wiring Specialties harness refresh kit to repin and replace all of the engine harness plugs. This is new territory for me, so I am going to need some practice and coaching – but I am excited to get it all cleaned up. I’ve always had new Wiring Specialties engine harnesses in my 240s, so I took for granted how nice having all new clips is. Working with an old crusty harness is not ideal.

Initially I had planned to only replace the coil pack harness, so I ordered a brand new OEM unit. I was surprised to see these are still available. I plan to install this during the offseason when I refresh the valve cover with fresh powder, new hardware, and a shiny new coil pack cover. I am really looking forward to that project!

At Final Bout, I met up with my painter Brent and purchased a set of really nice OEM 180SX floor mats for the car. My mats went missing during the transport process to the States, so I was really excited to find a set of these in such great shape. Major thank you to Brent for selling me these! They really tie everything together and give you the stock interior experience.

Back in July, I sold my Nardi Classic 330mm and picked up a 340MM at the recommendation of some friends. I have always been a 330 guy, but it felt a little small and aggressive for a street cruiser. I am going to try out the 340 this time around and see how I like it. Stoked to have a fresh wheel again!

I had to get out my interior parts collection for a rare photo opp. I truly can’t wait to tune up the interior of this car a bit. Interior tuning has always been my favorite aspect of modifying these cars. I’m very excited to have all of these parts ready for this thing.

In August, I bought a pair of Bride FG bucket seat rails for both sides of the car. This will allow me to run to of my buckets if I choose to, or only one on the driver’s side. I am anxious to get some cool seats in the car, but I want to wait until this winter so that I can add some of the other interior upgrades at the same time. The patience will soon pay off!

Finally, I also received an order from Amayama. This included a pair of kouki 180SX position lamps to retrofit with dual function bulbs from Zenki S13 turn signals like I did on my 240SX (Here’s a link to that project if you want to check it out.) That should be a fun project to tackle this winter. I also purchased new bolts, washers, nuts, and bushings for the clutch and brake pedal assemblies after that little snafu. The order also included a new OEM fuel filter, fresh heater core hoses, and new grommets for the firewall. I had overlooked the heater core hoses as I was used to using generic parts store stuff to make those work in my 240s. It’s nice to just order up the factory ones and replace them instead for a change.

Tomorrow, I will be hosting my third annual CamryOnBronze (COB) S Chassis BBQ. I started hosting a simple BBQ at my house every fall like Broadfield used to do when I was first getting into these cars. It’s a great way for me to meet some new people and try to give back to the younger guys a little bit. It gives me a lot of motivation every year and I am really looking forward to getting together and doing it again. After the BBQ, I’ll likely enjoy the car for just a couple more weeks until the weather turns – then it will FINALLY be time to start on the manual gearbox swap. I am feeling the motivation and excitement to finally tear into the car and make it my own.

Whew, that was a long one! I hope you enjoyed the recap. I am hoping time and motivation will allow me to keep this updated more frequently, but we’ll see how the fall season goes. I am so grateful for everyone that has enjoyed my projects over the years and has taken the time to stop me at Final Bout or send me a DM about it. It really means a lot! Thanks as always for stopping by and following along. I’m really looking forward to spending time in the garage again over the coming months.

– Damon