CamryOnBronze

I’ve got some work to do tonight before we try starting the car tomorrow. Last night I wired up my position lights and sidemarkers, so all of the lights on the car work- it was cool to see them all lit up. 🙂 I also got my BOV flange welded last night and put my new Braille battery that showed up in, so that’s ready to go too- tonight I am going to install all of the intercooler piping with my new t-bolt clamps and get that squared away, as well as fill all of the fluids and run the last remaining coolant and vacuum lines. It should be pretty much set to start tomorrow night! We’ll see what happens… stay tuned.

Damon

Alright, so here I am neglecting the blog AGAIN. Sorry about that, if anyone is out there, haha.

I feel a lot more accomplished when I update my blog, as opposed to my build threads on the forums that get updates every day or two. It feels like I am never getting anywhere with this project, but when I update the blog and see how much has gotten done in the last couple of weeks- despite working full time, working on the house, and having plans away from home almost every weekend- I feel good about where things are at.

So, here is how it sits now:

The entire wiring harness is completely installed. I am really happy with how the “mild tuck” came out. It looks pretty clean, but wasn’t a ton of work to make it look like that. I made brackets for the fuse boxes and tucked them under their original locations. The lower harness is down near the frame rail and is tucked away pretty nicely in the black bay- I just have to tie some of the wires together to keep everything organized. I also installed a steel one piece driveshaft from The Driveshaft Shop:

My battery is just too old and tired, so I ordered a Braille 17 lbs battery from The Tire Rack this morning to replace it. Last night, I hooked the car up to my daily via jumper cables to check that everything had power and see if it would blow up or start smoking or something. Thankfully, the door chime came on, the lights lit up, the fuel pump primed, and the Power FC came on! I am SO excited… it’s so great to see the car with some life again:

So, the interior is 100% back together. I need to wire my illuminated key ring and install my 180sx cluster when it is modified, but for now it is all set and ready to go. As for starting it up, I am basically waiting on the following things:

• Install battery (Arrives Monday)
• Install t-bolt clamps (Arrives Tuesday)
• Install hot pipe and HKS SSQV3 BOV (Hoping to have the flange welded on by Wednesday)
• Set TPS
• Fill fluids- coolant, oil, power steering, transmission, bleed clutch, etc.
• Enter base map into Power FC (Got a base map from Steve Shadows)
• Install GReddy Intake
• Install boost controller
• Install misc. coolant and vacuum hoses (almost done with this)

At this point, I think it will fire up on Wednesday night, assuming all goes well! I know there are usually snags, though, so we’ll see what happens. Very excited to see it on the road!

One other thing- about two weeks ago I lowered the car some more up front and sat it on the ground. The front end was all mocked up with zip ties at this point. I think it will come down just a little bit more, but I don’t want to go insane with it. Suspension will be adjusted before it sees the ground again.

So that’s about it for now. Hopefully, the next update will include a startup video and some pics of the car out in the sunlight! 🙂 It’s finally getting good…

Damon

haha- so yeah. I worked on the car a little bit last night…

I got a Mishimoto Heat Wrap kit from Edgar @ Swapped- got a great deal and it came next day! Thanks Edgar! The PSM downpipe is tucked so tightly to the floor that I wanted to wrap it to help with the temps a bit:

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Then I started on the wiring/fuse boxes. I pulled both fuse boxes out of the engine bay and plan to fabricate some brackets and splash shields in there to protecting everything, but it will be nice to have it all out of the bay:

My Toby question is this: How/where did you route the lower engine harness with the fuse box in the fender well? I’m just not sure where to route the wiring/plugs for the alternator, trans, oil pressure switch, etc. Did you run them under the car somehow?

I also put my fabric-free door panels in, but forgot to snap a pic. I just need to wire my gauges and install/mount the Power FC and then I will finally be done with the interior and put the last remaining panels into place. My black braided lines for the fuel system should be here today, as well as a Woodruff key that Russell overnighted to me- thanks again bud! More progress soon…

I always update all of my build threads, but forget to do the blog. The engine is back in the car!

Hopefully it won’t be long now. Still waiting on my D-Max front lights. Planning to plug away at it day by day and get it done at a good pace. Hope to have it running soon!

So I helped my friends Tim and Greg swap Greg’s black S13 hatch this weekend- Single slammer to Redtop SR swap. It was a lot of fun and a good experience for me- it made me really confident about reinstalling my motor. They pulled the KA on Friday night, I helped most of the day Saturday with getting everything set up, and they had it running Sunday morning after picking up a few things they were missing. Tim’s uncle has a barn with 3 lifts in it- so nice! Here are a couple pics from the weekend:

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On Sunday night, I spent some time on my car. Finally installed my clear headlight lenses… had some stripped screws to take care of. The intercooler is just mocked up- I was checking fitment of the front bumper with the intercooler there:

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Put the hatch panels in a friend gave me. I just need to clean back there and make a floor board so that I can haul stuff back there without it sinking into the spare tire well:

Door panels went back in. Still need to put some trim pieces back when the engine/trans are back in and the Power FC/gauges are fully installed. I’ll redo the suede this summer since it didn’t come out very well:

Installed the JDM vent visors as well:

And one of the seat:

The Ganadors will be back from paint and installed someday this week. Wheels by the weekend, I hope! They are prepped and should be sprayed any day now…

So i got the last of my goodies for a while last weekend: Bride Zeta III Type L bucket seat and Ganador Super Aero mirrors. I had a set previously and sold them, but came to regret it later. Luckily I was able to scoop up another set…

So that’s it for a while. My wife and I close on our first house a week from this Friday, so cash is tight. We will be pretty occupied with moving in from our apartment over the next few weeks, but I’ll be trying to work on the car as much as I can in that time span. Having the car in my personal garage should help things to move along a lot more quickly. I did manage to install the Bride and my new Walbro 255 fuel pump last weekend before Mother’s day, so that’s good. The next update should have the wheels and tires fitted on the car.

I just need to install the JDM window visors for real and add a few bolts/fasteners and the exterior will be done- aside from some intense detailing when the time comes of course. My Ganador mirrors come tomorrow, so I will need to have those painted too. I’m stoked though, I love it! I can’t wait to see it with the CR Kais on it. More soon.

I installed my rear valences yesterday just before the thunderstorms rolled in. Hatch is back on, as well as the position lights and turn signals. Hoping to leave tonight with the side skirts and rear spoiler installed. 🙂

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(Got a bracket to fix to pull in that gap…)

Zeta III L arrives tomorrow, Ganadors Thursday. Still waiting on my wheels to be painted… starting to get pissed! lol.

I just picked up my side skirts and hatch from being repainted on my lunch break- they did a great job! They look much better now without the runs, lol.

I’m installing the hatch after work. Hopefully, I will have time to do the rear valences and the side skirts as well. 🙂 I’ll snap some decent pics with my wife’s camera and post them up soon.

I actually found a set of Ganador mirrors on Zilvia yesterday, so I scooped those up! They should be here next week along with the Bride. I was really bummed that I sold my first set, but I really got lucky finding another set! Maybe it’s a sign, haha.

I need to update this more. If you’re reading this, sorry!

I haven’t done much on the engine front since my last update. Soon, I am going to take a day and head out to Grand Rapids to finish assembly of the engine. I pretty much have little things to take care of and clear up, then I can bolt the flywheel/clutch/trans on and haul the motorset back to the car. My wife and I are moving into our new home (with a GARAGE!) on May 21st. I want to have the engine sitting in the car before I tow it out to the new garage to make life easier, so that’s my goal. It’s tough without having much free time these days.

I sold my Defi gauges- I loved them, but I got a crazy offer on them that I couldn’t refuse and came out with a pretty awesome profit as a result. I will now be running three gauges total- AEM digitial Boost, Oil Pressure, and A/F Ratio.

I got all of my exterior parts back from paint. The spoiler, rear valences, front and rear bumpers, and front lip all came out pretty nice. The hatch, side skirts, and front fenders looked pretty bad. They were full of runs and imperfections. I took those in to Superior Collision on Monday to be redone and they should be back any day now. I have decided to keep using my stock fenders for now and have the other ones redone later.

I got a chance to mock up the front end last night, as well as reinstall my rear bumper. I should have the rear valences, hatch, spoiler, and side skirts on next week. Here are some pics with the bumper and lip mocked up, held on by two zip ties:

For some reason I sold my Ganador mirrors… if you know of anyone selling a set, let me know! My rear wheels came from Work a few weeks ago and are in for paint- 17×9 +17 F, 18×9.5 +12 R:

I love Japanese translations!

Wheels going in for paint (They will be silver).

And one more thing… I just bought this bad boy to replace my Corbeau yesterday. It should be here next week:

Bride Zeta III Type L

So that’s about it for now. I just got the call while making this post that my hatch and side skirts are painted and ready for pick up, so I should have those things installed soon- possibly tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Damon