From about June to August 2017 I started really cranking down on 180 research. I fell in love with the early 2000's style of Koguchi, Itai, and Ito. The simplicity and style of that time period really grew on me. After enjoying my car for a few months, I started making a list of things I needed. I was debating between OEM Type X and HotRoad. I loved the rarity and uniqueness of old school parts. I started obsessing over hard to find and extremely expensive parts haha.
I finally got rid of the Grenades, and ended up buying two full sets of bronze TE37's. I combined the two to create the iconic 17/18 staggered setup, and sold the remaining staggered set.
After spending a day at the shop installing the new TE's and playing with the fitment, I discovered the CST coilovers couldn't go low enough! I maxed them out and ran them for the time being.
I found a crackless RHD S13 dash in North Carolina, and decided to go ahead and swap out my old cracked dash. (Picture of the old dash)
I threw on some 25mm extended FLCA's and new extended inner + outer tie rods, along with some rack spacers to get the angle and stance I was looking for in the front.
I parked the car for about a month, and started sourcing parts. First up were Ganador power mirrors. I ended up buying a brand new right side S13 mirror and a set of used S13 mirrors with the right side missing the glass. Of course I put the incomplete right side mirror aside. I may sell it, or use it as a replacement one day, not completely sure.
I sent the mirrors off to paint. During that time I sold off the replica kit and discovered the paint on the rockers had some pretty bad chips. The 180 was looking "like it got hit by a truck" as one of my coworkers said.
The next weekend I got a good deal on some Z32 wheels, and decided to have some fun!
Of course that ended after about 5 minutes when the left front tire caught a inner fender mounting tab on my left fender and bent the whole fender outward, slashing the tire in the process. I didn't take any pictures after it happened lol. I took a screwdriver and bent the fender back as best I could (and did a pretty damn good job), and was able to drive it home.
Next up was the OEM Type X kit. I picked up the front corner lights, signal lights, rear wing, side skirts, and rear valances. I opted to go for a DorkiDori urethane replica front lip, and N1 vents because I couldn't afford OEM at the time.
I put my freshly paint matched Ganador mirrors on, and headed out to one last Cars and Coffee before I parked the car for three more months.
On the way back, a rock from the highway flew up and chipped the paint off my A pillar.
The Type X kit needed to be painted, along with the left front fender, rockers, and now the A pillar. So I decided to go ahead and send the whole car off to be repainted. Now I didn't know if I wanted to stay white, or go with a different color.