My RPS13

Ever since gran turismo 1 iv loved these fucking things

Nissan-180SX-Type-X-96 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

So when i was finally in the position to be able to import a car fresh from japan this was top of the list, long story short i found what i wanted, white, full type x kit and a few toys on it already, its a 97 so actually newer than my old s14 and had the none vvt blacktop in it.
The auction sheet showed that the exterior was good but the interior wasnt so great, no biggy i thought.

the auction pics:

10527377_10152601530476318_7151683525408235731_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

10553565_10152601530441318_8851347454706280505_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

As you could imagine i was buzzing when i won the auction!
The car had a long trip to the docks from fukushima (where the nuclear plant meltdown occurred after the tsunami), after the car arrived at the docks in japan the dock workers snapped a few more pics for me:

10353187_10152644383421318_3530589875582713754_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

10526153_10152644383696318_1591959877765120764_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

10556515_10152644384036318_6303413632555739598_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

10615847_709973705743074_2038525419_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

10581454_709973695743075_418332319_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7360 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Not long after that i find out that they had to higher the car and remove the front bumper to get it on the ship!!
thankfully they bubble wrapped everything up nicely and all the bolts etc, although i wasnt too happy about being charged for it but what could i do.

10570501_10152692710716318_5720967950958295187_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

From there it was just the waiting game, after what seemed like forever the car arrives in the uk, i sort all the paperwork out and go to collect with a recovery truck,

IMG_7766 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Once i got it home and had chance to have a good look and run it for a bit etc i found that the auction sheet wasnt exactly accurate, the exterior was terrible (rust in the usual places) but the interior was mint, im not too fussed because where its rusted are places i would be cutting away anyway so not too bad.
But most importantly the engine ran and the car drove both flawlessly (making my daily Mercedes feel clunky and poorly made).

IMG_7780 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7783 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7796 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7808 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

1016358_10152842208631318_6711914378915845065_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

1966782_10152841224656318_7352789035605877038_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

what some cheeky japanese scamp had done was cover the rust with white vinyl, so on the auction pics it would look totally mint, so i took that shit off and took the grinder to some areas to see how far we were looking at and in an attempt to stop the rust spreading before i make my arches.

IMG_7793 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7792 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7791 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7790 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7789 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Things i got for the car before it arrived:

IMG_7346 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7415 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

IMG_7416 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

A also got 5 stud hubs but il come back to that.

the wheels i picked up were some iv always wanted, WORK VSKF, threw one under the arch just to get an idea:

10710611_10152842208746318_8060391889545799795_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Il be making some custom arches similar to this:

10689546_10152842209096318_7304153447009999345_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

10685563_10152842208981318_1659585351381452988_n by ezza_9000, on Flickr

naturally i ordered lips as soon as id measured what sizes i want, i went for a 5" front and 6" rear lip, giving me 10 and 11j

IMG_7913 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Here is one of the faces dropped in the lip just to see (the lips and barrels are welded together so have to cut that before re-lipping the wheels)

IMG_7931 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

So last weekend i finally plucked up the courage to take a grinder to my works:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Ordered new valve stems so as soon as they arrive i can seal and torque them up ready for tyres

small update, new stainless steel valve stems, battery box and distribution block:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

So to make my custom arches when the wheels are on and to have them as perfect as i can get them i need the car at its "final" ride height, which i cant get too with the current exhaust (apexi), its too big, scrapes as it is! So i picked up a custom made system built to sit high up on a 180sx:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

How it sits on a car:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Also got some raybrig purple/blue clear headlight buckets:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Just a little thing but i got some stainless dome head bolts for my snap off boss (the boss only came with 6 that rusted in no time)

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Fitted the raybrigs aswell as a little present from my friend

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Although now i have ridiculously bright lights the adjuster screw has decided to skip its "runner" so they both point up into peoples eyes, so the weekend il be taking them apart to see if i can fix what's up, after doing some reading it seems to be a fairly common problem and fairly easy to sort.

Fixed the adjuster screw problem:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Gave it a good wash and clean out,

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

found this:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Fitted my battery box, clean install if i do say so myself, it feels good coming back to something i wasn't totally happy with and doing it properly (previously was just naked battery held down with halfords battery tie down)

(need to hoover the boot out now its empty again)

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Also i went to fit my steering wheel, turns out the wheel that's on it is a r33 wheel, and needs a certain type of torx bit to remove which i don't have, so im waiting on that before i can fit my snap off boss and wheel.

Thought this was pretty funny too:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Oh yeah these came too:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

I wasnt happy with the fit of the r33 ones, they looked like they fitted ok but there must have been a gap somewhere because there was alot of road noise.

These white ones are the LED mirrors, like this:

p1 by ezza_9000, on Flickr

but im not sure about them, i can swap the mirror from the r33 ones onto the s13 base so i have the classic version without the led's but again im not sure :/

My torx bits arrived today

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

So i whipped off the r33 wheel and got the snap off boss on.

The hub didnt have anyway of keeping the self canceling indicator function so i made a slight modification to keep it.

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr


Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Like a glove

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

I forgot to get a pic of the wheel on, but i need to whip it back off again and rotate it a tooth or two to make it perfectly straight, also the hub, the snap off boss and the fact its a deep dish wheel means the wheel sticks out quite a bit more than i wanted, but now i have a good base to go off when i order my actual wheel (this was one i got for cheap as a stop gap)

Gaz came over yesterday to help with what was originally going to be relocating the arch loom,

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

The pics will do the talking but after prodding a big patch of rust on the shock tower it turned into a session of rust removal from the o/s shock tower.

Taking apart a type x thats never been taken apart is a little daunting, still got the factory double sided tape holding all the spats etc perfectly in place, but i suppose it has to be done.

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Gaz was sick at making the templates:

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

Untitled by ezza_9000, on Flickr

My welds weren't as pretty as id hoped but im going to blame it on not being used to my welder, first time using it in literally years, also i couldn't seem to find a good setting, either too hot or too cold but if id have looked a bit closer i didn't notice until i was packing away the second set of settings on the welder lol, oh well, its solid now and noting stops me taking the visible bead back and re-welding it to look pretty when im ready for paint.