Teddy's Southeast 180SX Build

[Teddyless]

I've been debating creating a build thread for this car for awhile now. I figured I've procrastinated long enough, and to just go ahead and pull the trigger on it while I'm still relatively early in the process.

From early on in my childhood, I had always loved the look of the S13 fastback. In my early teens I began saving towards a 240 hatch. Over the years I began to realize the s-chassis scene was extremely saturated. I still loved the look of the car, but I wanted to be more unique at the time, so I started looking at 180sx's.

After two years of saving, searching, sourcing, and consistently browsing the online auctions, as well as US importer inventory everyday, I finally came across a 180 that had some potential.

I was looking for a clean 180sx, with a factory sunroof and SR, preferably in white. I came across this car at auction in early January of 2017. It was a 1989 model that originally came with the CA18DET, HICAS II, ABS, and was originally dark metallic grey. At the time of auction, the car had been SR swapped, repainted white, and HICAS, ABS deleted. It had a replica Type X kit, and some Grenade GX01's.







I decided to go ahead and bid on the car, it was the first 180 I had seen in two years legally for sale that met my specifications. I ended up winning the car, and worked with a Florida based import company to ship the car to the US.





While the car was shipping, I got bored and bought some things I could tell it didn't have from the pictures. I got a carbon Kevlar rear center garnish, OEM kouki front bumper, extensions, extension brackets, front emblem, and some maintenance items.



Okay, enough of the backstory. I picked the car up in late April 2017. Upon driving it for the first time the next morning, I discovered the fitment of the wheels needed some work. All 4 wheels would rub fenders constantly. One trip around the neighborhood filled the interior with smoke from rubbing tire. I realized the only suspension modification that had been done was some CST Zero coilovers. The stock rear upper control arms were maxed out on negative camber, and still couldn't let the Grenades clear the previously cut rear quarters.











I picked up some Kazama RUCA's and toe arms to give me some more adjustability to clear the rear quarters. As for the front, I just raised the coils a little to reduce rubbing.



Next up were the seats. The driver seat was some cheap Naniwaya/Nagoya REV bucket seat. It was extremely uncomfortable, and sized for a kindergartener. The passenger seat was an Autech S15 seat, which was cool, but it didn't fit the style I wanted. I swapped them out for some OEM Type X seats. Luckily the rear seat was already the kouki 180 seat, so everything flowed very well.



I drove the car like this for a few months. I was fairly content with how the car looked, although deep down I knew the wheels and replica kit were killing me haha