SPEED shoot:

After having contacted SPEED magazine, we organised a day for the photoshoot, for which they hired out Calder Park raceway for half the day to get some drifting shots. Adam Newton came down for the day to get some good action shots, which we luckily did considering the car lasted for about 4 passes before the gearbox cried enough!

I can't really blame it though, pushing 240rwkw through 275 wide tyres mounted on 11.5 inch wide rims, and clutch dumping third, it was bound to happen sooner or later...

Anyways, we pushed the car back to the pits, had it towed to the workshop and a new gearbox fitted that afternoon. The car finished off the shoot down in Carlton 2 days later, which I unfortunately could not attend, but the end product showed me all I needed to see. Christian Brunelli did a fantastic job, and the results can be seen in the final issue of SPEED with the pink GT Autosound S15 on the cover. That was one expensive magazine!

The car in the Australian Motorsport Expo at the Exhibition Center.

The 180 wasn't actually driving at this time as I had blown the crown and pinion a few weeks prior, but the Full lock boys asked if they could put it in the show, and I told them if they could get it there then no problems, so they picked it up on the back of a tow truck and got it down there!

While at the show a photographer for the now defunct SPEED magazine noticed the car and asked if I'd be interetested in doing a photo shoot. I said yes of course as I'd really been wanting to get it featured in this publication.

Sorrento cruise:

These were taken on a beautiful summers day cruise down to Sorrento with the Nissan silvia crew a few years ago.

Back fromthe body shop!

This is the 180 after it first got back from the body shop, complete with C-West GT wing.

Unfortunately the wing lasted about 3 days before it got pulled off, thanks to Mr Plod!

Widebody!

With the power sorted, and the rest of the car holding up quite well (despite the clutch which cried enough after about 5 days with the new found power, but was promptly replaced with an OS Giken Twin plate with lightened flywheel), an altercation with a off ramp on the freeway left me with a dented rear quarter... what better excuse to widebody it then! I weighed up my option (ie costs), and being the type of person that doesn't like spending money to have the car come back exactly the same, the decision to go the whole hog was made.

I searched around for some rear widebody guards, and came across Motorware who informed me that they were importing 2 sets of the new Chargespeed 50mm rear overfenders into Australia, and I could buy a set off of them. Done deal! I acquired a set of 20mm front fenders through a friend and bought a Vertex rear bar. This was all the easy part, acquiring the correct rims to go with the kit was going to be a lot more difficult than I first imagined...

I decided on getting some BIG dished 18's from Japan, and had my eyes on some 3 piece Work Meisters. To cut another long story short, 4 months later I had some 18x9.5 + 24 front and 18x11.5 +8 rear 3 piece Meisters in my hand, and an almost completed widebody 180sx on it's way!

Modifications: Round 1

The car has been through a few transformations before it got to where it is now. The first major round of mods basically focused on the engine, and giving the car some much needed get up and go! The rest of the car was pretty much sorted with the limited mods that it had, and I was confident it would be able to handle the extra power. This round of mods probably took the longest due to financial restrictions, but to cut a long story short here is how the car ended up after it was done:

SUSPENSION
*5 Stud R32 Skyline Brake Conversion
*17x8 and 17x9 Blest rims with 205 silverstones up front and 245 Falken ZIEXs on the back *CUSCO braided brake lines
*Cusco Master Cylinder stopper
*Bendix metal pads front
*PROJECT MU pads rear
*GAB Revolution Stroke 2 Adjustable Coilovers W/Adjustable strut tops
*NISMO front strut brace
*CUSCO rear strut brace
*24mm swaybars
*Urethane bushes up front
*Front castor adjustable bushes
*New control arms on rear

DRIVELINE
*Shortshift kit
*CUSCO two way LSD

ENGINE
*T3/4 high mount Turbo
*High mounted tuned length manifold
*M`s Airfilter
*KAKIMOTO stainless 3 inch system with BMT constructed front pipe
*Hybrid Front mount intercooler (600x300x70) with BMT custom piping
*Central20 BRAIN SPL ECU
*Aftermarket fuel pump
*HKS actuator
*Odyssey 650 battery
*Dr Drift bleed valve
*Greddy catch can

INTERIOR
*APEXI Recall boost guage
*Omori water temp guage
*Starbo automatic turbo timer
*Central20 280 Kmh Speedometer
*MOMO steering wheel
*Razo carbon fibre pedals
*Veilside gearknob
*APEXI multichecker
*Mesh tinting on rear

POWER

241rwkw's

Where it all began...

I really should have started this a few years ago, but hey, what can ya do??!

Well, where do I start with this never ending journey of mine?? I'll start from the beginning with a brief timeline of how it got to where it is at the moment...

I bought this 180sx in late August 2003. This is my second 180sx, after owning another one a year prior, which was unfortunately stolen by some thiefing scumbags who think that they don't have to work for what they have...

After my first 180sx was stolen I bought a Series 2 RX-7 with a 13B turbo in it, which was a fun car for a few months until it got stolen as well... I was doing well at this point... With no money left I had to get a loan to buy a shitter of a VL Calais until I could save for my next car, which was an RX3 with a 12A Peripheral Port. Now that was a cool car! Continuing with my tradition of not keeping a car for more than a few months I received an offer on the RX3 what I couldn't refuse, even though it was a hard decision at the time. I just couldn't resist the temptation of getting back into another 180sx. I sold the RX3, and a week later flew up to Canberra to buy my current 180sx.

The 180 had a few mods on it at the time, with some GAB Stroke II coilovers that had seen better days, a M's pod filter, Nismo strut brace, Momo steering wheel, Kakimoto cat back exhaust, 5 stud conversion, 2 way diff and a mild bodykit consisting of a TBO front bar, Veilside type II side skirts and an unknown rear wing. The car went well, and handled well, but it did neither well enough for me, and the mods soon began!