Tom.Coms 180sx Drift Build

[tom.com]

So after attending several rounds of Prodrift/IDC and countless track days as a spectator/passenger and months of talking shite about getting involved, I shifted on my road car and finally decided to bite the bullet and buy myself a track car. I was working in Dubai for 3 months over the Summer and to pass some of the dull hours I kept scouring Donedeal, Gumtree etc in the hunt of an s-body with some decent spec for a decent price. This proved to be more difficult than i expected so one day i took a notion to contact my good mate Petko (pepsterx) and see would he consider selling his track car. Luckily for me He decided he could let it go at the right price and a deal was done. A gent to deal with as always! Some of you may recognize the car as I think it's had a few owners on here, namely Stevo and Petko.

The speclist that I can gather is as follows:
Red top non vvt engine
Gt28r S15 turbo
Nismo flywheel
Exedy 3 puck clutch
Gtr fuel pump
Japspeed alloy rad
FMIC and hard pipes
boost controller
strut brace
hks actuator
hydraulic handbrake
subframe locking collars
braided brake lines
Rack moved forward
Track rods extended
Cut and shut Extra lock hubs
Extended s14 wishbones
Adjustable tension rods
Adjustable toe arms
Adjustable traction arms
4:1 welded diff
hks hypermax coilovers
5 stud S15 hubs and calipers
Rota grid drift 17x9.5 et12 all round
Flared and rolled arches
Kouki front bumper
GTR fuel pump

Heres some snaps of the car in action during Petko's Last day out:





So heres how the car stood when I collected it:




My first step was to ditch the battered skirts and the spoiler wasnt to my liking, I also pulled off the tints.


Moved the car to its new home in my mates shed.



Then picked up a cheapo wing off my mate Sean that needed some small repairs:





Then decided I wanted to paint the car and began to inspect some of the required repairs:




Then it was Time to begin the repair process:






stripped the front bumper bars and lights etc and fitted my new LED strip headlights.



As the prep work progressed we started making a crash bar for the front that will support the bumper,wings and bolt to the front chassis legs and be easlily removable. I think this will be invaluable seeing as Im relatively inexperienced and the its essential that the intercooler is protected.



Kept plugging away at the prepping, Thanks to Wally,keno, Gav and any of the other lads that lent a hand along the way!



Fitted some gauges and a link contoller we had...still need to locate senders, also threw on some stickers i had lying around for those lifestyler points:




Decided to tidy up the tatty floor,light sand, some rattle can primer and paint, we also made up a tidy little hydro bracket and welded it to the tunnel:



So then the time came to paint the car so we threw together a make shift spray booth:


Got crazy with some newspaper:





Went with a custom matte grey the same as is on Wallys SR86:
got a sneak peak in before i got to bed :



pulled off all the paper in the morning and things were beginning to look promising:


Pieced the car back together and was really happy with the outcome:












And that's where we are at as of today 21/11/14
plans before the first day out are..
1. Replace cut and shut extended track rods with tein ones
2.free up all the seized and rusted rose joints on the rear arms and replace any if necessary
3.fit narrower sparco seat I have
4.get gauges working
5.change all fluids,oil,clutch, brake, coolant
6. pick up some good steering tires.
7.make up some stainless shotguns
8.make some form of ignorant spoiler.


That's all for now. opinions welcome!

[Stevo]

Little gem of a car that! Best going car for the power ive had and ive had alot haha, If you need replacement arms gimme a shout. The lock is spot on i wouldnt even change to tein, alot of work went into the lock, it has more lock than driftworks hubs and doesnt go over center

[tom.com]

cheers man.I'll see how I'm fixed once I've checked all of them!Yeah seems that way. I'm going to leave the hubs for sure I'll just get new extended track rod ends and maybe run rack spacers its just as the ones in it are getting a bit shagged! the last thing I'll do is give up lock so I'll figure it out, I'll probably need a lot of it while I'm learning haha!

[LarZ]

the car looks excellent with that colour combination. Fair play! can't wait to see this out on track again. I remember stevo raving about what a great car it was.

[Dori88]

Really great work - I like that car and it's great to see someone put some effort into making her look the part

Fancy a kouki splitter for that bumper

[tom.com]

Thanks lads @ dori88.. I'd love one but trying to keep this as cheap a build as possible!bare necessities from here on out. I was k to you about winglets on fb ages ago actually

[Dori88]

Thanks lads @ dori88.. I'd love one but trying to keep this as cheap a build as possible!bare necessities from here on out. I was k to you about winglets on fb ages ago actually

Christmas is soon lol - we have winglets and splitter

[kenokennedy]

Your flying T. keep it up. Did some giggling at the team photo. didnt think youd actually put it in :P

[Stevo]

cheers man.I'll see how I'm fixed once I've checked all of them!Yeah seems that way. I'm going to leave the hubs for sure I'll just get new extended track rod ends and maybe run rack spacers its just as the ones in it are getting a bit shagged! the last thing I'll do is give up lock so I'll figure it out, I'll probably need a lot of it while I'm learning haha!

Rack is moved forward so no need for offset rack spacers

[tom.com]

Yeah,spotted that Stevo,cheers. Just going to get the small spring washers.