Back in an s body-180sx import drifter

[derekmcl05]

Me and the homies

[colin sx]

Nice 15

[derekmcl05]

Long overdue update - hard to get time currently with a new addition to the family and running my own workshop.

The baffled sump I installed last year when the car arrived from Japan had dodgy looking threads on the aluminium, bodged it up to get to a couple of drift days, though didnt fancy risking it a 2nd time when changing the oil so decided to install a new one and tap and helicoil the thread. While the sump was off I replaced the oil strainer/pick up pipe and gasket.



I've been gathering up a few bits and pieces over the past few months-
found a good condition used oil cooler kit, also bought some gauges, Greddy oil temp, oil pressure and water temp, HKS water temp sender, a new header tank (the plastic one had a hole in it), new gaskets, a bigger turbo elbow(was running the standard shitty restrictive elbow), custom braided lines and a custom 2871 turbo.



I was in two minds what suspension arms to go for, the price of the ebay stuff was tempting, but after seeing countless people breaking the cheap chinese ebay crap I splashed out on some hardrace toe and camber arms.

[derekmcl05]

[derekmcl05]

My friend Adam who owned the grey s15 a few posts above sold it and imported a 180sx type x

[derekmcl05]

[derekmcl05]

After getting everything fitted to the sr20 and removing some unnecessary bits from the engine bay, I drove the car around as sensibly as I could for the first 100miles, then on Monday night it was time to take her out the back roads and 'test' it.

The new turbo is very impressive to say the least, I was only running it at factory boost level, but the gains and performance over the standard t25G are night and day. The t25 seemed to run out of steam around 6k rpm, but the new turbo pulls hard right to the redline Before, the car needed good speed and angle to take 3rd, though now it takes 3rd in a straight line, and now takes 4th with enough speed and angle, in the wet obvoiusly

Ive yet to fit the Nismo 555s, z32 AFM, Nistune ecu and Innovate wideband, though there's an N1 Drift Series competition coming up next weekend I want to enter(havent had the car on track since September!!! TOO LONG) so for now I'll check AF ratios and adjust the boost to suit, then get everything else installed asap after the competition.

The power should be ample for now, I had the car at the final competition last year with the standard elbow and t25g, qualified for the top 16, knocked out a 328i bmw, then was matched against an m3, knocked him out, to be matched with another m3, he went on to knock me out (he turtle started me off the line!!!) and I couldnt catch him again! ended up around 7th place, which I was pleased with considering my power level and diff ratio. Im gonna do even better this time though

[rmc]

It will be interesting to see how that turbo performs with some mapping ..

How much was it if ya don't mind me asking? .

Just on the look out for a replacement on my t25

[derekmcl05]

RMC, the turbo kit was just under 500 inc new lines, gaskets etc, just had to modify the air intake a bit to make it fit good. These turbos are assembled and then balanced in Taiwan and are good for up to 1.1 bar of boost reliably at approx 350bhp! Will be getting it to around those figures in the next few weeks.

I took the 180 to N1 Drift Series on Sunday, first time on track since last year! I was definitely 'rusty' the first couple of practice runs. The weather didnt help things either as it was dry until I got close to the start line, then the rain came on and it was my turn, no time to drop tyre pressures. The rain stayed on at least, so I was able to do the rest of my practice runs and qualifying runs with the correct tyre pressures. First practice run was going well, until I spun, so made sure 2nd and 3rd runs were 'safe' to try and qualify.

[derekmcl05]