They’re going to bleed the brakes and the clutch tomorrow. Then hopefully I can go test her out again and maybe drive more than just around the parking lot. All I know is that she’s very fragile right now and I just have to fine tune everything. I need some time to get to know her again as well. I have to figure out how the hell to work on an SR too! I’m going to study the vac line diagram, cuz those suckers always give problems. Wish the 180SXxy the best of health!

I dug through the box of goodies I salvaged off my clip and found some airhorns and threw them on my car.  Now people better get the hell out of my way!

We changed my coolant reservoir, and finally the doctors were both there, ready to wire. While they wired, I changed my gauge cluster, yes again! I put in the one from my clip…so now I can actually keep track of the total kilometers that are on my engine. Also, I busted a scavenger hunt to find this really cute fog light switch that 180SX’s come with. Also, I had blow off valve drama, I forgot that I needed to weld the flange onto the pipe for my Greddy Type-S, so I borrowed some old ass HKS one from the shop. Also, during the wiring, Jason (the sweety mechanic) finished changing my brake pedal. Hours and hours went by. I swear it was like waiting in a waiting room for someone to get out of surgery.

10 1/2 hours later at 10:30pm, the wires were connected, the pedals were in, the fluids were in, and and all the lines were secured, the moment of truth (as Reggie said) came to. “Who wants to start it?” No one raised their hand, hahahha. I made Jason start it. 5,4,3,2,1 it started on the first crank. I was so happy! IT’s ALIVE! We made sure there was enough coolant, the thermostat opened and we added more and more coolant. It was time to test drive. Jason test drove it around the parking lot first. Then it was my turn…the 180SXxy sounded like a monster, OMG, it felt so foreign to me. The clutch pedal was odd and so were the brakes.  The clutch caught at the top and the brakes were hard as a rock. I was not happy about that. The shitty old HKS BOV was non-adjustable, it was making my car konk the hell out.

I drove around the parking lot, scared as hell. I didn’t want to bone out, I just drove nice . I got up to 30-40mph and shift to second, I felt and clutch grab, very nice ;). The motor only has 30,000 miles, so the clutch shoud be good! I didn’t try to boost it, I want to drive it easy for a week. When I got back I told the boys about the pedals and we examined everything again. Some vac hoses weren’t connected and some brake lines weren’t on good. The oil pan started to leak too, just a little bit. The gasket got messed up during shipping my clip (this is to be expected).

We adjusted my TPS sensor, advanced my timing, tightened clamps, secured hoses and tried to drive her again, but she kept conkin out. Oh my gut…it was 12pm and I just wanted to go home and sleep. You can’t expect everything to be A-OK on your 1st test drive after a swap. I was concerned, but not worried. Our diagnosis of the situation: bleed the master slave cylinder, bleed the brake system, check all vac lines and clamps, change the oil pan gasket, put my BOV on, and check it out then. I went home lonely, I really missed my car. But, I better not rush things, or they won’t get done right. I just want to bring her home soon.

Hahahhaa I’m a drama mama. On top of that I haven’t bought any hoses or belts. I’m going to work like a busy bee, make that money, and get all these problems fixed and bought by next Saturday. There is an AutoX the following weekend (June 8th), if the 180SXxy is in running order, then I’m bringin her to test out my new power & suspension. California Speedway here I come. I was just thinking…I’m NOT the only girl with an SR, but at least I’m going to use it on the track. Other girls get an SR for import showoff or just to have; I bought my SR for all those reasons AND for the purpose of racing.  It makes me mad when guys tell me “you’re not the only girl with an SR,” but hellllooo I have a way better reason than they do to have one.

When I should install my LSD (found a viscous one at Cartune)? I feel a new survey comin up.  Benson love wants me to wait and learn how to drift really good with an open diff, THEN put the LSD in. I’m not sure, but I know its burning a hole in whatever  and I want to put it on already…I mean damn if you bought it already then might as well use, right?  Oh yes, I just typed the infamous “might-as-well” line.  That always comes out of your mouth when you’re building a car… 

Anyways, you don’t buy cute car parts for them to just sit there in the garage, you want to use them right away…otherwise they’ll feel wasted haha.  Right?  Maybe.  We’ll see, first thing is first, gotta get my swap on.  Wish me luck, I think I’m going to need it.

Anyways, I rushed over there to Cartune and bought that baby.  I’m so happy. I got the rear end (LSD & rear subframe) with it too (which is almost unheard of). Its a black top SR with a little less than 50,000 kilometers which is like 31,000 miles. It came with a Do-Luck bumper. . .ahhahah can we say rice, but other than that it was pretty much stock.  I’m counting down the days till my swap.

Before the swap I need to put in my Cusco Comp2s.  I’m installing the lsd in a few months, that can definitely wait!

Benson has pretty much arranged a shop location to do the swap at and I’ve got my 3 most trusted mechanics doing the swap~*Ken (my gunmetal zenki twin), Edwin (my cartune grease monkey friend), and of course the love of my life Benson. Those boys all know what they’re doing and have done swaps before, so I’m confident that the 3 of them will get the job done right the first time. I’m tentatively setting the date within 2-3 weeks. In the meanwhile, I’ve got to gather up misc parts like hoses, pipes, lubricants, belts, spark plugs, air filter, boost gauge, turbo timer, front mount, and most importantly: money! I’m trying so hard to live like a poor woman…but its hard, I just want to eat OUT all the time.

I keep think about how my car is going to look with the whole engine out!! Its like I’m creating a monster, but at least it will be a cute monster ;). I’m tripping out and thinking how the 180SXxy is going to feel after the swap. . .will she even feel at all familiar? I adapt well to changes, and this is definitely a change for the better. Stay tuned for the “SRsxxy Hapa Swap Coverage.”