Days 1 – 3
After arrival, Day 1 was mostly me procrastinating, looking at this new S13, and questioning my life choices, lol. Meanwhile, my kids are asking me what happens next, “are we there yet”, when do we get to drive it, etc.
When my brain finally recovered from the shock, it was just a matter of getting in there and getting it done.
As you’ve seen in my previous post, this is thing is absolutely disgusting. The first step is to get all of the junk out while checking for rust or anything that’s going to slow down the build. Knowing this early on will help reduce the number of headaches down the road.
So, I start poking around the thing, getting the lay of the land, and I start noticing some spider molts. For a split second, I think, hmm the shape of those molts looks familiar. I then just brush it off and continue digging in. As we move forward on this thing, I start noticing more and more. Since it’s February and cold, I continue to brush it off, thinking it’s not a big deal.
And with that, more wrenching ensues…
Days 4 – 5
Day 4. We’re on a mission. I’ve been trying to keep things moving by putting in at least a couple hours a day. The shop vac has been putting in work, the kid’s fingers “hurt”, and I’m low on sleep…but, we’re making progress!
This thing is finally starting to look like a respectable Nissan MS13!
We finally got the majority of the interior ripped out and harnesses exposed, as well as some critters. There was still a mouse living in this thing, lol. So, we left some sticky traps in the car overnight, as I don’t want it migrating to my garage and starting a family and shit. Talk about a step up in accommodations!
Next day rolls around and to my surprise, this fool had chewed its way out of the trap. There was some fur left in there so I know it’s feeling that. Time to break out the big guns and strategically place some Reese’s Peanut Button Cups. We’ll get him next time.
Pulling Seats, Carpet, and Panels
However, those molts I mentioned above turned out to be a brown recluse warning! Those suckers were littered inside the seats to stay warm during the winter. What original was going to be a swap-n-go build is starting to look like more of a resto. Who knows what other crevices these brown recluses are hiding in.
Decided to bag and tag these little shits and test some Tempo SC Ultra insecticide on them. I hear this stuff actually works really well.
As cautiously as possible, we made our way around, one bolt at a time, and made good progress. In our case, seeing red was a good thing!
From here, with the gazillion crevices this thing has, I’ll have to do my best to do a deep cleaning of the whole car.
The good news is, parts are starting to roll in! So, keep an eye out for my next Build and Brand post where I’ll be highlighting some select parts and brands throughout the course of this build.