I had to do the 180 approach on my checkride. My DE told me I was his first since the manuever had been put back in the PTS. Things get really busy here in Daytona, so I went to a small field right by the shore that's never busy. The only problem was the field was right by the ocean and the prevailing winds are right off the shore. Makes for some strong crosswinds with only one runway that's configured north/south (18/36). My only advice is to do anything necessary to get down on your point. Flaps/no flaps, side slips, leave the gear up, take it down early, etc... I even had a gold seal CFI show me what happens when you're way too high and you bleed off lots of airspeed to the point of a near stall (I DON'T reccomend this one because your DE is looking to see that you're a safe pilot and this method was a little sketchy, even though the CFI put it right on the numbers). I went out and practiced lots of power off 180's on my own at as many different airports with different TPA's as possible. I REALLY had a blast doing them, but now my normal approach has been messed up, I tend to come in high and pull the power out. Just practice and you'll be fine. If you have a way of doing them that works and is safe by all means stick with it.
Here's some advice for steep spirals. I had to do those on my CSEL ride as well. My CFI had never even done the manuever and was too lazy to look it up, so I did my homework on spirals and went flying with the chief pilot from my school. I want to say the FAA reccomends you begin the manuever INTO the wind. DON'T do this!! If you start out into the wind and you crank in up to 60 degrees of bank to stay over your point, you're going to bust the maneuver. Why? Because your groundspeed is going to be slowest into the wind, and when you're downwind your groundspeed will be fastest, therefore requiring more bank to stay over your point. If you started out putting in 60 degrees into the wind, you're going to use more than 60 when your groundspeed increases on downwind, which is over the limits for this manuever. (If you use this method, you won't have to worry about your attitude indicator during the maneuver because you won't go over 60 degrees=one less thing to look at during your spirals)
Another thing to think about is your airspeed. With changing bank you're going to have to keep changing your pitch. Also, think about your point. Did you know the person in the right seat really can't see your point? That's your joker up your sleeve. They can tell if your way off course, but not just a little.
Also, I'm not sure what you fly, but in a 172RG about 75kts clean worked really well.
Okay I'm off now. I hope my novel helped out a bit. If your CFI doesn't know how to teach you something, tell them to get off their tail and learn how to do the maneuver. If they don't, just fly with someone else.