R32 GTS Engine Bay Detailed for Importfest!

[QuiCKSHiFT]

Hi guys, had a very cool engine bay detailing project go down this week, thought I would share some pics and do a brief write up!

So, a neighbour of mine, older guy, 2 kids and all that, imported this very clean and mostly stock, 1992 (R32) Nissan Skyline GTS-T last weekend. He had his heart set on getting it into the show at importfest (major ricer show and shine that takes place at the convention center every year), which takes place this weekend.

I offered my services to restore the engine bay; paint, polish, and lots of elbow grease.

Initially, he wanted to go with a HOT BLUE based central color scheme around the valve covers and couplers, ala ricer style circa 1999, to which I politely objected. I laid out some plans with basically polished components, and a GOLD valve cover look, so you get some of that RB26-reminiscent jazz. At this point, he was floored. "WHAT?! Gold? Seriously? Dude, I don't know". I told him not to worry, the final product will be safe in my hands.



I took the car in this Monday, began by repairing a fuel leak, and then got started on tearing down the engine bay!

Here is how it looked when I started, battery pulled out and work begins:

I wanted to do some wicked polishing work to parts of the engine bay, I started with this upper intercooler pipe. Because this isn't a GTR, and has the over-the-top intake setup (NA mkiv style), I wanted to start the project around this major eye-sore component.

This pipe alone was almost a full day of work. In order to even begin to start polishing, I had to cut down/grind down, the textured surface that's present on cast aluminum components such as this. I did half the pipe at first, and left the other side untouched so I could take this rocking picture!

Heres some of the major components laid out on the table ready to go back in. Many other smaller components were washed,painted,polished,etc, that aren't pictured of course.

At this point, I decided that with the engine bay sufficiently stripped, I could bag and spray it. Part of the problem was that this car was repainted at some point, from the factory black to the GTR's dark grey metallic color (to go with some of the GTR body panels). The engine bay, however, was still its original 115k 20 year old faded out, crusty, rusty shade of black. Here it is bagged and sprayed.

Ok at this point, I could basically start putting it back together, here it is assembled and detailed.

Pics taken today, Friday, 5 days after project kicked off, ready for importfest. Besides the most obvious components being done, I polished a variety of clamps, bolts, nuts. Radiator and fan shroud painted as well. Fenders, Rad Support and Upper Firewall all got color matched to body color. Hood Prop, Battery tie down, small bits like that also got the royal treatment.

View of the engine bay from the outside, gold looks great on this metallic grey body color!

And just to emphasize further, how much of a difference this detailing has done:

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That's it for now guys, feedback is welcome! Going to be doing some more work on the car this weekend as it may not be able to attend importfest afterall due to insurance reasons

[1991HCR32]

wow man looks ausome. what are the steps involved to take the shitty cast iron look to making it a mirror polish???? i want to do this really bad now it looks sick

[cobrAA]

No doubt, this is well-done!

[bellis_GTR]

Holy that is some great work! Love the color scheme

[QuiCKSHiFT]

wow man looks ausome. what are the steps involved to take the shitty cast iron look to making it a mirror polish???? i want to do this really bad now it looks sick

It's cast aluminum, actually. It's softer than cast iron, but still a bitch to grind.

First you need to grind the piece down smooth. Use low grit sandpaper like 60 or 80 grit. This stage will probably take the longest; you can use power/air tools, as well as more abrasive material of your choice in order to grind it smooth.

Once the casting has been cut down, and the surface is flat, start sanding with progressively higher and higher grits. By 400 grit I begin to wet sand all the way up to 2000. Do some reading on this sort of sanding for techniques.

By 2000grit wet sanded, you can finally begin to polish with your wheels and compounds of choice. I have a 2 stage polish technique that works for me (secret recipe). Also recommend doing some reading on polishing techniques as well.

The smaller turbo elbows that come off the intercooler, however, are steel. Same with the heatshields. Those are painted black, and have to be stripped. I find it harder to get the same kind of mint shine/surface with these as I can with aluminum, but that's kind of a given. those bends I would replace with some nicer materials if i were to go the extra mile though.

thanks for the compliments guys!

[Nismo_line]

wanna come do mine lol and did you have to put new valve cover gaskets on when you took the covers off?

[derk]

thats a nice shade of gold, satin looks very nice

[quadracer111]

That is freaking beautiful....


Just awesome

[rb26addict]

DAMMNNNNN IM DROOLINGGG ....how much do u charge for this ?

[QuiCKSHiFT]

DAMMNNNNN IM DROOLINGGG ....how much do u charge for this ?

Well over 40hrs in this one, so yea... do the math, lol . But seriously, PM me if you want to know more.

The polishing is what kills it, that upper intercooler pipe was 8hrs alone.

Thanks for all the kind words guys!