Restoration Project

Finish on that epoxy looks really good, how many litres you use & did you find it easy to spray ...

It'll be even better when Ive top coated underneath I've seam sealed the floor pan with white tiger seal, looks messy at the moment.

Thanks for the comments guys, makes it worth while when the works appreciated, keeps me motivated..

took delivery of a Mirka DA electric sander today, expensive but apparently really good, starting the body prep nxt week.

Gaz

Mr B wrote:Finish on that epoxy looks really good, how many litres you use & did you find it easy to spray ...

Just under 1 tin mate around 4ltr ish, still got some left out of 5ltr. You can brush it on as well, I found the first coat thinned to I think 10% was slightly hard to spray out the gun, but maybe I needed to increase the air pressure, the second coat I thinned a tiny bit more and went on really well. Possibly a 2.0mm tip would make it even better, I only used a cheap gun, my devilbiss gti pro wasn't going anywhere near it!

It's had good reviews on other forums, so thought I'd give it a go.

Gaz

Yes epoxy is very good option I think, better than the popular zinc primers.
You got some dedication as it takes hours to strip & prep car to that level.
What cheap gun you got, could do with a cheap lvlp gun myself ?

It's a FMT3006 1.8mm tip, got it off flea bay. Did the job, might use it for spraying primer, not a bad gun to be fair..

What amazed me about stripping the factory green coat of paint off underneath, although it looked fine, was in places tiny lines of rust spidering out under the paint. You would never had known it was there.

gaz

Wow! Its a full restoration project! Maximum respect for your great effort but it makes me slightly nervous! Hope mine isn't as rotted?!

^ expect you will find some hidden rot .
Until you really dig into it you don't know .

That's it, every type of car will have rust in the seams, through capillary action, the likes of tyre centres not giving a *#%# about where they jack the car up and damaging the seams where the sill meets the floor pan.. That's what happened to mine, most of the rot originated around there, ok the arches were neglect by me not undersealing properly. Not going to happen again!!

burrows1980 wrote:It's a FMT3006 1.8mm tip, got it off flea bay. Did the job, might use it for spraying primer, not a bad gun to be fair..

What amazed me about stripping the factory green coat of paint off underneath, although it looked fine, was in places tiny lines of rust spidering out under the paint. You would never had known it was there.  

gaz

yep can agree with above i had exactly the same was quite surprised how well it can't be spotted under the green paint so as you stripped the lot off.
wish my car was where yours is got to make a jig to flip her over is next on my list (may ask you for measurments for jig)

I'll put the measurements up later on for you, thickness of steel etc oh and the wheels, achem thanks to a large supermarket yep your trolleys are now on bricks

I think it's time for a well over due update to this restoration thread!  A lots happened over the past 12ish months, lots of tears, laughs and even more tears but there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

I like to start in thanking everyone on this forum for the advice and general helpfulness, really appreciate it! Now get a brew made or beer ready as this is a long update

So the last update I had finished the underside prep and painted it in an epoxy paint, she  was looking pretty smart, didn't do much after that for a few months, Xmas and all that.

Got back going early March.  I really wanted to paint the car myself and invested in some expensive gear, £500 compressor, a lot of copper pipe and Norgren filter/regs, two devilbiss guns GTi Pro Lite and a FLG 5, plus countless other guns for various stages, Dura block sanding blocks from America, Mirca electric DA sander (awesome bit of kit, ace for decorating in the house too!)… List goes on..

After spending a lot of time reading on http://www.mig-welding.co.uk I thought I had found the perfect paint I could safely use at home and still get outstanding results! So I decided to trial all this on a wing first.. Started to sand wing back and soon realised the R has already been resprayed in Japan! Doh, later discovered every panel has had work done, filler! Not mega amounts, talking little dings here and there. I'm wondering if  it was a track car and spent a lot of time in gravel traps!



Anyway back to the wing, got it back pretty much to bare metal and straight, proceeded to spray the primer (lechler Epoxy 2k) ace stuff doesn't contain the nasty iso’s as its epoxy, and doesn't take on moisture like other primers..



Sanded that ready for my carefully selected wonder paint! Can't believe everyone's not using this stuff yep looked truly epic apart from the random fly stuck to it!





So let that dry, and that's where the problem started… It doesn't dry hard! Paint in question is non ISO 2k, instead of 2k hardener you mix it with a non ISO hardener, and more 2k thinner as the hardener is thicker. Was truly deflated, but thought maybe the conditions were wrong etc so proceeded to keep trailing the stuff:

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/isocyanate-free-2k-paint.35709/page-4

I turned back to the underside, getting that finished. I seem sealed over every seam from factory after gouging out all the old crusty stuff plus over any of my seem welds (both sides were possible) then applied Upol Gravitex stone chip. Used a 2.5mm tip spray gun on the  floor pan for a smoother finish and slutz gun inside the arches for a thicker covering.  Once this had dried I sprayed the Lechler epoxy primer over this, the Lechler KH3 base colour, then lacquer over the top. I also sprayed the engine bay but got a crap finish due too the amount of lacquer in the air, it was like a thick fog  in the garage when it settled on the car left little dimples in the paint.

Once dry sanded engine bay back again and primered.























Decided to carry on prepping car in the mean time while I waited for advice from the forum about the non ISO stuff but did still keep trialling it. Time to apply filler to the arches, been dreading this from day one of starting this project, I always knew it was going to be hard trying to get the curves back to factory finish, but Christ it's hard!









 

Sanded the whole car, with the DA then proceeded to block the car, pain staking job but satisfying when all imperfections are gone.  I got it near perfect, once primered I would be able to see how far out I actually was. The other good thing about the Lechler  primer is its got a sheen to it so you can see flaws to some degree.













So back to trialling the paint, taking on board the advice from the forum and what I'd found out myself from trail and error proceeded to spray the engine bay. Again the results were epic, mirror finish. Left it a week came back and it seemed hard, woohoo!









Thought right here goes might as well spray inside the car with it, so started to mask the holes up engine bay side save the overspray going through. Sprayed the inside, not the best of finishes mainly because of the dust and crap in there, was never that bothered about the finish most of it would be covered by sound deadening anyway.







Started to peel masking tape off engine bay, to my horror this happened



Yep more tears and swearing, at this point I decided to rule the paint out completely!  Its totally crap! Main problem now was I need to sand the engine bay again but as the paints still soft made it impossible to sand, so Starchem paint stripper to the rescue! Took it straight back to bare metal





Professional paint job is my only option now, not taking the risk using 2K with all the associated health risks, plus my neighbour was pregnant at the time, not worth the risk.. Sprayed the engine bay again with primer. By this point I had already primered all the panels and body kit.



I did start to get excited seeing it in primer and with all the panels back on, couldn't wait to get it back from spray shop! But that would be a few months away, need to find the money first, and not knowing the cost of a respray was scary.









I turned to getting all the running gear sand blasted, big stuff I sent off to a local company, but trailing arms etc I got my mate to do them in work! He came across a problem with one of the front hubs, huge crack running through the track rod end fixing point:



Thankfully I was going to Bobs that same week so picked up a spare one with a variety of other bits n pieces. It's like a supermarket for Pulsars

As I got pieces back I degreased them and painted with POR 15, incredible stuff providing the prep is right! The metal has to be acid cleaned and degreased otherwise it won't stick. Oh and don't get it on your skin! Takes days to come off























The shed became a parts drying room. I also bought a zinc plating kit, thought I give it ago, to my amazement worked really well! All bolts off the car dunked in hydrochloric acid, strong stuff not watered down builders stuff. From that into the zinc plating bath.





Might as well clean and paint the prop and drive shafts and gear linkage:













Oh and the heat sheilds



Had to make one good one out of too not so good ones



You know it gets bad when the tank gets a thorough clean



I soon realised I was becoming a bit OCD with the build!  Every nut and bolt cleaned and zinc’d, all metal prepped and painted… I'm going to be one of them sad people who never takes the car out the garage Especially when the diff looks this good



Started to look into big brake kits, as as per usually with me wanted to do it my self and make something, so got some Evo 6 calipers, and soon realised couldn't use them, far too big, so settled on some Clio RS 200 brembos, perfect fit for what I need, bought a chunk of aluminum to machine on the Miller make the brackets. Spoke to Stracher about making some custom 5 stud hubs with the centre disc support ring thing oversized for the discs I was using. Mocked up a set of discs to check clearances etc











Bracket I need to machine is something like this



Think they will work a treat but will have to go for 17’s, looking at OZ Superturismo GT in black:

http://www.ozracing.co.uk/car_wheels_var/OZ%20Racing/0/RACING/SUPERTURISMO%20GT/25500.aspx

Always liked these alloys, I know it's not to everyone's taste but better than what I've currently got on it

I got a full poly bush kit off VSS Irvine, in black. Parts started to arrive from Nissan, ICP and from Nengun. It was getting to the stage I needed to get the car painted, problem I had then was trying to get someone to paint it when I'd half prepped it! Not easy, and I fully understand why some painters didn't want the job.  Most paint shops are only interested in insurance jobs around me so haven't the time for a full spray job.





Eventually I found a few paint shops that were interested, and settled with the guy who used to own one. Him and his mate came round and looked it over, we're happy with what I'd done and told me what they wanted to do etc, agreed a price, a few days later they collected her and off she went.

While the car was at the paint shop, I thought it was time to pimp up the garage a bit, wanted more light in there previously I had 7 Fluorescent fittings, but wanted a cleaner light output so gone for 12 cool white LED downlights.  Before that though I needed to cross baton the trusses, board and skim the ceiling, oh and a load more double sockets.  Considering I’m an electrician I’ve only had two sockets in the garage the whole time ive been doing the car and they were in a shit place!









After painting the walls white, I think it’s going to be bright enough



Got her back two weeks later only to find bits missing, damaged parts, bits not sprayed correctly….. Really pissed off, went back there loads of times over a month or so to no avail finding the parts.  Decided to cut my losses, it was starting to get me down and tbh I think my temper wouldn't remain calm for much longer..  There's more to it but not going into great detail other than I lost my trust with them, the things I'm finding is shocking, hindsight’s a wonderful thing but hey still living to tell the tale!

The boot lid needed redoing due to finger prints in the paint! Yep finger prints!!



And the top right corner wasn’t painted. I found another spray shop to respray the boot lid, they couldn't get over how bad it was! The finish is outstanding now, wish the whole car looked like it! I'm taking it back to them next year for a full colour sand and buff, should get rid of most of the problems.



Don't get me wrong the photos and NOT looking closely the paint does look good! It's when you get up close and see how much dust and shit that's in the paint, and where they’ve rubbed it down after and not buffed it properly grrrr  OK black is a nightmare colour to paint and does show every fault up, but I expected much better professional job than what I got back.

















Anyway so after nearly saying fuck it sell the shell and bits and start a kit car, and hit the painter, my attitude changed when me and the wife found we we've got a new project:



This news changed everything for me, it's my first kid, and I don't wanna be one of them dads with an unfinished project of course its going to be unfinished, lucky if it will ever get the engine back in  

I booked a week off work and hammered the rebuild  the plans of course have now changed for the car, big brake kit is being delayed standard refurb calipers going on, radtec fmic delayed in favour of the standard tmic, standard clutch last one lasted 9 years running 330bhp @1.3bar, standard turbo rebuilt and the bare essentials replaced on the engine, oh and of course clean and paint it  Keeps the cost down for now, just so I can get it back on the road then all the above can be addressed further on! Otherwise it’ll never get finished

So heres the build photos over a few weeks:

Got the interior cleaned with the vax, all carpets, trim, seats basically everything was washed, washed the trim in the bath while she was in New York





Still missing the drivers mat!



Water was minging!

























Now I can guarantee a lot of you are going to cringe and shout WHY, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS but yeah, im not arsed with 1/4 mile times etc just a nice quiet drive...









Even with all the sound deadening I put in I reckon it only added around 20kg more than standard. The product I used is called Silent Coat, basically same if not better than Dyna Mat. Insulated the roof space as well, stuff that Nissan put up there had kinda gone crap.





Unbelieveable how many times I had to take the support bar out! each time I went to put something in it was in the way



All pipes on fuel tank replaced

























The beading tool I made worked a treat!!







Not sure what to set this to, originally it wasnt at this angle. Counting from the last line on the right it was 3 lines in





New fuel pipe finally turned up



















Last time going outside on the rotiserie, turned it around on the street needed car other way round.



Underside built up as much as I dare weight wise on the rotiserie, some serious weight in it now!!





Man juice holding exhaust together



Finally off rotiserie, spent two years on that!













After seeing the photo of Stu's consol I realised I have put my swts upside down



















Doesnt Look that bad in the photo, but I put the wrong trim on, had a few dents in it, oops, buggered if im trying to take that top trim off again!!







Well excited sitting in it again







Engine Bay time now, replaced all hydraulic lines, looking to replace tie rods before engine goes back in, track rod ends, drop links, bearings, suspension, cv boots etc all new, will be like a new car.



























Chucked battery on to see what works, the heated seats do!!





Painted scuttle trim, same as door handles and any other plastic piece, looks new







Had to measure and drill sills, scary moment! but alls good!







Bonnet built up, big thanks to Jay for sorting me out with the center vent, my rubber gasket was knackered, and also the washer jets as some how Ive managed to loose them within the last month







Im going to refurb the old wheels, save a bit more money, defo need attention though!



Took the cv joint off the shaft, just to keep bearing together while engine is out



Ready to be lowered to the ground now!







Finally back on her wheels







Just waiting for the screens to be fitted, which happened today:



Painted up the the side trims, sligtly bent the drivers side when taking it off, doesnt cover glass completely at the bottom, should be able to sort that out fairly easily. Painted the trims in matt black before putting them on



Got the trims fitted and lobbed the spoiler on temporary as the painter strikes again and missed a bit underneath gotta laugh really eh! pushed it outside for some pictures before the rain starts:











Dont know which badge to put back on the grille, P or the Nissan





Thinking of running less boost maybe around the 1bar, currently using an apexi avcr. Hopefully should get the engine back in late summer depending how much spare time and money I have.. Got a load of copper to weigh in so that should cover the cost of what I need to finish the build or buy a top notch push chair

One bit I am struggling with is the mounting points for the power steering cooler at the front, when I had the FMIC I had to bend the cooler up out of the way but I'm buggered if I can remember where it goes.

Hope you've enjoyed this update, I'm happy it's back together and not too many bolts left over Not putting any more trim on until it's been machine polished nxt year.

One thing Im pissed off about, gotta take dash out, the little plastic arm that closes the flap for outside air, has snapped again

I fixed it when I had it off but stupidly didn't try it till the other day, oh well!

Gaz

Wow
This is an amazing restoration project.
You have done an amazing job

Cheers Stu, can't wait to get it back on the road now.. Don't think I would do this again but it's something I've always wanted to do.

Great write up and well done

Well done looks really great in the pictures .... fantastic write up even if it did take me a while to get through lol ....

this has to be the most involved restores ive ever seen, absolutely amazing and top notch work Gaz

Don't know how you found time do car, post on forum & make wife pregnant !
If you had sprayed it yourself thus spending more time in garage you could of saved yourself from project baby :-S lol
Do feel for you on paintwork issues. have seen some right shit respray work & it a total gamble who good unless really really know people involved.
Assume you will need buy a baby seat, never saw one in the nismo catalogue though ! :-/
have fun & best wishes ...

If my car is barely half this good I will be a more than happy with mine mate, unreal work mate.

When are you due? The first year is the hardest mate but just get yourself through that and you will be absolutely fine

Cheers guys! The wife got excited seeing it with the glass in before, probably as it means I'm nearly finished and won't be in the garage much longer

Wow, man this write is incredible, its so good I felt like I was standing next to you watching the entire resto project you have an amazing looking R now, great work. Congrats on the baby aswell mate

Cheers woody, had to scale back how many photos I put in hopefully this helps anybody else doing a restore or similar. Must admit I was envious of your 5 studs the other night I'll get there one day..

Its bad don't post anymore, I want to start stripping my car down completely and doing the same Cheers mate, mine is coming together slowly lol

only just saw this! great write up and nicely done resto! keep it up she'll be a real beauty when done.

This is amazing and the standard of the work is real top drawer stuff
Amazing write up, looking forward to seeing your motor at one of the shows