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I painted all the top area both sides and down as low as I could get, up to firewall which is original, under the right lighting you can see the mismatch, it's got a hint of blue as I said before. I had rust in same places you are dealing with.

Reading about 424 000 km now. Long live the 20E. It was like an abused dog when I got it @ 230 000 km, they'd killed the auto and half shafts, including diff. It is the same motor.

Here it is, shot this morning at work, road worn, dirty & working for a living for 6 years now. No rust there, just dirt and in places it's stuck to the Lanocote I spray around the seam sealer where water deluge drainage is a lot. Sort of industrial tone. Don't be fooled by thinking you can get any old grey paint in a can to match. I'm still picking away through a box full of them I collected back then trying to find the right one, good for other home projects.

I had this with my s2 R33. I found a grey paint tone called Double Stack (NZ Resene colour), it's very much a battleship grey, looks good but still does not match the original. The factory grey has a blue accent in the tint. A grey tone called Quarter Friar grey might get it; https://archipro.co.nz/product/resene-quarter-grey-friars-resene With hindsight an experience painter could nail it easy, I had fun, almost, trying. There are a lot greys.

Have you explored this possibility further? I've been quietly watching this story unfold, early on I thought seems like bad fuel.

I do not enjoy removing the Stagea starter motor or any if I can help it. I constructed these locking bars that attach to the front pulley. Only the M6 extractor bolts hold it in location, use high tensile bolts nipped up tight. I can get up to specified torque on pulley bolt with out the locker self destructing or bolts breaking. I've also used a piece of pipe about 30mm OD with some M10 bolts welded on, these engaged into the lugs that exist on inner of the Stagea pulley. Not so for my RB20E R33, hasn't got those afore mentioned lugs. That is the crustier looking of the 2 items in photo, bit tighter fit in there on that one. The one with the ring is Stagea and I assume other RB25's.

My 33 is doing this sometimes. I suppose you've slapped the dash top, came back to life for me this way - bonus missing back light display on one side lit up too. This video is a good step through or wade at times, cut to about 8 min and it digs in microscopic. Quite good I thought.

My RS4 had boost leakage at the throttle body rubber union, it was hardened by time & heat. Perked up a bit after sorting that. A bit later head gasket failed, hmmm. That teardown also revealed exhaust manifold warpage (leakage was un audible). Different beast now.

Well that took a while, part time in weekends only when there was time. Just a heads up, got this thing up & running, great, no leaks etc.. Come road test time and the dreaded blue/white cloud out exhaust came after about 2kms. told myself not to panic, probably just something burning off exhaust. Well it got worse and I turned for home at 4km, got a little better. Got to my gateway, hopped out & looked at exhaust, steaming and wet. Refusing to accept I could get it that wrong, but evidence out exhaust looking bad. I figured it had to be the large muffler at the back sloshing with coolant all this time parked in shed. luckily I was right, second run all systems normal, no steam. Glad I didn't tear it down again only to find nothing.

Have you checked attessa fluid level inside the r/h panel at rear? With engine running too.

Oh I've got Nissan factory gasket and new studs. And new exhaust studs. Should be good for it's stock 180kw. This thing is standard right down to original wheels and the tape deck - which died a long time back. Just the sweet sound of inline RB and the road.

New development, my straight edge was bad. Rechecked with a better grade one. Now within 0.05mm (0.002") and any of that is in the middle - the more conventional style warp. Good to go again and no trip to machinist required.

I found the head bolts between 5 & 6 yielded easier than all the others when unbolting. No 5 cyl also showing signs of gasket distress towards those studs too. I imagine when it gets hotter than normal expansion occurs in head causing stud stretch & gasket compression. Wondered what other peoples experience of RB head warp is.

It's been 10 years with my RS4 series 1. The head gasket had catastrophic failure when under boost a while back, went choo choo train emitting a large white cloud out the back. Temp quite normal, no recovery bottle warning signs leading up to event apart from developing rough idle a few days before. I pulled off to side of road and could see temp gauge sneaking up, switched off & assessed situation. Most telling thing was green coolant running from exhaust. That was a tow truck ride home. It's been in the shed a while now as I go my glacial pace of sorting it out. I've got the head off & cleaned off gasket surfaces. I put a straight edge on & checked with feeler gauges to find I have a bend to deal with. Odd really as it's been 5 years since I changed out it's previous dodgy radiator. In that time before it's temps would elevate but not to severity. Although there was this time pulling a trailer and all was OK until I switched off, recovery bottle started to blow steam & I restarted to get circulation going again and settle temp down. I suppose with a 0.9 bar rad cap it'd have seen about 120 degrees to make steam. Gasket failure was on the exhaust side of No 6 cyl. I see my bend on the head viewing it with deck facing up as the head is convex across it's length. The straight edge rocks end to end and contacts the middle of surface. Would be approx 0.1mm per end clearance. The gasket failed on the steel compression ring and continued on to rupture water & oil gallery sealing. My question is do these things tend to warp up on the ends of head (imaging it's still face down on block)? Most head warps I've seen usually go up in the middle. What I'm seeing on the RB would seem to fit as it's known the end cylinder gets the most heat.

Heads up on this useful guide. Just changed out my R33 core sourced from Kudos motorsport. I removed the passenger seat, was quite comfortable laying there on the carpet.