Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi guys, I posted this in another thread but it's a little obscure if anyone was wanting to find a how-to. I searched and found zip so thought I'd snap some pics of mine I did todday.

** I used two different size hole saws to cut the radii and simply used a cutting wheel to remove the rest. Lots of masking tape around the area to stop any damage from swarf.

Initially I mounted the pins, raised them a little to make contact with the bonnet and make a mark from inside. I then drilled a small pilot hole, and then masked on the template provided and went from there.

Measure six times, cut once I suggest! :thumbsup:

Made U shaped brackets to utilise an existing hole in the radiator support. The return down the front too to give some extra strength. Made these from 3mm steel. You can see I had to gring the bolt down a little to allow clearence.

22022001.jpg

22022003.jpg

This is the drivers side from under, nothing tricky really.

22022009-1.jpg

The passengers side was a little harder. I did this second to get the feel for it. This is a GTR bonnet so I hade to carefully remove some of the reo.

22022002.jpg

And the finished product! A bit of fine tuning is needed to get them just right, and it's very strong, not going anywhere. As a bonus the rubber stoppers they supply were the perfect length to allow a little preload so no rattles.

22022004.jpg

22022005.jpg

And a reminder that angle grinders with cutting wheels can bite.

22022006.jpg

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/258154-aerocatch-bonnet-pins-into-an-r32/
Share on other sites

What a great read!! Came up really well...

I did the same thing 3 months ago, although mine is a fibreglass/carbon bonnet, so would have been easier to cut.

They work so well and look much cleaner than the old bonnet pin style..

Here's my finished result...

gallery_1569_106_158120.jpg

Was going to get my panel beater to paint them silver but he advised not to, paint might not stick properly and would most likely peel off from constant use...

Either way they're not as noticeable as the old bonnet pins, especially since it gets driven on the street...

i put these on my 32. the bonnet i used had all the supports cut out so i didn't have to make it fit around them.

the car also had had bonnet pins so i used the holes in the radiator support panel to fit mine but as you may have found it a bit to shallow under the bonnet to fit them so my bonnet which isn't real straight anyway doesn't quit fit flush. if i get a new bonnet i will install them the way you have.

oh and word of warning after a bit of work the lock in pins start to over balance and you need a tool to get them to lock down. i am not the only one to have run into this.

i got mine after seeing all the cars in targa tas last year with them and funnily enough your going in targa tas with some.

so these are regarded as street legal? Where did you get them?

yeah as they are flush fit on the surface of the bodywork most states accept these as road legal.

bensonmotorsports.com was the source for the woo... always in stock!

Nice one.

I have finally taken delivery of my carbon bonnet and a set of these bonnet pins.

I'm going to get Micolor to do it though as I would just mung it up if I attempted it.

Kudos to you for taking the time to do it yourself.

Regards

Andrew

Looks good, one of the more subtle ones which seems to suit the R32 better. How strong are the carbon bonnets with using Aerocatches. Is the carbon too rigid and brittle ?

No idea, it's got all the factory latches as well so it should hang together. the pins are only insurance.

great write up mate!

love these pins! so much tidier than the metal ones...

angle grinder = OUCH! hope your hand heals quickly...

I bought a set for my s13 a while back, but another "wooss" here

I took the easy way out (had my panel beater fit them while my car was in paint)

even he was nervous and he couldn't promise me a 100% guarantee on perfectly straight and flush fitment, but he nailed it first shot...

at first i was concerned they might bind up or become brittle, after sun/water/soap/dirt/dust etc but they are well made and with a tiny spray of wd40 stay nice and operable.

the only thing i could put them down for, is the pins themselves, they could be swapped out for some actual steel ones...

some pics from when i had mine done:

2008-03-12015.jpg

2008-03-28041.jpg

pins2.jpg

I tried to use some about 3 years ago but woosed out because i didnt want to cut up my GTR bonnet...maybe its time to second guess that decision :thumbsup:

lol, just bite the bullet Roy and do it mate, they look great and operate smoothly. I reckon they're the best part of the car now :D

Oh, guess what, the wheel Just turned up :D

If anyone needs it, i just made up a cutting/drilling template for the 125 Series, the one they supply is for the 120 series and slightly different.

Print it out full size and you should be sweet :(

Aerocatch_template.PDF

Ok, then where is the quickest and easiest pace to get them. Better shoot them off to the panel beater before the bonnet gets sprayed. Stuart?

They may look ok on my car since i am doing the fan boy black and silver thing :thumbsup:

Troy, got mine through revolution racegear, about $120 from memory....

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Bloody Skylines, they put you through the bloody wringer! Stick at it! Stunning drag strip BTW! Where is it? Can see part of the name on the slip and probably should just Google it!
    • I mean the other day I had to walk someone through diagnosing why their timing belt was walking off the cam gears. At least one of the issues was a bent tensioner stud. Local mechanics have found runout on the CAS mechanism causing weird failures. I'm also no saint here I've documented some of the things I've had to learn the hard way. Something I discovered recently is that my CA emissions catalytic converters weren't even welded correctly to align the downpipe to the main cat and they tossed the support bracket that goes from the transfer case to the downpipe to support everything there. I spend a lot of time chasing down these decidedly unsexy problems and the net effect is it feels like I never actually get to the original objective (flex fuel, VCAM, oil control, cooling, etc).
    • At times with how you make everything sound, all I imagine Americans doing when they see a gtr is standing there looking at it and bashing it with a gun like how a caveman would with a club and hoping it fixes itself 
    • I think this is just a product of how the US market works for this stuff. Shops are expensive and there's no real way of knowing what kind of results you're going to get, people don't really have the institutional knowledge. I have heard too much at this point to really put faith in anybody "full service" except maybe DSport and they aren't really a full service kind of shop. If you go to the right place I have no doubt they'll get it right for you. Some locals have set it up right but the cost really is nuts and even now they're still fighting issues. And you know I'm a crazy person who thinks things like twin scroll, relatively short low-mount cast headers, PCV recirc to intake, recirculating BOV, right-sized for ~400 whp, MAF load, validating all of that to a standard comparable to OEM test programs, etc are relevant. For what it's worth, multiple local owners at this point have been stuck in a perpetual cycle of blowing a motor -> getting someone to rebuild it -> some missed detail causes the bearings to wipe and spin just outside of break-in mileage or drop valves or some other catastrophe -> cycle repeats. I usually only find out about this because I'm perpetually helping random friends with diagnosing car troubles, Skyline or otherwise. The single turbo stuff if I'm honest is mostly secondary, it just doesn't seem to achieve the numbers in the ~2000-3000 rpm region that I would expect given the results I've seen here or in Motive's videos. I don't really know what we're missing here in the US to be causing this. Lots of people like to emphasize the necessity of finishing the project first and foremost, but I'm not made of money and I can't afford to be trashing a 15k+ USD engine build with any regularity. Or spending my relatively limited garage time these days unable to triangulate problems because too much was changed all at once. Also, even if it isn't a catastrophic failure I would consider spending the cost of single turbo conversion with nothing to show for it to be pretty bad. 
    • The water pump is know to leak as well. So if the coolant is low checking that first as well as hoses. 
×
×
  • Create New...