Detailing

[JiMb0]

Hi Guys !

Just wondering who has had their vehicle detailed. eg Cut n' Polished, engine bay detailed, etc ? Any comments on the finished products ? Pictures ?

I'm looking to get the vehicle Cut & Polished and the engine bay cleaned up (polishing the piping, maybe the rocker covers) and maybe the muffler and xaust tip polished. Any information you have would be appreciated.

[Ethan_R32]

Hey Jimbo,

have you got your car now??

If youre looking at detailing it, try it yourself. I do mine ALL the time, nearly every fortnight.

Just wash it good (i use an Enjo rag, so you dont need detergants) then polish it yourself.

For the engine bay, i just did mine today.

I sprayed it all down then sprayed some degreaser on all the dirty bits. Then got a rag and some kero and some good 'ol elvow grease to get all the dirty bits off. Ive also polished cam covers, cross over pipe and exhaust tip. Ill have some pics of it all in a couple of days if ya wanna see how it turned out.

[JiMb0]

Car = Check All Complianced, Rego'd and ready to go !! (even ask that EVO wanna-be Excel on the M4, god he deserved what he got !)

I gave my car a really good wash the other day and over with a genuine chamoi (god they feel weird when they're wet eh). Then did the windows and rims. Came up quite nicely, but unfortunately the car does have minor scratches in the paint from previous cleaning I'd like removed, which is why I was after the cut and polish, that and I have no idea how to polish a car :roll:

When you say you sprayed down the engine bay ... with what ? I know it sounds stupid but I'm a stupid kinda guy ! Water ? What degreaser did you use ?

How did you polish the cam covers etc ? The hooker on the corner knows more about polishing than I do What tools and equip you use ?

Pics would be great !!! Any before / after shots ?

We'll have to go cruisin some time !!!

[Ethan_R32]

Hey Jim,

yeah dont ya hate those excels that have a go? God its funny sometimes. Just because they have a blitz sticker or whatever they think they are the bees knees.

What kinda power you got, because youve got an apexi turbo right, and a few other good mods...

Detailing:

Well im not too sure about getting scratches out, maybe a professional is the way to go there mate.

Yeah the chamois is the best way to get it shiny, then maybe give it a polish afterwards so it keeps the shine for a while.

Ok with spraying the engine i just used water, but covered the air filter pod with a plastic bag, and also the starter motor aswell. Dont use a high pressure hose, just one with a jet nozzle to get the dirt out, but dont spray right into electrical joins etc. It will be ok if you get everything wet, maybe use a can of CRC after on all parts that you think will get rusty (i spray all bolts and nuts etc.) And the degreaser i used was this stuff called CT - 10 i think. It is the HEAVY degreaser, you mix it with water. I also used kero on a cloth for all the hard to get to bits.

Now polishing the cam covers was fairly hard and took about 3 full days!!!!!!

If you really want to know how to do this ill tell ya, but im just really fussy when it comes to my car

And yeah ill post some pics really soon, of the car polished, and the engine bay too. Just hafta put the cam covers back on now.

Andrew

[JiMb0]

Worst part about this Excel was he came up next to me (I was watching him in my mirror) and then he gives me a little bit from his BOV. I was like, eh, your joking right ? It's like a 5 y/o walking into the mens room of a major hotel and announcing that he too has a dick ??? Seriously, we're both travelling 90 km/ph, what really is the point in venting next to me ? He then showed his superior driving skills by cutting across 3 lanes infront of me, only to mind that it was indeed me letting him back on the motorway when his lane ran out 300 m later and had a broken down truck parked halfway in it I shouldn't have pointed it out to him but it would have been a waste of a good truck.

At the moment I have no idea what sort of power is there. I took her for a nice little "spirited" run around an industrial area about 5 this morning and it looks like I'm running about .8 - .9 bar, but I'd have idea on the RWKW. I'll be getting her dyno tuned hopefully at either Hills Motorsport of Croydon Autosports so I'll let you know how things go. Might take a bit tho, waiting for a bit of $$$ at the moment :oops:

As for the polishing, sure I'd love to know what you did ! 3 days I'd be more than happy to put aside to polish away :!:

[Ethan_R32]

Hey Jim,

Does it have any type of aftermarket ECU or chip??

With the polishing, i took the cam covers off first, (i can give u detailed instructions on this if ya really want, or else you can just do them while they are on) Then i washed them down with some turps first.

I then used corase grain sand paper (100) then medium (200) then went to 400, then 800, then 1200. Hopefully it should come up fairly shiny after tha, then use some autosol a few times on it, and it comes up like a mirror shine.

Looks really good.

Ill try and post pics tomorrow maybe.

Andrew

[JiMb0]

You know with all the mods it has, I'd think it would, howwver I've been so busy of late I havn't even got around to checking :cry: I'll be taking her apart on the weekend tho so stay tuned ! I don't even know what the stock ECU looks like

Whats a cam ?

Your speaking to a guy who only yesterday figured out how to remove the jack from the boot :oops: and that was so I could for the first time take off a set of rims :roll: it took me 20 mins to work out how the jack worked with the other parts, I had the mechanic almost in tears on the floor he was laughing so hard :!:

[Ethan_R32]

hey mate, we hafta start somewhere, I was like you when i first got my R33, didnt have a clue about it.

The cam covers are the long metallic things that are on either side of the black plastic thing on top of the engine that says Nissan twin cam 2500 ir whatever it says.

They are the cam covers, and i polished those.

Ill have pics tomorrow

[JiMb0]

Oooooo The rocker covers :!: Hehehehe, you took them off ??? Wouldn't that be a little messy ?

I took my black thingy in the middle off, I'm going to sand it back and spray paint it silver (to match the car, and the wording black). What do you rekon Or Should I leave it black to contrast the silver polished cam covers I'll soon have ?

[Ethan_R32]

yeah rocker cover, cam cover, same thing

They arent hard at all to get off!!! They are connected to a few hoses and thats it, you just take the hoses off, and undo the bolts holding them on. Theres about 10 bolts on each rocker cover.

That would look sweet if you paint the middle part in silver. Im thinking of painting mine burgundy, like the car. How do you actually do this, and what paint?

Should i send you the pics tomorrow to an email address?

[JiMb0]

Really ? I got told that under the rocker covers ... are the rockers :? and if you take the covers off you get oil and shit and stuff spirting everywhere :!: Then again, what the f**k would I know ....

With the middle part, I'd say just sand it down like your polishing it, then for painting first apply a plastic primer, then your standard car spray paint would do the job, followed by many coats of clear to bring it up nicely. Obviously you'd mask the areas you want eg you may with the wording to be a different color.

I think seeing as my car is silver, I'll polish the pipes, cam covers and xaust. Also with that middle bit I might sand it down and do it in black and silver writing, that way to allow for a contrast.

Umm pics , if you can send them to [email protected] as I'm at work more than I'm at home :cry: and thankfully Dingoblue although closing down, still have a nice link, hehehe

[Ethan_R32]

nah mate, if you take the rocker covers off there will be a little bit of oil on the underside of them (make sure you dont get dirt and shit there) but nothing splurting everywhere. Just make you sure you havent driven the car a few hours before you do it, so all the oil drains off them.

And ill send the pics tomorrow around lunch hopefully mate.

Andrew

[JiMb0]

Cool, sounds like a plan to me

[Shell]

Your speaking to a guy who only yesterday figured out how to remove the jack from the boot :oops: [/quote:3eab9251ab]

Thank god for that!! I felt like such a dumb blonde when I couldn't work it out!!

But even if I HAD worked it out, I found out i didn't have that windy thing (technically speaking here) to put the jack up or down, and I didn't have a wheel brace to get the flat tyre off.

So I rang my b/f...who was most happy to help me NOT :roll:

[JiMb0]

HAhaha, what a nice guy he is eh :x It took another 20 mins to work out how the windy thing with the hook on the end worked with the brace / windy thing. I think it's nify they made two tools into one. I'm now doing time trials, I can have all wheels off in under 15 mins :!: :!:

Now any ideas on getting the sticky tar like shit off my tyres that was put on at auction to make them look blacker ? Would de-greaser work. Also anyone who knows howto get the same shit off white shorts just let me know

[Ethan_R32]

Hey jimbo,

did you get my emails with all the pics?!?!!!?!?

Andrew

[JiMb0]

Yep yep yep Thnx :!: :!: :!: Those cams came up really really nice as well as teh rest of your piping. I think I'll definetely be going ahead with doing the job :!:

BTW man, Nice car overall :!:

[Ethan_R32]

thanks Jim.

Youll hafta send me a few pics of your car and engine and mods mate. Id love to see the apexi turbo.

[Shell]

HAhaha, what a nice guy he is eh :x It took another 20 mins to work out how the windy thing with the hook on the end worked with the brace / windy thing. I think it's nify they made two tools into one. I'm now doing time trials, I can have all wheels off in under 15 mins [/quote:5fe0cf6ed7]

Yeh, his comment was "just call the NRMA"...errrr yeh thanks for that, love of my life :roll:

Anyway, did you actually get a windy thing with the car?? If so, where was it?

[JiMb0]

It was in a little black tool pouch thing. That the two peices, the one metal rod with a curl in one end, and the other which has the brace on the end which attaches to it to make the windy handle. It's neato, I think I'll buy one of those 4 way braces tho 8)