Breath Easy - Part 2

So This Took Me Forever.

After Some Screw Ups and Body Filler Failure This Was The Result

It took me about 3 weeks of sanding, priming, bondo-ing, puttying, etc

But it was finally perfect

Time to mix up some paint!

Step 1: Clean HPLV gun cause you were too lazy to clean it last time

Makes it twices as hard btw cause everything gets crusty

Nothing Acetone won't fix

Disassemble the gun and clean everything

Then reassemble and spray acetone through it just to make sure its super clean

Step 2: Wipe down part to be painted with Mineral Spirits.

BOOM. Big Ass Can

Next get out your paint

For small parts I use a single stage paint

Its super easy to mix, durable and usually only requires a single paint session

You can hardly tell between a single stage paint job and a base/clear with flatter colors

So you have your reducer, hardener, and the actual paint

I use OMNI by PPG cause it is cheap, easy to use, and it works

Heres the mixing ratio:

4 parts paint

1 part hardener

2 parts reducer

start mixing

I would not recommend using a solo red cup as a mixing container

20 minutes later the paint ate through the cup spilling all over the place

No Bueno

A spray paint lid as a measuring tool is not a good idea either

But I gotsta use what I gots

Anyways, I started painting but wasnt patient enough

Your supposed to wait 10 minutes between coats

I waited 5 seconds

Anyways I ended up with some runs which also led the paint away from the edges

I'm usually pretty good with painting so I was frustrated with myself...

Especially since I spent so much time with the prep work

You can see the run in the pic above

Pretty bad

I was able to sand it out with 1500 grit sand paper

But like i said the edges are very thin

I may sand it down with 600 grit and spray again

Here's a rough idea of what it looks like on the car

It needs some adjustments and possibly a repaint, but I like it so far

Mix N Match

15x7 Epsilons on front & 14x9 Wats on rear

Breath Easy

Gettin Crazy with an inspection lid

One of the bigger problems with S30Z is Aerodynamics

This includes the area under the hood

Basically Air gets trapped in the engine bay

The explanations get real technical. Just trust me

That Air gets real hot, given its proximity to the engine creating a ton of problems

This is why Nissan came out with an optional hood "scoop" for S30s

And hood vents for the 78 S30s

Not wanting to cut a giant hole in the beautiful line of the Z hood

I decided upon butchering the inspection lid to get the air to travel a bit easier out of the engine bay

Step 1: Draw up a plan

Step 2: Cut that sh!t

Step 3: Drink High Life

Step 4:Start to Fab

Step 5: Make Corner Templates

Step 6: Cut Corners

Step 7: Weld it all together

Step 8: Done with Fabrication

Next will be body work and paint!

PICS - 2012

Just some personal pics from the last year

 

Drillin Studs...Manifold Studs

So here' my plan in the simplest of terms:

Take OG L24 as-is

Clean it up

Swap over OG carbed draw-thru turbo setup

Embrace the old school tech (soul) of the setup

Anyways

Not much is new

Trying to prep the OG L24 for turbo duty

Removed all manifolds, cooling junk, and other bits

Broke a stud off in the head

Not Surprised

Only managed to break 1

Surprsised

Better than I expected

Time to drill it out

Original Stud thread is M8 x 1.25

Gonna upsize to M10 x 1.5

Use an 11/32 Drill bit to set yourself up to tap M10 x1.5

Drill a pilot hole with a smaller bit

Take note of how far you needs to drill by inserting the bit into an open stud hole

Measure how far it goes in and be sure to not exceed that depth with the pilot bit

Once that's complete move on to the 11/32 bit

Understand I'm doing this all in my garage and I'm lazy

If you want this done right have a pro do it

With that said, I "eyeballed" the level and direction of the drill

Use a cutting fluid while drilling

WD40 or most any aerosol oil will work if you're in a pinch 

I have no idea where my M10x1.5 tap is so I'll cover that later