TwinTurbo.NET: Nissan 300ZX forum - Engine bay is finally painted and other stuff.
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Subject Engine bay is finally painted and other stuff.
     
Posted by PiotrC70 on April 15, 2012 at 1:37 AM
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Message I know there are those that don't visit 3zc or have gotten banned so I wanted to repost here...

After what feels like forever prepping the bay, grinding, degreasing and going through surprisingly only about 4 cans of brake clean, my buddy who's been painting cars for years was finally able to paint my bay since this is the best weekend we've had in WA in what feels like forever.

Bit overkill for a paint booth wouldn't you say? There is a 20x20 filter on the back of the fan and another 20x20 filter on the other side to keep the booth slightly negative.

First, some before pictures

I've never been happy with the cream-ish KH6 pearl white used on the verts and unfortunately, (my opinion) the only non-pearls that look best on verts are black and red. Even my favorite color of straight white would look horrible on the vert and a bit bland.

After MUCH thought and looking at different pearl whites, with lexus having some beautiful bright white pearl paints, I decided to stick with Nissan and go with GTR/370Z white. If you've seen this pearl white in person, it's jaw dropping beautiful. It diffuses the light really well and unless you look closely, can't tell it has pearl.

Now, I decided on doing something a bit different than most would do. Looking at various luxury cars including more common cars like the 370Z and what not, I had a flattening agent mixed in the clear to give it a satin look. This is actually becoming more common place on cars instead of having a high gloss coat. Also, I learned that in the engine bay, the top/pearl coat is not used, just the base(color). What you're seeing is just the base coat. I also didn't want a high gloss look since it distracts from the engine which is why I went with the satin. Scratches will be better hidden as well.

And as of the end of last week, it's starting to look more like an engine bay.

On a side note. The new long block is almost reassembled. It's amazing how many misc parts you need and how quick they add up. I must have spent about $600 in the past month just on hoses, clamps, etc.

Also port matched my upper plenum after picking these up at Amazon for about $50.

You can see just how much material can be removed for better flow.

This is how the bit looked after only THREE ports opened up. Looks destroyed but turns out, it's just the aluminum melted in the teeth. Took a small pick to it and cleaned up quite nicely.

I learned after the fact that I should have dipped the bit in oil and also run at a lower pressure to slow the bit down. Oh well.

1993 TT. R.I.P. 09.15.2010

     
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