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I've been wanting to try a new photo look/technique for awhile but hadn't had the spare time.
The car had been neglected since the end of summer last year and I can't remember the last time it was washed. Unfortunately with winter and moving house it wasn't at the top of my priority list (plus living in a flat didn't help)
With the car washed, now was the time to go out and take photos. I'll let them do the talking
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A big thank you to David Cox aka Shooting Dave for videos, it certainly helped. Just need more practice now
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Its been a year since I last posted anything constructive (new coilpacks, rocker cover gasket etc)
The R34 had taken abit of a back burner due to the Micra K11 and Colt CZT but it's time to give it some well deserved attention
Back in 2020 when the UK went into its Covid lockdown, I repainted the intercooler pipes in a stone effect paint. While re-assembling I noticed the paint had started to come off, thinking it'd be fine. Fast forward a year or so and the paint didn't last as long as I had hoped.
With the car currently off the road for the winter, it was a good opportunity to sort this.
I went with a VHT wrinkle black paint, something subtle but not plain and boring. The wrinkle texture wasn't as pronounced as I remembered but its a big improvement from before
Heres a before photo
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(Apologies for the phone photos)
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Sorry its nothing exciting. Next up is a service and a good clean ready for spring to arrive.
The turrets are now showing signs of corrosion so I need to start saving for the work to be done. I knew it was coming and we all know its nevitable. I'll probably buy the replacement panels from SR Autobodies and save for the labour costs
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Apologies for the thread bump, another year has passed since the last post, hopefully 2023 will have more updates.
As always, the daily driver gets more attention and the R34 gets neglected. The Colt CZT was sold last August and I purchased an MX5 NC1 Sport. From October 2021 > October 2022 I had only driven the Skyline 1000 miles :(
I'm due to get married in April and have been holding out spending any money on mods for the MX5 till after the big day. Rather than doing that I promised myself I'd drive the Skyline more and sort out a couple of minor things on it.
I usually wait until March/April to put it back on the road, but the UK weather had been dry and the roads reasonably salt free. So with that, I decided to tax the car, give it a clean and blow off the cob webs (litually).
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I remember driving the car last year and hearing a whistle/whine on acceleration aswell as a struggle to build boost. I did a smoke test and there were no leaks. I also did a vacuum pressure test on the actuator and it held pressure no problems.
I removed the intake hose to check the play to find it does have about 1mm in-out play, the same amount the last time I checked (April 2020) Not ideal!
With the car back together I took it for a test drive and it all seemed fine. The Greddy Profec OLED boost controller was set to my low boost setting (7-8psi) and it built up boost with no issues. The whistle/whine noise had disappeared too, strange. I also blanked the blow off valve to see if that eliminated any issues, but it drove the same.
I made a video for my Youtube which goes into more detail of getting to the turbo etc including some in-car footage of me driving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JQzwBkaaBk
I purchased a used turbo with the intention to send it away to be rebuilt, easier said than done. I contacted the first 1.5 pages of a Google search and not a single company can do a standard rebuild on this turbo, only a Hybrid rebuild.
Not wanting to constantly buy used turbos to get by, I started to crunch the numbers on what was required to go the hybrid route. The kick in the teeth was having everything previously purchased but it all got sold to pay off debt :(
The cambelt is due this summer as it'll be 5 years since it was last done. The clutch will also need replacing because I don't have any history or evidence of what it currently has. I don't want to go through all of this effort and it slips on the dyno.
I've spoke to a local tuner (J's Garage, whos very very familiar with RBs) and he's advised on what needs doing.
Hybrid Turbo rated to 450hp (AutoExtreme)
Fitting Kit braided lines, genuine gasket set (AutoExtreme)
Xtreme Heavy Duty Clutch & Lightened Flywheel
GTR Injectors
Link G4X
IAT sensor
J's Garage Trigger Kit
Boost solenoid
Injector flow test & fitting
Fitting and Mapping
Tie rods/track rod ends/wheel alightment needed too
With a geniune cambelt kit/waterpump the total for the whole lot comes to around £6800 GBP / $8k USD / $12k AUD
Which means the MX5 will be up for sale in the coming months to help pay for it.
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One thing that kept sticking out like a sore thumb were the chipped intercooler pipes visible through the grille.
"Taking the bumper off and painting the pipes won't take me long"...a phrase I said to myself numerous times, how wrong was I.
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The rubber couplers put up a fight but they pipes were finally removed. Unfortunately I forgot to take some photos along the way, but it's all shown in the Youtube video at the bottom of the post.
The pipes were badly chipped/corroded so I took them right back to bare alloy with a wire wheel brush ready for painting.
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The bumper brackets underneath the headlights had corroded badly and were in desperate need of a repaint too. A minor set back but a job I thought wouldn't take too long.
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There were stripped back to bare metal too, followed by Hammerite Kurust and then Hammerite Smooth Black
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Thats when I noticed the holes in the engine bay had chipped and corroded. I couldn't leave it like it so I got stuck in sanding that down ready for rust treatment
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The opposite side was quite bad too so I did that at the same time
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The area was keyed,cleaned and masked up ready for primer and paint
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I wish I had known about this sooner, I would have taken it to have the paint scanned for a colour match aerosol. Unfortunately all I had was gloss white, so the shade is waaaay off, but at least its treated and sorted.
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The turrets will need sorting at some point so I'll get the engine bay re-painted at the same time.
The side areas underneath the headlights also had light corrosion so they received the same treatment
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I ran out of daylight, impatience got the better of me and rather than waiting a week for my next day off I carried on into the night under an LED work light.
There's something about freshly painted parts and new hardware that gives you a great feeling of achievement no matter how big or small the job is/was.
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I wish I had taken the front reinforcement bar off to treat and paint but I wanted it back together so I could drive it. When the bumper is next off I'll do it then :)
Here's the Youtube video with more details
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJKvthyFoNI
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Man you know this was the best investment ever, I remember when you sold your NA for this I thought it was crazy but these cars are going for insane money on the auctions ever since c0\/1d hit.
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I miss the Purple Monster....like...alot. But I know this was the right decision.
The 1998 models become legal in the US very very soon, pretty sure it's only a couple of months away. Prices shot up but have levelled out now, but like anything desirable people will pay.
I certainly got mine at the right time. If I was in the market now, I doubt I'd be able to afford one
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You may remember me making my own rear diffuser back in June 2020.
The company who powder coated it, didn't do a great job and it was flaking after a year. It's been one of those jobs I've been meaning to do and I finally had a chance to sort it.
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It was most noticable along the edges and around the bolts/rivets
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I found someone new to sand blast, he had them for a couple of weeks before they were ready (he does it in his spare time). I didn't take any photos during this next process, but I did film it for the Youtube video which will be at the end of this post.
I started by cleaning up the parts with a wire brush, wiping them down with white spirit before I started the painting stage. I gave the parts a coat of Kurust to help with any corrosion followed by Zinc Primer, black stone chip and then Hammerite Smooth Silver.
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There was an issue with the main body of the diffuser, the powder coat just wouldn't come off. The guy who blasted it said he tried various ways including increasing the pressure but didn't want to go any higher because he didn't want to distort the panel. He tried a carpet pad with 40 or 60 grit paper and it still wouldn't shift.
I thought about getting it acid dipped but it'd already took more time than I had hoped to get to this stage. In the end I purchased another sheet of mild steel and re-made it.
It didn't take long to get it cut out and drilled
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It then had a coat of stone chip and 3 coats of Smooth Silver
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To help prevent it going rusty and prolong its life I decided to add a bead of clear silicone around the edge of the fins and over the top of the rivets. I know its not a very neat thing to do, but I don't think many will be on their hands and knees to check the condition.
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While the diffuser was off I checked the condition of the boot floor and found alot of surface corrosion. I did my best to get the majority of it down to bare metal and treated with Kurust.
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I found my first hole :( With the wedding just weeks away I'll have to get this sorted at a later date
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I then did the same with the diffuser and gave it a coat of zinc primer followed by underseal. (I didn't have any stone chip at this stage)
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The exhaust heat shield got painted in VHT Black and refitted with stainless hardware. Sadly no photos of that.
The hicas wiring wasn't secured very well, I honestly can't remember how it was prior to removing the diffuser.
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I found the grommet inside the boot and pulled the wiring through
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It always seem to rain on my days off so refitting was no different haha But I'm glad its all back together now, it looks complete now
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I'm very happy with the result, it'll be much easier to touch in any stone chips or sort any corrosion/damage in the future.
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every time i see this car I regret not buying one when they were affordable.... ugh
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Have the same regrets for FD RX7s and E46 M3s...
Car looks stunning Chris!
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A proper wedding carriage! Congrats!!
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Back in 2020 I applied for a show called Players Classic held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. I got accepted but my wife was heavily pregnant with our first child. The Covid pandemic started and all tickets were transfered to the following year.
In 2021 car shows started to happen with restrictions, but we were expecting our second child so I had to get a refund.
Fast forward to this year and I applied again on a whim knowing I probably wouldn't get chosen. To my surprise the R34 got accepted into the show's 'Parc Du Concours' area.
I don't think the Work Emotions have had a good clean in a long time. So I took this opportunity to remove them from the car and clean the inner barrels thoroughly.
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The calipers hadn't been cleaned since I painted them
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Thats much better!
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Another little job I've been meaning to do was to repaint the wiper arms
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Next was to give the interior and exterior a good clean
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With the kids dropped off at the grandparents and the car loaded up it was time for the 4.5hr journy south west to Goodwood.
We arrived at the show in good time and were parked up about half way amongst the other cars
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Having only been to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed a few years ago, it was a great experience visiting the Motor Circuit for the first time. I've read and seen some very good things about this show so expectations were high, and it didn't disappoint!
Yes there were alot of stance builds but we all know its one of the biggest followings/trends, but there was also a great mix of other types including track ready, resto mod,drift and just clean and simple. (I would say the R34 falls into the last category)
Many many photos and hours walking around it was time to head off to the hotel. Sat Nav took us through a twisty mountain road which felt like a budget touge. Was certainly looking forward to driving it the following morning!
Sunday morning was here and we ventured off to the show. This time a silver Evo 8 followed us through the english touge (haha) which put a smile on our faces. The symphony of a screaming turbocharged 4 banger and an RB25DET was certainly enough to fuel you for a day full of awesomeness. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos or videos.
The Sunday part of the show allows all of the cars parked in the Parc Du Concours area, to move across and park on the circuit. This did make for some nice photos
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Unfortunately we left at mid day, purley because my feet couldn't take any more walking and I knew the drive home wasn't going to be much fun with the M25.
Another show I applied for and surprisingly got accepted for was the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary. This is on Saturday 12th August at Bicester Heritage
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Very nervous about this one! Being apart of a show and shine area parked amongst hundreds of other cars is one thing, but being a part of a limited number display for the Readers Rides display is a whole new level.
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Lovin all the personal touches and attention to detail on the car. Congratulations on the wedding and kids. Life happens so fast man. Enjoy every moment