180sx : Long overdue detail

Discussion in 'Show and Shine' started by Phil.P, Jul 17, 2011.

  1. Phil.P

    Phil.P Any Rag Vehicle Washer

    This detail is way overdue! I had to kick myself the the butt to get it done. Why? As I have been going to local meets, I have been offered features in magazines and web sites and wanted to have something nice to show :) I should be getting a full feature (vids+pics) in the next 2 weeks (I'll update this later).

    Here's a quick story with my car:

    Bought it back 07' because me and my brother wanted a nice project to work on. We always wanted a Skyline GTR, but they were WAY OUT of our budget at that time, so we opted for a 180sx since there's a huge aftermarket support for the engine and chassis. We got the car bone stock and a pair of blown coilovers. We had the car repainted 2 years ago in Inuit White (Audi Q7 Coastline) and the body shop rushed it in a week. The guy that does the wet sanding/polishing is now a friend of mine and told me that he had a working day to sand + compound + polish the car. Pretty big task if you ask me!

    I contacted him in order to help me out to redo the car, he said yes. We planned out a night to wet sand the car all over. My brother helped out also. Three guys can get alot of stuff done in 4 hours! On with the detail!

    Products used:

    Wash + clay:
    - Pinnacale XMT car shampoo
    - Zep Citrus 3:1
    - IronX
    - ONR + XMT as clay lube
    - Ricardo yellow clay

    Correction:
    - 2000 grit sand paper
    - Meg's 105
    - Menz 85RD
    - Makita rotary + 3M white pad (105)
    - Flex rotary + 5" white LC CCS pad (85rd)

    Wheels + tires:
    - Sonax Full Effect wheel cleaner
    - Zep cleaner & degreaser (aka Purple) 3:1
    - ONR clay lube + Riccardo yellow clay
    - Brushes
    - Menz 85RD (wheel lips)
    - DP tire shine

    LSP:
    - Opti-coat V2

    On with some pictures! I dont have much before and during since we had a real small window of time to do the correction.

    Wheels before:

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    Wheels after:

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    Paint "quality":

    This is the hood. As you can see, it has pretty much no detail what so ever, it's not hazy or oxidized, it need a wet sand ASAP.

    [​IMG]

    Rear quarter has the same problem.

    [​IMG]

    Zep Citrus doing it's job. I had put two coats of Poorboys EX-P as a "temporary" fix until I could detail the car properly.

    [​IMG]

    IronX doing it's job!

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    Yours truly (on the left), look at those man-arms, wow! My friend on the hood is compounding and i'm following with the 85RD.

    [​IMG]

    After the compound + polishing stage, the screws that hold my overfenders were pretty shinny. I proceeded to change them all. I dipped them in urethane to ensure a nice bond.

    [​IMG]

    Here are some finished pics after LSP (Opti-Coat V2)

    The hood has come a long way from the 1st pic:

    [​IMG]

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    Nice pearl action, the black spot is a bug. It coulnd help itself I guess.

    [​IMG]
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    Thanks for looking!
     
  2. Kaban

    Kaban Welcome to Detailing

    Super nice work. Stance of the wheels is on point.
     
  3. Socal Brian

    Socal Brian DB Forum Supporter

    Nice job. Any mod's on the motor? I like your work area. Plenty of room! lol
     
  4. Kilo6_one

    Kilo6_one DB Forum Supporter

    I agree, the stance is on point...... sweet car. Man I wish I had someone I could trust to help me detail LOL
     
  5. Phil.P

    Phil.P Any Rag Vehicle Washer

    Yep, fully built SR20. I'm pushing 356whp @ 16psi on a mustang dyno. I'm going back soon and aim for ~380+ at 20psi. I've swapped a S15 6speed tranny and with the 4.09 final drive, the car is FAST. Right now, the tuner said I should be doing the 1/4 mile in 11.3 / 11.5. I've never tried... yet :D

    He does have way more experience than me and thought me a few tricks on wed sanding.
     
  6. mike aesthetica

    mike aesthetica Jedi Nuba

    What a car. The pearl after polishing is seriously screaming! Nice work.


    ....and 356whp at on a MD isn't shabby at all. :)
     
  7. hamza7

    hamza7 Welcome to Detailing

    your car is wide! good look, do you know if you can put a SR26TT in it?

    I saw a 240 with Type X conversion yesterday..the shit
     
  8. DonVaughn

    DonVaughn Any Rag Vehicle Washer

    YES. This is so awesome. How convenient to see this, as i'm starting my 240sx build next week (Fully built SR20 with a GT30R and S15 front conversion)!

    Now I have so much motivation to put effort into the paint on top of the internals.

    Great Job
     
  9. GTIDamien_407

    GTIDamien_407 Birth of a Detailer

    Looks sick I love it when a car's low and stanced out on wide wheels, especially one at your height where it's not super dumped scraping the ground but still looks really nice without burning through the paint on the fenders like alot of VW guy's like to do
     
  10. Phil.P

    Phil.P Any Rag Vehicle Washer

    I think you're referring to a RB26DETT from a GTR and no I woulnd want that in my car. The RB is prone to oil starvation, has water pump issues, a timming belt and costs a fortune when it breaks. The SR20 is the pefect engine, aluminium head, block and deck unlike the RB wich has a steel block and deck + aluminium head so it will eat gaskets. Weight balance is important too ;) And for the money invested, the SR is the way to go.

    I got a 3071R in my rust bucket, kicks pretty hard and fast with the right intake setup. You wont be dissapointed, but take your time! The only thing I dont like about your plan is the S15 conversion, IMO it's overplayed and dosent look good because it dosent flow with the lines of the car. But then again, you modify YOUR car because it's YOURS, not mine ;) But thanks for the compliment



    Thanks man :) But I will have to say that I'm rubbing and scraping... :( Quebec roads are the crappiest roads in the world... The bombed roads in Iraq are better... I should raise the coilovers, but the car will look like poop. Form > Fonction :D
     
  11. luke093

    luke093 Welcome to Detailing

    Hot project car!! I just don't dig the screwed on look in the rear. Is it supposed to be like that?
     
  12. zspectrum

    zspectrum Jedi Nuba

    Stretch poke slam :p
     
  13. ///M LifeStyle

    ///M LifeStyle Birth of a Detailer

    great work guys!
     
  14. Phil.P

    Phil.P Any Rag Vehicle Washer

    This is an update lol!

    I brought my car at the bodyshop for them to fix something they botched up when they did the bodywork two years ago. They basically had to redo the sideskirts since they were rubbing and creating some nice rust... And the visible rivets that had my OCD acting up everytime I saw the car.

    Look at how the skirt is all wavy and you can clearly see the rivets. The rusting was happening at the front, right next to the front fender:
    [​IMG]

    This is what it looks like now:
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    With all those "repairs" done, my car was a total mess... inside and out. I couldn't see the color of my roof because it was FULL of bondo dust... When I picked up the car, they were washing it with old wash mits and dirty soapy water... and they sqweegee'd the car clean and using an old shammy to clean up the streaks... On the inside they just blasted air and used the SAME shammy to "wipe" (or spread) the dust on my dash... I dont have to tell you guys that my car is all marred and scratched up... AND I got overspray on most of the car... The paint feels like fine sandpaper. I also got this gray splatter that wont come off on of my wheels... GREAT!

    Here's the quick clean up that my bro and I did the next morning in order to get the car ready for a nice ride on sunday!

    Products used inside:
    - DP interior Cleaner
    - 303 Protectant
    - Zep's Premium Carpet Cleaner
    - Zep's APC 3:1
    - Bissel Auto Care Pro Heat (I LOVE THIS THING!!!)
    - Stoners Glass cleaner
    - Cheap microfibers
    - Detail brush

    Products used outside:
    - Zep Purple 3:1
    - Wolfgang Autobathe
    - DP Tire Gel
    - Poorboys Trim Restorer
    - Dangly MF mit

    Here's a pic under the passenger carpet:
    [​IMG]

    Driver's section, notice the Defi controler dangling?:
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    It was SOO bad that we took out the seats for some intense cleaning!:
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    Here's my dash/speedo. You can see on the left where they "wiped" the dust off:
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    Behing my gauges, they missed a spot! ;) :
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    My improvised gauge mount in my center console (Yes, the top switch says Warp 9.9) :
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    Here's my dirty driver's floor mat. I dont know how it got this dirty... :
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    Quick 50/50. I used some APC for the more solied areas:
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    All clean!:
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    I filled up 3 of these... :
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    My brother cleaning up the interior:
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    I was giving some love to the trims. They were thirsty!:
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    Clean up and finished, dressed with 303! I coulnd get rid of a stain on the carpet, on the top "180sx":
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    With the clean up done on the inside, we started on the outside. After the wash/dry, I noticed a buttload of "damage"... the car is covered... I managed to take this pic of a section of the hood, imagine te rest of the car!
    [​IMG]

    I have to start everything all over again...

    Here's before the ride:
    [​IMG]
     
  15. hamza7

    hamza7 Welcome to Detailing

    Get it back into pro shape man.
     
  16. kakeuter

    kakeuter DB Forum Supporter

    That car is sick, period. Good luck getting it cleaned back up, a little elbow grease and she'll be back to pimpin in no time!

    -Kody-
     
  17. JoeyV

    JoeyV Welcome to Detailing

    WTF? Dude, never go back there. They've gone to the point of causing more harm then they fix. JEEZ. Now the money you spent on the coating and time on that first detail has been wasted and you need to do it over again. Fail. Let me know if you want me to help out when you get around to it.
     
  18. BrendanS

    BrendanS Welcome to Detailing

    my god, that is beautiful
     

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