Quick, someone pass the tissues...

Well what can I say, it looks f%^&in tops!!! This is straight off the gun so still some finishing touches to do but it looks real good. I'll shutup now so you can look at the pics.

Wow:
- Front view drivers side
- Front view drivers side 2
- Front view passenger side
- Front view passenger side 2
- Rear view/Side
- Rear view 2
- Roof Front
- Roof Rear
- Side'ish View

Cheers
Brendan

Body now in primer

So by the time you read this, I'm hoping the car now has a coat of red on her. Last Wednesday I went out to Assure in Canningvale to look at the body. It was in primer, and after talking to one of the staff, was due to get paint the next day (Thursday). Not 100% sure when I'm likely to see the body again, but would assume it'll be within the next week or so. Now being all in a single colour, albeit a drab grey, the wide body isn't so noticable unless looking right down the side. The front guards almost look stock too, even though they're 30mm wide than stock.

Here's what she looked like:
- Front view drivers side
- Front view passengers side
- Rear view/Side
- Roof

Can't wait to see her now that I know she should be looking much closer to finished. Once back in the workshop, the glass will be replaced and then comes the long haul to put it all back together again..

Cheers
Brendan

All shiny and new

This post won't win the award for the most exciting, but it's progress nonetheless. A couple of weeks ago I decided to start prepping a gearbox ready to be bolted up to the engine. Not wanting to have an ugly oily mess I thought it best to clean one up and paint it. Josh from C-Red said the easiest way to sort it would be to clean up just the housings, then build up a gearbox (thereby also checking components for wear etc).

So I set up degreasing, then acid dipping. Unfortunately the acid dipping didn't quite have the affect I wanted (ie. cleaning up to new condition) as can be seen in the first photo below. The next best thing was to jump on the sandblasting box and give the housings a good once over. The results are clearly seen in the second photo below. Finally once both were pressure washed and air blown dry from sand etc, a couple of coats of VHT engine paint in aluminium colour was applied.

Here's the results of my efforts:
- Gearbox housings after acid wash
- Bell housing sandblasted
- Finally painted

I know you don't see the gearbox, but being the slightly anal bastard I am, I know it's there - so it best be clean and look like new. Dally would be proud.

Cheers
Brendan

Paint update...primer

Quick update, car is now in primer and will be painted next week (woohoo!). Will be in at C-Red next Wednesday so might pop into the panel shop while on errands to check out the progress and take some happy snaps.

Also done a quick update to the 'Plan' based on product changes etc.

Cheers
Brendan

RG Goodness arrives

I've been chasing these coilovers ever since they were sold from C-Red's Pig v2.0 about 12mths ago. Due some very unfortunate circumstances that occurred with the owner of them, they came up for sale and I handed over the cash for them - thanks to kev_s13 on SilviaWA forums for holding them for me while I got the cash together.

The coilovers in question are Racing Gear's (RG) top of the line street/circuit damper commonly known as the RG JTC'N1 Damper V-Stage (quite mouthful, but impressive name nonetheless). With C-Red being the Australian distributor for RG, it was only appropriate that I go with a set, plus visually they will match the rest of the car - something the green Teins or purple HKS wouldn't. Here's a quick product blurb:

Racing Gear's ultimate Road/Race/Drift suspension system, the JTC'N1 V-Stage coilover allows a 5-step damping adjustment to go from the street to the circuit.

The adjustments can be set of steps 1 through to 3 for the majority of driving (ie. street), switching to steps 4 and 5 for circuit/drift work. Setting of the dampers is simple with use of a special tool to that comes with the system. For a solid street ride dial in 3, and for the full circuit ride - paired with R-Comp tyres, crank it up to 5. Coupled with the adjustable camber tops, and adjustment of dampers front and rear - the V-Stage is a must for those wanting to do everything.

These should suit well the combination street and grip driving I'll be doing in the car and look forward to driving a car that has had the chassis tuned with such equipment on board.

When I picked them up from Kev, they had the usual road grime and unfortunately a little overspray on them (I think from when the Pig was being built). With a fair bit of cleaning using some prepsol, they've come up a treat (but not quite out-of-the-box).

Some pics of these beautiful coilovers:
- RG JTC'N1 Damper V-Stage Front Coilovers
- RG JTC'N1 Damper V-Stage Front Camber Tops
- RG JTC'N1 Damper V-Stage Front Label
- RG JTC'N1 Damper V-Stage Rear Coilovers
- RG JTC'N1 Damper V-Stage Rear Tops
- RG JTC'N1 Damper V-Stage Rear Label

Car has been at the paint shop for a couple of weeks now so will be back before Xmas...I hope. Other things happening at the moment are a change of plans in boost control duties. The plan was to use the new Turbosmart eBoost 2 unit, but I've decided to trial the soon to be released Boost Control function in the new BikiROM (which is the ECU I'll be using too), this means keeping the Defi Boost gauge I had for sale. Have also had the gearbox housings and rocker cover acid dipped to clean and ready for paint. The gearbox will get a coat of VHT Aluminium paint finshed with a coat of VHT clear. This will help in keep it clean. The rocker cover will probably get a coating that Competition Coatings have - heading down to see Lyndon at Competition Coatings in Wandi next week to see what colours are available. This is to reduce the possibility of chipping as the coating is super strong (I'm assuming a ceramic coating of sorts).

Another thread of discussion/work/decisions has revolved around rims. Originally thinking that 19's would be a good idea, after some discussion with others, the reality is that although looking great, 18's are a better choice for cost on rubber and competition use. So the specifications that are currently in play are:

Volk Racing CE28N
Front: 18x9.5+15
Rear: 18x10.5+18
In Titanium Silver

Tyres
Front: 245/35R18
Rear: 265/35R18

I'd really like a different colour, but its not released in a dark silver as per the mockup below:



To give you an idea of what a similar darker silver would look like, I came across these pics of a Yahoo Auction. These are 19x9+24 and 19x10+24 on a 350Z:
- Closeup
- CE28N on 350Z Front
- CE28N on 350Z Rear

The brakes do look tiny under these, and I'll be using similar sized Brembos (front and rear). But with 18's, they won't look so small (even though the fronts will use the 330mm rotors. I had thoughts of going a larger rotor, but I still want the option of being able to fit a set of R33 GT-R rims (with spacers) for track work.

Cheers
Brendan