jktitties Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 (edited) I'll use my original hello post to give the d-low on my set up at the moment and what I plan to do! Lots of parts already waiting to be fitted, happy to share pics and recommend sellers/tuners/parts! Getting hard to find certain things nowadays and I've ended up importing a lot of stuff to save some costs so happy to share that stuff as I know it can be risky. Long time secret reader, finally took the plunge and made the account. Love reading people's builds on here, I am Z obsessed. I have an 07 GT Rev Up and another 08 GT HR. I really love these cars and work on them every free minute I have as I'm sure others do I should have had a kid, would have been cheaper and less likely to blow up. I plan to share my mods including eventually a FI build, with vq37vhr lower end, built engine and full custom fab manifolds for the HR. Not sure who I'll trust the internal engine build with yet! Still need to buy the space to get that moving properly. Trying to build a house in 6 months so TT is definitely one for later in 2019 Here are my current mods on each of these cars as of Nov 2018. 07 350Z DE GT Rev Up K&N Typhoon Air Intake Cobra exhaust system Cobra HFC ROTA GRID 19" in "Flat Black" Polished plenum Coil Overs (I think they're BC but not sure) Switchback DRLs in the front bumper Demon Eyes + Custom Headlights Since getting this one around 9 months ago I've spent probably 80+ hours on the paint and it looks like a new car compared to when I first got it. After a wash it looks all wet and shiny like glass and the blue doesn't look like any other blue I've seen on the road lol. I'll include in another post below what I've done to the paint to restore it. Headlights are different now as the strips I used inside these were not reliable! 08 350Z GT HR This car is bone stock as I bought it like this, but this is all the stuff I've purchased currently sat in my garage awaiting fitment (I love doing this stuff but not climbing under my car in a tiny single garage during winter haha) - Decats (slightly resonated). Hopefully manifolds for TT fabbed within 12 months so praying the Japspeed welds hold until then lmao they look terrible - HKS Style True Duel Full Exhaust System. It's a straight through system with no echo chamber things. My thinking was I can use parts of this when fabbing up the turbo set up. - Spec Headlights imported from USA. Hopefully doing the LHD to RHD conversion this week for the light pattern, along with demon light install. My blue Z has had enough money poured into it for now lol. Below are my intentions once the above stuff is fitted. I might sell the blue Z in spring if I'm happy with the HR. HR Planned Mods - Body kit - I'm doing something custom - Paint - I plan to respray the thing a deep black when I get the space. - Wrap - Once the paint is done and settled I want to wrap. I have OCD and can't survive knowing the paint is bad under the wrap lol. - Wing - I think I'm fabbing something custom. I want something really big with a lot of width that looks aggressive. - Interior - Doing alcantara over the sides of the dash and gloss carbon fiber over the center console. - Seats - Seen some online I really like but they're all with faux leather. I really like the smell of leather so going to try and get them reupholstered with real leather. - Steering wheel - Doing something custom! - Roll cage - want to go with a simple bolt in roll cage to start with, nothing too intrusive since this is a day car for now. My goal is to get everything else done before I hit it with boost so it's ready to go. - Sound system - planning on using an xtrons unit. I can replace the front speakers but need to get the cage in the back before I do rears and a sub. - Tuning - Haven't decided on a tuner yet, but I think I'm going with UpRev. - VQ37 crank Given the amount of work going on I'm likely sourcing parts from all over the world to get a good price as I can't go MSRP so i'll share links to that stuff if people are interested. Don't mind going used on certain things like a cage if needed! Can always repaint and get it looking fresh. Also hoping to maybe fabricate a hydraulic lift system much further into the future since they pump up so fast and look really aggressive! Too many things to do before that though. This week I'm doing headlight conversion and also getting the decat and HKS style true dual exhaust in with a fab shop. If they're decent I'll drop their details here after That's everything so far! Edited November 8, 2018 by jktitties 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jktitties Posted November 8, 2018 Author Share Posted November 8, 2018 This was my paint restoration journey! I'm definitely NOT a professional detailer! Just someone with OCD I'll include what worked and the mistakes I made. This is how it looked when I bought the car: Here's the list of what I did to the paint: Spray with water Spray with snow foam Wash using 2 bucket technique Wash with water Dry by hand Clay Bar entire car with AutoGlym Rapid Detailer (can probs use something else but I heard good things about it for lubricating the clay bar. clay was cheap from ebay, 5 for £10 I think, they're bright blue). Quick wipe down with microfibre, should be dry already I used T-cut on a Dual Action Rotary Orbital with a firm smooth sponge, 5" or 7" I think. I did the entire car in small sections. This removed most but not all of the surface scratches which was fine for me. Doing it for longer or using harsher compounds would have probably got me to nearly 100% new but that would be too corrosive on the clear coat and I want to keep my clear coat lol. Here's a pic whilst I was doing it, this was my first attempt and I did a better job the second time This is what the paint looked like at the end of the full process (not there yet). It looked perfect in the day time, it was only under harsh light at night time close up you could still see a few micro scratches to the clear. 10. I wiped off the T-cut residue with a microfiber. This happened because I used too much and the first time the sponge on the DA was too soft. I didn't have to do this much when I redid it properly. You could probably try the Autoglym super resin polish but meh, T-cut has been around forever and I had a bottle sat in the garage. 10a. I had really bad stone scratches on the bonnet and front bumper, so using a nail art sharp tip paint brush (lol) I went in to a small bottle of touch up for my paint code purchased from ebay and individually filled in each of the stone chips. It's not as impressive as a new paint job, but I would rather have some tiny body-coloured bumps on the front than bright white stone chips. I did this way after the first time I cleaned up the paint but this is where it fits into the full routine, after the T cut and before the wax. 11. I used 2 waxes. The first was the SIMONIZ Original Hard Car Wax. That was tricky to use but melts into the sponge with some heat. Buff out before it dries as it's so hard to remove once it sets. Buffed this into the car in small sections really massaging it in softly with a bumpy sponge on the DA. I would not recommend any buffers but the Dual Action as I previously damaged paint really easy using a drill attachment. Worth the £65 investment trust me! They're so handy! 12. The second wax I used was Turtle Wax Original Car Wax Liquid. This one does dry faster so you have to work quickly. Some people just use one wax and I'm sure that works perfectly, I like to start with hard wax and move my way up. I wouldn't do any of this stuff by hand. I've done it before and it just takes three times along. Definitely worth getting the DA imo. 13. I cleaned off the excess Turtle Wax dried up liquid with a microfiber and then used AutoGlym Rapid Detailer over the car a panel at a time and massaged in with a microfiber. This step was super fast because no machinery and I find it just gives it a little extra shine as well as a little extra protection. Fin. That was everything for the paint! The reason it took me months was because it was my first time using the machine and there was some trial and error with how much pressure to use, I went too light to start with and it didn't get enough of the scratches out. I've done the hatch, roof and bonnet twice to get it how I wanted it. Took a long time but spreading it out it wasn't bad and it looks like a whole new car from when I first got it. Nissan paint from the factory isn't bad! Warning tho it shows up dirt so fast now with the paint being super shiny compared to before, it needs cleaning 1-2 times a week just being sat on the drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian@TORQEN Posted November 8, 2018 Share Posted November 8, 2018 (edited) Welcome to the forum! Let me know if I can help with any parts. You mentioned the seats, are you referring to the BRAUM Racing ones? They're absolutely awesome, all customers are over the moon with these. Body kit, have you seen the NSM body kit? Like the Nismo 370z, but for 350z, some pics below. Exclusively available in Europe at TORQEN. Edited January 17, 2019 by glrnet removed at OP's request 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LRF4N Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 That looks the part. Makes it it look more modern Not sure on the rear, need to see it in a different colour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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