Ibo's Garage - TTRS3GTR

[CAMAROBOY69]

Completely forgot to take a few pics,
but same old. Sanding cleaning...rinse repeat
Car is completely sanded, so the new layers stick. Plastic is all done. Leaves the small metal stuff.
Car is precleaned , as the wet sanding is quite messy. More than dry sanding, which leaves just powder.
Wet sandind leaves a smudge on the ground... and the car
My roofline tissue was dispatched (what do you call fake wildleather? Suede? alcantara. That's what I bought. In black. Enough for the roof plus interior column covers.
New Filler, Hardener, more siliconremover, more stirs, more cups were dispatched today too.
It looks that if tomorrow I advance good enough, friday I could refill. But as said, if I consider it too late, it will be Saturday.
And if the elastifer trick works as intended, sanding should take a considerably shorter timeframe. The plastics, I can go directly on with 600.
On the bumpers I taught there was orange peel, but it was infact the gunmetal gry shining through slightly. When I knew that, the other plastics were cake.
I guess when refilling, I first fill in just the spots that were sanded through, and then complete layers?
2 or 3 (knowing there were 2 now on, and still a bit on) ???
With these words...
To the next update

Yes start filling the lightest areas first. Then as many as you want after that. The more you have to work with and sand, the better. Just make sure to let it dry in between coats, or you will create more orange peel from spraying onto the previous wet coat.

 

[Ibonibo]

I worked longer today at work, so I only managed to get the rest all sanded.

Tomorrow then I tape off and clean. Saturday filler



Mild Swearing

 

[Ibonibo]

Huge mega duper update

2 days ago....


Here I feel a dent. I don't see it. Neither in sanding, neither wet, nor with controlpowder....

Yeah I use powder instead of spray. Reappliable, direct sandable. partely doable....

Plastics, non sanded. so smooth... Elastifier

Car precleaned, ready to tape off....

Such nice weather outside...

Okay, approching new filler

Reorganized a bit
Led lights out whole car in the front and bumpers 👍

Wait, where is the fan???

Due to the lack of appropriate filter, it dusted too much. So the dust now goes directly outside, instead of on the car

I wanted to try this before the base, to be sure...
And well it works way better

Today:

Pre-Post shots

Reorganized some stuff here, better to get a 360° spray on it

The finish :

Plastics (front bumper)

Hood

I didn't use the old filler or hardener, to be sure no standing damage existed (water absorb.)

I used 4 liters of Filler.
1.75 l of hardener
0.75 of elastifier

I didn't use some that was mixed (why below), leaving over around 500ml. But that's a hell lot on the car....

I cleaned the gun inbetween mixes. I use that spiral cable for air, not inside the "cabine". On the last mix, I clean, want to attach the tube, it snaps back, half engaged, with tinner and some filler in the bucket,
pouring the whole toxic waste on my face.

My reflexes were good. I didn't get any in the eyes, otherwise it would have been hospital.
I let everything fall out of my hands. Eyes closed, grabing my water bottle (extra ready for that scenario!!), Touching my way outside, ripping masks off, glasses, ear protection, pouring the water in my face, till the bottle was empty.

Just blinked once to orientate, ran to the water hose, and rinsed my eyes for a good 5 minutes under clear water.

When I was younger I once had some in the eye, a drip thinner, you know when you have some in the eyeballs. It burns your eyes. And then you go see a doc. Didn't happen. Now I was dripping wet. Mask was unusable, my googles were full of product....

But I kept going with a new mask, a small pause to ensure I was fine, (cell was ready to call someone to get me into the hospital).

( I went and bought a eye shower liquid, and been rising the eyes now with that, just to be sure )


And that's why always use safty equipement. I was full on, Mask, glasses, overall from head to toe ans still....

When I see people on utub paint with no mask, no security equip. what so ever, the slightest fault, the slightest drip in your eye....

I was lucky today in that regard. And it turned out good.

So yeay

 

[Ibonibo]

Well well well.

A big thank you to Camaroboy for the direct refiller advice. And approving the elastifier

It turned out

It's so smooth, sooo smooth.

A few passes of 600 grid wet

Flat This rocks. I can use 600 and repass with 800. No need for anything under 600

So cool

This actually took a long time to clean the dryed out filler out

and the fan repositioning :

All in all, the additional step = Totally worth it...

More product on the car. Even-er. Better, miles better to sand

The end result of mixing filler and elastifier together :

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

That 600 sanded spot with the new primer sealer put a huge smile on my face. That is a killer update and whew so glad you were okay and didn't get anything in your eyes. All this prep work with sanding the primer smooth will make the base coat spray on even better. The clear coat will also be so much easier to sand because it will be even smoother with very little orange peel. I also like the comparison video with and without the elastifier. Looking REALLY good. 👍

 

[Ibonibo]

That 600 sanded spot with the new primer sealer put a huge smile on my face. That is a killer update and whew so glad you were okay and didn't get anything in your eyes. All this prep work with sanding the primer smooth will make the base coat spray on even better. The clear coat will also be so much easier to sand because it will be even smoother with very little orange peel. I also like the comparison video with and without the elastifier. Looking REALLY good. 👍

As always thanks
Imagine the mad grin on my face.
Sanding those cavities out is a real joy too as I know the finish will be so superbe, Secondly it becomes a mirror, and everything that mirrors me is awesome

A few questions:

The non visible parts, what should I sand that with, like the parts that have sealant underneath it, places where it doesn't matter as they are covered up??

Screws : Now I know, I should have organised new screws all around, put them in the threads and paint the heads with. It would have meant not needing to close these off at every paint ( and some will naturally be blow out...) But now that it's done, and the heads don't need that much material....
I thaught of spaying them simply (when reassembling the car) to can spray them. How to ?
Primer - base - clear only is enough??

Now update time

Vaccuming the room.

I long thaught about the chrome on this. Should I paint it or not with the ruby black patch...
The last filler process was the last chance to do it, to get some primer on.
But I decided against... why?
If I paint it, it's black forever. Maybe I want to change back to chrome.... you know what's coming.... not winter.... plastidip

Even the edges are a joy to sand.

Mirror me = awesomesauce

some spots are so smooth that a wipe with the 600 grid is enough, no orange peel what so ever, and the rest goes fairly quick.
But when I say "easy sanding" "a joy to sand" ,.... it is but it still is a lot of work, and def. not the coolest work, it def. goes into the back and shoulders. But after 2 months non stop,... my threshold is high


But so awesome.

I gonna take my dslr when everything is sanded to a finish. Make some hi-res pics. And take a few clips of vid for later videos

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

A few questions:

The non visible parts, what should I sand that with, like the parts that have sealant underneath it, places where it doesn't matter as they are covered up??

Screws : Now I know, I should have organised new screws all around, put them in the threads and paint the heads with. It would have meant not needing to close these off at every paint ( and some will naturally be blow out...) But now that it's done, and the heads don't need that much material....
I thaught of spaying them simply (when reassembling the car) to can spray them. How to ?
Primer - base - clear only is enough??

Non visible parts
You really don't need to put much effort into those parts at all. A light scuffing with a scotch pad or light scuff with 400-500 grit would be fine. Then base coat and clear coat.

Screws and bolts
Most people push the screws and bolts through a piece of cardboard while painting. Then you can lightly primer, base, and paint the bolts / screw heads. Just have to be gentle when re-assembling the car so you don't chip the paint off the bolts / screws.

Something like this.

OR

You could put the bolts / screws temporarily back in their original holes in the car so you plug the hole AND paint the bolts at the same time.

 

[Ibonibo]

Yeah the or would have been good if I would have taught sooner to get new screws. I will only place new screws in.
So its a bit of reseach involved to get all the good ones (searching in the parts catalogue,.... pain).

I will do them with a rattlecan while reassembling. There aren't many visible. 4 screw from the hood , those are painted as they hold the hood.
4 from the trunk lid. 8 for the fenders that are visible. That should be all. So not that much of work to do them later on..

👍

Yeah I will mildly go over those parts aonce, quick and dirty

 

[Ibonibo]

with very little orange peel.

How about none

Seriously, I think all can be sanded out, with no sanding through, even the edges are doable....
My geman side, or little OCD, help in spotting the cavities, all of them

It starts already to look awesome, getting awesomer day by day.

If I need to guess, I would say 70% are done to 60% finish

A few more days, a bit more elbow grease....

As I also posted it in Hayden thread, to give a bit of sympathy between crash buddies

This S3 was inbetween the A3 and the current one. I think I wasted that car in a matter of weeks. It was my fault, I was being stupid, and younger.
But it served a purpose, I am now aware that BS doesn't belong on public roads and made me a second Bday.
Because if I had not by instinct just taken the tree in the middle where the impact has a lot of formable materials, I probably would have hit the tree with around 70km/h side impact driver side.... You can all imagine the aftermatch...

It made me humble with cars and that everything can be around the next corner, from a little child on the road, to oil, debris, to a pothole that elevates the rear axle and throws you into a tree if you approch too fast...

Ming blue ext, White leather inside

 

[Ibonibo]

Disclamer : I am not responsible for trashed pants after this post !!!



So, what happened the last days.

Firstly, as I presume all the dents that were in it, came from my cousins garage, which took out the windows, I went to my insurance agent, talked about it with him, and transfered the order to replace the window to my German Garage 👍

I am soooo done with garages in Luxemburg. Criminals, cons, incapables, full retards

That's that done.

I could not bring a restored car to such imbeciles. And it worked flawlessly to change it 👍

Then I wrote the german garage owner a mail, with the link to the pics. The guy's words :
"Faboulous what you did here. Only achievable with love and elbow grease. Great. You will enjoy this car for a long time"
That coming from a german with very high standards, 👍

I am also looking at new rims. As soon as I have my selection I will present the available choices here.

Long pondering between 8.5*19 or 8*18. I think 19" might be a tad to big. I googled and it looks weird on most S3....

And I've been sanding so much. Going slowly to not sand through around the edges, making sure with a torch in my other hand that I don't miss a sinle cavity...

Coming very near to perfection

Rear pass quarter 600 done

Hood 600 done

Working on the driver side

Rear quarter driver 600 done

over it as I drool over it

Door done 600

Doors edge corner fender side

Still some sanding to do....

When all the celluite is gone with the 600. I continue with 800 to make the scrates go away (more)

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Looking fantastic! Getting so close to throwing on color!

 

[Ibonibo]

So what happened in the last days

One word : sanding.

But let's start with the hiccups:

Sanded a bit through, probably because of the repair after the rust removal. There was a little cavity, I sanded to get it out, and sanded a few passes too much

Then here, the only spot with not enough coverage. It's a place that is rarely exposed, but still

That's it for the hiccups...
Today I ordered a rattlecan of 2k black filler. 10 bucks. Way more expensive than in big cans, but those I can trash after opening them, so....

I also found 2K Epoxy in a can So for the screws I can make the exact same layering as for the rest, without making a big work load

Car , visible parts, are done with 600 grid. No balck dots left. None (well give me a margin of 2% )

Half of the car (passanger side) is done with 800 grid. So done done.

Leaves the edges and the non visible parts

edges

I need to see how I tackle these. 800 grid hand, no block? 3M pads ?

Drool

Both fenders done with 600

2 Bumpers done with 600

getting closer and closer

Hope to have finished soon as sanding really starts getting on my nerves and back

👍 Love the finish though

leaves the trunk (which is done at 40%) and the small stuff and a few plastics

 

[Ibonibo]

Ohh man the trunk lid... oh man... frustration pure....

As it is hang up and slightly tilted, sanding was not as easy which made me a bit choleric, but worse than that, I had painter juice as I call it all over me. Was so glad when I was done.

That was yesterday...

In the evening while watching a bit of TV, da rod shop was one....

Dude will be coughing blood if he continues without a mask.... at least it was a good painter gun (SATA)

Today I attacked the last batch

I still have around 4 small pieces to sand at 600. But that's for an hour of work. Then,... no not everything is sanded....

It's so much....

Still have to do a repass at 800, but that goes fairly quick.
While I do the 800grid pass I will also do the edges.

Then all that is left is the non visible parts.

attacked also the "non visible" or less important parts....

But just started.

While doing so. I asked myself. How am I gonna do the hood on both sides???

The base is no problem. Inner, close, outer. But then clear on it, how to reopen the hood without touching the base...

i guess I could use the threads of the screws to touch, but it will be delicate. Also need to tighten the cover better as to not let the plastic touch the base while closed....



Also another question for the almighty mentor...

As I have two different colours. 2 step painting is the best choice? Doing it on 2 days?
First Taped off the "will-be-blue-stuff" then I would do the accents in black. CC it. Dry for 12 hours (over night)

Tape them off, or put them in another room, and then the blue and CC ?

Only route and or best route to go?


But yeah, will be finished with sanding this week. Finally. Took 2 darn weeks to get there.

This weekend will be the first where I willl go slow, but only because it is fathers day For you dad

But that leaves me enough time to get the room tidy and clean.

 

[motortrend]

Why put clear on the underside of the hood? I think most cars have that part without clear. My car has the whole engine bay in base matte blue, just like parts of the trunk and the fender underside.

 

[Ibonibo]

Why put clear on the underside of the hood? I think most cars have that part without clear. My car has the whole engine bay in base matte blue, just like parts of the trunk and the fender underside.

Ohh BMW started early with the savings

Audi does the same now. But the S3 actually was clear coated allaround factory wise.

Back in the days, car had around 300um of paint on it. When they switched to waterbased, they taught if we apply 1/2 we save 50%. Now cars are delivered with a lot less um of paint. It is enough, but it's just for saving money.

And Clear I have more than enough to put it allaround the car, even going to clearcoat the innerside of the fenders. Will be awesomely protected

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Ohh man the trunk lid... oh man... frustration pure....

As it is hang up and slightly tilted, sanding was not as easy which made me a bit choleric, but worse than that, I had painter juice as I call it all over me. Was so glad when I was done.

That was yesterday...

In the evening while watching a bit of TV, da rod shop was one....

Dude will be coughing blood if he continues without a mask.... at least it was a good painter gun (SATA)

Today I attacked the last batch

I still have around 4 small pieces to sand at 600. But that's for an hour of work. Then,... no not everything is sanded....

It's so much....

Still have to do a repass at 800, but that goes fairly quick.
While I do the 800grid pass I will also do the edges.

Then all that is left is the non visible parts.

attacked also the "non visible" or less important parts....

But just started.

While doing so. I asked myself. How am I gonna do the hood on both sides???

The base is no problem. Inner, close, outer. But then clear on it, how to reopen the hood without touching the base...

i guess I could use the threads of the screws to touch, but it will be delicate. Also need to tighten the cover better as to not let the plastic touch the base while closed....



Also another question for the almighty mentor...

As I have two different colours. 2 step painting is the best choice? Doing it on 2 days?
First Taped off the "will-be-blue-stuff" then I would do the accents in black. CC it. Dry for 12 hours (over night)

Tape them off, or put them in another room, and then the blue and CC ?

Only route and or best route to go?


But yeah, will be finished with sanding this week. Finally. Took 2 darn weeks to get there.

This weekend will be the first where I willl go slow, but only because it is fathers day For you dad

But that leaves me enough time to get the room tidy and clean.

Hood
To raise and lower the hood while painting, I would put a bolt into the location where the hood latch goes. You could even get creative and put some sort of handle or or rod on the bolt to help raise and lower it easier. Might even have to get creative with the prop rod for the hood. Or put vice grips onto a bolt for the hood latch. You don't want it to shut all the way or it will touch the plastic. Its another example where you will figure out something creative to make it work.

2 color process
That entire process will be up to you. Whatever you have the time for and whatever you feel the most comfortable doing. You don't want to rush, so establish your plan of attack before you start painting. You don't want to overwhelm yourself with too many processes in 1 day. So that will be the decision for you to make. As you already realize, it will take more time than you think. So add much more time for that process so you are prepared.

Clear coat
When it comes to the clear coat, I know you plan to sand between clear coats. I would spray a minimum 3 coats of clear - wet sand starting with 1,500 and be VERY careful. Then spray another minimum of 3-4 more clear coats. You simply cant have too many clear coats. The dry time between clear coats is not long at all so really, just put as many on as you can handle. The more clear coats you have, the more flexibility you will have in terms of protection, shine, sanding, and buffing.

Why put clear on the underside of the hood? I think most cars have that part without clear. My car has the whole engine bay in base matte blue, just like parts of the trunk and the fender underside.

Clear is much easier to clean up and maintain and looks WAY better as a finished product. Especially after all the work he has put into this car. Clearing the under side of hood is a must to complete the final details of this paint job.

 

[Ibonibo]

Okay other car.... GTR

I'm thinking of scraping it....

It needs too much money to make it into something special. With that money.... it just ideas for the moment...

But even if I do the paint, I save a few thousands, it still needs professional restoration of the body... Costs....

Then I need oil pump, ecu , fuel system, intakes, exaust, suspension,.... more costs.

Then homologation costs a hell lot....

For that money that goes into this one, it buys me probably a better built GTR.... with already EU papers ready

Just sent the questions to my tuner, looking what he thinks....

Depending on what I can get out of mine, money wise,. it's probably the best decision....

He is selling his 34GTR... if it hasn't already been sold....

I just can't bring myself into pouring that sum of money into mine.... it would take too much to take it to a level of acceptance... for that money....



We see what he answers. If he makes me a good price for his.. I might be tempted and go way over budget....

I'll be eating spagettis for years

 

[motortrend]

Get the R34, feel the Gran Turismo (and spaghetti) flow through your veins!

 

[Ibonibo]

Yeah... I hope he hasn't sold it as it is one solid car, I already sat in it, and know it is in impeccable condition

Sitting at Nissan Heritage Museum at the moment

Tons of Nismo parts.

 

[motortrend]

Looks very clean, love the wheels! Even though I prefer bayside blue and midnight purple, yellow and black R34s look really nice to me because they remind me of the xmods RC cars.

 

[Ibonibo]

^Yeah now need only to sell one of my kidneys

He got quickly in touch with me, he's looking into it, but he is really busy at the moment. Building up two R35 with HKS kits.
But no word about the R34 sold

Still a lot of "if" and "maybe's" though. It depends a bit of what I get back for my R33. If he finds someone who is interested in it as a whole or for spare parts....

And either way, it's for after the winter for sure.

But we will get there. Good things need time

Now a bit of S3 updating

Edges

Done finally, thnak god

Now as said, some parts are sanded through the filler on the epoxy....

Soooo......

As said ordered a can of 2k filler (funny enough, nobody in my country thinks this even exists : "but it hardens in the can".... shows the expertise of pro shops here )

And redid the whole rear spoiler

as it had some tints (comes from not sanding it perfect flat on the other layers)

It was just enough. Could do 2-3 coats with the can before it emptied. Lucky


Tomorrow I resand those spots. Then intese cleaning. And then finally colouring

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

The R34 is by far my favorite Skyline and that one is stunning. So if you decide to get it, I will be so jealous.

Nice to hear you are through your final cut with the sand paper. Your back and body will be so happy to be able to finally relax and heal. Its brutal work on the body. In fact the last few cars I did bodywork on actually were some of the contributing factors to slipping a disk in my back. So hopefully you will heal properly with no problems. Cant wait to see the next update because the next major update is base and clear. Two of THE most exciting moments in this entire process. Make sure you get videos and LOTS of pictures. Especially after you spray the clear coat.

 

[Ibonibo]

Will do.

I am eager myself to see where the whole GTR story will get me in the end. We'll see...

Sadly today couldn't work on the car. We had some big storms. Fuses blew, and when I noticed it after work, it was too late as the fuses are in another bulding that was closed.

Tomorrow. But either way, humidity of 70% here at the moment, lots of rain, not the best climate for paint to cure. The longer it needs to cure, the more dust can attach....

Crossing fingers for some sunshine

 

[Ibonibo]

Sooo,

parts that were refilled are sanded.

Found out why the compressor wasn't capable of dialing down when I had problems with it. Adjusement screw snaped in half

My wayaround was to turn the whole pressure knob (black part) instead of the screw
But fine adj. was not possible and going below 3 bar made the black part pop off due to pressure

Fixed now with a new one, yeah screw alone isn't orderable, so whole pressure valve

Cleaning, cleaning real good

Blasted a few times with compressed air at 120psi
Broomed it a few times
Vaccumed it a few times

Painting does produce a lot of dirt

Now weather is finally changing to better, dryer. It rained for a whole week

Tomorrow painting the black stuff

 

[Ibonibo]

Well guys,

I messed it up



I tried to dial in the pistol with gun cleaner (transparent). I taught it was good, gave a few squirts with the paint. Still taught it was good.

It wasn't. Way too much base applies. Way too much
Instead of a 15 min cure time, it was over an hour....
And too many runs in, well 1 run, but it did the "waves" forms....

Found out that the knob on the bottom is better to dial in the flow than the spring one on the back, the other pistol didn't had the bottom one, taught it was just for air pressure.... Learning by doing

I stopped there, no need to apply a second coat, hoping for it to go away. And there are some sratches in that shined through....

@CAMAROBOY69 how to proceed from here on? Do I need to sand the whole base off or is just sanding it on enough ??

It could have been such a good day, and it even started to rain Not acccurate for 24hours

Hope tomorrow the parts are redone for a respray, so that tuesday I can redo them, this time correctly....

 

[motortrend]

Those things happen, just like you got to be careful later on with the mix of hardener on the clear. I'm not sure what is best to do now but I'm sure @CAMAROBOY69 or someone else with more experience will help

 

[Ibonibo]

^Yeah better now. I'm not fed up about it...

That's the reason why I started with the black, it's a small batch. And in case what happend now, less to redo than if I started with the blue... It's the pratice batch

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Just finished reading the update.

Before you sprayed your parts did you spray a test "practice" area of the plastic like I mentioned? Before you start spraying the base you really want to test it on an area of the plastic to see how it will spray.

As you are spraying it should come out very fine and light. Your first coat should basically look like a VERY light layer and will hardly cover at all. You do not want to cover everything in 1 or 2 passes. It should take 3-4 VERY light coats with the base. The lighter the coats, the quicker they will dry and will prevent running or orange peel. You really need to take your time with the base and spray as light as possible. As you spray each light layer, it will get darker and darker. Sounds like you were trying to get most of the area covered in a couple coats. Really needs to be very very light multiple coats.

You can also stand further back with the gun. Maybe you were a little too close?? If you cant get the gun dialed in perfect, stand back a little further. Hopefully you can get the gun or compressor dialed in with some more experimenting. I usually had my compressor around 30-45 psi. Then fine tuned it with the gun.

Any places that are too thick, have orange peel, or runs, will have to be sanded and restarted. You don't have to sand it down 100% to the primer, but you will need to remove most of the paint to get the runs, orange peel, or any imperfections out. Same with the scratches you noticed, those areas will have to be sanded and repaired.

Keep in mind, whatever you see after the base coat is sprayed, is exactly what everyone will see. That will not magically get repaired when you spray on the clear coat. So any imperfections you see after spraying the base, need to be fixed.

 

[Ibonibo]

Well took the afternoon off, as I expected the sanding to take a massive amount of time.

Guess not. As it is waterbased paint, wet sanding, rather became scrubbin the paint off. Colour is off after 2 hours.

Back on the filler 👍

I will now go over it with the 3m pads, hopefully taking every last scratch out.

@CAMAROBOY69 I did "test" on the Dexter Plastics. THose are not good for practicing, I taught it was good, it wasn't.

I will go down the route of "the minimum of flow" to come out of the gun (while still getting a nice mist)

I guess it was me way too eager to paint, and taking on a new gun. Going from High pressure gun, to low pressure is a difference.

What pressure should I use for the clear? a Bit more than on the waterbased paint? 45psi (3bar), which is the max for the low pressure gun ?

The good part about this is even the small batch now will not have scratches in it. Would it have worked yesterday, I would have had quite a few scratches in it....


Ohh and the colour is really nice. Even if it's just for the accents of the car, Ruby black is an amaziong colour. Hoping my blue choice is equally as awesome

Tomorrow stands as prediced, repaint the black batch. Gives me time today to prepare everything to awesomeness.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

I guess I should have specified about the test plastic. Did you try the test plastic on a VERTICAL surface? Basically have it hanging. That is the best way to test because you can watch to see if base will run down the plastic. Do not "test" it on a horizontal surface. You should be able to spray the vertical test plastic and know in a couple minutes if it will run. If it runs on the plastic, it will run on the car. Sorry I did not specify that.