Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Got bored with nothing to do today so I decided to do some polishing work to "further" dress up that engine bay :) Can never have enough bling under there to show the cops ~

Anyways, decided to finish off the half hearted job I did on the BOV pipe so I removed it and got to work... took the following steps:

1) Removed all the unsightly cast marks that do nothing but make it look ugly

2) Removed any unecessary chunks of metal used for mounting (only the ones not used)

3) Prepped the whole pipe's surface for polishing

4) Polished :happy:

5) Got very dirty :no::);)

Anyways, whole process took about 3 hours and the result came up really good :) Almost looks like a custom piece of metal was fabricated. I only did the bits that you can see from opening the bonnet and walking around it; didn't bother with the underneath side.

Here are some pics; comparision with the stock un-polished pipe that I had lying around the shop:

post-19974-1154261680.jpgpost-19974-1154261720.jpgpost-19974-1154261706.jpgpost-19974-1154261729.jpg

But then I got even more bored and decided to polish the standard BOV and fit that in atmo setup; getting sick of the flutter sound :) This is what I came up with...

post-19974-1154261921.jpgpost-19974-1154261930.jpgpost-19974-1154261939.jpg

Fitted it and hoped for the best... didn't really like the sound so I took it off and drilled 4 whistle holes into the chamber pipe... re-fitted and went for another drive; perfect!!! Nice and subtle pssshhhtt; can hardly hear it and with a bit of throttle control; can actually have it on/off :P

Anyways; just thought I'd tell my story for the day...

If anyone wants more info; just PM me :)

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/128210-got-bored-did-some-polishing/
Share on other sites

  • Replies 48
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Thanks mate... actually was my second polishing job of the day; first one was for one of our customers... he did it so it looked like a continuation of his FMIC pipe into the throttle body instead of looking real ugly from the top half upwards.

Started off using an angle grinder to get rid of any of the stuff I didn't want on the pipe; then used various types of discs to get it all smooth and ready for polishing.

Polishing was done on a bench grinder with different types of wheels and compounds... finished it off with a kerosene bath to remove any polish left (not good for engine) and voila!

Nice... that would've taken ages!!!

haha yer its not a quick process, ive had soo many mates come and see it and say oh ill do my rocker covers only to see them give up half way through and leave em dull as hell. should see how damn black my face and arms are after spending hours in front of the buffer.

worst part is they are spotless until u install them and then touch them with oil/greasy hands then it marks em and they require a rebuff :)

definately worth it in the end though, ive done, rocker covers, coil cover, alternator, intercooler, timing cover, intercooler piping, plenum, throttle bodies, throttle cable setup and anything else thats made of ally in the engine bay :)

thats actually my old cars engine bay its now got a single turbo so i had to put all those twin turbo pipes away for good after all that effort. those intake pipes are hpc coated not polished thats why they aint shiny.

so u gonna do your rocker covers and stuff now or u think its too much stuffing around???

Edited by CruiseLiner

who that looks great... i should polish tha standard one i got before i put it in the enginebay so it goes with everything else...

a front facing plenum looks awesome too. makes the engine bay look way cleaner without intercooler piping snaking its way everywhere...

My rocker covers are already done... most of the metal in the engine bay is done actually; only have the intake plenum and throttle body to be done and that's about all...

I've even going to the extent of polishing up all the brass bits (all the brackets etc) to make it all match up and shiny!

You are right, it does take ages - I guess we're lucky because we have all the tools etc from doing it as part of the business.

Did you use all different compounds to get that sort of a finish? I find that the compounds reduce the time involved by heaps...

Question: are your turbo comp covers all polished too :)

and how did you go about removing those cast marks or chuncks?

Guess if youre going too that much trouble to make it all nice and shiny wouldnt it be better while its in bits too get them anodised (assuming theyre an aluminium/aluminium alloy?) and keep corrosion off.

Never have too paint or polish them again either!

My rocker covers are already done... most of the metal in the engine bay is done actually; only have the intake plenum and throttle body to be done and that's about all...

I've even going to the extent of polishing up all the brass bits (all the brackets etc) to make it all match up and shiny!

You are right, it does take ages - I guess we're lucky because we have all the tools etc from doing it as part of the business.

Did you use all different compounds to get that sort of a finish? I find that the compounds reduce the time involved by heaps...

Question: are your turbo comp covers all polished too :)

and how did you go about removing those cast marks or chuncks?

sounds like u done most of it then :) no my turbo comp cover isnt done (wasnt done on the low mount twins either), my hks turbo is a funny rough finish and it says hks t04z on the front and polishing around letters is a pain and half done jobs look worse than not doing it at all.

this is the new engine bay (sorry the photo was taken with shockin light so its hard to see)

IMG_1516.jpg

i remove the rough casting marks with a round flapper sanding wheels on the drill, and sometimes a grinder with a flat sanding disk if its really rough. then use 240 grit sand paper, then 400 grit, then 600, and then 1200, then onto a hard buffing wheel, then a medium buffing wheel and then the polishing wheel (always using same compound on every step, white stuff, unsure of the name).

cheers

The anodized look doesn't really do it for me; too "dull" IMO. Another factor is that it costs too much to do.

Keeping the parts polished/shiny is easy - once every month just wipe everything down with some kerosene and it's like new!

You should look into the different compounds available for polishing wheels; you'll find it'll cut the times down and give you a better finish.

Also; since you're polishing it on the grinder - there's not really much need for the sand paper; it'll all get smooth once it's polished.

But I like your work; it's very very nice!

I'll take some photos of my engine bay and I'll post it up too :)

You should look into the different compounds available for polishing wheels; you'll find it'll cut the times down and give you a better finish.

Also; since you're polishing it on the grinder - there's not really much need for the sand paper; it'll all get smooth once it's polished.

But I like your work; it's very very nice!

I'll take some photos of my engine bay and I'll post it up too :)

can u get the names of the different types u use for different stages? ill be doing my other rb26/30 engine in the near future so any tips to shortcut things is a bonus :)

CruiseLiner: I'll talk to my business partner who purchases all our polishing supplies. I'll PM you if he tells me; he's pretty anal about the stuff - I've just picked it up from watching him do it all the time.

Munna1: Totally agree :)

Here are some really crap photos of some work we did for a R32GTR just before the customer sold it... I think the goal was to increase the "value" of the car somewhat, and/or make it so it's that bit more attractive?

post-19974-1154300678.jpg

post-19974-1154300748.jpg

post-19974-1154300781.jpg

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I did end up getting it sorted, as GTSBoy said, there was a corroded connection and wire that needed to be replaced. I ended up taking out the light assembly, giving everything a good clean and re-soldered the old joints, and it came out good.
    • Wow, thanks for your help guys 🙏. I really appreciate it. Thanks @Rezz, if i fail finding any new or used, full or partial set of original Stage carpets i will come back to you for sure 😉 Explenation is right there, i just missed it 🤦‍♂️. Thanks for pointing out. @soviet_merlin in the meantime, I received a reply from nengun, and i quote: "Thanks for your message and interest in Nengun. KG4900 is for the full set of floor mats, while KG4911 is only the Driver's Floor Mat. FR, RH means Front Right Hand Side. All the Full Set options are now discontinued. However, the Driver's Floor Mat options are still available according to the latest information available to us. We do not know what the differences would be, but if you only want the one mat, we can certainly see what we can find out for you". Interesting. It seems they still have some "new old stock" that Duncan mentioned 🤔. I wonder if they can provide any photos......And i also just realized that amayama have G4900 sets. I'm tempted too. 
    • Any update on this one? did you manage to get it fixed?    i'm having the same issue with my r34 and i believe its to do with the smart entry (keyless) control module but cant be sure without forking out to get a replacement  
    • So this being my first contribution to the SAU forums, I'd like to present and show how I had to solve probably one of the most annoying fixes on any car I've owned: replacing a speedometer (or "speedo") sensor on my newly acquired Series 1 Stagea 260RS Autech Version. I'm simply documenting how I went about to fix this issue, and as I understand it is relatively rare to happen to this generation of cars, it is a gigantic PITA so I hope this helps serve as reference to anyone else who may encounter this issue. NOTE: Although I say this is meant for the 260RS, because the gearbox/drivetrain is shared with the R33 GTR with the 5-speed manual, the application should be exactly the same. Background So after driving my new-to-me Stagea for about 1500km, one night while driving home the speedometer and odometer suddenly stopped working. No clunking noise, no indication something was broken, the speedometer would just stop reading anything and the odometer stopped going up. This is a huge worry for me, because my car is relatively low mileage (only 45k km when purchased) so although I plan to own the car for a long time, a mismatched odometer reading would be hugely detrimental to resale should the day come to sell the car. Thankfully this only occurred a mile or two from home so it wasn't extremely significant. Also, the OCD part of me would be extremely irked if the numbers that showed on my dash doesn't match the actual ageing of the car. Diagnosing I had been in communication with the well renown GTR shop in the USA, U.P.garage up near University Point in Washington state. After some back and forth they said it could be one of two things: 1) The speedometer sensor that goes into the transfer case is broken 2) The actual cluster has a component that went kaput. They said this is common in older Nissan gauge clusters and that would indicate a rebuild is necessary. As I tried to figure out if it was problem #1, I resolved problem #2 by sending my cluster over to Relentless Motorsports in Dallas, TX, whom is local to me and does cluster and ECU rebuilds. He is a one man operation who meticulously replaces every chip, resistor, capacitor, and electronic component on the PCB's on a wide variety of classic and modern cars. His specialty is Lexus and Toyota, but he came highly recommended by Erik of U.P.garage since he does the rebuilds for them on GTR clusters.  For those that don't know, on R32 and R33 GTR gearboxes, the speedometer sensor is mounted in the transfer case and is purely an analog mini "generator" (opposite of an alternator essentially). Based on the speed the sensor spins it generates an AC sine wave voltage up to 5V, and sends that via two wires up to the cluster which then interprets it via the speedometer dial. The signal does NOT go to the ECU first, the wiring goes to the cluster first then the ECU after (or so I'm told).  Problems/Roadblocks I first removed the part from the car on the underside of the transfer case (drain your transfer case fluid/ATF first, guess who found out that the hard way?), and noted the transfer case fluid was EXTREMELY black, most likely never changed on my car. When attempting to turn the gears it felt extremely gritty, as if something was binding the shaft from rotating properly. I got absolutely no voltage reading out of the sensor no matter how fast I turned the shaft. After having to reflow the solder on my AFM sensors based on another SAU guide here, I attempted to disassemble the silicone seal on the back of the sensor to see what happened inside the sensor; turns out, it basically disintegrated itself. Wonderful. Not only had the electrical components destroyed themselves, the magnetic portion on what I thought was on the shaft also chipped and was broken. Solution So solution: find a spare part right? Wrong. Nissan has long discontinued the proper sensor part number 32702-21U19, and it is no longer obtainable either through Nissan NSA or Nissan Japan. I was SOL without proper speed or mileage readings unless I figured out a way to replace this sensor. After tons of Googling and searching on SAU, I found that there IS however a sensor that looks almost exactly like the R33/260RS one: a sensor meant for the R33/R34 GTT and GTS-T with the 5 speed manual. The part number was 25010-21U00, and the body, plug, and shaft all looked exactly the same. The gear was different at the end, but knowing the sensor's gear is held on with a circlip, I figured I could just order the part and swap the gears. Cue me ordering a new part from JustJap down in Kirrawee, NSW, then waiting almost 3 weeks for shipping and customs clearing. The part finally arrives and what did I find? The freaking shaft lengths don't match. $&%* I discussed with Erik how to proceed, and figuring that I basically destroyed the sensor trying to get the shaft out of the damaged sensor from my car. we deemed it too dangerous to try and attempt to swap shafts to the correct length. I had to find a local CNC machinist to help me cut and notch down the shaft. After tons of frantic calling on a Friday afternoon, I managed to get hold of someone and he said he'd be able to do it over half a week. I sent him photos and had him take measurements to match not only the correct length and notch fitment, but also a groove to machine out to hold the retentive circlip. And the end result? *chef's kiss* Perfect. Since I didn't have pliers with me when I picked up the items, I tested the old gear and circlip on. Perfect fit. After that it was simply swapping out the plug bracket to the new sensor, mount it on the transfer case, refill with ATF/Nissan Matic Fluid D, then test out function. Thankfully with the rebuilt cluster and the new sensor, both the speedometer and odometer and now working properly!   And there you have it. About 5-6 weeks of headaches wrapped up in a 15 minute photo essay. As I was told it is rare for sensors of this generation to die so dramatically, but you never know what could go wrong with a 25+ year old car. I HOPE that no one else has to go through this problem like I did, so with my take on a solution I hope it helps others who may encounter this issue in the future. For the TL;DR: 1) Sensor breaks. 2) Find a replacement GTT/GTS-T sensor. 3) Find a CNC machinist to have you cut it down to proper specs. 4) Reinstall then pray to the JDM gods.   Hope this guide/story helps anyone else encountering this problem!
    • So this being my first contribution to the SAU forums, I'd like to present and show how I had to solve probably one of the most annoying fixes on any car I've owned: replacing a speedometer (or "speedo") sensor on my newly acquired Series 1 Stagea 260RS Autech Version. I'm simply documenting how I went about to fix this issue, and as I understand it is relatively rare to happen to this generation of cars, it is a gigantic PITA so I hope this helps serve as reference to anyone else who may encounter this issue. NOTE: Although I say this is meant for the 260RS, because the gearbox/drivetrain is shared with the R33 GTR with the 5-speed manual, the application should be exactly the same. Background So after driving my new-to-me Stagea for about 1500km, one night while driving home the speedometer and odometer suddenly stopped working. No clunking noise, no indication something was broken, the speedometer would just stop reading anything and the odometer stopped going up. This is a huge worry for me, because my car is relatively low mileage (only 45k km when purchased) so although I plan to own the car for a long time, a mismatched odometer reading would be hugely detrimental to resale should the day come to sell the car. Thankfully this only occurred a mile or two from home so it wasn't extremely significant. Also, the OCD part of me would be extremely irked if the numbers that showed on my dash doesn't match the actual ageing of the car. Diagnosing I had been in communication with the well renown GTR shop in the USA, U.P.garage up near University Point in Washington state. After some back and forth they said it could be one of two things: 1) The speedometer sensor that goes into the transfer case is broken 2) The actual cluster has a component that went kaput. They said this is common in older Nissan gauge clusters and that would indicate a rebuild is necessary. As I tried to figure out if it was problem #1, I resolved problem #2 by sending my cluster over to Relentless Motorsports in Dallas, TX, whom is local to me and does cluster and ECU rebuilds. He is a one man operation who meticulously replaces every chip, resistor, capacitor, and electronic component on the PCB's on a wide variety of classic and modern cars. His specialty is Lexus and Toyota, but he came highly recommended by Erik of U.P.garage since he does the rebuilds for them on GTR clusters.  For those that don't know, on R32 and R33 GTR gearboxes, the speedometer sensor is mounted in the transfer case and is purely an analog mini "generator" (opposite of an alternator essentially). Based on the speed the sensor spins it generates an AC sine wave voltage up to 5V, and sends that via two wires up to the cluster which then interprets it via the speedometer dial. The signal does NOT go to the ECU first, the wiring goes to the cluster first then the ECU after (or so I'm told).  Problems/Roadblocks I first removed the part from the car on the underside of the transfer case (drain your transfer case fluid/ATF first, guess who found out that the hard way?), and noted the transfer case fluid was EXTREMELY black, most likely never changed on my car. When attempting to turn the gears it felt extremely gritty, as if shttps://imgur.com/6TQCG3xomething was binding the shaft from rotating properly. After having to reflow the solder on my AFM sensors based on another SAU guide here, I attempted to disassemble the silicone seal on the back of the sensor to see what happened inside the sensor; turns out, it basically disintegrated itself. Wonderful. Not only had the electrical components destroyed themselves, the magnetic portion on what I thought was on the shaft also chipped and was broken. Solution So solution: find a spare part right? Wrong. Nissan has long discontinued the proper sensor part number 32702-21U19, and it is no longer obtainable either through Nissan NSA or Nissan Japan. I was SOL without proper speed or mileage readings unless I figured out a way to replace this sensor. After tons of Googling and searching on SAU, I found that there IS however a sensor that looks almost exactly like the R33/260RS one: a sensor meant for the R33/R34 GTT and GTS-T with the 5 speed manual. The part number was 25010-21U00, and the body, plug, and shaft all looked exactly the same. The gear was different at the end, but knowing the sensor's gear is held on with a circlip, I figured I could just order the part and swap the gears. Cue me ordering a new part from JustJap down in Kirrawee, NSW, then waiting almost 3 weeks for shipping and customs clearing. The part finally arrives and what did I find? The freaking shaft lengths don't match. $&%* I discussed with Erik how to proceed, and figuring that I basically destroyed the sensor trying to get the shaft out of the damaged sensor from my car. we deemed it too dangerous to try and attempt to swap shafts to the correct length. I had to find a local CNC machinist to help me cut and notch down the shaft. After tons of frantic calling on a Friday afternoon, I managed to get hold of someone and he said he'd be able to do it over half a week. I sent him photos and had him take measurements to match not only the correct length and notch fitment, but also a groove to machine out to hold the retentive circlip. And the end result? *chef's kiss* Perfect. Since I didn't have pliers with me when I picked up the items, I tested the old gear and circlip on. Perfect fit. After that it was simply swapping out the plug bracket to the new sensor, mount it on the transfer case, refill with ATF/Nissan Matic Fluid D, then test out function. Thankfully with the rebuilt cluster and the new sensor, both the speedometer and odometer and now working properly!   And there you have it. About 5-6 weeks of headaches wrapped up in a 15 minute photo essay. As I was told it is rare for sensors of this generation to die so dramatically, but you never know what could go wrong with a 25+ year old car. I HOPE that no one else has to go through this problem like I did, so with my take on a solution I hope it helps others who may encounter this issue in the future. For the TL;DR: 1) Sensor breaks. 2) Find a replacement GTT/GTS-T sensor. 3) Find a CNC machinist to have you cut it down to proper specs. 4) Reinstall then pray to the JDM gods.   Hope this guide/story helps anyone else encountering this problem!
×
×
  • Create New...