R32 GTR bare shell rebuild / restoration

[Robzilla32]

On 15/04/2019 at 9:43 PM, Tenny said:

Yeah definitely. I've never restored a car before and never tackled sound deadening before either. I'm only 25 so learning a lot as well. 

Just be careful not to hit it too hard and dint the floor

Sorry to hijack your thread  @Tenny  but I finally had some time so took the plunge and started removing the sound deadening in my R32. I used dry ice only. A couple of observations:

Initially I was being conservative but it was obvious after a short period of time not to skimp. If the covering isn't complete and thick enough, it won't cool rapidly.

Be patient. Not one of my traits but definitely required. Wait until you hear lots of cracks. I didn't need to hit it very often.

Cover larger areas if possible. It seems that the more you get to contract and freeze simultaneously the easier it is to remove. Makes sense I guess.

So what do people do next? I now see a lot of bare metal that I was intending on covering with sound deadening. Do people usually paint or apply a waterproof sealant? I am limited in terms of space, ventilation and ability so the simpler the better but that raw looking metal makes me nervous.

Thanks

Rob

[Tenny]

15 hours ago, Robzilla32 said:

 

So what do people do next? I now see a lot of bare metal that I was intending on covering with sound deadening. Do people usually paint or apply a waterproof sealant? I am limited in terms of space, ventilation and ability so the simpler the better but that raw looking metal makes me nervous.

If you take a look at the LX Torana GTR thread, the owner has used a silver KBS on the inside of the shell which will then have sound deadener put on top.

At this stage im either thinking about repainting the interior the body colour or doing the KBS sealer. I'm unsure with the KBS whether it needs a bare metal to adhere to, or you could just scuff up the body with a scotch brite pad etc.

[Tenny]

hey all, just about ready to send the car off to blasting / primer etc but I need a passenger front guard to complete the body panel puzzle. 

If anyone has one that would be fantastic thanks!

[Tenny]

Been quite busy the last few months getting situated after purchasing my first home, so progress on the GTR has been slow.

With that being said, I dropped both 32s off to a fab shop to get some work done on the chassis rails of the GTR.

Is painful to post these photos but the work needed to be done! Unfortunately the gtr rails had the usual careless jacking damage etc that is common on 32s.

Photo dump below.

 

 

[Tenny]

Thankfully GTST's share the same rail sections and the red ones were in pretty good shape comparatively.

Rather than scrap the shell and waste good body sections we cut the rails out to use to repair the GTR. 

Everything has been taken back to bare metal with the replacement sections stitched in. Rust kill was extensively used and then primer sprayed on to combat rust for the time being.

As the shell will be going on a rotiserrie in the near future for blasting, the whole underside will be back to bare metal, cleaned up more, treated and then coated in a deadener / liner.

[Tenny]

Quite happy with the new state of the rails, however they obviously arent absolutely perfect. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a 32 that does these days.

I also managed to swap the front end out of the gtst (rack, xmember, etc) for a GTR front reo that is pretty much perfect condition.

Got my eye on a few air compressors at the moment which i will eventually use for my home sand blast / powdercoating setup.

 

[Shoota_77]

Wow, those rails were toast!  I’ve seen some bad ones but that takes the cake!  Looks heaps better after replacement. 
Look forward to seeing this all come together.

No rush, mine has been over 7 years!

[Tenny]

Back home now ready to get into stripping the bay etc for blasting. 

The 33 is also my new drift car in the build. barra swap in progress but you know how it is with money.

[Aus30R]

Great updates mate!

[Tenny]

Stumbled across a pair of genuine NISMO N1 rear pods...from the 3 piece set.

I'm assuming there was only ever 560 sets of these skirts made for the Nismo GTR's, can anyone confirm this?

I have confirmed that it is possible to cut down the length of the stock middle section of the factory skirts to fit the nismo rear pods, and the front pod is the same regardless, so I should be able to piece together the 3 piece skirts fairly easily. This is a score and a half

[Duncan]

Actually Nismo GTRs and N1 spec were different things, the Nismo cars had cosmetic mods only and were reasonably common in the earlier production years.  N1 spec was a different story and was different by year depending on Vspec 1 or Vspec 2 base, they also had cosmetic changes but also larger, steel wheel turbos and larger brakes (brembo) on vspec 2.

Still, these days everything is getting hard to find, so good score.

[Tenny]

2 hours ago, Duncan said:

Actually Nismo GTRs and N1 spec were different things, the Nismo cars had cosmetic mods only and were reasonably common in the earlier production years.  N1 spec was a different story and was different by year depending on Vspec 1 or Vspec 2 base, they also had cosmetic changes but also larger, steel wheel turbos and larger brakes (brembo) on vspec 2.

Still, these days everything is getting hard to find, so good score.

Yeah true, my bad. Still cheerin!

[MoMnDadGTR]

 I always wondered how or if that could even be done, the rails look awesome. mine aren't awful but definitely bug like that. anyways cheers the whole build is very imformative.

[MoMnDadGTR]

could you just cut the dinted area out and have a piece fabbed up to fit in and work away at it until it looks flush and clean, instead of doing the whole rails? my cars in pretty good shape not ready to install a whole new rail lol from another car but would like to fix the dinted area up.arent as bad as your old ones

[Tenny]

On 3/16/2020 at 9:02 AM, MoMnDadGTR said:

could you just cut the dinted area out and have a piece fabbed up to fit in and work away at it until it looks flush and clean, instead of doing the whole rails? my cars in pretty good shape not ready to install a whole new rail lol from another car but would like to fix the dinted area up.arent as bad as your old ones

You would probably be better off using a slide hammer and pulling the dint out. Most people do that, unfortunately mine were too far gone. 

[MoMnDadGTR]

you are the man! thanks for the advice. not to be a lazy azz im gunna research the slide hammer technique but any pointers or advice when I do this? do I heat the rail up when doing it etc.  im just trying to figure out  how I would connect the slide hammer to the rail and assume I am hammering straight south toward the ground...

[MoMnDadGTR]

I seen a couple smart guys on this site drilling a couple holes attaching the slide hammer that way. I think I just gotta be a man and get under there and get at it! seeing how you repaired it gives me insipiration to do a good job hopefully look stock again. I will continue following your build m8.

[Tenny]

You can get pullers that you spot weld on then pull down on but not sure if they would have enough leverage. Slide hammer you might need to drill a hole in the metal. Not too familiar with the methods sorry.

[MoMnDadGTR]

yeah mate worked like a charm. I only have done one so far out of the 4 but looks good. definitely not to caliber of yours but I can deal with it. thanks again I feel pretty happy I was able to do this. Thread gave me some confidence to try. see if I can get a pic for yeah shop is quite dark. I did end up having to weld it on and definitely had the tourque. once the rail was heated up proper it went easy.

[MoMnDadGTR]

Again far from perfect but will work for this guy! Thanks again