Stagea R34 Conversion
Stagea R34 Conversion
Ok so some of you have seen this car in the flesh at Ace Cafe and the RSCS
so thought i better put the build thread up lol, this will show why it has taken so bloomin long lol
So i started the conversion on thursday morning so here are the pics
in the morning
Kit positioned
Headlights cut into place
Test bolt up
Semi finished front end etc
I can confirm that you can make the factory bonnet catch work you need to drag forward about 2 inches i used stud and nuts to do this however the bonnet catch is quite a stiff ****** so needs to be braced from below or it wont shut and latch
also factory hinges with r34 tops dont work for the masa bonnet, it sits far to low and has to be spaced (temporarily) 13 x m8 washers per side to even come close plus the actualt hinge is to far over and has also been spaced to even come close to the mounting holes on the bonnet........
so few more pics now
As you can see the bonnet still doesnt line up right i think this is due to the fact there are to many variables on the bonnet line up so need to solve this before i can get the lines right.
thought this wont stop me getting the car Wrapped ASAP
alll thats left now is the rear Splitter to fit but this requires some modification and it was raining lol
so turned out i was missing a headlight bracket so had to order the drivers side one of these
whilst i was at it i got the GTR bonnet latch re-locator and GTR hinges i didndnt fancy cutting them apart so i for now have made wood spacers namely due to the fact i was dong this an hour from my metal working facilitys and i want to get the exact height it needs to be so far sitting at 35mm height change whilst still using the R34 GTR hinges complete
so with the car now lined up properly we could see the differences in the dimensions of the kit and i wasn't happy so out came the fibreglass and filler etc and here we go
gap before
fiber glass added
Filler added
so with the kit now lined up propperly time to get on with the prep to paint
we did flat it all down etc and started with the filler primer
Unfortunatly there had been some touch up work done and the paint even though flatted reacted badly with the primer so had to be sanded down again and treated with barcoat
to plat it safe i did the whole front of the car in it
even inside the shuts
New coat of primer applied
No reaction so carried on
so now waititng for that to fully arden for a few days before any base coat is applied but here is the workshop/ Spray shop
Ok so yesterday I had the day off work so after a early start to get the last few bits do e it was time to paint started with the skirts
After a few coats we left those to harden and after about 30min in the polly tunnel it was time for the bumper
Again few coats later and lunch time for the wings
We deliberately sprayed onto the bonnet to get a thick coat on the edges as we're expecting as with most cars that to be the points that could get damaged easy
So...
Also did the fuel filler car and the bump strips of the new wings
Will do another few overall coats this morning then start with the lacquer depending on how quick it all goes off will depend on if it drives away this Sunday or not......
Stay tuned lol
Ok so end of another day which started off not do well there had been a reaction over night to something we suspect a mixture of 2thinners maybe the culprit so had to sand the wing back again few more costs then again untill no reaction was left didn't fancy going all the way back to Barcoat as thats lots of work etc
So once this was do e we carried on few more dustings on the rest of the car then a light rub down and lacquer time now this stuff goes off quick dependant on mixture levels do we had what we thought was a 25min window per load turned out due to mixture and heat that it was a 10- 15 min window lol
So after 4 passes this is the state
ok so thats the second weekend over with an still its not on the road
but we do have significant progress
there was a few runs so we gave everything a quick rub down and then re lacquered
so the moment you have been waiting for well i hope you have anyway lol
The body work unfortunately has orange peel i think to do with a mixture of things mainly the heat it got to in the room during the spraying rather than after where you bake it on so this means i have to flat the orrange peel down to get my glass finish i want so that's next weekend sorted
here is the comparison
what are your views anyone had orange peel from spaying before etc.....
Ok so I must be mad but spent the day outside in the rain with the wet and dry paper sanding the orange peel out so we now look like this
This is how it did look
If the rain will do ne tomorrow I will hit the car with the g220 cutting compound then polish it ready for the ace cafe next week......
Well we have success but was without its moments, if anyone attempts painting the car again dont try and use the Meguiers G220 to get out the Orrange peel or even the aftermareth of using 1000 - 2000 gritt paper as its not man enough. i found this the hard way
so had to go and buy a new Sander/polisher but once i did wow what a difference cut through the scratches alot easier and brought the car up to a nice shine
so here is the finished article prior to leaving the Booth today
So i drove it back to the ranch and gave it some love so after a clean and a hit with Poor boys Black Hole we look like this
So here we go this was the paint match on saturday
So i tried to polish but no such luck due to being the wrong paint on the rest of the car so on sunday afternoon i started masking up and monday morning / Lunchtime it got bar-coated
sanded the high spots of then hit it with colour
So after 3 and a bit coats of paint
It was time to leave it over night the roof isnt right and requires a further coat as its so big and such a pain to paint its got alot of imperfections but im hoping that i can get lacquer on it tonight and maybe tomorrow sand the lacquer again and hit another coat on
keep your eyes open for more updates lol