The R32 Chronicles

Ive seen the caged laser ones, and i have a supplier for carbon ones if i want them. But that padded top half of the door card is the one i think.

 

So i needed to sort out my alignment as the car was absolutely fucking horrendous to drive trying to pull itself apart. Started by building a traction arm JIG. I used a stock arm. And on the other side i built a jig that was +12mm over stock.


then onto the string alignment


Made the car point the correct direction. Squared everything up, feels absolutely night and day.

Also got new fenders on the car and got the car lowered too a more acceptable ride height. Car feels like a different car to drive now. So much nicer.


Also have now got the brakes on it and its night and day. So much better now it has brakes. Feels great haha.

I also have bought another diff for the car. Mine has a 4:3 in it currently. Which is fine but on the road its a little short and its a little noisey. I picked this diff up for next to nothing from a guy who didnt know what he had. Its a 4:1 which will be interesting and hopefully is far quieter.


I also acquired a original skyline optional extra strut brace. Unfortunately the factory colour clashes a little with my cam covers. I think im going get it powder coated the same as the cam covers.


Also have you ever had the feeling you’re being watched?


Because i did.


Turns out my fitment is way too spicy for them. And they really done like my multicoloured car.

So i suppose i better paint this car and make it look like something presentable. Hopefully the next time you see it we will be doing paint shit.

 

So its been a minute. It was the last drive i knew id be taking for a while. So I figured i would take a photo of it together in its unpainted state. Little did i know.


So the car was pulled into the unit. And first thing first was to strip the plastidip off the new bootlid i bought and see what was hiding underneath.


I shit you not that cunt took 3 hours. And was depressing as fuck. However a bit of sanding of the filled underneath and it was ready for primer.

I had a “new” bn bumper and skirts sat on the mezzanine so i needed to get them fitted up
Prior to paint to make sure everything fitted.



if im honest the rear bumper fitted like absolute shit. But with some trimming and swearing it was good enough.

Then i got the skirts fitted up, however they really do fit horrendously, they kinda fit but they are pretty much sprung loaded on the car. But hey ho. They will do for now.

Onto spoilers, who doesn’t love spoilers. I’ve had these nearly as long as I’ve had the car. Both Genuine Dmax items and I couldn’t wait to get them on the car but there was no point until paint.


The look of the car really started to come together. Another thing i wanted to sort was the fuel cap, again, never going to be perfect but i wanted it closer to the overfender to loose the shitty hole in the rear quarter.





Not perfect, but much better.

Then there was hours of panel repairs and filler work. All boring shit, however it took fucking hours and I photographed about fuck all of it. Then onto masking. Ready for primer.


Oh and bonded the boot spoiler on prior to paint.

Then we got it all in primer.


First time on a paint gun and i have to say, strangely, a lot translated from my day job of welding. Which was surprising. Im no professional at all but was interesting.

Then flatted back the primer with some 800, did the whole car by hand. In an evening. Was tedious.



But it was ready for paint the next day.

So the next day i mixed up some paint


And we got cracking, now the whole way through the process, i was doing it with the help of a mate of mine, we kinda did a bit of painting each. But i let him start.



Got a few coats on everything.


Then onto clear coat.


then we pulled the door down and left the car looking like this.


So i was excited to get down the next day and see what it came out like.



Looks awesome right? Well, theres more to this story.....

 

So lets continue, i was tidying up the bench when i realised the hardener was unopened for the primer, and the world fell out my arse. A swift conversation was had, and my mate had misread the primer can, mixed it 4:1 primer and thinners, when it should of been 4:1 hardener. Disaster.

So we left it a week, hoping and praying that through some miracle it would be fine, sadly the paint was still as soft as anything and could be scraped off with your finger nail. So, unfortunately the next few images may cause distress.


then 45 minutes later. Looked like this.


the issue is that because the primer hasnt cured, but the top coat has. It moves around on top of the primer, breaks up and cloggs up discs rather than sanding off.


It is absolutely fucking miserable. And slow as fuck. So spoke to a few people and came up with a plan B.


have you ever seen paint like that. So we discovered those plastic scrapers dont last long before they blunt.


However stripped the bonnet a bit quicker. The next best thing was a stanley blade.


So i shit you not. We have stripped the whole car with a fucking stanley blade.









Absolutely fucking sucked massive wang.

In places the paint literally came off like vinyl.


However it so far has been a massive cunt, especially the complex bits like the bonnet.


The bonnet is stripped, primer all stripped off too, we have started on the main body of the car, because once this top coat is bladed off it still leaves behind the primer which still needs removing. Its an absolute shit show but we are getting back to where we started pre paint.

also incase you are wondering, the paint was fucking expensive, so this has been a catastrophic balls up. Id be lying if i said this hicup hadn’t massively taken the wind out of my sails. Has been a hugely depressing situation and currently im muddling through stripping the car but its super hard to fine any motivation or interest in doing it. What an absolute cunt haha.

However you are now up to date with current affairs, if you want to keep up a little more on time feel free to follow me on insta @callum_peate

hopefully next time you see it, it’ll be painted, however i said that on the last update, and look how thats gone.

Thanks for reading, and see you all soon.

 

Appreciate it boys. Still hugely frustrating

 

Thanks man. Just a lot of time effort and more importantly in this current climate, money that i don't really have haha.

 

So boys. Ive been busy.

managed to rope the boss/mrs into helping me finish getting this re prepped. Was a big Friday night bless her. Most girls are used to being out on the piss. Ive got my Mrs in a unit sanding primer off my car. Shes a keeper.



We got that finished on the friday night. Then Saturday we went up and masked the car off again in the morning.


Then went home and watched drift masters.

then on the Sunday we went back again and i laid the primer on the car.


She was mixing paint for me and when i asked if she definitely had put the hardener in it. I got this.


That was weekend. Then left the primer to cure over the week. Then this Friday just gone it was time for yet more pissing sanding. The Mrs came and joined myself and the main man Ed for a sanding party.


we started at 2pm. Megan headed home to sort the dog out and chill at about 7pm. Then came back and dropped dominos off to me and Ed and we were there till 1am prepping the car.


As usual With this build, Ed went above and beyond what most would do to help me get the car prepped as best we could.

Fast forward to Sunday. Another day, another friend helping out. This time it was a mate of both mine and Ed’s. Dan who came and laid the paint on the car for me. He’s a farmer by trade but has painted a good few cars to as decent of a standard as you can expect in a dusty shed. So when he heard what happened and offered to lay the paint i gladly took him up on the offer.


3 coats of base later we were getting places. A few minor little reactions but nothing to panic about.


Then onto the clear. The mental cunt also painted the whole car without a mask. Despite multiple attempts to get him to wear one.


3 coats of clear later. We were done. And we left the car looking like this.


I booked the Monday off work to do a few bits on the house as i knew id be busy all weekend on the car, however that didn’t go brilliantly.

I popped down to unmask the car quickly to get an idea on how things were looking.


That was exciting, so I thought fuck it. I’ll chuck the wheels on just to get an idea.


now we were getting places. Now really i should of stopped here because obviously the paint Was fresh so it needed more time to harden up..... but it wasnt going to hurt to chuck the bonnet on, was it?


Then i was going to leave..... but


Just quickly fitted the fuel cap that i made flush.


Then I really was going to leave, but the wings were staring at me.


so fuck it. I threw them on and pulled it outside.


Looked fucking sick. Then the sun came out.



And i damm near pissed my pants. So i stood staring at it for a while. Then i was going to go home.


The bumper accident fell onto the back of the car. Then i stopped kidding myself that I wasn’t putting the car together, smashed the rest of the kit on. And this was the result.






I am fucking thrilled with how good it looks. So at that point i chucked the plates on and took it home. So i could stare at it some more.



The roof and boot spoiler are all painted and ready to go. But I really am waiting for the paint to harden up before i fit them because obviously they need bonding on.

i am still pinching myself looking at this car and obviously anyone reading this thread will of seen just how far this car has come in the last 4 and a bit years.

i absolutely could not of done it without my buddy Ed. He has been an absolute hero with this build, every time i got pissed off or disheartened with the car. He got things moving again. I am truely grateful for that. Not a fucking bad Job for a welder and a cable jointer.

About 10 years ago i used to sit religiously on this forum reading about people builds, learning what they did, why they did it and how they did it. Never did i think I’d end up building something like this. A 32 has always been my dream car since i was a little boy. And somehow with some hard work, commitment, a good friend or 2 and far more pounds than my mrs is aware of. I’ve managed it.

i hope you guys enjoy the car, its been a rollercoaster.

 

Thank you guys