Front bumper repaint......finally !!!

I always hated my front bumper. The stock unit looks damn sissy. Totally makes the car more like a Sentra rather than a Skyline. But well that's another story altogether.....wanted to change it but have not come across anyone selling the NISMO version.

Anyway, my front bumper has some 'scars' on it.

Pic 1: Deep cut

Pic 2: An inch away from the left headlights!!

1) Unidentified Flying Object

Not too long after I got the ER34, I had flying debris (kicked out by a motorcyclist) hit the car. Not too sure it's considered lucky or unlucky coz it hit the bumper just an inch below the left headlights. Had it gone any higher and there goes my headlights. Grrrrr.....

2) The mega scrape

The car had a close encounter with a parking ramp pillar that left the right hand side of the bumper with scraping marks. It totally stripped the paint and the black base is clearly seen. (Well you know what they say about letting the fairer sex drive your car.....)

3) Stone chips!!

If you have read my blog on the ER34's maiden trip to Frasiers Hill, it came back with not only memories but uncountable number of stone chips on the front bumper. Darn it!!

4) A date with the parking ramp

The ER34 has a scary encounter with a parking ramp before the installation of the Tein Super Street Dampers. When it was running on HKS lowered springs, the car was so low it scraped everything!! I even had a tissue box stuck under the front bumper once!! Anyway, the bottom of the front bumper has some serious battle scars that spans the whole bumper from the left till the right.

So with the 4 items above to be fixed, I went to my regular paint shop dude to get it fixed. Now this paint shop is good. Very good BUT takes ages to do stuffs. Just to paint my bumper it took them 3 bloody days.

Pic 3: Front bumper removed

Day 1 - Patch back all the stone chips and scraping marks. Painting of the bumper.

Day 2 - Oven bake the newly painted bumper. Fixture of the bumper onto the car and ensure colour matches with the rest of the car.

Day 3 - Polishing the bumper (got them to do the whole car as well) :P

Pic 4: Front bumper being baked in the oven

Pic 5: Intercooler air outlet

The end results is very nice. Satisfied with their work 100%. Well that's the dependability you can place on a shop that actually fixes pre-delivery new Porsches.

Now where can I find a front NISMO bumper?????

Xiamen and a broken speaker ?!?!?

Well the whole of last week I was away from Malaysia. Flew over to Xiamen in China. Yeah it's a drag to be away from the ER34 BUT hell I love visiting China and had been doing so once a year for the past 6 years in a row!

Pic 1: Xiamen skyline by the seafront

It's more like a working holiday for me this time 'round and I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent accommodation, top notch food, and not forgetting the lovely people of China. But honestly, I think Xiamen is the most boring city I've ever visited in China. Hahahaha :D

Pic 2:Tranquility at it's best.

Anyway, I came back to dull and mundane old Malaysia in the middle of the night, tried to rest for the night and the next day, took the ER34 up for a drive. Drove to Ipoh from Kuala Lumpur for some R&R. Took the opportunity to meet up with some business associates. Had a hearty dinner and proceeded to drink our hearts out in the Perak Royal Golf Club.

Woke up early next morning for my favorite Curry Mee and then drove back to Kuala Lumpur. Enroute I was driving max out at the speed limiter with the music on full blast. Was listening to some lovey dovey mandarin love songs and such. Out of a sudden, my front driver's side speaker gave way with a audible bang!!; and guess what?!? My bloody Eclipse 8052 speakers has cracked it's dome. #!%^&^#!*(&%$

Oh god damn it!! Now I've got to hunt for replacements speakers and to figure out ways to get the funds to do it as well.

What a drag!!

Boost Pressure Sensor Hose split yet again!!!

Well well......ain't this becoming a common occurrence?? This is the third time the boost pressure sensor hose split it edges. The last time in September '06, I told myself IF it failed again, I'm gonna look for a stronger hose to replace it.

Pic 1: Boost sensor hose split yet again

Pic 2: Yea it split up pretty bad

Guess I lied to myself. Hehehehe ;)

I got out my trusty angle spanner and remove the unit, amazingly my zip tie theory worked pretty well as evident in pic 1 above. It actually held the hose in place firmly.

Pic 3: So many zip ties ???

Now that it's proven to be effective to secure the hose via zip tie, I'm gonna do the same thing but instead of a single zip tie to hold the hose to the boost sensor housing , I've added 5 smaller zip ties around the base of the inlet to minimize the chances of it splitting again. After doing the above job, I got the feeling that I’ve just fixed the thing as if it’s a Datsun 120Y. Hey!! A Skyline deserves better treatment that that right?!?!?

Pic 4: Jolin Tsai practising for her concert. At times like this I wish I had a 300mm lens for my camera.

The best part when doing the above is being entertained in the background by Jolin Tsai practicing for her big concert tomorrow. The concert venue is just next to where I stay.

Hope the above fix works.........fingers crossed.

Aftermarket replacement rotors? What rotors?

In my previous posting entitled, "ER34 front rotors warped again....", I have mentioned that I've narrowed down my rotors of choice for replacement. I've actually ordered the Endless 24 Slit Rotors. Did my orders direct to Japan and transfered a sum of JPY over there. Unfortunately, I was informed 2 days after my order that Endless actually discontinued the model.

Apparently, it was discontinued due to the tendency of the rotors to crack, perhaps due to the many slots on the surface. I was offered Project Mu's SCR Pro at the same price but decided against it. Now I'm back to square one. If only I can find the OE Brembo from the BNR34.......I think that would be the ideal choice.

Now I need to get my refund back from my Japanese counterparts!! :(