# Engine Bay - Work In Progress



## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Abbey have been working a different kind of magic recently on my engine bay. It's still very much a work in progress - currently waiting for the replacement "Abbey Motorsport" centre plate on the cam cover. Next up will be intercooler pipework and the strut bar.

Here's the current "state-of-play" ....

Whole Engine:










Filter pipes:










Plenum :










"Twin-Turbo" Pipe :










And thanks to Tony for the Oil Filler Cap : 










I have to say I'm dead chuffed with how it's coming along.  Hopefully the guys at Abbey's are pleased with it's progress to


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## Howsie (Feb 25, 2002)

It looks very smart Daz! What else do you have planned?


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Well, once i've re-furnished the house (as Paula and little Megan are leaving) and got some money back together then I want some cams, injectors and change the engine management from F Con S to F Con Pro (to get rid of the air flow meters). Should see me up into the 500's hopefully - and that's plenty of power for me.

That'll pretty much do on the performance side.

On the looks side of things, other than what I've listed in the first post I want to change some of the hosing to Samco.

As you know there are always bits you want to do .... as you think you are all but done then you see something else you want. So i expect it'll just keep evolving.

How are things with you Sean ?


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## davewilkins (Jun 30, 2001)

Daz said:


> Well, once i've re-furnished the house (as Paula and little Megan are leaving)


Did I read that correctly? 

Engine bay is looking very smart


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## brooksie (Sep 24, 2003)

i was thinking the same thing Dave ? ... .hope everything is ok Daz  

Engine bay looks fantastic .... very very clean, some nice shots as well, particularly like the "twin turbo pipe" shot :smokin:


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

davewilkins said:


> Did I read that correctly?


Yes ... I am very sorry to say. Paula and Megan are leaving next week.  

Thanks for the comments on the pic's guys.


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## SteveC (Jul 2, 2001)

looking good Daz, if you need a coffee I only live a few miles up the road...

give us a shout if you need a hand with anything mate
/steve


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## davewilkins (Jun 30, 2001)

.....Sorry to hear that


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## Howsie (Feb 25, 2002)

davewilkins said:


> .....Sorry to hear that


Ditto!


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## Robbie 733 (Feb 25, 2005)

Sorry to hear about your bad news Daz, good work on the engine though.


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## Alex Creasey (Jun 5, 2002)

Engine's looking really good Daz! Good work.
Sorry to hear about the bad news though.


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## gtrlux (Mar 8, 2006)

Hi Daz, just a quick question: what do think of these Oil Filter Relocation Kits?
Would you add one of these?


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Thanks for all the kind words folks.

GTRLux - I haven't got one - but then, I don't do the work on my car (it wouldn't ever run if i touched it !!!). I am sure they are handy though - it's got to be easier changing the oil filter when it's got a relocation kit on it to bring it to the top of the engine rather than being buried).

The oil cooler itself on mine does a cracking job - oil always remains at a sensible temperature.


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## jlck (Feb 12, 2006)

nice engine bay.....and i like engine oil cap


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## GTRalex (Jan 21, 2005)

looks great daz!


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## R1 Nismo (Feb 25, 2005)

Hi Daz,

Sorry to hear about you change of circumstance, good luck to you both. 

Well on to other, significant other, in your life, she is looking very fine, you have obviously been spending to much time looking in dark places ( says he! )
All that work and effort has payed off.

Hopefully it may take your mind off things for a few brief moments.

best of luck

john


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## MADsteve (Nov 25, 2004)

That's one cracking looking engine bay

Love the colour of the engine 
Adore the shiny shiny metal bits 
Impressed with the way all the plastic's still very black 

I, too, am equally sorry to hear of the bad news that goes with it though


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Thanks again.


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## DCD (Jun 28, 2001)

Looking good Daz:smokin:


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## jae (Aug 28, 2002)

*Now I'm finally somewhere I can see the pictures*

Instead of red crosses in white boxes, I must say that's really rather spiffy.

Makes me all the more determined to get mine patched up & finished.

Sunday lunchtime, beer & nibbles @ the Yeoman? (if it's not hosing down...)


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## mambastu (Feb 13, 2002)

Cracking Daz :smokin:


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Cheers Dino, Jae, Stu.

Jae - could well be up for that. I'll let you know mate. I'm up in Liverpool on Friday and not sure what I'm up to Saturday (I'd like to get up to the TimeAttack and D1 at Silverstone) ... so will get back to you ASAP.


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## mammaryman (Jun 11, 2005)

Hey Daz, just a quick question, what product do you use to keep your polished bits so shiny, mine have lost that just polished look and am sick of trying to use Autosol!! Engine looks very nice by the way....


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## skudman (Mar 14, 2006)

Hi Daz i have to say im impressed! However.......

Bout time you got some gold plated Battery Terminals isnt it?



Daz said:


> Abbey have been working a different kind of magic recently on my engine bay. It's still very much a work in progress - currently waiting for the replacement "Abbey Motorsport" centre plate on the cam cover. Next up will be intercooler pipework and the strut bar.
> 
> Here's the current "state-of-play" ....
> 
> ...


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

mammaryman said:


> Hey Daz, just a quick question, what product do you use to keep your polished bits so shiny, mine have lost that just polished look and am sick of trying to use Autosol!! Engine looks very nice by the way....


The "polished bits" are not polished - they are chromed. I had the choice of having them polished but understand that you have to keep working on them to keep looking at their best. With chrome they just need a wipe over now and then.

I tried polishing up the intercooler pipes with Autosol - but as you can see, they are nothing like as shiny as the chromed pieces (that's why I'm getting a few more bits done).

Skudman - hello mate ... i was thinking titanium rather than gold ! lol !


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## markyboy.1967 (Feb 14, 2004)

*Chroming*

Be careful with the chroming as it tends to flake quite a bit in the engine bay after a little while.I do metal polishing in my spare time but the chrome looks great as long as your willing to re-do it every now and then...The orange really looks superb ubder the bonnet.Good work..


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Got the new Abbey centre plate on now - makes such a difference to the look. I'll try and get some pics over the weekend.

We're getting there


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## Demon Dave (Sep 15, 2002)

Looks awesome  One of the cleanest engine bays I've seen for sure!

luv that oil cap


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## murano3 (Mar 23, 2005)

looks simply stunning ...


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## nismo240sx90 (Nov 16, 2005)

very clean...


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Here are some more recent shots (the first 3 are from last weekend when I was at Goodwood with Ged and 1 from today).

These are the 3 from Goodwood - it was EXTREMELY sunny so I tried using a polarizing filter for the first time.




























The one from today .....










I'm not very happy with the photo's at all. DCD's photo's I find very inspiring - but I really cannot get anything like as good ... obviously 95% of that is down to ability but I'm sure a small percentage is down to the quality of the camera. Can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong ? (camera is a Fuji S7000 by the way). DCD - any advice for a novice ?


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## SteveC (Jul 2, 2001)

Daz, you live near me, how about we go out and do some shots of your car on my camera.

I'm no pro but I have a nice camera... I think a lot of it is what you do with the picture after you have taken it on photoshop as well...

let me know if you want to go and take piccies mate:nod:

/steve


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## SteveC (Jul 2, 2001)

oh and the greenhouses in the background look cool. The engine ones look good to my untrained eye too...
Coming on nicely
/steve


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## tim b (Jan 5, 2004)

The photos look pretty good to me, and the car looks great too, nice an 'un-fussy' from the outside. :smokin: 

The thing that pro photographers always seem to do is shoot stuff at funny angles, that always seems to make it look more arty. The bottom shot looks a bit like that, and seems to stand out.

The only thing I always try to do is not photograph the side of the car in the shade, i.e. always photo the bits with the sun shining on it. That seems to make the pic more 'vibrant' and grabs your attention. Otherwise the side in the shade always seems poorly lit and dull compared to the rest. Might be worth a go, but I'm certainly no expert so could be talking rubbish.

Nice car though. :thumbsup:


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Thanks for the input guys (and the kind comments on the car).

Tim - yeah I'd been hoping to move the car about and get some shots from the "sunny side" ... unfortunately I didn't realise I'd gone onto some private land and was quickly ousted ! oops ! Shame as I think the background could have made for some interesting shots. I managed to get the front end towards the sun - and this has come out very "crisp" ... probably the cleanest shot I've taken of the front-end. I was hoping it wouldn't actually be quite so sunny ... so that the shadows were not so dark.

I guess I just need to find that really good location (not easy down this way !) and have a play.

Steve - perhaps we can meet up soon and get shots on both our cameras ... see how they come out.

Cheers,


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## SteveC (Jul 2, 2001)

definately Daz,

I think Dino once said the best time to take piccies is early morning or at dusk as you get a less harsh light. you can always fill in with a flash but it is harder to sort out slight overexposure.

you just need to think of some good backdrops as this is as important as the subject IMO.

I'm not too keen on the arty skyline in the forest look unless it is going Mcrae style down a road. the best backdrops are big carparks, road or race tracks, but I'm sure we can find something suitable..

could even do some drive by's I think a lot of the in motion pictures taken for the mags are taken on big roundabouts. 

Ford market could be a good location ? but the owner hates cars.. shoreham airport has a nice perimiter road.. maybe Jae would be interested too..
And R1 Nismo, Peter and Dave (Atco) as we all seem to be local..
/steve


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## skylinelee (Aug 5, 2002)

daz
the car looks mint mate, engine bay is awesome, well done.

lee


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## roadie (Feb 6, 2006)

Can anything be done with the plastic washer fluid bottles ?? Everyone I've seen looks like shite and spoils a fantastic detailing job....


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## SteveC (Jul 2, 2001)

Here is a qwick chop of the front 3/4 view you took today.

I just desaturated the BG a bit added some gausian blur (SP?)and it looks a lot better. IMO .trouble with using blurs on the BG is it makes the car look like a model.










hope it worked..

/steve


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Lee - thanks mate 

Steve - I was going to have a play with PaintShop Pro and blur the background....problem is (like you say) I always over do it and the car ends up looking like a model. We'll have to arrange to meet up and find somewhere suitable. I had thought about trying to airport......


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## RonS (Dec 14, 2001)

Hi Daz,

Thought I'd poke me nose in here, car's looking mate :thumbsup: 

As mentioned late or early light is a good move the rising sun would seem apt too  , you can do a lot in PaintShop Pro also... airbrush out the flagpoles now looks like it's parked outside your Spanish holiday home , Grey Scale on Gunmetal looks good, maybe Chrome effect , or wee bit of Sun Burst on the chrome... hours of amusement to be had 

http://www.skylinegts.co.uk/GTR/Daz/GreyScale2.jpg
http://www.skylinegts.co.uk/GTR/Daz/GreyScale1.jpg
http://www.skylinegts.co.uk/GTR/Daz/Chrome.jpg
http://www.skylinegts.co.uk/GTR/Daz/SunBurst.jpg

Let me know if your doing a photo shoot locally, hope to get a new camera soon and would like to get some practice in too

RonS


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## Daz (Aug 14, 2001)

Ron - I'll get in touch when we go out to get some pics done.

Nice to hear from you again.


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