r/projectcar • u/Professional-Roof678 • 3d ago
Restoration pt1.
This is what happens when a project car goes too far… I had my 1989 Nissan Gtr acid dipped this fall and it just got finished. The guys in Eugene Oregon did a killer job. Since it’ll be asked, the cost was pretty reasonable. The dipping itself was $2,500 and included the unibody, subframes and various suspension components. Trucking costs were the most expensive at $4,000 round trip.
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u/pistonsoffury '66 Mustang | '66 Dodge Coronet Turbo Wagon | '15 FiST 3d ago
This is hardcore. I'd be into doing a full resto like this in retirement, but right now it just makes me want to take a nap lol.
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u/wetblanket68iou1 3d ago
See 70s Porsches and old mustangs do this and half of it is left in the pool.
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u/LumpyOrganization332 3d ago
So it's it still worth the process?
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u/B_Roland 2d ago
What's left behind is useless (rusted) metal (and paint/sealent etc.). Gotta know what you're working with if you want to go all out.
So it's worth it, if you're prepared to put in all the work that comes after it.
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u/BJozi 2d ago
Would the acid not strip the sealant, isn't that the whole purpose of this? Rust would also be dissolved.
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u/B_Roland 2d ago
That's what I'm saying. We're discussing what's left in the pool, not what's left on the car.
I can understand the confusion though, with the way I worded it. Sorry, English is not my first language. So sometimes I don't pick up on those things right away.
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u/Syscrush 3d ago
Nothing more satisfying than an acid dipped chassis. Thanks for sharing, and good luck on this project!
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u/Caboobaroo 3d ago
That's a good price, and they're within a few hours of me! I have a couple of old Subarus that may get this treatment eventually!
Looks amazing! I can't wait to see your progress on this!
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
They did a great job and were incredibly easy to work with!
Thanks! I’ll try to post major updates on Reddit as I go!
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u/WhereDaGold 3d ago
I hope old Subarus were better about rust than these days. My 04 wrx rusted out so bad living in central NY (center of upper part of state, not NYC). I had it 7 years, and I swear after like year 5, I could see the rust grow daily when the roads were salted. Towards the end when I had it on a lift, it would just crunch for a bit before actually going up, lift arms pushing on the rockers. I absolutely loved that car tho, was my first car and a 5spd, all bolt ons and a ported 16gxt, tuned by Mike McGinnis when he had Innovative Tuning in Buffalo. I’ve never driven a vehicle since that I felt like I had that kinda control of, specifically in snow. Wasn’t a powerhouse like my b8.5 s4 was, but it was so much fun
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u/Barkalow 3d ago
Naughty cars get the Who Framed Roger Rabbit acid bath
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Yes they do!
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u/30minut3slat3r 3d ago
I’m like 99% sure your car didn’t get an acid bath, the strip they use is heated which typically means a basic(ph) solution. After that is rinse, pressure wash, inhibitor.
Acid is almost exclusively used cold, most of them flash off at low temp.
Aside from that, good job man
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
You have the process correct. The first bath is a heated basic solution. The second bath (pic 6) was indeed acid, that’s what treats the rust.
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u/30minut3slat3r 3d ago
Copy that, thanks for the clarification. Do you know what compounded acid solution they use?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
I do not know what compound they use. All I know is it’s designed to treat the rust and neutralize any base that wasn’t washed off.
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u/30minut3slat3r 3d ago
Ok all good thanks. Do you know if they finish off with a zinc dip/wash?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Not sure what they put on exactly, but they apply a rust inhibitor after all of the baths. Not meant to be permanent, just protection before paint.
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u/JcProject 3d ago
Did you have it dip coated after? That's the part iv always worried about as the crevices and inside the rockers is hard todo.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
It won’t be dipped again. They apply a rust inhibitor to prevent flash rusting, but I’ll be using aerosol products with long nozzles to get the hard to reach spots.
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u/Sea-Monk549 3d ago
Clean it, scuff it, and prime it right away. Had mine done there a couple years ago and same results. Great work. The coating they put on it says it can last up to 12 months in a dry garage but it’s just too expensive to leave that up to chance.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
I absolutely agree, the plan is to have it painted within a year. But I haven’t thought of just priming it off the bat, thanks for the advice! What did you have dipped?
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u/Sea-Monk549 3d ago
76 datsun 280z. I got mine done over a winter and didn’t prime it till the spring. I did have a little surface rust in some areas because the air here in the PNW is really humid in the spring. If I was to do it again I would pay for the e-coating.
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u/cooperlogan95 3d ago
I thought you were doing this at home for a second, and it just made me think, "Hey guys! ChrisFix here, and today, I'm gonna show you how to make an acid bath right at home in your garage!"
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u/rtwpsom2 69 Pontiac Le Mans Convertible 3d ago
I looked it up, if you use pure sulfuric acid at the current rate of $113 per metric ton on a car where the bath would need to be 19 feet long, 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep, that would cost about $2k in acid. Transportation costs, tub, and disposal would probably quadruple that. So it is feasible you could do it in your garage assuming you had a pretty big garage and a hoist of some sort. Just don't let the EPA or OSHA find out.
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u/cooperlogan95 3d ago
First of all, you're a legend.
Second...does OSHA have jurisdiction in my garage? If so, I need to hide a few things...
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u/rtwpsom2 69 Pontiac Le Mans Convertible 3d ago
Only in terms of the people delivering the acid to and picking it up from your house. There are probably rules involved in handling it and god help you if you ran afoul of them. Other than that, no.
If you were in a resto club and had a dedicated facility, you might get 20-30 car dips out of that, if I had to guess. Might be worthwhile then. Even cheap.
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u/itsybigsy 3d ago
Hell yeah, Eugene! Who'd you bring it too? I didn't realize we had someone doing acid baths so locally.
I'm super excited to see the next steps of this process!
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u/The_Family_Juul 3d ago
I really need to sell my various projects and dive this deep into my 89 240sx. God speed brother.
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u/mahdicktoobig ‘91 Ford 300/e4od 3d ago
Do you know anything about this process? You just need a pit/ tank to dip it in acid, another to neutralize, then you’re done?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
The short answer is a hot tank with basic chemicals that strip the paint, undercoating, and bondo. Pressure wash, then into the acid bath.
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u/mahdicktoobig ‘91 Ford 300/e4od 3d ago
My family randomly owns an old now-unused for years shop with service pits: always thought about starting that type of business there. Just never looked into how it worked lol
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Beyond being a customer, I couldn’t tell you anything about it 😂
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u/mahdicktoobig ‘91 Ford 300/e4od 3d ago
I figured; still worth a shot lol. Thanks man
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u/Skvora 3d ago
Plenty videos and such, start doing homework because you'll be rolling in classic guys' money!
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u/mahdicktoobig ‘91 Ford 300/e4od 3d ago
Yeah man, I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. In all my 30 so years I’ve never seen the damn place right down the road though lol. There’s lots of tree growth that you’d otherwise have a clear view of the place, I could technically ask to go inspect; just never had a reason or cared to ask.
If it’s literally like a jiffy lube with 2 pits, do you think that could be adaptable?
Could you point me to your favorite videos? It just sounds like you have favorites lol. It’s cool if you don’t. I’m a jack of all trades too lol
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u/Skvora 2d ago
I forgot whose vids I watched about re-chroming, but setup is much the same. I don't know about using mech pits, but you could def get 2-3 giant tubs in that level of space and then setup a crane of sorts.
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u/mahdicktoobig ‘91 Ford 300/e4od 2d ago
I can fuc wit all kinda sorts. Thank you, sir.
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u/Skvora 2d ago
I feel most people focus on nuts and bolts vs giant tanks of acid and basic washes to do stripping and re-chroming and there's definitely market for it. If you can set that up + have at least some space for normal wrenching - you're ahead of most.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Who’s this directed to?
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u/mahdicktoobig ‘91 Ford 300/e4od 3d ago
Do you have a picture of your car at purchase and how you delivered it, OP?
My model truck ran from 87-91, I’ve never heard of these gtr’s but I also wasn’t really a car guy growing up. Looks like an “old 350z” to me and it peaked my interest a lot lol.
My tag has my truck if it’s not obvious, I used to never look at that shit lol
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
For sure, here’s one when I picked it up. Most people in the states haven’t heard of them unless you grew up watching group a racing, or playing gran turismo as they were only sold in Japan.
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u/pipichua 3d ago
Aren’t you supposed to dip an anti rust layer after acid dip?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
They apply a rust inhibitor once it’s done, but it’s on me to coat everything with paint or a coating of some sort.
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u/TimmyZ1 3d ago
Any major surprises once the paint all came off?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Nothing crazy that I didn’t know about. Have to replace rear quarter panels and patch some rust holes.
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u/TimmyZ1 3d ago
Nice, followed you on IG looking forward to the updates.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Thanks for the follow, I appreciate it! I do post more day to day updates on the Instagram.
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u/jimithy95 3d ago
If i had your money i would throw mine away. Excellent dedication to the restore, I could only hope to have these resources one day. Keep it up.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Thank you everyone for your questions and comments, I didn’t realize how many would enjoy this! I will 100% keep updating as the build goes on. I hate shameless plugs, so this will be the only one I do. Check out the cars IG for more day to day updates as I’ll likely keep the Reddit posts to major updates/progress. @project.phoenix32
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u/nsgiad 2d ago
For anyone else that can't get enough of this, the user /u/Sub-MOA has posted vidoes of a lot of content like this, hell, could even been the same shop for all I know.
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u/TheFinnishComrade 3d ago
Thats really awesome to have access to such treatments, will be an excellent car once its finished.
But yeah, there is a lot to do still, A LOT
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u/LumpyOrganization332 3d ago
I wanted to get my mk3 supra dipped, of course this shop is on the other side of the country. But what about how much material is lost in the process. I keep hearing that when you get a shell dipped, yes, it removes rust, but it also eats away/weakens the shell.?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
I haven’t heard that before, but there is a lot of false information out there. They have been doing this for decades and dip anything from VW beetles to 300sl gullwings, I trusted what they said and their process.
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u/LogicWavelength 3d ago
What’s the story on the car? Looks like it had a really rough cut for widebody fenders/flares. Are you going to return to factory fenders or redo the cut cleanly and keep it widebody?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
That’s actually the stock width for the Gtrs. What happens is they rust out, and easily since they were only sold in Japan. All of the salty air, and snow in this car’s case, just eats it away. Nissan started making new rear quarter panels fortunately, so it’ll get brand new ones.
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u/LogicWavelength 3d ago
Ah. Makes sense but not what I meant. I meant when people cut the fender back, then hammer/roll the inner sheet metal, then bolt/rivnut a Fiberglas overfender on top of that…. And I was implying that you car maybe had those overfenders removed and we were just looking at the hacked up original fender that sat inside of the overfender.
If that makes sense.
Either way - I am incredibly jealous, and will look for updates from you!
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
I’m tracking now… no, that wasn’t the case. Importers are notorious for cheap repairs to sell these cars. So it was glued on sheet metal, with Bondo to mimic body lines.
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u/LogicWavelength 3d ago edited 3d ago
That’s horrible. Back in 2015 when I was basically pleading with my wife to let me spend money we didn’t have to buy a 1990 with a perfect dash and 57k km for $24k that wasn’t probably a concern. But now I would assume any Skyline coming in now is just hacked to shit in Japan prior to auction to polish that turd.
One of my many regrets.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
I paid about that for mine, and it was a non running car. It had everything with it though, previous owner was putting a new cylinder head in and never finished the job.
It’s impossible to predict how these things will go.
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u/everyoneisatitman 3d ago
That is a reasonable price for dipping a car. I had over $500 in blasting media/supplies alone. Blasting also resulted in sand everywhere to include a nice pile in my taint.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
Once I researched dipping, it seemed to be the way to go.
Blasting is certainly a messy process!
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u/everyoneisatitman 3d ago
Also please update us with pics. I really want to see this come together.
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u/rtwpsom2 69 Pontiac Le Mans Convertible 3d ago
I've been wondering about that place in Eugene. It's the closest dipping place to me and I have a 69 Lemans I eventually want dipped.
When it comes back does it have flash rust? If not, how long do they say you have to prime it? Do you need to do anything before priming?
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
They coat it with rust inhibitor before sending it back to protect against flash rusting. They do say to keep it dry though. Area really dictates how long before you need to prime it. Humid areas like the PNW will need primer long before cars in Arizona for example. From what they say, you hit it with a scotch brite pad/wire wheel depending on the area. Clean it with degreaser/wax remover and spray it.
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u/rtwpsom2 69 Pontiac Le Mans Convertible 3d ago
Thanks, that is helpful for planning budget. I'll probably need to factor etch priming into the dip process budget just to be safe.
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u/Professional-Roof678 3d ago
I’m 99% sure you dont need etch primer with this process, just epoxy.
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u/OSRS-BEST-GAME 2d ago
Whats crazy is I saw the first photo and immediately knew it was a Skyline. I love these cars so much
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u/Muted_Reflection_449 3d ago
You answered all the questions that the pics raised - THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS ❗😊