Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Carbon Fiber Bumper Exhaust Surround, Renewal

So if you've seen pictures of the rear bumper of my car, I've had this thin dry carbon fiber exhaust surround I found on Yahoo Auctions back in 2008!
With the newly installed Tomei ExPreme Exhaust
Obviously, the goal here is to protect the bumper from all the soot the RB26 engine spews out.
Long-time readers know that my car was used as the jig to develop the exhaust, and that this shot
  was used for their catalog

While it still looks great from a distance, I was becoming aware that the heat of the exhaust, as well as it's location on the rear edge of the bumper, was wreaking havoc on the carbon.
A close-up reveals these flaws.
But that's ok... it's much easier to remove and replace this piece, than to have the bumper touched up. In fact, I took the piece off before I had my car detailed, so that all the surrounding areas (and underneath) could be properly cleaned and protected.

 I then went back to find the vendor on Yahoo Auctions, 5000 yen and 3 days later:
Old one obviously the one not wrapped up.
Here you can compare directly. Camera angle shot makes old one on left look larger.

As you can see this carbon is really thin, but since it's not bolted on, replacement is an easy affair. Just take off the old one, clean the bumper (I had taken it off before the detail at RAPT), then simply slap back on using the double stick tape.

You can see the remnants of the tape on the old one on top.

Like this:
Truth be told the tape is old and I may need to readjust later

Make sure the area around the exhaust is clean:

A quick wipe with a microfiber towel, then
Peel off the backing of the double stick tape, then slap on making sure one edge slips between the bumper and the spat:

Easy!

Later, after a quick drive:
Can't even tell it's been replaced.
Oh, and I dropped into Nissan to order some minor bits so I will have another update on this blog soon!... stay tuned and thanks for reading!

7 comments:

stj88 said...

Bought one similar to this from Atain KSP, ended up selling it. Didn't like the contrast on my white car and it was allot bigger than yours.

stj88 said...

Unrelated to you post but you might find it interesting, look what just passed through Yahoo auctions, went for big bucks. In box mine's boost meter, just what you were missing! http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m151441710

This one is also an interesting mines item, still for sale. http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g170243076

Karl said...

Seriously, just tape? I had one on mine which was ruined by the garage being idiots and not adjusting the exhaust correctly. However I have the Nismo body kit fitted now which is completely different on the 'curve' for the bumper.

Anyway... Seriously tape?!? the one I had 'kinda' fitted with some bending. I ended up using bodywork glue and taping it in place. That thing was never coming off. So that is an impressive bit of kit you found!

stj88 said...

@Karl Donovan

If they are bumper specific tape is more than enough. But as far as i know no body makes a specific protector for the nismo bumper.

Gerry S said...

Hey Aki, i just have a quick question. I am trying to find out what manuals and booklets came with the car when someone bought it from the dealership? and do these manuals come up often on yahoo?
Thanks Gerry.

Aki said...

Thanks guys for the comments and question(s). Sorry for the delay, been busy with work and doing some stuff on my other car.

Yep, just tape Karl... not sure how it can be that hard to make something that fits correctly, after all if you stick a corner of it under the left rear spat, that alone holds it in place for the most part.

Stj88 - actually, I DO have a Mine's boost meter. It just is acting up and was inaccurate, so I went back to the Nismo one on my car. The Nismo one actually is easier to read with finer gradation lines too.

Gerry - To be honest, I don't know. I think in my car some of the original documentation is still in the "shaken (biannual registration)" case. I'll take a look soon and do a post soon. But pretty sure it's a maintenance/mileage log, plus the usual "Skyline R33" owner's manual. Haven't really seen this kind of thing - at least as a complete set - pop up on Yahoo.

Aki

VspecR said...

Do you know where i can find a similar bumper guard?