Nissan weekend #4 1/2

I'm starting to suspect that these "half-weekends" may be the death of me, because my OCD instincts are starting to kick in full force. This time was actually a bit later in coming than the last time. I asked Sis and BIL to bring back a few minor parts so I could work on cleaning them up and/or painting them before the next trip out. The water outlets and oil pan ...no big deal.

The water outlets turned out to be relatively easy ...one night, some sandpaper and a dremel, and those suckers look NICE!

and

These are all the same part, just turned at slightly different angles. Amazing what a little bit of elbow grease will do though.

The oil pan though ...holy fuck, but I honestly didn't see it being as big of a deal as it's turned out to be. It's looking as though I'll also get to re-do some aspects of the #3 1/2 weekend, as I've found that the valve covers and oil pan are iron ...and therefore susceptible to RUST. No biggie ...I just need to find some clear coat that is okay with high temperatures.

I think it was mostly just the size of the damned oil pan that threw me off. The OCD thing hurt worse than anything though ...because I had two shiny and pretty fucking valve covers, then OF COURSE the oil pan needed to match the valve covers. I kept trying to tell myself that a fresh coat of paint would be FINE, but oh no ...I'm going to give you totally free either a Yugo or a Porsche. Paint just won't cut it when you want all this work to be really pretty when you're done.

So I went ahead and got busy with the oil pan ...and didn't even come close to the finish I got on the valve covers, but a) I didn't even attempt to actually polish it and b) it was 5 times the size of the valve covers and will be somewhere where the casual glance won't even see it.
No sense knocking myself out when I'm not going to be letting many people crawl under it anyway. It still doesn't look bad though ...I'd probably be pretty impressed if I were the guy changing the oil on it, but it's really just sanded like hell. I just don't think I'm really up to polishing that big SOB though.

And I guess I'll want some nice photo ops before I put the bastard back into the car. When one is going to THIS much trouble, he might as well do it up right. So anyway ...the "fruits of my labor" for the mid-weekend of my "project" wasn't too bad all things considered. I'll be looking forward to the next trip and hopefully having all the stuff I need to complete the engine and try out all the shiny parts on the engine.

All I can say is that for the amount of work I'm putting into this thing; it had better be awfully damned pretty when I'm done with it. I won't want to have to look at any of this stuff for a long time after I'm finished.