More "Freshen Up" Parts and Some Trouble...

So as I hinted in an earlier post, the under hood insulation was not the first part I have recently purchased to freshen up the car.  A few months ago, after I got the car detailed at Rapt, I realized there were a few details that detracted from the overall "clean" car appearance.

These details are nothing large, but I guess the human eye picks up imperfections one may not be usually aware of.  For example:

So what exactly does this rubber trim do? Is it needed?

On this side too!

So normally something like this would not bother me (ok I'm lying, it bothers me to no end!). And I would try to figure out a way to repair it with the least amount of cost and effort (Superglue is a favorite...). But, the rubber had also hardened and so I wondered if it should be soft and pliable. As the second owner of this car, I know that this car was left outside most of its early life. And, despite many applications of products such as Aerospace 303 and other products to preserve and try to bring back the black, there was a permanent white-ish sheen of UV exposure that this cowl piece had.

When I inquired at Nissan Prince, I was told that I would have to replace the entire cowl in order to replace the rubber trim. So, I went ahead and ordered because it was a way to freshen up both aspects at the same time.

There was also this:

Windshield wiper arms showing wear and tear...

The yellow arrows point to areas where there are chips or wear on the wiper arms.  I had in fact previously used some semi-gloss black spray paint and resprayed the arms myself.  However I have done this twice already and it is likely that, since I don't do this painting in a controlled environment/have the paint baked on, the OEM part, designed for exposure to the elements, would likely last a lot longer.  Again, the car was left outside early on and likely, no one applied any sealant or wax to these arms (I am probably the only person who believes that ALL painted surfaces on a car need to be protected).

Anyway, since the wiper arms need to be removed in order to replace the cowl, it was only natural that, given the above thinking, I decided to go ahead and order some brand new wiper arms as well.

So it took a few weeks, but then I got the call so I went to Nissan Prince to pick up the parts:

After squeezing the cowl into the back seat (somewhat diagonally) I drove home and then life got so busy I wasn't able to work on replacing the parts...

Finally a few weeks ago (right before a business trip to Chicago) I decided to do the job, just in case the plane went down. Didn't want to die with unfinished business, right?

First, remove the wiper arms.  Begin by removing cap with small flat tip screwdriver (yellow arrow); See how the faded paint detracts from the overall appearance? (red arrow)

Then use a proper socket wrench (12mm I think).

Next, remove this soft rubber trim piece by pulling the plastic "screws" out of the sockets

I'm now thinking, this is pretty easy...

For the original cowl piece, it's held on in 4 places with plastic clips, so just pull a bit hard (watching the outside edges where it tucks UNDER the windshield molding), to reveal:

The dust on the right, I expected. That rust, I did not!

Not just several years of accumulated dirt, but also splotches of rust! I was later told by the guys at Nissan Prince that this is very, very common ("there is always rust there"), so apparently a weak point in this car's design...

So you can see how the rust isn't just in one location...

Anyway, as I was trying not to faint from shock, instinct kicked in so I first reacted by doing what comes naturally, cleaning:

That dust is from all over Japan!

To:

Not finished but you get the idea...

Then after I calmed down, I realized I had several choices.  One, I could ignore the rust, put the new cowl piece on, not tell anyone, and hope that my refusal to drive this car in the rain would stop the rust from spreading; two, I could spray on some Rust-O-Leum and pray that indeed, it actually does "convert rust to metal"; three, I could take the car to a body shop and have them deal with it, or four, I could try to sandpaper/grind off the rust myself, and apply some primer and paint.

Normally, I would choose the third option - put all the old pieces back on, and then take the car to a body shop. But with funds tight and an upcoming "shaken" (bi-annual road inspection/tax) coming up, I decided the better thing to do would be to go to a body shop sometime in the future to take care of not only this, but some other issues I've spotted, all at once.  So for the time being, I would have to deal with just this section of rust - long time readers will know I've dealt with rust on the car before - I just would prefer to let a pro handle it, of course.

Also, the cowl itself now looked like this, so re-assembly with the old pieces was probably not the smart option anyway:

Uh, this is not going to go back on well...

So the night I got back from Chicago, I first taped up the surrounding areas like this:

And used #400 grit sand paper to begin manually removing paint and rust.  I soon discovered however that the rust wasn't as easy to remove as I thought, as well as under paint that didn't show bubbling.

You can also see the old under hood insulation which was beginning to separate in some places - see how it looks puffy?

So I used my Dremel to quickly remove rust from all areas I could find, both visible and under the paint! Effective but not as "clean" as by hand. Oh well.

Luckily I had an unopened can of spray primer

Three thin coats of primer later (several hours to dry in between, of course)

After 3 coats, I debated spraying on some KR4 paint (I had a semi-used can left). However, I figured not only would the primer do the job adequately, and serve to show the body shop what I had done, I was also worried that the old KR4 paint might not spray well, and cause a mess. So I decided to stop painting and put on the new pieces (later at Nissan picking up the under bonnet insulation I asked them about this, and they told me primer alone was fine...)

New versus old

Checking out how soft and pliable the new rubber/plastic piece is:

Supple is the word!

The underside, which won't see daylight again until it's removed.

And the topside, which will!

Installation was the reverse of taking the part off, being careful to make sure the plastic clips went in on both sides, and that the edges were tucked in under the windshield molding.

I found out that the rubber trim piece is actually about 1.5cm too long on each side - cutting required.

If you are curious you can make out the parts numbers...(28886-15U00 and 28881-15U00)