ALOWHA Demo Machine vol. 1

Kekoa James

Paint Jail: Taking the Project Into Our Own Hands

We got started on getting the car painted, and for a while, we debated whether we should prep it ourselves and send it out or take the jump and do the whole thing on our own.

As many people know, there’s a saying called “paint jail.” Shops will take your car in at a good price, but then it ends up sitting in the back while insurance jobs roll in. Our cars take a lot more time, love, and care to get the fit and finish we’re looking for. Its not a money maker for them.

I knew this firsthand from working in body shops while going to college in California and flying back home to Hawaii for summer jobs. With that in mind, I decided to take the job on myself...
Follow The Build
Engine
  • Type x Black Top Sr20det
  • Link G4X Tuned by Danny at Unrivaled
  • Wiring Specialties Pro Harness
  • oem+ engine bay shave
  • Third Strike Fabrication Swirl Pot
  • Orc Super Single Clutch
  • Tomei Short Shifter
  • t28 turbo
  • HKS Internal Wastegate
  • Custom Hot pipe by Collective Grupe
  • Custom Intake Pipe by Parkwood Fab
  • Custom Flex Bellow Downpipe
  • Dual Turn Down Pie Cut Exhaust Tips by Simple Fabrication
  • Blitz FMIC
  • Koyorad radiator 
  • ATI Super Damper
  • Dress up bolts engine bay kit
  • Chase Bays Power Steering Reservoir
  • Chase bays Brake Line relocation
  • Chase Bays Clutch Line relocation
  • Chase Bays Fuel Pressure Regulator
  • Custom Mounted Link CanLambda
  • Tucked Fusebox
  • 550 Injectors
  • 255 Walbro
  • 4.3 Final Drive
exterior
  • Spirit Rei Miyabi kit w/ carbon inserts (carbon option discontinued) 
  • Silvia Brick Headlights
  • Silvia Oem Hood
  • Silvia Small Letter Grill
  • Power Ganador Mirrors
  • P2M clear silvia corners
  • Charge Speed 20mm Vented Front Fenders
  • Street Faction Hand Polished Bash Bar 
  • Custom rear fender pull by Juicy Garage
  • Custom Clear Taillights 
  • Silvia rear Trunk Lock 
  • Fully undercoated underbody for rust proofing and longevity of frame
Suspension
  • Naoki B Knuckle
  • S14 OEM LCA w/ s13 Ball Joints
  • Stance Xr1 Coilovers
  • ISR Offset Angle Traction Control Rod
  • Full ISR pro Rear arms
  • color matched front subframe to match engine bay
  • Purple powder coated rear subframe with welded reinforcements
Wheels
Interior
  • Bride Pro Type ii carbon kevlar back
  • Clear Hitman Steering Wheel
  • Custom Mounted Powertune Digital Dash display
  • Uncracked HUD Digital Dashboard
  • Custom bluetooth radio tuck 
  • New black carpet
  • Fully converted interior from blue to black
  • Rewrapped headliner in black suede with starlights
  • Skar Audio 6.5" door & deck speakers
  • 8" skar subwoofer & enclosure

Chipping Away at the Bodywork

If you visit our demo build Instagram page, you can see where we started chipping away at the bodywork. This was tricky because all of these older panels are so thin. If you sand an area for too long, the panel heats up and causing your bodywork to move. Once it cools down, it can feel like the dent you just fixed is still there.

I’m no bodywork master, but this was one of the biggest lessons I learned throughout the process. Looking back, it’s something I wish I had understood better from the beginning.

During this time, I decided to shave the rear side markers to replicate a Silvia. I had the homie Jesse come over since the car had no glass in it and weld up the holes using plates I made.

Later, I learned that you need to leave a considerable gap between the metals before welding. This gives the metal room to shrink as you weld and helps prevent the panel from buckling. It was another lesson learned the hard way.

The main reason I wanted to shave the markers was to give the car a cleaner, sleeker look down the sides, especially with the final color I had in mind. Looking back, this was a pain in the a**, but I’m happy I did it and was worth the hours of work.

While we were at it, I also decided to shave the antenna hole. I kind of wanted to keep it because of the way the previous owner had the antenna angled and cut. I don’t know why, but I thought it looked cool. Eventually, I decided it would look better shaved to keep that clean look going.

December 2025: Bodywork Begins

I officially put the car down to get started on the bodywork. It was a long process of working out as many dents as possible and making sure all the fiberglass was flat and any cracks were properly repaired and reinforced. Not to mention the previous owner of the kit started to cut the bumper for more fmic clearance because they were going to run a 1jz in a coupe.

Once that was finally done, we were getting closer to paint. This was going to be the next huge task.

I remembered that my girlfriend’s dad had just retired after 20 years of painting, so I hit Uncle up one day and asked if he’d be down to fly up to California and help me out if I covered his expenses.

He said he was down, so he flew up for what was originally supposed to be a week. Haha.

Calling in Reinforcements

Once Uncle landed, we got straight to work. Even with all the work I had already put in, there was still plenty left to do. We had some minor bodywork to finish, rust to address, and the car to take apart before we could even think about getting into the booth.

After getting everything handled, we got the car primed and started tearing it down. Having an extra set of hands made a huge difference, especially with all the prep that needed to happen before paint.

With the body and jams prepped and primed, it was finally time to get into the booth.

Many Coats Later…

From start to finish, I chose to go with House of Kolor paint. This is a four-stage paint job with maaaaany coats. Thirteen, to be exact.

We had to split up our painting days because everything wouldn't fit in the booth at once. On our first day, we got the cut-ins done and quickly realized we were going to need a lot of paint.

Sad for my wallet...

To achieve the color I wanted, we needed six coats of the final color alone. For context, most paint jobs use around two to three coats of color, followed by a couple of coats of clear. Depending on the setup, that’s roughly four to six coats of material. 4 coats of silver, 6 coats of our final color, 3-4 coats of clear. That's how we ended up with a grand total of thirteen.

Halfway through painting the car, we started running low on paint. I ended up extending Uncle’s trip and calling Paint Huffer to order more. Luckily, we had just enough to finish the body of the car. Unfortunately, the extra paint didn’t arrive in time, so the body kit was left unpainted before Uncle had to head home.

A Huge Thank You

Big thank you to my girl’s dad for coming through and showing me the ropes on a project this big. I had a decent amount of knowledge from working in body shops and painting my engine bay, but this was a completely different beast. We were working with a lot of expensive material, and there was no room to waste it.

Shortly after Uncle left, the new batch of paint finally showed up. I got back into the booth and finished painting the body kit myself.

Now it’s time to put this thing back together!
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