My R33 GTST project
Discussion
Having read a fair few of the readers car threads over the years I have gathered enough inspiration to start my R33 project that has been gathering moss for the last few years. It is slightly daunting putting my project here when we consider the calibre of some of the existing threads, notwithstanding, here we go. I'm hoping to have this finished by summer 2025 to give me time to save and to give plenty of time to work on each stage. The thought of futute trackdays, car meets and a Nurburgring trip is keeping me motivated for now. Any constructive criticism or comments are welcome.
On to the backstory-
After finally getting a space that I can work on the car I jumped straight in, with an ambition to build a track car with an MOT capability so I can go to the odd car meet or friday commute.
I got my first Skyline at 19. Having visited my local Japanese car importer, I was given the choice of a R32 GTR, or a R33 GTS for about the same price. In hindsight, I should have got the poster car, however, I still enjoyed the Gunmetal Grey GTS. It really was immaculate, but the single cam 2.0 litre engine didn't do the car any justice.
On to the turbo variant. I got the subject car sometime around 2011 after a very long ride to the south coast to part ex my zx6r. Having looked at the car on a dark night (a rookie mistake), and not wanting to ride back I went ahead with the deal.
Here are a few pictures from the early years. I upgraded some bits to get to 400bhp and got it resprayed but nothing too extreme at this stage. Engine wise, at this point the car sported-
Link G4 ECU
550cc injectors
Hybrid turbo
Front mount intercooler
HKS intake
Stage 4 clutch and lightened flywheel
Kakimoto titanium exhaust
This proved to be just enough to be lively, and me and my friend Liam (or getawayturtle on here) had some great memories (him in the Subaru Impreza) on various drives and car meets.
Upon inspection over the following months from purchase the car did need a lot of work to limp through MOT's, and I slowly lost interest in favour of other cars and bikes.
With the purchase of my first house in 2022 (a garage and workshop were a necessity of course, this being PH after all!) I finally had the space and time to really concentrate on the Skyline after years of neglect. After driving the car home from my ever patient mum's house, I did a quick health check and realised something wasn't well, with cylinder compression right down on number 5.
Now I had the choice to either rebuild the engine in situ, or go for a forged engine that I never managed to justify previously. After talking myself into this big commitment I realised that perhaps it would be best to paint the engine bay whilst it's out, of course this led to wanting to redo some welding, so I might as well get a respray at this point. As these things do, it started to spiral out of control...
As it happens, JDM Garage had a spare forged engine for sale with an absolutely phenomenonal spec. It was also a great price as it was surplus to requirement. Whilst it was out I also decided to go for a G30-900 top mount turbo to save faffing about later. Before I could collect my new engine I needed to rip out my old one as a P/X to claw a little of the money back...
And it's out, possibly for the first time in it's life!
As you can see the car is in a pretty sorry state, and needs lots of attention.
Not wanting to lose momentum, the rest of the car was stripped and surveyed giving the opportunity to work out a realistic budget and sensible timeframe. It became apparent that there was more rust hidden than expected, but nothing terminal. I'll apologise for the photos, I took them more as a reference aid and not for a readers car thread so they aren't particularly exciting but they explain the situation better than I can!
|https://thumbsnap.com/f2Kmd47K[/url]
With all the bits off the car, I set about putting the shell on a turnover stand for ease of access for each stage of the project, including welding, blasting, caging and respraying. I'd thoroughly recommend getting in touch with Ade Foreman (of Ade Foreman Light Engineering) if you are in the market for a turnover stand, and the active Facebook community is a splendid resource.
On to the rust.
With the shell mobile, it was given a good prodding to get some photos to give my friend an idea on time and funds required for welding. He's a fast worker and thinks he can do it in a day!
With everything ready and stored I was in a position to pick up the engine and turbo kit. It felt very surreal actually bringing it home after the long wait! Naturally, the whole assembly is now being built up in my living room as unfortunately my house budget wouldn't stretch to a clean room, I'll get some more pictures as the ancillaries are added. Saying that, here are some photos from the advert.
This is pretty much where I am now. All going well the car will be welded by May 23, and it is booked in for shot blasting and roll cage installation straight after that. Following this, I can tinker with the assemblies such as subframes, racks and suspension components in my garage over the winter whilst I have a think on how to tackle the respray. The big question is, what colour to go for?
On to the backstory-
After finally getting a space that I can work on the car I jumped straight in, with an ambition to build a track car with an MOT capability so I can go to the odd car meet or friday commute.
I got my first Skyline at 19. Having visited my local Japanese car importer, I was given the choice of a R32 GTR, or a R33 GTS for about the same price. In hindsight, I should have got the poster car, however, I still enjoyed the Gunmetal Grey GTS. It really was immaculate, but the single cam 2.0 litre engine didn't do the car any justice.
On to the turbo variant. I got the subject car sometime around 2011 after a very long ride to the south coast to part ex my zx6r. Having looked at the car on a dark night (a rookie mistake), and not wanting to ride back I went ahead with the deal.
Here are a few pictures from the early years. I upgraded some bits to get to 400bhp and got it resprayed but nothing too extreme at this stage. Engine wise, at this point the car sported-
Link G4 ECU
550cc injectors
Hybrid turbo
Front mount intercooler
HKS intake
Stage 4 clutch and lightened flywheel
Kakimoto titanium exhaust
This proved to be just enough to be lively, and me and my friend Liam (or getawayturtle on here) had some great memories (him in the Subaru Impreza) on various drives and car meets.
Upon inspection over the following months from purchase the car did need a lot of work to limp through MOT's, and I slowly lost interest in favour of other cars and bikes.
With the purchase of my first house in 2022 (a garage and workshop were a necessity of course, this being PH after all!) I finally had the space and time to really concentrate on the Skyline after years of neglect. After driving the car home from my ever patient mum's house, I did a quick health check and realised something wasn't well, with cylinder compression right down on number 5.
Now I had the choice to either rebuild the engine in situ, or go for a forged engine that I never managed to justify previously. After talking myself into this big commitment I realised that perhaps it would be best to paint the engine bay whilst it's out, of course this led to wanting to redo some welding, so I might as well get a respray at this point. As these things do, it started to spiral out of control...
As it happens, JDM Garage had a spare forged engine for sale with an absolutely phenomenonal spec. It was also a great price as it was surplus to requirement. Whilst it was out I also decided to go for a G30-900 top mount turbo to save faffing about later. Before I could collect my new engine I needed to rip out my old one as a P/X to claw a little of the money back...
And it's out, possibly for the first time in it's life!
As you can see the car is in a pretty sorry state, and needs lots of attention.
Not wanting to lose momentum, the rest of the car was stripped and surveyed giving the opportunity to work out a realistic budget and sensible timeframe. It became apparent that there was more rust hidden than expected, but nothing terminal. I'll apologise for the photos, I took them more as a reference aid and not for a readers car thread so they aren't particularly exciting but they explain the situation better than I can!
|https://thumbsnap.com/f2Kmd47K[/url]With all the bits off the car, I set about putting the shell on a turnover stand for ease of access for each stage of the project, including welding, blasting, caging and respraying. I'd thoroughly recommend getting in touch with Ade Foreman (of Ade Foreman Light Engineering) if you are in the market for a turnover stand, and the active Facebook community is a splendid resource.
On to the rust.
With the shell mobile, it was given a good prodding to get some photos to give my friend an idea on time and funds required for welding. He's a fast worker and thinks he can do it in a day!
With everything ready and stored I was in a position to pick up the engine and turbo kit. It felt very surreal actually bringing it home after the long wait! Naturally, the whole assembly is now being built up in my living room as unfortunately my house budget wouldn't stretch to a clean room, I'll get some more pictures as the ancillaries are added. Saying that, here are some photos from the advert.
This is pretty much where I am now. All going well the car will be welded by May 23, and it is booked in for shot blasting and roll cage installation straight after that. Following this, I can tinker with the assemblies such as subframes, racks and suspension components in my garage over the winter whilst I have a think on how to tackle the respray. The big question is, what colour to go for?
Thanks for sharing, and it's cool to see your journey with the car.
I have to admit I'm a bit incredulous that a R32 GTR was ever the same money as a R33 GTS 2.0 N/A, but I know that values have moved a lot since 20 years ago.
I have vivid memories of being given a passenger ride in a tuned R33 GTS-T in Japan, it was dumping a lot of unburnt fuel on upshifts and lighting up the night. There's something cool and ground-hugging about the R33 shape with the right subtle body mods.
I'm no expert but to me that rust looks like more than a day's work to do a half-decent job of, quite a lot of cutting back and some fabrication would look to be needed. Need to keep your friend well supplied with caffeine, amphetamines etc when he comes over!
What are you doing for engine management on the race engine? There's mention of warranty, does it come with specific requirements you need to follow in terms of installation, running in etc?
The Gunmetal grey your first car was in always looks good to me, maybe otherwise a dark metallic colour, blue red or green? I think the darker metallic shades suit the R33 shape personally.
Good luck, seems like a huge amount to do but you've come quite a long way already.
I have to admit I'm a bit incredulous that a R32 GTR was ever the same money as a R33 GTS 2.0 N/A, but I know that values have moved a lot since 20 years ago.
I have vivid memories of being given a passenger ride in a tuned R33 GTS-T in Japan, it was dumping a lot of unburnt fuel on upshifts and lighting up the night. There's something cool and ground-hugging about the R33 shape with the right subtle body mods.
I'm no expert but to me that rust looks like more than a day's work to do a half-decent job of, quite a lot of cutting back and some fabrication would look to be needed. Need to keep your friend well supplied with caffeine, amphetamines etc when he comes over!
What are you doing for engine management on the race engine? There's mention of warranty, does it come with specific requirements you need to follow in terms of installation, running in etc?
The Gunmetal grey your first car was in always looks good to me, maybe otherwise a dark metallic colour, blue red or green? I think the darker metallic shades suit the R33 shape personally.
Good luck, seems like a huge amount to do but you've come quite a long way already.
samoht said:
Thanks for sharing, and it's cool to see your journey with the car.
I have to admit I'm a bit incredulous that a R32 GTR was ever the same money as a R33 GTS 2.0 N/A, but I know that values have moved a lot since 20 years ago.
I have vivid memories of being given a passenger ride in a tuned R33 GTS-T in Japan, it was dumping a lot of unburnt fuel on upshifts and lighting up the night. There's something cool and ground-hugging about the R33 shape with the right subtle body mods.
I'm no expert but to me that rust looks like more than a day's work to do a half-decent job of, quite a lot of cutting back and some fabrication would look to be needed. Need to keep your friend well supplied with caffeine, amphetamines etc when he comes over!
What are you doing for engine management on the race engine? There's mention of warranty, does it come with specific requirements you need to follow in terms of installation, running in etc?
The Gunmetal grey your first car was in always looks good to me, maybe otherwise a dark metallic colour, blue red or green? I think the darker metallic shades suit the R33 shape personally.
Good luck, seems like a huge amount to do but you've come quite a long way already.
Thanks for the comment.I have to admit I'm a bit incredulous that a R32 GTR was ever the same money as a R33 GTS 2.0 N/A, but I know that values have moved a lot since 20 years ago.
I have vivid memories of being given a passenger ride in a tuned R33 GTS-T in Japan, it was dumping a lot of unburnt fuel on upshifts and lighting up the night. There's something cool and ground-hugging about the R33 shape with the right subtle body mods.
I'm no expert but to me that rust looks like more than a day's work to do a half-decent job of, quite a lot of cutting back and some fabrication would look to be needed. Need to keep your friend well supplied with caffeine, amphetamines etc when he comes over!
What are you doing for engine management on the race engine? There's mention of warranty, does it come with specific requirements you need to follow in terms of installation, running in etc?
The Gunmetal grey your first car was in always looks good to me, maybe otherwise a dark metallic colour, blue red or green? I think the darker metallic shades suit the R33 shape personally.
Good luck, seems like a huge amount to do but you've come quite a long way already.
I did look quite recently at renting a R34 GTR in Japan, and the price seems fairly reasonable. Perhaps that is something that could be taken off the back-burner!
You were right on the timing, so far we are 11 hours in, but that has done the vast majority of it, leaving the boot floor to be done at a later date. Even with everything stripped and wire wheeled there is always some rust hidden away. My friend doing the welding is being quite methodical, so I'm sure this will give the car another 30 years.
As for engine management there is quite a choice now, but I will be sticking with the Link ecu I have as that was quite an investment and my tuner likes to work with it. Realistically the engine warranty will have expired by the time I turn the key, so I am more invested in the good reviews I have heard from the supplier and builder of the engine.
Colour- as much as I loved the Gunmetal Grey, I think I'm going to go for something bold on this. Definitely a colour you'd get out of a skittles packet!
For now the car is with JP Cages for blasting, roll cage installation and epoxy primer to give me a bit of breathing room whilst I think about the next stage. The car will be there for a few weeks so I'm hoping to finish building up the engine ancillaries in the down time.
[url]The Rotrex Kid said:
Great work,that amount of rust would put a lot of people off so well done on getting that sorted! Look forward to seeing the engine put together.
The rust did look scary but I think I managed to save a lot of "paid for" time by striping it down so far, it's looking to be around £1000 all in for the welding so I'm very happy with that!Fairly steady progress of test fitting the new manifolds and turbo to the long block. At least this is the main bits (financially) out of the way. I'll have to have a think before I ask the table to support the starter motor, alternator and power steering pump as well!
offspring86 said:
Looks like this will be a great project, will be great to see it develop.
Really makes me miss my GTS-T, I owned mine between 2007 and 2009. It's eye watering how expensive they have become now!
Cheers mate, lovely looking car. Can you see yourself getting another one or is it a bit old hat now? I think we might be at the peak for prices now that the American import excitement has died down.Really makes me miss my GTS-T, I owned mine between 2007 and 2009. It's eye watering how expensive they have become now!
Thanks, the next update will be getting the car back from getting it's roll cage which I'm very excited about. I've also been keeping an eye on discounts and offers on my eBay watch list as they pop up, so hopefully I'll everything ready to put on at once, even 5% off each part makes a big difference over the whole project!
PainTrain said:
Cheers mate, lovely looking car. Can you see yourself getting another one or is it a bit old hat now? I think we might be at the peak for prices now that the American import excitement has died down.
Thanks, the next update will be getting the car back from getting it's roll cage which I'm very excited about. I've also been keeping an eye on discounts and offers on my eBay watch list as they pop up, so hopefully I'll everything ready to put on at once, even 5% off each part makes a big difference over the whole project!
I would love one, but the cost is a bit too much for me nowadays. I sold mine for £3,800 in 09, the cheapest one on PH is £14,500!Thanks, the next update will be getting the car back from getting it's roll cage which I'm very excited about. I've also been keeping an eye on discounts and offers on my eBay watch list as they pop up, so hopefully I'll everything ready to put on at once, even 5% off each part makes a big difference over the whole project!
dapper said:
Great start so far. Will be good to follow. Hopefully all goes well
Thanks, much appreciated!I've been away from the car for a little while, however, progress has continued in my absence.
JP Cages have been busy media blasting and giving a coat of epoxy primer, finishing this off with a JPC3 cage being welded in. No going back now!
This process has uncovered some more rot, some expected, some not, so this will mean another trip to get the last of the welding done.
I think it will be a while until I get the car in for a respray, giving me a chance to continue hoarding parts when there are sales/ discounts offered.
Long time with no update.
Whilst the main body of the car was having various work done to it, I started to plod along with the main assemblies.
Subframe & associated assemblies
Whilst the subframe was off it seemed like the perfect opportunity to refresh and upgrade.
As you can see it had seen better days but was certainly in scope for saving.
Once stripped I upgraded certain weak spots that have been known to fail when pushed further than intended from the factory.
With all of the fundamental strengthening undertaken the subframe was then powdercoated, after that it was time for new solid bushes to stop it moving about under load (this did make it very hard to reinstall!).
With the subframe ready the hubs could be refreshed. Having been on the car with minimal attention paid for 30 years pretty much everything was due a life extension.
A mix of burning, pressing, drilling and cutting got all of the soft parts out
With everything disassembled the bits to be retained were sandblasted and coated, with new seals and bearings installed.
Dust shield modified to allow for larger brakes
Rear brake test fit and new suspension arms sourced from Driftworks.
The diff was sent away to be upgraded with a 1.5 way KAAZ unit.
Although a known weak spot, I refurbished the driveshafts to OEM spec, if any part of the drive train is to fail this is the cheapest and easiest part to replace, so this has been left as a sacrificial component for now.
A late finish, but another big chunk complete.
Whilst the main body of the car was having various work done to it, I started to plod along with the main assemblies.
Subframe & associated assemblies
Whilst the subframe was off it seemed like the perfect opportunity to refresh and upgrade.
As you can see it had seen better days but was certainly in scope for saving.
Once stripped I upgraded certain weak spots that have been known to fail when pushed further than intended from the factory.
With all of the fundamental strengthening undertaken the subframe was then powdercoated, after that it was time for new solid bushes to stop it moving about under load (this did make it very hard to reinstall!).
With the subframe ready the hubs could be refreshed. Having been on the car with minimal attention paid for 30 years pretty much everything was due a life extension.
A mix of burning, pressing, drilling and cutting got all of the soft parts out
With everything disassembled the bits to be retained were sandblasted and coated, with new seals and bearings installed.
Dust shield modified to allow for larger brakes
Rear brake test fit and new suspension arms sourced from Driftworks.
The diff was sent away to be upgraded with a 1.5 way KAAZ unit.
Although a known weak spot, I refurbished the driveshafts to OEM spec, if any part of the drive train is to fail this is the cheapest and easiest part to replace, so this has been left as a sacrificial component for now.
A late finish, but another big chunk complete.
Underbody prep
With the car still on the turnover stand I went about treating the underside to give it the best chance possible to last another 32 years.
This is how the car had come back from the roll cage installation and epoxy primer.
For the next few stages I followed a walk-through provided by SR Autosource for underside restoration. I thoroughly recommend the shop and the products.
First the bits of bare metal that were exposed had a treatment of rust converter, with a coat of zinc phosphate primer going over the top. The colour makes it very easy to track how much coverage the next steps are getting. With this on, seam sealer was applied.
I forgot to photograph the next two steps, applying the rubberised stone chip and finishing it off with a few coats of RAL enamel.
Finished.
With the car (still) in the air oversized fuel lines and battery cables were installed.
Access also allowed fitment of the fuel tank whilst the subframe was off the car. 2 450 litre per hour pumps were fitted at this point.
Also, a quick test fit for the fuel lines to the fuel pressure regulator
With all of this done, it was time to concentrate on the front suspension setup.
With the car still on the turnover stand I went about treating the underside to give it the best chance possible to last another 32 years.
This is how the car had come back from the roll cage installation and epoxy primer.
For the next few stages I followed a walk-through provided by SR Autosource for underside restoration. I thoroughly recommend the shop and the products.
First the bits of bare metal that were exposed had a treatment of rust converter, with a coat of zinc phosphate primer going over the top. The colour makes it very easy to track how much coverage the next steps are getting. With this on, seam sealer was applied.
I forgot to photograph the next two steps, applying the rubberised stone chip and finishing it off with a few coats of RAL enamel.
Finished.
With the car (still) in the air oversized fuel lines and battery cables were installed.
Access also allowed fitment of the fuel tank whilst the subframe was off the car. 2 450 litre per hour pumps were fitted at this point.
Also, a quick test fit for the fuel lines to the fuel pressure regulator
With all of this done, it was time to concentrate on the front suspension setup.
Front suspension
As expected the front suspension wasn't in any better shape than the rest of the car, it got the same treatment as the rear.
Stripping process.
All ready for cleaning and coating.
And built up.
In this timeframe I also bought some new brakes and wheels so it was time for a test fit.
With it looking as though everything fitted and had clearance I took the main assemblies off for storage, hoping the next time it all went on, it would be staying on.
As expected the front suspension wasn't in any better shape than the rest of the car, it got the same treatment as the rear.
Stripping process.
All ready for cleaning and coating.
And built up.
In this timeframe I also bought some new brakes and wheels so it was time for a test fit.
With it looking as though everything fitted and had clearance I took the main assemblies off for storage, hoping the next time it all went on, it would be staying on.
Wheels on
After 2 years of on and off progress the car is finally rolling on its own wheels, this felt like a huge milestone.
Of course, the new wheels would need some more room to move so new overfenders have been ordered and they looked like they would give just enough clearance.
With the car almost ready to go to the bodyshop all panels were loosely assembled to check for deficiencies.
Looking like a real car again it was time to get the car to a professional! JM Details were identified as a bodyshop who would like a large JDM fibreglass project, and inspired by the reviews I could find, it was booked in and transported.
Out of my care for now.
Jason will be bonding on the rear wings after modifications to the rear arches to allow clearance. Also there are lots of parts of the car that need attention to get the best results from the imminent paint job. This work is ongoing so the next update on the respray may be a couple of months away.
After 2 years of on and off progress the car is finally rolling on its own wheels, this felt like a huge milestone.
Of course, the new wheels would need some more room to move so new overfenders have been ordered and they looked like they would give just enough clearance.
With the car almost ready to go to the bodyshop all panels were loosely assembled to check for deficiencies.
Looking like a real car again it was time to get the car to a professional! JM Details were identified as a bodyshop who would like a large JDM fibreglass project, and inspired by the reviews I could find, it was booked in and transported.
Out of my care for now.
Jason will be bonding on the rear wings after modifications to the rear arches to allow clearance. Also there are lots of parts of the car that need attention to get the best results from the imminent paint job. This work is ongoing so the next update on the respray may be a couple of months away.
More cars
As progress slowed down on this project I found myself spending more time on eBay to get back into an exciting car before the Skyline's completion. Of course, in turn, these cars are turning into (admittedly smaller) projects in their own right.
I've always loved the philosophy behind the VXR8, and I couldn't decide between this and an M5
A nice example came up for sale about 30 miles away and I sent a couple of light emails to the seller asking about it. I was invited to have a look to chat about the ownership experience with no pressure to buy at all. Of course, I got the car.
After new headers and a tune it made 500 BHP.
It turned out to have a few niggles in fast succession that are mostly resolved, but I am now waiting for a new alternator.
As a more sensible daily I couldn't resist the nostalgia of another Citroën AX (I had a 1997 954cc Debut as my first car). I fancied a Mk1 this time as I always thought of them as quite quirky. I must say that I enjoy driving this car more than any other vehicle from the last few years. Very basic and fun motoring.
When the Skyline is complete I'd like to restore an AX GT as a lighter project.
As progress slowed down on this project I found myself spending more time on eBay to get back into an exciting car before the Skyline's completion. Of course, in turn, these cars are turning into (admittedly smaller) projects in their own right.
I've always loved the philosophy behind the VXR8, and I couldn't decide between this and an M5
A nice example came up for sale about 30 miles away and I sent a couple of light emails to the seller asking about it. I was invited to have a look to chat about the ownership experience with no pressure to buy at all. Of course, I got the car.
After new headers and a tune it made 500 BHP.
It turned out to have a few niggles in fast succession that are mostly resolved, but I am now waiting for a new alternator.
As a more sensible daily I couldn't resist the nostalgia of another Citroën AX (I had a 1997 954cc Debut as my first car). I fancied a Mk1 this time as I always thought of them as quite quirky. I must say that I enjoy driving this car more than any other vehicle from the last few years. Very basic and fun motoring.
When the Skyline is complete I'd like to restore an AX GT as a lighter project.
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