Nissan Skyline (R33) GTR
Discussion
For those not aware, over the last two years I've been going through cars as an automotive bucket list. I sold my Evo V a few months ago by accident (speculative free ad on Gumtree resulted in a sale 3 days later which netted a tidy profit) and have been procrastinating about my next car ever since.
I spent a number weeks researching/viewing RX7s (as 'rotary' is on the list) but never had the bravery to commit to a purchase, knowing at any point it could deliver a massive bill for no reason. Then I thought I should sell my Saab daily and get an RX8 as a daily, this turned out to be an even bigger lottery than the 7 with even more shonky cars around.
The whole point of my bucket list was to work 'up' to an R33 GTR. I know is percieved to be the worst (R32 is purest, R34 is for scene kiddies) but I didn't care, it was an R33 or nowt, and it HAD to be midnight purple.
I spent weeks scouring the Japanese auctions sites, spotting a couple of potential cars but further research proving they were either clocked, crashed or massively out of budget. The crap value of the £ not helping at all recently.
Searching classifieds was a fruitless task, sifting ads of expensive dealer stock, or looking at dealers I rather cut my arm off than deal with (you know, the ones in High Wycombe, Keighley and Cheshire) I was starting to abandon hope. Then I spot a private ad, pics aren't great and the description is a bit brief, but its the only purple one for sale. A bit of google-fu later I find it for sale on the GTR OC with loads more info and input from the previous owner. Quick text fired off, a massive portfolio of pics later and a deal is struck.
So heres the bit you've been waiting for:
Spec is massive (and I will list it all at some point) but the key points are its got over 500bhp through a Precision 6266 turbo with some serious money chucked at suspension and brakes.
It's comfortably the quickest thing I've been in, but its been mapped for full throttle, so is laggy and a bit gutless off boost. Plan is to have a local tuner lower the headline bhp number and give it a bit more drive-ability.
It also has a naffing great 4" titanium straight pipe, which is massively anti social. Great fun but won't be stopping long!!
More pics to follow when I've been out in it later
I spent a number weeks researching/viewing RX7s (as 'rotary' is on the list) but never had the bravery to commit to a purchase, knowing at any point it could deliver a massive bill for no reason. Then I thought I should sell my Saab daily and get an RX8 as a daily, this turned out to be an even bigger lottery than the 7 with even more shonky cars around.
The whole point of my bucket list was to work 'up' to an R33 GTR. I know is percieved to be the worst (R32 is purest, R34 is for scene kiddies) but I didn't care, it was an R33 or nowt, and it HAD to be midnight purple.
I spent weeks scouring the Japanese auctions sites, spotting a couple of potential cars but further research proving they were either clocked, crashed or massively out of budget. The crap value of the £ not helping at all recently.
Searching classifieds was a fruitless task, sifting ads of expensive dealer stock, or looking at dealers I rather cut my arm off than deal with (you know, the ones in High Wycombe, Keighley and Cheshire) I was starting to abandon hope. Then I spot a private ad, pics aren't great and the description is a bit brief, but its the only purple one for sale. A bit of google-fu later I find it for sale on the GTR OC with loads more info and input from the previous owner. Quick text fired off, a massive portfolio of pics later and a deal is struck.
So heres the bit you've been waiting for:
Spec is massive (and I will list it all at some point) but the key points are its got over 500bhp through a Precision 6266 turbo with some serious money chucked at suspension and brakes.
It's comfortably the quickest thing I've been in, but its been mapped for full throttle, so is laggy and a bit gutless off boost. Plan is to have a local tuner lower the headline bhp number and give it a bit more drive-ability.
It also has a naffing great 4" titanium straight pipe, which is massively anti social. Great fun but won't be stopping long!!
More pics to follow when I've been out in it later
Edited by KarlMac on Friday 26th August 20:09
As promised, a few snaps from various photographers last night:
And the spec:
Engine:
Link G4 ECU – Mapped by MGT - 1.2bar 540bhp
Precision 6266 Dual Ball Bearing turbo w/ 4” Surge Housing
Twin 38mm Tial External Wastegates
Turbo Blanket
6 Boost Manifold
120mm Intercooler
Mishimoto Aluminium Radiator
HKS Intercooler Piping
4” Stainless Steel Downpipe
4” Custom made titanium straight pipe
Splitfires
Do-Luck Ignition Kit
Mines Cam Baffles
Custom Aluminium Breather Tank and Washer Bottle
HKS Oil Cooler with Thermostatic Sandwich Plate
AEM Wideband sensor
OS Giken Push/Pull Converter
OS Giken TS3B Triple plate clutch
Deutchworks 340lph intank pump
Chassis:
Meister R Coilovers
D2 355mm 6 Pot brakes in Purple
Ultralite Nurburgring Wheels with Falken tyres.
Auto Select Strut Brace
Brake Master Cylinder Stopper
Polybush Gearbox Cross member
Body:
D-Max Carbon Vented Bonnet
Genuine Nismo Rear Spats
Nismo Clear Front Indicators
Nismo Clear Side Indicators
Interior:
AEM Wideband Gauge
AEM Boost Gauge
Things that need sorting
- A pillar pod mount needs securing properly.
- Mapping to be looked at. Feels like its mapped for full throttle and not much else. Very boggy lower down the revs and has a real stalling issue when cold
- Generaly tidy up/clean.
At some point next year I'll get some forged internals and crank the turbo up. Its allegedly good for 800bhp so lets see what happens
And the spec:
Engine:
Link G4 ECU – Mapped by MGT - 1.2bar 540bhp
Precision 6266 Dual Ball Bearing turbo w/ 4” Surge Housing
Twin 38mm Tial External Wastegates
Turbo Blanket
6 Boost Manifold
120mm Intercooler
Mishimoto Aluminium Radiator
HKS Intercooler Piping
4” Stainless Steel Downpipe
4” Custom made titanium straight pipe
Splitfires
Do-Luck Ignition Kit
Mines Cam Baffles
Custom Aluminium Breather Tank and Washer Bottle
HKS Oil Cooler with Thermostatic Sandwich Plate
AEM Wideband sensor
OS Giken Push/Pull Converter
OS Giken TS3B Triple plate clutch
Deutchworks 340lph intank pump
Chassis:
Meister R Coilovers
D2 355mm 6 Pot brakes in Purple
Ultralite Nurburgring Wheels with Falken tyres.
Auto Select Strut Brace
Brake Master Cylinder Stopper
Polybush Gearbox Cross member
Body:
D-Max Carbon Vented Bonnet
Genuine Nismo Rear Spats
Nismo Clear Front Indicators
Nismo Clear Side Indicators
Interior:
AEM Wideband Gauge
AEM Boost Gauge
Things that need sorting
- A pillar pod mount needs securing properly.
- Mapping to be looked at. Feels like its mapped for full throttle and not much else. Very boggy lower down the revs and has a real stalling issue when cold
- Generaly tidy up/clean.
At some point next year I'll get some forged internals and crank the turbo up. Its allegedly good for 800bhp so lets see what happens
griffin dai said:
Really nice 
So a tad quicker than the Saab then
Just a tad!So a tad quicker than the Saab then
MDMA . said:
looks good. I think the R33 is the better looking one. would love to find a standard, late model one in white
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/n...
Hoofy said:
Nice. Best to get the model you really want than what others say you should get.
The lack of power at low revs can be overcome by feathering the clutch and letting the revs rise to 4000 as you pull away. Probably not ideal for the clutch to do it every time, though, but it seemed to help for the quickest getaways when I had my R32.
Been trying this, but the straight pipe makes you sound like a learner The lack of power at low revs can be overcome by feathering the clutch and letting the revs rise to 4000 as you pull away. Probably not ideal for the clutch to do it every time, though, but it seemed to help for the quickest getaways when I had my R32.
Thanks for the comments people.
Edited by KarlMac on Tuesday 16th August 23:19
Given the sun was out me and a friend decided to have a drive over to Newark for the Horsepower At The Hall / Gearheads At The Ground monthly meet. If your anywhere near Newark I'd strongly recommend having a run out as its a really good relaxed meet with a mixture of cars.
There were a few cameras out so I'm hoping someone got video of me leaving. Sounds really vain but I'm keen to hear just how loud that exhaust is from outside
There were a few cameras out so I'm hoping someone got video of me leaving. Sounds really vain but I'm keen to hear just how loud that exhaust is from outside
giblet said:
Very nicw, congrats. I rather liked your Evo but this is one step above. Hopefully I'll get to see it around at a meet.
I was really upset as soon as the Evo drove off. Made a right cock up selling that. Looking forward to getting the Skyline up to Scalm Park if theres another meet, will keep an eye peeled for meets towards S. Yorks.
Also, someone kindly sent me this
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJbOaVohIR3/
"I don't feel safe any more"
bigmuzzie said:
Something I've meant to ask a person with carbon panels - does it annoy you that you can polish the paint work but the carbon panels obviously don't have the same lustre? I'm not sure I could cope!
As my friends will testify, i'm not a big detailer, I resent having to put wax on it! This bonnet actually has a decent amount of laquer so it does have a gloss/wet look to it. I wad also on the fence about the bonnet when I saw the pics, in the flesh it just looks right.
macky17 said:
Who do you insure with out of interest and how complicated is it? I've never insured anything with so many mods - doubt admiral would be interested...
Previously my modified cars have been through Greenlight, but they don't touch anything over 500bhp. Currently its with Sky Insurance, limited miles and agreed value policy is less than £500 per year. This is where the specialists that you see advertise on here (footman James/Keith Michaels etc...) come into their own. rainmasterb said:
Great to see this awesome car in the metal on Sunday. Sorry I didn't get chance to speak with you for long Karl (I'm on the entrance with the bucket at Horsepower at the Hall - Gearheads at the 'ground). Will you be returning for the next show on September 18th?
Absolutely, not as keen on the new venue but its still a good meet. Took the car to Cobra exhausts this morning to see what could be done about the exhaust.
Unfortunately they couldn't help as the exhaust is a 4" S/S dump pipe with a V band connector to the rear section, which is literally a 4" titanium tube to the rear of the car. Also, these wont be helping.
For those not familiar these are straight of the wastegates, they should be routed back into the dump pipe. These aren't.
Cobra don't seem to be interested in bespoke work any more, so they've referred me to a company called Nortec near me, we'll see how we get on.
Also battling with immobiliser based gremlins at the moment. If they continue then I'll be phoning my regular alarm guy to rip the lot out and get a Clifford fitted.
No major update, other than I gave it a proper clean and tried some Purple Haze wax from Dodo Juice. Never really been into detailing / cleaning etc... but I've been really impressed with the finish. Hard work to apply from the small tester pot though!
It was my birthday last week and a family member kindly bought me this.
Lovely!
It was my birthday last week and a family member kindly bought me this.
Lovely!
So today I went along to a local car clubs rolling road day being held at Noble Motorsport, car feels strong but its always good to have an expert check it.
Absolutely delighted with what it ran. Had a good chat with Mike at Noble about smoothing the line and getting some more power further down. It should be possible to make it not quite as savage.
Amazingly its still making power at rev limit and AFR / boost is rock steady. All credit to the previous owner and MGT for the mapping...
video of the run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LEyAqf4TG0
Absolutely delighted with what it ran. Had a good chat with Mike at Noble about smoothing the line and getting some more power further down. It should be possible to make it not quite as savage.
Amazingly its still making power at rev limit and AFR / boost is rock steady. All credit to the previous owner and MGT for the mapping...
video of the run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LEyAqf4TG0
Edited by KarlMac on Saturday 1st October 22:29
Olivera said:
Impressive peak bhp figures, but that does not look like a good power curve at all for road use. Very little happens until over 5k rpm!
This is my big issue with 'drive-ability'. It's amazing if you can keep it lit and up the revs but useless in any sort of traffic. Clutch doesn't help matters either...samoht said:
The 'sensible' thing to do would be to sell that monster turbo and fit a smaller one - you would probably still get 500hp+, with power through much more of the rev range. But that may or may not be the fun thing to do
This would be the very sensible solution. Something like a Garret GTX35xx. However the more fun solution (and one that will probably come in due course) is to chuck some cams in, forge the internals, baffled sump with race bearings and crank to boost up. bigkeeko said:
KarlMac said:
R34 is for scene kiddies)
course it is.
So car is going into semi hibernation for the winter now, couple of things to address while its not being used
- Have rear arch re-painted
- Look at having wheels refubished
- New end plates for rear spoiler
- Remove rear wiper
- Fine a permanent home for boost/AFR gauges.
- Get a quote for a sensible exhaust.
Most of the big bits will have to wait until Christmas is out of the way.
Also got out this weekend with a fellow PHer and his new purchase
https://m.facebook.com/karlmactakespics/albums/180...tn=C
- Have rear arch re-painted
- Look at having wheels refubished
- New end plates for rear spoiler
- Remove rear wiper
- Fine a permanent home for boost/AFR gauges.
- Get a quote for a sensible exhaust.
Most of the big bits will have to wait until Christmas is out of the way.
Also got out this weekend with a fellow PHer and his new purchase
https://m.facebook.com/karlmactakespics/albums/180...tn=C
Edited by KarlMac on Wednesday 2nd November 11:43
Holy thread revival batman!
So the car has been getting a lot of attention. Fully rebuilt coilovers with new ride height and geo set up, full service (every drop of fluid changed) and various other tidy up jobs (new badges etc).
It also had a video shoot with YouTube FN Lew, looking forward to seeing the end product when it's uploaded.
So the car has been getting a lot of attention. Fully rebuilt coilovers with new ride height and geo set up, full service (every drop of fluid changed) and various other tidy up jobs (new badges etc).
It also had a video shoot with YouTube FN Lew, looking forward to seeing the end product when it's uploaded.
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