So I know some of you are familiar with my car when it was for sale or saw it for the short time it was down in Florida. I picked it up in the end for what I consider was a fair price, is it perfect? No, the body needs some refining but i'm ok with that I love modified bodies and have built a couple wide body cars in the past so I have some big plans for that. I will be molding in the rear fenders at some point and swapping out some of the other body parts as we go as well. The drive train is very solid though and that was something I was definitely looking for. This specific car may not have been for everyone but it is absolutely the one for me. I am 100% in love with her and can't get over how happy I am when i'm behind the wheel!

Well here are some details and pics since I have owned her over the past few weeks, these are posts from another Skyline forum im on.

Well after close to a 2000 mile journey with only a minor hiccup I have my baby safely back in Colorado.



Here she is tucked in my garage for the first time as the sun was rising after a 25 hour long drive.

First thing I needed to address was the alternator. My new/used model arrvied from a JDM parts guy in Miami. Removal and Install went fairly smoothly, I did not have a jack that was low enough to slip under my car so the alternator swap was done from the top. I had to pull the right side intercooler HKS hard pipe and it was smooth sailing from there.



Fried Alternator on the left, good on the right.

All ready to go in.

Once I finished up that little task I pulled the K&N air filters that were nasty and black, used a clean and recharge kit and they are as good as new. I know these aren't the most exciting upgrades/repairs but they are a good start that have her back on the road running well again and will allow me to keep my appointment next Friday for a baseline run on the dyno.

Matt

This weekend I was able to get a few things done. In the trunk of my car when I picked it up was a second drivers side A-Pillar with an empty 2 gauge pod mounted to it.
I installed an old Autometer Boost gauge I had laying around and found that I am running at like 8.5 lbs of boost. I did some more looking at my engine compartment and followed up with some online research into the whole boost restricter and pill in the vacuum line. Take a look at this picture:



So the factory boost restricter has been deleted completely. So in theory as I understand it right now I should be running at waste gate boost pressure, right? Is that roughly 8 to 9 lbs of boost? I'm thinking when I am at the dyno on Friday I may go ahead and install a MBC and set it up for 13 lbs of boost. That should be a safe amount based on my research on the factory turbos.

I was also looking into my stereo system that sounded to be a little bit more than just a nice Pioneer aftermarket deck. So the deck is a Pioneer DEH P4000UB, the door and deck speakers are JL Components and there is a Clarion Pro Audio 600 Watt Sub pushing the door and deck speakers. While it sounded good it did not quite have the bass in it I was looking for so I added a West Coast Customs 1200 watt sub with a pair of their 12's in a ported box. All in all it sounds phenominal and I am in the process of using a dynamat like product on the trunk lid to get rid of the minor rattle I get from the bass. The Sub box is set up so I can easily pull it out for track days so it won't add weight and slide around.

I started on my shopping list of mods this is the list in the order that I plan to pick them up, I would like to build up to a 500-550 at the wheels HP. Since I haven't posted it in this thread yet here are the current stats for my car:

ENGINE
- R34 GTR long block with R32 cams / turbos and management with stock tune.
- New timing belt
- New N1 water pump
- New N1 oil pump (R34 motors come stock with the better crank and oil drive issue solved!)
- Mines style large intakes with K&N cone filters
- HKS aluminum intercooler piping.
- Turbo XS RFL blow off valve
- ACT heavy duty Clutch
- 3 to 4" catback exhaust
- Short throw shifter

BODY
- Full BeeR style R324 wide body kit
- Recent base and clear. Paint code Nissan super white 623

SUSPENSION
-Tein spring and shock combo made specifically for an R32 GTR. The car rides comfortably and handles very well.
-Rear Strut Bar (not sure what type)

My Shopping List:

Factor R34 wheels (18x9) on order now with Bridgeston Protenza 245/40/ZR18's
AEM Tru Boost (boost gauge and controller)
AEM Wideband O2 Gauge
AEM EGT Gauge
Haltech ECU with E85 sensor
Down Pipe (unsure on which one)
Upgraded Fuel Pump (Still researching which one to go with)
Fuel Injectors thinking 1000 CC (depend on final turbo choice)
TOMEI Headers and dump pipes
Turbos, I am leaning towards the The TOMEI Arms Turbine Kit - M7655 Or Garrett GT2860R-5
Upgraded Front Mount

I'm also going to be looking at some suspension and brake upgrades as well as some general under hood clean up and beautification. I may pick up a second set of valve covers, center cover, timing belt cover etc to get powder coated. I may also get sidetracked with some CF goodies for the body too as I love the look of a white car with CF accents.

Here is a pic of my previous build so you can see what I mean:






Well I think that is it for now. I'll post more and get some more current Pics of the Skyline soon!

Matt

Tonight's update, I got a few things done like my oil and filter changed (Royal Purple 10W30) changed out and my new NGK plugs installed. I also picked up a Turbonetics manual boost controller that I ended up taking back and replacing with a Grimm Speed MBC at my tuners recomendation. I also got a few garage decorations in the mail today as well. Here are a couple of new pics:

My Garage


My new little stack of goodies


So my car is to low to get my current Craftsman jack under it but I have a 2-3 inch wooden lip at the front of my garage, when I backed out I stopped with my front tires on top of the lip and my jack slides under with about a 1/4 inch of clearance. LOL



Oil Change complete, took 4 1/2 quarts to fill her up. I have to ask, is there a trick to getting an oil filter off of an RB26DETT without dumping a 1/4 quart of oil all over the undercarriage? Side ways mounted oil filter.....Hmmmm now I see why people run a remote filter set up.



These are the subs I installed





Well that's my minor update for tonight.

Well my Tuners, Harvey and Jerry at the The Boost Creep in Longmont Colorado were able to get me in today for a base line run, boost control install and then several other Dyno runs as we got the boost controller dialed in. The car was monitored by WBO2 on the Dyno during the runs and we monitored AFR throughout the process. No other tuning was done other than turning up the boost a little as I am still running the stock ECU.

Pulled up on the dyno to run the fans and cool her off to install the MBC.


MBC Installed, we set it up in the same area as the old Boost Restrictor.




All strapped in and ready for the first run.




So the base line run with Boost at 9Lbs was 255 at the wheels. My tuner showed me several dyno runs from a R33 that he tuned last year that had upgraded turbos but was stock other wise and the dyno runs nearly matched.



Car was running strong so we clicked the boost up a little bit. The next run netted 291.4 at 11.5-12lbs of boost.


And a video of that run:


Car felt really strong still so we cranked it up to 13lbs of Boost. I decided that was as far as I wanted to go on the stock turbos. From what I have read 14 is the max limit although some have run them as high as 16.5 for an unknown amount of time. My thoughts are I am not taking the risk over grenading a turbo and thrashing my motor that is running strong and was recently built. So, at 13lbs of boost we clicked off 305.3 AWHP.


We backed up that run with a 307.4 AWHP run.


Video of the last run of the night:


So for a grand total of $280 dollars ($100 for the 4 runs on the dyno, and $180 for MBC and install time) I netted a total of 52 AWHP. All in all I am happy and the increased power is a kick in the pants!!!!

More importantly I have a solid baseline to start with and several new ideas for the road ahead. Can't wait to start the serious upgrades and see how she does on E85.

Matt

So I just picked up these bad boys:



They are being palatalized as we speak and will be shipped out today so I should have them in a few days. They come with all 4 center caps too :-) Tires are only 245/40ZR18's but they are Bridgestone Potenza's with 75% tread life left so I will probably keep them on for now before I put new 265 or 275's on them. I am going to see how I like the look of the Bronze color with my car before I decide if I want to change the color of them, I'm leaning towards Plastidipping them gloss white rather than powdercoating them that way if I want to go back to Bronze color I can without issue.

Matt

Well this is an update to date on my three weeks of ownership of my dream car. I'm old enough now to confidently say I will never sell this car, this one is a keeper and I will continue to build and modify it until it is perfect in my opinion. I have been in the car world for over 20 years and have played with everything from Tuners to Muscle Cars to Euro cars so I know that everyone has their own philosophy on building cars and every build is not for everyone but in my case my builds have always been labors of love and I know this one will be the same.

Matt

Looking good Matt. Sounds like a keeper.

Yeah I'd be lying if I didn't say I was absolutely in love with the car. It is everything I imagined it would be and then some, it may not be perfect right now but I will get her there! While I have you here in my thread I see that you guys offer Haltech ECU's, can you get the Platinum Pro plug in version for the R32? I did not see it offered on your site.

Matt

http://www.rawbrokerage.com/haltech-pla ... -ht055001/

Got these all day

Shoot me an email, [email protected] and I'll save you some money.

Email has been sent! Make me a deal I cant refuse!!

So I got my VIN verification done on Monday which is required in Colorado to transfer over an out of State title, my car came with a Florida title as well as all the importation paperwork from Canada.

DMV initially tells me I need an emissions test so I go to the test center, which in Colorado is a private company under contract by the state. After about an hour of 6-7 people that work there looking over my car, my paperwork and their computer and manuals they tell me that they can't test my car because it's not in any of their documentation so they don't know what levels to test for or what equipment is supposed to be on the car. I explain the EPA 21 year rule and request an exemption based on that. They decline to give it to me and there boss recommends that I go to a referee where they can determine how to proceed. I'm getting pissed a little now because I wasted a chunk of my morning already when one of their guys comes up to me as I'm leaving and suggests I take my EPA form into DMV and see what they say.

I get to DMV and wait 45min for them to call my number. I get to the desk and see a mid 20s Japanese gal at the counter, I sit down and hand her my paperwork and start to explain my situation, she looks at my paperwork and dang near yells out "OMG you have a skyline?!? Is it a GTR?!? I have a 350z and my boyfriend has an S14, id kill for a Skyline." So, I answer questions about my car for the next 10 mins......

Then I explain my problem and show her my EPA 3520-1 and the 21 year rule exception. She takes that and all my paperwork back to her boss and is gone for 10 mins. She comes back and tells me she explained it to her boss and they agreed Federal outweighs state rules and granted me an exemption from Colorado Emisions!!! I now have my plates and title and my exhemption paperwork!!! Today was a good day!!

So after my trip to the DMV I picked my boys up from school and we headed home. Once home we swapped out the Zelda Try Forces for my new R34 wheels. I have to say I love them!!!! They look so much better on my car than the Zelda's did and are much more fitting to my style. Pics are a little dark because a friend swung by and we BS'd in the garage until was almost dark. I'll take lots more pics tomorrow.









Last one back in the garage. The Try Force Zeldas are made by Vesta and are +20 backspacing, my car has thin slip on spacers on the front hubs and the rear had thicker bolt on spacers, not sure on the exact sizes but I left them in place and the new wheels seem to fit pretty well. Hoping Ill be able to fit some 265's under here when the current tires warrant replacing.

Matt

Here are a couple of new day time shots with the R34 GTR wheels mounted. I like them ALOT....LOL






Its amazing how much a new set of wheels really set a car off!

Matt

Cool stuff, homie.

FYI...theoretically, 14psi is safe because that would be less than 1bar of boost. 1 bar is 14.7psi. I've had my R33 set at 0.95 bar for 4 years and never had any issues. Although, I'm not running a boost controller.

My ECU was tuned by the previous owner to a slight boost increase (0.85bar) so I just took out the factory restrictor and replaced it with a Night-Pager aftermarket restrictor fitting that sets the boost to 0.95. Boosts up and sings like a songbird.

A couple things you might want to look into if you haven't already. The early model GT-R's have an issue with a very narrow crank collar for the oil pump that tends to fail. There is an aftermarket solution, but I can't remember for the life of me what it is.

Also, keep an eye on your HICAS pump in the back. It should be located in under the trunk and behind the right rear fender (that's where mine is on my R33. I'm not sure where it is on an R32.) Make sure you don't have any leaks if you plan to not eliminate the HICAS.

Also, one thing to remember about the ATTESA is that it's not always AWD. Be careful if driving in wet weather or snow (should you get inclement weather) as it WILL get silly quite quickly, but it's very manageable with a lite foot on the go-fast pedal and some very slight steering input.

The GT-R is a confidence builder, but it will bite you in the a** if you're not careful. Enjoy your car.

It already has an R34 long block with the longer/larger oil collar on the crank. HICAS on an R32 is located directly between the rear wheels at the rear subframe. Personally, I'd just delete it. As for trying to get the ATTESA system to work better in AWD, strongly recommend you get a Full Race E-TS Pro torque split controller. Much faster responding than the stock ATTESA ECU and it's adjustable for your needs/application.

If your goal is 500-550 whp, you're going to need a lot of things for that lofty of a goal in addition to the large turbos. Dump that manual boost controller. It's not going to do you any good boosting above 1 bar. In addition to fuel pump (NISMO, Walbro, Bosch, Deatchwerks all good) and injectors (you don't need 1000cc; more than likely just 700-800cc max), you'll need a nice set of cams and gears to adjust the ignition timing. Poncams are popular. Get you at least an upgraded coil pack harness if you don't go with uprated coil packs (yellow jackets, Splitfires, etc.) I'd recommend Do-Luck's new ignition harness or a Wiring Specialties one. The stock RB MAFs will run out of signal quickly long before you reach your goal. Either go with Z32 MAFs or bypass the MAFs entirely and go with a MAP setup in your intercooler piping so that it can read both air flow and vacuum. Definitely need that Haltech if you go the MAP route.

If you're going to take the car to the track at all, strongly recommend you get an oil cooler and possibly (it's debatable if it's necessary) a NISMO 62°C thermostat. Not sure how good Redline Water Wetter in place of coolant will do you, but the SR20DET guys love it for keeping the car from overheating. Then, too, it's not good to use in subzero climates. Surge tank in addition to the fuel pump to prevent fuel starvation and slosh. Catch can or tap and oil drain from the head to the sump to prevent oil starvation at the pickup. Baffled oil pan? Why not, I say. Or you can scrap all those issues by going with a very pricey dry sump setup :p

Don't know how long the transmission will last you but at least flush the transmission fluid and put in some Redline Heavy Shockproof to keep it going longer. 3rd gear is the weak point so maybe consider uprated internals from PPG or OS Giken. Keep an eye on the other drivetrain parts as well, especially the front driveshafts and boots.

... I think that's as much as I can massage and squeeze out of my brain for now. You'll probably figure it out as you go along.

Looks good Matt. if you do end up needing a new coil pack harness, hit us up. We have a PRO SERIES harness in stock.
http://www.wiringspecialties.com/wisprbcohabr1.html


While we're here, if you ever want to get rid of the 20 year old OEM harness, we offer a full replacement for the r32 now.
Plug and play, PRO SERIES: http://www.wiringspecialties.com/r32rbwihafor.html


Look forward to seeing more build updates!