Hi SAU folk!
I'm not currently a Skyline owner, but plan to be soonish... I've loved Nissans for ages, but it's been practical cars for me for a while now. Previous to this I've sampled a bit of a selection of RWD Nissan's (variety is the spice of life!). It all actually started with completely standard (but kinda weird) Cefiro, factory Turbo and 4WD, with quite a few unusual options, next was a N/A manual S14 which was kinda fun, but not the quickest. This was replaced by a manual GTS-T coup which had few mods from japan, including Greedy boost controller, HKS Super Dragger exhaust, Trust front mount intercooler, Greedy pillar mount gauges, Trust lowering springs, and a 320 km speedo (I can't remember which brand - this was like 15 years ago). This was replaced with a manual turbo Z32 300ZX, which turned out to have a bunch of issue - had been really crappily modified, crash repaired and had weird rust issues (probably due to the crappy crash repairs). So I started again with a tidy donor car (auto turbo with a dead motor), an absolutely mint, freshly imported 1993 engine (revised oil pump crank collar in that year - same issue as with the R32's) which had 45,000 km on it but 4 cambelt change stickers on the covers - this owner had obviously taken meticulous care with it. In spite of that I decided to mildly rebuild it, with forged crank bolts, metal head gaskets, big cams, ported head and exhaust manifolds, Hi-flowed factory turbos, HKS exhaust, big dump pipes, dual Z32 AFMs, big intercoller etc.run by a GTR power FC, which I rewired the loom to accommodate. The only things I reused from the old Z was the manual gearbox and impul(?) 320 km dash I think lol. The idea was just to get a reasonable amount of road friendly torque-y horsepower, which we achieved - 320 rwkw at 12 psi boost. but it was already about 180 rwkw by 4000 rpm, and pretty much max power by 5k, where the turbos ran out of huff lol. It was an absolute torque monseter with a very unstressed engine. There were a few handling mods too, urethane bushes, Tein super street coil overs, and 320 mm (or 350 - can't remember, a lot bigger any) slotted two piece discs in the front with factory callipers. It stopped and handled ok without going of the top with mods, and flew through certification. Anyway, it was ridiculously fun to drive, targa tops listening to Dire Straits while blasting around country roads, oh I also had blinder laser jammers set up and a Beltronics STi XR radar detector which was great! Plenty of warning of the PD, making the odd maximum-warp passing manoeuvre relatively stress free (my record was a line of 35 cars in one go!). Sadly I sold that car so I had money to buy a cheap house in Dunedin a do a BSc degree, the dude I sold it too then stacked it at the track about 3 months later doh!
So since then it's been sensible cars, but with me about to finish my masters I'm looking to reward myself by getting something fun again! So I've been doing a bit of research, a R34 GST-T appeals, but I'm probably getting a bit old and boring (they are crazy expensive not too for a good one). I thought about a 370z, they're rather sexy, but I find the interior kinda hideous - to my tastes at least - the 350 is even worse, but I loved the Z32 interior though. Then I had a look at what the latter model skylines were like, I was't to impressed with the V35's, but the V36 370GT coupes were another matter! They're pretty nice to look at (imo) - a bit more toned down which suits me these days, the interior is super nice (reminds me of a modern version of a Z32), and they seem to go alright - plus I think they're an absolute bargain for what you get. So I'm looking to import 370GT form Japan, manual referred, but maybe a flappy SP version. I'm also an electrical tech, and really want to convert the stereo/navi unit to English, and have been doing a bit of research into this. It seems doable if I buy the right 370GT. So just thought I'd say hi! I'll probably doing a bit of lurking while I research 370GT stuff, as I don't really have to talk about yet lol. Can't wait to get one though (however I'm going to have to lol). So sorry about the long intro post! I'm looked forward to learning from you all, and hopefully contributing in time!