Hella_GTR

Hi, thanks man. I read that article and it looks like he did the tuning at Do Luck. On Do-Luck's site, I can't find anything relating to tuning so not sure if they still do it but I'll reach out to them and Dino. I don't think there's many haltech tuners here. It's also pricey piece but I know it's one of the best, if not the best. I imagine it's pricey to get a GTR tuned here. I'll keep at it. Thanks again!

Hi guys, I'm getting to the point with my BCNR33 where I need to swap out the OEM ECU with a programmable fuel management system and get the car dyno tuned. I still haven't picked my choice of fuel management yet as I'd like to pick the tuner first. I live in Tokyo and work in Kanagawa prefecture. My Japanese isn't the best and I'm having a hard time finding tuning shops in my area. I know of Top Secret, JUN, Midori, and MINES, but those are all crazy expensive. Anyone recommend any shops? I heard E-Next is good but not sure if they do dyno tuning. The other problem I seem to find is MINES, JUN, and MIDORI have their own ecu's rather than using LINK, Haltech, or something open sourced. I plan to take the car back with me to the US someday so ideally want a system that can be tuned both in Japan and in the US. Any recommendations would be appreciated, more so if the shop speaks some English! Thank you.

Awesome, thank you Ben for the thorough answer. And you're right, I'm talking about the twin 70mm/single 80mm front pipe. I also just found a RSR equal length pipe that I'm interested in and it's exactly the same 70mm/80mm setup. I'll just get it all and bolt it up. I bet that Midori 90mm setup is sweet though, but man the sound of the equal length is awesome. Midori is only an hour away from me though hmmmm haha. Next is outlets and am leaning towards the Tomei to mate with the 80mm front pipe. Appreciate all the help, cheers and have a great weekend!

Hi folks, I've been having a hard time finding some concrete information regarding front pipe compatibility between the BNR34, BCNR33, and BNR32 front pipes. From the research I've done, I see some people say that the BNR34 front pipe is 2" shorter than the BCNR33 BNR32's and that the exhaust system needs to be pulled closer to the front pipe to fit or a longer cat can be used. I've also found that some people say that fitment is all the same. I ask as I'm interested in a MINES front pipe and most the ones I see for sale on yahoo auctions say they are for BNR34 but they note they are compatible with the BCNR33 and BNR32. When I go on the MINES website it isn't clear either as there's no part number listed that differentiates between the models. Basically, can anyone confirm that a front pipe from a BNR34, or BNR32 for that matter, will bolt up to my factory cat converter on my BNCR33 or do I need an extension of some sort? Maybe the front pipes and cat's are all the same length, but the exhaust is longer on the BNCR33 which in that case all would be good. There's also a used Midori Seibi pipe on yahoo auctions right now but the sound of an equal length pipe is memorizing which is why I'm looking for a MINES Pro. I know Fujitsubo and Reimax also make isometric pipes as well. Thank you all!

Hi Josh! You got it man, that appears to be the lamp assembly I need. I am going to take the car to Nissan Prince (reputable GTR nissan dealer/shop) this weekend to have them confirm what I need. They think they can install the lamp assembly without taking the plate off, but I don't think they understand the current setup via the phone. My biggest pain is that the car is illegal here with no lights (and cops here are very picky, add a Y plate to that and more so), and I need to go back to shinagawa land office to have them re-seal the license plate (the silver cover over the left bolt on the plate is a gov't issued seal). Pain in the butt but I'll get through it. I just don't know if I need the 4 grommets too. Luckily they still make the lamp assembly though. I'll update you when I know more after this weekend. Always something to do/fix... Thanks guys!

Hi again guys, I FINALLY got my series 1 BCNR33, which is super clean, and finally got my license plates from Shinagawa land office (crazy difficult and time consuming. Did all that then bolted up the license plates and got the japanese seal (which must be there) and found out that I have no lights pointing to the license plate above the plate. I think the photos will help here. But basically, my car came with those fancy (not my thing but popular here) lighted number plates. It's like this housing that goes on the back of the license plates that light up to illuminate the license plate numbers. They use a special license plate for this too. I mean it's cool if you're into it but i'm not. But this housing, I think, removes the assembly for the lights above the license plate. I don't see many R33's around so I don't know what is supposed to be there and what isn't but I need lights to be legal. Do you guys know what I'm missing, like the part number? I imagine what I need is going to be hard to find. The plastic housing with lights inside of it plugs directly into a plug that probably goes to the normal lighting assembly. Any help is appreciated. Photos attached! I included a photo of the front one so you can see what the that lighted housing looks like. The red circles are where I think lights should be. I've also included a sample of what a working lighted number plate looks like here. Thanks all. -Evan

Hi Josh, thanks for all the info there. I didn't know the Fed mandated OBD2 in 1996+ so then yeah there would still be no way to get a car in through CA. I just got my series 1 that I already love so all is good. I was just thinking it would have been a good opportunity to bring over a car and save some money on compliance work. That PM2.5 stuff is real. It comes over here in Japan from China and leaves a yellow dust everywhere. Super gross stuff.

Long story but i neded up selling the r34 as it was with the chatter noise. I just bought a r33 and really want JRZ but don't want to deal with the noise issue so I'm going either Ohlins or Aragosta. If you have JRZ's with noise, JRZ will fabricate some rubber mounts if you send them your original ones.

Agreed. The new cars, sure I am ok with them trying to reduce emissions, but for the handful of folks who want to import a 25 year old car (should be 15 like Canada if we're going down that road), let us just abide by the fed law. I sold my bnr34 because of this and switched to a series 1 BCNR33. (1996+ is a no-go cause of OBD2 requirements in CA...that's a whole different story though). I'll still have to pay $10k for CA compliance work though.

Yeah...I'm gonna pass on the Biots and just stick to Ohlins or find some used Nismo R-tunes. There's a couple R-tunes for sale on yahoo now. Thanks guys and yes MCA's look top notch!

Yeah agreed with Rusty lol. I actually echo what you're saying but I take the initiative to vote even while living overseas but there are a lot of lazy ones out there. I don't have much faith lately so we could see Trump remain in office another term. We'll see next November. That all said, even assuming this lasts until Jan 2021 when the next presidential term starts, that's a pretty decent loophole in to get some series 2 GTR's and 1996 ITR's in and save people a ton of money on compliance work! I don't know how it will play out in the courts but shoot if I can catch the loop hole I may send over my series 1 now and save $10k on compliance work or pick up a series 2.

As some of you may be aware, trump ended CA's waiver to have its own emissions standards above Fed law. I don't know all the details and it sounds like a big legal fight to follow but does this mean CA folks only need to follow federal rule for importing 25+ year old cars? No $10k fee for CA compliance work? No obd2 requirement? Just wanted to start the conversation! I'm not sure if the changes impacts all CA's own laws or if it's only for future rules like the increased fuel efficiency standards for new cars... BBC News - Trump strips California of power to set auto emission standards https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49746701

Hi Folks, Anyone have experience running Biot's? I'm considering a set of slightly used 2-ways for about 250,000 yen, comprable to a new set of Ohlin DFV's. This is for my BNCR33 which will mainly be used for the street but occasional track days. From what I hear, they're good, I just don't know much about them. I have used high end suspension like JRZ which I love and am going for that feel. The spring rates on the used set are 14kg (F)/13kg (R) on two-way rebound and compression adjustable with reservoir tanks. I like firm rates with good dampers. If anyone has any experience with Biot, please let me know, or just tell me to get the Ohlins or Aragostas... https://www.biot.co.jp/products/biot/2013/10/biot-sus-op6.php https://www.biot.co.jp/products/biot/sus/

Hi all, Quick question for my recently purchased Series 1 BCNR33 here in Japan. Does the factory option momo steering wheel, like the one in the link below, functionally work, plug and play so-to-say, for a series 1? I know the Series 1 and different from the Series 2 and 3 with respect to the airbag module. So I would imagine a momo steering wheel for a series 1 would be different than the series 2/3 momo factory option steering wheels. That all said, I can't find any confirming info on the momo wheel if it was offered only for the series 1 or not. Bottom line is the series 1 wheel is pretty ugly and looking for a functional option to make it...better. Thanks for any help! https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b413673374

Oh wow I did run into his blog in my google search about wheels for my r33. Ok now I see his entire blog. uggh I want those Nismo lmgt4 wheels but $$$. Thanks for sharing man.

Yeah I'm fully aware there's more to suspension than spring rates. Have you ever tried JRZ's RS two-ways or motorsport line? They're on another level than ohlins, but they also cost more. They're also rebound and compression adjustable. The 3-ways are awesome too but get a bit complicated to set up. The beauty with good dampers is you can use stiff spring rates but still have a comfortable ride. Poorer quality dampers can't do this so they use softer rates or just give you a harsher ride. I ran ohlins in my BRZ several years ago and they couldn't compete with JRZ at all but I believe that was before Ohlins implemented their DFV technology. 8k springs just seem a bit soft to me for occasional track use. But ohlins are probably good for bang for the buck. I hear Aragosta's are similar to JRZ since one of the JRZ founders split off from JRZ and made Arogosta. I don't know why I'm advocating for JRZ when their top hats made a ton of noise on my r34. They did eventually agree to make new top hats for me but it was too late by then. http://www.jrzsuspension.com/rs-two-sport.html Let me check out this Aki's blog page though. This is the first time I've heard of this.

Yo Josh, Totally know what you mean. I'm leaning towards the Ohlins with the rubber top hat bushings (don't know if you read into my R34 JRZ issues on this forum), but there's only one distributor here in Japan. I need to check availability. The spring rates area bit soft for my liking but maybe they can customize them. Japanese dampers are easier to get here and have more support (obviously), like the HKS Hypermax. I know they probably suck on the road though. But finding support for my JRZ's from the Netherlands here was really difficult and time consuming. If i didn't have a horrible experience last time, I'd get JRZ's again as they're just amazing when working properly.

Man you're making me want to buy another one! I can't wait to spend some more time with my gtr. I really didn't get to spend much time with my r34 once I found out it'll never be legal in CA. We're all lucky!

If it means anything, I paid about $38k USD for my virgin 85km V-spec series 1. I think the 1995 is in high demand due to them becoming legal in the US next year. 1995 GTRs are the last year of the Skylines that can get a CA license plate too, without getting through the expensive OBDII emissions issue. I see the 1995 going for a premium in CA. A couple series 1's hit the auction this past week but not sure what they sold for. Last series 1 grade 4 v-spec I bid on and lost sold for 4,500,000 yen two weeks ago. Low mileage full original no repair history r32's go for 5-6,000,000 Yen here in Japan now.

So at first I was confused as I use the word garnishes for food lol. So I Google'd it and does that mean our rear skyline plate illuminates when the lights are on? It looks like it's a very rare factory option. That is actually really awesome and would be an unexpected treat! Can you tell by the look of that panel? Either way now I'm more stoked to see this car in person once it gets shipped. It's all paid for now just doing the paper work here from a Kanji plate to a Y license plate is quite cumbersome. The whole process takes a couple weeks. I'm debating now to leave it alone or get some black or matte black nismo lmgt4 wheels and some suspension ?

Dude yeah its hard to find clean ones here and even when you do you need to jump on it. Luckily my current job here is behind a computer so I can keep refreshing the goo-net, yahoo, and carsensor websites. This one was not on goo-net so when you search, check at least goo net and yahoo. Some dealers seem to pick and choose what listing service they use. This dealer does not speak English either so be prepared to have a method of talking to local dealers. I got their Line app info and used Google translate to talk to them and had my friend in Hiroshima call them in nihongo. But you're in Australia (I believe) so I think you cna find one there unless you want a fresh one from Japan. Thanks man all good! Once I get to the car in person I'll take some detailed photos. Hopefully I don't find anything worrying but it's looking rather solid, as you said. Sometimes non-GTR dealers don't know what they have and price the car lower than the current market. But GTR specialty shops are a more reliable way to buy a clean car. Thanks for all the help, we'll have to meet up in CA one day. CA license plate r33's will be rare. Now I just need to get over the look of the series 1 steering wheel lol.

Deposit placed! Stoked! Thanks all for helping me in this competitive bncr33 market here in Japan! I'll update you with my own photos in the near future!

This all makes me feel warm and fuzzy about it. I'm working on it, just waiting for the dealer to send over a sales contract! Things move a bit slower in Japan. They like paper a lot. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for checking it out too!

No, stay away from this one! lol. It's SO hard to find clean series 1's. You can choose any one though, you're not stuck to a series 1...so lucky. I'm trying to pick this one up but the language is hard so I have a buddy from Hiroshima helping. When you talk to local Japanese dealers, try to use google translate and write to them in both English and Japanese. It helps out a bit. If you only write in English, they may not response. Bigger international dealers are fine though, but the local mom and pop shops that don't export don't really speak English. The price for the one I'm looking at is better than current market pricing. It's a one owner car but they don't have all the records. They don't have a certificate for the meter change but some sort of record saying it was done at 600km's. I'll probably take the car to Prostock after I get it (if i get it) and get a real records book produced. This one was garage kept though so I think that's why the rust is minimal. I like the OG CD changer too lol.

Ok I got more photos of the one I listed above! It looks good! I think I'm gonna jump on it. Please let me know if you see any red flags that I'm missing... https://www.carsensor.net/usedcar/detail/VU2036006443/index.html?TRCD=200002 Only thing is it has a meter changes a 600km's but not certificate documentation. But it's a one owner non-accident car.