LiteraCola

Who wants a Ferrari anyways? Might I suggest a Honda Civic? I daily a 98 hatchback and it's been the best car I've ever owned.

I'm sorry; I'm still hung up on the fact that this guy is, "stuck with a G Wagon and an E63". You poor thing. It is true, though... since becoming legal in the US, Skyline prices have become outrageous. Us "AmErIcAnS wItH lImItEd KnOwLeDgE" now have access to the cars we idolized as kids, and are willing to pay outrageous prices for these tired old Datsuns. Truth be told, I paid around 19k for my R33 25T. Best bang for the buck? Abso-f**king-lutely not. Are there faster, cheaper, more reliable, more fun cars out there? Sure. For me, personally, I don't really care; the Skyline has "Zazz", for lack of a better word. Am I delusional? Probably. Since I'm all about giving unwarranted advice, I would suggest that if you can't convince your dad to allow to you buy the skyline, maybe set your sights a little "lower". For instance, an early C5 Corvette (97-98) has 345hp, is lighter, handles better, and is honestly more fun than a stock-ish Skyline. These can be had for nearly half what they're asking for said Skyline. Just saying... for $20k, you can certainly do better.

Ya know, I try not to trouble myself with what's popular or trendy; I like what I like. I actually enjoy the hell out of my old, tired Nissan, even if it's not that fast and has skinny tires, or when random rednecks pull up next to me at stoplights and remind me that I'm sitting on the wrong side of the car (this happens almost every time I drive the car). It's what I wanted, so it's what I bought.

Fantastic! Things are good; I’m still driving the car! Just went on a little cruise the other night! Glad to hear yours is almost done!

Ya know, I looked at a few of Duncan’s GTS25T’s back in the spring/summer. They do indeed look like polished turds. Fresh paint jobs don’t hide the rust in the quarters and fenders. That’s why I ultimately ended up at Japanese Classics in Richmond to buy my R33. If you’re anywhere close to there, definitely check them out.

I, personally, can relate to all of this. I've owned my C5Z since 2012 and I've dumped way too much money into it to make it a beast of a street car (in my opinion), but most of the time I'd rather drive my relatively stock R33 25t. Now, I'm sure it has a lot to do with the novelty of this car; hell, I've only owned it since July. It has even more to do with the fact that Skylines were never available here in the US. Corvettes are commonplace for sure, even the C7Z. Right now, an early base model C5 can be had for around 10-12k. I paid nearly double that for my tired old R33, but I have no regrets at all. Totally worth it to me. I blame the hours spent playing Gran Turismo as a teenager...

It's funny; before I went to check out this car the first time, it was the first time I'd ever seen an R33 in real-life haha. I've had the car since July 15th, and I haven't seen another one yet. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any R32's since then either.

Definitely let me know when you get it back on the road; I'd love to meet up and check that thing out!

Well that's unfortunate, sorry to hear that. I've been driving the nuts off mine, all over the place man haha. As far as new additions, I installed a new stereo system. Nothing crazy, but way better than the OEM paper speakers. Tonight I'll be cutting the resonator out of the exhaust for a little more noise. It's got what looks like an Apexi Dunk Megaphone Honestly, that's about it. Home projects have slowed down the ole' Skyline fund!

Hey dude, any word on the car yet?

Good morning everybody (I guess it's night time there?). So, as I vaguely mentioned in my original intro thread, my R33 S1 25t is experiencing a weird idle issue. It's not so much an idle issue as it is a "returning to idle" issue. Overall the car idles and drives just fine, no hesitation or hiccups, but when it's warm and I'm in a situation where I'm inching in traffic or backing into my garage or a parking space, upon returning to idle, the engine bogs down to almost nothing, catches itself and then idles fine. On a few occasions, the car has completely shut off on me in stop and go traffic. Also, when I blip the throttle to take off from a stop, there is a slight off-idle hesitation and this has caused me to stall out more than once. I have completely disassembled the AAC, cleaned it and reset the idle a tad higher than it was. I've thoroughly cleaned the AFM and Seafoam'd the intire intake tract. I also replaced the (probably original) spark plugs with new Iridiums with no change and I'm getting a good fire to all cylinders. Does anyone have any ideas? I drove the car to work today, so I'll go out and take a quick video in case my description of the issue was in any way unclear. Thanks! EDIT: Before anyone asks, the only mods the car has are an HKS Pod and Apexi Dunk catback. The OEM BOV is still plumbed back to the intake...

Got some photos of the finished product? I'm not completely sold on the vinyl wrap, but I will admit that I would like a subtle carbon fiber pattern. Nothing too flashy. I'd like the same pattern on the gearshift surround and the door window/lock trim. Right now, the gearshift surround and window switch trim are a glossy gunmetal color while the dash surround is... well, you can see. Shitty is what it is haha!

Alright, so during my door speaker swap, I decided to try and tinker with this loose window switch. I removed the switch panel, popped off the window switch and a small piece of plastic fell out. I cleaned up all the grease with brake cleaner (on a cotton swab) and used some of the DevCon Plastic Welder stuff I “borrowed” from work a hundred years ago. I let it dry over night and tried to slide the pin back in. It was pretty tight so I tried to sand down some of the glue. That didn’t work, so I sanded the plastic pin just a smidge. Lubed it up and slid it in (giggity). All is well; my switch isn’t loose anymore, and I don’t hear the constant “clunk clunk” inside the door while driving. Two birds with one stone? My drivers door lock switch still doesn’t work, but that’ll move down the priority list since there’s a nifty manual lock bottom less than a foot away ??‍♂️.

Just figured I’d let everyone know that I’ve found closure with this project haha. Got all the wiring cleaned up, removed the rats nest from the previous owners DIY LED lighting and phone chargers under the dash and bolted everything up with my new OEM DIN pocket. The new 6.5” Kickers sound excellent! Methinks it’s time to vinyl wrap the dash trim....

Que? The head unit came with the metal DIN sleeve that didn't fit inside the OEM brackets so I ditched it. I screwed the brackets directly into the head unit and it fit tightly. I will probably drill some new holes in the brackets to set the head unit back into the dash a little further; right now it sits about 1/2" out past the HVAC controls. I guess I'll get all the wiring cleaned up and secured and then wait to button it all up until my DIN pocket comes in... then I'll make all the final adjustments. In the beginning, I had an issue with the head unit volume. I followed all of Crutchfield's directions to the T, but when I turned on the stereo, the volume was extremely low. After some research, I found that the RCA cables (came pre-wired into the adapter harness) were the problem. The main speaker wires were meant to be unused. I cut off the RCA cables, soldered in the speaker wires and all is right with the world. Just waiting on one more set of 6.5s and my stereo project will be complete. Damn COVID, everything is back-ordered.