DaveO74

Thanks Ryan, You know you had a lot to do with the choice mate! Won't ever be a full tracker like yours though, just a tidy streeter that can handle a bit of track work a few times a year

Yeah Dave getting old mate:( I'm hoping by using the foam it won't add any noticeable weight, the whole roll only weighs a couple of kilos. I've got a few more pics and updates to add but I just got into Newcastle for work and will be her till Friday so I'll add the pics then. Should see the dodgy wiring I found for the sound system, no wonder it was buzzing like a bee. Hopefully the plazmaman will turn up this week then off the craved for some coating

Hey Peeps, I have decided to create a build thread for my R33 GTST Series 2, or “GR33DD” as she is affectionately called as I thought it may help others on these forums who have maybe wanted to modify their car but have not started because they feel they have a lack of mechanical knowledge needed in undertaking some of the work associated with modifying cars. Whilst not a complete rebuild, more of a never ending overhaul of sorts, my car has changed a LOT over the last 11 years and all work other than tuning has been done myself and I am far from a mechanic so with a bit of patience and asking questions anyone can do this kind of project. The aim of the build is to have a nice alrounder package in a car, something that I can comfortably drive around town in and also tear it up at the track when the mood strikes. Ill start by giving a history of how I came to own my ride, I have always wanted to one day own a Skyline after going to see the 32 GTR’s dominate Bathurst back when I was teenager in the early 90’s. After owning many V8 bogan machines I decided to try a turbo car so the only choice of course wise a Skyline. I did not want a 32 as I liked the look of the 33’s more but back in 2000 a R33 GTR was around $130,000 so way out of my price range. Back then there were only mainly series 1 R33 GTST’s around and very very few Series 2’s. I was almost ready to give up the search when I was flicking through a Unique Cars Magazine one day and I spotted an absolutely immaculate completely standard 1997/98 Series 2 Nismo Red (Super Clear Red II) with white Nismo (Rays) LMGT2 Rims and 24,000 Log booked k’s and a full Japanese service history (Not that I could read it!)The only downside was the car was in Brisbane and I was in Sydney. So I decided to have a weekend holiday and fly up to have a look and ended up buying it on the spot and drove it home to Sydney (Managing to get 2 speeding fines on the way) The earliest photo I can find (Love the 4WD spec ride hieght ) I promised my wife that I would not modify this car and I would just leave it alone and enjoy it for what it is and I managed to keep my word for almost six years until I was off of work for 5 weeks with pneumonia and stumbled across a website called “Skylines Australia” and I couldn’t believe my eyes, all this information about Skylines and how to get the most out of them and a group of people that helped each other with little problems etc etc. (My wife is still not happy I found SAU......hehehehe) So I signed up, became a paid member of SAU NSW and spent the next few weeks reading and reading and reading all about things to do with R33’s. I introduced myself on the forums and spoke with few people that had already modified their cars (I think the first two people I spoke with on here were evil-weevil and Goldzilla) and the bug bit me. At first I was only going to get an exhaust, FMIC and up the boost a bit, that would be all I need to just get a little more out the car and a nice note. I contacted a Trader on these forums (Paul from Performance Wise) and got a 3.5” HKS Silent High-Power exhaust, a 5” Catco Race Cat and a Batmbl Split front/dump pipe. I mate of mine sold me a Hybrid FMIC and I got a Turbosmart Boost Tee from Unique Autosports, put all the parts on and thought the car went fantastic with ALL these parts on them. I managed to stay content with these mods for about nine months and then thought about getting an ECU but I couldn’t afford it at the time so I got a HKS Fuel Cut Defender, hooked it up and had my first dyno run which netted me a whopping 201rwkw @15psi. Whilst putting all of these parts onto the car I started toying with the idea of dressing up the engine bay a bit so I fabbed up a custom airbox out of aluminium sheeting for some old crappy pod I had put on the car and used the standard intercooler piping hole to make a cold air intake that came from the front bumper. I also tried my hand at polishing the crossover pipe (something I will never do again) and painted the front engine cover red to see how things would look. And the Modifications start Needless to say the fuel pump gave out so in went a walbro. (If I had my time again I would have went with a bosch in tank) Then about 6 weeks later the stock turbo cried enough and the car was off the road for a couple of months while I went away with work. When I got back I got in touch with Hypergear and got one of his ATR28G2 profile highflows and thought its about time I started getting some better parts for my pride and joy, so back to Performance Wise for an Apexi Super Suction Intake Kit with pod filter, a set of Nismo 555 Injectors, a Greddy Exhaust Side Adjustable Cam gear, a Greddy E-manage Ultimate piggy back ECU and a Greddy Profec Spec B boost controller. That’s when the Engine detailing side of things started going a bit crazy, I bought a heap of metalcast paint from supercheap auto and got in touch with Chris from Craved Coatings and we came up with a really good colour scheme using a kind of chrome looking powdercoat for the plenum and intercooler piping, and a dark grey for little bits and pieces like the injector hats and my strut tower brace. These two colours matched up with the metalcast red nicely and it all came together really well, I’m still very proud of how it turned out. I then got a custom catch can/washerbottle welded up for me and bought a bunch of braided hose and proflow fittings to connect it all together. It all comes together At the SAU Show n Shine 2009 I then went to CRD for a dyno tune as they are the only people that seem to want to work with an EMU and managed to get 238rwkw @ 18 psi with full boost by 3200rpm. That’s how things stayed for a year or so until I decided I wanted to try my hand at the track so I got in contact with Sydneykid and got hold of the full SK Group buy Bilstein/Whiteline suspension setup with all the adjustable bushes, pineapples and some Selby adjustable swaybars. I ditched the EMU and managed to get a Power FC and moved on to Unigroup Engineering for all my tuning needs and although Yavuz dropped my peak power level down to 230rwkw @ 15psi the car was faster in every way and is a dream to drive. The tune makes or breaks a car and Yavuz’s tuning abilities are un paralleled in my opinion, I think most people who use him on these forums would agree with me. So I finally got to a track day and went to last years SAU Wakefield day and I had a ball, managed a 1:14 on street tires by the end of it which I think is not too bad for a first outing. It was without a doubt the most fun day I have had in my car since I bought it all them years ago. I realised after that day that I want to do as many track days as I can manage without annoying the mrs and daughter too much. I came off the track a million times but still had great fun and everybody at these events just tries to give you advice and help you improve which is nice. Managing to stay on the track Whoooooops Which brings us to the current stage of GR33DD’s modification journey, the old girl is starting to show her age a bit so she is off the road again. So to date the current Mods list on GR33DD is: Hybrid FMIC APEXi Super Suction Kit with pod Custom Air box with CAI(Home Made) JJR Dump and 5” Catco Race Cat 3.5" HKS Cat back Silent High Power exhaust Exedy 5puk Clutch Greddy Ex Cam Gear Power FC Hypergear HighFlow (ATR28 G2 Profile) Nismo 555 Injectors and Walbro fuel pump Z32 AFM Yellowjacket Coils Full SK Group buy Bilstein/Whiteline kit Alpine stereo system with 6.5” splits front and 6.5” 2 ways rear and a 600watt Amp Fully Detailed and Powdercoated engine bay And probably a few other things I’ve long forgotten This time I am working on cooling, stopping, comfort and a few little styling improvements. On the exterior I will be getting a vented Carbon Fibre Bonnet and some Ganador Mirrors, and then I will get the car resprayed in the same colour to do away with some stone chips and just general wear and tear scratches on the body. On the interior I have found a really nice R33 Series 3 GTR interior, front and rear seats and front and rear skins, I will also be fixing an annoying buzzing stereo and doing some sound proofing while im at it, also a little upgrade of the dash lights to LED’s In the engine department I have decided to stick with the RB25 and have purchased a new HKS 2835 Pro S kit, Plazmaman forward facing Plenum, Fenix Radiator , 19 row Oil cooler and filter relocation kit and a Carbon Fibre full length radiator shroud. HKS 2835 Pro S Kit, I dont want to open it yet it may get dirty I have also picked up a GTR brake upgrade kit which will change my disc rotor size from the standard 296mm to 2 piece 324mm rotors for a little better braking performance. I will be retaining the standard callipers for now but using a billet adapter plate which moves the callipers out 30mm. So anyway just thought I’d share my build journey with you all and hope you enjoy watching the progress as things take shape, I will try to update this thread as much as I can but this will not be a quick overhaul unfortunately due to work and a young family so most of my time on the car is on the weekends only. This is how the poor thing sits as I type this thread So there you have it, sometimes I think the whole process is not worth it but no matter how long it takes the end result is always very rewarding. If you see me doing something that you think could be done better along the way please feel free to mention it, I’m always open to suggestions and constructive criticism. It will never be at the standard of some of the cars that grace SAU but I love my car and considering all of it has been done by myself in my garage late over many late naights I am very happy with it.

Thanks for the tips guys, this is the first chance I've had to reply. What does the midrange presence jumper do? Anyone know? I went and priced a few bits and pieces today like speaker diffusers, wow.....the guy wanted 200bux for two of them! Bit pricey IMO so I think I'll give the diffusers a miss and try and dodge one up use some of the ccf foam turned back to front. I reckon it will have the same sort of effect. I'm learning as I go so be prepared for more q's. I may have to get some extra foam from Clark rubber if I want to do the roof as well I think, got out the tape measure last night and I'm a couple of meters short. Hopefully all the work will be of benefit

Hi peeps, Im currently undertaking a rebuild/freshen up of my 33 gtst and part of the build is to fix my buzzing (alternator whine?) stereo after a crappy install a couple of years ago. Im putting in a new interior so I thought while i have the seats and door trims out of the car I may as well rewire the system properly and do a bit of sound proofing/deadening while im at it. I've picked up enough dynamat stuff to do both doors and maybe a bit of the parcel shelf and I was thinking of using ccf foam/insulation which I have lying around from some older side projects. It is the stuff you get from clark rubber which is dark grey with the foil stuff on one side and is sticky on the other. I have around 5 metres of 5mm thick and 4metres of 10mm thick, So im thinking of using the 10mm in the boot area and to cover the rear seat area, rear inner guards and b pillars and then use the 5mm for under the carpet and maybe the roof. I understand it will not work as good a dynamatting the entire car but will it still work for some deadening and quitening down a bit of road noise and exhaust noise (my car is a bit loud ) The second thing I wanted to ask is all of my stereo wiring runs on the passenger side on the floor literally on top of the wiring harness to the amp and back in one big clump. I have read in this section that this is the most likeley cuase for my noise problem so how should I rewire it?? RCA's down the middle on the drivers side and then speaker wires down the middle on the passengers side?? (centre console area) see pic below for current "dodgy" setup And my last question is I have some 6.5" splits in the front doors and I noticed last night the have these little setting type switches on them like a cmos setting on your pc. See below At the moment they are set to "REF" which I gather just means a nuetral setting, is there a better way I should have these pins set. The tweeters can sometimes be a little "shrieky" if that makes sense when i have the radio up loud. Sorry for the long post people and please forgive me if these are noob questions, im lost when it comes to this type of sound insulation and stereo wiring thing. Thanks D

Hey yeah the visors lol........thanks Chris didn't think about that. Does it look the same just a different colour or is it a whole new material? I'll have some more coating comming your way shortly, plazmaman, a few other little bits and pieces like last time and some ceramicoat for my new turbo housing. Oh yeah can you fix my wheels? What's the best way to get in touch nowadays. PM or just drop by the shop? You know you shouldnt post on my silly threads mate I always want little tiny thingys coated...hahahaha Did John P from UAS get in touch with you? D

Dave if we spend the next 36hrs non stop on my car getting it back together we can take it, hahaha I really really really wanted to go, ah well have fun people. I'll be there next year

Thanks Arthur, shame you can't get dark grey. I'll watch the u-tube link in the morning on the computer. Wonder how much the upholsterer would charge to just do a roof

"shouldn't cost to much"...............famous last words mate, we are car modifiers. Since when does any of the things we do not cost much

Jeez Phil that looks awesome. You do realize that's gonna cost a fortune yeh? The paint smell worries me too, like on a hot day etc. Arthur do you know what odourless paint you would use?? Got a linky?

Hi peeps, I am about to embark on a mini rebuild/overhaul of my series 2 33 and part of project involves a new S3 33 GTR interior. Anyway I got to thinking over many bevvies last night that the crappy looking light grey roof lining & rear view mirror would look a lot better if i could match it to the darker grey colour like the dash/doorskins etc etc. What would be the best way to do this? Paint, Dye or a full reupholster? Has anybody here done it? Im keen for opinions and pics if anyones got them Ta

I have to admit that i am fortunate enough that my line is not my daily so if it's off the road and not running for a period of time it's no biggy. I still get a kick out of doing myself though, no matter how much I yell and swear along the way!

Fixed, thanks

My home pc is doing the same thing, can't get onto the forums except with the iPhone.

Im hopeing my 2835 will get me to 280, Should do

+1 For doing it yourself. I bought my S2 waaaaaaay back in 2000 stock standard for the bargain basement price of a little over 30k. It had a genuine log booked/service history 28,000 odd k's on it and I have spent the last 10 years slowly modding it. I also went down the Hypergear highflow route and netted a nice 235rwkw (good bang for buck BTW),and suspension and detailed engine bay etc etc etc and it has been that way for a couple of years. But the bug has truly bitten and now I have a nice brand new 2835 pro s kit(Giggety!!!) big brake kit, new interior, about to get a respray, plazmaman plenum about to be ordered and so on and so forth. For the money my car would owe me I could have a pretty nice 34 GTR by now but I dont regret it one bit, I love my car and I love feeling the difference all the little mods make along the way. A word of caution though mate, Once the bug bites it becomes like a drug and you will always be chasing more. But enjoy it, you only live once. Just do it right the first time or as I'm sure a lot of the guys here will agree to, it costs you more in the long run. Good luck with it mate My 2c

So still too low, I'll have to check the emails I have been sent

I'll look through the emails when I get back home tomorrow night and let you know, I do remember him saying that 330rwkw would be fine with his proposed setup (with proper tuning etc etc) It's not a totally "standard" bottom end so to speak, it has a few mods that I can't remember off the top of my head but dosent run forged pistons

Hey Guys, Thanks for keeping my old thread running, fwiw I still haven't got my sh1t together and taken the plunge into dirty 30 land yet but the the car is half stripped out and I am still trying to make up my mind on wether to go the 30 or just stick with the 25 and chuck a 2835 pro s kit at it for a nice 280 odd killer wasps. I have decided to not go with the original person that wanted to build the 8:1 cr and have been shooting emails to RIPS and they have suggested a pretty nice sounding package for the power I am looking at achieving (<350rwkw) using one of thier special non-forged bottom ends which they assure me is good for 650 odd hp so I am considering this. Xmas cleaned me out a bit and I bought a nice interior so I'll have to wait a month or two to make the move...............spend 5k on the 30 bottom end or 5k on the2835 pro s, decisions decisions decisions there are pros and cons for both options

Might have to put the line back together so I can come up, had a ball last year. I'll see how much time I have..........which isn't much lately

The plates on my 33 were a present from my wife, she always says that I will never be happy until the car is perfect so they are a fitting description how much I spend on it. White on red "GR33DD" pretty clever I think, pic in my sig below

Just when I thought I've made up my mind to keep my GTST this pops up! I'm torn again, this would be perfect for what I would want.. I'm going to have a good think and may contact you about this. I have seen this car in the flesh it is an immaculate example of a GTR

This will feel like an absolute weapon on the street I'm sure, more so once your boost issue is sorted. Congrats mate, I think you have helped me make up my mind on this turbo, to my laymans eyes looks much better than what the 3071 would deliver. Did you get the whole pro s kit or just the turbo? Sorry for the little hijack:)

What size rear is the op running to achieve the 290kw? I'm about to order one of these but am unsure whether to get the .6 or .8 rear

Jeebuz Phil you and I so often think the same way with modifications. This is exactly what I have in mind with mine but I want to somehow add my pair of 12" subs in the void where the seat used to be, me thinks I'll have to make up a light custom box so I can recess the speakers in there. I might send you a pm later about where you got you seats from.....unless you want to post it here? You car is ever evolving mate, still looks the goods IMO