Hesistant Gtr Driver.

[mazgtr]

Its good to hear that im not the only owner out there then that babies their car a bit then. Im not a struggling uni student, but im no Bill Gates. I think one thing thats hard with owning something like a Skyline is the fact i find my heart and head are at constant loggerheads. Quite simply financially any "Performance" car is not a wise choice. Parts, Insurance, Thieves and the constant want to modify/improve something makes them an illogical choice, from my heads point of view.

But when i think with my heart, my GTR's the best thing i own, and id go several weeks eating dog food if it meant i could afford modify it a certain way, or fix something!!!

But regardless of my hearts desire to own something like a Skyline, every bill or little quirk that a performance turbo car generally attracts makes it just that little harder to justify, i guess...

Clearly to own one of these cars it helps not to use your head...

Cheers.

[Duncan]

hey don't wporry about it they are great cars.

The way to keep them healthy is regular oil changes (5000klm) let them get warm before giving it some, don't rev it out to the redline all the time, don't rush every gear change and don't up the boost!

Just enjoy it as it works and it will run for ages, everyone mods their GTR for double the power and then wonders why they have problems?

BTW I had a stock 33 gtst for 4 years and over 30 track days and didnt spend a cent except for consumables oil, brakes etc In the end I needed a new motor because compression was down (worn rings) but that was a pretty good deal for 4 years of fun

[Topaz]

Its good to hear that im not the only owner out there then that babies their car a bit then.

I am always told by friends that I drive like a nanna as well . But they rate that as driving at the speed limit, they never seem to realise that I do get there quicker than they do

[hanyou]

dont worry im with ya.. im a uni student with gtr as well.. but still manage to pay for things needed... although im not struggling to the point of no return

as perviously said good idea to fix stuff b4 it gets worse! and dont go cheap cause it'll cost u later..

i also wana get my turbo's changed to steel wheeled jus for secuirty. (dont forget power lol) but will do that in the next few months.. atm i dont give the gtr much punnishment, hardly even.. jus until i know everything is mechanically good. then i will unleash hahaha

oh and i also had a r33 gtst previously... found that it roughly cost the same to maintain.. but obviously repair bills & petrol are much bigger

[atessa]

mate,

don't stress so much. if its still fairly stock, and you keep the oil fresh, and dont bounce the rev limiter daily, you shouldn't have to worry. the rb26 is a strong motor - good for 400 - 600hp on stock internals (depending who you talk to) but if its still fairly standard, enjoy it.

the ceramic turbos are unlikely to lunch themselves unless you nail it cold or cook the boost (just look at how many 100k+ gtr's there are out there still running fine).

just be sensible, run quality oil changed regularly (5000k for a daily driver) make sure its warm before hitting the loud pedal, and let it cool down properly (turbo timers are good, but a cool down run around the block is much better).

i've taken my stock gtr to the track a few times, and other than a baffled sump, oil cooler and catch can, she's pretty much straight - and still happy.

you are the proud owner of one of the world's most awesome performance cars... unless you're fangio, or barry bogan trying 4wheel burnouts and 7000rpm launches, you should be sweet.

yes, servicing will cost more than your falcon, but isnt the joy factor worth a few more dollars?

or a few less middies at the uni tav?

bet you've got one of the fastest cars on campus... should help you pull a few

Edited June 29, 2006 by atessa

[scathing]

My attitude is that you should never "stretch" to buy a depreciating asset like a car. You probably shouldn't stretch to buy an appreciating asset either, unless the payoff is big and its relatively short-term.

Its great to own your dream car, but there's no point having it if you're going to f**k the car up by not servicing it properly and regularly, or f**k yourself up because you can't afford to eat / take care of yourself.

What's the point of owning a car you can't afford to drive? If Australia's public transport infrastructure was half decent I'd consider having a "weekend only" car, but its not the case. And in that case I certainly wouldn't buy something that had me stretch my finances either.

[kermit]

i am another with a GTR but not a huge amount of money due to wife and kids. the car was a dream car and i always worry about something breaking BUT i always warm it up before hitting boost and always cool it down. i have dragged it and taken it around barbagalo's raceway and always worry before but my missus says i cannot spend money on track days just to potter about. she says give it death and the car just responds brilliantly. remember its not a normal car , it can handle most things other cars cannot. one day it will blow up and then i will worry about how to pay for it but until then i will enjoy what i have.

kermit

[ish]

this is sought of the same as the rest of the comments in line with the maintenace.

I have found its the same pretty much with any secondhand vehicle you buy.

A change in owner, driver and style seems to rattle the bugs straight to the surface.

I come from both sides . Barley scraping to fix the car to money comfortable and trust me it's the same pain!

I have done $6000 from initial purchase of my R32 and none an upgrade hehe

Re full service, Clutch , Cv joint thingy, kirb mountiung sign killing practice and now rear twin dump gasket leak wHich has forced the upgrade i wanted to do later (labor simular $$$) etc.

Cool cars but you have to really plan things. Especialy if your not in large city.

What do you think will break first once the to4z goes on...? PLace ya bets

Edited July 1, 2006 by ishh

[zique]

I'm a struggling GTR owner..bought it and absolutely loved it when I took it for the first drive.

Then on the third drive,my mate was running the car in RWD and gave it some stick and the crank key broke and the power steering wasnt going.$500 later it was fixed..then same mate took it for a drive to show his gf what my car was all about.Came back with oil light RED.

Took it to the mechanic who said the oil pump was damaged..$4000 after installing new N1 oil pump,water pump (we did the labour ourselves in my mechanics workshop with a awesome gus help) and just paid for using the workshop which was $200.All the parts plus towing I hadta pay for..crank collar was also fitted plus new bearings.

Car was running again...till we realised it was running slow..missing at times.Took it mechanic who said the turbos were gone:O

Looked everywhere in NZ for stock turbos (as was the only thing i could afford) and hadta buy it off Paragon from here (SAU)..had them put on,took off all the plumbing myself etc just to save a little bit of money.

Now car is running alright,needs new injectors and cant afford those..plus the amount of fuel it takes just puts me off from taking it out everytime.Now its a monthly driver..lol.

So yeah maintaining them is hard..expensive but if you look after it well,it will serve you well.I've stopped looking for extra power (might just buy a PowerFC later on)but just focusin on making the engine run better like oil cooler,etc etc..

[ish]

i wouldnt let that mate drive to0 much .... oil pump fail is something you want to achieve your self if you have to pay for it ... ie the revs that probably routed it !

[zique]

yeah the revs definately routed it..my mechanic told me so but my mate said he was driving slow.So someones lying..lol.

But now just two people drive it..no-one else.

[savage GTR]

Considering that when these cars sold in nissan dealerships over here in 1990-1992, they cost $100,000 +

and were paying about a third of that today {$25-$35 32GTR} anyway, I think we are yards ahead .

I think alot of us should know that the running cost's will be high but saying that, we are driving a GODZILLA.

This car is a ledgend because It didn't brake on the race track and flogged everything else around.

I would say enjoy this experience of owning this ledgend and have fun. Not many people will have this experience .

It's a GTR so drive it like ONE and enjoy plus it's great for our ego's

[sl33py]

I find it's a good rule for buying a "normal" car that you should allow 1.5-2k for random repairs in the first 6 months. For any RWD Skyline, double that. For any GTR, quadruple it. And tha't not even thinking about insurance. There are exceptions, like if you know the previous owner, and they've done all the hard yards and you drive with the suggestions above in mind. But the average Skyline where you don't have a clue how many kms the timing belt has done, or how worn out the radiator or oil/water pumps are, or condition of the turbos etc. This is why I got my 100k service at 90k. And in 3 years I've had to change front rotors, water pump/radiator flush (don't bother, get a new thicker one like I now have to anyway), new clutch (not cos of my driving but simply because the "bearings had worn/dried out" and the mechanic didn't want to go in there simply to delay what would be coming 20thou kms later.

Basically with my Skyline, if something screws up, I tend to replace AND uprate the part so that it's very unlikely to occur again. Having said that, I'm currently eating tuna and bread for lunch every day haha The part I find most annoying is that I've spent maybe 10k on fixing and replacing stuff, and other than the exhaust, I have not ONE power mod! I guess when I do boost it, it's more likely to last longer. A stitch in time....

[GT-R32]

Balance looking after it and enjoying it. Short of not driving it sometimes there is nothing you can do about an engine or turbo failure for example, so long as you know you were not abusing it, it was well maintained and you didn't ignore it overheating or something stupid like that you have done what you can and shit happens.

Don't let stress stop you from enjoying your car, otherwise you're already living as if it is going to break when nothing has even gone wrong! Be sensible but have fun too. And recognise shit happens, you are driving a performance car.

[IDO 11S R32]

All the guys that are struggling, I feel for you, I am in the same boat, just bought my R32 GTR about 2 months ago, suposed to have forged internals, strengthened crank, H beam rods, r34 ball bearing turbos. Car was running abit rough when I bought it, cast me $1500 to get it going right, was suposed to make about 270-280kw, made 225awkw. Changed the cat to a high flow unit (another $500) back to the dyno, made 235awkw, then ran it at WSID 12.8@106mph. which I thought was ok for a 1st run. Then about a week later, pipe from turbo to intercooler split, ordered Trust cooler piping kit $600, in the meantime I am also looking at upgrading for more power so have ordered new Garrett 28/60R-5 turbos, $2500, and trust intercooler $1300, now I am having a problem with the 4WD ATTESSA system which is constantly locking up, no one can work out what is wrong with it???? and yesterday it was quite hot and I noticed that after driving for about 2 hours the turbos started makeing a funny noise and were struggling to make boost, I was told by a mechanic that it had a exhaust leak between the manafold and the turbos, so hopefully it is only a leak or else I will really have to push for these new turbos. It seems like there is always something going wrong with the car, at least I can say it has never stopped, it has just been a number of niggling problems that annoy the shit out of you!! But like what some of the other guys have said "Thats the price for owning a true supercar" Look at it this way you are getting Ferrari performance, and a Ferrari costs about 30k a year just for servicing, or so I've heard. I drive my GTR every day and enjoy every minute of it but it does get annoying when things constantly go wrong, but with new turbos, boost controller, piping kit, oil cooler, cams, power fc, etc... hopefully I'll have a strong reliable performance car. Good luck to me and all my fellow GTR owners, I think they shoud have spelt GTR like this $$$.

[Kinks]

when a car makes you stress you should question whether it's the right one for you.

GTRs are fantastic, and reliable, but any 15 year old car even if well looked after will have ongoing maintenance. Eventually things just wear out.

I had my R31 for 3 years, and after 18 month it started to bug me when things broke, not because I couldn't afford it but having to take it back to the workshop 3 times and spending over $1000 (never again!) on the tailshaft.... I was never going to continue modifying it so once the enjoyment of driving it had been done to death it was time to move on.

[black_gtst]

i dont own an R but am in the same boat at the monent finantually. apprentice wages suck! the way i attack it is spent time on your car, sus out a hoist you can use to check everything thourerly underneath. If you have any mates that have access to a dyno get them to g up some cheap time on the rollers to check your ratios and do a compression test. the biggest money saver when you own an import i think is having mates in the trade that can look after you and your car and keep it well maintained with GOOD quality oil and filters.

just my opioion!

brett :sorcerer: