R33 Gtr Front Bar Conversion

[lingeringsoul]

Greetings DIY fans!!!

After spending the last 6 hours working on the it, I have finally succeeded in front end conversion. This is the eBay front bar bought for $260.

Time it took: 6 hours

First thing I did when I started this was taking the old front bar off and disconnecting all the lights. For me, it was 2 bolts on each side and two bolts in the middle which was also used to hold up the front mount intercooler. When I say bolts, I do mean nuts and bolts. This reason for this is beacuse I've taken the front bar off numerous times before and over the course of time, the orginial factory parts weren't able to hold the bar as well and started to sag. So I took out the plastic bits that was used to screw in the front bar and used nuts and bolts to suppliment.

Next step, trial fitting the bar. Better done with two people than one but still managable by yourself. For me, the width of the bar was quite good, so it wasn't too narrow that you had to stretch or too wide that you had to press it. The only problem I had was the N1 vents extending too far in, so it in contact with the reinforcement bar. So off it came and out with the angle grinder. I tried to cut it with hack saw but not enough room to maneuver so I continued on with the grinder. It didn't need much taken off, just a a centermeter all around. Once thats done, it went back on again to see how it lines up. You should have someone hold onto one end and you try to get to the other end to make sure it goes on well. This time, it still touched but I didn't need to worry about mroe because both sides of the bar lined up nicely so it up to the next step. This front bar had more than enough room in the front to clear the front mount and piping. There was no work needed on that.

Drilling holes is a lot more difficult than I thought. It wasn't the drilling that was hard, it was finding out where to drill. At this point, a marker would come in very handy, especially small ones as it does get a bit tricky to maneuver around in there. Basically after you've taken off the plastic bits the original front bar screws onto, it should leave you with a small square. Just color in the section of the bar that lines up with the square and drill a hole in there. Do this on the corners first (the part closest to the wheels). Once thats done, fit them on and stick your hand in there and draw the square for the second hole (this is the hole closer to the front). Take the bar off. Drill the holes and screw that on with the nuts and bolts. At this point I'd like to mention that I used a medium sided bolt for this task. I just thought if I used small ones, it's not going to hold up as nice and it might weaken the area and tear through it. If I use the bolts too big, then the holes I'm going to drill will weaken the side and again become useless. I measured the distance between the hole cloest to the wheel and the hole closer to the front, it's around 15.5 cm.

Now getting to the front end section of the bar. I basically shaved the front bit off a little so it didn't interfer with thte grill. I was going to drill 3 in the front, take the screws for the front mount off and attach it all of it together. But then the other 4 side bolts are doing a fine job of holding it up I decided just to use the one in the centre.

That took me the better part of the morning. But by noon, it was looking good.

Next part comes the indicators. I picked up a set of GTR clear indicator on yahoo japan for a very reasonable price including the plastic grill. Now, the grill has a piece of plastic on the side sticking out and a screw on the other side for screwing it in. So I'd need to chop an opening on the side large enough for the plastic bit to fit in so that grill will sit nicely. Generally, just measure the length of the plastic bit, and chop a little. I didn't have the right tools obvously, so I had to improvise. Now because it's going to be covered up when the gril goes on, it didn'tmatter how pretty you did it. I just drill about 5 holes side by side, used a round metal file to finish it off. Referr to pic for a rough location and side of the hole. All thats left is the small hole to drill on the opposite end of the grill. Make sure you use a small drill as thereisn't much room left on the side. Once thats done, but the plastic grill on and you're half done.

Rewiring - I was very lucky to find that one side of indicator had a damaged plug. So the previous owner had it cut the wire and used the rely (i think thats what they are called) to reoconnect. I unplugged it, turned the ignition on and proceeded to randomly plug the relys into the indicator. I got lucky on the first try. The only wire that isn't used is the one with blue in it. I asuumed thats the one for the fog light. (I'm hoping to reuse that connection so that when I turn the fog light on, it'll turn on both the indicators......just for novelty purpose). I went to the local hardware store before they closed and bought myself a pack of relys. Cut the lines off and connected two wires onto the relays and plug it in. Tested it out and it was working perfectly. Unplugged it, put the round indicator back into the grill housing and we are onto the last step.

I originally just wanted to drill two holes in the front and bolt up the number plates, but that seemed a little slack after all the effort I put into to make it look perfect. So I decided to use the bracket from the old front bar for a more professional fitting. I took the number plate off the S2 bar and man they used a lot of brackets in there, I don't know what they were smoking when they designed it. It was so needlessly complicated. As I only needed a small bracket, I just took off the top one to use. (There are still 3 more pieces connected to each of the bracket). Anywho, I drilled the holes and bolted it up with my remaining bolts. I lined up the number plate and took two very good guess at the holes and drilled it. I'm sure RTA isn't going to be too thrilled with me drilling their plates (it is theirs right) but considering the shit I had to pay them on a yearly basis, they can suck bollocks. I used the orignial black screws to hold the plate. Once that's all fitted, I went back and refitted the front bar and attached the wiring as well. Tested everything out and it was working perfectly.

So there you have it folks, all done. I thought it was going to be more complicated but I guess planning does help make things easier.

Sorry about the quality of the photos, dad hid the good camera.

Edit: took off the photos with my car number plate on it, will load up a couple of blurred out one later on.

[boostin_r33]

hey dude,

congrads on doin the gtr front bar yourself Would have been good if I found this earlier as i got mine done for $1070 with the exact same kit! well anyways im intrested in those gtr indicators u got i found em for $ 44o for the pair from just jap which I think is stupid I was gunna try nissan but than I saw that u got them from yahoo japan I went to the site but couldnt find anything on them just wondering if u could help a bro out?

great work m8 keep up the good work!

Cheers Chris

[bumble_bee]

looks great...

hoping to do a gtr front bumper conv.

on my 33...

u got anymore photo's??

lik side shots/angles etc..

has anyone else pulled this off???

[J3TR33]

k personal opinion.. but that looks crapp... id pick the stock front bar over that one any day... catch

[gumflapper]

did u get it from a guy on ebay called "mybodykits?