What To Do.. Sell My Na 33 And Buy A 34?

[HannibalK1ng]

hey right now i have a black R33 s2 GTS4, manual, 84k kms on the clock and in great conditons but i defently want something faster ive had it for nearly a year and im in a situation where i want to either turbo it or buy an R34 turbo.

could anyone give me a price range i could expect to sell it for?

and the way i see it .... if i turbo my car it will cost me no less then 3k in part plus i will loose vaule on my car seeing that turbos are less expensive then NAs these days.... so am i better off selling it and buying an R34 any help appreicated thanks alot.

[Eug]

really depends on if you intend on keeping it and what type of mods you've done to your current car. if you have cosmetics, sound system, suspension, etc. do you really want to be buying them all again (at retail price) for your new car?

the 'sell your NA and buy a turbo' doesn't apply as strongly as it used to due to the fact that so many of the R33 GTSt's have been thrashed like no tomorrow. so many of them have done 150K km plus, and once you factor in the fact they might have been wound back you're sitting on an old engine that's been driven like it was brand new. on the other hand you've got an 84K km car (and lets also assume that it's been wound back) - it really hasn't had that much of a bad life.

R34 GTt's on the other hand are newer and thus if selling your car you would want to maximise the amount you can sell your car for (i would opt for option 2)

couple of options:

1. sell your car, buy new car, mod new car

2. strip your car to stock, sell bits, buy new car, mod new car or transfer any possible old bits to new car

3. turbo current car, leave mods as is.

depending on how much you want an R33 or an R34 will decide which ones you go for.

option 1 will maximise your losses in both selling your car and purchasing new mods at retail

option 2 will minimise your losses in selling the car and modding as well as maximising your gains in selling off your mods

option 3 will incur some loss in the mods you add (i.e. turbo kit, rims, etc) as well as general depreciation when you do decide to sell your R33 GTS+t

however you think about it, if you do decide to sell the R33 GTS+t or the R34 GTt (either one of which you will end up with at the end) you will have to go through the whole process of selling again and you will not make the money back from whatever you do.

so to clarify:

R34GTt - make a loss on your original R33 when you sold it and make a loss on your R34 when you sell it

R33 - make a loss + loss on your turbo conversion

you'll have to weigh it up mate and decide which will leave you financially better. if money is no objection then go for whatever you like best!

[N-DAWG]

What Eug said. Plus you know that what you have now is in good condition, no suprises when you buy a turbo car.

If you're wanting to fork out for the upgrade to a R34 GTT, I would even consider doing the turbo conversion on your R33 and going that extra step on the engine with pistons etc to make it stronger.. and then you know that you'll get more life out of the car.

I notice in a previous topic you posted you were looking at doing the engine swap. Have you decided whether you want to keep your All Wheel Drive? What was the outcome of researching the stagea engine swap?

Unless you can find a buyer for your old engine to reclaim costs, I would rather keep a car that you know is in good working order, and build on that. Of course you also have other things to consider like staying 4 stud, or 5 stud conversion with brake upgrade...

Sit down and work out your options on paper with estimated $$$ (don't be too conservative on that cause things don't always run to budget), and genuinely think about how far you would take your R33 GTS4 if you were to build up on that. That is, will you do the low boost conversion and be done with it? Or will you go the whole hog rebuilding the engine for more power or drop in a RB25DET? Are you going to have to upgrade the gearbox and other components to cope then? Will the brakes keep up or are you going to need to spend more on a 5 stud bigger brake upgrade? How far do you want to take suspension and handling etc.. etc..

Once you start modifying an N/A Skyline particularly with intent to work up to a turbo conversion, the costs increase pretty quickly! Whilst an R34 GTT is going to be of better standard in most of those areas, you will still end up wanting to upgrade but at least you have a good base to work on.

If your car isn't just in good mech order but also good physical condition, and the dollars to upgrade the above just happens to be very close to a R34 GTT upgrade... I think I'll take the modified path and at least it will be the way you like.

[HannibalK1ng]

thanks for all the help guys and yea im gonna have to really sit down and work out my options.

yea i made a topic about turboing my r33 and was wondering about the 4wd... but the way i see it its costing me money to turbo my car and i will also loose value on it. yes my car is in really good working order the only mods ive done is sound system and full exhuast but thats not really a problem....

also another thing i will be buying a r34 from power road car sales in dandenong as i really had a good experience buying my r33 from him and also cause of the fact the car prices have droped alot and right now you can get alot off a car basicly cause they aint selling so i see my self getting a good 3k off the price that he would want.

idealy id like as much as possible for selling my car but would 14k be an unreasonable number? thanks alot

[N-DAWG]

I assume that full exhaust means catback? Guessing that you have a 2.5" exhaust, which while it would work with a turbo would be somewhat restrictive.

Maybe you are best to see what you can get for your car and get a R34GTT, plus you'll have a newer car as well.

I'm not sure about 14k, as someone said in another thread, a car is only worth as much as that person is prepared to pay for it. You can pick up R34 N/A's for less than 14. If you find someone who is really keen to buy a R33 GTS4 and is waiting for a good one to come along then that will be a bit more in your favour.

[HannibalK1ng]

yea i know i might put it up on car sales... ill put it up for 14k but would probley settle for 12.5k no less. if i cant sell it for that much then i would probley turbo it as its a good car and im not gonna give it away for cheap

[GTS4WD]

If your are in any way mechanically minded, id highly recommend you do the work yourself and save yourself a buttload of money.

Please also ber in mind the diffrences between a GTT and 33 GTST:

Bigger brakes

More power

More torque

Traction control

Just to name a few.

In an perfect world you could drop the RB25DET NEO out of a GTT into a GTS4 and let the ATTESSA do the traction control for you.

I say its all about how attatched you are to your car and what condition its in.

I have already spent a buttload of money and far too many man hours on repairing and general maintanence on my car to even THINK about selling. But things to break quicker than they are being fixed

[N-DAWG]

A lot of people are concerned about resale value, which is all well and good...but how long do you plan to keep the car for? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?

I don't have any plans to sell my R34 in the future, which is why I bought a 4 door sedan model so resale value is of lower priority. I spend money make it the way I want, why would I want to sell? So long as my insurance agreed value is what it should be!

If you plan to drive it for a few years, then sell it again later for a new car...I think it goes without saying that in even a few years value of the car will drop even more, and if turbos continue to drop, I know I wouldn't be in a hurry to sell a car that I've invested in modifying to such a standard.

Think about it, N/A skylines are already seeing more presence in the Australian market due to the demand from P Plate restrictions. In a few years there'll be a lot more N/A's on the road, the value of those cars will have dropped a fair amount too (price/availabiltiy).

A turbo conversion costs a fair amount of money that you can't really recover too easily, particularly with labour and tuning costs.

I think you probably need to also decide, turbo or N/A aside, what do you really want...an R33 or R34? Cause both can be modified for performance, handling brakes etc.. Some want a R33 and that's it they simply don't like the R34's for looks or whatever reason.

Also you mentioned that you were looking at buying a GTT from a dealer...I'm not familiar with how they price their imports, but even if you get 12.5k for your R33 now, I think you should be prepared to spend closer to 20k if you're buying a GTT from a dealer. 8-9 grand difference? I'd be modifying what you have now. Rebuild, turbocharge, suspension and brakes, amongst other things as budget allows.

It's a more time consuming process to build up the car you have now, compared to just selling and buying a R34 turbo out of the box, but the satisfaction of having a R33 GTS4 that you've done the hard work of getting it the way you want with the suspension you want and the components you want.... I like the idea of building up the R33 but that's me.

Edited December 12, 2008 by N-DAWG

[JI34GT]

Current car market isnt very good. So you might find it hard to sell your car.

But if your 33 is in great condition, I would suggest you keep it and turbo it...coz even if you buy a 34, it might not be near as good condition as your 33 and what could even be worse is if it was a lemon.

Then you'd be stuck without a great 33, left with a lemon 34 and still no turbo

Since the 33 is in good shape, could be worthwhile to build it up.

[Crans]

You have a GTS4 go the 3L conversion awd 3L ftw

[GTS4WD]

You have a GTS4 go the 3L conversion awd 3L ftw

IF only it were to easy.

Believe me..

[Samon]

I pondered the same thing earlier in the year... I've got an N/A 33 which I love, I've taken good care of for the last few years, but I was after a bit more punch

I've decided to go with the +t option, as I've got enough mechanical knowledge (and a mechanic mate or two!) to undertake the majority of the labour (minus the tune) myself.

I've been buying bits and pieces to do the conversion (not an engine swap, turboing my current engine) over the past few months, picking up a bargain here and there as I've come across them. I set myself an inital budget of $2K all up... but I'd say I'm gonna come in well under.

I'll (hopefully) be doing it in my holidays mid January... so I'll let you know how it goes!

[Tezzah]

I converted my 20DE to turbo.

I based my choice on two things.

A. I had a desire to learn, and achieve it myself.

B. I imported the car in '05 with 30,000k's on it. Driving it for 3 years, and 40,000k's myself. the tacho was at 70k when i turboed it. I knew and trust it was genuine. And such a baby of a motor deserves to live out its life as God intended. Force Fed.

25DE's LOVE BOOST! Pump 14psi into it and you will smoke almost any other R33 gts-t you will ever come across on the road drag strip.

[Samon]

I converted my 20DE to turbo.

I based my choice on two things.

A. I had a desire to learn, and achieve it myself.

B. I imported the car in '05 with 30,000k's on it. Driving it for 3 years, and 40,000k's myself. the tacho was at 70k when i turboed it. I knew and trust it was genuine. And such a baby of a motor deserves to live out its life as God intended. Force Fed.

25DE's LOVE BOOST! Pump 14psi into it and you will smoke almost any other R33 gts-t you will ever come across on the road drag strip.

+1 to pretty much all of the above.

With the higher compression ratio I don't think I'll be pushing anywhere NEAR that amount of boost, but even at say 7-8PSI, with the higher compression that's equivalent to much more on a low comp gts-t

I'm really interested in the learning experience of it all... I mean while I'm fairly mechanically minded, this is a fairly big venture... should be fun!

[Tezzah]

From what i have heard, the 25de can take 14psi.

my 20de was running 12psi but i dropped it to 10. it was fine on 12. and people say the 25de will take more then the 20de.

definately run at least 10.

then when you get hungry for more boost later. learn how to put low comp pistons in.

thats what im going to do

[Samon]

From what i have heard, the 25de can take 14psi.

my 20de was running 12psi but i dropped it to 10. it was fine on 12. and people say the 25de will take more then the 20de.

definately run at least 10.

then when you get hungry for more boost later. learn how to put low comp pistons in.

thats what im going to do

Hmmm....

Putting low comp pistons in just leaves me with a boring old rb25det... the rb25de+t should be a bit more fun to drive I'd hope... i.e. punchier down low... we'll see I guess!

[N-DAWG]

Nice Samon! Another DE+t on the way I've heard that they start coming on boost at 1800revs and variable timing gives a pleasant suprise when it kicks in the first time Looking forward to seeing your results...I'm hoping to have my DE+t done early next year...just done my brake upgrade couple of days ago though. I have a nice big deep desk at work with plenty of room for storing parts...I've been told that we're not a wreckers lol

As for swapping pistons...unless you want more outright power again, I like the idea of the responsive +t setup for daily/street driven car. But hey, when the time comes that new pistons are needed, you can always do high compression forged internals and so the engine build begins.

Back to topic though, if it was me I'd more than likely spend the money on the +t option, though I do love the R34, but it's the thought of having a car that can be built up to the way I want it that makes that option attractive to me. I've seen a number of +t conversions done all with good results. A good tune and not flogging it contantly it seems they will live a long and prosperous life. Take for example 666DAN who got 70,000+kms out of his and it's probably still going. Wytsky has been getting some pretty impressive results too! Dollar for dollar comparison between the +t and GTT option, R33 GTS+t looks pretty attractive to me.

[Tezzah]

Hmmm....

Putting low comp pistons in just leaves me with a boring old rb25det... the rb25de+t should be a bit more fun to drive I'd hope... i.e. punchier down low... we'll see I guess!

For me, if i want to run anymore boost -reliably- i will need to put low comp pistons in.

That also would be a rewarding way to learn how to pull apart engines.

Edited December 15, 2008 by Tezzah