Found Cheap R33 Gts-4, Needs Abit Of Work, Worth It?

[bretto1588]

hey guys,

ive just sold my car and ive found a cheap 1994 r33 gts-4.

the guys a mechanic and he asking 3 grand for it.

first ill tell u about the car lol

has 180000kms on motor, it was fully rebuilt 7500km ago. the car needs abit of work tho, messed up interior but relatively good and has some body damage, only slight but would prob still need new panels and a new paint job.

ive got about 15 grand saved and im just asking you guys if you think it would be worth it to fix this baby up or just look for another decent skyline.

i think its got potential lol

thanks guys for any advice or recommendations you can give.

cheers.

[and3_3]

get a gtr

u will not regret it

[DaGr81]

R32 gtrs some as low as 17k

[BezerkR32]

this is true, but you need to have 5k spare to tidy it up.

we bought a 33gtst for $4800. needed some panel repair, shocks, brakes, front screen, exhaust studs & then rego.

ended up owing us $8000 with 12 months rego. car is now extremely tidy and goes well. If you are able to do most of the work yourself it will work out worth your while, but when you start talking about full re-spays and your not a panel beater, well get your check book out.

R32 gtrs some as low as 17k

[bretto1588]

ya reckon? i always thought a manual gts-4 would be pretty rare thats why it really interested me. im not really looking for anything high performance lol plus theres no way id wanna pay the insurance on a turbo coupe skyline lol

[bretto1588]

lol yeah i knew it wouldnt be cheap, im just looking for something nice and sleek to drive around it i just thought gts4 would be a good base to start on lol

[BezerkR32]

all the atmo models are relatively cheap anyway.

lol yeah i knew it wouldnt be cheap, im just looking for something nice and sleek to drive around it i just thought gts4 would be a good base to start on lol

[bretto1588]

yeah true, well i guess ill have to have a think about it then lol, thanks guys for your help

[bretto1588]

oh and BezerkR32, i just noticed ur from wollongong, i live in kiama, just south of ya lol, u wouldnt happen to know of any decent cheap skylines around would ya? cause that would be awesome lol

cheers mate

[R33_Dude]

this is true, but you need to have 5k spare to tidy it up.

we bought a 33gtst for $4800. needed some panel repair, shocks, brakes, front screen, exhaust studs & then rego.

ended up owing us $8000 with 12 months rego. car is now extremely tidy and goes well. If you are able to do most of the work yourself it will work out worth your while, but when you start talking about full re-spays and your not a panel beater, well get your check book out.

Exactly what I did when I had my 33. They are very easy to work on and if you or your friends can spray paint its a fairly painless process as long as there is no chassis damage.

I want to do it again sometime with a 33 gts-4. Have to sell the poosar first though...

 

[N-DAWG]

ya reckon? i always thought a manual gts-4 would be pretty rare thats why it really interested me. im not really looking for anything high performance lol plus theres no way id wanna pay the insurance on a turbo coupe skyline lol

Depends where you're insuring it. My insurance for my car after modifying it is still under 1500k a year. When I compared my insurance now to where I used to live in NSW there's nearly a grand difference! Up here there's only a few hundred bucks difference really between a GT and GTT, at least when I done the online quote.

Anyways as was said before, if you know people who can do a good job without costing too much sometimes it works out allright cause you're buying a car next to nothing, and replacing pretty much everything else. You said the motors been rebuilt so at least you know engine wise it's going to have a longer life. The most expensive part of restoring a car generally comes down to labour cost more than anything else. Multiply a mechanics hourly rate by how long it takes to do all the work and things add up very quickly.

On another note, how much would a rebuilt R33 GTS4 motor alone be worth? and exactly how bad is this car? You might be able to get another GTS4 whether an R32 or R33 that might be in good physical condition but a high mileage engine, use parts from both, sell the remaining bits... just thinking out loud at the moment though, but the fact that it's got a rebuilt engine would make it ideal to strip down for parts for a project car if that's what you're keen to do. I've never really explored those options fully though so I don't know what will and wouldn't work, or have a complete idea on costs.. but for what I spent on my R34 to get it to where it is now (and this isn't even the end yet), there's time's I wish I bought a cheaper R32 or R33 and restored that.

[bretto1588]

Depends where you're insuring it. My insurance for my car after modifying it is still under 1500k a year. When I compared my insurance now to where I used to live in NSW there's nearly a grand difference! Up here there's only a few hundred bucks difference really between a GT and GTT, at least when I done the online quote.

Anyways as was said before, if you know people who can do a good job without costing too much sometimes it works out allright cause you're buying a car next to nothing, and replacing pretty much everything else. You said the motors been rebuilt so at least you know engine wise it's going to have a longer life. The most expensive part of restoring a car generally comes down to labour cost more than anything else. Multiply a mechanics hourly rate by how long it takes to do all the work and things add up very quickly.

On another note, how much would a rebuilt R33 GTS4 motor alone be worth? and exactly how bad is this car? You might be able to get another GTS4 whether an R32 or R33 that might be in good physical condition but a high mileage engine, use parts from both, sell the remaining bits... just thinking out loud at the moment though, but the fact that it's got a rebuilt engine would make it ideal to strip down for parts for a project car if that's what you're keen to do. I've never really explored those options fully though so I don't know what will and wouldn't work, or have a complete idea on costs.. but for what I spent on my R34 to get it to where it is now (and this isn't even the end yet), there's time's I wish I bought a cheaper R32 or R33 and restored that.

yeah mate that had already crossed my mind lol (combining 2 cars) but u know im not really looking for a project car ay, rather somethin nice to drive without me having done much work to it lol. this is the only skyline ive seen for sale down my way, though i havent been looking for long lol.

on the insurance note tho, since im only 21, they all kill me lol, ive had no crashes or anything. my online quote for this car 1700 bucks, but if it had a turbo it went up too $2600 lol

Edited May 18, 2009 by bretto1588

[N-DAWG]

yeah mate that had already crossed my mind lol (combining 2 cars) but u know im not really looking for a project car ay, rather somethin nice to drive without me having done much work to it lol. this is the only skyline ive seen for sale down my way, though i havent been looking for long lol.

on the insurance note tho, since im only 21, they all kill me lol, ive had no crashes or anything. my online quote for this car 1700 bucks, but if it had a turbo it went up too $2600 lol

true! Sometimes it's nice just having a daily driver that you can just...drive! I've had mine off the road the last week till I get brakes sorted out and calipers rebuilt.. just another problem.. once you start messing around with cars there's no end! either something else needs changing or you want more power lol

$2600 that's ridiculous! I done an online quote for my insurance if I moved back to 2500 and it came through at $2,259! I think I'll stay in Brisbane! It's crazy spending that much on insurance every year, sometimes it nearly costs the same as the car after so many years, not to mention the excess! and I'm 23, though my insurance was still a LOT cheaper when I bought this car at 21. The premium and excess comes down once you get into the 22-24 bracket with Just Car, at least for me anyways, my premium dropped around $300 odd dollars afer being with them for a year as well.

My advice though if you just want an N/A Skyline for a nice daily car, get an R34. They're quite cheap now (at least when I bought mine they were $14k and under, P Plate Laws and the Yen may have changed the value though).. only thing is that I've found they're more common in TipTronic Auto's than in Manual. That said though Tiptronic can be a lot of fun too and with a stage 2 shift kit (which is on my list of future mods) they get through the gears quite quickly =] At least with an R34 you're going to have a newer car. R34's are heavy though but at least you get the NEO engine.

Think of it this way, if that R33 has 180,000kms, yeah the engine might be rebuilt, but the suspension, brakes, driveline, transmission etc.. are all 180,000kms old. Allow 5k for a decent full respray, allows 2-3 grand to replace suspension bushings, springs, shocks etc.., then depending on the condition of the brakes whether the calipers need rebuilding, how much meat is left on the rotors and pads, are the brake lines in good condition... tyres have much left on them? What's the condition of the transmission and clutch? How many panels need replacing / panel beating, how costly are the body repairs themselves going to be before even spraying.

I would get someone who knows what they're looking for in a used car, get 3 quotes for each work that needs to be done, way up the costs, time and effort. In the end even if you break even with buying a good condition Skyline to begin with, having a car that you can say you've restored and got it to near new condition again is always a good thing.. and if you restore it all it doesn't matter the age of the car as everything is new or in good condition. What matters though is what it's going to be worth in the eyes of a buyer if you plan to sell later on. If you already don't like the idea of spending a lot of time on restoring a car or building a project car, then scrap that idea lol

Oh also another thing to consider, and I really don't know the answer to this either, but you want to make sure that your insurer is going to insure it for the value that you want! Nothing worse than spending x amount of dollars on modifying a car and then the insurer having other ideas ~_~

ps. beautiful place Kiama!

Edited May 18, 2009 by N-DAWG

[bretto1588]

lol yeah exactly. well the condition of the car aint really that bad, everything inside is perfect aside from the gear stick leather that is alittle torn otherwise its a nice place in there. ive only driven it once tho for about 20mins just to get a feel for it, i had never driven a skyline before so i wasnt really sure what to expect but to me, it drove good, u could tell he did something to the engine, steering was alittle loose but i boiled that down to being 15 yrs old lol.

He was actually about to sell it last month to a guy for 6 grand but the day he was meant to pick it up he had a bit of an accident lol, momentary lapse of concentration and bumped into a guard rail lol, slightly crushed the front and rear left side quarter panels and paint off the passenger door but trust me it doesnt look as bad as it sounds lol, but the overall paint work aint to bad, abit of fading and such. hey quick question, if u know that is lol if i re sprayed it, i would get it in white, would that be much cheaper u reckon?

yeah i know, i was in sydney the other day and i must have seen like 20 skylines driving around, u would def have a greater choice for cars up there cause there sure aint much to choose from down here, ill prob just take what i can get lol

ps. kiama is a beautiful place lol

[Line 3]

hey mate

your not talkin about that red one from albion park are ya

guys name is chad

where abouts in kiama u from??

[bretto1588]

hey mate

your not talkin about that red one from albion park are ya

guys name is chad

where abouts in kiama u from??

haha sure am, he works at the minnamurra service station. my family owns it. well i dont live in kiama actually, im in minnamurra

[Line 3]

haha sure am, he works at the minnamurra service station. my family owns it. well i dont live in kiama actually, im in minnamurra

yeh i went to go see that car about 2-3 months ago when i was looking around for a skyline

its allright but your going to have to spend money on it

just around 1-2 grand for the respray just to make it look nice

thats what i thort

i just kept looking and i found my black r33 gts

went up to penrith to get it but it was worth it

dont need to spend money on it

keep looking are you a p plater??

[bretto1588]

na na had my full licence for a yr now, but yeah i kinda knew i would have to spend some money on it lol, how much was ur car if i may ask? private seller? dealer?

[Line 3]

na na had my full licence for a yr now, but yeah i kinda knew i would have to spend some money on it lol, how much was ur car if i may ask? private seller? dealer?

go gtst or gtr

you will enjoy it alot more

i got mine from a private seller in penrith

just found it on car point

he wanted $8000 but i payed $6300

i got a really good deal for a nice car aswell

[bretto1588]

yeah nice car man, $6300 jeez thats a sick deal, yeah i might have to keep looking round lol. wasnt really lookin for a turbo tho, insurance suck ass lol. ill have to look out for ur car now man lol. take it easy bro