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

[Line 3]

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

yeh

now worries

keep us posted on how u go mate

[N-DAWG]

What colour is the car? When I got quotes on spray painting, I asked if going for a gloss paint would be much cheaper as I was thinking of going gloss black if I did respray. I was told it won't make a lot of difference. If you want to just do the outside, you're best to go with same colour as the car if you want it to blend in reasonably well without painting the door jams etc..

If you fit aftermarket panels don't forget to add in fitting costs as well. A lot of ordinary panel beaters don't like doing work with body kits and the like cause of the fitting.. some are good some aren't. You might be lucky to find the front quarter panels through some import wreckers. There's a few up here that have them, not sure how much post would be, but if you can find the same colour might work out allright.

Even some minor body damage can cost a lot to repair, it's quite suprising how much some times.

Depending on how the rest of the body is though, for example fading and scratches, if you plan to keep the car in the long-term then even respraying the outside the same colour will have it looking nice and fresh again.

Interior bits like the leather boot on the shifter and handbrake can easily be replaced with aftermarket ones online, and aftermarket shift knobs for manuals are everywhere really.

The plastic trims you can always sand the paint of them and respray (check the DIY section for a good guide on doing this).

Besides that though, like I said, get someone that knows what they're looking at to check it over. Check things like the suspension, bushings, brakes, rotor and pad wear or warped discs, get it out on the free way to see if there's any freeplay in the steering (you mentioned the steering felt a bit loose).

If you're serious about getting it, find a mechanic who knows skyline's to do an inspection as they'll know exactly what to look for. There's performance workshops up here that do pre-purchase inpsections. I'm not sure of the one's in the Illawarra though as I didn't have my Skyline till I moved up here, but I'm pretty sure there'd be one or more in Wollongong though that would be able to help you out.

Edit: Not sure if Bezerkly offer this service?

Edited May 18, 2009 by N-DAWG

[Ten Four]

Mate, been in your situation twice.

(Before market crash)

Bought a R33 GTS NA AUTO for 4600 that required fixing right hand door + front guard, roof faded, rear quarter faded, bonnet starting to peel and a stuffed front bumper. Mechanicals were great other than a rattle coming from the alternator. Got a mate to do a cashie and fixed up the cosmetic side (excluding front bumper) for $500. Then I found a cracked 400R front bumper that my mate fixed up, sprayed and fitted for $400. BTW car had 195kms on the odo without any form of log books. After installing alpine sub, amp and pioneer flip out head unit I sold it and made $500 on it, would have been 2500 extra without the sound system

(After market crash)

Bought a R32 GTS4 Turbo Auto for 2.5ish unrego'd and had been sitting (smoothest motor + g/box I've ever driven). Fast forward, ended up with rebuilt brakes all round, new pads, billstein coilovers and still made a decent profit.

Both cars ended up looking really sweet + now I've saved up enough for the GTR which is a keeper

Edited May 18, 2009 by Ten Four

[R33_Dude]

I have been looking for a damaged skyline for a while so i can buy it cheap and do what I want to without limitations. If anyone comes across anything from 4k - 6.5k let me know. As long as its mechanically sound I don't care too much about the body as long as its structurally intact (i.e. chassis/pillars aren't screwed).

Just throwing it out there

[BezerkR32]

there are plenty of bashed up 33s around now days, its actually getting harder to find tidy ones. Sort of the same as 32s 5 years ago. $ doors are especially cheap.

Unfortunatelly Bezerkly closed in december. We did offer a pre purchase inspection. PM me and i can put you onto some good local mechanics and beaters to look over a car for you.

I have been looking for a damaged skyline for a while so i can buy it cheap and do what I want to without limitations. If anyone comes across anything from 4k - 6.5k let me know. As long as its mechanically sound I don't care too much about the body as long as its structurally intact (i.e. chassis/pillars aren't screwed).

Just throwing it out there

[bretto1588]

thanks guys for all you help, gettin my mechanic mate to come check it out today just to see what im dealing with here lol. i will keep you guys posted.

to N-DAWG,

the original colour was like a red/burgundy type of colour, nice colour tho and about the auto wreckers thats what im gonna have to look for and see if there is any down my way otherwise id have to go to sydney. inside is rather good, ive already done some searchin for parts online and its rather easy to find tonnes of stuff, its just the outside that concerns me lol. its all kinda of tricky tho, since this is my first time ive really considered buyin one these jap cars, im all abit lost in it u know lol

to ten four,

man i wish i knew some panel beaters or spray painters, would have made all this so much easier lol, but in the end im not really lookin to fix it up and sell for a quick profit, just more of a nice car for me to drive round in lol

[N-DAWG]

Like the colour in some of the panels here?

http://www.option1garage.com.au/Exhausts.htm

I know the link says exhausts, but it's all body panels. They've got that burgundy/redish colour in front R33 quarter panels, side skirts and even rear boot and spoiler.

[Ten Four]

Lols, I didn't buy to sell, I just put it up on carsales and if someone wants it, they can buy it, otherwise I'm happy to drive it around

[MZBLTZ]

I picked up my r33 gts-4 manual for relatively cheap.

Haven't been happier.

Any pics of it?

Edited May 19, 2009 by MZBLTZ

[Mr.Massive]

not worth the headf**k.

[central coast person]

If your still interested in buying the GTS-4 i recommended you will be in for a bit of trouble. I rebuilt the GTS-4 i have at the moment and its cost me $9500 (IMMACULATE BODY AND INTERIOR) engine wise .... well lets say i drove it for 200km and it died at 176,000km (around the same time the GTS-4 your looking at went) we knew the engine was screwed which is why we did a 50thou engine rebuild to it. That took 11months, there are mixed parts through out the GTS-4 blueprint and it will leave you puzzled in parts half the time. ive spent 4500+ in parts and just suffered the top tank of the radiator the erode away.

if i lived near you id help sus out the mechanics of the car because Ive been over it with a fine tooth come when we did the engine rebuild. The drivetrain and suspension in them are really heavy duty. The diffs are only 5% worn as they were designed for a twin turbo pumping machine and are not under strain. Mine is virtually coming up to a healthy state but the rule of loving a car is there is always a part not in order or broken and you will get addicted to buying parts.

To sum it up work out what parts need to be fixed. If there is something wrong with the steering you have a mixture or rb25 and rb26 parts that you need to mix because the GTS4 steering has a mixture of parts.