Looking At Buying An R33 Gts4 Turbo

[GunNugget]

Hi everyone first post here, I have always owned R31's and R32's the past 6 years but always NA - I thought it was time to step up the game a little and found something rather unique

its a Series 2 R33 GTS-4 with an RB25DET + 5 speed that has been fitted a number of years ago I have a few questions regarding this that someone may be able to help me with

1) the QLD rego sticker states the car is 2003 Nissan Skyline with no badge identifier - owner says this is because when it was mod plated for the turbo engine - is this legit ? It passed a revs check on the vin / rego number without any issues its actually a 1996 - mod plate is riveted to the drivers side suspension strut tower mount

2) looks like a fair amount of bolt ons have been added to the engine - Fuel pressure regulator, external wastegate, bov, full set of braided hoses - but it still has factory exhaust and intercooler I found this strange? Im thinking it may have been defected in the past and factory items were fitted

3) the clutch just feels plain strange to me - the owner says he had it checked out and said its because a heavy duty clutch was fitted - basically the clutch feels loose almost like there is little/no hydraulic pressure until about 70% of the way down then it is very stiff - gear changes are smooth there is no slipping and there is fluid in the res - would this be a hydraulic problem or something deeper?

Aside from that the car drives really well - suspension is very tight and stiff - should I be looking for anything else on this? IS the stock drivetrain tough enough to handle the job? The current owner does not know alot about the modifications on the car or its history as he has had it less than 1 year

[blind_elk]

R33s have always had RB25 engines, so there's nothing "unique" about that.

Is it a "GTS4" because it is a 4-door or because it has AWD? The AWD version never came out of the factory with a turbo, only N/A and 4-stud rims.

[GunNugget]

R33s have always had RB25 engines, so there's nothing "unique" about that.

Is it a "GTS4" because it is a 4-door or because it has AWD? The AWD version never came out of the factory with a turbo, only N/A and 4-stud rims.

GTS4 - I believe they all came RB25DE AWD non turbo - body code ENR33 - easy spotted by the Blue GT badges and 4 stud wheels

this particular one has had a Stagea RB25DET + GTS-T 5 speed manual fitted

so it would be one of the very few R33 GTS4 Turbos - not quite 100% unique but I assume very rare none the less

Maybe you just missed the big T in my post above *shrugs*

Edited November 29, 2011 by GunNugget

[Bronx]

so if it has a gtst gearbox its not unique in any way...... its just a r33 4 door turbo, that means you even removed the "unique" awd feature..... jsut a waste of time and money, buy a r33 gtst. less weight same power

if it had the stagea rb25 and gtr box mounted, then it would be more unique. you could have a 4 door AWD turbo r33.

[Sarumatix]

one would presume that if they went to the effort of sourcing a stagea RB25det, that they also got the awd gearbox that comes with it hence 'gts-t' strength gearbox?

I have a R32 gts4 4-door with gtr running gear, a lot of fun as a sleeper.

The clutch issues shouldn't be hard to fix, almost certainly going to be the slave or master cylinder, if it hasn't been engaging as well you might need new friction surfaces.

Quite a few cars have slipped through with odd things on the plate, for example my car is apparently a gts-t according to the plate.

The owner may not have wanted to cut the chassis and has opted for the stock setup, however I would agree that is a silly idea the stock setup just doesn't cut it in Aus for anything past bone stock. More likely it is because he wanted a road worthy certificate to go with selling the car and that's what the RWC provided asked for, easily fixed anyway. You should probably check with the relevant road transport authority to make sure it is currently not listed as defective.

Hope this helps.

[045HOW]

Rego sticker sounds dodgy as!

[copycutter]

My ECR33 had this when I bought it.

The thing said 2001 Nissan when it's a 96.

I got it resolved eventually by going into a QLD Transport office and them coming out with clipboard to physically verify the date of manufacture. I insisted they do it because I didn't want it biting me in the ass for insurance. Then nothing happened so I gave up, but when I renewed my rego the new sticker came out with 1996 on it. Yay.

For some reason they chose it's date of arrival in Oz rather than it's actual build date, the idiots.

Edited December 14, 2011 by copycutter