The Little R32 That Could...

[slipn]

Guess I will start by introducing myself.
Name is Rudi I leave on the Sunshine Coast QLD and work in web and graphic design. I have been into cars since I first got my licence in 1997, always been into Jap turbo cars and you could say that over the past 17 years it has been an obsession of mine.
I have owned many cars from a TX3 Laser to a 20 valve A86, 180sx, Integra the list goes on...




For years I kind of got over it and travelled for years then went back to Uni but during that time there was an itch to get back into a Japanese import. I really started to follow drifting and went to a few Friday night drifts at QLD Raceways and the urge got bigger.
I was constantly on CarSales and Gumtree looking at s13's, Chasers and Skylines and dreaming of one day owning one and getting back into the modifying game...

Then one day a car popped up at the right price and seemed ok from the description. It was a 1989 R32 Skyline, white with sunroof and not a huge list of mods.
I went to take a look and compared to a lot of the other ones at the time it seemed pretty clean.





Good Things:

Straight panels
R33 GTR Rims
Clean Interior
Big Stereo (This will come out asap though and I can sell for more parts
Strut Braces
Tien Coilovers
Front Mount cooler
Exhaust

Bad Things:

Body kit... Way over the top for me
Oil Leaks
The car had starting issues, when I test drove it there was no problems but the seller was honest and said there may be a starter motor problem.

So overall the price was right and the car was clean and did not look like it had been too thrashed, still had its factory airbox so I thought that an added bonus.

A few days later I picked it up after the owner got a Road worthy (He must of known a dodgy mechanic as I will never know how he did as it had several issues that no legitimate garage would pass..) I planned to drive it home that night from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast which is just over an hour drive. I remember talking to the car just saying you can explode, break anything you want just as long as we get home... It made it the whole way home until I drove down my street when suddenly it just died..... the lights dimmed and the engine stopped. When I tried to start it all I got was a loud Reeeeaaghghhhghgh!!!! Well I was just glad I made it home, I pushed it to the kerb outside my house and left it for another day.

A few days later I replaced the starter and that fixed that problem, I drove around in it for about a week until a few more problems started to arise. The car would stall at traffic lights and whenever it came to idle, this turned out to be the Idle control valve. I replaced the gasket and gave it a clean and after that it was all good.

I started to realise that who ever the last owners were they seemed to cut a few corners and things were done a little dodgy...

It had a cheapo front mount cooler and who ever fitted it did a less that ordinary job. Front bar was held in with 2 bolts, both headlights were held in with no bolts!! Only wires were keeping them in. Indicators were held in with zip ties. I fixed all these things over a weekend and bought new indicators. However the piping is seriously rubbing against the cut hole underneath the battery so I just put some rubber there to stop it getting worse. I plan on getting a Plazmaman setup in the future so this will have to do for now...




The car also was running a straight pipe... I guess cause the car sat so low with the kit I never realised plus I cant believe how quiet it was with no muffler?? I got a new cat converter and muffler fitted by Nambour Exhaust and towbars who did an awesome job of keeping the 2 outlet pipes out the back.

Then the car begun to not start again, plus I was getting really weird volts on the turbo timer. I took the car to 2 different auto electricians who tested the battery and told me it was fine..... Turned out to be the battery so I replaced it with an Oddysey PC1200 which sorted all the electrical gremlins. I also moved the battery to the boot as I just want easier access to the engine and better weight distribution.




After doing all this the car now seemed to be much more reliable and I could now focus on having fun with it!!

A crew called Slidewize do skidpan days up at Gympie and I had been meaning to check it out for ages. It is a great place to test the car and really see the results of any modifications in a safe environment. Not only did they do skid pan but also driving events.
The first time there I was skidding and spinning out all over the place. We also did a couple of races and I lined up against some pretty damn quick cars. Car surprised me with its midrange pull and I kept up with some much faster cars.





This video is actually from the second time I went, this time around I got a much better feeling for kicking the car out to oversteer and holding it there for longer. I was able to control my steering a whole lot more and not go to crazy with the gas peddle, really enjoying the learning process of this car and how it drives. It still needs a whole lot more sorting out suspension wise, it has Tien coils but who knows if they are set up correctly, the car can get real bad understeer so if anyone has advice on how to control this I would love to hear it

Goal for the car is just to get to a reliable standard and enjoy driving it. I want to enter as many skidpan days as I can and maybe... go to a drift day at Qld Raceway. In no way do I want to turn it into a drift pig as I want it to be legal and still be useful and easy to live with on the roads.

When I bought it I promised myself not to fall in love with it but Im afraid Im past that point, just so rad to have another import I can work on during the weekends.

List of mods I want to complete in the next few months:

New front mount cooler

Delete Hicas and all lines

Water, Oil temp, oil pressure gauges

Get wheels cleaned up

All new brakes with R33 front calipers

Get Coilovers sorted (Find out if they are ok and setup correctly)

KKR Package from Option1 garage.. Still unsure on this, if anyone out there has any feedback on this I would love to hear it!

Enjoy...

[dopey]

Clean looking 32, wish mine was that clean. Slidwize is a great place to learn your car to and meat nice like minded peaple

[hot_c210]

Hey man, that was a great day up there, you were doing pretty well i thought, you seemed to be holding a good consistent slide! (i drove the stagea)

was interesting to hear some of the problems/changes made to the car, gives me some ideas for my 32, hope to see some changes take place on the car! enjoy!

[slipn]

Hey man, that was a great day up there, you were doing pretty well i thought, you seemed to be holding a good consistent slide! (i drove the stagea)

was interesting to hear some of the problems/changes made to the car, gives me some ideas for my 32, hope to see some changes take place on the car! enjoy!

For sure dude!! Are you going to any of the upcoming Slidewize days?

After that slide day I drove all the way out to Gayndah for work (3.5 hours north west) in the Skyline!! Was all sweet and no dramas until I got to my mates house and bottomed out on his driveway and smashed the front bar!

Since then the car has had a few issues and has been in the garage. read the update below!

[slipn]

Ok.... Where do I start.
Since that slideday the car has just been sitting in the garage. Nothing is really wrong with it, its just I keep on fixing stuff that is not broken and its like 2 steps forward 1 step backwards..

So after that day I drove out to Gayndah which about 4 hours west of Bundaberg in the skyline.. This was a bit of a nervous trip as I left late in the afternoon and my mates from out that way said that there are kangaroos everwhere. But the car made it no problems until I got to my mates house and broke the front bar on his driveway.. Never liked that bar anyway so maybe this will get me to fix up the other one I bought.

On the drive out there I noticed that the lights on the climate control were super dim so I decided to replace them and bought some from Dashled I bought both the climate control and dash cluster ones.
Was not that hard to replace but I ended up breaking one of the bulbs for the climate control and every time I fitted it and turned on the lights I blew the dash light fuse. So I bought one more fitted it up and it was all good.

I also fitted up some new steering rack boots as both of mine were split from the last owner.. Another thing I have no idea passed the roadworthy, but I would say that the car never saw the hoist at the roadworthy if you know what I mean
After fitting them up the car really needed a steering alignment so I took it down to Jax tyres in Maroochydore and on the way there I noticed that the godamn speedo was not working!!!!

I swore very loudly and after the alignment I removed the dash cluster and found this...



So after a bit of searching on skylinesaustralia I realised the speedo cable had broken, must of been when I took it out when replacing the globes..
Just ordered one from Kudos and hopefully get it all sorted this week as I would really like to drive the fuc%in thing!!!!!

[slipn]

In some other good news..

I got the R33 GTR rims cleaned up and resprayed.
A place in Maroochydore did them for me called Sunshine Wheel Repairs

Could not be happier with the job they did! Came out looking amazing and all the marks and colour that I could not remove has all gone. I was scrubbing these bad boys like crazy and could not remove the blemishes. Super happy with the colour too, not too dark but still looks super sinister!!

Just need to get new tyres for the front now...

Before pics

After Pics

[slipn]

Better Pic of Interior LEDS.
Once I get my speedo working I might be able to enjoy them outside of my garage!!

[Manuel Kasko]

Commenting so I can track this thread. Love the progress so far and nice choice with the rim colour! I'm amazed at how nice those rims sit as well.

[slipn]

Ok been a hectic weekend with the skyline, wish I could say some cool stuff got done but no... just some regular maintenance. That and I am pretty sure its trying to kill me...

I had the whole weekend off work so I decided to get a whole bunch of things done.
Replaced the speedo cable, this was not as hard as I thought, can see why they are so fragile though.

Had no idea when the last major service was done on it and after the skid pan days it was probably time to change the oil and coolant.
While I was at it I decided to fit a oil sandwich plate so I could fit some oil pressure and temp gauges later on. To be honest I was so sceptical on doing this and was ultra scared that I would over tighten it or it would not seal properly.
Also was suss on what one to buy but doing a bit of research I got the Mishimoto one as it looked like a much better part than the Ebay crap and when it comes to something that is keeping oil in the engine I am not skimping on price.

I also fitted up a Gktech shifter bushing and transmission spring kit. To be honest, it feels no different. But I guess that was just shifting it in the garage, maybe when I get to drive it again I will notice.

But I doubt it was worth doing this to my left arm... The bolt that holds the spring for the shifter was super tight, I was underneath the car and when it finally loosened my arm hit the cross member and took a whole bunch of skin with it... I was not going to let it beat me so I ignored it.



Also changed the coolant and put a water temp sensor hose attachment in. Still changing the coolant now, I want to do it properly so I am going to let it run again tomorrow and check that there are no air bubbles in the system. The coolant was actually pretty clean when I drained it so this was not really worth it, but I really wanted to fit the water temp gauge.

How the car sits now... Still have not driving it properly for 2 weeks now

[katsworld3]

Wow. Looks great. Had to laugh about getting it all the way home hen it dying. Typical lol. I'm also commenting so I can follow. Can't wait to see what you do with it

[slipn]

Couple of other things I managed to get done.

Bought some R33 GTST brakes from Gumtree.
I cleaned them up and replaced all the seals. I am planning on fitting these with the following when funds allow..

GKtech braided lines front and rear
DBA 4000 T3 Rotors front and rear
New pads.. undecided on what brand. Heard a bit of this Remsa brand but heard they produce a lot of dust so not keen on that. Might need to do a bit more research.



Also trying to fix up the front bar I also bought from Gumtree.
It was in good condition but just had a couple of holes and damage on the drivers side mounting point. I bought a fibreglass repair kit from bunnings and am attempting to fix it all myself. Will get it resprayed with my rear bar hopefully next week.
I think this front bar will match the rest of the kit so much better that what is on it now. The current one has way to many vents and looks a little too boy racer for me. This one reminds me of the A-BO-MOON R32s which I love!!

[katsworld3]

I've always had really great experiences with Bendix to be honest. The sports version pads though not just the standard.

[slipn]

I've always had really great experiences with Bendix to be honest. The sports version pads though not just the standard.

Thanks mate, Yeah I am leaning towards Bendix. I have had them on some of my other cars and they were awesome.

I don't think I will need anything too serious as the car is really going to be on the street most of its life.

Really interested to see if the R33 front brakes make a difference.

[gtr jet]

Remsa are great pads. I've used Bendix ultimate's in the past and they were one of the dustiest pads I've used. The general ones aren't too bad though.

Have a look at QFM HPX too.

[Ben C34]

Qfm hpx here.

No dust! Work very well.

[Sparks]

I've gone the QFM HPX as well. Pedal feel with them is awesome. Pulls up really quickly and as the guys have said very little dust with them too.

[hot_c210]

For sure dude!! Are you going to any of the upcoming Slidewize days?

Sorry been a while since ive been on here, unfortunately due to no longer having a job i cant get to slidewize for a while but thats giving me time to slowly do some work...

I have an apexi RSM and AVC-R to install still but i gotta save for a FCD first... will get there, sucks about the Front bar at least you got a good one to replace it... cant wait to see the 32 again, will be awesome to see the improvements!

[slipn]

The garage whore is back on the streets..



Was in the garage a whole lot longer than I expected, front bar just never fitted up properly so needed a bit of modification. All fitted up now and I am a little unsure of what I think?
Still needs paint I guess? Once it matches the rest of the car I might like it?? Who knows..



Not sure if I am getting over the body kit totally..

When I finally drove out of the driveway I misjudged it and my back wheel dropped of the curb and the rear bar took the whole impact... The crack is larger than what was in the old front bar.
I also went out and got new front tires, when I drove into the driveway at Jax Maroochydore the front bar scrapped soooo bad!! It was so loud and the car almost stopped. All the technicians in the garage looked and most probably laughed.

Anyway the car had 215 cheapos on the front and it just looked wack, they just looked stretched out and I think it was the reason the car drove so badly.
I got new 225/45R17 Pirelli Cinturato P1s fitted, as the R33 GTR rims are the daily rims I went with something long lasting and comfortable.
Of all the mods I have done to the car these new tires made the largest difference, car feels so much more stable, quieter and responsive! Actually makes it much more enjoyable to drive. They also added 8mm of height to the front and when I drove out of Jax the car didn't scrape! Drove into my driveway and it didn't scrape!! Win Win!!







A fair few parts still sitting in my garage waiting to be fitted..

Cold air box
Brakes
Gauges
Driftworks Hicas elimination kit.

When I get any spare time they will go all be fitted....

[Manuel Kasko]

Give her a clean and get the front bar painted.

I'm sure you will end up liking it after that.

[Cxxo]

Nice car mate, never been a fan of that kit but that's just personal preference and those rims came up a treat.

I had Remsa pads on my old VZ commo with 334 slotted rotors and I loved them. weren't dusty for me and pulled up crazy quick. Although I have heard a lot of people say remsa pads are dusty.

Also slideways I've seen it all over my facebook but never actually been... Is its expensive? and do you do more then just go in circles on a wet track or? figure 8's etc?