My First R33 Skyline...

[Nevastator]

Hi all,

I've been a member of SAU for a couple years now and owned my 33 for about the same and after having read countless build threads I figured it's time to start my own.

So back in 2012 I was fresh out of school and obviously needed to make some reckless decisions so figured taking out a loan for a car was the best way to accomplish that. After searching high and low I found this in the autotrader of all places... who would've thought?

I don't mean to exaggerate but this R33 was honestly the cleanest I had ever seen for sale. So I applied for finance and a week later it was mine!

Now I know that this probably was the worst first car of all time... a jap import with a turbo and a nissan badge...

For about 6 months it was the best thing in the world having my very own sports car. Then I had to learn how to service it and how to look after it in general as I was adamant that I could do everything that needed doing, myself.

I was right and had no problem with any of the normal things like oil, oil filter, coolant etc. etc.

Then the worst possible thing happened and I ran into the back of someone else's car and it all came to a heartbreaking end when my pride and joy was now all broken up and sitting sadly in the garage.

This accident however turned out to be minor and repairable but I got a taste of what it's like to take apart a car and put it back together and start it up and once again it all worked. I'm sure most other people on this forum who work on their car has felt the same sense of accomplishment when you turn the key after five or six months of the car sitting doing nothing and it starts up. I was hooked from that moment onwards! The bonnet and bumper needed replacing but that would have to wait until later.

Then the first problem arose in the form of the driver side window motor (which I now know to be a common issue) stopped working. So off came the door skin to reveal a mess of wires where the previous owner had had a go fixing the regulator.

So I rewired all that and managed to find a motor from someone wrecking their car.

Following that I installed a new head unit and once again I was confronted with a mess of wired and bad soldering etc. etc. which I fixed and neatened up. While i had my multimeter out I fixed the power and ground going to my boost gauge too.

After all the electrics were done, the car started having a more serious problem... every now and then my engine light would flash which I later noticed on the powerFC commander to be a knock reading of 120+

So I looked for boost leaks thinking that would fix it and found a major one...

Thats about all I can fit into the first post but I'll put up the rest when I can.

I hope you enjoy the read and there's a bit more to come

Cheers lads

[Nevastator]

Following on from there,

This didn't fix the issue so then I changed the fuel pump thinking that would work. I went for a Bosch 040 which fitted directly into the tank with minimal modification.

Between this I found a genuine M-Spec front bar and also a bonnet which i had a go at spraying them black with rattle cans. This was just until I had the funds for a proper respray.

After the fuel pump didn't fix the knocking problem I decided to just get the car retuned. Before I did I wanted to get bigger injectors and a Z32 afm and go for a little more power. The guy who sold me the car had said the turbo was a high-flow and back then I assumed that was a good thing not really knowing what it meant. Before I sent it in I changed the spark plugs and O2 sensor just for good measure.

I went with a set of E85 compatible Power Enterprise 850cc injectors that came with a Nismo fpr.

Old vs. New

Then it was just the wait until the date when i had the car booked in for a tune.

[Nevastator]

Once the car went in I got a car from my tuner letting me know that the tune went well other than that the turbo was stock and not a hi-flow...

Quite disappointed in this after having been told it had been hi-flowed. This was the dyno sheet.

It made a huge difference in the low end torque and overall the car just felt alot better so thumbs up to Tom at PZP in Perth for the top job!

Next on the list was to clean up the interior which I did by stripping off all the plastic on the dash and arm rest and gave them a good coat of plasti-dip.

Half way through doing that the power went out...

The finished deal

[Nevastator]

I bought a Nismo style grille too which are hard to find and look sweet. It has a bit of damage but is hardly noticable

I managed to acquire some genuine floor matts which freshened up the interior

I had the bonnet and bumper resprayed properly as I was now sick of seeing shitty paint on my car

I added some wheel spacers to the front to give it a slightly fatter look. 25mm bolt ons did the job.

Then I had a wheel alignment done to fix the shocking camber I had on the rear... Sat and watched the whole time haha

That brings us up to about 2 months ago when one day when parking the car up I noticed a trail of coolant for about 20m up the street... It had been leaking from somewhere under the intake manifold. My feelings summed up in one photo...

So I ordered a Freddy manifold and put that in without too much drama until I tried to fill the radiator with coolant when...

And this happened...

Oops... once again this sums up my feelings...

The mating surface of the plenum wasn't flat so I had that machined and got a new gasket and re-installed it and now nothing leaks and it looks so fresh.

From here on I'm gathering parts for a high mount GT3076 and Tial 44mm MV-R combo and chasing 375-400hp and the wheels

I've ordered a Greddy Profec Spec2 which is yet to be installed.

I've also got just a china turbo until I have the funds for either a GTX3071 or GTX3076 from Garrett but until then I think brakes, coilovers, just handling in general are more of a priority than turbo.

I hope you've enjoyed the read, I'll be posting up more as I've done more work to the car.

Cheers guys

[GH05T]

how has the plasti dip held up on the interior.

[Nevastator]

It's still as good as the day I put it on ? I put on a few layers just to be sure

[Dylan454]

Nice car, you will get hate for having that as your first car but meh.

[Nevastator]

Yeah it's been 3 years with the car and everyone seems to want me to sell it... they just don't get it

[Nevastator]

Update:

So I've put in a bit of work on the car this week, took off the old dump pipe, turbo, manifold, oil/water lines. The old dump pipe was more a function over form item with it looking a little on the dodgey side...

Then I test fitted the new mani and turbo and looks the goods.

The plan is to run a breather pipe from the rocker cover into the intake of the turbo and eliminate the need for the catch can as it was taking up a bit too much space.

Next up are the braided oil and water lines which I'm having made up by the local Autopro.

I'll probably be putting in the EBC in the coming few days so I'll try to update again then.

[hairdryer33]

Nice write up, let me know how the turbo goes I like to give them a chance unlike most others

[Nevastator]

Update:

I'm coming to the end of my semester at uni and with exams coming up I should be studying etc. etc. etc.

So instead I worked on the car... Unfortunately I found a patch of paintwork on the front passenger fender thats quite dull and in need of some tlc and meguiar's juices

After looking at the paint and not doing anything about it, I finally got around to installing the Profec boost controller to replace my fully sick boost tap. I found a nice tidy spot for the solenoid just under the passenger headlight

Then I put the controller unit in the dash under the head unit nice and accessible

I also moved the power steering fluid reservoir to where the carbon canister normally sits to prevent any overheating of the fluid when the new turbo is getting hot...

this is where it sits now

When I test fitted the gate I noticed the vac hose going to it from the solenoid was rather close to the manifold so I got some heat resistant tubing so hopefully that does the job of keeping it from melting

Nice and snug

That sums up this update, hopefully the turbo water and oil lines will be ready before the end of the week so I'll update again when they're installed.

Cheers

[colinhunt]

Looking really good man, good job!

[Nevastator]

Looking really good man, good job!

Thanks bud!

[Nevastator]

Update.

I got a box from AutoPro the other day and after I opened it I felt like a kid in a candy store...

Such excitement when I got all the parts I've been waiting for... I went with Aeroflow and got rubber hose for the water lines and high temp stuff for the oil drain. I also got a teflon -4 line for the oil feed.

The only catch was they sent blue fittings for the oil feed instead of black but I don't really mind at the moment and theres plenty of time to change it later on.

I used the stock oil drain fitting but had to modify it slightly so it didn't hit the manifold

Then put it all together...

That blue fitting doesn't look too bad imo...

I used fireproof tubing on all the lines and also the vacuum hose that goes to the gate

Now next on the list is to get some pipework done and then tune (y)

[Kane_R32]

looking good!

[Nevastator]

looking good!

Thanks man

[Nevastator]

Update.

It's a strange feeling driving behind your car when it's on the back of a truck...

So the car took a while at the shop getting its pipework done. It didn't seem to take so long because I had uni exams in the meantime and had almost got it off my mind when I got a message to say it was done and ready for pickup.

I'm so impressed with how good it all looks (and sounds...) I've honestly never seen welds as clean as these.

Overall I'm so happy with the outcome and for anyone in Perth I'm happy to recommend the guy who did the work.

Looks just how I wanted it to look and then a little better.

And then underneath is a sneaky screamer because I like loud noises...

So far the car is actually running better than before I changed all the parts over to the new parts which has me a little confused... my only issue now is the wastegate won't open until around 25-30psi which I've only tried once and decided that rather than having to fix a broken motor, I wouldn't do again until i've worked out why it won't open at a lower boost.

I've since taken the gate off (Tial 44mm MV-R) and changed the spring from a black and blue spring (0.8bar, 12psi) to just a black spring (0.4bar, 6psi). Hopefully this helps and prevents the serious overboosting.

Now to book it in for a tune and wait to see some good numbers hopefully.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Nevastator

[Nevastator]

Update:

So finally time for an update... I've got the car back and it's still in one piece much to my surprise.

I took the car to WTFauto and had them change the timing belt and water pump with gates replacement units. The car was tuned by Tristan at WTF and I can't find a fault with the tune... It's a whole new animal.

Final figure was 357.8hp at the rears running 18psi. For anyone who has had experience with the WTF dyno might know that the true figure is a little more than that...

Overall couldn't be happier with it now. It's easy to drive around on the street without being on boost all the time like with the tiny stock turbo and comes on nice and hard when I want it to.

From here on I'll be focussing my funds on some new brakes including rotors, pads and lines and maybe a master cylinder stopper just to make sure it can stop when I want it to. I'll have my eyes open for a set of 33GTR brembos or maybe even a set of evo brembos. Come tax return and I'll be ordering a set of HSD monopro coilovers just to make it handle better.

In the not too distant future I'll be in the market for a set of new cams and E85...

[skysthelimiter]

Nice car similar to what im aiming for one mine.

[sammi_d]

Real nice write up man!!! You're pretty much doing the same as me!! =)

Maybe look into Ferodo brake pads and DBA brake discs + good brake fluid..? I did that with mine to save myself chasing a full brake kit!!