My Bnr34 V-spec Journey

[oea]

Hi all,

I recently got myself a 1999 model BNR34 GT-R V-Spec after many months of searching and many years of saving. SAU has always been a useful resource for me, this thread is more of a "diary" than a build or project thread.

The GT-R is only my second car, my first car was a Kia Cerato Koup - SSR SP1s (real wheels always), coilovers, exhaust, etc. It's been a huge step up in many ways, I'm still adjusting to the car and have been cautious with it so far.

The R34 Skyline has always been a favourite car of mine since childhood, having first seen it in Gran Turismo games. My goal was to find a GT-R as close to stock as possible - admittedly I am not particularly mechanically-minded and have a lot to learn, and therefore wasn't really interested in something worked.

Very luckily, via friends of friends I came across the perfect example. Engine-wise almost completely stock apart from an exhaust, Nismo S-Tune suspension, S-Tune skirts, TE37SLs, Qest LED tail lights. The visual modifications were pretty much exactly what I was after! Full credit to the previous owner who took good care of her (and didn't drive it all that much).

Imported into Australia back in 2006 as a 4.5B grade with 53,000kms, it spent most of its time in SA as far as I'm aware, before being brought to Sydney. Ten years later is has approx. 120,000kms on the clock.

The day I first saw her...I was in love

When I was in a better position to buy it, I had it looked over by Mark at MRC Dyno and Performance at Castle Hill, very nice and knowledgeable guy, strongly recommend!

Few minor flaws (but who expects a 16yo car to be perfect anyway), slight damage to the front lip, couple of small dents on the front quarter panels, rear diffuser a bit crooked, and of course all of the pink bits Pink TE37SL stickers, pink Brembo stickers and the plates - all easily fixed or changed. Aside from that, the pre-purchase inspection checked out, few weeks later she was mine

Was so excited driving it home I nearly hit another car

~60,000kms showing on the Nismo cluster, original cluster supplied.

Spent nearly my last dollar buying it (mistake) and had to roll around with the pink plates for over a month Cue many disappointed guys pulling up next to me expecting a girl.

More to come!

Osman

[Burger]

So clean. Can't wait for more of this thread. Also, nice plates...

[PranK]

Absolutely stunning! What a step up! Seriously gorgeous.

(BTW I love your Cerato also!)

[Milkmun]

Who was the previous owner? The blonde?

Mad car, this and your Kia

[vetter2769]

Leave the pink bits on! Adds character lol

[No Crust Racing]

Welcome to the club, car looks great!

Sidebar, that Cerato looks awesome lol, never thought I'd say that.

[Leroy Peterson]

Very nice

Curious: is this going to be your daily driver?

[oea]

Thank you all for the kind comments and welcome!

Leave the pink bits on! Adds character lol

The pink bits actually started to grow on me after a while lol

Very nice

Curious: is this going to be your daily driver?

It's my only car for now, I usually take public transport to work, but if I have to drive I do take the GT-R

[oea]

The previous owner had mentioned that the coilpacks were on their way out, so of course only a few days later driving home from work they went completely... And because I had spent my last dollar on the car, it sat in the garage for nearly a month until I got some Splitfires.

Turns out it had been running the original coilpacks, 16 years is pretty impressive. Also discovered that the crank angle sensor was throwing up a code, which explained the occasional hesitation on cold start.

With the car running healthy again, the new plates and TE37SL stickers arrived. To be honest I'm not too sure on the plates, I've come to notice that many GT-Rs have Godzilla-related number plates, so I think I might be changing them eventually to something more original. Five characters seems to be the closest in size to Japanese plates and fit the holder perfectly - the "international size" NSW plates don't look that great if you ask me...

I chose black TE37SL stickers (hopefully the only fake part I'll have on the car) but am not too happy with them, you can't really pick them out at all. I've ordered some white ones, but I have a feeling they might look a little "cheap". Eventually I would like to have the calipers refinished, I was thinking Millennium Jade with silver Brembo stickers, so perhaps some silver TE37SL stickers would go nicely

Removing the TE37SL stickers was such a pain

Went for a drive down to Wollongong to take some pics.

Broke a lens for this pic

I've been enjoying the car immensely and have been driving it a lot, putting over 4,000kms in about 4 months. Unfortunately I've managed to damage the front lip getting onto the car ferry at Wiseman's and accumulated many stone chips on the leading edge of the rear flares Perhaps it's time for her to return to being a garage queen lol

[No Crust Racing]

Looks much better now, love it.

This is what I did with my plate. Vic slimline plate, trimmed in a guillotine (removed white border), exposed metal on sides painted black, hand filed corners to fit the bar, rubber spacers made up for behind the plate so it doesn't touch the paint, bolts painted black, nutserts into the bar.

Vicroads and the local police OK'd me modifying the plate in this way.

[GH05T]

nice

[KiwiRS4T]

Cool car - very clean look and wheels really suit.

[jmknights93]

Following for more updates. Pics look awesome dude.

[oea]

Thanks guys

Looks much better now, love it.

This is what I did with my plate. Vic slimline plate, trimmed in a guillotine (removed white border), exposed metal on sides painted black, hand filed corners to fit the bar, rubber spacers made up for behind the plate so it doesn't touch the paint, bolts painted black, nutserts into the bar.

Vicroads and the local police OK'd me modifying the plate in this way.

I'm surprised that both Vicroads and the police were fine with this! Looks so much better, reminds me of the numerical plates

[No Crust Racing]

I was as well, but they confirmed it and I showed the local highway patrol a picture afterwards and he confirmed it was fine.

Sometimes it's faster to just call and ask than research online.

I found out that I could legally transport a full fuel drum in the back of the Territory, so that's how I went and got my barrel of E85

How's your car coming along?

[oea]

First 5,000kms it was time for an oil change, I've heard good things (on this forum, no less) about Motul 300V and I think I will be using it from now on.

Few more pics

Changed the black TE37SL stickers to white

Haven't really made any drastic changes to the car yet, focusing on the next 5,000km interval where I plan on changing all oils, fluids and belts, spark plugs, clutch etc. Unfortunately the car didn't come with a service history, and at 135,000km I'd like a baseline for all services going forward.

Thanks for looking!

[No Crust Racing]

Smart move re fluids.

I think I almost prefer those wheels without any stickers, but they look good either way.

Look at you parked outside of Prada, you poser

[junkie]

That is a tasty 34, love it

[jmknights93]

Good to see the car go into good hands

[oea]

Haven't really done much else since the last post apart from have the calipers redone from black with pink Brembo stickers to Millennium Jade with silver Brembo stickers, I wanted something subtle and I think it's fairly similar to the OEM gold. The picture below is edited a lot to bring the colour out

 

Some more pics

 

Met up with a friend and fellow SAU member Adix for a drive down to Wollongong

 

Frenemy

 

I've been driving and enjoying the car so much since I bought it, having done 10,000kms in about 8 months, perhaps it's time to put it away for a bit...