What to register my r32 as?

[LINK17]

Hey All,

I have had a look through the forums but it's a little hard to get the right keyword. 

I have an r32 gts4, standard mods  (at least thats what I was told when I bought it). My rego renewal turned up and it says 1998 instead of 1989, so I'm gonna have to get it fixed. My dilemma is that the front spindles have been removed (pretty sure the front transfer case is there) plus it has the gts4  dash (front torque read out top left) but my mechanic told me it has an rb 20 gearbox. Should I register/insure as a gtst sedan or a gts4? Is there a way to tell by the vin number? The last thing I want is the insurance company to screw me because of a technicality. Anyone else been in a similar position? Any help appreciated. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by LINK17

[GTSBoy]

Register it is what it is, which is a GTS4.

Some points;

1. The transfer case is actually in/on the gearbox.  So if it is there, then you have the original gearbox in place.  If the box is really an RB20 RWD box, then you do not have the transfer case.  The thing that would be most likely to be there and is very hard to get rid of, is the front diff, because it is in the sump of the engine!
2. The front end is completely different between RWD and 4WD R32s.  The subframe is different, the uprights are different.  You will only have to compare what is in your with what is in GTRs and GTSts to see whether yours was truly a GTS4 originally.  Which it probably was, because....
3. The transfer case probably failed on your car and because GTS4s are the poor man's GTR, the poor man who owned it was probably unable to scrape together enough shekels to fix it and resorted to RWDing it.

You don't have to worry about your insurance company.  Work out what the car is, register it as that.  Tell the insurance company what it is, and also tell them what has been changed (assuming it is a crippled GTS4).  That's all you have to do.

[LINK17]

Thanks for the details. What about ctp though? Plus does a subframe, instrument  cluster and maybe a front diff constitute a gts4? I can't figure it out. Is there anything in the vin that delineates a gts4 from a gtst? I can't figure it out?!

[niZmO_Man]

Look on gtr-registry (or FAST) for your VIN, it will tell you the info.

[GTSBoy]

20 minutes ago, LINK17 said:

What about ctp though?

Not sure what your point is.  Surely there's no difference.  And yes, the subframe is enough to define it as a GTS4, because that subframe means it is NOT a GTSt and the different body (no wide rear guards) means it is not a GTR.  Ergo, it is a GTS4*.

*Assuming it has the AWD subframe.

The instrument cluster has no meaning, because that is trivial to move from car to car.  The front diff is essentially tied to the presence of the subframe, because I'm pretty sure that you can't put an AWD sumped & diffed engine into a RWD engine bay.  The normal RWD front subframe won't allow the engine to sit down where it is supposed to. 

[sin-]

On yor blue VIN plate a GTS4 will start with HNR32 and a GTS-T will start with HCR32. As above check GTR-Registry.com, put the HNR32-xxxxxx or HCR32-xxxxxx into the correct VIN table (or post it here).

[LINK17]

Thank you so much for this info - i def have a gts4.