Baron's R34 GT-R build thread - car in Japan for 5 years -_-

[BaronOBeefdip]

Hi all,

I've been into cars since I was a wee lad. My first foray into anything worth a damn was when I bought my attainable dream car, a 2005 STi in 2012. I had been searching for a stock low mileage blobeye in World Rally Blue. This one had 28k on it at the time and I bought it the same day it was listed online from Florida. I had grown up playing Gran Turismo as well as other games, watched international racing, and had also watched Subaru in WRC and fell in love. Over the time I owned it, I did a lot and fully built the motor to make safe reliable power, however I never ended up going with a larger turbo and E85 like I had planned. I realize this forum is for Aussie owners but this is one of the more visited forums, so here we are.

Dyno video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b86wxFm5i1E

However, I was really a Nissan fanboi with a Subaru.

Then in 2017 I added to the garage and bought a brand new Focus ST3 as a daily, but that didn't last long; after only one winter took it off daily duties because I just wanted to take care of it. I am super particular and really like to take care of my things and keep them nice. I kept it mostly stock except for a couple deletes, wheels and a Cobb exhaust.

Then things happened in my life late in 2019 and I sold the cars soon after that for personal reasons and moved to Denver this past summer. I dearly miss those cars but I had already decided in winter of 2018 that I was going to try to do what I could to afford the absolute dream of mine....an R34 GT-R. Selling the cars made up some of the funds for the Skyline. Like I said I was really a Nissan guy with a Subaru. I got nearly top dollar for the STi at the time, and got what I asked for on the ST. It's nice to see that well-taken care of older gen STis are being appreciated and commanding good prices, because the pool of nice examples sure is dwindling.

So I made the moves and got in touch with Top Rank Importers in California and got the ball rolling. I had already started getting parts for the car I didn't even have! After waiting for things to line up, I was able to start the search in early September. I had been keeping a close eye on the R34 market for some time now and was anxious as prices have been continuing to climb with no sign of stopping near a reasonable level. Hell, if I had bought even a year ago I would have saved a load of money. It's really crazy what these are going for.....but such is the way of things, especially when there are so little in the wild, let alone examples for sale.

I kept seeing so many nice cars get away from me, and I soon became pretty pessimistic that I wasn't going to make it happen; I thought I was too late. Then one night I was looking at auction cars and saw one that I liked yet again. I reached out to Top Rank again and gave them a number I was willing to bid to. After several confirmations and messages, I gave them the green light. Then I waited. As luck would have it, I received a message a few hours later late at night that I had won. I couldn't believe it, I was just floored. Granted, my search wasn't as long as some others, I was sure that I had missed the boat budget-wise. Needless to say, that night I basically didn't sleep I was so excited. Finally....I had a GT-R of my own.

At this point, I'm still over the moon. It's a November of 2000 Series II GT-R with 95k km in Sparkling Silver. Unfortunately with US import restrictions, I have to wait exactly five years to bring it over, so it's going to stay in Top Rank Japan's warehouse until then. I do plan on going over there once or twice a year once the borders open to check in, drive it and do some modifications to it, so this is a journey that I'm looking forward to, even though it will be a long process.

Check the next post for pics!

Edited December 6, 2020 by BaronOBeefdip

[BaronOBeefdip]

Some things definitely need to be addressed and changed out or gotten rid of, but that will come in time. As I can't get my hands on the car for five years, it'll be a slow burn of sorts. It also needs a thorough cleaning! But the car is well sorted, even if there are some questionable mods. It's a solid car and I'm excited to put my touches on it and make it my own.

As for the mod path/plans, I'm sure everyone says this about their own car, but I largely plan to make it OEM+. I typically build for reliability and addressing the platform's weaknesses/flaws first, and whatever power level comes with it, totally fine. I'm not a big power person, nor am I trying to be the fastest car out there. My ideal goal would be in the 500-600whp range, but we'll see. Mostly street driving with occasional trackdays, however I do plan on getting a dedicated track car in a couple years once I recover from the "financial ruin" this car has me in haha. Really though, I'll be having Top Rank carry out some maintenance and replace/repair work straight away in the next few months. I would like to do as much as I can while it's there, such as some paint correction, parts installs, and tuning at Midori, Mine's or another well-known shop; have yet to decide. Finally, before bringing it to the US, I'll round it out with some work at Omori Factory. I do plan on doing the full carbon Z Tune body panels and R Tune hood. Again, I have five years to save up for all this.

Stay tuned!

Edited December 6, 2020 by BaronOBeefdip

[BaronOBeefdip]

Parts list and mods placeholder.

[BaronOBeefdip]

The obligatory Mod List!

 

 

Red = Don't have yet, but planned/want to buy

 

Orange = Pending/Waiting to go on the car

 

Green = Installed/completed

 

Blue = Old setup

 

 

ECU

 

• HKS FCON V Pro
• Unknown tune

 

Engine

 

• ARC cooling plate
• HKS Turbos - unknown model
• HKS oil filter
• HKS intake piping
• HKS intake couplers
• Nismo oil cap
• Nismo radiator cap
• Unknown radiator
• Unknown oil filter relocation kit

 

Fuel System

 

• Pending

 

Exhaust

 

• Trust PE Ti-R catback exhaust
• Unknown front pipe
• Unknown catalyzer

 

Drivetrain

 

• Pending

 

Suspension/Handling/Chassis and Settings

 

• Nismo S Tune suspension

 

Wheels/Tires/Brakes

 

• RAYS Volk Racing TE37SL - 18x10.5 +15
• Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R - 265/35/18
• Unknown rotors

 

Exterior

 

• Nismo front bumper
• Nismo smoked front indicators
• Nismo smoked side indicators
• Nismo side skirts
• Nismo rear skirts
• Unknown rear diffuser

 

Interior

 

• Defi controller
• Defi gauges - exhaust temp, AFR, water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, boost, Stepmaster
• HKS EVC
• Nismo white Duracon knob
• Nismo white 320kph cluster
• Panasonic Carozzeria head unit
• Unknown satnav/lap timer

[PranK]

This looks fantastic! I'm looking forward to the updates.

[BaronOBeefdip]

Thanks!

Like I said I have been buying parts for it slowly and will be continuing that process.

I have some knobs and an oil cap:

 

Followed by a Nismo intercooler straight from Omori:

 

Rounded out by the recent purchase of an HKS 45th Anniversary titanium Super Turbo catback, one of only 20 pieces worldwide for the R34:

I also plan to get in on the first batch of CF rear diffusers made by CW Collective, will be posting more details about that this week when more info is released!

[BaronOBeefdip]

Just recently confirmed that Nengun has located a black Nismo cluster for me!  I was sitting on ordering one, but as soon as I found out they were discontinued, I bought one through them while it was still possible. Looking at their website, it now says discontinued! I paid $600, but I'm sure now the prices will skyrocket. I asked someone on IG how much they wanted for theirs and they said $1200! I wonder what they'll be worth in the future.

Also bought some Garage Yoshida strut tower protectors from Nengun.

Recently paid for the CW Collective diffuser as well. Parts slowly rolling in!

Edited December 23, 2020 by BaronOBeefdip

[BaronOBeefdip]

After some back and forth with Nengun, they told me the day after I posted above that they in fact cannot get one for me. So after some deep digging I found one on Gumtree in Australia. A fellow GT-R owner on IG helped facilitate the deal since they were both coincidentally in Sydney only 30 mins apart. So he's sending the cluster to me today or tomorrow! Apparently prices on these have skyrocketed above what I paid now that they're discontinued. I got lucky.

Side note - is there a reason I can't edit past posts? Someone know?

Edited January 4, 2021 by BaronOBeefdip

[BaronOBeefdip]

Well I received the Nismo cluster safe and sound last week, here it is in all its glory, though I know you guys already know what it looks like:

 

 

 

 

Pretty chuffed to have this. Almost too nice to put in the car! Now these things are going for $3-3.5k USD!!  

Edited January 25, 2021 by BaronOBeefdip

[BaronOBeefdip]

Well, last night I ordered some Mine's parts, which if you're following on IG, you may have seen already. I got the shift and handbrake boots and the center armrest in alcantara with red stitching, the steering wheel with red stitching, and the titanium shift knob. The red stitching will match with the seats I plan to get; more on that later.

My wallet says woof.

In other news, the CW diffuser should be shipping next week. Will be awesome to finally have that in hand, though it's not like I can do much with it 😐

Speaking of diffusers, if anyone wants to get in on a group buy from Blue Force Racing in Japan for a jack plate spacer for the rear diffuser, let me know. They are $38 before shipping. People will be PayPal'ing me and I will then send the funds to @jasondesu_ who lives in Japan and will be making the purchase. Those with a real VSpec car or above will need a different size from those of us normies with a standard pleb GT-R. These spacers sit in the hole on the jack plate mounted to the diffuser and make up the gap from the jack plate to the rear diff housing. This allows you to jack the rear of the car in the air without removing the diffuser; saves some time and hassle. Without the spacer you run the risk of flexing the diffuser too much and cracking it as there is a 1.5 - 2" gap. Not sure what Nissan was thinking there. 🤔

I'm also considering selling my HKS Limited Edition titanium CBE to get a Mine's VX Silence Pro Titan III. Either exhaust would work just fine, but it would be pretty cool(and easy to say when explaining the car) to say I have the full Mine's exhaust since I plan to get the Outlet Pro and the titanium Front Pipe Pro. I would just need to find a buyer for the HKS. What is wrong with me? Send help.

[BaronOBeefdip]

Ordered Nismo blue mirrors and Tomei Ti test pipe!

Someone tell me how to edit past posts please.

[BK]

3 hours ago, BaronOBeefdip said:

Ordered Nismo blue mirrors and Tomei Ti test pipe!

Someone tell me how to edit past posts please.

You need to pay for that privilege on SAU

[BaronOBeefdip]

Cool, thanks.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

On 07/12/2020 at 4:01 PM, BaronOBeefdip said:

 

 

Nice exhaust, however that JASMA badge also means there's probably some form of restrictor inside of the muffler and/or pipe work.

If you're not chasing power, then it's more than fine

[BaronOBeefdip]

Yep, definitely aware. Mufflers tend to be "restrictive" like that because, well, they're mufflers. As you know. Unless you have a cannon melonshooter like a Tomei Expreme or HKS Hi Power, there's gonna be some kind of packing/silencing in a muffler.

But yeah, not chasing power, so I'm fine with it

Edited March 8, 2021 by BaronOBeefdip

[mr_rbman]

1 hour ago, BaronOBeefdip said:

Yep, definitely aware. Mufflers tend to be "restrictive" like that because, well, they're mufflers. As you know. Unless you have a cannon melonshooter like a Tomei Expreme or HKS Hi Power, there's gonna be some kind of packing/silencing in a muffler.

But yeah, not chasing power, so I'm fine with it

Dose I'm assuming would actually be referring to the physical size of the exhaust...

For example Jap exhausts are renowned for claiming be be 3" when in fact they reduce to 2 and 3/4" and sometimes even 2 and a 1/2" in spots...

Plenty of quality true 3" exhausts that are no louder than a 'Jap' 3" exhaust...

[BaronOBeefdip]

2 hours ago, mr_rbman said:

Dose I'm assuming would actually be referring to the physical size of the exhaust...

For example Jap exhausts are renowned for claiming be be 3" when in fact they reduce to 2 and 3/4" and sometimes even 2 and a 1/2" in spots...

Plenty of quality true 3" exhausts that are no louder than a 'Jap' 3" exhaust...

Ah gotcha. Yeah, from "looking down the barrel" so to speak, it's straight through the muffler and resonator from what I can tell. And the piping itself goes from 3" down to 2.8" just ahead of the muffler, and 2.8" after the front pipe flange. Not really enough to make a huge or noticeable difference for the 5-600hp I plan on getting to.

Someone told me that a black Nismo cluster recently sold for $4k. Unreal.

Edited March 8, 2021 by BaronOBeefdip

[BaronOBeefdip]

Mine's parts came in earlier than expected:

I also scored two sets of Willans Nismo harnesses from back in the day. These are the mid-logos from late 90's-early 00's. Very rare and found on Yahoo Japan. The most recent new logo harnesses were discontinued in 2016 and cost even more than the ones I have, when they come up for sale that is.

'til later.

[BaronOBeefdip]

Ordered a Nismo intake plenum, woohoo. I also put a deposit down on some very nice R35 brakes. I'll have pics up when I get them. But you all know what they look like. 🙂

Edited April 11, 2021 by BaronOBeefdip

[BaronOBeefdip]

Hey all, back with another post about parts. I got the last VSpec front lip that Terra Firma right when it went to Heritage Program, aka discontinued outside of Japan. It is now double what I paid for it. Yikes.


The CW Collective diffuser I placed an order for in December finally showed up last week. This thing is nice. Can't wait to mount it on the car.


Put a deposit down on an R35 brake set and a Supertec conversion. Gonna be awesome. Also have a Nismo intake plenum arriving from RHDJapan sometime this month. My wallet hates me and probably won't speak to me for years now.http://gtr-registry.com/forum/core/images/smilies/tongue.png