My project story and build diary.
Discussion
Second attempt, monkeys and computers etc. 
I thought I'd post this here as well as the GTR owners forum, as there seems to be an increasing interest in Japanese cars on here.
Rather than just get a load of work done and throw up some pictures, I thought I'd put some background into my thread, reflecting on the past, evaluating the present and looking to the future as work is about to commence. A build diary with a prequel I guess best describes it.
So if you don't like reading, I apologise in advance, and if you just want to see what's planned, skip this post
So here I am, 10 months or so into Nissan Skyline GTR ownership, pondering. My car is broken and I'm beginning to wonder if it's time to move onto something else.
It's been a turbulent friendship lately which has been stretched to it's limit in recent months.
For years I have aspired to R33 GTR ownership, they have always been the car for me. Throughout my long history of 200sx ownership, they were always the car I had my sights set on. It had to happen.
Finally I achieved my goal last year. A long trip to Bargoed in Wales, stopping off at a freinds near Blackpool on the way home to show off my new love, and all was well.
Early days of ownership were everything they should be; hot and sunny days, the car of my dreams, some lovely country roads; a petrolhead's paradise.
August soon came and went, and the summer drew to a close. I was able to look back fondly on memories of car shows and summer fun, without the corny "Grease" style soundtrack. I'd conquered seemingly hundreds of roads which were on the "To do" list, and was entirely happy.
It begins...
September soon arrived, and in true karma style, my good luck drew to an end. A blowout on brand new tyres whilst on the A1M soon put an end to trouble free motoring; one of my beloved Nismo LMGT1 wheels had cracked in 3 places. The wheel was repaired and a new tyre levered over it. To my dismay the tyre failed to hold pressure. Bugger.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y201
click for a Gratuitous Blowout shot.
The oppertunity arose to buy some brand new Greddy Gravity wheels, which I immediately jumped on. The wheels I instantly loved, they were fairly unique and a worthy substitute to the Nismo's with their gunmetal finish tucked behind the polished face.
We're now well into Autumn, and I'm once again in love with my GTR. Every shop window is now a chance to catch a quick glance of her side profile, and she was on fine form.
My yo-yo relationship was soon tested again with the arrival of 2 more blowouts in succession on different wheels. My brand loyalty with tyres was now ruined, and 4 fresh ones were ordered and fitted to try and shed the curse.
The next few months were reasonably trouble free, and despite rain often stopping play, I was still very much living the dream with my car. Never before had a car given me a reason to grin everytime the key is turned. The coldest mornings were instantly transfromed from miserable to cheerful.
Christmas was fast approaching. The inevitable last minute shopping for gifts resulting in some welcome compliments from several people, making the mundane task of transferring shopping into the boot really quite pleasant.
"Houston, we have a problem..."
New year came and went, and true to form, the high was followed by a low, a big low.
A dry sunny day in early January gave an excuse to take her out for a run to blow off the cobwebs of short and mundane runs. A day in the Lake District provided some great fun, and a chance encounter with a Porsche on the curly roads home, provided some real entertainment and reminded me why I love my car.
Back into Durham and still grinning after the humbling of my cars German opponent, something is wrong.
The engine has a rattle, and my immediate thoughts from past experience with other Nissans point to a big end bearing problem. The symptoms are all there, rattle progressively getting louder, clatters down the rev range, performance a little off. Bugger.
The engine oil was drained a week or two later, and as expected, some swarf was found in it. Cylinders were compression tested, and found to be great order. But that rattle, it really sounds like it's coming from the cylinder head. Time will tell.
No time to sort this now.
Occasionally I'd fire her over just to hear her sing and give her a quick run. It had been a couple of weeks and due to the clearance issues and crashed 200sx being stored in the garage, she was left on the driveway licking her wounds.
At this point i'm really not sure what to do with the engine. So many options, so many prices. I'm sure everyone who's been there before will agree, it truely is bewildering when you first try and approach a sick engine, especially one like the Skyline's which is so versatile and tuneable.
Do I fix it myself of have someone else do it? Do I take the chance to upgrade or leave it as it is? What's for tea?
3 Weeks pass and it's March 1st 2007. In my infinate wisdom I decide that no engine problem is going to stop me getting shopping on a rainy Thursday morning.
The engine fires first time, not even a hint of battery drain. A slight rattle until oil pressure builds then nothing. Quiet as a mouse and singing the same tune she did the day I picked her up. The 10 miles or so to the shop were reasonably trouble free, the rattle reared it's ugly head upon entering the car park. Nothing too serious.
Shopping, check. Cigarettes, check. Homeward bound in limping mode.
The return leg of this mundane trip went by with the tedious but reassuring 50mph jaunt down the A1 at 6am. Before I know it my turnoff has arrived, Indicate to an empty road that i'm leaving it, clutch goes down, engine stalls, all electrics dead with AC/DC silenced unexpectedly. Bugger.
Recovery company are informed, lowloader requested and the 30 minute wait giving me the oppertunity to look under the bonnet and pretend I have some idea of what just happened.
First impressions, not good. My baby is not well at all, displaying her illness by trickling oil down into the verge at the hard should.
Unexpectedly freindly recovery driver eventually arrives, and immediately informs me that the car is too low to get on the dolly. Explaining that I requested a low loader he called the cavalry, and helped me get the chin spoiler off to reveal the towing eyes.
Family Feud.
Fast forward to March 3rd and my car is sat on the drive licking it's wounds again. I'm sat inside denying it's existance, watching a film with a freind.
The tedious inevitability of the shopping run is looming again, and I'm offered a lift, which I gladly accept.
Leaving the house I spot my brother in law's car parked precariously close to my own, which itself is proudly sat in the middle of my 2 car driveway.
I don't see my sister and her family very often due. Hence my surprise at seeing their car seemingly dumped on my driveway, keys still in.
A call to my sister soon reveals "he" had gone missing again (a regular occurance). Quite why he chose my house as a dumping ground for his rover is beyond me, especially after recent exchanges between us.
Thinking nothing of it I tell my sister to come and pick the car up and all is well until I get back from the shops.
It was then I noticed a scuff on his front bumper and wing.
Bugger.
Yes it seems the destructor has decided subconsciously to terminate his own existance by damaging my car.
A quick inspection in the dark reveals some cosmetic damage, with the rain making things look better than they are.
The following morning the extent of the damage is revealed in the cold daylight. Front wing, dented and scuffed. Front bumper, Dented and scuffed, Splitter hanging by a thread on one side. Mirror scuffed and some light grazing to the wheels leading my eye to a cracked sideskirt.
A day or two of murderous thoughts have passed, and I'm now approaching some kind of level headed thinking. Despite being quite honestly heartbroken at seeing my car having fallen from grace in a level comparable to Micheal Jackson, I am now able to approach the situation fairly rationally.
My once perfect condition GTR has been beaten. Her engine broken and her fine figure now looking shabby and spoiled.
The truth is, the car getting bumped has been the best thing that's happened to me this year. This is not an indication of a bad year to date, quite the opposite it's been one of the best yet aside of the car troubles.
The damage, albeit cosmetic, has really made me do some serious thinking. I reached a stage where I had to make a decision, repair and sell, or invest and enjoy.
I reached my decision about 24 hours ago, and decided this morning I'd celebrate by writing this essay like drivel about why I am going to be keeping her, and what is planned.
I've come to the conclusion that it would be foolish of me to not make the most out of a bad situation. Insurance will be paying for the damage to the car, with this comes the oppertunity to take the bodywork a bit further whilst she is visiting the bodyshop.
For the first time in months, I'm truly pleased with my car, and yet it's the worst it has ever been. Bizarre I know.
So there we have it, my story so far. Quite why I decided to share it in this manner I don't know. I guess I just wanted to paint a picture of the scenario, a prequel if you will
Schedule
I don't have a list of specific important dates.
The car will be painted and running before the middle of June. That's about as accurate as I can be. The reason for June is I'm going to Le Mans, and i'm damned if I'm doing the travelling in anything other than a Skyline.
So, apologies for the long post, hope I haven't put you all to sleep just yet.
Coming next, pics of the damage to the bodywork, what's going on at the minute and what's planned.
I thought I'd post this here as well as the GTR owners forum, as there seems to be an increasing interest in Japanese cars on here.
Rather than just get a load of work done and throw up some pictures, I thought I'd put some background into my thread, reflecting on the past, evaluating the present and looking to the future as work is about to commence. A build diary with a prequel I guess best describes it.
So if you don't like reading, I apologise in advance, and if you just want to see what's planned, skip this post
So here I am, 10 months or so into Nissan Skyline GTR ownership, pondering. My car is broken and I'm beginning to wonder if it's time to move onto something else.
It's been a turbulent friendship lately which has been stretched to it's limit in recent months.
For years I have aspired to R33 GTR ownership, they have always been the car for me. Throughout my long history of 200sx ownership, they were always the car I had my sights set on. It had to happen.
Finally I achieved my goal last year. A long trip to Bargoed in Wales, stopping off at a freinds near Blackpool on the way home to show off my new love, and all was well.
Early days of ownership were everything they should be; hot and sunny days, the car of my dreams, some lovely country roads; a petrolhead's paradise.
August soon came and went, and the summer drew to a close. I was able to look back fondly on memories of car shows and summer fun, without the corny "Grease" style soundtrack. I'd conquered seemingly hundreds of roads which were on the "To do" list, and was entirely happy.
It begins...
September soon arrived, and in true karma style, my good luck drew to an end. A blowout on brand new tyres whilst on the A1M soon put an end to trouble free motoring; one of my beloved Nismo LMGT1 wheels had cracked in 3 places. The wheel was repaired and a new tyre levered over it. To my dismay the tyre failed to hold pressure. Bugger.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y201
click for a Gratuitous Blowout shot.
The oppertunity arose to buy some brand new Greddy Gravity wheels, which I immediately jumped on. The wheels I instantly loved, they were fairly unique and a worthy substitute to the Nismo's with their gunmetal finish tucked behind the polished face.
We're now well into Autumn, and I'm once again in love with my GTR. Every shop window is now a chance to catch a quick glance of her side profile, and she was on fine form.
My yo-yo relationship was soon tested again with the arrival of 2 more blowouts in succession on different wheels. My brand loyalty with tyres was now ruined, and 4 fresh ones were ordered and fitted to try and shed the curse.
The next few months were reasonably trouble free, and despite rain often stopping play, I was still very much living the dream with my car. Never before had a car given me a reason to grin everytime the key is turned. The coldest mornings were instantly transfromed from miserable to cheerful.
Christmas was fast approaching. The inevitable last minute shopping for gifts resulting in some welcome compliments from several people, making the mundane task of transferring shopping into the boot really quite pleasant.
"Houston, we have a problem..."
New year came and went, and true to form, the high was followed by a low, a big low.
A dry sunny day in early January gave an excuse to take her out for a run to blow off the cobwebs of short and mundane runs. A day in the Lake District provided some great fun, and a chance encounter with a Porsche on the curly roads home, provided some real entertainment and reminded me why I love my car.
Back into Durham and still grinning after the humbling of my cars German opponent, something is wrong.
The engine has a rattle, and my immediate thoughts from past experience with other Nissans point to a big end bearing problem. The symptoms are all there, rattle progressively getting louder, clatters down the rev range, performance a little off. Bugger.
The engine oil was drained a week or two later, and as expected, some swarf was found in it. Cylinders were compression tested, and found to be great order. But that rattle, it really sounds like it's coming from the cylinder head. Time will tell.
No time to sort this now.
Occasionally I'd fire her over just to hear her sing and give her a quick run. It had been a couple of weeks and due to the clearance issues and crashed 200sx being stored in the garage, she was left on the driveway licking her wounds.
At this point i'm really not sure what to do with the engine. So many options, so many prices. I'm sure everyone who's been there before will agree, it truely is bewildering when you first try and approach a sick engine, especially one like the Skyline's which is so versatile and tuneable.
Do I fix it myself of have someone else do it? Do I take the chance to upgrade or leave it as it is? What's for tea?
3 Weeks pass and it's March 1st 2007. In my infinate wisdom I decide that no engine problem is going to stop me getting shopping on a rainy Thursday morning.
The engine fires first time, not even a hint of battery drain. A slight rattle until oil pressure builds then nothing. Quiet as a mouse and singing the same tune she did the day I picked her up. The 10 miles or so to the shop were reasonably trouble free, the rattle reared it's ugly head upon entering the car park. Nothing too serious.
Shopping, check. Cigarettes, check. Homeward bound in limping mode.
The return leg of this mundane trip went by with the tedious but reassuring 50mph jaunt down the A1 at 6am. Before I know it my turnoff has arrived, Indicate to an empty road that i'm leaving it, clutch goes down, engine stalls, all electrics dead with AC/DC silenced unexpectedly. Bugger.
Recovery company are informed, lowloader requested and the 30 minute wait giving me the oppertunity to look under the bonnet and pretend I have some idea of what just happened.
First impressions, not good. My baby is not well at all, displaying her illness by trickling oil down into the verge at the hard should.
Unexpectedly freindly recovery driver eventually arrives, and immediately informs me that the car is too low to get on the dolly. Explaining that I requested a low loader he called the cavalry, and helped me get the chin spoiler off to reveal the towing eyes.
Family Feud.
Fast forward to March 3rd and my car is sat on the drive licking it's wounds again. I'm sat inside denying it's existance, watching a film with a freind.
The tedious inevitability of the shopping run is looming again, and I'm offered a lift, which I gladly accept.
Leaving the house I spot my brother in law's car parked precariously close to my own, which itself is proudly sat in the middle of my 2 car driveway.
I don't see my sister and her family very often due. Hence my surprise at seeing their car seemingly dumped on my driveway, keys still in.
A call to my sister soon reveals "he" had gone missing again (a regular occurance). Quite why he chose my house as a dumping ground for his rover is beyond me, especially after recent exchanges between us.
Thinking nothing of it I tell my sister to come and pick the car up and all is well until I get back from the shops.
It was then I noticed a scuff on his front bumper and wing.
Bugger.
Yes it seems the destructor has decided subconsciously to terminate his own existance by damaging my car.
A quick inspection in the dark reveals some cosmetic damage, with the rain making things look better than they are.
The following morning the extent of the damage is revealed in the cold daylight. Front wing, dented and scuffed. Front bumper, Dented and scuffed, Splitter hanging by a thread on one side. Mirror scuffed and some light grazing to the wheels leading my eye to a cracked sideskirt.
A day or two of murderous thoughts have passed, and I'm now approaching some kind of level headed thinking. Despite being quite honestly heartbroken at seeing my car having fallen from grace in a level comparable to Micheal Jackson, I am now able to approach the situation fairly rationally.
My once perfect condition GTR has been beaten. Her engine broken and her fine figure now looking shabby and spoiled.
The truth is, the car getting bumped has been the best thing that's happened to me this year. This is not an indication of a bad year to date, quite the opposite it's been one of the best yet aside of the car troubles.
The damage, albeit cosmetic, has really made me do some serious thinking. I reached a stage where I had to make a decision, repair and sell, or invest and enjoy.
I reached my decision about 24 hours ago, and decided this morning I'd celebrate by writing this essay like drivel about why I am going to be keeping her, and what is planned.
I've come to the conclusion that it would be foolish of me to not make the most out of a bad situation. Insurance will be paying for the damage to the car, with this comes the oppertunity to take the bodywork a bit further whilst she is visiting the bodyshop.
For the first time in months, I'm truly pleased with my car, and yet it's the worst it has ever been. Bizarre I know.
So there we have it, my story so far. Quite why I decided to share it in this manner I don't know. I guess I just wanted to paint a picture of the scenario, a prequel if you will
Schedule
I don't have a list of specific important dates.
The car will be painted and running before the middle of June. That's about as accurate as I can be. The reason for June is I'm going to Le Mans, and i'm damned if I'm doing the travelling in anything other than a Skyline.
So, apologies for the long post, hope I haven't put you all to sleep just yet.
Coming next, pics of the damage to the bodywork, what's going on at the minute and what's planned.
Bodywork
The bodywork is to be sorted by Paul and the boys at Heaton Park Coachworks, thanks to recommendation from some of the NE PH'ers recommendations. He really is a diamond to deal with, open to discussion and suggestion, and very good at keeping updates regular.
An assessor from my insurance was sent for some reason, and wa actually very nice, a lot better than I was expecting. He recommended my chosen bodyshop from a list of 5 I gave him having worked with Paul years ago at porsche.
The car has since been taken to thje bodyshop, and a carbon Fibre chin spoiler has been ordered to replace the awful plastic standard rubbish. I'll be popping along regularly to take pictures as the project progresses.
Rather than have new paint and old on the same car, I decided to spend a bit more and opt for a full respray in a slightly different colour.
The Paint is to be a similar metallic silver, with a little stronger metallic, with a fairly strong blue or violet pearl added to it. Hopefully it'll come out like I'm picturing it in my head
Wheels I have been given free choice as to what I want to do with, Rather than go for paint or powder coat, I've opted to have them refinished as they are, Pictures don't do them much justice, but they looked great in the flesh.
Engine etc
For the engine I have long since decided that rather than chase big power figures or quarter mile times like many of my other skyline bretheren have done, I would much rather piece together a car which was designed from the off to be a pure road car, rather than a track special.
With this in mind I decided the key features of my car must be reliability, smooth power delivery with low turbo lag, and fast throttle response.
The range of options for those unfamiliar with GTR's, is vast to say the least, anywhere from 1000 for a rebuild to how it was before undertaken in my garage, to 20,000 for an all singing and dancing bells and whistles affair.
I decided to opt for an RB30 3.0 litre bottom end conversion from a company called RIPS (Rotorua Import Pro Shop) in New Zealand. This uses the existing RB26 (2.6 litre) cylinder head mated to a 3.0 bottom end, with some modification made for reliable use in Skylines. These engines have been able to take colossal power, even in standard trim, and the boost in displacement makes them absolute torque monsters. I have videos from Rob @ RIPS of them doing 4th gear standing starts.
To give an idea of figures, I hgave dyno print outs of engines with less spec than I plan for making 400lbft of Torque at 3000 rpm. Which should be fun
There's a huge amount of parts being gathered at the minute, and I'll be sure to keep updates as regular as possible with pictures along the way. Lots of interior, exterior and engine related stuff to tackle, but rather than blab on about it I'll simply update as progress is made from here on in.
Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too boring!
Stu
The bodywork is to be sorted by Paul and the boys at Heaton Park Coachworks, thanks to recommendation from some of the NE PH'ers recommendations. He really is a diamond to deal with, open to discussion and suggestion, and very good at keeping updates regular.
An assessor from my insurance was sent for some reason, and wa actually very nice, a lot better than I was expecting. He recommended my chosen bodyshop from a list of 5 I gave him having worked with Paul years ago at porsche.
The car has since been taken to thje bodyshop, and a carbon Fibre chin spoiler has been ordered to replace the awful plastic standard rubbish. I'll be popping along regularly to take pictures as the project progresses.
Rather than have new paint and old on the same car, I decided to spend a bit more and opt for a full respray in a slightly different colour.
The Paint is to be a similar metallic silver, with a little stronger metallic, with a fairly strong blue or violet pearl added to it. Hopefully it'll come out like I'm picturing it in my head
Wheels I have been given free choice as to what I want to do with, Rather than go for paint or powder coat, I've opted to have them refinished as they are, Pictures don't do them much justice, but they looked great in the flesh.
Engine etc
For the engine I have long since decided that rather than chase big power figures or quarter mile times like many of my other skyline bretheren have done, I would much rather piece together a car which was designed from the off to be a pure road car, rather than a track special.
With this in mind I decided the key features of my car must be reliability, smooth power delivery with low turbo lag, and fast throttle response.
The range of options for those unfamiliar with GTR's, is vast to say the least, anywhere from 1000 for a rebuild to how it was before undertaken in my garage, to 20,000 for an all singing and dancing bells and whistles affair.
I decided to opt for an RB30 3.0 litre bottom end conversion from a company called RIPS (Rotorua Import Pro Shop) in New Zealand. This uses the existing RB26 (2.6 litre) cylinder head mated to a 3.0 bottom end, with some modification made for reliable use in Skylines. These engines have been able to take colossal power, even in standard trim, and the boost in displacement makes them absolute torque monsters. I have videos from Rob @ RIPS of them doing 4th gear standing starts.
To give an idea of figures, I hgave dyno print outs of engines with less spec than I plan for making 400lbft of Torque at 3000 rpm. Which should be fun
There's a huge amount of parts being gathered at the minute, and I'll be sure to keep updates as regular as possible with pictures along the way. Lots of interior, exterior and engine related stuff to tackle, but rather than blab on about it I'll simply update as progress is made from here on in.
Thanks for reading, hope it wasn't too boring!
Stu
Edited by Stu R on Tuesday 20th March 20:48
The nismo wheels were nice. Prefer the Greddy's myself, especially now I've also got another set of wheels coming for it. The car's still in the bodyshop, we decided half way though that we'd go for a full house of kolor job.
The paint we originally chose was stunning, but the house of kolor stuff is just mind blowing. Car's been painted and then taken right back again (thanks to the change of plan with paint).
Since the pics below she had all her windows and doors removed, everything base coated white (behind the bumpers, all the checks and so on). Should have it back this week or next at the latest.
The finish I've decided on is pretty unique, over the top of the HOK metallic silver it's getting something called prism effect. It's kind of like spectraflair on the TVRs but a bit different.
It's basically serving to really make the pearl and silver underneath really jump out at you whilst still being subtle enough. It'll be the only car in the UK done in it, there was one done before but it went abroad according to the folks at HOK.
The plastic chin spoiler around the bottom is being binned in favour of a carbon fibre one, some sexy new rear lights, HID's up front, big front mount intercooler, relocated oil filter and oil cooler, and toying with the idea of a gearbox oil cooler setup too.
Got a few other things lined up for it which I'll add as I get them. Parts mountain needs to be fitted first so I can re-evaluate and see whats left to do
So there we have it.
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