Not a Skyline... honest! Sleeper R33 saloon

[driftimports]

Welcome to the progress thread for my current project. It probably won't see much track action and is being prepared as a comfortable street car that I can use for daily driving.

The car is a 1997 GTST R33 saloon in QM1 white. I imported it from Japan in February 2010 and apart from a Kakimoto Racing cat back exhaust it was completely standard. It's super clean apart from a scuff on the front bumper and I intend to keep it that way so rust prevention and paint protection are going to be top of the list. Apart from that my aim is to keep everything subtle and lose some of the obvious Skyline features.

Here are some pictures of the car as I first got it:

















I have a donor car which is amongst other things offering these:


The engine bay was given a thorough cleaning:



I picked up a cheap set of alloys with tyres. They're 18" Team Dynamics Drifz, 8.5" wide et35 fronts and 9.5" wide et35 rears. Not much JDM kudos, but they fill the arches pretty well and have a nice broad lip. You may also notice that the rear spoiler is gone, I prefer clean lines and think it will stay off. The front badge is off too, but it may reappear in a different guise at a later date.













I have 5mm slip on spacers to help the front out and the rear if I can get away without rubbing.

I'm currently fitting Juran lowering springs, new shock boots and giving the arches some rust protection. The springs should give a 35-40mm drop and firm but comfortable ride. After a good scrub the arch looked like this:



First stage is a coat of white Hammerite which will later be topped off with a Schutz gun underseal:



The shock unit is out and awaiting Juran spring and new shock boot:



You can see the difference in the springs and boots here:



The new boot is a universal polyurethane job from a 4x4 supplier and with a little modification slips over the original bump stop. It is secured with a cable tie at the bottom.



The unit is now built up with the new parts:



That's it for now and I hope you enjoy the thread as it develops.

[SIMO]

cool man lovin the 4 door liner, be nice to see pics of it lowered when its done!!! best of luck with the build!!

[20vees]

nice clean car , its grand that its an untouched one that hasent been molested by diy idiots. best of luck and looking forward to updates

[Eoin k]

best of luck wit it. Wil keep an eye on the tread.

[Mac_C]

Fine example ! G.Luck way it

Loose the fog light tho

[MissSuz]

I wasnt really feeling it....then the new wheels went on boooom!! Different car! massive difference....I like it as it is atm , just needs to be lowered

4 door Skylines seem to be popping up alot lately

[driftimports]

Finally got the arches finished so the shocks could go back in and with all four feet on the ground I wheeled out the camera for a few snaps. The difference is erm... subtle but hopefully it will drop a bit once everything's had a chance to settle. It seems to be about a 25mm drop at the moment and the springs are supposed to be a 35-40mm drop. Time will tell!

Please ignore the reflection of my big red overalls, the finish is black and will go matte once fully cured











Front wheels do look better with the 5mm spacer:



I test fitted one of the skirts and think it helped to "draw" the car a bit closer to the ground, but I'm holding off any photos of that until they're painted

[driftimports]

Had a quick play about with the front end to get an idea of what the front might look like with some subtle mods:



The dark areas would ideally be a black mesh if I can find a suitable product. I think it cleans the front up enough without being too "in your face".

Hopefully a bit of creativity with some fibreglass, mesh and a decent coat of paint will do the trick when I get time.

[insejn]

no mesh!!

[junction_drifter]

shes mint and lookin nice