Nissan Skyline R33 GTR fresh import project

[SiR_GTR]

Ok so not so fresh right now but last January I was flicking through the auctions looking at Skylines and saw an R33 GTR that I absolutely loved. The colour is quite rare and is my favorite OEM colour for an R33 and I loved the wheels along with the Work Emotion XT7 wheels, new TEIN coilovers and NISMO cat back and being standard pretty much outside of that.



Asked my agent to get more info. He mentioned that on the action sheet it mentioned "slight noisey engine cynlinder 6". Pretty common with GTRs of this age so decided I would take the gamble that new big end bearings would sort it. This way id get the inevitable rebuild out of the way and know what I have. (This is a keeper) So put a healthy bid on it and it was mine.

It set sail in Febuary and I had it in my yard April 2014.



Had to restrain myself from driving it and stripped it down pretty much the day after it landed. Then I kinda hit a road block as I was not sure what exactly I wanted to do in terms of a rebuild. I decided to take my time and do plenty of research on the rebuild process. So almost a year later. I finally have some of the main components coming from Nissan. New N1 crank shaft, new N1 oil pump. (N1 parts are slightly uprated components fitted to the N1 race cars. Basic plan of the rebuild is to take the term OEM+ quite literally . So more on the rebuild later once it actually starts.

In the mean time I am getting started on the cosmetic stuff while I have the time.

How it looked after a quick clean and polish.



The lip was colour coded at some point which I dont like. And also the monkeys unloading it did the usual high speed unloading and twisted the splitter slightly. Thankfully OEM splitters are tough and was able to shape it back to how its supposed to be. I stripped of all the paint and tried to get the plastic back to the OEM colour and texture.







Engine out





Absolutely mint underneath. Incredibly dry and rust free underneath. Rust can be an issue for these depending on the region of Japan they stay in. Thats all for now buy will try to keep ye up to date with interesting stuff

[D.r]

Beautiful example.
Looks in great condition.
Hard to beat a fresh import.

[SiR_GTR]

Thanks all for the comments. Work is slow on the car as I dont live where the car is stored so only have the od weekend and sometimes during the week. So progress will be slow.

Tonight is one of those nights so.... *Brake calipers laquer was flaking but the paint and brembo logo were perfect.



I wanted to try and keep the OEM paint. So I blew off the laquer with an air gun and peeled a lot of it off. Once I got to a strong point in the laquer I sanded it with 1500 wet and dry to try and feather in the hard edge where I stopped peeling. Had to be carfull not to brun through the paint.



Looking pretty good



Pretty happy with the results. 1 down 3 to go. Fronts are going to be ok as most the laquer on the face will fly off. But the backs are in better condition which makes it kinda harder and they are much curvier. Going to be a lot of pain but will be worth it

Just some pics of the initial strip down.



New N1 crank. Along with an N1 oil pump. (no picture)

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Took apart the turbos and have been sent out to GTR shop to be rebuilt with steel internals. Did not want to spend a lot of money on a twin set up as I already have plans longer term for a single.

Painted the dump pipes and shields. Turbos are rebuilt now and ready to be fitted.



But I need and engine off course. So I kind of changed my mind on the an OEM rebuild.





















Decided to go for some forged internals.
ARP head bolts.
ARP main bolts.
ACL main bearings.
ACL big end bearings.
CP 86.5mm pistons
Manely H beam rods
Cosmetic top and bottom end gasket kit.
Valve stem seals.

Gearbox was out and dirty so cleaned it a bit.









Got an equal length down-pipe. It came up nice with a quick polish.






And some boring water pump and t belt kit and ancillary belts.

The engine block is all stripped down and has been bored for the 0.5mm oversized pistons. It has also been decked for peace of mind and all the components are being cleaned 3-4 times and re-assembly has started so should be done in the next few weeks. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

[Spartacus]

Bronze XT7's look great with the Grey paint. Liking the OEM approach to this too, fair play.

[GTSr32]

how much is a n1 crank from Nissan ?

[hughesad]

how much is a n1 crank from Nissan ?

About 1070+vat last I checked.

I'm doing something similar atm myself. Essentially building a r33 gtr ground up with new everything.

I've the same engine spec except I didn't over bore and I'll be running a good bit more power.

Get your engine bits from raw brokerage ?

[Darren]

very nice makes me wish i still had mine btw what sort of fertilizer do you use on your money tree? lol

[SiR_GTR]

Thanks lads. Ya I think that is about the price from Nissan. A little cheaper from raw brokerage.

@hughesad. Ya got most of the stuff from raw brokerage. Cool to hear you are doing something similar. I had no intention of overboring as the cylinder walls were fine but was recommended just to get a perfect seal..

Ya my power goals are modest at the moment but I have the bottom end to go bigger power in future. What are your goals?

[hughesad]

Ive got a Trust Greddy top mount twin td05 set up. I got carried away on Yahoo auctions !

That meant I had to get a link ecu to support the boost/ power I was going for.

I should see a little over 600 from what i've read/ been told!

[SiR_GTR]

Forgot to update this on here. Got that car back at the end of September:

Paul Wray's work is second to none. Every bolt has been cleaned and polished and I did not even to ask him to go to that type of detail. *So glad I went to him. Had considered doing it myself a couple of times. But now I can say without a doubt it was so worth getting someone with experience to do it.

Some pics of the build.



After 75 liters of cleaning products (entire engine not just sump)





New N1 pump



N1 Crank fitted (cast lines removed for stress relief)






















Also fitted an Excedy stage 2 paddle while we were in there. Head was taken apart and cleaned with all new seals.

Had HKS DD filters so repainted them and fitted new elements.






Front end was off while engine was out so quickly put it back together so I could drive it. Car badly needs a detail as I have never had a chance to properly clean it. Just focusing on the last few things to make it mechanically perfect.

Set out to detail it on the weekend. Was starting on the interior. Ended up taking out all the aftermarket that was under the dash (remote started, turbo timer) Ugly wiring and in my opinion all pointless. That escalated and ended up to a point where I was cleaning being all the panels and and cleaning the the clocks themselves and both sides of the clear plastic. It also has the jumpy/sometimes dead Rev needle so will re-solder the chip and should sort it



Got so side tracked and ran out of weekend without cleaning anything that you can really see. haha. Only pics I have of it really.





Absolutely babying it have not ran it over 2.5-3k rpm. *It was started on break in oil and then oil and filter changed after a short start up. No its running mineral oil. I need to do 500miles driving like a granny. Another service with mineral oil, another 500 granny driving. Then I can put in synthetic and start hitting booooost and get it mapped. Yes its very hard to resist but just remind myself how much time and money it took to get where I am.

Progress has been slow since September. Got stuck stuck in initially but then the shit weather came and kinda slowed down. Change out some bushes on the upper front control arms as one was squeaking. Went with Strongflex street spec (reds).






How it has been sitting all winter. Will get the finger out now. Just need to fit my drift-works HICAS delete kit and get it documented for the road. Also have a Tomie Rytec ECU on the way. So will be mapping it once the engine is broken in.