Ross's 1995 R33 GTR

[R33-East]

Finally got a new set of tires! I went with some Continental Extreme Contact DW's, I was looking for something that would ride good on the rough roads we have around here and provide good grip and performance as well. I have over 500km on them so far and must say they are a huge improvement over the set of Bridgestone GEIII's that came with the rims. They are very comfortable, partly due to going with a larger profile(40 to 45) and with a rainy week ahead I will be able to see how they preform in the wet.

I bought them on tire rack and had them shipped to the states then drove over to pick them up. Doing this I saved around $400 on the set!

Here are a few pics of the car from last weekend.

[Nexsys]

Wow, your guy did an amazing job on those tims, love em!

[R33-East]

Ok update time. Back before Christmas I bought a set of R34 rims with tires from Tokyo Motor Imports......what a complete rip off! On their website they listed them as "Used but in excellent condition" and they looked good in the pictures. I gave them a call to find out a little more, the guy said they were "very clean" and in "great shape", I then made the mistake of trusting him and bought the wheels.

They could not ship them directly to me for some reason, the closest they could ship them was 3 hours away. Yet when I went to the shipping depot to pick them up the guys there said that they could have been dropped off much closer(only an hour from my house) and couldn't believe why the seller didn't know this???

So when I finally got the wheels I lost it. Every one of them had curbing and pitting on all the spokes, not to mention they were completely filthy! The tread wear on the tires wasn't to bad but you could tell that they were very old and dried out. They had outright lied about the condition of these wheels. I took a few minutes to calm down then gave them a call and explained my displeasure and how they were not worth what I paid for them($1800 Shipping inc). I said I either wanted to return them for a full refund or keep them and get a partial refund to pay for their repair. The guy refuses to talk like an adult and just starts yelling nonsense about you get what you pay for and we don't do refunds, finally he just says "send pictures" then hangs up on me.

I took over a dozen pictures and sent them four times over the following couple months and never got a reply. In the end I got frustrated and just got them repaired myself. I went to Radical Advantage where I got my calipers done, they fixed them up and painted them a gunmetal color.

I warn anyone who is thinking of buying something from TOKYO MOTOR IMPORTS to steer clear. This is the first and the last time I buy something from a place like this without personally going to check out the item first. I hope others will learn from my mistakes and be careful when buying online, there are a lot of shady people out there who want your money and will tell you anything to get it.

Some pics of the damage.









After I picked them up from Radical Advantage.



On the car!




The car had only been on the road a week when I got a flat yesterday I could see that the right front tire was a little low when I left work. Home is only 4km away so I thought I would be able to make it there no problem, I got half way and the tire was completely flat. I had to put the spare on to get home, then I went to the closest garage I could find to get the tire checked out. Turns out the bead had broken on the old dried out tire and created a huge leak. The car is now off the road again until I can get a new set.


The car had been pulling to the right after I had an alignment done and this tire may have been part of the problem. If it still pulls with the new set ill be going back for more adjustments.

On the bright side I am really excited about a part I have on order, should be here in the next couple weeks!

[R33-East]

Looking fantastic, any power mods in your future? I am starting a search for an R33 as well.

Just an intake and exhaust for now then save up for a big build. I would like a reliable and responsive 400awhp(maybe more:P) in the long run. I need to get a compression test done sometime in the next month or so to see what I have to work with.

[MrGrimm]

Looking fantastic, any power mods in your future? I am starting a search for an R33 as well.

[R33-East]

Nice to see some updates. Looks good. And wow what a tight fit back there, looks great though.

As far as the bushings go, do you know if there offer any for a 32? These look great

Yes they do, here is the link http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_..._number=KCA336

[cschepp]

Nice to see some updates. Looks good. And wow what a tight fit back there, looks great though.

As far as the bushings go, do you know if there offer any for a 32? These look great

[R33-East]

Finally got a chance to work on the car again yesterday and solved the problem I had with the dampening adjustment on the rear coilovers. The adjustment tools that came with the coilovers were to long and stuck up about an inch. I wanted the knobs to sit flush with the parcel shelf so this is what I came up with.

I couldn't cut the springy rod on the HKS tools so after much looking around I found this. Its a magnetic pick up tool, it flex's perfectly for my application and can be easily cut!


First I enlarged the holes in the HKS knobs and end pieces to fit the flexible rod of the pickup tool.




Then I just cut the rod to the lengths I needed and attached the knobs and end pieces. This is the finished product.



The knobs do rise and fall a little between min and max adjustment but it looks so much better now



Under the shelf on the drivers side is the fuel pump ecu(this should help you out ColinR33) in its normal position it does not allow the adjustment tool to reach the coilover. My plan was to drill a new hole in the ecu bracket and mount it over to the side a little. When I looked at the bracket to find a spot for the hole I noticed there was one already there, awesome! The bracket still mounts to the same point on the back but the front is now moved to the left making way for the tool.



The ecu connector was still in the way and catching on one of the set screws attaching the tool the the top of the coilover. So I just put a couple washers under the bracket to raise it up enough for the connector to clear the tool.



Now for the funny part, a few hours after I did all that I was looking at the HKS install manual for the coilovers. It was all in Japanese so I never really payed any attention to it before but as I was browsing through it I found this.



The picture on the left shows the fuel pump ecu bracket mounted using that hole I found and a spacer under it where I had used washers. I had no idea what that spacer was for until now, so when I finally realized its purpose I yelled "Oh yeah that's where it goes" lol. I later went back and swapped the washers for the spacer.



Next was the front camber kit. I managed to get the old bushings out with everything on the car, but when it came to putting the new ones in I ended up pulling the whole arm out. I took them to a local garage to get them installed.




The upper control arm fits much tighter over the new bushings than the old ones. This means its more solid but I find it can be difficult to adjust the camber as everything is so tight.



Just a few more things to do before the car is ready for the road!

[den80]

Good build,let us know how that front camber kit is,as i am thinking to get one or go with upper control arms instead

[Robin026]

This car is lovely to see.
Good luck with the updates.

[R33-East]

Thread cleaned up! Please keep it all about the build guys!
Nice work BTW!

Yes thank you very much!

Colin I don't have everything put back together yet but I did notice that the fuel pump ecu will be in the way. I have a plan for moving it out of the way, ill post once I get it done.

[ColinR33]

Thread cleaned up! Please keep it all about the build guys!
Nice work BTW!

Thank you! Ross,did you have to relocate your fuel pump ecu to access the top of the coilover?

[GTR-guy]

Thread cleaned up! Please keep it all about the build guys!
Nice work BTW!

[R33-East]

My Whiteline rear control arms and front camber kit finally arrived this week. I installed the rear arms today, next weekend ill tackle the front. Hopefully I can get the old bushings out and the new ones in with everything still on the car.

[R33-East]

Time for an update, I installed my coilovers and set the ride height to 355mm measured from the wheel center to the fender. I am just waiting for my whiteline control arms to come in so I can adjust the camber and straighten up the wheels.




I also took my calipers to Radical Advantage in Fredericton to get them rebuilt and powder coated. They turned out great, I will definitely be going back to them in the future.



Next I drilled holes for the rear dampening adjustment knobs in the parcel shelf. The knobs stick up about an inch above the shelf so I need to shorten them up a bit.



Once I took a closer look at them it appears that isn't an option. There is a square portion about 1/2inch long on each end for attaching the knob and the piece that hooks to the coilover. I will not be able to cut enough off and keep the ends square so I need to find something else to use. Im sure I could make something fairly easy.




A couple weeks ago I bought a carbon wing, it wasn't something I planned on getting but I got a pretty good deal. While removing the old wing I had one bolt on each side strip in the hole, the threaded insert in the wing broke free so the bolt wouldn't unthread. I had to drill the head off of the bolts to get the wing off. When I put the carbon wing on the two holes on the right side didn't line up, I just barely got the bolts in.



To complete the look a got a set of the nismo end caps, these just stick onto the stock caps.