Work Log: R33 GT-R

[PurpleStreak]

I'll start off by saying this isn't really a project with high dollar performance parts all going in at once; its just a day to day work log of what I am doing to the car and what I plan to do with it.

This is a 1995 BCNR33 V-Spec, bought with ~86k on the odo.

For the intro, since I am lazy, I will copy my post in the 'Media' section in the next two posts.

My car came with the following when I bought it:

- Unknown Exhaust w/ SARD Cat
- Greddy Radiator
- Unknown Oil Cooler
- Greddy Oil Filter Relocation Kit
- Custom OEM Bumper w/ molded air outlet for oil cooler, homemade inlet to oil cooler, stock turn signals removed and aftermarket LEDs molded in
- Blitz SBC iD
- Razo Turbo Timer
- Ultra Digital Speed and Rev Meter
- 'Potenza' Shocks
- Aftermarket HIDs with lots of glare
- Aftermarket Steering Wheel
- Kenwood MiniDisc Deck
- Nismo Oil Cap

I got the Japanese manual for the following with the car, so I assume it is installed:
Nismo Sports Clutch Kit w/ Lightened Flywheel

[PurpleStreak]

Here is the car at Brave Auto in Japan!

[PurpleStreak]

[PurpleStreak]

I had some compliance work done in YVR (namely rear side markers), and some fluid changes. All belts had recently been changed. At the time, the HVAC blower did not work, so it was a sweaty drive back to Alberta! Another thing I discovered was that the aftermarket LED right turn signal did not work properly.

Here is the car back home:




It was time to tackle the turn signal issue. It was a 194/168 style connector for the LED turn signals, and this was apparently the problem. But the darn things were in such a place that I had to take the bumper off!




I ended up soldering all the connections and then everything worked good after that!

Here are some shots of the homemade oil cooler ducting with the bumper off. Also noticed that the inlet and outlet of the cooler are on the bottom; typical cooler installations have inlet and outlet on top, or outlet on top and inlet on bottom. I hope to replace this ugly ducting with something better looking and re-orient the oil cooler this winter.




Also the current bolting location for the oil cooler and all the ducting means I cannot remove the headlight without taking the bumper off. So I elected not to bolt up the headlight to the bottom bracket.

The second issue was fixing the HVAC blower. At the shop in Vancouver, they found that the blower would work if it had 12 V power directly to it, and that it must be a relay somehwere that was the issue. HVAC self diagnosis was inconclusive as well. After some digging, I found said relay mounted right behind the glovebox on what can only be described as some cold white plastic box.



Opened the black plastic part, desoldered the three pins holding the board down and found the typical disconnected copper bridge thing. Soldered everything back as it should be and then I had functioning air con!

Bolted everything back up, and then went to inspection and passed no problem. I clay barred and waxed the car to celebrate.

[PurpleStreak]

Another issue that surfaced on the drive back from Vancouver was that the car did not boost past 0.6 bar. The display and readouts still worked fine. I just assumed there was a boost leak and let it be. While in Calgary, I checked everything and found something I should have looked for in the first place.



After correcting this, car boost strong! But now the spooling and the recirc valves have gotten a lot louder. I am not sure if this is typically how loud it is, but it wasn't this loud on the first drive.

What I am currently working on is the interior. I changed the shift knob with a TWM Performance knob I had lying around. Since the boots are all worn out, I picked up some new ones on Fleabay.

The main goal was to clean up the famous rubber coating on the panels. I hope to remove it and polish the underlying plastic. I really don't want to paint it. This is the current state of the interior.



I have also been trying to change the steering wheel. The R33 GTST Series 1 steering wheel I bought earlier did not fit on the clock spring. So now I have bought a S15 steering wheel that is enroute as well.

I also picked up this Mine's 320 km/h cluster. It was considerably cheaper than the Nismo clusters, and it still has the 320 km/h reading that I will never reach. Unfortunately, it does not have the A-LSD light on the tach, so I am going to swap just the speedometer clock into the factory cluster.



And that in summary was what I have done so far. From now on the entries will be more prompt lol..

[den80]

Hey, good car,the funny thing is that i know this car,it came up on "portal search,when rightdrive were looking for the car for me in Japan,last year,but i ended it up with another GTR,hope you will enjoy it

[JDMricer]

I'm so glad no one here gives a flying **** about dot compliance, no gay extra side markers for me.

Speaking of markers those blinkers are awful. They may be hard to find but I would do my best to put them back. Sorry to hate but they are a disgrace. Also the person that used the bright orange hose to install the boost controller needs to be shot immediately.

clean car otherwise though, I look forward to your updates.

[cooke24]

I would just take off those stick on reflectors

[PurpleStreak]

Oh wow its been on the market for a year eh? Maybe its these 'unique' mods that drove people away haha

I am glad you guys are giving your honest opinions..TBH I left out the part where I almost bought stock turn signals and then had a look at the bumper and found out they had cut away the passenger side mount for the turn signal to enlarge the opening for the homemade duct %&*$$#@
And personally I don't mind the look of the LED turn signals (if they were new) but up close they are discolored and the paint is peeling off them so it looks bad..but like I said before its molded into the bumper, so short of getting a new bumper I cant do much..and believe me this will have to happen later down the road! But the hose in the pictures is showing bright orange..its actually a M's hose, darker red like in the picture with the bumper off..to each his own I guess!

Everybody keeps telling me to take those reflectors off; one of these days I'll have at er with a heat gun!

[flipridah17]

Nice car! I wonder who owns the other R33 GTR Midnight purple that was sitting at Fraser Wharves last month. It had a CF hood and Sparco hood pins.. RHD maybe?