Neal Hartmans’s Skyline GT-R V-Spec
I bought my GT-R last October after the wife and I determined that we had enough money left over to finance a GT-R.She gave me a cap of 1.5 million yen, which at the time came to about $15k.I found one on Yahoo! Auctions but there were only two pictures and a pretty crappy write up on the car.I found more pictures and more detailed description on Goo-Net’s website.The car was currently in Yokohama.
APEXi twin pod filters and MAFS adapters, APEXi Dunk 4″ catback exhaust, Yokohama AVS version 5 18″X9.5″J Bridgestone Potenza 265/35/18 tires, Greddy mechanical boost gauge
Interior:
Kenwood CD AM/FM tuner, Pioneer/Carrozzeria speakers and dome tweeters
Future:
Modified stock “Twin Turbo” pipe, Nismo S-tune coilover suspension, Fujitsubo front pipe high flow cat (or de-cat)
When I went to look at it, the dealer told me that it had one bad Mass AirFlow Sensor and told me that if I were to decide to purchase it, they would replace both sensors, free of charge. They asked if there were any other things I wanted addressed. I told asked them to replace the rear window tint as it was bubbled and looked like a hack job. Kind of wish I would have had them replace the steering wheel, too. More on that later.
Decided on the car, and was told it would be about two weeks before I could take delivery of it…and they would personally deliver it to my home in Saitama prefecture. COOL! Good points were it was a one owner car, had 66,130km on the clock and came with a boost controller (Greddy Profec A with fuzzy logic) and a no-name turbo timer. It also had a Pioneer cassette deck with 12 disk changer in the trunk, but it was almost as old as the car and wouldn’t play burned CDs, so I swapped that out for my Kenwood that I had in my old car, the Laurel. It also had a cat back exhaust, so that was one point I didn’t need to worry about.
The boost controller and turbo timer came out as I didn’t need to be over boosting anytime soon as the stock RB26DETT is pretty beefy stock and lots of fun.
Most of the interior was in really good shape, but with a few exeptions. The steering wheel has a few bad spots, one most noticably, the shift boot and handbrake boot.
Unfortunately, Nissan won’t sell just the boots, and I have no need to purchase the whole lower dash assembly nor the center console. I luckily did find a near mint shift boot from another BCNR33 on Yahoo! Japan auctions for the nice price of roughly $20. So I had a friend bid on it, and I won. I should be receiving that shortly. I still have yet to find a new/used steering wheel or handbrake boot, but I’ll keep my eyes open for one of those.
There is tons of room in the back seat as well. I am close to 6ft tall and I can fit in the back seat with plenty of comfort and room without compromising the front passenger or drivers comfort. It’s actually more room than my old Laurel. Features of the V-Spec over the standard GT-R include the ATESSA E-TS Pro all wheel drive system with Active LSD, HICAS steering and the stock suspension is a little stiffer and a bit lower than a standard GT-R.
The other good thing about mine was it was the exact color and model that I wanted. My dream GT-R was a Midnight Purple R33…and now I have it.
I plan on keeping this car for many years to come, so I can take my time building it up over the next several years. Come this June, I will be putting my second mod on it, which is a modified twin turbo pipe.
The stock pipe works as the outlet for both turbos on the RB26, but it has one little design flaw. The rear turbine charge air conflicts with the front turbine charge air causing a bit of turbulence in the charge air to the intercooler. So, the modifications is to cut a section of the front turbo outlet and weld in a baffle that separates the single chamber into two chambers, which causes smoother air flow from the turbos and also has been said to help extend the life of the rear turbo. It is also said that it helps increase throttle response in the lower RPMs and improves overall response throughout the rev range.
Here is a link that shows pictures and explains what it is and how it works. Baffled Twin Turbo Pipes
I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated as mods go on and the car changes from daily driver to street machine.
