Nick Wong

I recently picked up RBMotoring/Jack/Jeff's 1994 silver Skyline GT-R. I've known them for years and I know the history of the car, less than 10k miles and not even 500 miles since Federalization. This car was for sale for a while- ads were placed at 6Speedonline (aka braindamage.com by some of my friends and referred to by me as trainwreck.com). This was one of the later cars Federalized by MotoRex. It was time to get back into a GT-R- my 1992 GT-R had been retired a long time ago. This marks my 20th year of GT-R ownership, of which 13 years are in the US.

It has some fun stuff on it. R34 GT-R parts. Super Taikyu parts. Things like subframes, transmission, steering rack, AC and PS, Super Taikyu NISMO ETS control box and switches for wet/dry ABS and torque split sensitivity with A-LSD. 2.8l stroker engine built by XS Engineering a while back with old man Crower parts in the bottom and Reinik cams, Tomei oil pump and NISMO swing pickup in the sump. Heim joints on all suspension arms. A lot of the "special" parts are not available to the public- factory race team use only. Some were spares for Igor's World Challenge cars I think. Other more typical stuff- twin Bosch 044 pumps in tank, NISMO intake manifold, divided "Twin Turbo" pipe to reduce/eliminate shuffle, HKS GTRS turbos, clutch pack LSD in the front, big intercooler,two oil coolers and accusump, AEM EMS using MAP, and some Autoselect chassis braces under the sheet metal and all over. And a K/N filter in the OE airbox that's fed by a secondary inlet.

I'm swapping out the brakes, buttoning up the general electrical and basic maintenance. R35 GT-R front brakes, Brembo/Lotus calipers with 345x28 rotors on the rear. Going with new wheels, down pipe and exhaust. Found my old R34 GT-R OE seat in my closet that's been there for about 10 years or more. On the lookout for a R34 passenger seat in perfect condition- I installed that in my white R32 GT-R when I got the pair of them. Jack, the former owner (and good friend) found me a set of used and recently rebuilt Ohlins FLAG-R shocks and springs- that will go on when they come from Japan via container in December. Mackin Industries was nice enough to help me out with getting wheels which were out of stock in the US- Volk TE37SL 18x10. It will need some paint work- one of the fenders has a small issue (but a small paint issue is a full panel paint), and the front lip needs a respray. Some new trim tape for the NISMO sills. Small but visually important.

FYI my car is registered in Florida as a Nissan Skyline GT-R, with NHSTA release papers always in the glove box. I also got a personalized plate- GROUP A.

Two quick iPhone pics of it at Champion Motorsport in Pompano Beach, FL, being worked on currently. They are refining some of the work previously done by RB Motoring/Sean Morris/etc., getting it up to where I want it to be. Some small details, some big changes. It's not the same car anymore.

XR4Tim

Good buy. Definitely an understated car that deserves a lot of respect.
I've been down to RB motoring, and like the guys there. My old business partner swapped an RB26DETT into his S14 240SX (now with a big single turbo), and got a lot of parts from them and their contacts too. As a result, I've done a fair bit of work on the RB26.

sca037

Love it, what's your power goal?

Brian

Nick Wong

Mitch Pederson, who used to teach the AEM EMS tuner classes for AEM, tuned the car a while back- mid 500s whp on waste gate (16psi) and 650whp at 23-24psi. It should be quite safe, the block is built to take it. The limiting factor is the stock mounted turbos- if I went top mount I could go significantly bigger, but I like the thought of a "close to stock" looking engine bay.

Mister C

Sweet car! There is good reason that these cars are so well-respected in Japan. It is shame that only a few exist in the US. I would love to have one.

Nick Wong

There are about 100 R32-34 GT-Rs that are here with full EPA and NHTSA approval, and quite a few with CARB approval too. Then there are a bunch more that are here illegally, but Homeland Security (aka US Customs aka ICE) has been spending millions to gather up a few dozen illegally imported cars. "Skyline" is a bad word at NHTSA, they don't like GT-Rs because they "go so fast." Their words...

TRD0524

My old daily driver for a years and 1/2 or so....it's a project car I helped a friend acquire. Car now sits in storage needing some work..

When I used to work for Endless...we were quite close with Nissan and Nismo Japan.

911SLOW

Very nice Nick. Post more pics.

I'm back in a Japanese car myself after a decade or so.
Everything looks the same and building them is still half the fun. (Maybe more than half actually.. )

Nick Wong

If there was a "like" button I would have clicked it!

Nice car!

911SLOW- I love the reliability of a stock Japanese car. Not so much after they get tuned. Not much headroom or extra power before something can go astray. Maybe I'm just a little paranoid after popping three or four RB26 blocks, stock and built. No one would ever accuse me of running them easy though.

I'll post pics as I get them. Being in Chicago makes it a little difficult.

Leonov

If i am correct, Under those NHSTA guidelines after a vehicle is 25 years old it doesnt have to meet their silly regulations and can be imported legally(as long as it meets FCCVS regulations, which the GTRs dont ). There is also another clause in their rules, as Motorex brought in a couple of R32s and R33s and had them crash tested and fixed(more like brought up to code) most of their issues so they met our silly guidelines. I remember seeing their list of things that had to be done to them to make them legal, If i find it agian ill post it. Motorex as i remember reading was shut down for some shady buisness practices. Found the Article:http://www.nicoclub.com/articles/NHTSA-update.pdf
Main Article http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/the...-states-1.html

Nick Wong

There are some half truths there. I am quite familiar with MotoRex and most of the people who worked there are on a first name basis with me. I was present for one of the crash tests at MGA labs in WI a decade ago- with Hiro and Sean, and Jonathon from JK.

1. 25 year rule- NHTSA and EPA calculates each individual chassis' age based on manufacturing date- to the month. So, yes, you can bring them into the country in a few years, but those oldest cars are hard to find in good condition. I'm not sure about CARB but I don't live in CA so I don't care. There may be an influx of crappy old ones due to noteriety with the JDM crowd though.

2. MotoRex wasn't a monopoly. Anyone could have done what they did, duplicate the crash testing and gaining their own NHTSA/EPA approval. It just wasn't worth it, the market demand wasn't there. MotoRex only performed about 100 conversions during the time they were in business. They got shut down because Hiro wasn't getting the conversions done but sending in false paperwork documenting the changes. When they initially were approved for the three chassis, the NHTSA recommended they crash only the R33 and the NHTSA told MotoRex the cars were substantially similar- Hiro had the other chassis' waiting at MGA on standby for testing if it were required.

In any case, I do have some interesting news I can share in a few weeks. Some of the industry insiders know about it, something Sean Morris has been working on for a while and he asked me for some help on. Should be interesting to see some people's reaction.

The NSX dude

I have always loved GT-R's and am a huge japanese sports car fan! Great cars. Fun, reliable and I happen to like their styling.

Nick Wong

Here's the news... NISMO R32 GT-R is approved for NHTSA Show or Display exemption.

http://www.showordisplay.com/2012/12...-r32-gt-r.html

bordin34

My friend currently has an R32 GT-R. Tomei everything on the engine and some race twin turbo kit. Crazy car. He sold his Evo6 to get it and previously owned an R33 GT-R.

fanny bay r1

Love GT-R's there are tons of them in Canada!! Two in the parking lot outside!! Problem is they are so cheap -the grey market Japanese imports - that any 18 year old with a job can buy a 500+ HP version as their first car.