Chris' R34 GTT Series 2

[hoodedreeper]

Time was drawing in closer for when i break my Supercharged MX5 ready to fund an R34 GTT. I wouldnt be a true car enthusiast if i wasn't already looking for cars on the interweb. My fingers were starting to hurt after refreshing various selling and auction sites here and Japan too often.

One car I kept being drawn back to was a white Series 2. It ticked all the boxes for what i was looking for, except it was the facelift front bumper that was preventing me from looking deeper into the details. So i messaged the seller and asked for a few more details and photos, very quick responses and the amount of photos asked on request was overwhelming.

Was it worth the 7hr round trip to go look at it, to potentially not like it? If it was as clean as it was in the photos, something major must have had been up with it if i was to walk away. Luckily this wasn't the case, infact the car was even better in person. After a test drive and a good poke around i really couldnt fault the car except for a knock on the driver side rear. So with an offer made he accepted and I drove away extremely happy! The 170ish mile drive home was faultless and i look forward to digging in and putting my own stamp on it.

It would have been rude to not get some photos, especially with the MX5

Nissan Skyline R34 GTT Series 2
RB25DET NEO 6
Manual Transmission

Imported in 2016 by IBE Cars in Huddersfield
Resprayed in original Pearl White in 2017

Its stock except for a custom turbo back exhaust, HKS mushroom filter and aftermarket stereo

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[hoodedreeper]

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[hoodedreeper]

04/07/18

Got the car back from H & S performance in Norwich who have done an amazing job on the Skyline the past couple of days

Oil Change
Spark Plugs
Fuel Filter
Japspeed Radiator
Thermostat
Drive Belts
Cambelt & Tensioners
Waterpump
Coolant change
Gearbox Oil change
Diff Oil change
Brake Fluid change

Meister R Zeta CRD Coilovers
Shorter front drop links
Wheel arches and suspension turrets undersealed

A-Tech 17" wheels back from powder coaters (done by SW Wheels) tyres swapped over and fitted along with new wheel nuts

Full alignment

Car drives completely different now and looks awesome!

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Got some things coming from Japan aswell as another road trip planned for this weekend. Will keep you updated when i receive them

[hoodedreeper]

18/07/18

Why buy aftermarket clear side repeaters when you can just remove the orange lense yourself for free!

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With the purchase of the Blitz FMIC it was time to find an Altia bumper,this seemed abit more tricky than i first though. Luckily i found one only a couple of hours away, and it was en route on my holiday to Cornwall last week!

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While down in Cornwall we took a trip over to Devon and visited the guys and girls at Torque GT. They had the HKS SSQV Blow off Valve on offer, so would have been rude not to grab one while i was there. I also purchased a speedo converter too, which i'll get booked in with my local garage to get it fitted soon.

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With the car now serviced and the cambelt changed, i wanted to record the date like they do over in Japan. So i contacted Rajikaru who supply period correct japanese stickers, and they kindly replicated the sticker for me and have now added it to their store! I also purchased some other stickers to go with it.

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We also got both cars out for a drive Sunday evening

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[hoodedreeper]

It was busy day today for me and the fiance as we cracked on with doing little jobs on the car. Its those simply, low cost mods that make a little difference overall.

The engine cover got prepped and painted in silver. I was originally going to do it red, but thought it might have been too much, so kept with silver to keep it more factory looking. The text was painted red and i started to draw a black border with a sharpie but it decided to dry up, so that needs finishing at some point

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The stock strut brace got a lick of paint too

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I also gave the larger areas of the engine bay a quick de-grease along with the fitting of some red dress up bolts

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We also gave the calipers a lick of paint, you may have noticed a colour scheme going on...

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[hoodedreeper]

28/08/18

My second package from Japan had arrived, my replacement OEM steering wheel. This is fantastic condition compared to the one fitted to the car. The only problem was (and i didnt notice until i took the photos) was its actually from an Auto car, i didn't originally see the buttons in the advert on Yahoo Auctions,oops!

Before

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After (before fitting)

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Replaced the dash cluster bulbs to LED, photos don't do them justice. Just need to get a front interior light bulb to complete the interior

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It was my birthday last Wednesday, my fiance very kindly purchased some LED tail lights and also purchased a personalised number plate along with my parents (i knew about the plates as i found it lol)

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Last Sunday i organised a photoshoot with some friends who have japanese cars, here are some of the solo photos i got of the GTT

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[HarryB]

Already looks fantastic; and the condition it was seems more than pristine. So, what's the "master plan"? OEM+ build?

[tsingson]

Is the difference asthetically between the GTR and yours just the front bumper? I was wondering if the GTR has slightly larger flaring on the fenders. Either way, still a beautiful car. Looking forward to watching this build.

[hoodedreeper]

The car is wider at the fenders (alot morr noticable on the GTR). The bumpers are different, the GTR hood is shorter compared to the GTT.

The engine has an extra 100cc and twin turbos (GTT is single turbo). The GTR is also AWD (GTT is RWD)

[hoodedreeper]

Here are some comparisons to some bumpers

Stock Series 1

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Series 2

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Altia

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Alot of people mistake the Altia to be a Nismo bumper. A Nismo bumper looks like this

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East Bear do a GTR style bumper

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The main reason i'm changing the bumper is for the front mount intercooler. The original Series 2 bumper blocks quite abit of flow to the centre (as pictured below) I wasn't keen on the bumper to begin with but I like it now, which is ironic as i'm now having the change it lol

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This is a real GTR, the hood stops at the top of the headlamps while the GTT extends down.

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When people do a GTR conversion they'll either use a GTR hood or fit an extension to the original hood. The GTR bumper pokes out further so the extension fills the gap

[benpopham]

I have a spare Nismo front bumper for this :ninja:

[Greasemonkey2000]

Jealous of the R34, Chris, congrats again! I personally would rather have a RWD Skyline as well but probably in a sedan/saloon. I have a soft spot for four door cars. Look forward to seeing what you do with this! :drinkto:

[DarylSibcy]

Jealous of the R34, Chris, congrats again! I personally would rather have a RWD Skyline as well but probably in a sedan/saloon. I have a soft spot for four door cars. Look forward to seeing what you do with this! :drinkto:

Depends on what the plan is with power. A girl a work with had to rebuild an R32 Skyline after a flood, currently putting out 550hp+... Anytime she puts it into RWD all she does is light the tyres :lol: :slayer:

[Phatmiata]

so sick! and already modding it up too!! wow

Are you gonna get a spare cluster and send it to Adam to create some cool new gauges?

[hoodedreeper]

so sick! and already modding it up too!! wow

Are you gonna get a spare cluster and send it to Adam to create some cool new gauges?

If i ever moaned about miata parts occasionally being a tad expensive i apologize. The price for Skyline parts are waaaay higher :(

[hoodedreeper]

Not much has been happening and i didn't want to just post single photos.

Finally got the Altia bumper painted and fitted, along with some clear indicator units and chrome bulbs. Its transformed the front end and looks alot better! I'm glad i decided to colour code the centre bar and not left it black.

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The factory ceramic turbo doesn't like a bar of boost, most say around 11-12psi max is safe. After some research i decided to go for a Greddy Profec OLED boost controller to up the current boost a tad. Also hoping it'll come into boost smoother as its a little bit 'choppy'.

I didn't like the mount that's supplied so decided to make something. I started off with making a blank for the ash tray

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I wanted a flush look and have it removable if there was ever a problem or i didn't like it. We recently had some new magnetic phone holders come in at work so I decided to use one for the mount. I cut the ball & socket mounting off and was left with just the magnetic pad.

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And stuck the other half of the magnet on the back of the controller

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With the hole drilled for the wiring it was ready to be 'test fitted'. I originally fitted a wiring grommet but I didn't take into consideration that it protruded above the surface, so scrapped that idea

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To make it secure onto the trim i used two small screws in the top corners. Double sided tape would have made it look cleaner, but I didn't want it coming off while i'm driving.

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With it refitted it doesn't look too out of place in the cabin, quite pleased with the result! I've also fitted and wired up the AEM gauges from the MX5. I just need to fit the oil sandwich plate and sensor along with getting a boss welded into the exhaust for the AFR gauge.

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[hoodedreeper]

In August I ordered a new set of wheels, I wanted a set of these for the MX5 but they don't make them wide enough in a 15. So i'm very happy to be able to have a set on the Skyline



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Choosing a wheel design was difficult enough, let alone deciding which fitment to get. I decided on 18x8.5 ET30 and 18x9.5 ET30, playing it safe due to the arches are original and mint, would be a shame to ruin them because of the offset being lower.



I believe Nismo recommend this fitment for the GTT, so that was some reassurance :)



Colour choice was also another challenge, the current bronze wheels look awesome against the pearl white and I had my head set on that. But then i saw the GT Silver was an option and well....you can see from the photos that i made the right decision (or did i?)



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This is one of the rear wheels to help show the concave, the fronts are alot more straight spoked due to the width



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I wont be getting tyres for a couple of months, show seaon is over here in the UK and the car won't be driven much when the salt starts to be spread in the coming months.

[hoodedreeper]

With the bodywork being in mint condition (except the difference in colour on some panels due to the pearl) my attention would be under the bonnet. I can't afford a full forge build,top mount turbo etc so went for a cheaper route. I've been collecting parts for a couple of months and now I'm at a stage where i can post about it.

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Stock Turbo Stage 3 Hybrid (spec below) (Rebuilt by Universal Turbos)
Genuine Gasket Set
Apexi Power FC
Z32 MAF
R35 GTR 570cc Injectors
Walbro 255 Fuel Pump
Blitz FMIC
NGK BKR7E Plugs
Splitfire Coilpacks
Competition Clutch Stage 2 (supplied by Conceptua Tuning)
Lightened Flywheel
Braided Clutch line

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Re-Profiled Compressor Cover
T38 Compressor Wheel
360 Degree Thrust Bearing
T3 Billet Backplate Modified
T3 Bearing Housing Modified
Hi-Temp Turbine End Piston Ring Seal
T38 Turbine Wheel
Re-Profiled Turbine Housing
Ported Wastegate and Larger Poppet Valve
1 Bar Actuator
Up-Rated Actuator Bracket

My aim is 400hp,would be over the moon if it was more :)

I also have a Tomei turbo elbow on order through Nengun Performance

[Agent☣Orange]

This is just crazy!




I love it though.

[Phatmiata]

Man what a sweet setup!!

[hoodedreeper]

Nothing happens for weeks and all of a sudden everything happens at once lol

The new tyres for the Work wheels arrived and i didn't waste any time getting them mounted and fitted to the car. The front ride height is left untouched from the 17s, the rears were raised 20mm (its still veeeery close to the arch lip)

I think playing it safe with the offset of 30 was a wise decision, it may not be the 'fitment' that kids nowadays wanna see, but i think its perfect :)

Not long after purchasing the car, i already had a vision of what i'd like the car to look lilke. My very first car/project was a red Nissan Micra K11, one of the things i loved about that was the Nismo livery. That car taught me alot of cars in general especially thinking outside the box when it came to modifying. I knew the livery would work well on the R34 so it had to be done.

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A big thank you to Unique Signs & Graphics in Norwich for designing it all from scratch and for fitting it. These were also the guys who designed and fitted the HKS livery on my MX5

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I also tried out some coloured smoke grenades, I'll be having another go at night at some point

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[Hungry hippo]

Your inbox is full. Trying to PM can you clear some space?

[hoodedreeper]

Your inbox is full. Trying to PM can you clear some space?

All done

[hoodedreeper]

No major updates just yet, only more photos



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[hoodedreeper]

A small update to catch up over the past couple of weeks

Took some autumn photos

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My Tomei Exhaust elbow arrived from Japan via Nengun. The quality and workmanship on this is incredible!

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I found these on Yahoo Auctions and JDMParts Rupewrecht arranged the purchase and delivery. Originally they had a 2-3 week production time as they're made to order. But these were ready to be shipped within a week!

The quality is very good, the pieces are quite thick so not thin and flimsy like some carbon/FRP parts. They've certainly got some weight to them!

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A friend of mine is currently cutting out the engine cover text aswell as the fuse box diagram to help keep them looking 'OEM'. Plus it breaks up all the carbon

[hoodedreeper]

It was a very nismo christmas this year! Lu spoilt me rotten by buying me a Nismo speedo cluster

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I also treated myself to some Nismo goodies from Nengun and Yahoo Auctions

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Spent Boxing Day afternoon fitting it all

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Which brings me to my next mini update, engine cover stickers!

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Keeping with the Nismo theme, i purchased an R33 strut brace with brake stopper on eBay. The brace had certainly seen better days so i started to refurb it.

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And heres the finished item

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Another little change I made was to swap the bulb in the ignition barrel to an amber one, to help match the red/orange illumination in the cabin

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[hoodedreeper]

We headed over to Blickling Hall here in Norfolk, they had an arrangement of lights for the festive period which was a great photo opportunity*f'k

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The LED lights had produced an intermittent fault. The first set, the outer tail light ring was missing half of the LEDs and the second set of lights had an issue with the brake light occasionally not working. Driftworks accepted a return and arranged the refund very quickly, I can't fault them for that. The OEM lights were refitted, i think i prefer them lol

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Although the interior was clean looking and stock, I felt it needed a lil bit more. I had a Nardi Deep Corn steering wheel stored away from the MX5, Driftworks supplied a HKB boss kit and the Nardi was promptly fitted.

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Upon fitting the boss kit and testing it, i noticed something on the floor mat. I had only gone and snapped the locating pin on the clock spring....fuck! I removed the hicas fuse to temporally disable it until i could sort it. I had a couple of options, replace the clock spring and potentially have it happen again or delete the hicas.....which brings me to my next update

Driftworks Hicas Delete

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H&S Performance took care of fitting the kit and aligning the car, as always they've done a fantastic job!

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Last photo of this update is one i took this evening as the sun was setting, no real reason just a random photo. Its also the first using my new photography watermark teaming up with

Modificata Culture (https://www.facebook.com/ModificataCulture/)

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[hoodedreeper]

Small update

Fitted a tsurikawa and a hannya omamori to the 34

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I've finally got fuse box diagram sticker fitted, it finishes off the carbon a treat

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While the camera was out I couldnt help but take a few more photos

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[Agent☣Orange]

Isn’t that really just a small cock ring?

[hoodedreeper]

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After reading up on a Speedhunters article by Jordan about his RS4 audio upgrade, I was that impressed I decided to bite the bullet and treat myself to one too.



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The DMX7017DAB is a double din mechless unit with a large touch screen display. The minimal buttons along the bottom edge gives it a more modern look without distracting you much.



It has the bells and whistles you expect to find on a modern aftermarket stereo like DAB, Bluetooth, rear USB, steering controls etc. What drew me to this was a couple of things. The first being the integrated dash cam.



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With the dash cam plugging into the back of the unit, you can view the Camera aswell as play back recorded footage and photos. The camera has a built in shock sensor, a message promptly appears if the car has been hit in your absence, and you can review the footage straight away.



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The second feature that I loved was the ability to mirror what my phone does. For Android an app called Android Auto is required. This allows you to mirror Google Maps/Waze onto the stereo, while still being able to listen to Spotify/Google Music and make/receive phone calls! Very handy for those road trips or convoys to car shows



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Another feature the Kenwood unit has is a reverse camera. You can pick up a generic camera off eBay or Amazon for not a lot of money but I didn’t want the extra grief of splicing and hoping the built quality would last. So I went with Kenwoods unit and I’m glad I did. Direct plug and play and all I had to do was splice into the reverse light loom



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I finished the install when darkness fell so I’m eager to see the quality in the daylight :)



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The rear speakers have been crackling for awhile so this was one job that needed addressing more than anything. I didn’t know what I was letting myself in for until I was half way through it…



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The rear seats, door cards and trim had to be removed before I could touch the parcel shelf. The parcel shelf area was covered in a black dust, thinking it was the parcel shelf material disintegrating, I was wrong.



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As you can see, there wasn’t much left of the stock Clarion speakers, no wonder the sound quality was so poor! The new speakers dropped in a treat and I managed to reuse the original fixings. At the point I wished I had bought the wiring adapters but nevermind.



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With the rear interior put back together it was time to tackle the front speakers. This was ALOT easier, a few trim clips and screws and access was easy. Luckily the front speakers already had the adapters (weirdly enough) so that was plain sailing.



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I did buy some sound deadening pads to put on the inside but space is limited and daylight was becoming less and less. I’ll tackle this at a later date.



The last thing on the list was to install the slim subwoofer. I was hoping it would fit under the seat, but upon removing it I didn’t realise the centre is humped and tapers down. So I decided to put it behind the seat instead.



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The wiring is a lot simpler, all of the wires go into a single plug, none of those nasty terminal screws we had ‘back in the day’. The hardest part was routing the live cable through the bulk head (wheel and arch liner off and it’s straight forward from there)



So there we have it, a full multimedia upgrade! I still need to play around with the equaliser, then I’ll get a video sorted

[tsingson]

I love using Android Auto. I get jealous of the unit I put in my wife's/daughter's car that has it. It's awesome the features you can do with it while driving.

[HMT]

This is one nice looking car, and a great driving machine as well. Nice job :)

[Phatmiata]

Loving this build and my fav skyline generation

[Agent☣Orange]

Yet, I’m still preoccupied by the smoke grenade.

[hoodedreeper]

Not long after I purchased the car I used the Turtle Wax headlight restoration kit. Unfortunately it didnt last long before the lights became cloudy again. I got recommended by a friend of a mobile company who do them for a very reasonable price. So I got the car booked in and well....the photos speak for themselves!

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Since the Nismo addiction started I've been on the hunt for an S-Tune boot spoiler. As you can imagine these are rare as rocking horse shit and near on impossible to find. I found a company in Australia who makes a copy but its no longer available.

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I did find one on Yahoo Auctions, but it came complete with the spoiler blade and the price landed was £800+*f'k

I happened to see a post on the Skyline Owners Forum facebook page about someone's own design for some spoiler legs. Messages were sent back and forth for a lil while and I made a purchase.

His friend was developing some covers but there would be a delay due to finishing the mould, getting orders etc. I went with the Carbon Fibre option, who doesn't like carbon?!

These took approx 4 months and they landed on my door today (12th April). The delay was due to the raw and painted versions being made and delivered first before the carbon versions got put into production.

Fitting was quite straight forward as its all been moulded to the underneath of the OEM spoiler,so it fits like a glove. The spoiler bases have adjustment so you can put it where you like (within reason)

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[hoodedreeper]

Hanami is one of THE most beautiful things on this planet, and I'm extremely envious and jealous of the Japanese and this beautiful season. With my social media exploding with various images of this iconic scenery, I knew I had to try and replicate it as best as i could.



In the UK its a relatively small window when the blossom is in full bloom and how long it lasts for (also adding a lack of spare time to get such photos) makes a good challenge. I spent a couple of weeks driving round the city trying to find the perfect backdrop, this was harder than I thought.



I finally found somewhere good enough and I did my best with what I had



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I've been going to a car show called Modified Nationals for the past 11 years. This year it moved date and location which ended up being scorching hot and a far better surrounding, win win!



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Myself and a couple of others have started our own Cars & Coffee meets and today (28th April) was the first meet of the year. The weather just about stayed dry for the majority of the morning, I was met with a couple of more R34s



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Seeing this V-Spec 2 Nur roll in made me go complete fan boy. You just dont get to see this car out in the 'wild' very often.



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The full album can be seen here > https://www.flickr.com/photos/93923515@N07/albums/72157708154531655

[hoodedreeper]

I've been looking at replacement seats for a couple of months but have always been undecided on which ones. Last week we took a visit to GSM Performance to consult with the sales team on various seats and to try them.

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Being a 'bigger build' comfort was top priority, and trying the seats out before commiting was a major advantage. It was a tough decision as there were so many nice seats,but in the end I went for the Recaro.

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I managed to source some R34 GTR Bride rails that had been modified to fit the GTT. Upon ftting I noticed the Recaro seat mounts were alot wider than the rail. Several hours of swearing later, I had some brackets made up and everything bolted together.

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I'm unsure if the GTR seat rail is different height wise, but the seats do slope down which has changed the driving position abit

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One feature I really like is the reclining lever that's neatly camouflaged into the harness cut outs.

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The suede centres make the seats pop alot more than the all leather equivalent

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Its abit snug inside, the side bolster does currently touch the doorcard. I'm hoping I can modify the mounts I made to bring it over abit.

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[tsingson]

Those seats look awesome! And the recliner lever is neat.

[hoodedreeper]

After 24hrs the seats had marked the doorcards quite badly, so I had to sort them out ASAP. I removed the doorcard to have a look, hoping I could modify and retrim the arm rest. But upon a closer look the whole door card would need re-doing and I didn't really fancy all that work. So I adapted the rail mounts instead.

I started with the driver side by drilling another hole next to the first one, the seat was still hard pushed against the doorcard. To explain it briefly it required alot more moving over than I first thought. The bracket on the rails was fouling the bottom of the seat so those had to be cut off. The belt buckles were too short to be bolted to the rear inner rail mounting hole so additional brackets had to be made. Then it was a headache trying to hold the seat up to get said bolts in while holding the seat up to line it all up while making sure the belt buckle didnt fall down.

*sigh*

But I finally got it all sorted and theres still room between the seat and the centre console.

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With the seats in I have to admit it was abit of a struggle getting out without brushing against the steering wheel. I decided to go with a quick release steering wheel, but it had to be a slim version. A friend had a Vac Motorsport race quick release for sale which would do the job nicely. The centre of the quick release boss looked too small for a horn button, so he included some Fast and Furious-esque NOS buttons to use as horn buttons.

The Nardi deep corn wheel has served me well in pretty much all of my cars, but it was time for it to retire in favour of a smaller, more modern equivalent. I decided on the Sparco L360 in leather, mainly for its 330mm size and it's flat bottom.

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Of course,this wasn't going to be an easy job, not with my current luck lol

I wanted to mount the horn bracket inbetween the HKB boss and the first half of the quick release. This was to make the wiring neater and hidden. The first half uses a Nardi bolt pattern (whats the problem with that you ask?)

Well...the horn button bracket uses a Momo bolt pattern. Even redrilling the bracket would make it lean over to one side and not be central. So the only way was to mount it between the second half and the steering wheel. Luckily theres a gap between the two brackets, the wires were heat shrunk and taped to neaten it all up.

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Once it was all mounted together, I lined up the supplied horn button from Sparco and it fits :/ Just my luck lol

[hoodedreeper]

Today marks 1 year since I purchased the car, time flies when you're having fun 'ey! I've made some before and after photos :)

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[hoodedreeper]

Some photos from the same mini shootshoot

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[hoodedreeper]

In the future I plan on getting the interior trims skinned in Carbon Fibre. I've decided to paint them instead for the time being. I wanted something subtle but eye catching if seen in the right light.

White would have been too much and so would Red, so I decided to go Black, but which one? Working in a Motor Factors it was a bonus to have a rack full of aerosols, along with being able to mix paint if need be.

Ford Panther black has always been a favourite,so it was an easy decision

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I really need to sort out the lower dash trim to get rid of all of the scratches from the stereo. I can get a brand new one from RHD Japan for £130 + shipping + import, but its not an urgency just yet

While I had everything out I replaced the cig lighter bulb for an amber version. This now matches my ignition barrel light (photo further up)

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This was also the perfect opportunity to swap the bulbs in the climate control for a better quality LED. After several recommendations these were purchased from an eBay seller in Australia

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[HarryB]

Looking good Chris; not that we expected otherwise. The seats look like they belong there, like they could have been an OEM option if they were around at the time.

[hoodedreeper]

June is Prom month for alot of students, I was thankful to be asked to do a couple (only have photos of the first one). It was great to help out fellow Skyline lovers, hopefully see them on here in a few more years time lol

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Me and Lu took a drive out for a bite to eat, ended up doing a 100 mile coastal drive around Norfolk, oops! Managed to stop at a couple of places for a snap

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Every year Myself and a group of friends organise a charity car meet raising money for The Big C Charity and East Anglia Air Ambulance. On the night we raised £1300 and we still have a raffle going for another week or so. Here's a photo from the night

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[hoodedreeper]

I've been looking for a rear tow hook for awhile but couldn't find one I liked, so I made one

Using the original one as a template, I extended it so it would be visible underneath the bumper

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The original is a 2 skin pressed piece with a bracket on the side. Mine is made from 6mm steel sheet, I understand its not as strong but I don't intend on using it for towing, its purely for aesthetics

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We've recently had some thunderstorms (doesn't happen all that often) I was lucky enough to grab this photo while out at a car meet

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Which kinda brings me onto my next update, this weekend just gone at Silverstone Classic. I went along with the GTR Drivers Club, it chucked it down with rain most of the weekend but it was still a great weekend. Nissan UK and Nissan JPN supplied the hospitality along with loaning us a 2020 Nismo Model along with their GT-R50 prototype. Seeing photos of this online I didn't like it, but its not quite as bad in person lol

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Next stop.....JAE in 2 weeks time

[hoodedreeper]

Its been a busy month or so, I've been waiting to build up enough info/photos to make it worth while posting.

The first package to arrive was from Japan. I've been wanting to try it for awhile now so I bit the bullet and ordered some. Its an expensive way to drink coffee but oh so JDM

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The next one original came from Japan but was shipped from within the UK. Garage Sweet Tooth (http://sweettooth-jp.com/shop/) stock some really cool authentic parts and clothing. I wanted some more accessories to go with the hannya omamori and the tsurikawa handle and this new-old stock coin holder caught my eye. Still waiting to get some coins before I fit it so i'll save that for another update

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Next was an item I spotted in the Garage Sweet Tooth shop, but they didn't have the type I was looking for. I dropped Josh at Torque GT a message to see if they had any Electronic Toll Card Readers kicking about, luckily they did! A couple of days later it arrived and I didn't waste any time fitting it. I only wanted one because it talks haha. Videos are better than photos so heres a short clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFzzkqWi3UI

With my 30th birthday approaching my fiancée asked what I'd like, I suggested a 1/24 scale model kit of an R34 so I could make a replica, but it wasn't as straight forward.

Because mine is a 25GT with an Altia front bumper, this meant two kits had to be purchased and blended together. Luckily my friend Tom at Waltonstyle (https://waltonstyle.bigcartel.com/) does custom Hot Wheels so he offered to lend a hand to sort it.

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With the shell now complete it was ready for paint. Working in a motor factors I have access to mixing paint. Tom also makes custom water transfers and was able to make the Nismo graphics

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Miniature Recaro Sportster CS seats came from Australia, some photos of the interior too

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Some photos of the shell nearer completion. Tom even made the Pistonheads logo,Nismo badge and number plate for me, some nice attention to detail

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And here's the finished model, complete with Work Emotion CR Kiwami

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[hoodedreeper]

Got some good and bad news :(

The bad news is, the engine upgrades that I've been storing will be on hold for awhile longer :(

The good news is, I'm getting married! So I've now got a year to organise that which to be fair most is already sorted. Followed by a honey moon in Japan in 2021! (I think I'm more excited by that to be honest hehe)

The front bumper needed to be resprayed under warranty, which was the perfect opportunity to fit the Blitz FMIC

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Gave the pipe work and chassis areas a coat of paint

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The reinforcement bar had to be cut/modified to fit around the intercooler, which wasn't alot of work to be fair. I also replaced the blue silicone hoses for black ones along with mikalor clamps

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The horns had to be relocated, so I swapped them for some new ones

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Stainless fixings and bolts replaced the original rusty ones

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The bumper went back on about 90% right. I think the intercooler is still fouling it ever so slightly so that'll need adjusting/trimming again

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I also removed the window stickers, I think it looks alot better

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[MaRcOp01o]

Congrats on getting married!! And always love your updates!

[hoodedreeper]

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and will have a happy new year*f'k

Not much of an update I'm afraid. All of the engine upgrades are now for sale as I've got some debt to sort out :(

Myself and some friends took a drive over to a Paul Walker memorial meet, managed to snap some phone photos*f'k

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Heres a photo from one of the last Cars & Coffee (events I help organise. I've just finished finalising the 2020 dates and info so next year is shaping up to be awesome

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The car has been in use since the last update, dodging the grit trucks this time of year and only taking it out when the roads have been clear for a few days. Took a drive out to get some last minute photos with some local christmas lights.

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[hoodedreeper]

Time for an update!

The biggest announcement being I'm going to be a dad! Woohoo! Its due to arrive 6 weeks after the wedding which is gonna make our summer very busy!



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Bought a new camera lens, a Canon 35mm f/1.4 so gave the car a clean to test it out



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A few weeks ago we went for a B road blast, came into a small village where the already narrow road became alot narrower. I moved over to pass some cars and ended up hitting a hidden curb, not with one wheel....but both :(


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Immediately took it to a local Wheel Refurb company to get a quote. They've done a tester and although they can do a shadow chrome finish, the front face will be darker than the factory finish. I've decided i'll get all 4 re-done so they all match. Not what I needed, but hey ho thats life


I've been wanting to head into London to take some night photos of the car, following a few photographers on Instagram certainly boosted the idea. With the ULEZ charge paid, it was time to travel 2.5hrs south west towards the concrete jungle. With the city being so busy I knew we had to get there late to help avoid heavy traffic.We arrived in central london at 10:30pm and started the tour of locations I had saved on my phone. The mirrored Google Maps on my CD player certainly made things easier rather than being glued to my phone.


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Having never driven through London it was an all new experience but it wasn't too bad, I envy those who live or commute to the area. After a few wrong turns and driving around the block a couple of times I finally found one of the main locations I wanted to stop at.



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Seeing super and hyper cars driving around as if they were your normal run of the mill cars was certainly a sight worth seeing. As we pulled over behind Harrods, a Mercedes G Wagon rolled past with the reg plate G 63, if that doesn't shout expensive I don't know what does lol The city was littered with AMGs of all varieties, lambos, ferrari's and bentleys. Not many other modified cars which was a shame.

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Sloane Street was one of the main places to see those cars, although I think its quite over hyped after being there a little while.



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The last location we wanted to stop by was The O2, this place is a common location (overused in some photographer's eyes) but I wasnt going home without stopping by. With Canary Wharf lit up behind it makes a fantastic background.



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The other half captured this photo which was pretty cool



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It was a loooong night, we didnt get home till 5:20am and I had a photoshoot booked in a few hours later, oops!



With London out of the way, it was time to search for some daily wheels. I went with some 18" 350Z Rays which really suit the car IMO. The supplied tyres were at the end of their life, a friend hooked me up with some Avon ZZ5s on the cheap



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That concludes what's been happening as of late. Show season is round the corner so I'm looking forward to getting out and expanding my photography portfolio

[tsingson]

Congrats on the baby! And the car looks awesome. Makes me jealous.

[hoodedreeper]

Congrats on the baby! And the car looks awesome. Makes me jealous.

Thank you :)

I do miss the Purple Monster, my Facebook memories doesnt help every day *cries*

[Martin]

Yes, congrats on the baby! :)

[MaRcOp01o]

Congrats on the Baby Chris!

Side note I saw your car in a Cars and Coffee video sounds great!

[hoodedreeper]

Congrats on the Baby Chris!

Side note I saw your car in a Cars and Coffee video sounds great!

Did you? Any chance you could find the link?

[MaRcOp01o]

Did you? Any chance you could find the link?

I am having a hard time finding it, I will keep looking but from the videos that are similar to it it looks to be at a meet at Silverstone Circuit.

[MaRcOp01o]

I found it!! Your car is at 11:16 and it’s the last car of the video.

https://youtu.be/P_v8r0fGa_M

[Agent☣Orange]

Sounded good too!

[hoodedreeper]

As if lol I believe that was either Japfest or Trax Show at Silverstone Circuit last year :)

[hoodedreeper]

A friend of mine has started a youtube channel and hes hoping to feature mine, will be a good chance to get some flyby videos :)

[hoodedreeper]

Awhile back when the bumper got repaired due to a paint defect, I wanted to cut the bumper and open it up but the bodyshop wanted too much money (I thought they were painting the whole bumper under warranty, but they werent) So i decided to go ahead with it now. The bottom piece isn't completely flat, to do that it'd need spraying so it'll do for now. While the bumper was off it was a good opportunity to get the bumper to fit better, luckily the piece I cut out was what was causing the issue.



Purchased an intercooler stencil from eBay, looks pretty good IMO



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We sell bumper mesh/grille at work, although its slightly smaller than the OEM mesh, its not far off



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I also ordered a smaller number plate which looks sooo much better :)



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I've been eyeing up the Nismo B pillar garnish for awhile, but couldn't bring myself to spending £150+ on some stick on carbon. It wouldnt be too bad if it was a whole replacement piece, its worth the money then. Again, my work came in handy as we sell 3D carbon wrap so gave vinyl wrapping a go. A friend cut the logos for me, fake it till you make it lol



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I've also seen some GTTs with a spoiler garnish, it can be seen in the Nismo parts catalog too. I've only seen 1 set of brand new ones on Yahoo Auctions and they sold for £450 + shipping + import duty (thats approx $525) which is ALOT for some gel covers.



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So the carbon vinyl wrap came out again and I made a template of the spoiler ends and transfered that to the vinyl. Its not perfect but can always be re-done at a later date



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I ordered some Nismo clear indicators from RHDJapan, first time using them and it certainly wont be the last. They were dispatched from Osaka on the Friday and delivered to me on the Monday!



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There's been some minor difficulties with shifting 2nd > 3rd and sometimes into 5th. The clutch doesn't slip but after a search on the forums people point to the shifter being at fault (mainly the Bush)

Alot of people have recommended an Australian company called Cube Speed (https://cubespeed.com.au/). Coincidently Speedhunters recently had their contributor Ron post up with the same issue, and fitted the same kit.



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I went with their Premium kit to allow adjustment on the return spring. Fitting was relatively straight forward with everything access able from the top. To fit the return springs you need the car in the air as they're a bastard to get to.


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The feel of it now is incredible, it's transformed the drive of the car completely. It's alot more mechanical, albeit a slight notchy feel but that's probably down to the Shortened throw now. 2nd > 3rd is now effortless.



I've made a very basic video on my phone and uploaded it to YouTube



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtETQPcSTLI&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2fUDGXTik6UJarqdbTI3x8tiW-_-LocapgNIbi8Hnl-RUbymeLvc0sSJA



I have another update to post so expect that within the next week :)

[HarryB]

Great updates! RHDJapan are awesome indeed, and their prices are very reasonable.

[MaRcOp01o]

Great updates! RHDJapan are awesome indeed, and their prices are very reasonable.

I second what harry says RHDJapan has a ton of neat parts!

[hoodedreeper]

Following on with the Nismo theme



JDM Parts Rupewrecht (https://www.facebook.com/jdmpartsrupewrecht/) assisted again with bidding on an item on Yahoo Auctions, this time a set of sales brochures and part catalogs inc Nismo and Tommy Kaira



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Trying to keep things period correct as much as possible, I was on the hunt for a mid logo gear shifter to company the new Cube Speed short shifter. I managed to find one under half the price of a new one someone had offered.

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We sell a leather cleaner and restorer at work which should bring it back to life. After a scrub with hot water and washing liquid it was time to get messy with this stuff

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The photos don't show much difference, but in person its made such a difference :)


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Another Nismo part I've been wanting for a loooong time were the tail lights which got discontinued years ago, along with the Sun Line Racing equivalents. Alot of people suggested ZLED but I'm not 100% sure on the GTR Style lights, I much prefer the individual LED style.

I was browsing through Facebook and spotted a post on a Supra page by a company called Daniel Man's Custom Lights. I messaged Daniel with what I'd like and he was happy to give it a go. I sourced a spare pair of light units and got them sent straight to Daniel.

A week or so later and they arrived just before the country's lock down for the Covid-19 pandemic (please excuse the dirty car!)



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A couple of front shots while I was there



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[hoodedreeper]

With the Covid-19 lockdown,finding things to do has been quite tricky. I decided to give the engine bay a much needed tidy and spruce up. I saw some photos of a strut brace refurbished in a wrinkle type paint which got me thinking.



I thought of using truck bed liner paint and a quick google took me to a brand called Raptor made by U-Pol (my work is a U-Pol stockist, not that we'd be able to order anything at the moment). I dont have access to a spray booth or a unit so the 'proper' stuff was out of the window, but they do do an aerosol version though. I read and got told mixed reviews of the aerosol version so I looked at alternates.

I then found a stone effect paint by Rust-Oleum, but with this pandemic getting it shipped was tricky. All local stores either didnt have it in stock, or their delivery/click and collect services were unavailable. A company called Plasti-kote do a similar product in various colours so I was on the hunt for that. I managed to find the only can in the area, although it wasnt my first choice in colour, I was too eager to give it a go.

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With the pipes removed and prepped it was time to see what it was like. The paint doesnt really give a colour, its more of the coloured texture that sits on the surface. The front Intercooler pipes were originally black, so these came out slightly darker. Compared to the throttle body J pipe and turbo inlet elbow. To be honest, unless you knew you probably wouldn't notice.



Here are some before and after photos



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Accessable areas degreased and cleaned
Intercooler pipes and Turbo inlet elbow painted

Hoses replaced with red silicone inc new stainless clamps

TurboZentrum Silicone Turbo hose fitted

Turbo head shield repainted

Boost controller mounted correctly, new hoses fitted
Boost controller wiring tidied up along the bulk head
Passenger side turret wiring tidied
Amp power cable wrapped in loom tape to hide the yellow
Ground cable kit tided up and re-routed

Carbon Canister, purge valve, hardlines and pipes removed

Throttle cable adjusted (had quite alot of slack)



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Its by far the cleanest or tidiest engine bays but its a start

[tsingson]

Reminds me of my AE92. I used a stone effect on my valve covers and they looked exactly like that.

[hoodedreeper]

Its a pretty cool effect, its quite soft as while installing them where I was gripping the pipes you can see the paint has kind of 'worn' through so those areas need touching in

Found some newly built industrial units around the corner from the fiancée's work. Would have been rude not to take some photos while I was there :P

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[hoodedreeper]

I've always loved the look of the BNR34 V Spec II rear diffuser, unfortunately they're expensive second hand and even carbon fibre copies are £1k. So i decided to attempt to make my own using inspiration from it. I'm by no means a fabricator so please be easy on me lol

The first decision was material, I wanted the brackets to be strong, the main diffuser strong enough to be sturdy but doesn't weigh a tonne. I decided to use 2mm thick angle iron for the side and rear brackets and 1.5mm steel box section for the front bracket.



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Looking at mounting points and there is a part of the chassis that sits lower than the bumper, this should be ideal



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The diffuser and fins were going to be made out of 0.9mm sheet steel. I did think Aluminium as its easy to work with but its too soft IMO. I started off with a card board template, unfortunately the exhaust sits too low at an angle for the whole diffuser 'body' to be a single piece. I tried cutting a hole to try and clear it but it left minimal material at the bottom and it would eventually snap.

So i went with a 2 piece design instead



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I started off with the passenger side as it was smaller and easier to mount. A slot was cut for the exhaust hanger with enough room for any movement. The rear is braced with a piece of 2mm flat bar which uses a bolt in the wheel arch to the right side of the shock absorber.



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The box section bolts through the boot floor, this helped angle the diffuser down rather than having it flat. This was the first prototype for the box section, later on I made it longer so it covered the width.



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You may remember me making a rear tow hook awhile back. I decided to incorporate it into the design by cutting a slot, again enough roof to not catch it when fitting/removing.



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I seeked help from some friends as I don't have the skills/equipment to weld or fold sheet metal perfectly.



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With the fins folded I could mock the ends up. These would be bolted on and use the same mounting points as the diffuser itself



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The rear bracket was made and mocked up at the same time. I also marked the holes for the centre fins ready for drilling. At this point I decided to give the front of the diffuser a minor bend upwards rather than leaving it straight.



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With everything fitted for one final time,checking clearances and everything was solid and not rattling/vibrating it was time to drop it off for powder coating. Originally I thought about having it done in black, but with the lower black trim just above it, I feared it may get lost and wouldnt be seen. Only other option was silver, the powder coater only had a satin silver so I bit the bullet and went with that.

I ordered stainless nuts, bolts, washers and rivets for the final fit



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I've made flat under bumper splitters, canards and other little bits and pieces in the past but this was certainly my biggest challenge. I think its turned out very well :)

[MaRcOp01o]

well dam nice work! looks the part for sure.

[hoodedreeper]

On Monday 27th July we welcomed our daughter Mia Rose into the world. Mum did an absolutely amazing job and active labour was just over 3hrs long. She's yet to go out in the R34 yet as we still need to sort out the car seat (isofix in the daily Mazda 6 is a god send)



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After damaging the Work Emotions back in February, they were refurbished during the Covid-19 lockdown. From the factory in Japan the inside of the spokes are darker with a very bright outer face. The company were able to replicate it,but unfortunately the outer face is slightly darker. I had all 4 wheels done so they all match and they look just as good as before!



The car is filthy and is in a need of a deep clean but couldnt resist getting some photos



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[Greasemonkey2000]

Congrats to you both, Chris!:drinkto:

[Martin]

Congrats on the beautiful little girl :)

[HarryB]

Congratulations!!

[hoodedreeper]

Thank you very much :)

[hoodedreeper]

I can't believe the last update was in July!

In September I was lucky enough to attend the 2nd show of the year dodging the national lock downs, this was Modified Live Snetterton. Would have been rude not to as the circuit is only a 20min drive away.

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On the drive home the car threw up the TCS,SLIP and EML lights on with no change in the drive of the car. I took it to work the following week and I experienced a very bad misfire on the way in.

Not having access to Nissan Consult I did the paperclip trick and code 21 appeared, which points at the coil packs.

I removed the coil packs to check the resistance to find 4 out of 6 had no resistance. I'm guessing they're fine on initial start up but break down when they get hot (driving for 10mins after start up the misfire reappears)

I also noticed 3 out of 6 cylinders had oil down the spark plug chambers and on top where the coil pack sits. So I started to strip it down while I wait for a replacement gasket and half moons to arrive from Conceptua Tuning.

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This was the first time working on the engine especially an RB, and wow what a ball ache this was haha

With the gaskets and spark plugs changed it was a waiting game for the OEM coil packs to arrive from Auto Extreme

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Refitting is very straight forward so it didn't take too long to put everything back together

With the car reassembled it was time for a test drive. What better way than a 100 mile trip around the Norfolk coast. The car didnt play up at all and ran like a dream. An added bonus Mia had slept for the whole time, winner!

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I'm looking forward to the salt free roads so I can enjoy this again

[hoodedreeper]

I've been wanting to try a new photo look/technique for awhile but hadn't had the spare time.

The car had been neglected since the end of summer last year and I can't remember the last time it was washed. Unfortunately with winter and moving house it wasn't at the top of my priority list (plus living in a flat didn't help)

With the car washed, now was the time to go out and take photos. I'll let them do the talking

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A big thank you to David Cox aka Shooting Dave (https://www.youtube.com/user/DavidianCox) for videos, it certainly helped. Just need more practice now

[hoodedreeper]

Sadly no updates with the car

Took the car to a couple of local meets

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[hoodedreeper]

Its been a year since I last posted anything constructive (new coilpacks, rocker cover gasket etc)

The R34 had taken abit of a back burner due to the Micra K11 and Colt CZT but it's time to give it some well deserved attention

Back in 2020 when the UK went into its Covid lockdown, I repainted the intercooler pipes in a stone effect paint. While re-assembling I noticed the paint had started to come off, thinking it'd be fine. Fast forward a year or so and the paint didn't last as long as I had hoped.

With the car currently off the road for the winter, it was a good opportunity to sort this.

I went with a VHT wrinkle black paint, something subtle but not plain and boring. The wrinkle texture wasn't as pronounced as I remembered but its a big improvement from before

Heres a before photo

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(Apologies for the phone photos)

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Sorry its nothing exciting. Next up is a service and a good clean ready for spring to arrive.


The turrets are now showing signs of corrosion so I need to start saving for the work to be done. I knew it was coming and we all know its nevitable. I'll probably buy the replacement panels from SR Autobodies and save for the labour costs

[hoodedreeper]

Apologies for the thread bump, another year has passed since the last post, hopefully 2023 will have more updates.

As always, the daily driver gets more attention and the R34 gets neglected. The Colt CZT was sold last August and I purchased an MX5 NC1 Sport. From October 2021 > October 2022 I had only driven the Skyline 1000 miles :(

I'm due to get married in April and have been holding out spending any money on mods for the MX5 till after the big day. Rather than doing that I promised myself I'd drive the Skyline more and sort out a couple of minor things on it.

I usually wait until March/April to put it back on the road, but the UK weather had been dry and the roads reasonably salt free. So with that, I decided to tax the car, give it a clean and blow off the cob webs (litually).

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I remember driving the car last year and hearing a whistle/whine on acceleration aswell as a struggle to build boost. I did a smoke test and there were no leaks. I also did a vacuum pressure test on the actuator and it held pressure no problems.

I removed the intake hose to check the play to find it does have about 1mm in-out play, the same amount the last time I checked (April 2020) Not ideal!

With the car back together I took it for a test drive and it all seemed fine. The Greddy Profec OLED boost controller was set to my low boost setting (7-8psi) and it built up boost with no issues. The whistle/whine noise had disappeared too, strange. I also blanked the blow off valve to see if that eliminated any issues, but it drove the same.

I made a video for my Youtube which goes into more detail of getting to the turbo etc including some in-car footage of me driving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JQzwBkaaBk

I purchased a used turbo with the intention to send it away to be rebuilt, easier said than done. I contacted the first 1.5 pages of a Google search and not a single company can do a standard rebuild on this turbo, only a Hybrid rebuild.

Not wanting to constantly buy used turbos to get by, I started to crunch the numbers on what was required to go the hybrid route. The kick in the teeth was having everything previously purchased but it all got sold to pay off debt :(

The cambelt is due this summer as it'll be 5 years since it was last done. The clutch will also need replacing because I don't have any history or evidence of what it currently has. I don't want to go through all of this effort and it slips on the dyno.

I've spoke to a local tuner (J's Garage, whos very very familiar with RBs) and he's advised on what needs doing.

Hybrid Turbo rated to 450hp (AutoExtreme)
Fitting Kit braided lines, genuine gasket set (AutoExtreme)
Xtreme Heavy Duty Clutch & Lightened Flywheel
GTR Injectors

Link G4X
IAT sensor
J's Garage Trigger Kit
Boost solenoid
Injector flow test & fitting
Fitting and Mapping

Tie rods/track rod ends/wheel alightment needed too

With a geniune cambelt kit/waterpump the total for the whole lot comes to around £6800 GBP / $8k USD / $12k AUD

Which means the MX5 will be up for sale in the coming months to help pay for it.

[hoodedreeper]

** edit double post **

[hoodedreeper]

One thing that kept sticking out like a sore thumb were the chipped intercooler pipes visible through the grille.

"Taking the bumper off and painting the pipes won't take me long"...a phrase I said to myself numerous times, how wrong was I.

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The rubber couplers put up a fight but they pipes were finally removed. Unfortunately I forgot to take some photos along the way, but it's all shown in the Youtube video at the bottom of the post.

The pipes were badly chipped/corroded so I took them right back to bare alloy with a wire wheel brush ready for painting.

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The bumper brackets underneath the headlights had corroded badly and were in desperate need of a repaint too. A minor set back but a job I thought wouldn't take too long.

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There were stripped back to bare metal too, followed by Hammerite Kurust and then Hammerite Smooth Black

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Thats when I noticed the holes in the engine bay had chipped and corroded. I couldn't leave it like it so I got stuck in sanding that down ready for rust treatment

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The opposite side was quite bad too so I did that at the same time

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The area was keyed,cleaned and masked up ready for primer and paint

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I wish I had known about this sooner, I would have taken it to have the paint scanned for a colour match aerosol. Unfortunately all I had was gloss white, so the shade is waaaay off, but at least its treated and sorted.

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The turrets will need sorting at some point so I'll get the engine bay re-painted at the same time.

The side areas underneath the headlights also had light corrosion so they received the same treatment

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I ran out of daylight, impatience got the better of me and rather than waiting a week for my next day off I carried on into the night under an LED work light.

There's something about freshly painted parts and new hardware that gives you a great feeling of achievement no matter how big or small the job is/was.

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I wish I had taken the front reinforcement bar off to treat and paint but I wanted it back together so I could drive it. When the bumper is next off I'll do it then :)

Here's the Youtube video with more details

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJKvthyFoNI

[Phatmiata]

Man you know this was the best investment ever, I remember when you sold your NA for this I thought it was crazy but these cars are going for insane money on the auctions ever since c0\/1d hit.

[hoodedreeper]

I miss the Purple Monster....like...alot. But I know this was the right decision.

The 1998 models become legal in the US very very soon, pretty sure it's only a couple of months away. Prices shot up but have levelled out now, but like anything desirable people will pay.

I certainly got mine at the right time. If I was in the market now, I doubt I'd be able to afford one

[hoodedreeper]

You may remember me making my own rear diffuser back in June 2020.

The company who powder coated it, didn't do a great job and it was flaking after a year. It's been one of those jobs I've been meaning to do and I finally had a chance to sort it.

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It was most noticable along the edges and around the bolts/rivets

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I found someone new to sand blast, he had them for a couple of weeks before they were ready (he does it in his spare time). I didn't take any photos during this next process, but I did film it for the Youtube video which will be at the end of this post.

I started by cleaning up the parts with a wire brush, wiping them down with white spirit before I started the painting stage. I gave the parts a coat of Kurust to help with any corrosion followed by Zinc Primer, black stone chip and then Hammerite Smooth Silver.

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There was an issue with the main body of the diffuser, the powder coat just wouldn't come off. The guy who blasted it said he tried various ways including increasing the pressure but didn't want to go any higher because he didn't want to distort the panel. He tried a carpet pad with 40 or 60 grit paper and it still wouldn't shift.

I thought about getting it acid dipped but it'd already took more time than I had hoped to get to this stage. In the end I purchased another sheet of mild steel and re-made it.

It didn't take long to get it cut out and drilled

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It then had a coat of stone chip and 3 coats of Smooth Silver

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To help prevent it going rusty and prolong its life I decided to add a bead of clear silicone around the edge of the fins and over the top of the rivets. I know its not a very neat thing to do, but I don't think many will be on their hands and knees to check the condition.

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While the diffuser was off I checked the condition of the boot floor and found alot of surface corrosion. I did my best to get the majority of it down to bare metal and treated with Kurust.

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I found my first hole :( With the wedding just weeks away I'll have to get this sorted at a later date

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I then did the same with the diffuser and gave it a coat of zinc primer followed by underseal. (I didn't have any stone chip at this stage)

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The exhaust heat shield got painted in VHT Black and refitted with stainless hardware. Sadly no photos of that.

The hicas wiring wasn't secured very well, I honestly can't remember how it was prior to removing the diffuser.

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I found the grommet inside the boot and pulled the wiring through

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It always seem to rain on my days off so refitting was no different haha But I'm glad its all back together now, it looks complete now

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I'm very happy with the result, it'll be much easier to touch in any stone chips or sort any corrosion/damage in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52d79-maH_Y

[Phatmiata]

every time i see this car I regret not buying one when they were affordable.... ugh

[HarryB]

Have the same regrets for FD RX7s and E46 M3s...

Car looks stunning Chris!

[hoodedreeper]

No updates on the car I'm afraid except it's been getting plenty of use.

I got married a couple of weeks ago and of course we had to get some photos with the car

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[MaRcOp01o]

A proper wedding carriage! Congrats!!

[hoodedreeper]

Back in 2020 I applied for a show called Players Classic held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. I got accepted but my wife was heavily pregnant with our first child. The Covid pandemic started and all tickets were transfered to the following year.

In 2021 car shows started to happen with restrictions, but we were expecting our second child so I had to get a refund.

Fast forward to this year and I applied again on a whim knowing I probably wouldn't get chosen. To my surprise the R34 got accepted into the show's 'Parc Du Concours' area.

I don't think the Work Emotions have had a good clean in a long time. So I took this opportunity to remove them from the car and clean the inner barrels thoroughly.

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The calipers hadn't been cleaned since I painted them

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Thats much better!

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Another little job I've been meaning to do was to repaint the wiper arms

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Next was to give the interior and exterior a good clean

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With the kids dropped off at the grandparents and the car loaded up it was time for the 4.5hr journy south west to Goodwood.

We arrived at the show in good time and were parked up about half way amongst the other cars

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Having only been to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed a few years ago, it was a great experience visiting the Motor Circuit for the first time. I've read and seen some very good things about this show so expectations were high, and it didn't disappoint!

Yes there were alot of stance builds but we all know its one of the biggest followings/trends, but there was also a great mix of other types including track ready, resto mod,drift and just clean and simple. (I would say the R34 falls into the last category)

Many many photos and hours walking around it was time to head off to the hotel. Sat Nav took us through a twisty mountain road which felt like a budget touge. Was certainly looking forward to driving it the following morning!

Sunday morning was here and we ventured off to the show. This time a silver Evo 8 followed us through the english touge (haha) which put a smile on our faces. The symphony of a screaming turbocharged 4 banger and an RB25DET was certainly enough to fuel you for a day full of awesomeness. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos or videos.

The Sunday part of the show allows all of the cars parked in the Parc Du Concours area, to move across and park on the circuit. This did make for some nice photos

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Unfortunately we left at mid day, purley because my feet couldn't take any more walking and I knew the drive home wasn't going to be much fun with the M25.

Another show I applied for and surprisingly got accepted for was the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary. This is on Saturday 12th August at Bicester Heritage

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Very nervous about this one! Being apart of a show and shine area parked amongst hundreds of other cars is one thing, but being a part of a limited number display for the Readers Rides display is a whole new level.

[Phatmiata]

Lovin all the personal touches and attention to detail on the car. Congratulations on the wedding and kids. Life happens so fast man. Enjoy every moment

[hoodedreeper]

Not much had happened since the last update, only a couple of Cars & Coffee meetings along with helping a couple of friends out with Prom runs.

That time had soon passed and the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary was upon us.

Our initial plan was to drop the kids off at the inlaws,travel down on the Friday and we'd only be a short (17 mile) drive to Bicester Heritage the following morning.

That's until I mentioned Caffeine & Machine was 'kinda' close by... by that I mean an additonal 48 miles futher north. Mrs Reeper was happy enough to head there as we both enjoyed our first visit (which happened to be August last year in the recently purchased MX5 NC1)

Upon arrival we were asked if we would like to park on the grass bank or to the left on the gravel amongst the trees, which is where I went (knowing it'd make some good photos as the sun set)

As always the atmosphere is fantastic, very chilled with great food and a good variation of cars to look at.

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Sorry for the photo spam, this has been a venue I've wanted to take the car for awhile and couldnt resist taking loads of photos

We arrived at Bicester just after 7am and were guided into position inside the hanger where the Reader's Ride display was.

Visiting Bicester was another venue ticked off the list after seeing photos of a Sunday Scramble that Speedhunters had covered.

The show was divided into areas with selected cars that the Pistonheads staff had to choose. During the awards it was mentioned that they had 1400 applicants and 200 were chosen.

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I never thought I would have gotten chosen,given the calibre of cars in the Readers Ride section. I did feel abit out of place and I wish I spent more time at the car incase anyone wanted to have a chat.

A thank you to Rob aka RSD 25 for these photos

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One thing I had recently noticed with the car was the paint on the roof. I spotted a slightly duller patch above the driver side window. Looking at it closer you can see fine sanding marks as if there isn't enough paint applied.

The car was resprayed by the previous owner in 2017. The car is currently stored outside in direct sun, so I'm gonna take a guess and say that has accelerated this.

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While cleaning the car at home in preperation for the show I noticed more of the roof had gone dull towards the centre. The lighting inside the hanger made it more obvious.

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While cleaning the bonnet at the show I noticed that had started to go too, great!

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It wouldn't bother me as much if this was the original paint, but it's not :(

With the already expensive list of jobs waiting, this doesn't help. Having to constantly repair the daily Accord also isn't helping with my bank balance. But I guess the saying is 'Rome wasn't built in a day'

Well thats true, but my money can only stretch so far which means it's going to take a considerable amount of time to sort.

Anyone got the winning lottery numbers? please?

[Agent☣Orange]

Not photo spam at all. I love looking at scenes from around the world!

[hoodedreeper]

I've been getting a sqeel from a drive belt now and again, but from what I could see they looked ok. I had some free time after a Cars & Coffee event last weekend (Bank Holiday) and made a start.


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Removing them was quite straight forward, I cover the steps required in a Youtube video (link at the end)

Gates were the brand of choice. Been using them for years and very rarely have any issues.

4PK868 - Power Steering
4PK913 - Air Con
4PK890 - Alternator


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I know the tops of the belts don't make any contact with any other pulleys/tensioners but they still look as new


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There's no cracks or any signs of wear amongst the belt ribs either. Perhaps they just needed re-tensioning....who knows lol


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New belts now on and tensioned


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The only part I struggled with was the PAS tensioner bolt. For some reason Nissan made it waay too long and a normal length spanner is too big. Find yourself an old spanner and cut it in half to do this job, it'll save you alot of time faffing around trying to access the locking nut.

While undoing it, it got about half way and it became even more of a struggle. I knew the thread was covered in dirt which didn't help, turns out the thread was damaged too


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I gave it a going over with a wire brush and ran an M8 die down it to clean the thread as much as possible. There's still evidence of some minor damage, but the nut goes through it no issues. I replaced the locking nut with a stainless one which changed the spanner size from 12mm to 13mm


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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=838zBLX2m50

[hoodedreeper]

My driver side window has been operating slow for a little while, it was make this weird squeely noise too. It then stopped working all together which became a huge inconvenience.

I was lucky enough to win a replacement regulator and motor on eBay but life got in the way and I could never find the time to do the swap (aswell as a day dry enough)

With the window stuck fully up, this restricted access to see most of it. I was preparing to remove the glass and strip most of the door panel to change it (hence the dry day). But after seeing the replacment on the floor infront of me, it was only 6 nuts/bolts

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With the door panel off (I cover this in the Youtube video) it's time to tackle the regulator

Unplug the large grey connector

Starting off with the 2x 10mm nuts either end of the regulator that holds the glass

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Next was a bar/bracket which looks to be the adjustment, going by the lines either side of the 10mm nuts

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The last step is to remove the 4x 10mm nuts holding the motor to the door panel

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Luckily the glass stayed up and the unit could be pulled through the bottom hole in the door panel.

Fitting is the reversal. Make sure you start with the motor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuP6Z-rgrRQ

[hoodedreeper]

I've been having starting issues for quite some time. I put it down to the limited use the car receives, sometimes it could be used once a week sometimes it could be once in two weeks.

I would charge the battery and it would start fine. At one point I exchanged the battery under warranty and that was fine for awhile, until recently.

On the way home from the Pistonheads show at Bicester I stopped for fuel. Upon returning to the car it wouldn't start. I checked the battery terminals and they were tight on the battery posts but I noticed the cables going into both terminals weren't as tight as I'd like. After a little wiggle the car started, so that must be the issue?!

Once home I removed the cabling and cleaned up the copper core and refitted. It started fine so I left it. Fast forward a couple of days later when I wanted to use the car and it wouldn't start. I charged the battery up and it started, could it be a dodgy battery?!

Then next time it wouldn't start, this was becoming more and more of an nuisance. I disconnected the subwoofer positive and it started?! Hooray! But my luck came to an end rather quickly.

The battery terminals rely on a screw at the top of the terminal to hold the cables in place.

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I wanted a more secure solution so I sourced some terminals with an 8mm post. The new crimp on ring terminals were quite beefy and my crimping tool would'nt be good enough to do the job. So I called upon a couple of friends who would have the equipment to help.

So I begun with disconnecting the battery, but when I moved the positive terminal to one side it moved more than it normally does.

Next thing I know, I'm holding the positive cable but it's not attached to the car.

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Turns out its been joined in the past, but what wire is it?

The alternator got disconnected and we checked continuity to the broken cable, nothing. The concerning thing was the broken cable was the same as the battery earth which is black with a yellow trace. But this was 100% connected to the battery positive.

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You can see the broken cable where the yellow heat shrink is on the end (this was capped at the end of the night)

The broken cable goes into a loom covered in conduit which splits into a Y. One side goes to the Alternator and the other side goes towards the back of the car, where the Starter Motor is.

The insulation on the alternator live was peeled back to reveal a white cable, this was traced back to the fuse box.

So the broken cable must be the starter motor then. We had some spare red cable long enough to run a fresh live from the starter motor to the battery, bypassing the original loom for testing purposes. The car started first time with no hesitation.

The new live cable was cable tied out of the way to get me home.

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Fast forward a week to my next day off and I decided to tackle the original wiring conduit to make things tidier.

I began by removing the OEM conduit and insulation tape.

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The old starter motor live was then accessable and could be removed. Most would have left this in place mainly for ease, but lets not do things by halves.

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Over time insulation tape seems to get stickier. I removed the old tape and gave the conduit a wipe over with some brake cleaner

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I also removed the aftermarket earth kit and cleaned up the contact points with a wire brush drill attachment

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I used some insulation tape to keep the loom together, refitted the conduit and the wrapped it all in tesa tape. Once the battery was reconnected I then cable tied the loom to keep it nice and tidy

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I even covered the new Starter Motor cable in tesa tape so it wouldn't stand out too much

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A couple of hours well spent and my starting issue resolved :)

Although google searching for an answer could have been quicker, there's some fun fault finding yourself and you learn along the way

[hoodedreeper]

For the past couple of years the car has had inner tie rod(s)/track rod end(s) advised on the MOT. With the limited annual miles the car does, I've been putting it off :(

With the recent motivation for sorting out the odd jobs, this was on the list too. I ordered replacement parts from Conceptua Tuning, very fast delivery as always! The weather hasn't been great the past week or so, finding a break in the rain was difficult to judge but it finally happened. My friend Danny came over to help and brought along a tool to help with the job.

It looks like they haven't been touched in a long time

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With the lock nut cracked off and wound down the inner tie rod next was the top nut on the track rod end. My impact gun made easy work and with a swift swing of a lump hammer, it released from the hub. I made sure to count the number of turns the track rod end had to help with re-aligning.

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The steering rack boot had a small pinch clip on the outer end and a wire type clip on the inner. With those removed and the boot slid off, it was time to remove the inner tie rod.

This is where Danny's tool came in to help. On the end it has 3 round teeth on what looked like a bearing.This part goes over the knuckle and the tie rod shaft goes inside (giggidy!). As you turn the shaft the teeth grip onto the knuckle. I've probably explained this terribly sorry!

Anyway, it worked really well and they were off in seconds

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I forgot to take a photo here. I ended up re-using the original locking washer, I just didn't like the look of the new ones. With the new inner tie rod knuckle screwed into the steering rack it's just a reversal of what was done before.

The larger metal clip for the steering rack boot snapped on removal so we had to resort to cable (zip) ties. Not ideal, but the shaft size on the new inner tie rods are smaller so the outer clip wouldnt work anyway.

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The wheels looked straight so it was good enough for a short journey in the morning to have a proper wheel alignment.

I was lucky enough to get the car booked in with one of the STS Tyre Pros branches in Norwich at short notice. I used to take my supercharged MX5 here for any alignment, they always do a great job :)

I didn't realise how much rear camber it had, I'd prefer less camber but I'd need some camber arms to do so. Something to consider later on

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[hoodedreeper]

One of the bigger jobs on the list was to underseal. I recently reached out on social media regarding brands and like most things, you ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers/recommendations.

My friend John who runs JD Motorsport Engineering responded and invited me over to put the car on the ramp so we can have a good look. I travelled over this morning after the wheel alignment to have a chat.

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When I purchased the car in June 2018, the car went to H&S Performance for a large amount of work including undersealing. I understand garages can't spend hours upon hours prepping and treating so that they'll clean the surface and go over it with a Schutz gun.

But looking at the underneath, I can't see any evidence of any underbody seal with the exception of the wheel arches. I did ask them to underseal those areas before fitting the Meister R coilovers, whether they mis-understood what I asked or just didn't do the underneath who knows. I've been using them for 15 years and I'm not start slagging them off. I was just shocked to see the current 'protection' so thin, you can litually pick it and it'll flake straight off.

Anyway, onto the current state of the underneath....

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You can see the area we started to pick at, it really is that thin :(

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John picked, tapped and scraped the areas that had surface corrosion. He said although there IS alot of surface rust, its a very solid and clean car (considering). Obviously until it's took back to bare metal I won't know if there's any potential repairs.

The plan was to hire a ramp and do this myself, but John has offered to help but it'd be a full strip down of all the componants (except engine/front subframe). The price will depend how far I want to go with it, but if everything is being removed, it may aswell be refreshed at the same time.

So that'll include:

subframe, suspension arms and hubs powder coated
polybushes
anti roll bar & bushes
camber arms
SR Autosource zinc subframe hardware kit

I can skip the subframe refresh and do that at a later date if I don't have the money in time.

John also looked at the front struts. From a visual perspective they're good but we all know what lies underneath.

He's suggested to tackle the underneath first before that gets too bad and then do the strut tops and front subframe refresh at the same time.

So another expensive bill, but I guess thats part of owning cars like these. We have to do such jobs to keep them in tip top condition and road worthy.

When it happens there will be plenty of photos :)

[hoodedreeper]

It was that time of year where the car goes in for its MOT (annual inspection for those overseas). I did a mere 715 miles between Oct 2021-Oct 2022, this year I had covered 1736 miles. Certainly not the most exciting or interesting but it's great to be able to enjoy the car more.

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I made sure I stopped on the way to capture this odometer milestone. I installed a new Nismo cluster in December 2018 which starts the odometer from zero, hence the low miles.

I even treated it to a full tank of fuel ready for the next couple of weekends of driving before it gets taken off the road for winter.

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The tyres were advised again for another year. I'll get those changed next year as they'll now be approaching 5 years and are now showing early signs of cracking inbetween the treads. Its a minefield when it comes to tyre recommendations.

The only other thing that was picked up was a front tension rod. The bush on the passenger side is now cracking but not enough to cause any concern (yet)

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Looking at replacements, my options are Driftworks, Japspeed, Hardrace and Nismo. I would LOVE a full set of Nismo arms but looking at the price for a pair of these, I can only imagine a full set would be eye watering.

Driftworks Front Tension Rods (https://www.driftworks.com/driftworks-front-tension-rods-with-rod-ends-for-nissan-skyline-r34-98-02.html)

Japspeed Front Tension Rods (https://www.driftworks.com/japspeed-nissan-s14-s15-r33-r34-front-tension-rods.html)

Hardrace Tension Rods (https://srautosource.co.uk/shop/model/r34gtt/r34gttbushes/hardrace-uprated-tension-rods-skyline-r32-33-gtr-r32-33-34-gtst-gtt/)

Nismo Front Tension Rods (https://justjap.com/products/nismo-front-tension-rod-set-nissan-r32-r33-gts4-gtr-r34-gt4-c34-stagea-4wd?currency=GBP)

I'll probably go with the Driftworks ones, they also offer the other suspension arms too which will get replaced at some point.

A couple of random photos

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