Hella_GTR

Hi Tsuo-san, I was not able to find a tuner so I followed what Nissan Prince Tokyo guys recommend and went with the Minex VX ROM. Honestly it runs amazing so I can't complain. I think eventually I'll need to run a Haltech or Nistune when I move overseas though. If you find a good tuner in Kanto area, please let me know. Take care.

Hi guys, thank you for the confirmation on my suspicions. I am glad I didn't pull the trigger. Honestly since the time I wrote the original post to now, the original wheel has grown on me. Most guys I know here in Japan just pull it off and put on a non-airbag wheel. I also won't need an airbag in the US (odd since I'd have to do California compliance). I actually like the safety of it but opt for a non airbag wheel if I begin to track the car. I wish I had a dual airbag s1 but mine only has the drivers side. I will say the old original wheel has a unique 90's car feel to it. Thanks for the link as well. Original wheel FTW. Thanks again guys, I get a lot of help from this site. I can't find an online resource like this that the locals use. Blogs seem to be the thing.

Hate to bring this back alive but another really clean momo wheel popped up on yahoo auctions. If anyone knows if the momo optional wheel works on the Series 1, please let me know 👍 thank you

You're right on about not wanting to go in the back seat everytime. Wish they had like an umbrella type one you can just open up from the drivers seat. I think I'm gonna have to wait till I get the car out of Japan to find a place to tint the windows. I've asked around here and most people stick to factory tint or say don't touch the car. I'll keep digging though. Thank you for the info sir! That's actually a solid idea and cheaper than the nismo shield. Thanks for the tip!

This is definitely the cheapest option and would protect the rear speaker panel and top of seats at least. That Nismo rear window cover would probably protect more but I can also see it being a pain to install compared to tossing a blanket over. I just need to find a badass blanket. Thanks for always sharing your knowledge with me. I've been trying to take advantage of being here while I can but even here prices are getting insane. I went with the nismo chassis refresh and R1 turbo kit recently as prices are going up and Nismo says won't be available in the future. Sad but true. The Nismo guys here tell me everyone in the US is swooping up all the parts. There's even a one-year wait to get an engine refresh here. I'm interested to see how your process is going there in CA as I seem to be learning more and more to not returning to California because of the compliance process, cost, and time. I also would like to keep the r1 turbos on without having to go back to stock. If you get through it with your turbos I'd feel better about it all. As you said, there's little to no covered parking in Tokyo. You're also right on with what the Nismo guys said about removing tint destroying the defroster which is exactly why they don't recommend it considering the lack of parts available and cost. If one of those old school OEM optional sun screens show up without a rear window wiper option, I may try one of those out. Hope my exterior rubber holds up. If you find a good tuner over there too, let me know. Minex VX rom is the thing to do here. Gotta get mined returned one day there for 91 octane (they got 100 RON here). Stay safe (and your car).

Hi folks, I unfortunate don't have covered parking where I live nor at work and am looking to protect my car's rear interior in the most efficient way. The sun beats down pretty hard on the rear without a sun shade. I know covering the car is best but my car gets dusty here after one drive to work so putting the cover on a dirty car isn't optimal and honestly it just takes too much time to put on and off the cover for me. I saw Nismo makes a front and rear window sunshade now. Has anyone tried these? I'm curious how the rear one stays in place without sun visors holding it. I also toyed around on Yahoo auctions and found they used to make an optional rear sun shade which looks interesting. I know there's always tint/window film but the shop I get most my work done at, Nismo performance center tokyo, strongly recommends not doing that as it doesn't age well and new glass will be harder and harder to find in the future so they recommend leaving the glass alone. My windows are original and crystal clear. Opening it up for some discussion. Thanks!

Oh man yeah I don't know how it works when the cars are in storage, in terms of how long they let it run before shutting it down. This reminds me how lucky I am work out these issues in person before sending it to CA. Once you get it all worked out, I hope the process goes smoothly. I will be following your footsteps. I don't know of any other BCNR33 going through this process in CA. Glad to hear your car made it to the US safely.

Welp, I went ahead and ordered N1 turbos from Nismo Performance Center Tokyo. They said production of them will end soon so do it sooner or later. @joshuaho96 How is the restoration work going or are you making progress through California compliance with your HKS turbos? I hope all is going well!

Honestly crossed my mind many times. I love the GTR support here too. Getting a chassis refresh done at the legendary Nissan Prince next. I also won't get car jacked here lol. Legally drinking (when not driving) in public is a nice perk too. Would need to find a new job though cause the one I have won't let me stay. The good news is my year bcnr33 is the only doable in California since it's pre-obd2 required so I do have some options, mind you $10k ones. UK and Australia sound good too...

Got it. I recommend Kanazawa Body Repair for restoration work and it's not too far from Tokyo! Good luck man and hope all goes well. I'll follow your lead.

Man this all sounds depressing lol. 6 months... And I assume your car is still here because it must have first been registered in late 1995. It takes a good couple months I think to get from Japan to the US (at least for military). I went to Nissan prince over the weekend and they recommended the Mines VX-ROM but they are all about OEM stuff. I was thinking to just get a plug and play Mines ecu and keep my original one then swap in the original one for CA stuff along with swapping back my original bolt-ons. But I really gotta think about this. Maybe we can lobby our state senators enough to make 25+ year old cars exempt from California ARB... Thanks for the info man and I'll keep watching your progress!

My bad dude I was talking about how they like to use reprogrammed ecu's here in Japan for tuning purposes rather than a standalone, not for CA compliance work. I would only run an OEM ecu for that. If you don't mind me asking how long is the compliance work taking in CA? If it's gonna take 6+ months and $10k just for compliance I need to think about this... Thanks man!

Hi folks, I feel bad asking but I couldn't find anything solid in the search or on Google. I just picked up a set of OEM rear r33 rear pods/spats (whatever you want to call them. They're called rear undergaurds here in Japan). When I went to install them, the screw in the rear is a bit funky as shown. Do I need to drill a hole in my rear bumper to make this work or am I just totally being a fool and not able to figure it out. My original bumper did not have pods/spats, it just had splash guards. Photos include the hardware, original bumper and original bumper with pod/spat in place but not fitted. Any guidance is appreciated! Thanks as always.

Wait so you're going through CA emissions with your haltech? I was just thinking for the compliance process we gotta use the OEM ecu and then if you were worried about controlling boost, hide a boost controller somewhere. I obviously have no idea the extent the BAR goes through the car though. After California compliance work for sure I want an ecu with boost control capability. I like an all inclusive system like OEM as well. There's some places here like Midori, JUN, Mines, Tomei, and Garage Saurus that reprogram the OEM ecu. I was thinking of that but don't like having to go back to them for adjustments and it's like $2,500 for the service with tune and ecu. Definitely good luck man and hope it goes well. Stay safe from the fires too. Crazy.

Nice man, agree with everything you said. I'm after the same thing you are, mid-range and quick spool. I didn't consider the boost issue you brought up...hmmm do let me know how that goes. Can you hide a profec-b in there to control boost or would that be a red flag? If I swap the turbos on my car I plan do put it all back to stock as well, minus the turbos. Man so crazy what we have to do... Haltech would be sick too and that's the way i'd like to go. Keep me posted on your progress! You're leading the way! Thanks for the information sharing!

Appreciate both of what you said. I know people on here say why get the HKS when you can get the -7s or -9's but I'm also living here in Japan and there's some sentimental value to it for me, e.g. going to HKS and getting the car worked on by some of the legendary shops here like JUN, Mines, and Midori. Definitely not the most cost effective, I know. But I also have always like HKS and like how they further engineered the turbos specifically for the car versus off the shelf turbos. I'm sure that's subjective and i'm not mechanical engineer (I'm a civil lol). Knowing that you're going through it with the GT3-SS's is givng me hope! I was debating SS or RS, but I don't want crazy power so am leaning towards the SS and also feel they'd be best to get through CA compliance. What did you do about your ecu, running the OEM one for compliance with the GT3-SS's? I give you mad props. You must be one of the first to go through this with a BCNR33. I appreciate your wisdom and what you share. Thanks!

Hi all, I live in Japan for now and plan to return to California in the next couple years. While I'm here, I thought i'd enjoy my series 1 bcnr33 and the tuners here. I got my car full normal so I have all the original parts, and as you know, once you want to increase the power of our cars, needing new turbos is recommended. Do you California guys think I can pass CA compliance with a set of HKS GT3-RS (or SS...not sure yet) on the car? I would swap back in all the original fuel and ecu equipment before going through the lab work. If anyone knows for sure, don't touch the turbos or fuel equipment, I may stay away or just swap it all back before moving back to California. I just think it'd be awesome to get my car tuned and worked on by some of the legendary shops here while I had the opportunity. Thank you

The premium is still less expensive than the nismo 25% reduction. Very tempting. I wish I can try both first! Although being in Japan it would be convenient to get the nismo. Thanks everyone!

Don't mean to bring this thread back from the dead but I have also been thinking of a new shorter throw shifter for the GTR. I know there's pros and cons I've read on here about this, but seems like the Nismo 25% one is good and about $300 (USD) here in Japan but the Cube speed ones look nice too and are less expensive. People really prefer OEM over one of these models? Example of the Nismo 25% reduced shifter: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g424885412

Totally understand man. Restoration, especially body work, is hella expensive. I'm trying to get all the goodies and that stuff done here as I imagine parts there are even more. The ways these cars appreciated in value did kinda take the fun out of it. I like the idea of a GPS tracker and immobilizer. Maybe when you're all done you can share your California r33 wisdom with me. Thanks again man and stay safe.

Thanks so much for the input! Gosh $10k is a chunk of money but I bet the value of the car will go up that much or more. I just hope it's not going to be super hard to protect the car from theft, or worse, getting car jacked. Probably not going to be many R33's in California. I appreciate your first hand experience and wish you the best of luck with your journey through compliance. Also, I appreciate the clarification on the loop hole being closed. I think I'll go ahead and install the parts and just watch the boost gauge. Last thing I want to do is mess up the engine which is in stellar shape and runs like a champ. Or I may just buy a Power FC for cheap and run that for safety. Thanks again!!

This makes me super depressed to go back to California. I hear it also costs about $10k (USD) for the compliance work and takes up to 6 months since there's only like one lab that can do the work (my information is a bit old though). Reading all this though, I would rather just stick the OEM ECU back in and put the car back to stock for the compliance work. Great information here and you should open up your own import business and compete with Top Rank who seem to dominate importing to California. My understanding is that the 1995 GTR, or any car really, will be able to go into California unless they came with OBD2 (1996+). I have heard there's a loop whole where if you register the car in a different state for 1-year then you can bring it into California without having to do the compliance work (this may be a myth though). Going back to parts though, is it safe for me to install the RSR equal length front pipe and HKS Cat back on OEM ECU with my already installed HKS Hi-power? sorry for going back to this but I want to hear the car sing through the mountains to Hakone and Fuji Speedway track days before going back to the US. Thank you all again for the constructive discussion on this complicated topic of regulatory compliance.

As long as the ECU looks completely stock and runs the car completely stock, then that would be great. My thinking was to just swap back in the OEM ECU for the California Compliance, which is why a stand-alone was what I was thinking. I do think Nistune is a good value though. I'd just need to find a tuner here who knows how to use it. I've found a couple Haltech ones but most common is HKS F-con or Apexi PFC from my initial research. Thank you

Wow you guys are awesome and great info here. Josh, if I recall right, you went through or will be going through the California compliance work. I got my car completely full normal so I have all the original parts and my intent was to have some fun with it while here in Japan for another 2 years or so and then swap it all back to OEM before shipping it back. It's depressing to hear how they hack away at the front pipe like that...knowing that I may want to pick up an extra OEM front pipe and exhaust. Or i just say screw it and move to Oregon or Washington (I would love to go to Australia as well but would need a visa lol). The good news is I can register my car where my parents live in California which is still currently a no-smog County so I would not need the 2-year SMOG check after I get it through the initial Bureau of Automotive Repair. So crazy what we have to deal with in California. Regarding the parts, it's still not crystal clear to me but it looks like I can at least install the RSR isometric front pipe and high flow cat with my HKS Hi-Power exhaust and be ok. I'll skip the pods and if anything just get a filter element. I may go for dumps but hear that's a bit of labor so may save that for the future turbo swap in California (Josh, do you know if switching to n1 turbos or switching turbos in general would make it through CA compliance?). Hmmm seeing that the Power FC is pretty cheap here, like $500 or less used on Yahoo auctions, I will still consider that. I don't plan to increase boost and have not touched the restrictor olive. I just don't want to have the boost increase on me and run lean by adding anything that would trigger that without a tune. Again I appreciate the guidance as it's hard to find clear information living here due to my language barrier (which is my fault). My car is a one-owner car before me and in great shape and I want to keep it that way and healthy which is why I'm asking for some guidance. Happy Friday!

Hi Guys, Been doing a lot of research on here and can't find a clear threshold in mod's when a programmable fuel management system will be necessary for my bcnr33. I just picked up a RSR Equal Length Front Pipe and HKS high-flow cat and haven't installed them yet as I don't want to install them then get boost creep or anything risky. I'm also wanting to install a suction kit and possibly turbo outlets. The car only has an HKS Hi-Power exhaust on it. Thought'd I'd ask the question...Do I need a fuel management system for: 1) Front pipe, high-flow cat, exhaust - Yes/No? 2) Suction kit, Front pipe, high-flow cat, exhaust - Yes/No? 3) Turbo outlets, Suction kit, Front pipe, high-flow cat, exhaust - Yes/No? Car BCNR33 with 87k kms on it with HKS Hi-Power cat-back. Everything else is stock. Trying to feel-out where the safe line is not to cross before needing a tunable ecu. Also debating about the turbo outlets as I've read mixed reviews weather they're worth it or not. Probably best time would be when upgrading the turbos. I don't plan to go beyond the above as I need to put the car back to stock for future California compliance. Just want to know if spending $2,000 (USD) on a PFM system like Haltech or Link G4 is worth it with such limited mods. Apexi Power FC is cheap here in Japan but I know they're quite outdated. Perhaps just a boost controller would keep things in check and safe rather than a PFM system. Thank you all for the guidance.