Goombeh

Yeah this thread's gone to Poo..... Only a few people actually recognised my opening post as a 'tongue in cheek' statement of observed improved behaviours on our roads and a prompt for some discussion on what we think are some of the major factors in this new trend of motor enthusiast mentality. This was not meant to be a discussion about 'kills' or 'owns', it was indeed to initiate some discussion on what has caused a shift in attitude on our roads with people seemingly becoming a lot more sensible. The Skyline reference was to lighten the tone a touch. For those of you who hadn't quite caught it, I don't condone street racing, or intentional public displays of reckless and life endangering hoonism. I'm a mild mannered early to middle aged man (that's by my own assessment) who has loved GTRs since I set eyes on them back in '89. Mine is as perfect as I want it and it is used 80% on the track, with the occasional zip out on the road if it's gone too long between track outings. I'm sure however that somewhere on this esteemed forum there is a thread about who was raced and who was made 'your mumma' on the street. This was not supposed to be one of those threads. Apologies if my unique (some say completely weird) method of starting a light hearted discussion was ambiguous and misleading.

heh heh.

Now this would be something. http://www.global-auto.ne.jp/stock/public_stock_detail.php?entry=0117.dat&model=BCNR33

Indeed, in fact I would go further to say that, although I don't completely agree with the steps taken to enforce 'hoon laws', more specifically the threat of confiscation, destruction etc. that these possible outcomes are possibly touching the correct nerve with the demographic at which they are targeting. I'd like to think that generally, enthusiasts purchase these cars. Of course they're enthusiasts, they buy them, they love them, they tune and spend copious amounts of time and money on them. Would a non-enthusiast buy a GTR of any era? It would be rare if they were not, could the same be said for buyers of other high performance vehicles? Maybe not to the same degree, but to a point I think so. Having to pay a fine, or even losing a license for a period is bearable to a car enthusiast. Losing the car they look at every night for no other reason than to look at it, the car they obtain constant pleasure from each time they change its sound or remove an interior rattle, or make the most minute aesthetic alteration, this would be punishment. So along with undoubtedly many other things, this may be a considerable contributing factor to the seemingly reduced propensity for people to 'take you on'.

You sir are quite the insightful genius, I'm hopelessly transparent sometimes. I clearly did come on to a public forum to complain about the fact that no one wants to "recklessly street race" with me on our public roads. That is, after all, the only reason I bought I Skyline. What other reason could there be to make such an irrational purchase. I also bought some expensive polarised sunglasses once just to look more like U2's lead singer. It didn't really work, no one was fooled in the three weeks I wore them religiously, so I gave them to my pet hamster. You'd think I'd learnt something by now. Thanks for waking me up.

Hahahah..... "Is there anyone from Bankstown in the audience?" This way please....

Just noticing some strange things whilst recently spending a little more time driving around in the GTR. Remember way back when you'd be hard pressed to get a couple of days when there wasn't a story about street racers, hoons, speeders etc. I recall personally the number of people who used to want to line me up at a set of lights for a bit of a go.. I even had someone in a WRX want to race me when on my GSXR some years ago... But I've been driving my mildly worked GTR around for a couple of years now, albeit not daily, but have really felt the difference and general increase in driving maturity on the roads lately. Result of increased Police presence possibly. So is it a sign of the times or are people just choosing their races heh heh.. Do you get people wanting to race you when in your Skyline on the street often or at all ??

Lip Sold......

Gents, Have a Genuine Plastic R33 GTR Front splitter here for sale. It's pretty rough so I was going to have it refurbished with a plastic repairer however I stumbled across one already done and bought that instead. It came on the car (genuine series 3) when I bought it and I've only just started to feel I'd like to revive it. Have been offered $300 from Qld, but don't really want to send it as couriers will probably destroy it, so will see if anyone in Vic wants it first, otherwise I'll bag it up. So if any of you Vic boys are interested, I'd sell with pick up Eastern burbs for just $250.00 as it won't win any "best on day" trophies the way it is. Mind you these are $1300 new or something insane. Tried to take as many pics so you can assess below.

Great little review, and one which mimics my sentiments accurately when I was looking at the WRX. Following on with your comments on the E92/E90 M3, the prices have come down considerably, and with the announcement of the new Turbo M3 which is on its way, these will move even more I'd expect. So if this was a thought, it may still be a possibility. Having said that however, I again was in a similar state of mind as you, and as much as the M3 was what I thought I wanted, and as wonderful as that V8 sounds, and as much as I'd just about convinced myself that that was what I'd buy, when it came to driving it, I never quite felt its bite matched its bark. I drove one on three different occasions and was left feeling the same way. Wonderful car, but there were other areas also which let it down, like the strangely notchy 6 speed and apparent lack of torque for such a motor. Needless to say I couldn't settle on the M3, so I bought something else, but I've still kept the GTR, and if I'm honest, the new car is the closest thing I've driven which gives me a similar sensation to the raw, angry delivery of a GTR, and I think they're both wonderful. But I think an M3 is worth a drive if you're ever passing by a BMW dealer, because they are sublime in many other ways.

Since getting myself back into a GTR, there was always something which left me feeling just a little unhappy with how it operated. When I bought her, she had an Xtreme single plate clutch which was incredibly heavy and engaged so high up in the pedal that I thought it was coming to end of life. So since I was doing more and more track days, I thought I'd plop a Nismo Copper Twin in and be done with it. But to my surprise, although the weight was considerably less, and the bite was nice and hard, it still engaged very high up in the travel. I did some research only to find that most people found this to be the case. Now as this is not my daily, I found it quite an effort trying to get accustomed to the high take up point every time I got into it after some time. So I had to do something as there seemed to be no way to adjust it to reduce the point of takeup. You can go the other way by adjusting the rod at the master and the point of coupling to the pedal (ie. if the pedal engages early), but short of cutting the slave rod, I was a little stuck getting the engagement lower. And I didn't want to mess up the operation with the booster. Had an idea. If I could simply shorten the throw and take away the dead pedal just off the floor, I could dial in a nice travel with a take up mid way up the pedal. So I popped to Bunnings and picked up an 8 x 50mm bolt with nuts and a rubber end cap with a 6mm internal diameter. (After fitting, I could have got away with an 8 x 25mm but the extra doesn't get in the way of anything) Here are the steps. 1. There's a little rubber stop mounted in the clutch pedal nearer the hinge to the firewall which can be removed. This stops the travel as it hits the pedal box. 2. Removing this leaves a 9mm hole in the clutch pedal where the stop was, use this to mount your new adjustable stop. 3. Mount it through the pedal first as this will allow you to use the two screws (one either side of the pedal arm) to adjust the length of the new stop. 4. fit the rubber cap to the end of the mounted screw and adjust a little beyond stock. 5. I garage tested first to see where the engagement point was, then once I liked it, I test drove to ensure engagement was clean and smooth so that I was certain the clutch was disengaging completely. And the result. I've reduced the pedal travel by about 25mm at the foot which I feel has simply taken up the dead travel in the clutch. Now the clutch takes up about mid way through pedal travel and I can just get in and drive it normally without thinking or trying to adjust. It's so much easier to take off as the clutch friction point is now just where it should be, and because I'm not going through the whole travel, my clutch action is much quicker and my shifts are much smoother and faster as well as being very natural and fluid. Love it.. it has made the car feel incredible to drive and very natural to use. Have to say it has transformed the drive as previously, the high take up was quite annoying. So for those who've had this issue, it may be worth giving it a go, just make sure you test it well to ensure you are disengaging the clutch completely. Jump in and feel how much better it is to drive. You'll love it.! And it cost me all of 6 bucks or so.... Sensational. Now just want to drive the thing everywhere.

Fatz, put me down for one. Cheers mate.

Mate, I'll be in for one of these if we can be sure of the quality. I had a replica which came on my car and just finished a day at the island, and at 200 clicks, the thing folded under the downforce and acted like a sail once up to those speeds. So I want to make sure this one is strong....

I have a second set for the track also with 265/35/18s and they're not stretched at all, the tread width of Semis seems to be wider than road tyres for some reason. They fit beautifully. The street spec Toyo T1Rs do look a tad stretched though, but not enough to bother me. Gorgeous wheel if I do say so myself, that's why I bought two sets.

Quite right Hadou, thought he was referring to a 33.

Note that the standard wheels are 17 x 9 +30. It depends on the profile of the spokes but I would think it would be ok, I'm sure there was one floating around with this size. I'll see if I can find it.

Here yar mate. Mine are 18 x 10.5 +15

Thanks buddy, great to know. Don't drive it on the road much but this was giong to make me drive it even less. Now I'll have to drive it around to settle it in before next track outing. Cheers for the feedback.

Yeah Nismo supplied flywheel must be used. Strange how they all seem to be different, mine makes no noise whatsoever but it judders like a bastard on a light first gear take off. I'll get some kays on her and hopefully she settles down, won't be an issue at the track though. Incredibly light clutch though, and as many searches have confirmed, the bite point seems normally quite high in the pedal which is consistent with mine, so all good.

So I've recently had my Nismo Coppermix Twin plate installed in the GTR and I'd read so much about them being very drivable and stock like. Now I've only driven maybe 50kms so may be too early and may need bedding in, but immediate impressions are that it is very... very light. Doesn't feel like it will hold power, almost feel like I need to take the booster off to get more feel. But it's very quiet and seems very strong. It's very quiet in neutral or with clutch dissengaged. Now my question is for those who run one, is it normal for it to cause some driveline judder on gradual take up? My searches are suggesting no, however I have read that this is commonplace on twins. I can drive around it of course by taking it up with more revs, but wondering if I should be looking into replacing gearbox or engine mounts or if this may be considered normal. My old Clutch had a very slight judder only when cold. What do you think?.

I've had my second GTR for about 4 years now, and it's old. But I recently bought a daily in the form of a 2012 BMW, and not a garden variety model, but a rip snorting drivers car. So when I was out with wifey a little while back on the backroads around Toolangi having a bit of a giggle in the new car, she says to me out of the Blue, " I know why you like this car so much, it's because it feels like your GTR!" At that moment I thought how silly she is, this is brand new, current tech, completely different, but I thought about it a little, and she was right, it really does feel like my GTR. So my 2012 cutting edge driver's thingy feels like my old 1997 Nissan with 165K on the clock that surely has been thrashed regularly, I didn't know whether to cry or rejoice. Then I though, gee that old GTR is very good. Not only for it's age, but for just what it does and how it does it even by today's standards. So recently I mentioned that I'm thinking of selling the new car, as much as I love it, for something more practical, just can't seem to fit much in it but me, or even a large eski. Wife said " why don't you keep that and sell the GTR" my response was "you've clearly gone insane, I'm never getting rid of this Skyline!!!" So there you go, two signs that now I know I truly love this Skyline.

Yeah, I should have clarified, I see numerous R32s, R33s and R34s with the front bars and rear wings changed to make them look nicer if not also to make them look like GTRs, when I see a 32 with the slatted grill,GTR bar and the GTR rear wing, I have to take a longer look, maybe I'm just not familiar enough with them, same with the 34 GTRs. Front bar, skirts and Wing, and I'm looking closely to work it out. When I see a 33, even with a fresh face and GTR tail, they are very clearly (to me at least) not GTRs unless they go for the complete panel replacements and bulging rear fenders. I think the flared fenders are just more noticable. But you're right, left stock, all look quite different. Although in saying that, I think the 33 still differentiates the GTR the best from the other models. I'll have to study them a little more.

To the OP. I was in this same situation some time ago and chose the R33 for a few reasons. And this was the complete basis of the decision. In the areas where I get pleasure in an automobile, does the R34 add much if anything to that pleasure over the R33. 1 - The drive, not for me, I drove many and actually liked the feeling of the R33 better. Now I didn't get to test them on a track true, but as a mountain road blaster, they felt very much the same to me. 2 - The sound, I love a great sounding machine, and they both sound exactly the same to me from the fuel pump priming on start up, to the wonderful howl they make as the climb the tach. 3 - The appearance, mine is not a daily, it's a track and weekend car, and 80% of the time it's sitting in the garage. So I have to love looking at it, and as much as I've stared long and hard at the 34GTRs, I can't see the beauty in the R34's square proportions. Just a taste thing. Three years on and I still just stand there in the garage admiring the bulging arches and the tapered rear of the R33. That never fades. 4 - And this last one may be overly petty and self indulgent, but I don't much like the non GTR Skylines, and I like my GTR to be very clearly a GTR, for me, when I see 32's and 34's, I need to get close to the detail sometimes to define them as GTRs over non, however when see a 33, to me anyway, it is very clearly a GTR. Maybe because I own one, but they just look very different (read Wide and Fat) to their little brothers. So in the end, I get in the car, and love everything about it, and when I see other GTRs on the road, I don't desire to have or own them. So I know I've bought the right one for me. Ask yourself some similar questions. And I'm a little dissapointed with some of the responses on here to an OP simply seeking some advice from supposed car enthusiasts who, if they were, would be happy to discuss cars on any level, and above that, want to help out a fellow enthusiast. Anyway, I guess it's easier for some on this particular forum to type an unuseful response rather than not type a response at all. Not sure how or what, but there must be something it adds to their day. But if that's what you need, go crazy. Good luck with the decision OP.

Here are some interesting opinions on the R33 for your information. http://www.r33gt-r.c...and-r34-gt.html and http://www.r33gt-r.com/2012/04/r33-vs-r34-gt-rs-continued-objective.html The article by the respected Chris Harris is as above, but nonetheless, some good reader feedback.

I'd undoubtedly keep the daily and pick up a tidy R33 GTR. Not sure if you'd get a nice one for $20K though. But I used to have one as a daily and 7 years later, did what Terry suggested and waited for a super clean series 3 for the weekends and track only. And it works much better this way. And just for the record, you'll love it.