Skyline Weaknesses?

[Bucky101]

I currently drive a Subaru WRX 99 Model which i love to death however I have discovered the hard and expensive way that the gearboxes are complete crap even when running a stock clutch. I replaced the gearbox the day after I bought it ($3500) and now my new gearbox has just died after letting a friend drive

Im thinking of selling up and moving over to a Skyline or something Nissan.

Can anyone tell me if Skylines have any renound weaknesses? Do they have strong manual transmissions?

Has anyone driven a Subaru and a Skyline?

[sh@un]

Oil system on highly stressed/cornered engines is the only real issue on RB25/26's- but it can be rectified or avoided

edit: plus conrods on RB25's after around 300rwkW

[LTHLRB]

r33 gtst diffs are complete rubbish..

Power steering leak

Rocker cover leak!!!

but otherwise goes hard as all hell!! no problems what so ever.. unless you let a monkey tune it

[dan_the_man]

dont ever call them "nancy" they f**king hate it

buy a gtr mate. u wont look bak

[shoebox]

IMHO, they're too heavy and unwieldy for serious drifting. The S13/S14/S15/FD3S are much better for such purposes. But other than that, Skylines are great ^_^

[R34GTTSKY]

i find the stock turbo is pretty laggy and heavy cars to drive aro und but alot of fun:)

[MYSTR33]

stock turbo cant be boosted too hard.

gear boxes are undestructable.

easy bolt on power upgrades

[chinkeboi]

lol your asking a skyline forum so bias is definitely in play.

Just do a search under "common problem" and you'll uncover other things

[predator]

r33 gtst diffs are complete rubbish..

That's not really true.. After 10+ years and countless abuse, yup, they get kinda loose or die, but they're pretty strong overall compared to most other cars and take a bit of power.

[salad]

Skylines have a pretty heavy front end... Especially GTRs, R32 gearboxes aren't the best, but depends on how you drive them. I've had no problems with mine with constant drift work (But only 185rwkw).

[AllBlanct]

I had a 2001 WRX bugeye,definite problems with clutches(I had heavy duty),for a performance car worst seats Ive ever

sat in,some people say I went backwards when I bought a R33 Series 2 auto,that was my choice and Im extremely happy,excellent ride,no turbo lag like the WRX,excellent engine to work on,plenty of room under the bonnet,and the added bonus is I havent had any unwanted attention from the boys in blue(followed home a few time by undercover cops when I had the wrx,maybe something to do with ram raids in my area ).Photo of WRX attached

[Nismo_God]

Skylines dont have weaknesses......

[Bucky101]

Thanks for that!

With my budget I think im gonna see if I can find an R33 GTR for around 25K...Is this possible?

I like the idea of a twin turbo. I hear the R33 GTR has a kick arse bottom end, how is the stock diff and bottom end, if i want to one day make 300rwkw?

I want to drive a weapon!

[R33GOD]

only thing i can fault from my experiences in a r33 gtst is that the synchros in the gearbox are pretty crap. 2nd gear mainly. oh yea...and the stock turbo is pretty rubbish on the series 2's

[salad]

Would be wary of an R33 GTR for $25k... Stock diff is very strong, bottom end is good unless you're planning on circuit racing with sticky tyres, start running into oil control problems. Have a look for Sydneykid's oil control thread for more info on that.

[pixel8r]

Just do a search under "common problem" and you'll uncover other things

I disagree with that!! In my (limited) experience with Nissan imports (n/a 2L silvia, turbo 2L silvia, turbo s2 stagea) there have been no "common problems". Almost every problem I've encountered has either been a failure that can happen to any car (and does) or a maintenance issue.

However maybe if you do a search for 'common problem' you'll find that there really aren't any.

Skylines aren't perfect, everyone knows they have some weaknesses, but at least in stock form they have proven to be generally a rock solid performance car. They also have loads of performance potential with a lot of easily available upgrade parts.

Reliability for a modified skyline has a lot to do with how realistic you are about your power goals and how much money you are willing to invest in quality parts, and supporting mods.

At the very least you'll find that Nissan gearboxes are generally quite strong.

However there will always be a few exceptions to every rule.

[scathing]

Skylines dont have weaknesses......

Chuck Norris is everyone's weakness.

[WogsRus]

well ok, i think you guys are a bit biast, so am I.

The gearbox are dam strong, but synchros suck.

Stock clutch will need an upgrade at 200 rwKw.

The S2 Turbo i find is great, it has lived at 15 psi for ages, and no issues, pulled 217 rwKw. It's all in the tunning.

THEY GUZZLE FUEL, i have been in 5 different ones, and they all eat fuel.

Unless you can do a lot of things yourself, they will be expensive for others to fix, they tend to have expensive genuine compopnents, so unless you do the leg work yourself, your up for big bucks.

EXHAUST MANIFOLD, i have not found a skyline yet, that has not had number 1 and 6 manifold snapped off.

S1 Interior scratches up SOOOOOOOOO easily.

The carpets will get holes in then in a day if cheep carpet matts are used

Other then that, these cars ar up to 13 years old, so thta means that all will have some issues. BUT buy wise and you will be ok.

[rgr34]

not really a problem but my experience is there not that good on fuel....... alot of ppl i know with manuals have bad synchros but i guess depends on how u treat it and maintanance.

[Darren83]

well ok, i think you guys are a bit biast, so am I.

The gearbox are dam strong, but synchros suck.

Stock clutch will need an upgrade at 200 rwKw.

The S2 Turbo i find is great, it has lived at 15 psi for ages, and no issues, pulled 217 rwKw. It's all in the tunning.

THEY GUZZLE FUEL, i have been in 5 different ones, and they all eat fuel.

Unless you can do a lot of things yourself, they will be expensive for others to fix, they tend to have expensive genuine compopnents, so unless you do the leg work yourself, your up for big bucks.

EXHAUST MANIFOLD, i have not found a skyline yet, that has not had number 1 and 6 manifold snapped off.

S1 Interior scratches up SOOOOOOOOO easily.

The carpets will get holes in then in a day if cheep carpet matts are used

Other then that, these cars ar up to 13 years old, so thta means that all will have some issues. BUT buy wise and you will be ok.

Agreed on the exhaust manifold its just so common. I wonder if its poor build quality. I have asked a few supra owners, and they have no idea what im on about, as they have not have such problems . Oh, and faulty gauges too sometimes.. Really makes me wonder the quality build on Nissans