Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey guys, long time lurker and first time poster here :P

Looking to buy my first skyline, unfortunantly im on my P's for the moment so i am intrested in buying a R34GT

Unfortunantly there isnt many of this model to choose from in my price range in victoria, i am looking to spend around 15k.

The car that i have been looking at is this one here

The car overall is in very good condition and looks much better in the flesh then in those photos,

I have had the car checked out by state roads, and was told the car is fine but the gearbox has been badly rebuilt and is very notchy / will need to be rebuilt or replaced.

The guy whose selling it said he was happy to get it fixed/replaced up at no cost to me, or drop the price for me to get it fixed.

Is there any concerns i should have or options i should take? or let him get it fixed and get it checked out again...

Thanks in advance :D

I'm no expert so you shouldn't pay too much attention to what I'm going to say but my opinion is that you usually f*ck the gearbox in the 1st place by (A.) Thrashing the shit out of the car by either doing skids etc or by just being a shit driver that can't change gears. (B.) The gearbox is somehow just one of those cars that got a dud from the factory. (C.) It's an old gearbox and its just f*cked from wear n tear and in that case the km's shown on the speedo may be wound back etc

Looks very nice apart from the mags and the ride height. It's only done 75k kms and comes with the rare pop up screen and has xenon lights, to me that's pretty good value for money but then I'm no expert in aussie prices either lol

Just keep in mind that:

A good alarm is about $550

Insurance can range from $1500-$3500 (depending on age and where you live)

Maintenance i.e cam belt etc $1000 (Good idea to do it soon based on Km's and age)

Edited by R34 -_-
I'm no expert so you shouldn't pay too much attention to what I'm going to say but my opinion is that you usually f*ck the gearbox in the 1st place by (A.) Thrashing the shit out of the car by either doing skids etc or by just being a shit driver that can't change gears. (B.) The gearbox is somehow just one of those cars that got a dud from the factory. (C.) It's an old gearbox and its just f*cked from wear n tear and in that case the km's shown on the speedo may be wound back etc

Looks very nice apart from the mags and the ride height. It's only done 75k kms and comes with the rare pop up screen and has xenon lights, to me that's pretty good value for money but then I'm no expert in aussie prices either lol

Just keep in mind that:

A good alarm is about $550

Insurance can range from $1500-$3500 (depending on age and where you live)

Maintenance i.e cam belt etc $1000 (Good idea to do it soon based on Km's and age)

Thanks for the reply, i tottally agree with you in saying those are the most likley causes for a broken gearbox...however the mechanic did also tell me it was quite possible that it was fine but whowever reconditioned it the first time was a bit of a butcher. Im not quite sure if it has been wound back, state roads didnt say anythign about it..and the body/intereior deffintly look in good condition.

I have thought about the costs involved with getting it on the road...Rego is going to cost me around $1200 inc stamp duty :P and i have a quote for insurance around $2k that i may just pay monthly but have to wear the cost if you want a nice car i spose haha ;).

hey man, if you're a first time buyer, and not really mechanically minded, i would suggest staying away from a car that could give you potential headaches, try finding one that's in a little better shape than that one, you'll be much happier.

When your looking around on car yards ask them if they sell warranties as well, when i got my car i decided to pay for the 3 year warranty they provided (from a third party), 2 years down the road my coils started playing up so i used the warranty and got all my coils replaced for free, and we all know factory nissan coils cost shitloads.

thats the other thing with skylines man, the coils start dying at around 100,000kms

When your looking around on car yards ask them if they sell warranties as well, when i got my car i decided to pay for the 3 year warranty they provided (from a third party), 2 years down the road my coils started playing up so i used the warranty and got all my coils replaced for free, and we all know factory nissan coils cost shitloads.

thats the other thing with skylines man, the coils start dying at around 100,000kms

I would be inclined to purchase that warranty from a dealer too. However theres only about 6 manual skylines on car sales i can choose from in my price range...i will still try to look for more at dealerships.

So assuming he repairs the transmission, do you think it is likely to break again...but i guess i will have to wait to find out the details

I would be inclined to purchase that warranty from a dealer too. However theres only about 6 manual skylines on car sales i can choose from in my price range...i will still try to look for more at dealerships.

So assuming he repairs the transmission, do you think it is likely to break again...but i guess i will have to wait to find out the details

my advice would be to go to a reputable transmission technician (most regular garages dont rebuild gearboxes i think, its quite specialised) and get a quote for a recondition on the gearbox, that means replacing all synchro's and bearings. the gears themselves shouldn't need to be replaced. take the amount your quoted off the price of the car and buy it for that. whoever rebuilds the gearbox should give you a warranty against defective parts/workmanship, so even if it does turn sour again you'll be covered. gearboxes generally last a pretty long time anyway, if its been rebuilt before then for it to start failing again this soon is beyond me given the age and mileage of the car. i rebuilt my own gearbox, it's been perfect ever since and that was my first gearbox build. so exactly how someone would have stuffed up the build on that box is beyond me. if you were familiar with gearbox internals and how they go together you would know they are a very precise piece of engineering and if something were to be assembled wrong, it would basically fail to work at all. my money would be on some idiot who couldn't drive to save themselves having owned it prior lol

I think that car is dodgy... why does it have a GTt badge.. when it is an N/A.

Maybe rear ended (therefore new bumper) or someone wanted to rice it up...

I said the same thing when I saw it, but it is just stuck on...looks like someone just wanted to rice it up!

As for the gear box he is currently replacing it at a place called jap warehouse (melb), anyone had anydealings with them?

I guess as long as the box is better then before...I can rebuild it later down the track if needed...as long as it gives me a good starting place.

Like I said Josh, call this warehouse and ask them if they supply any warranty for their work. Find out if the gearbox is being replaced or just re conditioned, if its being replaced (with a decent box) AND they provide some sort of warranty you shouldn't have too much to worry about.

In the mean time, keep an eye out for new R34 GTs. They're always popping up.

I reckon if there's a known problem with the car, then maybe just wait until another one pops up. There's heaps of em around.

I thought 15k was more than enough to buy a decent manual NA R34?

But I think if it was me (well I was you 2 years ago), I would just spend 9-10k on an NA R33, get used to the power and RWD first, trash it, have fun with it, as a first car, then upgrade later on. Whether to sell the R33 and buy a R34 GTT 1-2 years down the track lol. You don't wanna be spending all your savings on the car, then realised you can't afford insurance or alarms or potiental accidents or parts repairs.

PS. that TV/GPS that he mentioned, it doesn't work in Australia lol, and if you want to hook a DVD player to it, thats extra $$ :(

I reckon if there's a known problem with the car, then maybe just wait until another one pops up. There's heaps of em around.

I thought 15k was more than enough to buy a decent manual NA R34?

But I think if it was me (well I was you 2 years ago), I would just spend 9-10k on an NA R33, get used to the power and RWD first, trash it, have fun with it, as a first car, then upgrade later on. Whether to sell the R33 and buy a R34 GTT 1-2 years down the track lol. You don't wanna be spending all your savings on the car, then realised you can't afford insurance or alarms or potiental accidents or parts repairs.

PS. that TV/GPS that he mentioned, it doesn't work in Australia lol, and if you want to hook a DVD player to it, thats extra $$ :(

I told him the exact same thing! He was going to get a G-TT when he gets off his P's in 12 months, but needs a car ASAP as his other one died. So I said, get an R33 GTS, come to a few DECAs, enjoy it, trash it, learn it and then move on a more powerful R34.

Seriously Josh, do this. If you get a 33 you will treat it as a temp car and not spend heaps on it. If you buy the R34 you know you'll spend money on the sound system, cosmetics, etc, and lose heaps when you do upgrade to the GTT.

hey mate, yeah i have to give a +1 to the above... i paid 15.5 for my r34 gtt so it's a bit surprising that they're asking so much even considering the whole pplater market.

why is that center console so different to mine? did they release several different trims? the aircon buttons are in a similar position but unusual...

have you checked the sau for sale section? definitely look to buy from there as the prices for na gts's are really good.

the car above looks really good, but a stuffed gearbox could cost a lot, then add alarm and insurance and that's so much for an na gtt! also the engine bay is very clean, which might mean a fastidious previous owner or it might mean various leaks being covered up. don't forget that you have to assume all imports have had their clocks wound back, i read ages ago it's up to 60000km!!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • So stock ECU does not like anything above 10 psi?  That Nistune one is just for "try" if it will be any different, I know it need to be tune for that. I know but YOU may know about these problem but i/we dont. They few little Skylines here let alone people who know anything about tham so that is why iam asking here  
    • So now we have a radiator with no attachments whatsoever. It lifts up with a particularly tight spot between the drivers side air box mount and the lower radiator outlet, but if you've got this far you will sort that too. This is the lower mounts with the rad out so you can see where the rubber bushes go, it is a straight shot upwards Done! Assembly is the reverse of disassembly, with blood less likely to be shed.
    • Right, onto the second last trick. The Air Con condenser is mounted to the front of the radiator and stays in the car when the radiator is removed. There are 2x 10mm headed self tappers holding the top of the condenser to the radiator, remove those The bottom of the condenser is attached to the radiator with clips. You need to lift the condenser out of those clips and clear (up, then forward). f**ked if  could work out how to do that last bit with the front bumper on. I hope you can, and you share the trick.  Bumper removal probably deserves its own thread one day once I've recovered the will to live, but basically you need to remove the wheels, front inner guard liners (clips and 10mm headed bolts), the self tapper between the guard and the bumper at the rearmost point of the bumper (same as an R32 that bit), any remaining clips at the top/front of the grill, an absolute bastard design with a plate that holds the top of the bumper above the headlight each side (only 1 bolt which is tricky to get to, but the plate catches 2 places on the bumper and must be removed....carefully!) and push clips between the bumper and guard under the headlight. If you've done all that you will be faced with wiring for the fog lights on both sides and in ADM Q50 RS at least, 4 nasty tight plugs on the driver's side for the ADAS stuff. So, the clips at the bottom look like this on drivers side (looking from the front) And on the passenger side (also from the front), you can see this one is already out Clearance on both of these are super tight; the condenser needs to move up but the upper rad support mount prevents that, and the radiator can't move down far because it is (rubber) mounted. Once you achieve the impossible and drop the condenser off those mounts so it does not stop the rad moving, you are good to go
    • OK, next the shroud needs to come off and there are a couple of tricks. Firstly, there is a loom from near the passenger side headlight to the fans, coolant temp sensor etc and there is no plug to undo.  In my case I was OK to leave the shroud on top of the engine so I just undid the passenger side fan plug and about 10 of the clips which gave enough free wire to put it aside. The fan plugs were super tight, the trick I used was a small falt screwdriver to push down on the release tab, then a larger flat screwdriver to lever the plug out of the fan unit....be careful with how much force you apply! If you need to remove the shroud altogether for some reason you will have to deal with all the plugs (tight) and clips (brittle)....good luck. I removed all of the clips and replaced them with cable ties that I will just cut next time. Also, in the Red Sport / 400R at least, the intake heat exchanger reservoir hose is bolted to the shroud in 2 places with 10mm headed bolts; so remove them (the hose stays in the car; no need to undo it at the t fittings down at the radiator lower mount. Once you've dealt with the HX hose and the wiring loom, there are 3x 10mm headed self tappers holding the top of the shroud to the radiator; remove those.   The shroud then lifts out of the bottom mounts where it sits on the radiator, up and onto the engine out of the way. Simples
    • Ok, disregard my “rate them” comment, sorry for my unrealistic input
×
×
  • Create New...