Thinking Of Buying R34gt But Dodgey Gearbox? Options?

[JoshN]

Hey guys, long time lurker and first time poster here

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

[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)

Edited June 26, 2010 by R34 -_-

[JoshN]

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 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 .

[JGTC]

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.

[R34 -_-]

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

[JoshN]

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

[Spurdo]

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

[iseekool]

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...

[JoshN]

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.

[KezR33]

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.

[Charles89]

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 $$

[KezR33]

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.

[Galois]

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!!

[R34 -_-]

I wish i hadn't spent anything on my car, i could have bought a GTT by now