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Hey everyone. Pretty new here. :) I though i'd post here about my 1989 Skyline GXE. I obtained it as a gift from a friend of my parents a little while ago and still to this day have only been driving in it once. What i'd like to do though is start doing some work on it. There is a lot of small broken things which can easily be repaired by myself or replaced. The biggest problem for me is i have only a very limited knowledge when it comes to the engines and mechanical side of things. As far as i'm aware my Skyline GXE 3.0 contains a RB30E, I've done a fair bit of reading up on this and still have yet to understand where i should start or go with it.

My intention is to make it sound nice, feel nice and ride nice. I don't want to spend thousands and thousands and thousands on the interior and exterior of the car etc because one day i plan to replace most likely the body and hopefully find someone in Darwin to help me rebuild this engine as i hear they're well worth keeping if looked after well ;)

What i do want to do is pretty much service it. It's done 225,000 km's and i think it needs a decent service. Is it worth me servicing it myself or should i pay to get it done? I've never actually done an oil change myself, ive seen them done though and i've never ever messed with tuning etc. Is it hard to learn/pick up? What would be the best place to start or things to look for to service on it to keep it in good working order?

I'd appreciate any suggestions on what anyone feels i should do with this car, i don't understand its potential or how great it is but one thing i know is i'm willing to learn and really want to get this thing running smoothly.

The other thing is, there isn't HEAPS of information about my car, if anyone knows a fair bit about the station wagon GXE could you please provide some insight? I read some 1989 skylines have HICAS, does mine? If so, does this mean i should do the diagnostic to make sure all is okay and in order?

Also if you need to know ANYTHING about the car, please just ask and if it's something that's not super obvious, tell me how i can find the information and i'll do it. :)

There are australian build and Japanese built versions

you have an australian one, which does not have HICAS

this site will tell you most of what you need to know

wealth of info in there

http://wiki.r31skylineclub.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

....

What i do want to do is pretty much service it. It's done 225,000 km's and i think it needs a decent service. Is it worth me servicing it myself or should i pay to get it done? I've never actually done an oil change myself, ive seen them done though and i've never ever messed with tuning etc. Is it hard to learn/pick up? What would be the best place to start or things to look for to service on it to keep it in good working order?

I'd appreciate any suggestions on what anyone feels i should do with this car, i don't understand its potential or how great it is but one thing i know is i'm willing to learn and really want to get this thing running smoothly.

Hi,

Basic service is easy to do. You'll need some basic tools and equipment.... Best way to learn is to have someone show you what to do. It's also very useful to have the service manual, have a look through this thread: http://www.ozdat.com...php?f=8&t=23034 (or get one off eBay).

Lots of R31 people over here: http://motamota.r31s...hp?action=forum . (Can't see many posts in the NT section though).

Good luck with the car,

JH

  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the replies. Sorry it's been a while, i've been fairly busy as of late. So my battery was dead in my car, so went off to get a new one, also got new spark plugs and a air filter as the old air filter was looking pretty ugly. Now i've put the air filter in and all that, been running the car for about 30-40 minutes now just to see how it goes. One thing that's a bit of a worry to me is when i start the car the oil pressure is quite decent, about half way now that it's been idling for a while it's very low, almost as low as it can go, is this a bad thing? Also the engine temp is in between medium and hot, could there be a problem here too?

Sounds like you could use a Good Coolant/Radiator Flush,

Altho If the car was sitting idle for 30>40 Mins Than you would expect the Poor thing to get a little hot,

Check your oil Level as a Precaution but be aware they are not the Most accurate Gauges known to man,

Good as an Indication but not much more than that,

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