R33Keaton's Series 2 Build

[R33Keaton]

I guess this story starts where the last one ended. 3 days before my 20th birthday, on the 4th of January 2012, i was in the unfortunate situation which left my pride and joy in the above state. It was at around 10:30 at night when my girlfriend as passenger and i were passing through a 4 way intersections' just turned amber light, when another driver on the other side of the road pulled out in front of me (thinking it was safe to turn - not seeing me) which resulted in a 70km/h collision (i barely had time to break). It was quite a surreal experience, not the worst crash in history but definately not something that could "buff out". It was a shock to the system, abnormal, and the feeling that youre about to crash into someone is one i hope i never feel again, it was a hopeless feeling. You definately dont go out for an icecream and a drive thinking that something like this could ever happen. And i would say im quite the cautious driver too! After we hit the other car, the airbags had packed a punch, my rear view mirror flung off and hit me in the head, icecream and milkshakes been painted everywhere. It was dark, i was concerned about my girlfriend more than anything and thats who i checked out first after the dust settled and i could see. She was screaming, but thats what girls always seem to do, so i thought it was normal haha (kidding). The whole incident left me shattered, as anyone else whose been in the same situation. You start to think about the what ifs. You start to appreciate life a whole lot more.

An ambulance was called, and my girlfriend and i were taken to Sir Charles Gardiner hospital, to be released with minor injuries, cuts/bruises etc. Luckily no one was hurt including the other driver. But the whole ordeal didnt seem to have a bright side. Being a student, my car's third party insurance had just ran out, my car was wrecked, we were both hurting for weeks after. It didnt exactly put me in the best mood BUT i was glad no one was hurt, and wasnt really focusing on the car just yet.

Not only was this enough to take in, i started getting letters from the others insurance, trying to make ME pay for his car as well as my own.

I called them up.. Sent them letters, threatened them legally.. Basically i found out insurance companies will try to screw you over quick and make you pay, even before a police investigation, ESPECIALLY if you're uninsured.

I received a positive call a few months later, it was the police telling me that the other driver was at fault, and i was very happy. My girlfriend and i were feeling a bit better physically and mentally too as this made some 'closure' to our worries. Soon after that a few weeks later, a man came from the other drivers insurance to value my car. He said it had $15 000 worth of damage, which was obviously a write-off.

I was glad to see a cheque in the mail a few weeks after that which covered the car, but i was smart in buying back the wreck and keeping it for only $1200 hehe.

Busy with study and work, i saved up to buy an old R31 for $800, which might i add was an awesome car. I drove that for 5 or 6 months whilst wrecking the 33 in my spare time. By this time i had sold the engine, gearbox, and surprisingly a hell of a lot of parts. I had made over $3000 and counting, which reinforced my good decision to keep the wreck and not let insurance take it.

Heres a few photos from when i first started to strip the car.

Heres a photo of my R31 at the time.

I knew that later on i'd want another R31 for a daily/track car from that point, but it got to a stage where i had made enough money from work/wrecking the R33 + insurance money to sell the R31 (making a profit ) and buy a new R33, which i first laid eyes on at a dealership and saw its potential. It had just come in, and hadnt even been complied or registered yet, so i got it at a good price because it was a quick sale, not bad for a car with only 73 000 genuine kms. And you could tell, it was immaculate.

From then on, i started replacing the parts that i had kept from stripping my old car such as the rims, gtr wing, exhaust, and the dash. These little things made my new car look and feel like the old one, which i had tastefully modded to my liking. The one thing that i liked about my new 33 was that it ran like a dream. Compared to the other one, there was not the slightest dent or speck of rust. It was in an exceptional state. It took about a year to sell the parts that i had stripped and get the wreck out of my garage, as it couldnt be rolled out. I had big plans for my old car but at this point i was over it, and wasnt really sad to see it go. I projected my new plans on my "fresh" R33, and by this stage had bought a new FMIC and installed it myself, with a little help from my dad, cleaned up the car in general, done a little painting in the engine bay, changed the stock suspension, sold the stock side skirts and rear pods off it, and started fixing my 400R skirts (damaged from the crash) by doing a bit of fibreglassing and also my GTR rear pods. As a mechanical engineering student, most of my time has been put to study so it is hard to balance car stuff and uni. Thats why this build has had a bit of a slow start. I just thought it would be nice to finally be able to have a write up on here which speaks of my experiences throughout this process. It hasnt all been bad, i ended up with a better car, and through a lot of time and hard work, have started to get back what i once lost. Stripping the wreck was a good learning experience and i did find ways to make it fun with friends and family helping. Its good to be able to see the inside and out of a car which you know youre going to be taking apart later down the track anyway when it starts being modified.

Hope this has been an interesting read for some, and maybe enlightened people about my experience. Moral of the story is that the road is a dangerous place, regardless if youre driving safe or not, all it takes is a split second to change your life. So its best to always be cautious and safe, and do what you can to minimise the chance and risk of something bad happening, whether in a skyline or any other car. I had to start the ball rolling with this build so i thought this would be an interesting way, but if anyone wants to comment or has any questions i'd be glad to hear from you. I dont expect any sympathy because im well and truly over this whole scenario, i'm more excited and concentrating more on building up my car from 'new'. Any support would be much appreciated though

Will keep updating this thread with my current goals/plans, and photos which are relevant to what im doing next to my beast. I have many photos on my phone to upload which are relevant, and i look forward to updating this, once my exams are over in a few weeks and i get some time to tackle a few projects ive got in mind.

Stay tuned.

Keaton

[r33canada]

Glad to see your alright and have had a possible outcome on it. Out here they try to screw you left right and center about jdm and RHD cars and the value of them here is only about half what you got back.

happy to see insurance couldnt screw another person and that you 2 werent permanently injured.

[Jaknife]

Glad your both alright,

I've been in a couple of crashes so i know how it feels

My first build is finally underway after having the car for a few months.

I look forward to reading more about your new build, sounds like big plans man.

[R33Keaton]

Cheers for that guys, good to see some support and yes, the whole process is not a good one to go through

But oh well... lets focus on the positives.

This is how she looked when i first brought her home. Very fine specimen.

[R33Keaton]

Basically the plan was (cosmetically) to make her a white sky with as much black trim/parts as i could without it being too overpowering. I like the black and white look, and done the right way, looks very mean and suits white 33's. If you've followed the build thread "The Evolution of Night Fury" you would learn of a certain phenomenon or "taboo" known as stealth. My good pal Jeremy (JezNF) has mastered the art and takes it to a WHOLE new level. If you havent seen his build thread i would highly encourage it. Its very informative, interesting, and has inspired me.

As for power, money seems to be the biggest issue. I want this car to be for street purposes only so im not chasing crraaazzyyy power. I'm doing all i can to her given my financial state at the moment, and its keeping me satisfied for now at least. Progress is still progress at the end of the day.

Will be updating more frequently, finding it hard to gather up all the photos off my phone because there's so many and i want this to be quite detailed so people can maybe learn something new off it. Will collect all the photos i need and put an update out soon which gets up to the present date and how the car is currently.

Patience

[R33Keaton]

Busy busy with uni starting up again.

To this date, currently I have:

Painted my gmax drift 6's satin black

Installed bilstein shocks

Installed king springs

Made a new fire extingusisher bracket and installed it

Installed stealth intercooler

Changed nismo dash cluster back to regular (as it was broken) and while I was at it I put in LED dash lights

Made a custom snorkel to fit around the intercooler piping (well, out of my old one)

Detalied the car

Cleaned the engine bay/underside of hood quite extensively

Put a meshing infront of the intercooler (for da bugs)

Painted my washer bottle and coolant bottle (idea courtesy of jez NF )

Cleaned up my exhaust with brasso

Got new black wheel/lock nuts

And a few other things..

I plan to also do the following in the near future (hopefully soon):

Get it TINTED!!! (FINALLY) with darkest legal

Paint my wheel arches black (not gloss)

Install my sub and sound system I have laying in my bedroom

Finish prepping my 400R side skirts and gtr rear pods then paint and install.

Get a front lip (will talk about this one hopefully soon)

Paint my new dash fascia satin black, but keep my cyan blue one as a spare.

[R33Keaton]

Finally found a way to upload the photos from my phone

Bit of the intercooler stuff

Painted the reo bar while i was at it. Moved the horns around a bit because they were in the way

Also put a rubber capping on the hole drilled, as well as the cut reo.

[R33Keaton]

Painted rocker covers satin black

Engine bay pic showing snorkel and painted washer and coolant bottles.

Fire extinguisher bracket

I mounted it to the rear left seat bolt that sits just under the edge of the seat.

For a snug fit, and to protect the fire extinguisher as well i cut up a used silicone joiner and it worked a treat!

Fits perfectly with no hassels and is very secure.

My rims i painted a satin black.

[jez NF]

Looking good !!

[R33Keaton]

Looking good !!

Thanks Jez

[R33Keaton]

Cleaned under the hood; used a polish which worked a treat.

Before:

After:

[R33Keaton]

Bought some Selleys industrial grade silicon 401 to coat my coikpacks as for a few months I've been getting a distinct missfire on the top end rev range. Have already replaced the plugs to try solve the problem. But I think this should do the trick

[R33Keaton]

P.S: Cheerz to my good mate JESSE (aka. SEPz) @ Bunnings Warehouse for providing excellent customer service on the purchase of the above mentioned Silicon.

Hehe

[R33Keaton]

Recent Updates:

*Wheel Arches sprayed black

*Tyres --> Rims then = Rims +Tyres on car

*New wheel nuts on

*Car tinted (Driver + Passenger door in Octane)
(Rear quarters and windscreen - 20g (darker))

[R33Keaton]

Wheel arches before

During

After with wheel on (and yes i realize the tyre pattern is the wrong way )

Ahhhh... that's better!

[Manuel Kasko]

Awesome work

I been tracking Jezs build

Keen to see how this turns out

[R33Keaton]

Managed to coat my coilpacks with the silicon 401 to fix a missfire issue ive been getting upwards of 4-5000 RPM...

It seems to have improved the problem, and is sometimes there and sometimes isnt.. (intermittent).

Will try and reset the ECU tomorrow and see if it has fixed the problem for good. Otherwise a set of Splitfires will be on the next shopping list.

If anyone has any other solutions in mind, feel free to PM me

[R33Keaton]

I have been trying to solve this ongoing problem but nothing seems to be working. Will be buying Splitfires as i think my current coilpacks have had it.

[RBrennan25]

Really enjoying this build up, it looks similar to how I'm doing mine except mine is an R34. That R33 looks really tidy though what a good find.

Glad to see the crash hasn't put you off cars or driving or anything like that. Hope you don't miss your old car too much, I know if I crashed mine I'd be gutted, I've put so many hours into working on it getting it exactly the way I want a replacement won't do it justice