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Intro + R34 Vs Z33 Purchasing Decissions

RalphWiggum

By RalphWiggum,
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RalphWiggum Newbie

RalphWiggum

Posted
Posted

Hello Guys,

I am new to the forum, and I will apologise in advance if this post seems a little bloated.

I have been a long time admirer of Skylines, the family owned two R31's, and during my last years in high school (late 90's) I followed the all the news that I could find on the net from Japan regarding the R33's (and yes had a thing for R33's).

I told myself that I would one day purchase a R31 and build it up, or a R33 if the imports became cheap enough (never really got into the R32's not sure why?). Then the family brought a N15 Pulsar, which started me of the Pulsar track. I have owned three Pulsars N13, N15 & N16, each of which had been modified (I have modified every car I have ever owned I just can't help myself).

I then moved onto to my current daily which is a 2005 Honda Accord Euro (another 4 cylinder). This has been modified as well to hold the road and I am now a frequent attendee of the local car club and hill climb track. The Honda weights some 1500+kg with me in it, rated at 140kw at the fly wheel and very nose heavy, it doesn't make for very quick run times at all, but a bit of fun.

I have always wanted a rear wheel drive car that actually has some balls.... Back in 2007 I test drove an imported 1997 R33 GTS-T and would have brought it at the time except the cheapest insurance I could find for an under 25 was in excess of $3000 a year, so I had to walk away. Now I'm 30+ imports are cheap and so is the insurance, time to go shopping.

I am tossing up between a late version R34 GT-T with the RB25DET Neo or a 350Z Track edition wit the VQ35DE. Both are rear wheel drive, have enough grunt to start with and quite a few modifications / after market parts available.

I am very interested in opinions from owners and what basic modification can be done to the R34 GT-T to get a few more ponies out of it at a reasonable cost. I have heard that these engines/factory turbo are good for around 10psi in stock form, interested to know what is involved to up the boost pressure (modify the waste gate?) also can the factory ecu to tuned in these and is tuning required for a small bump in boost or will it compensate for it?

So guys, sell me on the R34 the more information you can give me the better. I have done a lot of searching and reading, not sure what to believe at this stage.

Yo-Yo Grand Master

Yo-Yo

Posted
Posted

Hi mate,

I've owned both cars & honestly you shouldn't be disappointed with either choice.

Z33 will be newer & chassis will feel a lot more sturdy due to update in chassis build & design, very capable & easy car to get around in daily too!

If you do go 350z try to find a tidy 05-06 as these had slightly more power to the previous year models & updated interior, wheel packages etc... if the budget allows and you can find a nice 2007+ model I believe these had a VQHR35 which is dual intake, updated plenum & the highest factory HP rating of all the models before the release of the 370z.

R34 has more tuning potential with the RB25DET neo (more bang for your buck performance upgrade depending on the mods you do) but don't forget all the supportive mods too, FMIC, Coilpacks & fuel pump etc.

Backseat helps as well but really only good for just in case as it's cramped back there.

I fitted a 2 stage electronic Boost controller with the high setting at 11psi on the stock turbo & internals. Tuned on a PowerFC with hand controller but there are much better ECU options available nowadays.

Had that setup for years & was still going strong up until I sold it.

The rest is just subjective as to which you like the look of more & how it handles to you.

V28VX37 Veteran

V28VX37

Posted
Posted

As per above, R34 has more tuning potential but is the older platform. Neither car is very ballsy in stock form. I don't think you can really go wrong though.

The one thing I would suggest is set a budget, keep saving a bit longer, and then buy someone else's build. You'll miss half the fun but it will also be half the cost of building it yourself.

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