American R32 Project

[Curt2000]

Beautiful 32! Any pictures of the interior?

I'll post some up after I get her back from the shop!

[Curt2000]

Update:

The car is officially registered! Not without some consternation though! Even-though I had the CBP, EPA, NTSB, and MCO which are all the documents required by NV law to title a grey market vehicle, the supervisor at my local DMV shop decided to be a grade-A 'C-U-Next-Tuesday' and told me that she would need to see the entire ownership history of the vehicle in notarized bills of sale in order to allow the vehicle to be registered. Asinine, I know, luckily after countless hours on the phone with the state registration legislators I was able to have them call the branch manager at another DMV and talk them into signing the title paperwork. So long story short, even if you have all the legal documentation, you are still at the mercy of willfully ignorant government employees who will work harder to get out of doing work than putting in the lesser effort to be helpful and reasonable.

Regardless, I have my plates and temp title now, meaning this car will be infinitely easier to sell/register in the future.

I took her into a local drift/JDM shop and had all the work listed in the previous posts performed. Come to find out the car is in near perfect shape and the shop informed me that I did indeed have a HKS GT-SS turbo kit with heat wrapped downpipes. Great little bonus!

I drove her home in the 105 degree Las Vegas heat and to my surprise the A/C was able to keep the interior icy cold (which is much more than I can say about my old 2005 Audi A4). On top of that the coolant and oil temps never seemed to climb above normal operating ranges which surprised the hell out of me. The engineering and quality of design in this car is unprecedented considering its age.

Finally getting to open her up and hear those turbos sing was a blissful experience as well. The partial throttle release compressor surge sounds like that of a big single 2JZ and the low RPM hissing gives way to a turbo whistle that seems unachievable with small twins only pushing 1 bar. Granted it has been a few years since I've driven a turbo car so I'm probably overly giddy.

Here are some shots of the interior and the plates that I worked so hard to get!

:dblthumb:

[SiR_RB]

Looks like a very clean example congratulations

[swift_drift87]

Even-though I had the CBP, EPA, NTSB, and MCO which are all the documents required by NV law to title a grey market vehicle, the supervisor at my local DMV shop decided to be a grade-A 'C-U-Next-Tuesday' and told me that she would need to see the entire ownership history of the vehicle in notarized bills of sale in order to allow the vehicle to be registered. Asinine, I know, luckily after countless hours on the phone with the state registration legislators I was able to have them call the branch manager at another DMV and talk them into signing the title paperwork. So long story short, even if you have all the legal documentation, you are still at the mercy of willfully ignorant government employees who will work harder to get out of doing work than putting in the lesser effort to be helpful and reasonable.

That's pretty much on par with what we have to go through here with 'Vic-Roads'!

Awesome pick up on the GT-R! How does it compare with your E92?

[Curt2000]

Looks like a very clean example congratulations

Thanks!

That's pretty much on par with what we have to go through here with 'Vic-Roads'!

Awesome pick up on the GT-R! How does it compare with your E92?

DMVs, the international standard for frustration.

It's hard to have a fair comparison between a 25 y/o GTR and a modern benchmark. Having been accustomed to instant throttle response with lots of top end power in the M3, the GTR feels sluggish around town, the torque and mid-range power when the turbos spool up is always exciting though and if I had to choose between the two experiences, I'll take the turbo car any day.

Even with the aftermarket suspension the GTR feels a little high and boat-like in the corners, hard to beat a M3 with clubsports...that car felt like it was on rails and the steering feedback and stability of the car is definitely superior.

The GTR's interior is actually pretty adequate now that I've installed a bluetooth headunit which streams my music and provides hands free calling. I ordered the M3 without navigation so the interior features are almost identical besides safety aspects which is astounding if you think about the age difference.

We'll see if I can get the GTR to the same erection inspiring form from an exterior standpoint...still have a lot to do!

Over-all M3 wins, as it should, but The GTR nips at the heels much closer than it should considering a quarter century worth of development disadvantage.

Edited June 14, 2015 by Curt2000