A long time away from Skyline..

[Kiwi370GT]

Hi SAU folk!

I'm not currently a Skyline owner, but plan to be soonish... I've loved Nissans for ages, but it's been practical cars for me for a while now. Previous to this I've sampled a bit of a selection of RWD Nissan's (variety is the spice of life!). It all actually started with completely standard (but kinda weird) Cefiro, factory Turbo and 4WD, with quite a few unusual options, next was a N/A manual S14 which was kinda fun, but not the quickest. This was replaced by a manual GTS-T coup which had few mods from japan, including Greedy boost controller, HKS Super Dragger exhaust, Trust front mount intercooler, Greedy pillar mount gauges, Trust lowering springs, and a 320 km speedo (I can't remember which brand - this was like 15 years ago). This was replaced with a manual turbo Z32 300ZX, which turned out to have a bunch of issue - had been really crappily modified, crash repaired and had weird rust issues (probably due to the crappy crash repairs). So I started again with a tidy donor car (auto turbo with a dead motor), an absolutely mint, freshly imported 1993 engine (revised oil pump crank collar in that year - same issue as with the R32's) which had 45,000 km on it but 4 cambelt change stickers on the covers - this owner had obviously taken meticulous care with it. In spite of that I decided to mildly rebuild it, with forged crank bolts, metal head gaskets, big cams, ported head and exhaust manifolds, Hi-flowed factory turbos, HKS exhaust, big dump pipes, dual Z32 AFMs, big intercoller etc.run by a GTR  power FC, which I rewired the loom to accommodate. The only things I reused from the old Z was the manual gearbox and impul(?) 320 km dash I think lol. The idea was just to get a reasonable amount of road friendly torque-y horsepower, which we achieved - 320 rwkw at 12 psi boost. but it was  already about 180 rwkw by 4000 rpm, and pretty much max power by 5k, where the turbos ran out of huff lol. It was an absolute torque monseter with a very unstressed engine. There were a few handling mods too, urethane bushes, Tein super street coil overs, and 320 mm (or 350 - can't remember, a lot bigger any) slotted two piece discs in the front with factory callipers. It stopped and handled ok without going of the top with mods, and flew through certification. Anyway, it was ridiculously fun to drive, targa tops listening to Dire Straits while blasting around country roads, oh I also had blinder laser jammers set up and a Beltronics STi XR radar detector which was great! Plenty of warning of the PD, making the odd maximum-warp passing manoeuvre relatively stress free (my record was a line of 35 cars in one go!). Sadly I sold that car so I had money to buy a cheap house in Dunedin a do a BSc degree, the dude I sold it too then stacked it at the track about 3 months later doh!

So since then it's been sensible cars, but with me about to finish my masters I'm looking to reward myself by getting something fun again!  So I've been doing a bit of research,  a R34 GST-T appeals, but I'm probably getting a bit old and boring (they are crazy expensive not too for a good one). I thought about a 370z, they're rather sexy, but I find the interior kinda hideous - to my tastes at least - the 350 is even worse, but I loved the Z32 interior though. Then I had a look at what the latter model skylines were like, I was't to impressed with the V35's, but the V36 370GT coupes were another matter! They're pretty nice to look at (imo) - a bit more toned down which suits me these days, the interior is super nice (reminds me of a modern version of a Z32), and they seem to go alright - plus I think they're an absolute bargain for what you get. So I'm looking to import 370GT form Japan, manual referred, but maybe a flappy SP version. I'm also an electrical tech, and really want to convert the stereo/navi unit to English, and have been doing a bit of research into this. It seems doable if I buy the right 370GT. So just thought I'd say hi! I'll probably doing a bit of lurking while I research 370GT stuff, as I don't really have to talk about yet lol. Can't wait to get one though (however I'm going to have to lol). So sorry about the long intro post! I'm looked forward to learning from you all, and hopefully contributing in time!

[KiwiRS4T]

Gidday! 370 not as exciting as an RB but much more value for money. If you want more grunt (and fuel consumption ) the Nissan Fuga 450GT sport is a few more $$$

[Kiwi370GT]

17 minutes ago, KiwiRS4T said:

Gidday! 370 not as exciting as an RB but much more value for money. If you want more grunt (and fuel consumption ) the Nissan Fuga 450GT sport is a few more $$$

Hiya! Lol, you're not wrong there, but my priorities have changed, and 370GT will be way more exciting than anything I've been used to for ages lol. You're right, I think they are amazing value! I actually see the 370GT as more like a 21st update on the Z32 300ZX than the skylines, while the 370Z probably has more in common with R32, 33 and 34 skylines lol...done the ol' switcheroo...!

Thanks for the advice, but I think 3.7L is heaps for me lol, plus I really wan a coupe - I'm either a sporty couple or station wagon person, if you're going to go practical you might as well have some cargo space! lol.

Anyway, thanks for the friendly reply!

[PranK]

 to the site! 

I have a bit of a soft spot for the 370's, I really dig them.

 

[Steve85]

On 3/29/2019 at 5:32 PM, Kiwi370GT said:

I'm either a sporty couple or station wagon person

Ohhh, you're my kind of person then!!! Huzzah.

[niZmO_Man]

Wagon owners checking in?

[Steve85]

45 minutes ago, niZmO_Man said:

Wagon owners checking in?

Here! Bloody love wagons. ONLY have wagons and coupes in my house! Include a racing wagon!

OP have you considered a late model Stagea?

[Kiwi370GT]

On 4/2/2019 at 12:41 PM, PranK said:

 to the site! 

I have a bit of a soft spot for the 370's, I really dig them.

 

i think they're a good compromise of something a bit fun, but comfy and fairly respectable looking - I think I would get a bit hassled by friends a family if I turned up with another R32 or something. It might sound lame, but I've done the impractical road car, verging on track-car thing... I want something a little less intense, but something I could do a few minor mods maybe, like a nice japanese exhaust if the car I import doesn't already come with one. The Japanese radio/nav etc. system looks like an interesting and satisfying challenge to anglicise. In fact I was thinking it might be a fun (and probably weird) little project to fully anglicise the car, including thing like sunvisors etc. to sort of replicate some (awesome) parallel reality where the Skyline 370GT was sold new in NZ. No Infinity badge swaps all, all skyline - but in English like it was NZ New lol.

 

On 4/2/2019 at 4:36 PM, Steve85 said:

Ohhh, you're my kind of person then!!! Huzzah.

Lol, I'm glad I'm not the only one! I actually genuinely like the look of a look of a lot of wagons. My current car is a bright blue and super mint Toyota Wish aerosport, which I self imported (had to be blue!). A lot of people thing they're lame, and they are no sports car. But holy crap you can fit some stuff in it, it actually handles alright and it is ridiculously reliable and easy to service. I think it's a masterpiece of Fit-For-Purpose engineering. It also had a factory paint protective coating, so gleams like new (despite being 10 years old) in it's beautiful deep blue, even without being washed for ages -it's funny coz the neighbours bitch (not too seriously lol) to me how it always makes their cars look dirty by comparison. So it definitely been a great car for me for what it is.

On 4/3/2019 at 12:30 PM, Steve85 said:

Here! Bloody love wagons. ONLY have wagons and coupes in my house! Include a racing wagon!

OP have you considered a late model Stagea?

 

 Hmmm... I might actually look into to that... I have had a sporty wagon in the past, but very different to the stagea. It was Toyota Fielder Z, 6 speed manual with the 2ZZGE, (8600 rpm redline), the same as the lotus Elise and Exige, full of factory standard TRD bits . It didn't have much low down torque, and was quiet and civilised like just another white corolla wagon until it switched over to it's high lift cam profile at about 6000 rpm, and all of a sudden emited a F1 sounding howl (standard exhault, and went crazy.. You could see the jaws drop as you changed down from 6th to  3rd or 4th, and this white corolla passed them with a F1 high pitch howl, it was ridiculously fun! Super maximum, highly recommended if you have the chance!! lol.

On 4/3/2019 at 11:44 AM, niZmO_Man said:

Wagon owners checking in?

Yup!!