Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Lately I have been reading MANY posts about how "my 50,000km genuine KM '89 GTR has blown turbos/gearbox/motor within 10 days or less of taking ownership".

Not having a go, but my questions are:

1. who hasn't had quite major issues with their '89GTR (and who has had issues - what have they been)?

2. were the cars in the condition as specified, or did they require significant work to bring them up to condition?

3. how many of you have 'overspent', finding out that the car requires in excess of $2,000 of additional work once landed?

4. do you believe the kays on your car?

Considering that the Japanese are (overall) a very tidy people, who look after their cars, I would expect that a well maintained '89GTR could easily have done in excess of 150,000kms (conservatively at 10,000 per year) yet still have a good interior.

Secondly, and someone from Japan might be able to confirm this, it is my understanding that the older the car gets, the more shaken you pay. It is my contention that generally an owner who can afford to keep an old car like an R32GTR will only then get rid of the car when it is costing money to maintain - ie is developing mechanical issues an alike.

I expect it is unscrupulous dealers who are tampering with odometers (be it here or prior to auction in Japan)

5. what proportion of auction '89GTRs really are trash, and is there such thing as a 'bargain' GTR?

Thats about it at the moment. Will add as I think of some more questions.

1. No truely major issues. I have a leaking exhaust manifold but that's a hassle more than anything.

2. Pretty much.

3. No, I tried to overbudget so its come out about right.

4. Call me pig headed, but I do believe the KMs (even though the log book never surfaced -- grrr). Everything about the car indicates its been regularly serviced at a Nissan dealership.

5. There are no bargin GT-Rs, just less expensive ones.

I've had 3 GTRs since the 15yo rule came into play for the 89 models.

q1: First one was immac. 80,000kms, engine purred, turbos were fine, gearbox etc. Perfect. Sold it, coz i got greedy.

Second one. Came with rattly bottom end. I only paid half the amount of the car and didn't pay the rest. Fixed it, sold it again, coz i got a decent offer. about 90,000kms

Third one, recently landed (1990 model, same thing). Came with blown turbos......installed n1 turbos, then the engine died before they were even full operative. On the plus side, im now getting a full engine rebuild, with n1 turbos should make some good power. 88,000kms

q2 2 of the 3 were NOT in the condition specified, i.e blown turbos, engine etc. Both needed work to get up to scratch.

q3: However, I have made financial deductions to compensate from the exporter, so have not gone over cost as such. Hence, financially im still on top.

q4 The first GTR, kms were def. genuine. Am spewin about selling it. The second seemed to be shady due to the rough interior. Third one, seems genuine, but who knows.

q5 Well, trash depends on the auction grade. I reckon most GTRs that were 3 or 3.5 auction grade ended up being the crap ones. Yeah I'm sure there is the odd bargain GTR out there, but finding it is another thing!

I suppose at the end of the day, GTR ownership is never going to be cheap and we as enthusiasts have to accept that. Sure, it hurts spending money on fixing a car, but boy do I have a grin from ear to ear when they are up and running. Not long now.....

Edited by IOWNU
I suppose at the end of the day, GTR ownership is never going to be cheap and we as enthusiasts have to accept that. Sure, it hurts spending money on fixing a car, but boy do I have a grin from ear to ear when they are up and running. Not long now.....

HAHAHA Well said!

Depends who you go through to get the car I suppose. I am happy with all the cars I have got so far.

In real monetary terms, the cost to repair GTRs has come down significantly. There are now more wrecked examples than ever before and there is a huge choice of aftermarket parts (including locally made options) available. The strengthening of the AUD against the YEN as well as the reduction in import duties has also helped a lot.

I still think that for the true enthusiast, an R32 GTR that has been budgeted for a rebuild and restoration is solid value.

also those turbochargers have seen 16 years of exhaust heat, im not surprised they dont break when people crank it up to 1.1 bar on the rb26's for some extra boost. but not having owned a gtr i cant speak based on experience for peanuts, only what i've read

all i will say is that an 89 GTR is only one year older than a 90 GTR which is only a couple years older than the newest 32 GTR you will ever find. As with any of them you need to find one that is decent. a shit car is just a shit car. it's not shit becuase it was built in 1989 or 1990, it may have been in peak condition until 2003 when some bloke bought it and thrashed the ring out of it every day for a year or two with no maintenance then sold it.

i think the main reason there seem to be a fair few dud 89/90 model GTRs is that there has been a large flood of them being imported, so proportionaly i reckon they fail at the same rate as the other year models. also a lot are being bought by people without much $$ so when the car gets here instead of checking it out properly and giving it the full treatment they just start driving, sure enough something goes wrong.

with my car i haven't had any problems engine wise. everything was as it should be. i did a little preventative maintenance when i got it just for piece of mind. and after 4 or 5 track days this year and a few runs at WSID and street driving it hasn't missed a beat. hasn't spent one day off the road yet and is currently making 250rwkw with still stock turbos, ic, injectors etc etc. i have nfi if the kms are genuine or not, don't really care as i judge a car on condition, not a number on the dash :D

duno but my 89 model gtst is going strong, i beleive my 89000km's are genuwine as its in better condition then my previous 93 model and my 2 friends 92 model's but my body is a bit rough, few little dints and i snaped my front bar :P

Different kettle of fish.

As has been said, 89 GTR's are not by any means all trash. One of the problems is that a lot of people who couldnt previously afford a GTR have found this stupidly cheap 89 models which have suddenly fallen within reach and not considered the potential running issues of one of these "cheap" GTR's.

People seem to buy an 89/90 R32 GTR with the intention of modding it as soon as it arrives, when in reality, a few grand needs to be set aside for a very thorough major service of the car. This is absolutely crucial when you dont know the history of the car. All consumables like water pump, timing belt etc should be done, injectors need to be cleaned as they are a common cause of engines leaning out and cleaning them is inexpensive.

The bottom line is if you are prepared to spend some money up front on preventative maintenance, you should have a reliable and trouble free car.

ive imported 3.

1st one was just about perfect (should have kept it but i didnt like the gunmetal colour)

2nd one was in worse condition then i was told it would be (yes the engine "blew up")

3rd one (was ment to be delivered yesterday but expecting it today) looks as good as the 1st one but i will have to check it out properly before getting too excited

I'd say most kms are not genuine. Unless you get logs and stuff.

Mine says 170,000kms. So that probably is, cause you would wind it back further than that. But its not much older looking, (infact the body is really straight) than others with "60,000" written on it.

My NA Supra had 90,000, but on the timing belt cover, said it had been replaced 18months ago at 102,000kms... hmmmmm.

My GTR.

Was as they said, drove really well. That doesn't mean one turbo wasn't screwed tho. Even 1 and a half turbos made it the fastest car I'd ever been in.

So yeah, new turbos + Had all the cooling lines flush = $2000.

Was too low before, hence damaged exhaust piping, replaced that $600.

New front bushes and stuff $600.

New windscreen that wasn't mention before, could have happened in transit I guess. $300.

Clutch, GearBox and engine haven't thrown any curly ones at me though. Thats on a 170,000kms engine... so I don't think they are too bad. Its not like this one was babied either, it has alot of suspension work, so it would have seen some driving I reckon.

gtr's should b made for floggin! thats what they're meant for aren't they?

When properly serviced, sure. But how many people service their car religiously, particularly as it gets older, worth less, and more expensive to keep?

..its the older cars that need more religous servicing.

Guess it is expensive to take a GTR to a workshop every 2 months for servicing. Japs aren't that good at it either it seems - so that is probably where most of the damage is done.

Mine is a '90 model, i've had it on the road 2 months now, nearing 5000kms of driving. All I have done is a major service including all fluids and filters when I first got it, and replaced one C.V boot. I looked for a long time before purchase, checked out alot of cars, and all of them had accident repairs/rust/mechanical issues/wound back speedos etc. Mine is as clean and genuine as they come and I count myself very lucky being able to find it. Patience pays off big time. There are good 32 GTRs out there, you just have to know what you are looking for, and if you don't, take someone with you who does. And don't get all excited and buy the first one you see.

when i was looking to buy a 89 gtr i found that most have been in prangs and redone, and yes the kms were like you said all very low....and its a gtr, it would of been thrashed of its tits....its one of those posts that you wont get a really clear answer...anyone with a 89 gtr will say that the km are original and that they dont have any porblems

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Place the new daughterboard in the case and mount it using the 3 small black rivets provided, and reconnect the 3 factory ribbon cables to the new board Then, use the 3 piggyback cables from the daughterboard into the factory board on top (there are stand offs in the case to keep them apart. and remember to reconnect the antenna and rear cover fan wires. 1 screw to hold the motherboard in place. Before closing the case, make a hole in the sticker covering a hole in the case and run the cable for the android unit into the plug there. The video forgot this step, so did I, so will you probably. Then redo the 4 screws on back, 2 each top and bottom, 3 each side and put the 2 brackets back on.....all ready to go and not that tricky really.      
    • Onto the android unit. You need to remove the top screen because there is a daughterboard to put inside the case. Each side vent pops out from clips; start at the bottom and carefully remove upwards (use a trim remover tool to avoid breaking anything). Then the lower screen and controls come out, 4 screws, a couple of clips (including 3 flimsy ones at the top) and 3 plugs on the rear. Then the upper screen, 4 screws and a bunch of plugs and she is out. From there, remove the mounting brackets (2 screws each), 4 screws on the rear, 2 screws top and bottom and 3 screws holding in the small plates on each side. When you remove the back cover (tight fit), watch out for the power cable for the fan, I removed it so I could put the back aside. The mainboard is held in by 1 screw in the middle, 1 aerial at the top and 3 ribbon cables. If you've ever done any laptop stuff the ribbon cables are OK to work with, just pop up the retainer and they slide out. If you are not familiar just grab a 12 year old from an iphone factory, they will know how it works The case should now look like this:
    • Switching the console was tricky. First there were 6 screws to remove, and also the little adapter loom and its screws had to come out. Also don't forget to remove the 2 screws holding the central locking receiver. Then there are 4 clips on either side....these were very tight in this case and needed careful persuading with a long flat screw driver....some force required but not enough to break them...this was probably the fiddliest part of the whole job. In my case I needed both the wiring loom and the central locking receiver module to swap across to the new one. That was it for the console, so "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"
    • But first....while I was there, I also swapped across the centre console box for the other style where the AV inputs don't intrude into the (very limited !) space.  Part# was 96926-4GA0A, 284H3-4GA0B, 284H3-4GA0A. (I've already swapped the top 12v socket for a USB bulkhead in this pic, it fit the hole without modification:) Comparison of the 2: Basically to do the console you need to remove the DS and PS side console trim (they slide up and back, held in by clips only) Then remove the back half of the console top trim with the cupholders, pops up, all clips again but be careful at the front as it is pretty flimsy. Then slide the shifter boot down, remove the spring clip, loose it forever somewhere in the car the pull the shift knob off. Remove the tiny plastic piece on DS near "P" and use something thin and long (most screwdrivers won't fit) to push down the interlock and put the shifter down in D for space. There is one screw at the front, then the shifter surround and ashtray lift up. There are 3 or 4 plugs underneath and it is off. Next is the rear cover of the centre console; you need to open the console lid, pop off the trim covering the lid hinge and undo the 2rd screw from the driver's side (the rest all need to come out later so you can do them all now and remove the lid) Then the rear cover unclips (6 clips), start at the top with a trim tool pulling backwards. Once it is off there are 2 screws facing rearwards to remove (need a short phillips for these) and you are done with the rear of the console. There are 4 plugs at the A/V box to unclip Then there are 2 screws at the front of the console, and 2 clips (pull up and back) and the console will come out.
    • So, a bit of a side trip, but one that might be interesting for people with JDM cars and japanese head units. I know @Pac previously posted about a carplay/android auto adapter he installed which used the AUX input, and @V35_Paul put in one of the Tesla style units that replace both screens. The option I went with was a Lsait LLT-YF-VER5.87_2 (https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Lsailt-8GB-Android-Multimedia-Interface-for_1601187633672.html). Price was $1,150 for a single unit although they are much cheaper if you are willing to buy 2....$857ea. Make you you get the version 2 not version 1, it is faster and has a better UI - this is the manufacturer listing: http://www.lsailt.com/product/348.html. BTW if you've never bought from Alibaba before, don't be concerned....these guys can't stay in business unless they are responsive, ship fast etc, they were excellent (probably faster shipping than most local places) So, this was my task for a lazy Sat afternoon....looks complex but was all done in a few hours (it probably helps that I had some of it apart before so it was a bit familiar). I also decided to add a HD USB drive recorded at the same time and the unit also supports an aftermarket reverse cam (if you don't want to retain factory) and also AV in and HDMI out It looks much worse than it is, in fact in was genuinely all plug and play (no custom wiring at all). This video was pretty good (skipped a few steps), unfortunately they are an Aussie seller but no longer sell this unit (I guess Carplay/AA adapters are easier to install and much cheaper) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5hJfYOB8Dg
×
×
  • Create New...