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10-21-2017, 09:27 AM
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Zilvia Junkie
 
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1999 Nissan build
Hello everyone, after recently losing everything because my phone took a shit, I've decided to make a build thread here.
I do have some pictures backed up, but i am pretty much going to be starting from scratch. A little background, been a member for a long time and owned my first s- chassis even longer ago. After graduating from college and being miserable living in the DMV area, I made a huge decision to move back to Japan. I was working for a Japanese corporation in Kanto and was getting burnt out, because if you don't know, the younger "Salary Men" in this country work crazy hours. Either way, took a contracting gig in Yokosuka and didn't look back. This allowed me to actually enjoy my life outside of work and get back to cars. After selling my Supra, I was on the prowl to find a Bayside Blue R34. Timing could not have been worse for me as I was relocating soon to Kyushu (southern island) and prices were steadily climbing for these cars. (literally every week) Last picture I have of the Supra   So for the R34 there were some checkbox's that needed to be hit: 1. Bayside blue 2. No accident history 3. sub 100k km 4. Vspec 5. No rust 6. Something that wasn't price hiked like crazy After looking at a bunch of cars I was ready to just give up and compromise on the color. Went to plenty of dealership and auctions, here's some I was considering...    Then after all the searching I found the car, I moved super aggressively on getting it and after some back and forth I was able to buy the car below what I was willing to spend. I was pretty nervous because this was basically sight unseen as the car was coming from Nagoya.  About a week later it showed up. It was very dirty and had a couple of problems, but overall I was pleased. Cons - The MFD screen was bad, - Car would misfire sometimes at low RPM, - The suspension felt bad, - Wheels were not my taste - Oil was leaking from cam covers - Paint was fading on the hood, tail light, and quarter panel - Driver side seat was worn out - Steering wheel and shiftknob pretty worn out. Pros - Clear corners and side markers - L.E.D. tail lights - Optional nismo oil cooler from factory - New navigation unit Some pictures when it first showed up    I went to work almost immediately, started diagnosing and souring the parts I needed. First the MFD screen I hunted down from SHARP, surprisingly they still manufacture these. Was pretty straight forward on how to swap, its a common problem on the early models that these would go bad. The later kouki models used TOSHIBA screens.    Next on the list was the suspension. Not only did it feel like shit, but it was noisy as well. The car came on some newish blitz zzr coilovers which are garbage (do not buy these). After diagnosing all of them, I found that the front right was the culprit, the shock had no rebound and was leaking oil from the seals. The only good thing I have to say about these coilovers is that you can buy replacement parts for them. The shock "cartridge" can be disassembled from the entire unit and replaced as a whole, which is kind of convenient if you like to do things yourself. With the coilovers working properly, the car still didn't feel right, like it was trying to oversteer. I went digging and found that the sway bars were replaced by some aftermarket purple ones with adjust ability. I have no idea who made them, but I ordered some nismo ones and chucked them.    After that, I bought the gasket set for the cam covers and some new spark plugs and got to work. There was a puddle of oil in the spark plug galleys, which sucked, and also found out that some coilpacks had cracks. I decided to just replace them with better ones for piece of mind. I went with the OKD plasma coils.   Everything on the car was now functioning properly and it felt great. But the wheels were really killing me, they just did not fit the car. I found a nice set of Volks and bought some Rays lug nuts too. The Yokohama A050 tires are pretty noisy, great grip tho.   Been keeping an eye on the auctions for used aero because I like the plastic stuff more than the replica FRP. I managed to pick up a set of sideskirts, although they were cracked in some places. I wasn't too worried about it. Picked up a hood also, and had it repainted    R's meeting was coming up and I had been looking forward to it for months. I made plans to take the car up to Kanto for the week, but needed to get to work, it was going to be a pretty lengthy journey so I had to make preparations. The car needed to be raised because I didnt want to worry about hitting stuff on the trip and to clear the ferry ride. The battery had to be replaced just for insurance, the old battery had been in there for about 4 years so I think it was time for a newer better Optima yellow top. The battery is located in the rear like R33's, but with a whole bunch of shit covering it, took a couple of hours just to change this thing out. The steering had some play in it, and I was thinking the rack bushings needed to be replaced. I bought some Nismo ones and changed them out, what a night and day difference. I bought some Nismo B pillar covers to cover the worn out plastic that irritates me.      R's meeting inbound!   Finally got to Kanagawa and met up with my very good friend. We went to Oomori factory and made a run up to Daikoku, had a blast at R's meeting, really going to miss this guy. A couple of pictures from R's meeting, this R33 was on point and the nismo one you could eat off of. I bought some random stuff, and MCR even gave me a cool pen.       Back home, lot of mileage was put on that week.  Thats it for now, if you made it this far, thanks for reading, I will try and update this regularly. |
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10-21-2017, 01:03 PM
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#2 | |
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Zilvia Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: In A Pineapple under the Sea
Posts: 265
Trader Rating: (9)
 Feedback Score: 9 reviews
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5 Stars you are a Mang among boys , pun intended! Beautiful car and great attention to detail , sorry you lost most of your pictures at least you still have the memories
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10-23-2017, 09:16 PM
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Post Whore!
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Maricopa, AZ
Age: 33
Posts: 7,721
Trader Rating: (10)
 Feedback Score: 10 reviews
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That pic of your car under the cherry blossoms is just life goals.
It looks like the MFD screen replacement came out crooked? Was it not a direct swap?
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10-24-2017, 12:44 AM
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Zilvia Junkie
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MFD screen replacement is a direct swap. Yeah it is crooked in that picture, it was the only one I had on hand at the time while making this build thread. When you install the new one, you have to mock it up and adjust the centering using the controls on the back. |
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10-24-2017, 04:59 AM
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Post Whore!
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 10/10 will troll again. More ruthless.
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The mark of a true sucka: 'RARE JDM' & 'OLD LOGO NISMO'
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10-24-2017, 05:49 AM
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Post Whore!
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Oh. Forgot. You found a nice set of Volks?
...or some fucking TE37 Dolphins. Flipper called. Wants his wheels back.
__________________
The mark of a true sucka: 'RARE JDM' & 'OLD LOGO NISMO'
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10-24-2017, 07:36 PM
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Zilvia Junkie
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whos dis? fone broke, lost all my numbrs, pls lmk if u r kewl guy or hotboi lame guy. pls. ty |
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03-22-2018, 11:25 PM
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#11 |
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Zilvia Junkie
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Been a while since I made any kind of update, been busy with just maintenance on the car and other small things.
Had a suspicion that the alternator was taking a shit on me because of intermittent flickering of the lights. I ordered on from circuit sports and threw it in. While I was at it, I replaced all the belts with HKS ones.    Went to Tokyo Auto Salon a couple of months ago and that was pretty fun, too many people as always! Heres some of my favs:     Also, the last time I did an oil change was right before I went to R's Meeting. I don't put a lot of miles on the car, however it has been over 6 months since replacing. I put in the nismo stuff before, and they claim that you can use up to a year replacement interval... i don't know how true that is, because when I went to change it, it was black as hell. Either way changed it out, new filter too. Go with the OEM Pitworks, they are good.  Picked up a new ride, this thing is too sweet! 2002 Subaru Sambar  Got some things planned in the near future so I am going to check back in soon! |
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03-23-2018, 01:53 AM
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Nissanaholic!
 
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sizing on your current wheels isnt the best. that rear is sunken too much.
everything else looks great though Last edited by Malik; 03-23-2018 at 02:20 AM.. Reason: sayin somethin nice |
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03-23-2018, 07:46 AM
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Zilvia Addict
 
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03-24-2018, 03:21 PM
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Post Whore!
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: It's dark, and hell is hot!
Posts: 9,414
Trader Rating: (23)
Feedback Score: 23 reviews
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Thanks for the updates my man! Glad to see that you're still enjoying this car!
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03-24-2018, 07:53 PM
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Zilvia Junkie
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I do not think they look that sunken in.   Quote:
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02-06-2019, 09:40 PM
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Post Whore!
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Winner...
__________________
The mark of a true sucka: 'RARE JDM' & 'OLD LOGO NISMO'
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02-06-2019, 10:53 PM
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Zilvia Junkie
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02-14-2019, 05:32 PM
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#21 |
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Zilvia Junkie
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Alot has happened in almost a year. So i got the AO52's changed to a more street friendly tire. I went with some Nitto NT555's in 265. This is kind of a standard size for 33 and 34's, I have seen some tucking 285's with stock fenders and no rolling, but personally thats just too much.
  The car's bi-annual shakken was coming up and I had some stuff to do. Changed the outer balljoints because they were shot, part number attached for reference.  The day that I am going to LTO (Land transportation office) I get rear ended. It wasnt too bad, but enough to make me cry.  Bumper took most of the damage and the LED light and cover were busted. Fast forward a couple of months and everything was back as good as new.  I didnt want to take it anywhere local, and there was a shop up north that specialized in classic car restoration that I trusted so ended it up taking it there.    Price tag on some of those cars >.< Because I use the truck for my daily driver, and Im a sucker for VSXX's I got some for the ol beater haha.  Fast forward a couple more months, a buddy of mine was leaving Japan, and was wanting to get rid of his car. Long story short I bought it. Its a 1997 Series 3 base model.  Flew into Tokyo, drove the car back using the ferry. It was a rough couple of days. But I got to see my BOIIIIIS in YOKO-SUKA! So it wasnt too bad. Thats where I'll end it for now. I have some parts coming for both cars and lots going on before Spring gets here.  |
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06-24-2019, 07:05 PM
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Zilvia Junkie
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Not much has happened since I got the 33. Its a nice enough car, has some rust on it, so that needs to be redone, but the rest of the car is really nice. Some differences between the early models and the series 3 cars are the headlights, lip, red stitching in the interior, and some other bits and pieces. Its in the common places for the 33 and 34s, the strut tops are rusted out, and the side sills where the jack points are the worse of it. Nothing that can't be fixed, but it will take some time and money.
    Washed it all down. The previous owner was a friend of mine, but he was in no way a car guy. At least hes honest to what was done to the car.... and he told me the fluids were never changed other than engine oil for the period he owned the car... So this is kind of my go to recipe for fluids on a GTR: 10W-50 engine oil. Biggest reason I use this instead of the 10W-60 Nismo stuff, and thats cost. It costs me a third for the Castrol and is close enough to a 10w-60 without breaking the bank. Other honorable mentions are the HKS synthetic and anything that is ester base. If you can afford the nicer stuff, by all means get it, I still use the Nismo in the 34... but doing that for 3 cars gets pricey. Redline Heavy Duty Shockproof for the transmission. For the 32 and 33 5 speeds, this is kind of the go to for worn out missions. I wont get too deep into it, but a very tried and true formula. Highly recommend for anyone with a higher mileage rb mission. Nissan Matic D ATF for the transfer case. Dont use matic J or just regular dex III. Nissan sells this for pretty cheap and it is specified in the owners manual the use this fluid. Pitwork Oil Filter. As always, the stock Nissan stuff is the best bang for your buck. At least here in Japan anyways. Front and Rear Diff both Nissan LSD GL5 80W-90. The LSD additive is not necessary for the front dif, however, I wasn't going to buy another tin separately, it wont hurt, but it doesn't help either. Nissan was the cheapest, but there are nicer stuff out there. If your ATTESA is low, use Nissan Power steering fluid. Not the Matic D. After all the fluids were changed, car felt tonssss better. But was still doing some weird idling issues. I figured, have the MAFs rebuilt, because these are notorious for going out on all 32/33/34s. So that fixed the weird idling issues and now I have finally gotten to a point where I am happy driving the car back and forth to work.    Next thing I wanted to do was change the wheels. The ones that were on it were some knockoff staggered set. So on the way home driving, the HICAS light kept coming on. The ATTESA requires that the diameter be equal on all 4 corners, so a square set of wheels needed to be put on. This was a spare set I was going to use on the 34 for track days and such. I figured just throw them on the 33 and call it a day. 18 x 9.5 +12 with a 265 35 tire.   Going back the 34, after a good chunk of the maintenance was done on the car, I was finally confident in the car. Me and a couple of friends participated in the REVspeed party at Autopolis, it was super fun, even with the rain. The car ran really well, but I kept hitting speed cut on the long straight. I guess next upgrade... standalone???! maybe eventually. I was also able to find a better condition zenki steering wheel. These are getting harder to find in good condition, so used is pretty much my only option. Maybe one day ill upgrade to a nice Personal wheel, but i really like the stock wheel.    Until next time guys!  |
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06-25-2019, 10:08 PM
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Post Whore!
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Ohhhhhh myyyyyy Godddddd.
No one fucking cares. GTRs are the poor man's sports car. Not even a Ferrari. Not even good spec wheels. WHO THE FUCK CARES. ANSWER: ONLY PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN THE US AND DON'T SEE THESE EVERYDAY. GODDDDDDDDDDDDD STFU LMAO SIT DOWN!
__________________
The mark of a true sucka: 'RARE JDM' & 'OLD LOGO NISMO'
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07-04-2019, 05:20 PM
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Zilvia Junkie
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07-31-2019, 12:22 AM
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#29 |
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Zilvia Junkie
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The white 33 has gone into the shop and is now getting torn down. What started with just a couple of spots of rust repair and respraying some spots on the front...Has turned into refreshing the whole engine. To get the whole car properly undercoated, the rear subframe had to be dropped along with the gas tank. which resulted in new bushings on the subframe and new bushings for the arms.   So starting with the basics. I wanted the car to be mechanically sound for some time, and I was sure that the timing belt hasn't been changed for a while. So with that being said.... 1. All the gaskets have to be changed, Nissan gasket kit is the way to go. 2. Timing belt and pulleys to go along, went with a Greddy timing belt for some added durability and Nissan thermostat for stock temps. Some consider the Nismo to be an upgrade, but this car won't be needing a lower temp thermostat. Along with the timing belt its a good idea to change the water pump. There are 2 choices when it comes to the water pumps, Genuine Nissan or N1. The N1 pump is advertised as higher flow for racing applications, like I said before, car won't wont be seeing continuous high rpm usage, and mostly day to day driving. So I went with Genuine Nissan. One way to differentiate between the two is the N1 uses 6 blades, and Genuine N uses 8 blades. 3. Fan belts are Drivejoy OEM replacements, very good for the price. This is Tacti Toyota maintenance parts division. Aircon, power steering, alternator 4. Nismo Engine and Transmission mounts. These are a little more sturdier compared to the Genuine Nissan ones, and not much more. Good upgrade for longevity methinks 5. New Bosch O2 sensors, these are OEM equivalent to the ones Nissan sells for half the price. I forgot to get the part numbers on these. 6. NGK Iridium spark plugs, I like the iridiums over coppers. I know they cost quiet a bit more, but are worth it to me. 7. All coolant hoses changed on the intake side of the engine. And theres a lot of those, including the heater and return hoses. Bought this kit off ebay, it says "ZAP" on the hoses. these are 3 ply silicone, which i think is better than the rubber ones that are 20 plus years old. 8. Nismo copper mix sports clutch along with Genuine Nissan throwout bearing, and thrust washer. This is a no brainer, once the engine is out of the car, replace the clutch, saves a ton of money in the long run. I went with the Single plate, because this car wont be seeing much more power than stock and i wanted drivability to be close to stock as possible. 9. N1 Oil pump, these are a minor upgrade from the stock ones. Still doesnt prevent oil pump failure at higher RPM, you will need the aftermarket drive gear for that.              All back in and ready to go.  Now on to the 34, after the last track day, I realized the choke point on this car were the brakes. I never changed them when I got the car, because they felt fine. Turns out they were pretty worn down. So, new rotors and pads, and while I was down there, I might as well put on some of the Nismo suspension bits Ive been hoarding for some time. I went with the Nismo R tune pads on the front, with Project Mu SCR Pro 2 piece rotors in factory diameter. For the rears, Dixcel SD rotors with Dixcel Special compound Beta pads. Tension rods are Nismo 595? I cant remember, theres a couple different ones that they offer because they are different lengths. Now some people would ask, well why wouldnt you just get adjustable ones and set your own length. The answer is, Japan. Going through shaken on adjustable tension rods depending on the inspector, will flag you. I know people swear by Cusco as being "shakenable" but an inspector will never know the difference between a Nismo unit vs a regular one. Now on the R34 and R33, they do share the same front suspension geometry. However the 34 uses a one piece lower control arm that is combined with the tension rod. So to change the tension rod, you must change the lower control arm. And if you change the lower control arm, you have to change the upper control arm as well. So here we have the Nismo lower and upper control arm kit. Also, while I was there, repalced the stabilizer bar links and the inside ball joints, the ones that go from the lower control arm to the subframe.           Did a bit of "comfort maintenance", the trunk has sometimes made noise in the past, and so I decided to change the rubber stoppers on it. along with the blown gas shocks to hold it up. Nissan sells the gas shocks for wayyyy expensive, I found these from the same guy that rebuilds MFDs for these cars. Very good quality and fitment was spot on.   The Dolphins are on my Supra for spare duty, until I get the other tires mounted on the wheels. So I will be using the Mags until then 18x10 +20... new tires and all. I was really hoping to win the other set of these that went up for auction a couple of months ago, but it just went too high for me to justify. Same goes for those Magnesium LMGT4's in white... 6 grand? come on people.     And this is pretty much how the car sits now, had to get an alignment done and some suspension tweaking.  Oh and got another 33, more details to come later.   |
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