R33 GTST

BD10NNF

BD10NNF

BD10NNF

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I've been looking at Skylines and I've seen a few GTST R33's for sale. I know that they are RWD and aren't as fast as the GTR.

Just wondering what people's views are on them? any issues I should be looking out for, the usual stuff.

I do like the GTST and they are in my price range so it's sort of ideal (Jap, Turbo and RWD)
 
I was looking at these myself, they look amazing for the money but I believe apart from a few specific GTR things then they have most of the gubbins the GTR has and so have fairly similar running costs. At least that's what I gathered from looking. For the looks of the car and the moddability though, I think they're tremendous value for money.
 
Even the r34's have come down to a nice price. Seen a turbo up for £5k with 80k miles, fresh import.

They do cost an arm and a leg to run though, silly low MPG, High insurance. They do have bullet proof engines. Your main concern will be rust... Check the sills, engine bay, around the suspension mounts etc...

I found a good site with all the info you need, on my phone though so i cannot be bothered to fish it out :p Will only be a google away...
 
I had a R34 for 6 years, an absolutely phenomenal car! Tuning is "fairly" cheap but almost all R33's will have been tweaked by now I'd have thought so running around 300hp-ish (exhaust, filter and 1BAR boost).

Very reliable engine, gearbox and chassis, their main issue nowadays is that they're so cheap now that they get bought by the "wrong" sort of owner who thrashes them everywhere but doesn't do any maintenance so be careful.

Rod Bell near Blackpool, Abbey Motorsports down near Gatwick and RK Tuning in Essex are probably the best garages in England (no idea is Scotland) and I'd take it to one of these (probably Rod Bell personally) as soon as you buy one.
 
They're 2.5 single turbo as opposed to the 2.6 twin turbo lump in the GT-R. They also lack the 4wd system of the GT-R but retain the HICAS system I believe.

The RB series of engines is very good generally but a design flaw in the earlier ones saw a problem with oil pressure falling dangerously low. Something to do with how the pump mates to the block I think.

Golden rule of R33's is to check oil pressure and listen for knocking on cold starts. Check all the usual turbo engine suspects too along with white smoke when cold and blue smoke under load.
 
^ Yeap they still have the HICAS which feels a bit odd the first time it rear wheel steers for you (only 1 degree but you notice it).

Oil pressure is usually 6BAR cold dropping to 4BAR hot. I used Silkolene Pro-R 15W-50 race oil which was amazing but I believe it's called something else now.
 
I have a R34 GTR, it has the 2.6 twin turbo (RB26) I think these have the 2.5 single turbo (rb25) ?

I think the main thing is due to the reasonable prices, dont buy one thats been owned by Barry.
 
I had a R34 for 6 years, an absolutely phenomenal car! Tuning is "fairly" cheap but almost all R33's will have been tweaked by now I'd have thought so running around 300hp-ish (exhaust, filter and 1BAR boost).

Very reliable engine, gearbox and chassis, their main issue nowadays is that they're so cheap now that they get bought by the "wrong" sort of owner who thrashes them everywhere but doesn't do any maintenance so be careful.

Rod Bell near Blackpool, Abbey Motorsports down near Gatwick and RK Tuning in Essex are probably the best garages in England (no idea is Scotland) and I'd take it to one of these (probably Rod Bell personally) as soon as you buy one.
Click to expand...

Thanks I'll check them out.

They're 2.5 single turbo as opposed to the 2.6 twin turbo lump in the GT-R. They also lack the 4wd system of the GT-R but retain the HICAS system I believe.

The RB series of engines is very good generally but a design flaw in the earlier ones saw a problem with oil pressure falling dangerously low. Something to do with how the pump mates to the block I think.

Golden rule of R33's is to check oil pressure and listen for knocking on cold starts. Check all the usual turbo engine suspects too along with white smoke when cold and blue smoke under load.
Click to expand...

I'll keep that in mind.

The only reason I'm not going for a GTR is I want RWD instead. The power isn't as much obviously but as log as its over 250hp then I'm sure that's more than enough to go sideways.

Looking around most of them have been tuned so I'm looking for one that has only had cosmetic mods like coilovers and exhaust system. If not just means I don't have to spend the money on the mods myself.
 
Rybo89 said:
Your main concern will be rust... Check the sills, engine bay, around the suspension mounts etc...
Click to expand...

Check front suspension turrents, anything visible there will be 10x worse underneath... Not my pics, just lifted from a thread I remembered seeing

Bit of surface rust;
img0633cz.jpg
Blasted to see extent of the rust;
img0648aa.jpg
And underneath
img0708gb.jpg
 
Interesting this thread has come up!
I am seriously looking at getting an R33 GTR over the next year or so, as a stop gap for a while...anyone owned one? What are running costs etc like?
Other than rust what needs to be checked?
Cheers
 
skaif said:
Interesting this thread has come up!
I am seriously looking at getting an R33 GTR over the next year or so, as a stop gap for a while...anyone owned one? What are running costs etc like?
Other than rust what needs to be checked?
Cheers
Click to expand...

I had a heavily modded one, running costs were.....Interesting! See most of the above posts for what to check on them. What's your budget for one out of curiosity?
 
skaif said:
Interesting this thread has come up!
I am seriously looking at getting an R33 GTR over the next year or so, as a stop gap for a while...anyone owned one? What are running costs etc like?
Other than rust what needs to be checked?
Cheers
Click to expand...

I had an R33 GTR as a daily driver a couple of years back, cost about £90 to fill the tank and you will be lucky to see 200 miles out of it taking it easy :p

Also the AFM's are prone to going so budget a couple of hundred quid for those, also other consumables etc are quite expensive.

All in it was an expensive car to run so unless it's for fun/weekends I wouldn't recommend one.

edit: the engine noise was epic at high revs, also doesn't feel very fast until you look at the speedo because of the gear ratios. Think if I recall corrrectly at the redline in second gear the speedo was showing an indicated 85 mph
 
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Yeah it would definitely be a toy! The skyline is a bit of a hero car for me and have always wanted to own the 34. Just have to save up I guess! Budget will be around 10-15k depending on the model.
Am I right in thinking these things are appreciating recently? I'm sure the R32 GTR has shot up!
 
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