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In Early 2009 I was looking at getting myself an import...I was put off being like the sheep, buying a pre built monster, I wanted to learn my car like my previous cars (FWD, auto's), having a soft spot for Cefiro's and the other rare sedans, I started looking around.
Initially had no luck, as you have to know where to look, but I ended up with several options. An ex drifter shell, a genuine Autech Edition, a few local ones, and this one that I bought. I twas the shittiest, and yet the best, and stood out, I snapped this up on an impulse, it has been a massive mistake, a massive learning curve, and yet the best car I've owned, it's taught me soo much, even though it isn't finished yet:
Factory setup was RB20DE Auto, but when I bought it off eBay from Queensland, it already had an R32 RB20DET setup, with a 5 speed manual swap.
Everything else was standard, even the exhaust. Had a K&N M's pod filter, a heavy duty clutch and a 2 way diff (stupidly bi-polar aggressive 2 way I will add).
It had been sprayed over with a 2 pak primer and ready for a new paint job, which it never received. It had minor faults, like an exhaust leak, cracked windshield, bald tyres, and needed a tidy up. It wasn't registered, and hadn't been for a few years, for me this seemed like the ideal first car, I knew by the time I go this on the road I wouldn't destroy it.
Paid for it on May 17, it left Queensland on May 19, and arrived on June 2nd
Once it arrived, I put all the external trims back on (as seen in above photo's) and got to work. Once I did get stuck in I got carried away being a perfectionist. Little problems got bigger, I pulled it apart further, and it started getting messy.
Exhaust leak ended up being the far back top row exhaust stud snapped off INSIDE the block (about 5-10mm in) which was a little wanker to get out.
CEVA who transported the car from Queensland to here, obviously didn't take into consideration the low ride height of the vehicle, hence the chassis rails were rooted. Cracked windshield had become a billion times worse.
Also the car was nowhere near what I thought I payed for.
Eletrical problems from front to back.
Mexican style rewiring which eventually resulted in the overheating and subsequent death of the ECU and sub looms.
Interior and exterior trims missing
Horn not wired up
You get the idea
Between that and everyone's negativity, I eventually threw in the towel, attempted to sell it, and luckily nobody did, I dived back in, and no suprise, confronted with more problems...but I kept a level head about it...well, tried to.
The next big problem, was brakes....sitting in the driver's seat writing a message on my phone one day, just stuffing around with the pedals, and the brake pedal goes all the way down, and slowly returned back up, brake fluid running down the firewall...so that was the master cylinder and/or booster, gone, rather than chuck the shits, I decided to do an all round brake upgrade (since I needed to bleed fluid anyway), and snapped up an complete R33 package
4 piston front calipers w/ 296mm rotors
2 piston rear calipers w/ 297mm rotors
Booster
Master cylinder
Lines
Comparison of factory brakes (left) and new brakes (right) after a quick respray in black
(these are currently AGAIN disassembled for sandblasting and anodizing, stay tuned for progress)
The next parts are somewhat useless,
Since I'm paid monthly, I spend alot of time waiting for money, or parts, so boredom kicks in.
I took the manifolds off, for a quick coat in high temp black:
Crossover pipe:
Again, got carried away, did the engine bay as well
Firewall, with new booster
And the insides of the doors and shit (helps reduce cost of paint job when time comes)
I also got stuck into the eletrical problems inside
Scraped the interior, in favor of an optional black interior I found
It's hard to stay motivated when you have a billion pieces of no car, and a small shed
Ordered HST TT Coilovers
5 Stud hubs
Monkey Warehouse kit
And some of these:
Then got stuck into suspension, replacing every bush from front to back, with Nolathane items
Again, it's hard to stay focused on the bigger picture when the bare shell is on axle stands, no cradles, no motor, box, driveshafts, and no interior
Eventually got the front back up, with the coilovers and hubs on, and I CAN SEE THE LIGHT
On a cleaned crossmmeber, here's a pic I managed to take half way done cleaning (hands were too dirty to take a finished product pic)
And the finish:
That's about where I'm at now:
Currently in the works:
Chassis rail repair
Saving for paint
Saving for Origin DNA-01s (PIC
It's been slow lately as I've been shifting my attention to my other Cefiro (about to make that one it's own thread as well)
Will keep this updated, so stay tuned.
Comments, positive and negative, welcome
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