Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sorted.
Still September 2009.
Had the car towed to
The dyno sheet that came with the car said this car had 194.5rwkw and it felt like it again. I finally got to have that uninterrupted first drive in my new car. It was like i remembered from my mates Skylines back in my home town. I love this car. I love it.
SW
Had the car towed to
Autosport Engineering.
as i wasn't sure what was wrong with it and didn't want to risk further damage. The two symptoms were unrelated in the end. The issue was promptly diagnosed as shagged coilpacks and a cracked water line to the turbo. The water line to the turbo was replaced with a braided line. The coils were Splitfire coils, which have a great reputation but even so three of these had metal coming out the plastic jackets. They were well and truly stuffed. I had been given 6 spare standard coils and 6 spare Splitfires (all used) with the car so i gave these to the mechanics and he impedance tested all 18 to get the best 6. These were installed and the car started and idled fine. I was a happy camper again but decided to let the car heat up and take it for a run around the block and down the nearby highway so i could hit boost and check it out before i made the 45 minute drive home. The car still spluttered under load and i suspected the 6 best i had from spares still weren't up to scratch. Mechanic took it for a drive and confirmed the same, so i had a new set of Splitfires installed. The car was right around the 100,000km mark when i bought it and the 100k service hadn't been done so i also had the timing belt and water pump replaced with new items at the same time as the coils and water line. To his credit the previous owner felt really bad and we came to an agreement where he paid for part of the repairs. In hindsight, that is a champion move in my opinion and he's a bloody good bloke for doing it. He said to me, "it's a modified car, these things can and will happen." I learnt then and there that you can't just afford to buy a Skyline, you have to be able to afford to own a skyline.The dyno sheet that came with the car said this car had 194.5rwkw and it felt like it again. I finally got to have that uninterrupted first drive in my new car. It was like i remembered from my mates Skylines back in my home town. I love this car. I love it.
SW
You know when you blow a balloon up and then just let it go...
I'm pretty chuffed. I'm driving home in my Skyline.
I was following my brother home as he had driven me down to pick up the car. At the time he had his black 2nd Silvia with no air conditioning so i was grinning ear to ear that i was cruising along in air conditioned comfort and I let him know. He was happy for my purchase, not so happy for my air con but he also said to me, "For the love of god just don't bend it." Oh the irony, not 15 minutes later when someone turned in front of him and smashed his indicator and bent his front guard. Thankfully, noone was hurt as it was all at very low speeds.
We got closer to the city and parted ways as we live in different suburbs and he had to rush off to cricket training or something, can't quite remember. I don't mind being on my own, just me and my Skyline.
Till it stalls.
Twice.
Car won't idle. At all. Revs fall and instead of leveling out at ~1000rpm they just fall to 0. Rarely has my heart sunk like it did at that point. Not a happy camper, i ring the guy i bought it off. He suggests it could be old fuel or a cracked hose since it hasn't been driven much lately. As an aside he suggest i check the brown plug at the back of the intake. For reference, i now know that's the idle control circuit. It wasn't plugged in. Plug it in, car starts, only just but it starts and idles. Problem solved.
Problem not solved. Car stalls again.
Four more times.
After having to go in search on foot down side streets for some kind blokes in a panel shop to borrow a jump starter from on two separate occasions and several terse phone calls to the cars previous owner i was not a happy camper. I got the car home and it was running horrendously. It was now also leaking fluid from near the back of the exhaust side of the engine.
This is not how the first drive of my new car should have gone, i felt cheated.
SW
I was following my brother home as he had driven me down to pick up the car. At the time he had his black 2nd Silvia with no air conditioning so i was grinning ear to ear that i was cruising along in air conditioned comfort and I let him know. He was happy for my purchase, not so happy for my air con but he also said to me, "For the love of god just don't bend it." Oh the irony, not 15 minutes later when someone turned in front of him and smashed his indicator and bent his front guard. Thankfully, noone was hurt as it was all at very low speeds.
We got closer to the city and parted ways as we live in different suburbs and he had to rush off to cricket training or something, can't quite remember. I don't mind being on my own, just me and my Skyline.
Till it stalls.
Twice.
Car won't idle. At all. Revs fall and instead of leveling out at ~1000rpm they just fall to 0. Rarely has my heart sunk like it did at that point. Not a happy camper, i ring the guy i bought it off. He suggests it could be old fuel or a cracked hose since it hasn't been driven much lately. As an aside he suggest i check the brown plug at the back of the intake. For reference, i now know that's the idle control circuit. It wasn't plugged in. Plug it in, car starts, only just but it starts and idles. Problem solved.
Problem not solved. Car stalls again.
Four more times.
After having to go in search on foot down side streets for some kind blokes in a panel shop to borrow a jump starter from on two separate occasions and several terse phone calls to the cars previous owner i was not a happy camper. I got the car home and it was running horrendously. It was now also leaking fluid from near the back of the exhaust side of the engine.
This is not how the first drive of my new car should have gone, i felt cheated.
SW
The purchase.
August 2009
I came into the car market with a fairly biased opinion. I wanted 2 door. I wanted Nissan. I wanted manual and by god did i want turbo. I was budgeting around the $15,000 dollar mark.
My brother had the s13 market sewn up (check his blog, link at the right, hes up to his third!), i didnt want an s14, maybe an s14a and i couldnt afford an s15. I wanted a Skyline. Always been a fan and I thought id have an R32 as my first import. By the time came around for me to buy a Skyline i could afford the newer R33 but not an R34.
For initial and ongoing costs a GTR was out of the question. So the hunt began for an R33 GTS-T in my price range that had been modified to my taste. After looking at lots
of ads i remembered one that had been for sale a month or two earlier when my friend got me to find him an R33 to buy. When I was looking on his behalf i found two cars i really liked. He bought one, and as it turns out, i bought the other.
This is the photo i fell in love with fromthe original ad. (As i type this i just had a "wow it looks so different" moment) The car seemed to be fit all my criteria. The bodywork and paint was mint, the only exterior modification was the 18x8 Lenso DC-6 wheels and it had a solid list of well thought out modifications.
This car was the first car i test drove. I loved it. I wanted to take it home right then and there. I immediately thought to myself that i should settle down, that i was getting carried away with the excitement. I looked through more ads, I made phone calls to owners that were thouroughly unimpressive with their knowledge of their own car and my short list never made it past one car. I test drove it again and to quote Jack Nicholson thought; "What if this isas good as it gets ?"
On the 12th of September 2009 i took the keys from a very reluctant seller and the car i always wanted was now mine. Suffice to say that felt pretty damn good. Still does.
SW
I came into the car market with a fairly biased opinion. I wanted 2 door. I wanted Nissan. I wanted manual and by god did i want turbo. I was budgeting around the $15,000 dollar mark.
My brother had the s13 market sewn up (check his blog, link at the right, hes up to his third!), i didnt want an s14, maybe an s14a and i couldnt afford an s15. I wanted a Skyline. Always been a fan and I thought id have an R32 as my first import. By the time came around for me to buy a Skyline i could afford the newer R33 but not an R34.
For initial and ongoing costs a GTR was out of the question. So the hunt began for an R33 GTS-T in my price range that had been modified to my taste. After looking at lots
of ads i remembered one that had been for sale a month or two earlier when my friend got me to find him an R33 to buy. When I was looking on his behalf i found two cars i really liked. He bought one, and as it turns out, i bought the other.This is the photo i fell in love with from
This car was the first car i test drove. I loved it. I wanted to take it home right then and there. I immediately thought to myself that i should settle down, that i was getting carried away with the excitement. I looked through more ads, I made phone calls to owners that were thouroughly unimpressive with their knowledge of their own car and my short list never made it past one car. I test drove it again and to quote Jack Nicholson thought; "What if this is
On the 12th of September 2009 i took the keys from a very reluctant seller and the car i always wanted was now mine. Suffice to say that felt pretty damn good. Still does.
SW
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Obligatory introductory post!
Hey!
Spurred on by my brothers blogs 1st anniversary i decided to take the plunge into documenting the life and times of my car. This blog may or may not end up having the car as just one section of a more broad blog but we shall see.
Im 22, a Sydneysider, a uni student and I love modified import cars. My current car is an R33 Nissan Skyline, hence the URL! Ive owned the car for around 6 months now so the first several posts will be about the progression of the car from then till now, and after that ill try and update things as they happen. Should be fun!
SW
Spurred on by my brothers blogs 1st anniversary i decided to take the plunge into documenting the life and times of my car. This blog may or may not end up having the car as just one section of a more broad blog but we shall see.
Im 22, a Sydneysider, a uni student and I love modified import cars. My current car is an R33 Nissan Skyline, hence the URL! Ive owned the car for around 6 months now so the first several posts will be about the progression of the car from then till now, and after that ill try and update things as they happen. Should be fun!
SW
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