Big bhp in your daily driver... would you do it again? is it worth it?

[spudgun]

i have a dilemma.
my r32 is stage 1, around 380-400bhp mark. ive just remortgaged, and have a bit of money left over. up until today ive been dead set on going for 500bhp minimum, maybe more. however, ive spent most of today searching for threads on here about upgrades,peoples experiences of them etc etc.
and two things struck me..

firstly, the amount of people who sell 500+bhp cars fairly quickly after completing them, especially if theyre not drag/track cars.

secondly,i read various threads where people felt that around 450bhp is about as much as youd need in a gtr that would be used often and on the road, rather than track/drag.


in terms of reliability, cost, enjoyment, aggravation, disappointment,etc etc, at what point would you stop, and do you wish sometimes youd left well alone and put the money elsewhere? my post is probably not well worded,nor is it meant to be negative, but hopefully people see what im trying to get at.

finally, if you were going to create the best daily driver skyline from scratch,with reliability and value for money paramount, working with a modest budget, what spec would you go for?


thanks for any input and hopefully others will find this thread useful too.

[Rich H]

Hi, although my car is in its current specby the previous owner I did have a pretty standard gtr before this one. My current car should be around 600+ and its my daily drive. Ive had it for nearly a year now and its been fine.

When people say you can't really use a higher hp car for daily drive I don't think thats right. As long as you keep the maintenance up to date it should be ok.

The main thing you have to think of is the clutch and if you can cope with driving a triple every day if so then you should find it ok. If you leave the rest of the car in a nice way eg no stripped out then you will find it still nice to drive.

You also have to remember even though you may have big power which will be more likely to break down with increased use, in day to day driving eg the daily commute are you really going to stress the engine out at all? Most of the time im not even on boost going to work so its no different to a standard car however if im leaving a bit late and no traffic I have a some extra power to play with

[spudgun]

hi rich, and thanks for the reply.

so you would be more than happy to pay between 8-10k to get the 500 bhp mark from 400bhp? is it worth it?

[liquidculture]

I found mine at 400 was a bit frustrating,I allways felt it wasnt really running at the power it should have considering the abilities of the car in terms of handling etc. I cant see any reason why a 6-700 car shouldnt be perfectly ok as a daily driver as Rich H says you dont allways drive it on boost anyway, and properly set up and maintained it probably is going to be pretty understressed 90% of the time.
You can adjust the boost settings anyway, on my last car I could choose from 3 settings: no boost at all, 0.7bar or 1, depending on what I chose (which was 1 most of the time) plus off boost the petrol consumption wont be much different to any other power level.
My new one is 600 and whilst I havent driven it yet (its still on its way over) I imagine it will be ideal, thats what I have decided is my ideal level anyway.

[NITO]

Hi Spudgun,

I bought mine with 500+ bhp running N1's, it's absolutely fine as an everyday car, you can happily get away with a twin plate clutch at this power level, the Nismo twin plate is supposed to be rated to 700ps and 770 odd NM torque. Reliability has been perfect and useability is good. I think its when you start going to triple plate clutches that everyday driveability suffers.

As a daily drive it's a very good balance, arguably you may want a little more. With std pistons the HKS GT-SS or N1's would be a good option and maybe some step 1 cams.

It probably wouldn't be long until you start yearning for more power then either

Nito

[gtr670]

Hi spudgun,

My R33 is pulling about 670bhp. The only thing that affects it as an everyday drive is the triple plate clutch, as other people have mentioned. I've just bought an OS Giken carbon fibre twin plate that is meant to be like driving a std car. It's not been fitted yet but I'll let you know when I get it done.

Jon

[spudgun]

cheers for the response so far everyone, much appreciated

ok, it seems even highly modded gtr's (for argument sake over 500bhp) can happily be used as a daily drive, depending on clutch choice, making a few compromises and making sure you look after the car properly.

However, i suppose my main doubt remains...

taking a 400bhp gtr to 500bhp still costs a serious amount of wedge. anything up to 10k.
is the difference performance wise between the two (400 bhp and 500bhp), on public roads (er, obviously on 'private' roads actually WORTH 10k, or did it leave you with an anticlimax?
if it IS worth it...how much should you allow for in your budget for things that go wrong, all the little things that add up but you dont realise about in the first place, you catch my drift. i cant imagine anything more embarrassing than getting the final bill and being lets say financially embarrassed

i really do appreciate the advice im getting here, so thanks again everyone

[bladerider]

Hi Leigh,

Depends on you rperspective of value for money mate.

The liner is an awesome tool, and when modified to beyond 500bhp it comes alive, as you should hopefully remember. But for the cost of my drift car (less than the cost of the mods you are talking about) there is no comparison as to which is most fun. I have just spent a day hooning around sideways, having the time of my life and all its cost me is £50 for the entrance fee, £35 petrol including driving to Watford and back, £60 for four part worn tyres fitted as they got burnt up, and a couple of hundred to repair a little bit of damage I sustained cos my cars made of fibreglass rather than steel !! In fact i probably wont bother repairing it for a bit as its bound to happen again !!! lol

Take it from me, keep the car at 450ish, enjoy driving it, and buy a drift car for when you want to have fun rather than a headache !!! Its the best decision I have made in years.

J.

[Peter]

The difference between a 400bhp GTR and a 500+ one is astounding and imo worth every penny. 500 to 600+ car is even better. If you don't expect to take the car on track, there's every reason to be confident that it will give you years of good reliability assuming you maintain it frequently. Even if you do track a 500bhp GTR, you shouldn't have too many reliability problems, I had several years of faultless reliability when running my car at 500+ with regular trackdays. I've had a bit of shit year this year with a sequence of problems, none of them recurring problems although the car has achieved more than I could have dreamed of at the beginning of this year. I guess that running over 600bhp with the car now in her 8th year, other things were always likely to start breaking.

For a reliable fast street car I would recommend:

Any of the smaller GT spec turbos, 2510, 2530, SS, etc. running at around 1.3bar max.
Steel head gasket.
Front pipes and turbos elbows.
Exhaust.
Intake.
Oil cooler.
Uprated fuelling, pump, injectors, etc.
Prog. ecu & boost controller.

If your budget can stretch to include these, all the better:

Trust sump and if possible, uprated oil pump.
Intercooler & hard pipe kit.
Brake upgrade.
Radiator upgrade.

[Hamish]

I think Hugh Keir's car would be at the high power end (800bhp+?) of daily drivers. I'm sure he could give you some good advice.

[Peter]

Sorry, forgot 2 vital 'components'. I can't emphasise the importance of an EGT gauge highly enough. I reckon that if I'd had one fitted, it would have saved my turbos from needing a rebuild after less than 10k miles. And probably the single most important aspect of all is decent mapping...

[C&C]

James, (sorry for the digression),

What were you doing in Watford (cos I;m quite close to there and was wondering if there's a venue I didn't know about).

More in line with the thread though, although not using the car everyday (I go to work on the pushbike!!), driving around town doesn't seem to be a major problem and I'd agree with the general consensus that despite having 500+ hp, if you are fairly restrained/keep the boost down, and the clutch isn't an issue, there's no reason that the car can't be used as a daily drive....

Conrad

[BBD]

Driving a 400HP+ car on the road just sucks, am sick of it triple plate clutch doesnt do too good either passing and wizzing threw traffic gets boreing after a while, so I keep my car parked and use it for track days NOW that 400HP+ really make the difference where the car is a lot more enjoyable and fun to drive.

[Bean]

My old car (which Duka now owns) went from just under 400 to just over 500 when I changed the turbos etc. The whole car was far better in every way and I'd do it again like a shot.
500-600 is an easy daily driver - no problems as long as you have upgraded the supporting parts eg rad etc.
Even my current car which had a T88 was fine from that respect at 800PS, the only difficulty is the triple plate, and you learn to drive around that.
When my first R34 was stock, it was quick but felt restricted. At stage one when the restrictions were removed it was great and I could happily have left it but I wanted to change the turbos as I was needlessly paranoid about the ceramics. So I put GT-SSs on with some other mods and got over 500 and the car was sensational. As I said, I'd definitely do it again...oh, already have

[spudgun]

thanks everyone

bbd... not being funny, but are you saying your glad its over 400... or not?

bean.. i completely understand your point about the ceramic turbos. i never drive my car too hard, i always bear in mind shes 12 and try to treat the old girl kindly, always worried about turbos that are getting on a bit. however, even old girls need a hard ride now and then , so definately think the ceramic turbos will have to go. gt-ss have been recommended by everyone, so they are a definate.
in many respects, id rather spend a lot on the clutch than anything else. cant think of anything worse than having a fantastic car just sitting on the drive all the time coz its such a pig to drive on congested roads. ease of use and reliability are the two most important factors to me, as opposed to high bhp figures on a dyno.

james.. simon'pimp daddy' now wants rid of his gt4 now he's been won over with your drift car. what have you done to him! ive pm'd you mate


thanks again everyone, especially the spec peter, i'll look into it