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As some of you know, I bought my original R33 GTR last year around June / July. I was very happy with the car, despite it appearing to have done more miles than stated. Following ~2000 miles of trouble free driving, #6 main bearing let go, taking the crank, piston, etc with it. But! I overcame that with a full rebuild at RK Tuning. Ron did an amazing job for me, and I upgraded all of the internals to 'future proof' the car, had new Garrett turbos and also the clutch replaced as the original was starting to slip. I'd already done a number of things to the car, with plans for many more. Bits like the dash lighting, HID kit, repairing the damaged front splitter, etc.
The original pics and thread are here.
Unfortunately after only doing ~50miles of running my engine in, I had a massive accident on New Years Eve morning. Basically, a nail ripped through my right rear tyre on a corner, making me slide into a tree, folding the car in half and rolling me over onto the roof. Bear in mind this was at 45mph on a 50mph road. It is notorious for accidents in the winter, as there is a pond / stream on one side of the road. When the snow melts, or we get a lot of rain, this floods half the road, and can freeze. My accident was on a lovely bright winters morning!
I was lucky to be alive after the impact, and by some miracle an off duty policeman found me probably seconds after the accident. I was cut out of the car and air lifted to Addenbrookes hospital, where I under went several operations before being sedated until January 4th. No one expected me to survive the accident, the flight or the operations. I was sedated to give my body chance to recover from all the trauma I suffered.
The pic below shows what was left of the driver side of the car.
My fiancee was supposed to be with me in the car, but she wanted to meet me at my parents after a shower and getting changed. I have no doubt this saved both our lives. I was left with massive injuries, internal bleeding, bruising and contousions to my heart and lungs, my hip smashed through my pelvis, and left it 9 pieces. My right femur suffered a double open fracture, and my left shoulder was dislocated, leaving the socket fractured. I was in hospital for nearly 3 months, and was my leg was in traction for 7 weeks. I was unable to put weight on it for a total of 10 weeks, and my muscles were so wasted I needed a wheelchair to go from one room to another. I then progressed to a walking frame, crutches and am now walking relatively normally! Thankfully I suffered no head, neck or back injuries - although we later found my back wasn't quite in line, due to the massive side impact. This was sorted by my physio though, I actually had no idea anything was wrong as it wasn't painful! After the treatment I actually stood an inch taller! :chuckle:
My freshly rebuilt hip & pelvis, and titanium rod in my femur:
As you can see, it was smashed to oblivion, but my surgeons did a miracle job getting me put back together with a procedure called an "acetabular reconstruction". This xray was taken a short while after the operation. I now have a traction wire around my pelvis, which helped the bone grow back to heal everything into the correct place & shape. I don't think my pelvis has rejoined at the bottom yet, but following all this, I started driving again mid-August, went back to work at the end of September, and have just bought another GTR. Life is too short not to enjoy it!
Which leads me on to the new arrival...
I'm the very lucky, and very proud new owner of Cliff's R33 GTR! :clap:
A lot of the things I thought about are already done, HID's, coilovers, etc. The car is very similar in many ways to my old GTR, and was one of the reasons I took the plunge to get the finances to buy Cliffs car. I've already got a few bits on the way, and also from my old car to go on. I only picked the car up yesterday! :thumbsup:
Radiator cooling panel:
A new gear knob courtesy of JimboJ:
Also trying to source an intake hose, but in red!
I've bought dash bulbs from this thread / UltraLEDs. Fantastic improvement over OEM, going in asap!
I'd like to polish the front lights too, I've read various ways and seen different kits to do it, but which one works best? There's only one way to find out! Fiiiiiight!
No, seriously, not sure which to use / what to do so I'll have a read up.
I think that is it for now, new steering wheel would be cool though, as the HICAS is locked out, do I still need a HICAS boss? I want to get a car cover too asap (until we get a place with a garage) - other than that, new radiator, replace the standard intercooler, new turbos... The wishlist grows!
Massive thanks to Cliff for such a lovely car, and I want to wish you and your mrs all the best for the future, looking forward to see what you do with another GTR in the future, and hope it won't be too long! :thumbsup:
Edit:
Current spec of the car (taken from Cliff's sale thread)
Wheels and tyres:
18 x 10" Rota Grid drift alloys in white, ET15.
285/30/18 Toyo Proxies R888 tyres
Brakes:
K-sport 8 pot front calipers
K-sport 356mm front disks
Ferodo DS2500 pads
Braided hose set
Brake stopper kit
Suspension:
Cusco coilovers
Cusco front and rear anti-roll bars
Whiteline front camber adjusters
Japspeed Hicas lock bar
Interior:
Nismo white dial kit (320km)
Nismo white centre gauge cluster
Greddy water temp gauge
Greddy boost gauge
GreddyA-pillar gauge holder
Recaro seats (type unknown)
Bride seat rails
Alpine CD stereo
Exterior:
Jun style carbon fibre bonnet
Nismo N1 front bumper vents
Nismo Clear side repeaters
Nismo Clear front indicators
Goki carbon end caps
Goki carbon spoiler blade
Carbonmods splitter
OMP splitter stay bars
Aerocatch bonnet pins
Headlight duct (No longer fitted)
HID headlight kit
Carbon GT wing badges
Engine, exhaust and power mods:
Apexi power FC - Running 1 bar boost (1.1 peak)
HKS EVC V boost controller
Kakimoto GT1.OZ cat-back exhaust
Fujitsubo down pipe
Abbey Motorsport decat pipe
Blitz twin induction kit
Mocul oil cooler (mounted behind passenger indicator duct)
ARC rad cap
Red cambelt, coilpack and cam covers
Adjustable exhaust cam pulley
Unknown exhaust cam
Transmission:
Exedy Twin plate Compe-D clutch
Exedy lightweight flywheel
Tomei short shifter
/breathe!
The original pics and thread are here.
Unfortunately after only doing ~50miles of running my engine in, I had a massive accident on New Years Eve morning. Basically, a nail ripped through my right rear tyre on a corner, making me slide into a tree, folding the car in half and rolling me over onto the roof. Bear in mind this was at 45mph on a 50mph road. It is notorious for accidents in the winter, as there is a pond / stream on one side of the road. When the snow melts, or we get a lot of rain, this floods half the road, and can freeze. My accident was on a lovely bright winters morning!
I was lucky to be alive after the impact, and by some miracle an off duty policeman found me probably seconds after the accident. I was cut out of the car and air lifted to Addenbrookes hospital, where I under went several operations before being sedated until January 4th. No one expected me to survive the accident, the flight or the operations. I was sedated to give my body chance to recover from all the trauma I suffered.
The pic below shows what was left of the driver side of the car.

My fiancee was supposed to be with me in the car, but she wanted to meet me at my parents after a shower and getting changed. I have no doubt this saved both our lives. I was left with massive injuries, internal bleeding, bruising and contousions to my heart and lungs, my hip smashed through my pelvis, and left it 9 pieces. My right femur suffered a double open fracture, and my left shoulder was dislocated, leaving the socket fractured. I was in hospital for nearly 3 months, and was my leg was in traction for 7 weeks. I was unable to put weight on it for a total of 10 weeks, and my muscles were so wasted I needed a wheelchair to go from one room to another. I then progressed to a walking frame, crutches and am now walking relatively normally! Thankfully I suffered no head, neck or back injuries - although we later found my back wasn't quite in line, due to the massive side impact. This was sorted by my physio though, I actually had no idea anything was wrong as it wasn't painful! After the treatment I actually stood an inch taller! :chuckle:
My freshly rebuilt hip & pelvis, and titanium rod in my femur:

As you can see, it was smashed to oblivion, but my surgeons did a miracle job getting me put back together with a procedure called an "acetabular reconstruction". This xray was taken a short while after the operation. I now have a traction wire around my pelvis, which helped the bone grow back to heal everything into the correct place & shape. I don't think my pelvis has rejoined at the bottom yet, but following all this, I started driving again mid-August, went back to work at the end of September, and have just bought another GTR. Life is too short not to enjoy it!
Which leads me on to the new arrival...

I'm the very lucky, and very proud new owner of Cliff's R33 GTR! :clap:
A lot of the things I thought about are already done, HID's, coilovers, etc. The car is very similar in many ways to my old GTR, and was one of the reasons I took the plunge to get the finances to buy Cliffs car. I've already got a few bits on the way, and also from my old car to go on. I only picked the car up yesterday! :thumbsup:
Radiator cooling panel:

A new gear knob courtesy of JimboJ:

Also trying to source an intake hose, but in red!

I've bought dash bulbs from this thread / UltraLEDs. Fantastic improvement over OEM, going in asap!
I'd like to polish the front lights too, I've read various ways and seen different kits to do it, but which one works best? There's only one way to find out! Fiiiiiight!
Massive thanks to Cliff for such a lovely car, and I want to wish you and your mrs all the best for the future, looking forward to see what you do with another GTR in the future, and hope it won't be too long! :thumbsup:
Edit:
Current spec of the car (taken from Cliff's sale thread)
Wheels and tyres:
18 x 10" Rota Grid drift alloys in white, ET15.
285/30/18 Toyo Proxies R888 tyres
Brakes:
K-sport 8 pot front calipers
K-sport 356mm front disks
Ferodo DS2500 pads
Braided hose set
Brake stopper kit
Suspension:
Cusco coilovers
Cusco front and rear anti-roll bars
Whiteline front camber adjusters
Japspeed Hicas lock bar
Interior:
Nismo white dial kit (320km)
Nismo white centre gauge cluster
Greddy water temp gauge
Greddy boost gauge
GreddyA-pillar gauge holder
Recaro seats (type unknown)
Bride seat rails
Alpine CD stereo
Exterior:
Jun style carbon fibre bonnet
Nismo N1 front bumper vents
Nismo Clear side repeaters
Nismo Clear front indicators
Goki carbon end caps
Goki carbon spoiler blade
Carbonmods splitter
OMP splitter stay bars
Aerocatch bonnet pins
Headlight duct (No longer fitted)
HID headlight kit
Carbon GT wing badges
Engine, exhaust and power mods:
Apexi power FC - Running 1 bar boost (1.1 peak)
HKS EVC V boost controller
Kakimoto GT1.OZ cat-back exhaust
Fujitsubo down pipe
Abbey Motorsport decat pipe
Blitz twin induction kit
Mocul oil cooler (mounted behind passenger indicator duct)
ARC rad cap
Red cambelt, coilpack and cam covers
Adjustable exhaust cam pulley
Unknown exhaust cam
Transmission:
Exedy Twin plate Compe-D clutch
Exedy lightweight flywheel
Tomei short shifter
/breathe!