[albear]

Hi,

The story so far

I live in Hatfield (15 miles North London) and I used to own a P reg R33 GTS 2.0 non turbo automatic skyline. Which maybe, the slowest Skyline in the world...ever.

To cut a long story short, I bought a Blur TVR Cerbera last year, to help fullfill my inner cravings, however, and without wanting to **** off any TVR fans, I've found the Cerb to be a little unreliable.

The result is as follows, I'm selling my Cerbie, and should have around £6k to spend on getting the GTS up to scatch. The GTS has rotted away at my mates house for the past year and needs quite a bit of work done to it.

Stuctural - Front right Bush has broken. door locks have been shattered and will be needed to be filled in.
Mechanical - Speedometer + Revometer don't work
Appearance - A number of bangs, dents and scratchs will need to be sorted, as well as the rear end needs banging into shape.
Performance - 2L non turbo, nuff said, it aint no rocket.

So I'm off this evening to take photo's of my poor car, which I shall post for you all to laugh at.


What I need from you

To be blunt, I need your help, as I have no idea when it comes to cars at all, so I thought I'd ask the people who know the vehicle best [/crawling]

Things I'd like to know

- Best place to take for repairs, I've been to Nissan who are asking a hell of alot of money. about £2k for Bush + brake pads!
- Bodykits, Defintily needs a new bodykit, as currently it doesnt really have one. I like the GTR kit, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Any good places to buy/fitted? I' ve found a place in Milton Keynes quoting about 1k for front/back/sides and another 1k for fitting + painting.
- Performance Something needs to be done about it's performance. quite frankly it's embarrasing. any suggestions appreciated, is getting a turbo possible. Would getting a new 2nd hand engine be better? NOS? any places you'd reccomend? Does it being an automatic effect my choices


I apologise for the amount of questions, but I'm in desperate need of advice, and it'll do your Karma no end of good

Apologies if this is in the wrong area

 

[albear]

I've just realised that this prob shouldnt be in this section.

sorry!

 

[EvolutionVI]

For that money,you can buy a GTS-t in good condition,or a R32GTR in normal condition,why not going this way,better then repairing a car without power:sadwavey:

 

[Caoboth]

Yup you can buy mine for around that in about a months time

Rather modified R33 GTST (about 400bhp)


Andy

 

[Cardiff R33]

yep, sell your non turbo for cheap and just buy a 32 gtr or 32 gts-t

 

[DaleHarrison]

First of all, I think that is a cracking post. It is nicely worded

For my two pennies, I would have to say that by the tone of your post you're not overly enthralled by the state of your car? You also seem old enough to have owned a TVR, so my question is that why not either attempt to sell it as it is and put the money you are about to throw at it towards something with more beef, or just scrap it and start again (if it really is that bad)

Performance wise, your looking at tuning a normally aspirated engine, which to get big gains is hard work without spending a fortune.

Turbo'd cars see much much better gains for much less cash, and if your looking at an RB engine (be it RB25 or 26) both are strong engines as standard, and as thus will take much more than standard power without uprating internal parts (stage 1 tuning)

E.g. A fairly low state of tune R33 GTST will be costing you between £4-6k (that is a bit of a guess mind you) - this car will already as standard have a lot more power (and more importantly more torque) than your current car, so instantly you have gains. Then the likely hood of it not being standard is also remote, which despite old whispers is not always a bad thing. E.g. finding a car with an exhaust and filter filled will instantly save you nearly a grand! and also offer you yet more performance.

If you throw your 6k + whatever you make for your existing car (shed?) you'll be looking at something much much better and more fulfilling.

Hope that helps a bit

 

[albear]

Thanks for the advice and kind words. : )

To be honest I had no idea they were going for so cheap! but having just checked AutoTrader there appear to be some very nice models of the GTS for around 5K!

Basically what happened to the old car... was that it got nicked from my driveway, and the clever Insurance method I was using at the time didnt cover me for theft (hey I was young and foolish... I needed the money) anyway, that was a few years ago, and I now insure properly. but it has left me with a car that I love, but in all probability is a write off.

I havent attempted to sell it because I was under the illusion that if I spent a bit on it, I'd get alot back, but I think I'm beginning to realise my delusions for what they truly are.

The question is, is what do I do with the old skyline?

I think you guys are right, it would be far better to just buy another GTS...a proper one with gears and stuff!

 

[DaleHarrison]

Thanks for the advice and kind words. : )

To be honest I had no idea they were going for so cheap! but having just checked AutoTrader there appear to be some very nice models of the GTS for around 5K!

Basically what happened to the old car... was that it got nicked from my driveway, and the clever Insurance method I was using at the time didnt cover me for theft (hey I was young and foolish... I needed the money) anyway, that was a few years ago, and I now insure properly. but it has left me with a car that I love, but in all probability is a write off.

I havent attempted to sell it because I was under the illusion that if I spent a bit on it, I'd get alot back, but I think I'm beginning to realise my delusions for what they truly are.

The question is, is what do I do with the old skyline?

I think you guys are right, it would be far better to just buy another GTS...a proper one with gears and stuff!

You could strip the old Skyline and race it?

Or brake it for parts? There may be a market for some of the parts, i.e. engine swaps with other cars, or there may not be that many 2.0 non turbo's about and someone may desperatly be looking for one as a spare? I would trawl the forums, advertise on Pistonheads, get the car known for exactly what it is and what you are looking to do with it, you may get lucky and someone might offer £1500 or so.....

 

[albear]

Cheers Dale, I'll have a shop about and see what I can come up with.

 

[DaleHarrison]

No worries chap!

I'm sure for that money you'll get something pretty good with lots of history....

Also, for RB25 fun and frolics check out Trackday Addicts car on here that proves what a monster the cars can be tuned too... Truly awesome.

 

[albear]

Ok, so Im getting a little carried away, but Im seriously tempted to do a straight swap with the Cerbie for this

http://www.akcherts.co.uk/showcar.asp?carID=518

Any good? anything I need to watch out for if I go and view this weekend?

 

[DaleHarrison]

Ok, so Im getting a little carried away, but Im seriously tempted to do a straight swap with the Cerbie for this

http://www.akcherts.co.uk/showcar.asp?carID=518

Any good? anything I need to watch out for if I go and view this weekend?

Looks good to me, but obviously that is only me looking at photo's and I am in no way near the most knowledgable on here (don't own an R33 for a start, just an R32)

I also have no idea how much a Cerbera is worth, from what I remember they are at the higher end of TVR's yes?

 

[albear]

Yeah, they're one of the quicker ones (0-60 = 4.2), but not as quick as the 4.5 version (0-60 = 3.9) , and they dont make them anymore so if you keep it in good nick it can keep it's price pretty well.

I bought it for 13,500 last December, and since then have spent over a grand on new tyres and Brake pads so would want around 13k for it.

Seriously tempted by a GTR, my 2 choices are either buy a GTS and pay of a few Credit cards, or blow the lot on a GTR.

I know what the sensible choice is, but...you know...GTR!!!

 

[DaleHarrison]

The Cerbera sounds fun

Understand why you want rid of it though....

To be honest with you, and I am only stressing this from personal experience, I would go with the GTST and pay off some debts. Whilst I own a GTR, and totally love it, there are a lot of people on here that will rave about a GTST as much as the next person does with his GTR. They can be awesome cars.....

Still, I personally prefer the GTR, but then again I have never driven a GTST either.....

Again, look at Trackday Addicts GTST, what a machine (not expecting you to get yours up to that spec etc, but they quite happily from what I have read make 450bhp)

Mint 1990 - 1994 R32 GTR, or Mint 1994 - 1998 R33 (/possibly R34) GTST for roughly same money?? <-- total guess!!