Carbon goodies from Japan

After being on the fence for 2 months, I finally decided to pull the trigger on some subtle carbon fibre highlights for my interior.

One thing I never liked about the CBA GT-R ( which Nissan must have known since they corrected it with the DBA) is the cheap, black rubber background for the radio/ac controls. It's RIGHT THERE in front of you, why couldn't Nissan do something about it from the getgo? The car is jam packed with technology and yet the one thing that stares you in the face every day is the cheap centre control panel.

I knew I wanted something in flat black (dry) carbon, but couldn't decide on which solution. I spent a lot of money getting real replacement CF door panels and console made for my NSX which did not age well. The console spiderweb-cracked after a few summers and the door switchgear panels warped. The bolts holding them all in place popped out after a while too. Very frustrating. My philosophy is nothing beats oem. i prefer a wrap or a adhesive panel fitted over the original console. I looked at the DBA console but found out its just a well made stick on piece. I looked into fake CF wraps, but I saw a few jobs and didn't like the risk of creases or them pulling apart after a few years of extreme temperature fluctuations.

I decided on a set of window switchgear and centre console piece from RSW of Japan

Their pieces are really well made --as good as anything from the factory. Theres a review by David Yu of GTROC HERE

eBay also have a lot of Chinese made CF stick on pieces and even though they were cheaper by about 20% I saw a couple of them on other cars and they did not have the same fitment, sported rough edges and generally cheapened an already cheap interior feature.

So a quick text message to my good friend Daryl at Tunerlab, $570.65 via PayPal and these arrived 2 weeks later:

Tribute to my R32

This was the one that started the madness.  My first GT-R, a beautifully done, almost stock 1989 BNR32 that inspired the advent of GTRCanada.com, signalled the wave of RHD JDM supercars to Canada, and most importantly, gave me kms of driving pleasure.

It was one of the very first brought into Canada legally under the 15 year import law, beaten only by my buddy Justin's nearly identical gray BNR32 by a few weeks.  With it I learned everything I know about the R32 to date, turbo cars, JDM tuning and the ins and outs of importing one for Ontario roads.

The car was found by my friend Martin Skye of Skyeservice SPL Imports in Japan and brought over in the winter of 2005.  I cannot explain what a thrill it was seeing it on Canadian soil, (covered in snow on the lot in Markham, Ontario) that very first time.  Unreal.  The culmination of months of emails, lost auctions, lost leads and frustration.

She came with period correct Blitz boost controller, GReddy FMIC and A-pillar gauges, Nismo N1 bumper ducts and side skirts, R34 inspired red valve covers and very rare Work RSZ-R 17x9 wheels shod with Toyo Trampio 255 40 R17's that I sourced separately from Yahoo auctions.  I had her inspected and tuned up at C-West in Yokohama prior to shipping.  

Incidentally it also helped a well known automotive writer named Colum Wood with his career in a small way as he found out about my car and did a little piece on it for a local newspaper. This eventually got him a job with Modified Magazine.  He currently works for Autoguide.   Here are the raw pics he took for the article. I'll try to locate or scan it and post it up here.

Buying the R35, or how I've learned to love the fat girl

After I had sold my modified 1992 NSX (see my NSX Blog here) I thought I would be happy with a 2008 Honda S2000 Club Racer (aka CR).  I owned the CR for 2 months, spent some time at the track and really appreciated its Lotus 7 like simplicity. However, in the end I craved for something greater.  I got the CR through a trade with my 1996 Skyline GT-R V-spec. I thought wanted something LHD and cheap to maintain and run on the track. I tried to like the little S2000 but the call of the GT-R was just too loud to avoid. Thus, just 8 weeks into its ownership I decided to sell it and my hunt for the R35 began.

First of all I will admit that the R35 was not high on my shopping list.  I was really looking for a newer, unmolested NSX, hopefully with the 2002+ facelift and a supercharger. I love the Honda and still think it is one of the finest automobiles ever made.  I checked NSXPrime for a few months, negotiated with a couple of prospective sellers but never found a perfect fit.  The NSX market is not like your usual used car scene.  These cars were built in small numbers and owners feel like they have a piece of history on their hands.  As well, a seller's perspective is always different when they are approached by a motivated buyer vs. them placing an ad in the media and hoping to find one.  Everyone was asking too much, even with cars I knew the history of and what they had paid previously!  Sheesh.

As well, being a Skyline guy, I had the typical RB26-powered GT-R owners' "attitude" towards the R35. It's a very capable car with assessible supercar abilities but it was not a true GT-R. It's too big, it's too heavy, it's LHD, it's not powered by a small inline 6.  It's got a face only a mother can love.  However, the more I searched for alternatives: Audi R8, Lambo Gallardo, NSX, Porsche 911 Turbos, Lotus Exige, even other R32 or R33 GT-Rs, the more sense the R35 made.  I started to appreciate its owner's community (GTRLife.com), the aftermarket support, and the fact the car takes really well to mods.  Also it would be nice to own a car built in this decade (lol) with a warranty and all the modern gadgets like GPS, voice-activated controls and that sweet mutltifunctional display.  The decision was made to go look for one.  

My only criteria was that it must be within 1 day's driving distance, low mileage, not a 2009 (with their inherent tranny issues), and hopefully either Gunmetal Gray, Titanium (very rare colour) or Silver.  Right away the obvious choice was there.  A car with 21,000 kms in gunmetal was located in Kingston, 200 kms away.  I emailed the owner, a nice mature guy who owns a bus company in town And who had originally bought it off the showroom floor in Montreal.  It's seen the track 2 times, and he's kept all receipts and work history.  Pics were offered up and we negotiated a price.  Coincidentally my cause was helped by the fact that another Ottawa doctor had wanted the same car but was BS-ing around with him over the price, which pissed him off enough to make him want to sell it to me.  Two weeks later on Oct 21, 2012 I hopped on a Viarail train to the Kingston and returned in the afternoon with my latest Godzilla.

 Pics he sent me:

  

Here she sits in my garage:

Gone but not forgotten:

Who, what, why and where (and sometimes, How).

I might as well start with a little intro.

In case you stumbled upon this blog and was not directed here via my posts on various GTR forums, social media outlets or referenced here from a friend, I'll give you a bit of background...

I'm John and I'm a certified Nissan Skyline GT-R fanatic based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Canada's been one of the countries blessed with a little automobile importation law that permits any vehicle built for foreign markets to be legally imported for our use so long as it is at least 15 years old.  In 1989, Nissan Motors Co Ltd. released a little gunmetal gray AWD car called the Skyline GT-R.  According to wikipedia:

"This car was nicknamed "Godzilla" by the Australian motoring publication Wheels in its July 1989 edition. The BNR32 (R32 GT-R) would end up winning 29 straight victories out of 29 races, in the Japanese motorsport. The GT-R proceeded to win the JGTC Group A series championship 4 years in a row, and also had success in the Australian Touring Car Championship winning from 1990–1992, until a regulation change excluded the GT-R in 1993.^[1] The Skyline GT-R (BCNR33) was also the first production car to lap theNürburgring race track in under eight minutes."

If you do the math you'll see that the R32 was legal to be landed in Canada in late 2004.  Mine arrived in 2005 and was one of the very first ones in Canada.

Before Godzilla landed, I was full of anticipation and concern.  This is a car with ZERO sales figures, parts and technical support in Canada.  How will I keep it running?  Being a big car forum user starting with my account "JohnnyZ" on the Z32 forum, Twinturbo.net, I decided to start an online forum called GTRCanada.com.  Original goals were very modest.  I figured we'd probably get at most 20-50 GT-Rs and assorted Skylines brought in by import car nerds like me.  All I wanted was a means to get group buys going for parts like brakes, belts, gaskets, etc.from Japan to save shipping.  Maybe we'd have a swap meet every so often, or a nice cruise.  When membership reached 100 members, we even celebrated and gave the user "Anton" a special title.  After 9 years, we now have over 32,000 members.  I say "we", but really it should be "they" as I sold GTRC to Daryl Henwood in 2010.  At the time I was just getting too tired of running the forums, haven't owned a GT-R for over 5 years, and just thought time was right to pass the reins on to someone who could inject new life into the forums.  Little did I know I would buy a beautiful midnight purple R33 in 2011 which eventually was traded for a gunmetal gray 2010 R35 in Sept. 2012.  Life works in funny ways.

But hey, this is not a blog about GTRCanada, it's about my love of all things Skyline (and Nissan) GT-R.

I plan to use this place to document the build of my current 2010 R35,  reminisce about my past Skylines (the 1989 gunmetal gray BNR32 and 1996 purple BCNR33), the community in Canada and internationally, post breathtaking glamour pics of these cars, and my talk about my occasional forways on the track.

Please come back often to see what is up.  I just ask you to be civil, mature and keep language on a PG level as my kids may read this in the future.

Happy motoring,
John ("JZ") C.

New year, new car, new blog.

Welcome to my blog.