The Pittsburgh Thread

[Seer]

Originally Posted by AKA

Hope I'm not to late. The real Gtrs are going single turbo. I lived in Japan for 18 months while in the Marines. I owned a Skyline GTR R32 and my roommate had a Sylvia. We both went single turbo. Hell most of the guys I knew had single turbo. And this is before America ever heard of drifting. The highest HP Skylines had single turbos. Now the new GTR I have no idea. I wouldn't buy a car that's an auto so I was never interested in what they do with it. It looks sick but I think they took the fun out of it with the auto.

The real GT-R's also used inline 6 engines, the new R35 is a V6.

Same reason the Supra owners also convert from Sequential turbo (not twin) to Single, a single bank of cylinders being stuffed with a large compressor is going to be more efficient since the lag is too great of one bank spinning a smaller compressor which in turn spins a larger one, which then feeds the motor. As long as the proper supporting mods are done.

Do some top half work with upgraded cams and a worked head, and you see the inline 6 cars pushing some big air to spool those larger singles quicker. But with two banks pushign equal airflow to efficiently sized twins, they will outdo a large single for a fast street/strip car and give a much more usable power band.

[AKA]

Originally Posted by Swacer

A R32 Skyline GTR is on my "hope to one day have list"

You'll hate me for this one. I only paid $6500 for it. The worst part though, when I left I gave it to my roommate to sell for me when he left the island. He transferred out and I never seen a penny from him. We were friends for over 5 years and he ripped me off.

[Swacer]

Originally Posted by AKA

You'll hate me for this one. I only paid $6500 for it. The worst part though, when I left I gave it to my roommate to sell for me when he left the island. He transferred out and I never seen a penny from him. We were friends for over 5 years and he ripped me off.

.....wow. What an awful friend. Sad...when you think you know people.

And that is completely depressing...I would have paid you $5K and then shipped that car over here. Sigh...my dream is to have a R32, R34, and a R35 in the same garage. If I had to pick 2, I'd go R34 and R35...but I do love a nice R32.

[AKA]

Originally Posted by Swacer

.....lol

I would have paid you $5K and then shipped that car over here. Sigh...my dream is to have a R32 and a R35 in the same garage.

A SSgt I worked with shipped his back. It sat in customs for a few years. He never got it to pass safety requirements. He sold it to company that said it would never be driven on the street so customs didnt give them a vin or any "street legal" paperwork. Trust me, I wanted to but it wasn't worth the headache. A few years after I came back a company in California figured out a way to get them hear legally. Story of my life, just a bit too late.

[Seer]

Originally Posted by Swacer

.....wow. What an awful friend. Sad...when you think you know people.

And that is completely depressing...I would have paid you $5K and then shipped that car over here. Sigh...my dream is to have a R32, R34, and a R35 in the same garage. If I had to pick 2, I'd go R34 and R35...but I do love a nice R32.

Lot harder than you think, most get confiscated.

You can try jdm of florida though and purchase through them but they mark their cars up to high heaven and still do not guarantee import legality.

561-713-6053

[Seer]

Originally Posted by AKA

A SSgt I worked with shipped his back. It sat in customs for a few years. He never got it to pass safety requirements. He sold it to company that said it would never be driven on the street so customs didnt give them a vin or any "street legal" paperwork. Trust me, I wanted to but it wasn't worth the headache. A few years after I came back a company in California figured out a way to get them hear legally. Story of my life, just a bit too late.

Motorex? They got shut down by Customs.

[AKA]

Originally Posted by Seer

Motorex? They got shut down by Customs.

Oh. Maybe that's why I seen a R32 for sale that said registered as a 300zx.

[Swacer]

Originally Posted by AKA

Oh. Maybe that's why I seen a R32 for sale that said registered as a 300zx.

hahahaha. They gotta sneak them in somehow.

[Swacer]

Originally Posted by Seer

Lot harder than you think, most get confiscated.

You can try jdm of florida though and purchase through them but they mark their cars up to high heaven and still do not guarantee import legality.

561-713-6053

I tried a couple places in florida when I graduated college because I really wanted a R34...the prices they wanted were out of hand. I could almost get a used R35 for the price they wanted for the R34.

[PittPaz]

Didn't they go out and round up a model year of the imported GTRs because of the safety inspections?

[Seer]

There is no "legal" way to import a Skyline into the US.

The cars you see on the street have vin plates from similar Nissan models. For instance a lot of Skylines have vinplates from totalled 240 or 300ZX.

What motorex was doing was bringing them in through Canada since the vehicle is legal there and trying to get them imported as a Nissan 240. They got shut down quickly.

The car does not meet US Crash and Safety standards nor was it ever tested to. The only way to get that approved is to donate X amount of these cars (I believe the # was around 50) to the US Department of Transportation for safety testing, then the car would get certifed if it passes after a number of fees are paid.
This is something the Skyline could not do.
In short, I don't care what your uncle's brother's nephews best friend tells you. The Skyline is not a legal car to drive in the US, if you see one, it has a vin plate and is registered as a different vehicle. If you wreck it or wreck it into someone, hope your lawyer is on speed dial.

Or it's not registered at all.

[AKA]

When I lived in San Diego I seen a few on the street. One guy raced his at Pikes Peak and crushed records. I talked to him at hot import nights and he told me California DMV wouldn't renew his registration on it. They wanted like $15000 in safety work done.

[Seer]

Originally Posted by AKA

When I lived in San Diego I seen a few on the street. One guy raced his at Pikes Peak and crushed records. I talked to him at hot import nights and he told me California DMV wouldn't renew his registration on it. They wanted like $15000 in safety work done.

If the state ok's it, next impossible feat is finding an insurance company for it. State's don't issue VIN's, the Federal government does...

[PittPaz]

Originally Posted by Seer

There is no "legal" way to import a Skyline into the US.

The cars you see on the street have vin plates from similar Nissan models. For instance a lot of Skylines have vinplates from totalled 240 or 300ZX.

What motorex was doing was bringing them in through Canada since the vehicle is legal there and trying to get them imported as a Nissan 240. They got shut down quickly.

The car does not meet US Crash and Safety standards nor was it ever tested to. The only way to get that approved is to donate X amount of these cars (I believe the # was around 50) to the US Department of Transportation for safety testing, then the car would get certifed if it passes after a number of fees are paid.
This is something the Skyline could not do.
In short, I don't care what your uncle's brother's nephews best friend tells you. The Skyline is not a legal car to drive in the US, if you see one, it has a vin plate and is registered as a different vehicle. If you wreck it or wreck it into someone, hope your lawyer is on speed dial.

Or it's not registered at all.

Not true. I remembered reading an article about this. Found some info:

While R32 - R34 Skylines were initially allowed for import, the FHTSA rescinded the importation of the majority of Skylines by limiting it to R33's that were manufactured between January 1996 and June 1998. In order to import a Skyline, an official RI must be used and they must fill out a HS-7 declaration for the vehicle. If the vehicle is to be used on the streets then the RI has 120 days in order to modify the vehicle to pass FHVSS requirements. The only company that has information in regards to Federally legalize R33's is JK technologies. No other RI has access to this information nor are they capable of performing the upgrades needed for Federal legalization. It is possible for another RI to Federally legalize R33 Skylines but they will have to first go though the costly process that Morotex/JK Technologies has already performed and as of this time none have done so.

Basically it had to do with the inspections. They imported, tested, and crash tested R32, R33, and R34 models. Then it was found out they didn't comply with all of the test requirements. That was when they retracted the status for R32 and R34 models (and thus went out and seized them, as I referenced earlier).

Looks like it's technically still possible to import the R33s referenced above, but not feasible. I'd imagine there are still some of those that were brought over legally in existence.

Edit: Misread. The second part of my statement still stands for those brought in previously through Morotex.