Double Zilla
Sometimes you never know what you are going to get in an email. A couple of months back we received an email from a young fan of the site telling us about how his father owns not one but two Nissan GTR’s. In Ireland the GTR is not exactly a common site to begin with so after a quick exchange of details we decided to pack the car and head to Cashel to check this out for ourselves. I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing; this was a pretty awesome sight to behold.
We should start with his R33 which was what began this owner’s love for the Skyline. The 33 which is finished in Midnight Purple looked pretty menacing. It was a slightly surreal experience to be seeing someone who enjoys driving and taking care of two of these beauties in one of the most unsuspecting places. The front end has the 400R bumper and has the 40th Anniversary front grill with gold GTR Badge.
That colour is simply amazing, the day was pretty bleak and the locations were limited so we made our way to the back of a church and began snapping against mother nature. The colour is so dark and really is the best colour on the 33. That Ionic back end with the addition of a Carbon blade spoiler is never a dull sight.
Inside was an array of Nismo goodies, Nismo gauges, clocks, carbon effect dash and Nismo gear knob.
What was equally impressive about this story is the fact these cars are daily driven. You always have to admire stories like that in a country with crippling road tax and petrol fees. Other goodies hiding inside were a pretty rare centre strut brace standard seats to enjoy a level of comfort and a rear strut brace.
The wheel choice was quite a rare one also, a set of Work Amkread 3 piece wheels with black spokes with pretty deep offsets wrapped in Michelin rubber 275/55/18s.
Under the bonnet lurks the ever so mighty RB26 DETT with an ARC intercooler. It was nice to see such a shiny heart in this car for such a daily driven machine. Ireland has such a habit of making anything shiny look pretty miserable pretty quickly.
There was an array of custom shiny pieces like this one off Custom stainless steel strut brace, a set of HKS super sequential blow off valves, hard pipe and induction kit, a shiny Koyo Radiator, HKS intercooler elbows, a custom oil catch can with stainless steel hoses and a mirror finish centre plaque.
I loved everything about this 33, it was just a skyline on steroids. The way it should be, the engine bay was full but for a reason. Over the years you become numb to the R33 because of the saturation this country had in standard GTS variants. This 33 reminded us why the R33 even existed, it’s not very often you get the chance to see one like this in our country so it was nice to have a look around at such an enjoyable example, this would look at home doing a 300kmph run on the Wangan.
Let’s move on to the second car enjoyed by this owner, an R32 GTR. Imagine waking up every day and looking out at these two beauties. This one is pretty much a timeless example. I really couldn’t get over how clean this example was. Not a single mark or chip on the exterior.
I know many of you out there are as big of fans of the 32 as we are; it was nice to come across one in this condition hiding in the most unexpected of places. None of the plastics on the outside of this car have even been damaged from the UV rays, not a single spec of rust the owner was telling us, which is rare for a car this old.
There’s a complete set of original Nismo body improvements consisting of: intercooler surround, intercooler ducts in the bumper, bonnet lip, side skirt extensions, rear spats and rear lip spoiler.
The back end was fitted with an R35 GT-R rear badge, D Speed clear/smoked front indicators, high intensity LED rear reverse lights / fog light combination (Fitted into original rear reverse light clusters) and Nismo style LED tail lights.
The shoes for this car were a timeless combination. The 32 is fitted with BBS LM’s in 17 x 9.0 + 20, complete with BBS matching nuts and lock. Tyres are Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R’s,a proper grip machine. The Brakes were upgraded to R33 GTR variants with Nismo R-tune pads. Suspension modifications include Ohlins coilovers with Nismo rear links upper and lower.
The interior is just as enjoyable as the outside, more or less stock with the addition of some pretty nice goodies like these pretty rare mines centre gauges.
Everywhere you look are little Nismo touches with a background immaculate goodness.
This thing is incredibly clean I couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated as I climbed in to take some pictures. It is always a nice experience to get a chance to be inside one of your dream cars, and as people always say never meet your heroes this was one of those moments where that statement was very very wrong.
Under the engine bay the bright red RB lump was reminding us just how impressive these cars were. The car was tuned by mines in Japan as it is powered by a mines VX rom ECU, allowing the car to run more boost in combination with an increase in fuelling. Currently this 32 is running a bar of boots which the owner told us is more than adequate for his needs. A good look around the bay reveals a HKS SPF induction kit and an ARC intercooler.
Other extras include a HKS hard pipe kit and radiator hoses with Earls fittings. The original blow-off valves have been replaced with a single SARD racing kit. The Oil cooler is the best we’ve seen on a BNR32: It includes a large heat exchanger combined with a smaller A/C condenser, sited in front of the radiator together with Earl’s fittings, something the owner couldn’t find at first as it’s such a tidy installation! There’s a Suono Hot Earth wiring kit to improve ignition performance while Boost is controlled by an HKS EVC 5, an exhaust upgrade consist of uprated ATTKD front pipe in combination with an HKS Super Dragger cat-back system.
The Nissan Skyline is easily the most recognisable and most desirable of the Japanese super cars. We really don’t need to write a paragraph as to why, many of you reading this already know about the legendary R32, or the 300kmph runs of the 33 throughout the late 90s and early Millennium. As the day came to an end we stood back and just marvelled at two complete works of art. Both cars are very tastefully modified and are completely timeless.
No trend or phase will ever intrude on these cars and their status, two seriously untouchable Japanese super stars; it must be a pretty awesome feeling to own these two beauties, to say I’m not jealous would be a complete lie. I’m just glad they are in the right hands and the owner’s son contacted us, what a good way spend a dreary Sunday enjoying two of Ireland’s most enjoyable Nissans.
BCNR33
Wheels/Tires/Suspension/Handling
18 inch Works Amkread (3 piece)
Michelin 275/35/18
Brand new Meister R fully adjustable Coilovers
Standard GTR Brembos
Exterior
Midnight Purple
Nismo 400R Front Bumper
Carbon Blade Spoiler
40th Anniversary Front Grill with Gold GTR Badge
Engine
RB26 DETT
KOYORAD Large Core Aluminum Rad
ARC Intercooler
HKS Intercooler Elbows
HKS Super Sequential Blow off valves
Apexi AVC-R boost controller
Custom Oil Catch Can with Stainless Braided hosing
One off Stainless Steel Strut brace
Jap-Speed full exhaust System
HKS Hardpipe
Full HKS Twin Induction Kit with Custom Piping
Samco Hose kit
Various Mirror Finish Compartment Covers
Engine finished in Gloss black with Silver and Gold Sparkles
Mirrow finish centre plaque with “Midnight Godzilla” engraved
Aluminum Slam panel
Tein Bonnet Dampers
Interior
Standard GTR Bucket Seats
Momo Chapion Steering Wheel
Nismo Gear Knob
Nismo Carbon Effect Dash
Nismo Clocks
Pioneer Radio/CD with 6 CD Changer
Centre Strut-brace (very rare)
Rear Standard Strut-Brace
BNR32
Wheels/Tires/Suspension/Handling
BBS LM’s of size 17 x 9.0 + 20
BBS Wheel Nuts
Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R’s
Ohlins Coilovers
Nismo rear links upper & lower
Nismo Upper links
HKS Kansai strut brace
Nismo R-tune sports brake pads
R33 GTR Brakes
Exterior
Nismo intercooler surround
Nismo intercooler ducts
Nismo Bonnet Lip
Nismo Side skirt extensions
Nismo rear spats
Nismo rear lip spoiler
Engine
RB26 DETT
Mines VX Rom ECU
HKS SPF induction kit
ARC intercooler
Suono Hot Earth wiring kit
HKS EVC 5
ATTKD front pipe
HKS Super Dragger cat-back system
Earls fittings
HKS hard pipe kit
Single SARD Racing Blow off valve kit
Interior
R34 GT-R floor mats
Fire Extinguisher
Personal Steering wheel
Nismo horn cap
Mines centre cauges
Alpine CDA 9668i 200W head unit
Alpine DD Drive with remote tweeters
Nismo Gear knob
Clifford alarm / immobiliser
Trial carbon door-sill covers