Feature: Reubens C33 In A Happy Place - Juiceboxforyou

“This is my happy face in the happy place” these were the exact words Reuben shouted as we shot his pride and joy on the large bend at Ruskodgen. Back in 2013, we took a trip to Gatebil to see what the fuss was all about, and it blew our minds. It was like nothing we had ever seen before.

V10 BMW engines in Supras, Supra engines in Sierras, these Scandinavians didn’t take no for an answer and pretty much shoehorned every engine and car configuration the mind could imagine.

Fast forward to 2017 and Reuben had been back to Gatebil pretty much every single year since 2013, except this time he wanted to bring his car with him, a vehicle which Reuben had purchased super cheap in Japan to flip and make money.

When the C33 landed in Ireland, Reuben picked it up from the docks and brought it home to Waterford. We had never seen a C33 before, and it quickly grew on Reuben, the pillarless doors, the already fitted RB 25 and the gangster styling. This thing was super cool.

It came with some dodgy 17-inch wheels which threw the car off big time. One night after lurking the web for numerous hours, we borrowed a set of Buddy Club P1 wheels from a friend in 15×7 with a 4×114.3 offset. We threw them onto the Laurel, and it quickly dawned on us just how good these cars look with smaller wheels. This car was going nowhere; you could see that Reuben had very fallen for its charming looks.

He managed to pick a set of 16 inch SSR meshes up in Japan and couldn’t wait for them to ship. Once they landed, we fitted them to the C33, and that’s when I knew this car was an absolute keeper. The wheels and a quick adjustment of the ride height, along with a rare front lip Reuben managed to source from yahoo transformed the look.

It passed our local inspection and very quickly became Reubens daily driver, when it was just plain black it looked brilliant, like a fancy executive sedan from the late eighties Japanese golden years.

The 16’s were a nod back to the mid 90s drift scene in Japan, and the car looked like it rolled out of an old magazine from that era.

One day Reuben rang me out of the blue, he wanted to bring the C33 to Gatebil and bring it out on the track. Very quickly he hatched a plan, to drive from our shed to Norway and back with a van and trailer.

Over the next few weeks, he began making a list of what the car needed and starting plucking parts off of the list. He gave himself three months to have the Laurel up to Gatebil standard, or at least to a state in which the car could handle a couple of days worth of abuse.

He also had the idea to do an old-school livery on the car. Both of us chatted, and Reuben showed me an image of an R32 skyline with an Advan livery, this car had stuck in his brain for many years.

The Laurel was already black, so we were halfway there. We sat around for a couple of hours one night and drew up a loose idea of what how the C33 would look.

We used the Advan Group A BNR32 for reference. Reuben was born in 1984 but liked the look of 1983 better; we selected a few choice logos for the bottom of the homemade side skirts; these were made with a DIY store drain pipe and look the part.

The livery would be simple, or at least that’s what we were led to believe. We realised that the spacing between the Advan lines is crucial and we actually based the measurements off of the actual space between the Advan triangle logo, we just enlarged it for the side of the car. Doing this gave us the exact spacing and made the whole livery look that little bit more legit.

Reuben had the bumpers wrapped professionally, and we tackled the rest ourselves. I’m sure most of you guys have seen that vlog by now, the one where we pulled the all-nighter as Reuben was heading to catch a ferry the very next day for Gatebil.

In 2017, I was just after purchasing the AE86 so unfortunately, I couldn’t make the first journey with the guys. I promised Reuben id to be there the year after and made it my mission to shoot his car when the sun was setting on the main bend.

The light is perfect just after seven and its such a pleasant experience shooting this beauty after a day of drifting.

The Laurel held up to a year’s worth of abuse and at the time of shooting these snaps, two Gatebils. The trusty standard RB25 kept on giving. After these photos, the car went on to have many more incredible adventures which you will see in some of the upcoming videos.

It was a pleasure to be apart of this build and to get these photographs in of the car Reubens happy place. I couldn’t think of a better setting for one of my favourite cars.

Reuben is the perfect example of someone having a good time with a reliable, modest streetcar which can still hang with the big boys on track and even be driven home afterwards. Its the perfect all-round enjoyable setup.

I’ll list the spec below for anyone interested.

Engine
2.5-litre RB25DET, standard internals & headgasket
Walbro 255lph fuel pump
Sard 550cc injectors
Z32 AFM
Trust Airnix air filter
HKS front-mount intercooler
A’PEXi Power FC engine management system
Garrett GT3071R, Garrett 0.82AR modified turbine housing
TiAL MVR 46mm wastegate,
Splitfire coilpacks
Custom exhaust with two silencers
Nismo engine & gearbox mounts
Custom intercooler piping,
GReddy aluminium radiator
Trust 13-row oil cooler

Drivetrain
RB20DET 5-speed manual gearbox
ACT clutch
Nismo slave cylinder
Braided clutch house
Kaaz 2-way LSD

Suspension/Brakes
D-Max D1 specification coilovers
Driftworks Geomaster 2 front race hub knuckles
Driftworks Geomaster tension rods
Modified front cross member so steering rack sits 25mm further forwards
SuperPro steering rack bushes
Driftworks Geomaster inner tie-rods
Uras non-offset rack spacers
Solid steering bush
Driftworks rear camber arms
R32 GT-R full brake conversion
Endless CCX front brake pads
Project Mu R32 GT-R front discs
Project Mu NS400 rear pads
Project Mu D1 specification rear inner shoes
HEL front & rear braided brake lines

Wheels
SSR Formula Mesh 16×8-inch +12 (front)
16×8-inch +/-0 (rear), 205/50R16 Advan AD08R

Exterior
Custom Advan livery
Custom side skirts,
Rolled arches
Okuto FRP front lip
FRP Front vented wings

Interior
Rear seats removed
Cusco/Safety21 roll cage
GReddy oil & water temperature gauges
A’PEXi oil and boost pressure gauges
Recaro SPG driver’s seat
R32 GT-R passenger seat
Trust Gearknob
Kenwood CD & MiniDisc player
Kenwood door speakers