A Nissan 200SX is fast. A Nissan Skyline GT-R is faster. A GT-R with a monster turbo, lumpy cams and a full set of slicks is even faster again. But the question is: when do these fast road cars start becoming racecars? Hmm. That'd be when the car has terrible low-down torque, can't be driven in the wet or over patchy roads, refuses to idle at less than 1500 rpm and is frequently in the workshop for repairs. That is a racecar pretending to be a streetcar.
Allan Masters, however, owns a bloody fast street car. When he bought this R33 GT-R V-spec about two years back, he started of with what is already an extremely flexible-driving 13-second road racer. Back in those days it was all stock - except for a Japanese-fitted HKS cat-back exhaust. But when Allan decided to go for more power, he didn't go for the kind of stuff that traded off the car's strong drive-around-in-traffic capabilities. Monster turbos were a long way off Mr Master's list...
Quite wisely, however, the first move Allan made (along with his trusted workshop, Performance Metal Craft) was replacing the stock GT-R twin turbos. The standard-fitment are notorious for having their ceramic turbines crumble apart, so Allan moved to a set of steel wheel turbos - just to be safe. Together with just an ever-so-slight increase in compressor size, the resulting trade-off to transient boost response went completely unnoticed - but the upshot was that he could now (safely) increase boost pressure. Prior to that wastegate actuator tinkering, however, some more breathing was necessary for both the intake and exhaust. Out came the standard Skyline GT-R airbox and in went dual K&N pod filters on the end of two curved lengths of pipe. Each bolts to the standard twin airflow meters. Next came replacing the Japanese cat-back exhaust system. Performance Metal Craft toiled away under the car installing HKS stainless turbo dump pipes, twin 2½-inch front pipes with dual cats, merging into a 4-inch main pipe with the HKS Super Drager polished rear box carried over from before. Both the intake and exhaust yielded noticeable gains in peak power and driveability - a rare win-win situation.
The lads from Performance Metal Craft went about their mods cleverly - that's why they held off increasing boost pressure until the intercooling was improved. Maximum cooling and airflow is now delivered by a mega-thick Performance Metal Craft bar-and-plate speciality, bolted into the cavity of the standard 'cooler. With a temperature probe located just before the plenum chamber, Allan says the hottest charge temp he's ever seen is around 35 degrees C (on a 30 degree day).
And now came the stage that involved spinning those steel-wheeled turbos a little harder. (Incidentally, no one here at AutoSpeed could have held off that long!) Out came the standard (mapped for Japanese fuel) ECU and in its place was pugged an A'PEXi Power FC adjustable computer. It was plug-in playtime. Ian - together with David Alexander from Silverwater Auto - got stuck into setting the RB26's fuel and ignition parameters and - yes - they increased boost pressure pretty significantly. One point two Bar pressure is now put into the engine - enough to get good power gains, but not enough to jeopardise reliability. Grins all round. With increased boost pressure, however, comes increased crankcase breathing. Rather than enabling breathed oil to enter the intake air tract, Performance Metal Craft whipped up a beautiful polished catch can, which is linked to opposite sides of the rocker cover.
Not long after this stage of development, Allan was reading a story on adjustable cam wheels. He nearly fell over when he saw how much power and flexibility they gave. Following this, he tracked down a pair of HKS cam sprockets and let Ian adjust each one for the best-looking torque curve - the fattest! Allan claims the final adjustment netted a 12kW power hike at the wheels.
With this list of street-tame engine mods, Allan's R33 is certainly far and away quicker than any stocker. To give you a guide how much quicker, you only need to consider that in standard form this car once pushed 130kW at the wheels (on a Dyno Dynamics chassis dyno). It now makes 204kW - a whopping power increase of nearly 60%! So it's no shock that the (as delivered) Nismo clutch wore out - an Exedy twin plate clutch is now called upon to transfer torque from flywheel to driveline.
On the outside, the street-practical theme is effectively carried over. Bodily, this R33 GT-R V-spec is a stocker - the rear wing and massive front bumper/spoiler are 100% standard. The only cosmetic mod is a new set of rims, which - to be honest - we doubt could be bettered in the looks department. And what are they, you ask? 18 by 10 inches of Altstadt's finest. These big feet - and the 265/35 Falken rubbers - fill the guards completely. Super keen-eyed GT-R fans may also notice a couple of other subtle additions - the gold GT-R badges and the www.hioctaneracing.com.au stickers along the bottom of front spoiler and the rear bumper.
Somewhere along the build-up path, Allan also had the standard V-spec suspension upgraded to accommodate the extra urge. Again, it was a straightforward street-friendly alteration. The body is set slightly closer to the bitumen thanks to 1½ inch lowered springs, and damping is now up to Bilsteins. Thankfully, it's not the sort of set-up that sends shockwaves through your spine every time you hit a bump. The V-spec brakes were also improved upon. An effective gain has come with the fitment of Pagid pads (of the appropriate heat range) and slotted rotors.
There's no obtrusive roll cage or impractical fixed seating to frustrate you aboard beauty. Allan has left much of Nissan's factory refinement in place - such as the carbon fibre dash inlays, the white-faced dials and the highly supportive seats. However, Nissan's effort with the audio system has been aced by a Rockford Fosgate CD/tuner, which heads two Clarion amps and a Rockford Fosgate sub in the rear. It's removable for the sake of practicality - of course. The only other aftermarket components inside are a Razo gear knob, the FC Commander handset, an intake air temperature display, a radar detector and a 320 km/h Nizmo speed dial. Those last two, incidentally, work hand-in-hand. Allan's been "saved" on more than a few occasions!
So is this a perfect streetcar?
Nearly. You see, being so desirable and downright sexy lookin', it does attract some unwanted attention. Allan's wife - Raelene - had one major run-in. While filling the car with groceries and holding onto their baby girl, two thugs grabbed her from behind. They told her to keep quiet and get out of the way and then proceeded to try to rip off the car. Luckily, though, it's equipped with an immobiliser and they left GT-R-less.
Geez, and you thought that suss-looking people eyeing your car off was bad!
Not surprisingly, Raelene now refuses to drive the car again. And that puts Allan in the situation where he's had to assess ownership - of the GT-R... The final decision (after some painful consideration!) is to sell it. So - if you want a genuinely arse-whipping streetcar - why not get in contact with him on 0412 865 252. The asking price is around $70,000. And how will Allan be able to replace a vehicle such as this? Well, Allan's a Kiwi - so he's gonna check out if there's any loop-holes through which he can bring in an R34 GT-R...
Contacts:
Performance Metal Craft
+61 2 9638 2419
sales@hioctaneracing.com.au
Silverwater Auto
+61 2 9748 1300
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