When you’ve always had a soft spot for the Z-Tune, but don’t have the bank account to match, you do what you can! Read on as we recount the 2 yr build of our 1999 R34 GT-R from oddly styled misfit into something more pleasing to the eye.
Since my first R33 GTST, I’d been a “Nissan guy”, but it wasn’t until my brief love affair with a series 2 R33 GT-R V-Spec that the infatuation really set in. I was in my 20s back then and it was obvious I was going to lose my license or go broke if I kept daily driving these things, so I did the sensible thing and sold up, but told myself I’d be back when maturity and finances allowed.
It’s now late 2015, GT-R prices have slowly been falling, and the Nissan itch is still as strong as ever. I’m actively tracking the S13 by this point, but it’s a dedicated race car, and the time is right to buy a weekender, so the hunt begins! I looked at quite a few cars and its obvious time hasn’t been kind, everything is really showing its age with rust, crash damage, or questionable mods and treatment.
Carsales alerts are configured for price and ks and when a notification tells me something new has met the criteria, I’m pretty skeptical at first glance. The mismatched bonnet/bumper/guards and boot lid all say “crashed”, but the ad reads well, the mods list is fairly limited, and after an initial enquiry the current owner appears to be sensible bloke.
It’s a 3hr drive to inspect so more photos are requested first, the owner is very accommodating, even though I’ve straight up implied the car is crash damaged, but every pic he sends gives further confirmation that he’s serious when he says the visuals are simply a styling choice and the car is actually very clean and straight – right, I’ve gotta go see this for myself…
I’m not the easiest buyer and I go over the thing with a fine-tooth comb while grilling the seller for details. He’s immensely patient throughout, and I even go as far as to comp test the car in his driveway – the numbers are spot on. The car has a few minor cosmetic blemishes and I spot a small oil leak, but otherwise it’s genuinely in good condition, as expected with a paper trail and odometer reading of just over 85ks.
We make a deal, I pack up the spare parts in the accompanying vehicle and we head for home. Reality sets in as random motorists smile and wave as I cruise along the highway, I’m back in a GT-R. It’s a little stiffly sprung and you forget how convenient cruise control is, but it otherwise drives quite nicely as I settle in and enjoy the drive home spending the time to familiarise myself with the car, I cannot stop playing with the MFD, so cool.
I give the car another more thorough inspection at home, removing trim pieces, covers, and anything else that might be hiding something nasty, it really does seem like a good egg. I get straight into replacing some seal, addressing the leaking catch can, and doing a full service of all fluids. The bumper, bonnet, guards, and boot are all removed and sent for painting while I sort a rear spoiler, some high mount stands, and a V-Spec front diffuser.
Everything comes a back looking excellent and I get to fitting. I also opt to get the headlights re-cleared while it’s all apart and paint the Greddy air guide black to match the theme. While the guards are off, I source, paint and fit some appropriate looking mesh as per the factory look and swap out the coloured wheel units for some fresh black units. – It’s coming together nicely.
With the exterior mostly sorted, I crack on with acquiring the parts needed to bring the car up to around the same power level as the Z-Tune had from factory. My memory is hazy, and I’m sure someone will correct me, but I recall the prototype used the Z1 engine making around 600bhp while the 19 production Z Tune’s used the Z2 engine which was rated at 500bhp – I settled on 500+rwhp as the target. At this stage the car only has an exhaust, ARC airbox, a bit more boost, and basic tune, which although similar to the R33 GT-R I had previously, seems awfully slow for this car.
The budget doesn’t allow for a 2.8L stroker and a V Cam and while we all know a good modern single is better than twins, I want the car to look legal, clean, and be semi period correct so the call is made to stick with twins. I’m on the fence about -9s vs -10s, but decide to take the punt on being able to stretch -9s, against the advice of SAU, with the idea that suitable supporting mods (cams, valve springs, cam gears, flex fuel setup, etc) will make up the top end difference and allow me to keep the response.
I end up diving down the efficiency rabbit hole a bit deeper than intended and basically going over the entire intake and exhaust tract refining everything as I go. I made a few trips to the dyno in this phase, testing to confirm the upgrades are working, and even win a friendly bet with the tuner that big, enclosed pods will outperform the factory airbox fitted with a panel filter (The ARC box long gone by this stage). On the big K&Ns the car picks up an extra 13kws and few PSI in the top end. A custom exhaust is mated up to the lovely HPI dumps/front pipe and I go as far as sourcing N1 cast factory manifolds to gain a bit more efficiency to keep it period correct. I dress up the engine bay a little as I go with new fasteners, oil cap, colour matching/painting etc.
The final recipe for power and supporting mods ends up looking like this;
– JSAI pod enclosure
– Big K&N pods and adapters
– KTS Suction pipes (custom modified, extra nipple removed and smoothed, painted)
-Custom AFM delete pipes
– Aeroflow joiners for the above
– Modified Twin Turbo pipe with divider, painted
– Plazmaman Pro Series 76mm Intercooler
– Full length FRP radiator air guide
– Garrett GT2859R-9 Turbos
– N1 manifolds
– HPI 3″ dumps
– HPI 3.5″ front pipe
– Fully custom 3.5″ v-band exhaust, custom cat, magnaflow mid muffler, Apexi rear muffler
– ARP head studs
– Adjustable Cam gears
– Custom catch can
– Aero flow 400 series hose
– ID 1000CC E85 Injectors
– Splitfire coilpacks
– HKS oil cooler
– Walbro 440LPH E85 Safe Fule Pump
– Haltech Platnium Pro, running Map sensor
– Haltech Flex fuel kit
– Haltech oil pressure kit
– Haltech wideband kit
– Haltech mini I/O expander
– ATS Twin Plate Carbon Clutch
– Nismo engine and transmission mounts
