Hi,
I've been a member of this Forum making the most of it's wealth of information for sometime now and as I've pretty well completed the restoration of my R33 GT (N/A) Skyline I thought that while I'm laid up convalescing after an operation that It's about time I contributed and shared some it's journey for any that are interested or thinking of doing the same.
After seeing ?Naturally Aspirated? some of you may think the same as a few of my friends and wonder why restore something without a Turbo so maybe a bit about me and how I came to be doing this might help explain some of my perceived madness.
Being in my mid 50's it's likely I'm not the youngest member here although I like to hope I'm also not the eldest either...ha! Over the years in-between harder times and a few heaps of rubbish I've been lucky enough to have had a few half decent cars, well they were half decent at the time and have included both the Opel Manta A (1.9lt SR) and Manta B (1.9lt Berlinetta), Opel SR Kadett and a Nissan 200sx (S14) but ever since I was fortunate enough to have had a Datsun 240z in my early 20's I've always had a fondness for the Japanese straight 6 engine and have since had both the R33 GT and R34 GTT Skyline.
I acquired my first Skyline the R33 GT (n/a) after my 200SX was stolen around about October 2000 (good can come from bad), it was a fresh import so I was the first UK owner and it was all standard factory issue complete with the original 15? wheels etc plus a full Japanese service history, the fact that it was the non turbo version suited me after the 200SX as it was not only more reminiscent of the 240Z engine but also a lovely not mega thirsty, comfortable car to drive that delivered all I needed from a Grand Tourer.
It was used it as my daily car for just over 8yrs adding a further 80,000mls to the 34,000mls I acquired it with before the usual rust and rot in the rear arches, turret tops and a few other area's were getting the better of her so I decided it was time for a change and picked up a R34 GTT (Bayside Blue replica GTR).
Rather than dispose of the R33 and with the fact that at the time it really wasn't worth anything other than scrap value and after 8+yrs of trouble free motoring it certainly never owed me anything I decided to stick it away in a garage in the hope that one day I might be able to resurrect it and give it a new lease of life in some form or another.
About 8 years later with the R34 having long gone as well as a couple of other ?normal? boring cars I had to move the R33 from the garage it was stored in and make a decision to either get another storage garage or get rid of it. As I was now in a better position to have it looked at in regard to getting back to it's former glory I found another garage to keep it in while I started the checks on how deep my pockets needed to be. Of course they turned out needing to be a lot deeper than my hands could reach but as many of you will know once a mission has started it's impossible to stop and you just extend the mission end date.
Over the next few mails when I'm able to write more I will try and start from the point of retrieving it from storage, my intentions of what to do, what's been done and where it's at to date.
I've been a member of this Forum making the most of it's wealth of information for sometime now and as I've pretty well completed the restoration of my R33 GT (N/A) Skyline I thought that while I'm laid up convalescing after an operation that It's about time I contributed and shared some it's journey for any that are interested or thinking of doing the same.
After seeing ?Naturally Aspirated? some of you may think the same as a few of my friends and wonder why restore something without a Turbo so maybe a bit about me and how I came to be doing this might help explain some of my perceived madness.
Being in my mid 50's it's likely I'm not the youngest member here although I like to hope I'm also not the eldest either...ha! Over the years in-between harder times and a few heaps of rubbish I've been lucky enough to have had a few half decent cars, well they were half decent at the time and have included both the Opel Manta A (1.9lt SR) and Manta B (1.9lt Berlinetta), Opel SR Kadett and a Nissan 200sx (S14) but ever since I was fortunate enough to have had a Datsun 240z in my early 20's I've always had a fondness for the Japanese straight 6 engine and have since had both the R33 GT and R34 GTT Skyline.
I acquired my first Skyline the R33 GT (n/a) after my 200SX was stolen around about October 2000 (good can come from bad), it was a fresh import so I was the first UK owner and it was all standard factory issue complete with the original 15? wheels etc plus a full Japanese service history, the fact that it was the non turbo version suited me after the 200SX as it was not only more reminiscent of the 240Z engine but also a lovely not mega thirsty, comfortable car to drive that delivered all I needed from a Grand Tourer.
It was used it as my daily car for just over 8yrs adding a further 80,000mls to the 34,000mls I acquired it with before the usual rust and rot in the rear arches, turret tops and a few other area's were getting the better of her so I decided it was time for a change and picked up a R34 GTT (Bayside Blue replica GTR).
Rather than dispose of the R33 and with the fact that at the time it really wasn't worth anything other than scrap value and after 8+yrs of trouble free motoring it certainly never owed me anything I decided to stick it away in a garage in the hope that one day I might be able to resurrect it and give it a new lease of life in some form or another.
About 8 years later with the R34 having long gone as well as a couple of other ?normal? boring cars I had to move the R33 from the garage it was stored in and make a decision to either get another storage garage or get rid of it. As I was now in a better position to have it looked at in regard to getting back to it's former glory I found another garage to keep it in while I started the checks on how deep my pockets needed to be. Of course they turned out needing to be a lot deeper than my hands could reach but as many of you will know once a mission has started it's impossible to stop and you just extend the mission end date.
Over the next few mails when I'm able to write more I will try and start from the point of retrieving it from storage, my intentions of what to do, what's been done and where it's at to date.