History
Imported from Japan in 2007 by Imports101, stock as a rock. All work performed by Garage101, Perth. In early 2009, I acquired a near new R34 N1 crate engine fitted with a V-Cam system from an R32 GTR that Garage101 found in Japan. Danny Fisher, proprietor of Garage101, and I did a deal and the N1 engine went in to my car with a whole bunch of new ancillaries, Garrett GT2860 -5 turbos, an extended and baffled oil sump, etc.
In this guise, I drove the car across the Nullarbor to Melbourne and back in October 2009, where my wife and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary.
Alas, the N1 oil pump gears shattered later that year (a common problem for N1 oil pumps forged in about a 2 year period), so a rebuild was required. See the Modifications for the final spec.
One photo shows the car at AutoSalon 2008 in Perth, wearing its original WA plates as 1COG394. The new plates, KEEP CALM, were acquired in 2012, just prior to the Classic Rally.
Modifications
It's a long list.
Immaculate R34 GTR VSpecII in Bayside Blue. My daily driver, with a tractable 600 awhp.
The car is on the cover of Issue #194 of Performance Imports, with the tag line "Is this Australia's ultimate GTR?".
The car has an RB30/26 engine, built by Danny Fisher at Garage101, using an RB30 block with an N1 R34 head and an HKS VCam system , with upgrade type B. The head has been flowed and ported, as have the intake and exhaust manifolds. Internals are forged and include a Nitto oil pump and a Garage101 sump baffle and extension kit.
Garrett GT2860 - 5 turbos with HKS wastegate actuators are fitted to HKS twin dump pipes. Exhaust is an A'PEXi 3.5" SS exhaust with an HKS high flow metal cat. Exhaust dump pipes and Y-pipe are powder coated for heat reduction, as is the OEM heat shield.
Engine management, including control of the VCam, is all via Haltech Pro Sport 2000. A Hall effect sensor and toothed crank collar replaces the OEM crank angle sensor.
Oil management also includes a crank case breather air separator, electric scavenger oil pump from rear head drain, modified Mines baffle kit and modified two stage catch can arrangement.
Cooling is via PWR aluminium radiator and a PWR oil cooler mounted in a Nismo style vent, with an HKS remote filter kit. Intercooler is Greddy 100mm unit with custom Garage101 intake pipes and Y-pipe. Other intercooler pipes are HKS. A'PEXi Power Intake pods are mounted in a Garage101 cold intake box with carbon cover.
Fuel system includes custom surge tank by Garage101, externally mounted with two Bosch 404 pumps fed from an in-tank Tomei pump. A centre feed fuel rail serves 1000cc injectors.
Drive train is an NPC twin plate clutch with Os Giken pull/push converter, plus a Quaife front LSD.
Suspension is Ohlins Flag R adjustable coilovers. Brakes are DBA slotted rotors with Ferodo 2500 brake pads. Street wheels are Enkei 19x9.5 +22 RPF1 rims in silver with Federal 595 275/30 tyres. Track wheels are Work CR Kai 18x10 +12 rims in gold fitted with Bridgestone RE11R 265/35 tyres.
The exterior has been kept relatively simple with Do Luck side skirts (genuine), Nismo rear quarter pods and carbon rear wing stays to give a subtly different profile. QEST Japan LED rear lights and LED reverse/fog lights complete the main items. Some mild carbon fibre enhancements with Carbon B-pillar covers (NurSport, UK) and carbon rear spoiler blade (Knight Racer, UK) and Attain GT bumper guard (Japan).
Interior additions include a Nismo 320 km/hr speedo (white face), a Pioneer phone answering CD player and the ubiquitous Nismo Titanium GT500 gear knob. A Japanese bolt-in cage, modified by LF Performance, is fitted as a rear half cage for autokhana events and track days with the full cage for Race Wars. Two fire extinguishers are mounted to the rear seat swab mounts. 6-point 3" harnesses by RPM on OEM R34 GTR seats hold me and any terrified passengers in place.
The above is by no means a complete listing of parts. I have attempted to highlight the “interesting” parts, but it is probably the combinations that are of more interest. A lot of careful selection has gone into that.
Fun to drive, with nearly 600hp at the wheels, but so tractable on the road that I use it as my daily driver. It is happy pottering around town at 60 kph, but is like Jekyll and Hyde when you hit the loud pedal (which is when on the track - mostly!). Great engineering, set-up and tuning by Danny Fisher and the team at Garage101.
