GT-R Garage

[Skyline]

Very nice love to get a skyline one day but the right hand drive would really screw with me.

Some guy in Finland converted a GT-R over to LHD. Was an absolutely massive project with some serious fabrication involved....but if you really want to do it, it's not impossible. His end result was outstanding. And at least there is at least one complete blow-by-blow description of the process with photos every step of the way all nicely posted on the net for you to follow.

The four big items are:

Custom fabbed exhaust and downpipe

Steering rack...in LHD steering column wants to be in the same place as the downpipe...see above.

Custom dash needed. Not the worst thing, as you can make the shape easy enough by cutting up the existing dash...then just cover the whole thing in nice leather. May not look 100% original, but will look better than original.

Interior wiring harness needs many wires extended. Not hard, but LOTS of wires to splice.

If I recall, I think a big part of the solution to solve the space crisis around the steering column was to use a big single turbo, but most hot GRT-Rs do this anyway.

 

[VersionOne]

KojiKP, are you on Zilvia or Nissanroadracing by any chance?

 

[KojiKP]

Congrats on the first house. Nice cars too...

Thank you

Some guy in Finland converted a GT-R over to LHD. Was an absolutely massive project with some serious fabrication involved....but if you really want to do it, it's not impossible. His end result was outstanding. And at least there is at least one complete blow-by-blow description of the process with photos every step of the way all nicely posted on the net for you to follow.

The four big items are:

Custom fabbed exhaust and downpipe

Steering rack...in LHD steering column wants to be in the same place as the downpipe...see above.

Custom dash needed. Not the worst thing, as you can make the shape easy enough by cutting up the existing dash...then just cover the whole thing in nice leather. May not look 100% original, but will look better than original.

Interior wiring harness needs many wires extended. Not hard, but LOTS of wires to splice.

If I recall, I think a big part of the solution to solve the space crisis around the steering column was to use a big single turbo, but most hot GRT-Rs do this anyway.

Hmm, seems like an awful lot of work for...nothing? I guess I don't see the point in converting one.

KojiKP, are you on Zilvia or Nissanroadracing by any chance?

I am on Zilvia as KojiKP, don't really do much except browse the FS section. I'll have to check out Nissanroadracing though.
Thanks

 

[KojiKP]

I had a few days off from work for the holidays. Instead of spending it around the house getting stuff done, I drove my car for 6 days!

The other day I did get a little done in the garage. Got my supermoto wheels all completed and so they're back on the bike and I was able to put the tire changing stand back away.

When I got the base cabinets, I wasn't 100% sure on placement so I just had the countertops sitting on some wood scrap and not fastened in any way. I decided to pick up some build up block kits and 1 1/2" angle brackets.


My brother also got me a little vise for my birthday which I finally got around to mounting. Should be perfect for what I need it for.

 

[Skyline]

I think you will find that you mounted that vise too far in. It will be much more functional if you can move it so the inner jaw is at least flush with the end of the bench. Might take a bit of doing given the design of the bench, but you'll soon see that this will add tremendously to its utility.

 

[KojiKP]

I think you will find that you mounted that vise too far in. It will be much more functional if you can move it so the inner jaw is at least flush with the end of the bench. Might take a bit of doing given the design of the bench, but you'll soon see that this will add tremendously to its utility.

Oh shoot I see what you're saying. Guess I should have put some more thought into that. I'll see how it does and possibly relocate it later on.

 

[KojiKP]

Well it's been a while. Been pretty busy lately with work, projects around the house, and trying to fit in some fun as well.
I took the day off from work today to care for a sick one and used some of the free time to get some things done in the garage and mowed the lawn.

I bought the supplies to wire in a couple more outlets in the garage awhile ago. Got a little discouraged as one side required me to pull some drywall down. I decided I'm going to repair the drywall that's already been installed in the garage, including mudding and painting white to reflect more light.
Was able to grab power off an exterior outlet for this one:


And put on the other wall close to the garage door, I now have 4 on the walls and 1 on the ceiling where my 3 tap cord reel is:

 

[Skyline]

One interesting point about driving a RHD car in the US:

If you go to a Concours D'Elegance you will notice many of the top cars are RHD. But if you investigate, you will find that they were not made for use in Britain or Japan. Back in the 30's RHD was considered a safety/convenience feature. Mostly this was done on very high end cars, so the driver could exit on the curb side.

 

[KojiKP]

Another thing I did not know, thank you.

What do you folks thing about repurposing pallet boards like this to "finish" the rest of the garage?

 

[KojiKP]

What a pain once all the junk has to be moved! Slowly getting a section done at a time:






Also put up these to keep my drill and driver off my toolbox.


My Skyline goes to the bodyshop in a little over a week so I might try and tackle the rest of the drywall then. That way I'll have a little more room to work.

 

[onemanarmy]

What a pain once all the junk has to be moved! Slowly getting a section done at a time:






Also put up these to keep my drill and driver off my toolbox.


My Skyline goes to the bodyshop in a little over a week so I might try and tackle the rest of the drywall then. That way I'll have a little more room to work.

I love this idea, so simple but I would have never thought of it.

On my to do list now. Thanks for sharing.

 

[topshelfvinyl]

where are you located?

 

[KojiKP]

I love this idea, so simple but I would have never thought of it.

On my to do list now. Thanks for sharing.

Thank GJ! I found it somewhere on here.

where are you located?

Washington State

 

[topshelfvinyl]

oh nice , i have some friends out there with JZX's

 

[cynicalrider]

I love this idea, so simple but I would have never thought of it.

On my to do list now. Thanks for sharing.

Same, awesome holsters for anything like impact guns and cordless drivers.

 

[KojiKP]

Front half of the garage is all mudded and painted. Back half I will worry about another time. With the GT-R back from the bodyshop and 3 motorcycles in the garage it's a bit tight on space.

Same, awesome holsters for anything like impact guns and cordless drivers.

Yes they are, I just mounted up 2 more yesterday for my new Dewalt 18v impact and drill.

 

[KojiKP]

Also put up a shelf for my compressor to get it off the floor and out of my way for now.


I'll put up some additional shelving on this wall at some point

 

[Red Leader]

Great garage, great cars! My favorite sports cars are Nissans. Since you seem to have your game together (what with the knowledge it takes for importing and such) I almost feel bad saying it, but...please please do whatever you can to keep that car in your hands and not someone else's. Your statement about going into the garage just to make sure it is still there really stuck out to me...this car is very, very important to you.

Whatever it takes...lojack, disklok on the steering wheel, kill switches, enhanced garage security, etc. I imagine a lot of pros know exactly what that car is and how desirable it is.

Not trying to make you paranoid, but vigilant. I've had a car stolen before and it *****. You may already be taking some of these precautions. You don't even need to divulge details, but something that would be so hard to replace definitely is at a caliber deserving as much protection as you can give it.

I look forward to what else you keep doing with the car and the garage!

 

[KojiKP]

Red Leader, yes thank you for reminding me about that. Never feel bad about giving sound advice. I get nervous even when I'm working in the garage or outside of it with the garage door open and I catch people driving by and gawking at what's in the driveway. The car is definitely important to me as I've dreamed of one for so long. It took it a while to actually sink in that I have one.
My 240sx is my commuter again now, I've had it for 8 years now and it's got 256k miles and climbing. I believe it'll be getting an engine swap if/when the engine decides to give up.

There's a ton I'd like to do to the GT-R but my funds are limited being divided by mortgage, house bills, photography, motorcycles, mtn biking, wakeboarding, etc. I would love to get a V-Strom for longer distance motorcycle riding but I know I shouldn't.

I picked up a set of used Nismo turbos for the GT-R to get a little more power but they came way more beat up than was advertised. Still not sure what I'm going to do with them.

Here's a pic of the car after I got it back from the bodyshop, This was the side that was damaged. I swapped on a different door that luckily was the same color, then had a bodyshop fix the quarter panel damage and paint.

 

[slidemx5]

Cars and garage look great!

 

[ILLuSioNz X]

Nice GT-R, I saw you swapped the motor over, did you import it as a shell? Now that's something I'd be interested in doing!

 

[stumpy-blair]

great build , and of course nice car and bikes , ... if you need any jdm stuff for the gtr , my country New Zealand , is one of the biggest importers of right hand drive jap cars , full power everything , a good web site to look for parts is our version of ebay ... called www.trademe.co.nz .... lots of parts , lots of motors ... etc ...
good luck

 

[KojiKP]

Thanks everyone! Yes, engine/trans came on one boat, and shell on another. Numerous years ago a buddy of mine imported cars and engines from japan. He recently started up again so I've been helping him and it's cool learning some of the ins and outs.

Stumpy-blair, thank you for that link, I'll have to check it out. Much easier to read compared to Yahoo Japan Auctions where I do lots of parts shopping.

 

[KojiKP]

Picked up some shelf boards for free. They're 18" wide but I ripped a couple down to 12" wide using a guide and my circular saw and put up a couple shelves. Eventually I'd like to get some upper cabinets but this will do for now.


Also decided on a garden shed for now. It went on a sloped part of the yard that's basically unused anyways. It will house the garden stuff (lawn mower, weed whacker, shovels, rake, etc.), and maybe a little more if there's room.



I plan to make a ramp to the door and a little pathway up to it eventually. I put most of the shed up Tuesday morning and finished the roof Wednesday. It was kind of nasty out so didn't get any work done on a ramp.

 

[RedRabbit]

Wow beautiful cars. I love 240sx's and real Skyline GTR's. I always wanted a 240sx, I build one but that was for a customer. Great cars, swapped in an LS3. Good luck with the garage build and especially with the cars.

 

[Mathos101]

This guy imported a R32 Skyline and wrote a bunch of articles about the process.
Pretty informative and funny.

http://kinja.com/dougdemuro


Edit:
*This is my first post? Been on for almost 4 years and I never posted. huh*

 

[EMAGDNIM]

Congrats on the purchase! It's nice to see more people enjoying Skylines out there.

I had imported a S15 last year, super fun car.

Oh and other then flicking the wipers instead of the indicator, you get used to driving RHD cars rather quickly.

 

[KojiKP]

Thank you everyone! Yeah it wasn't bad to get used to. My wipers are on a switch so I don't get them mixed up. I drove the GT-R for about 6 days straight over my winter break, I then got in my commuter car at the time and then I started using the wipers instead of my signals. Haha

Got any photos of your S15 EMAGDNIM? I keep eyeing up other cars on the Japanese auction sites.

 

[skylinegtr20]

Nice GTR, I have owned a couple R32s myself. Amazing cars, but the 26 is quiet possibly thee most unreliable motor ever... even with tomei oil pumps lol

 

[gtr cook]

Nice GTR, I have owned a couple R32s myself. Amazing cars, but the 26 is quiet possibly thee most unreliable motor ever... even with tomei oil pumps lol

Only if you over rev the engine. It's high revs that kill the pumps.

 

[CNGsaves]

Nice ride OP with the Skyline imported from Japan ...
. . . . that's got to be pretty RARE find in 'Merica !! . . .

On your garage setup, is the furnace heating garage . . . or house ??

You located in warm climate with the hot water heater in garage ?? (freeze risk)

 

[KojiKP]

Nice GTR, I have owned a couple R32s myself. Amazing cars, but the 26 is quiet possibly thee most unreliable motor ever... even with tomei oil pumps lol

Thank you! But hopefully this one isn't unreliable, haha.

Only if you over rev the engine. It's high revs that kill the pumps.

Exactly! So I don't plan to bounce it off the rev limiter...too much. At least until further mods

Nice ride OP with the Skyline imported from Japan ...
. . . . that's got to be pretty RARE find in 'Merica !! . . .

On your garage setup, is the furnace heating garage . . . or house ??

You located in warm climate with the hot water heater in garage ?? (freeze risk)

Furnace is for the house. That's how a lot of places are around here. Naww I don't think I have to worry about freeze on the water heater. I wish these units weren't in the garage as that would give me a tad more space but such is life.

 

[EMAGDNIM]

Thank you everyone! Yeah it wasn't bad to get used to. My wipers are on a switch so I don't get them mixed up. I drove the GT-R for about 6 days straight over my winter break, I then got in my commuter car at the time and then I started using the wipers instead of my signals. Haha

Got any photos of your S15 EMAGDNIM? I keep eyeing up other cars on the Japanese auction sites.

I sure do!

I'll just post one as I don't wish to fill up your thread...

 

[KojiKP]

I sure do!

I'll just post one as I don't wish to fill up your thread...

Awesome! I've always loved those, thanks for sharing!

 

[KojiKP]

Was busy wakeboarding and riding motorcycles over the summer. I did finish up one of my walls with pallet boards. Here’s how it looks now.



Eventually I will get to the other side as well but that will require shuffling a few motorcycles and stuff out of the way.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of work to the Skyline. New wheels and tires, steering wheel, suspension arms, and currently doing an alarm install. It's a little lower than this picture now too.


Unfortunately the week before Christmas, I was driving home from work in my 240 and the upper timing chain broke. Looks as though I've bent a few valves so I'm trying to decide what I want to do with that.

 

[motofool33]

Nice R32, R35's are so ugly