RestoRation 33
The most rewarding builds, are the ones that you have put your blood, sweat and tears into - this R33 is a prime example. Having owned 10 cars - 7 of which are BMW’s (2 that run alongside the R33), Daniel is no stranger to getting his hands dirty for his automotive addiction.
The R33 is often seen as the bulky and chunky let down in the history of the Skyline family tree, and any keyboard warrior would be quick to remind you of this if the word ‘Skyline’ is raised in a forum/post somewhere on the web. They are wrong. The R33 may very well be the pinnacle of the Skyline heritage. It is more comfortable than the R32 and has a racing heritage that the R34 can’t match.
Daniel has worked on all his cars. The first, an Opel Vectra B, 64k km on the clock and bought from an old lady, the target market for old Opel Vectra’s… Modifying it with rims, lights, seats, sports exhaust, etc – like most of us with our first cars we think we look the dog’s bollocks, it’s only years down the line that we look back with embarrassment. Although this pathed the way for an addiction all of us know to well.
His former BMW 320i E36 coupe had a lot of work done to it too. Removing rust, renewing chassis parts, replacing bushings and upgrading the suspension to KW 2-way Clubsport coilovers (which look mega by the way). The M-package parts were also added as well as the M3 GT spoiler. Additionally, Sparco seats were added, OMP wheel, roll cage, 4-point harnesses, headlights etc. And then the god tier of modifying - the engine swap. Replacing the 320’s heart for M50B25.
“With this car I drove a lot over the Nordschleife.”
But that’s enough on Bimma’s and Opel’s, time to move on to prized possession. “I always wanted to own a Nissan Skyline R33” Daniel imported the R33 from Japan in 2019 and it arrived in Germany in February 2020. With it he had fulfilled his childhood dream - the end? No.
Although overwhelmed of now owning his dream car, there was some disappointment when he had first laid eyes on the R33 “the Skyline was not in good condition and I felt a bit cheated to have spent so much money for this condition”.
Whilst in Japan the Skyline was repainted in calypsorot metallic, the preferred colour of choice for Daniel – “the old paint was in disastrous condition”. Additionally the R33 arrived with: a large intercooler installed by Blitz, new timing belts, new water pump and brake pads, GT-R rear spoiler, Blitz blow off valve, HKS Hi-Power exhaust, Apexi power ECU, Greddy turbo timer and an Apexi super air flow converter. However…
“The ECU was programmed incorrectly and the SAFC just made it worse by manipulating the adjusting wheels. Ignition timing didn't match at all, knock was way too strong, injection volume way too high, rev limiter was completely missing, and the check engine light flashed on every throttle blast.”
It became quickly apparent to Daniel that the R33 was poorly tuned, the previous owner had no idea, and it’s lucky that the RB25DET was built so robustly, “other engines would certainly have been discarded with this history”.
Not to worry though, work has been carried out on the Skyline since by the man himself including: Tein Flex Z coilovers, replacement broken steering wheel with QSP sport steering wheel, replaced the torn leather on the upholstery, replaced the burnt out Recaro seats with reupholstered Recaro seats with Sparco 4 point seat belts. On top of this Daniel also installed some much nicer shoes to vehicle by fitting Japan Racing JR6 wheels.
More work includes: AEM wideband lambda display with Bosch wideband lambda probe, oil cooler with pressure with temp gauges installed, a Kenwood radio, custom speedometer, homemade grille with GTST emblems, rear wiper removed, pressure and vacuum hoses replaced, spark plugs renewed and finally, some rust removal in the rear.
Daniel also colour matched the strut braces, valve cover and timing belt cover in candy red, really putting the cherry on top “I also tried my hand at water transfer printing and printed various interior parts with a Dragonball Stickerbomb film”.
Having a car that looks this good and has all these goodies, must make it quite difficult to pick a favourite thing about it? “my favourite thing about the car is the engine sound, the exhaust sound, the feeling that you get when you drive the car, the looks of the car, the turbo flutter. I think I love everything of the car” I’m not sure we could disagree.
The future plans for this are also something to behold – we’re only at the half way stage (just about…). Plans include a full respray of the vehicle to a ‘marine by blue metallic’, a replacement clutch to a stage 3 competition spec, a differential swap and the body converted to GT-R optics. Daniel also wants to fuse the JDM and German car scene (arguably the best combination out there?) together by installing Audi R8 TFSI ignition coils. Other plans? New ECU from Haltech, ECU master/link installed, intake manifold conversion to a sidemount, renew the engine wiring harness, install an oil catch tank, forged pistons, stronger injectors, renew the bearing shells, install metal head gasket, more struts, improved camshaft, turbo upgrade and of course, much more.
We are eagerly awaiting the next change for the R33 and can’t wait to see Daniel progress the build further “the current performance target is a solid and stable 450-500 hp and 500 to 600 NM”.
It is always nice to get an insight to what shows people are hoping to attend and their opinions on the car culture, more so when they’re based in a country outside of the UK. Daniel is hoping to take his Skyline to Reisbrennen, Asia Arena, Risenation, Hall of Fame and is hoping to get the chance to feature on the Essen Motorshow.
So, what’s the car culture like in Germany? “a bit clouded, I don’t know how it works in other countries, but in Germany, envy and displeasure have become strongly established. It’s hard to see anyone else. There is a lot of blasphemy and talk about o thers. People who drive in the yard with GRP bodykits are laughed at. Ma ny cars are financed and off-the-size, which is what the owners are imagining. I’m missing the scene that existed when I was 18 and before. They changed their car only for thems elves and talked with others about various procedures at meetings or ev ents. Unfortunately, this is dying out more and more.”.
The car looks mega, the work that has been carried out on the Skyline has been extensive and, and it is clear there is a lot of passion in this project – which we love. Thanks Daniel for your time, make sure to head over to his Instagram to check out the rest of this epic build.
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Photo credits to - @calypso_the_red_33 and @dropdown_media
