Mike R acquired this gunmetal (KH2) 1991 Skyline GTR from Toprank International Vehicle Importers in 2019. Z Car Garage is familiar with the Norcal Skylines group and fellow R32 owner Kurt W referred Mike to us in addition to an endorsement from Top Rank. Mike’s first round of upgrades included a Project Mu Big-Brake kit, Ohlins coil-over suspension, Haltech ecu, Greddy FMIC, sorting and dyno tuning. All of this work is documented in our 2020 blog post:

 

More Upgrades

Following that initial visit, Mike added R34 GT-R Seats, and a sweet set of Volk Racing TE37 SL custom gloss black wheels (18×10.5 +15), wrapped in Michelin PS4S tires (265/35/18). A Haltech IC7 digital dash was added to monitor vital engine parameters, tying into the CAN box of Elite system:

Add More Boost

Mike was happy with the upgrades we made but like many of us the desire for more power inevitably hits:

“The car has been running flawlessly and the goal with these mods is to support the addition of a single turbo kit that ZCG will be installing this August. The turbo kit consists of a Full Race Twin scroll T4 manifold that will be mated to an EFR 8474 turbocharger. Twin Tial 44mm external wastegates will bleed off the excess exhaust gasses.”

(Below)Borg Warner EFR 8474 0.92 with T51r mod and Full Race T4 twin scroll Exhaust manifold:

Remade in USA throttles and Nismo plenum. Fully built cylinder head with GSC S1 cams, SuperTech valves, springs, retainers, guides:

PRP crank trigger kit, Radium Dual Catch cans, Custom Intercooler piping with Tial q50 bov and Nismo oil cooler:

HKS Super Turbo Titanium exhaust:

Mike’s R32 came back to ZCG in 2022 for a few more items including:

ATS Carbon twin disk clutch (shoutout to @wubbs18)
New oem timing belt and pulleys
PRP alternator kit
Kansai Service Towhook
OEM Valley cover powder coated with R34 ornament plate
Mines Alcantara shift boot, parking brake handle and boot

VIDEO

Enjoy this video of Mike’s R32 GT-R in action with dyno runs, in-car and drive-by footage. Volume up!

Dyno Tuning

Several dyno tuning sessions were performed during the upgrade period. 515hp/437tq on 91 octane was achieved with significant mid-range gains:

 

Mike was pleased:

“Big thanks to @zcargarage for seeing this project through to the end and making the car come to life. We had a lot of headaches and setbacks over the past 11 months, but they did an incredible job end result speaks for itself! Couldn’t be happier. 🤘”

E85 Fuel

“Ethanol delivery is handled by a full Radiumengineering fuel system. Fuel hanger surge tank using twin 525lph to feed the rail and a 340lph to feed the hanger. All new hoses with a -8 feed line. Radium fuel rail with Rail mounted adjustable fuel pressure regulator. All feeding Injectordynamics ID1700XDS injectors. Haltech Flex fuel Sensor and Bosch Fuel pressure/temp combo tied into Haltech Elite to bring it all together.⁣”

On the dyno with E85 the R32 put down 624hp/479tq at the wheels, and Mike continued to enjoy the car:

“So the car has been on flex fuel for a few months now. Made 600 whp and 480tq. Still just keeping the boost around 20psi. Tons of room left in the setup. Been enjoying the shit out of the car is it currently sits. Maybe some minor cosmetic stuff in the near future, but for now….just drive.”

Enjoying The Ride

We were happy to see Mike Enjoying the Boost and spotted his R32 in action at the Tokyo Calling and Breakfast Club Rallies in Northern California:

 

Catch more of Mike’s R32 on his Instagram. Overview of major work is below with more photos in the gallery. Thanks for your support Mike!

. Custom 4” intake
. Full Race T4 twin scroll Exhaust manifold
. Borg Warner EFR 8474 0.92 with T51r mod
. Turbosmart gen4 twin port IWG
. Custom Intercooler piping
. Greddy 29f Intercooler
. Tial q50 bov
. Nismo plenum
. @remade_in_usa_ restored throttles
. Radium fuel filter, fuel rail, afpr, and pulse damper
. ID1050x injectors
. Hellcat fuel pump
. Fully built cylinder head
. GSC S1 cams
. SuperTech valves, springs, retainers, guides
. Greddy adjustable Cam gears, timing belt
. PRP crank trigger kit
. Fluidamper
. Two six engineering power steering pump kit.
. RHD Auto power steering reservoir
. Nismo Oil Cooler
. PWR radiator with Samco hoses
. Haltech Elite 2000 pnp
. Haltech WB1 canbus wide and 02sensor
. Haltech IC7 digital dash
. Haltech 3 port boost solenoid
. Radium Dual Catch cans
. HKS Super Turbo Titanium exhaust

Kassem L hails from San Francisco and he brought his 370z to Z Car Garage because he was having warranty issues with the dealership. After some some discussion and guidance we installed a new clutch and transmission.  For piece of mind the troublesome internal slave cylinder was switched to an external unit using the CMAK upgrade from ZSpeed. We went through the car and fixed all the little things missed by the dealership when they did a warrantied replacement engine (replaced b/c of oil-burning issue). Minor items like re-learning the windows and parking adjustment were comped.

Kassem visited ZCG again for suspension upgrades. We installed HKS 4GT coil-overs,  SPC F/R control arms,  and a Hotchkis sway bar set:

 

SPC front/rear control arms. After suspension installation we aligned the car and changed the oil:

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Kassem was going for a very JDM feel/build and chose his modifications accordingly. We installed an HKS intake system and the Power House Amuse R1 Titan Extra STTI full titanium exhaust system:

 

More exhaust details:

HKS Racing Suction twin intakes replace OEM units:

After the coil- over suspension was installed Kassem came back in to have the car lowered just a bit more. We handled this for him as well and the Z looks fantastic sitting over pretty Volk Racing G25 wheels and Bridgestone RE-11 tires:

 

Enjoy The Ride, Kassem!

We have been working with Carlos for several years to raise power levels on his 2015 Nissan GT-R while retaining the stock engine and transmission. On his last visit to ZCG we installed USDM turbos from SIR, bolt-ons and performed an ethanol tune.

This time Carlos was ready to hold that boost for a little bit longer. We reached out to Bill Guthrie of SIR and purchased his upgraded actuators matched to our turbos. Originally we had not installed the actuators, trying to keep the boost level down to minimize stress on the engine/tranny. As we all know, the boost fix can last only so long! Carlos came back to ZCG for additional upgrades including an HKS transmission cooler and larger, single FMIC from Boost Logic.

 

Acuators:

Transmission temps are the enemy of high power levels and track duty for the R35. We installed an HKS transmission cooler and we are really impressed with its quality and performance.

You can also see our installation of this HKS cooler on Dan J’s R35, and he reports zero trans temperature issues on the track!

 

 

The dual intercoolers from the factory were replaced with a single, larger unit from Boost Logic:

OEM vs single:

Installation of the FMIC:

 

On Carlos’ last visit the R35 put down 611hp/520tq on 91 octane and 703hp/621tq to the wheels on E85. With the new actuators and FMIC it now makes 661p/590tq on 91 octane and 774hp/653tq on Ethanol.

91 Octane:

Before tuning on E85, 759p/628tq:

After tuning on E85, 774hp/653tq:

Allowing the boost to be held to redline resulted in high-end gains in both hp/tq. We can make more power at these boost levels but we are being conservative until we can do a proper built engine/tranny. Enjoy The Boost Carlos!

Dan J has been with Z Car Garage for all of the maintenance and performance modifications on his 2015 GT-R. You may remember his last few visits when we installed the AMS Alpha Kit and brake/suspension upgrades:

 

We love that Dan not only owns a lovely supercar but drives it hard. Whenever we see him it’s either at ZCG or a track day! Dan is getting faster on the track and at his last Laguna Seca event he noticed transmission temps starting to rise.

To make sure there were no further temp issues he visited us to install the HKS DCT cooler kit. This kit works extremely well and we can’t stress the high quality of this product. Everything fits as if it were an OEM part. It’s that good. Here are a few pictures of the installation:

Factory oil cooler assembly:

 

Aluminum oil lines:

  

Oil cooler, air ducting, kit-supplied washer tank tank installed:

   

See you on the track Dan!

It is #WaybackWednesday how about a nice little stroll down memory lane with us? In 2004 we were lucky to own a 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec. We sold the R34 in 2006 and never heard about it until 11 years later and a few days ago Sean from Import a Vehicle.com informed us that the very same R34 had resurfaced. And it was for sale. Yes, after all these years it still looks fantastic!

At the time we purchased it in 2004, the R34 was 1 of 11 Motorex Skylines that were fully legal to own/drive in California. The R34 is currently not legal to import into CA until it meets the 25yr rule (like the R32) in 2024, making this specific car rare fruit indeed. Sean even sent us a picture of the original 5/2006 sales receipt from Rob, found inside the car. This started the reminiscing…and the fact that I didn’t give our Skyline a proper send-off blog post!

From 2004 to 2006 we had an absolute blast with this car. You couldn’t go anywhere without drawing a crowd. It made all the right noises with fireballs coming from the APEXi exhaust and distinct BOV. It was Bayside Blue. Here she is, Bayside in front of (conveniently) the Bay Bridge at the Treasure Island Meet in 2005:

We attended many shows, always driving there and never trailered.  Hot Import Daze 2006:

In October 2015 we drove down to Los Angeles for the car casting of Fast and the Furious 3. No,  the R34 didn’t make it into the movie, but our friend Chad’s LHD G35 did! (Right) The R34 bookends the Z Car Garage display at the 2006 Silicon Valley Auto Show. I always find a way to squeeze my roadster into the shot, I mean c’mon…it’s an R34 Skyline GT-R!!!

 

Make no mistake the Skyline was not a garage queen either in our hands. At Sacramento Raceway in 2004 it ran an 11.2 second 1/4 mile! This ranks pretty high on my all-time favorite car memories:

 

Putting Skyline’s vicious ATTESA to the test on the track at Thunderhill Raceway in both wet and dry conditions in 2004/2005:

A short video compilation of the R34 in action. Don’t expect any HD quality, it was 12 years ago!

I asked Rob what his fondest memory of the R34 was:
 “Just after buying it I was driving to William’s to get some paint correction done on the R34. On the freeway people were circling around the car and taking pictures. They had no idea what was going on with the driver inside though. Here I was in a car that I grew up pining after and now my feet were connected to its pedals and my hands were on the steering wheel of it. It was surreal”

I remember washing the R34 before it left for transport. I also remember driving it for the last time and ogling all its crazy features. What a masterpiece of Nissan engineering. It may have been supremely heavy and undesirable amongst hardcore Skyline enthusiasts but it was magical for us.

Thank you Sean for thinking of us and for making people’s dreams of owning rare Japanese vehicles come true. Good luck and we hope the new owner enjoys the Skyline as we did!

More pics in the gallery
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