BenjaminBaker Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 So almost 2 years ago i swapped my r33 skyline for a Aussie built 1991 Nissan Skyline gxe R31 wagon. I had seen a couple r31's around before but only sedans, never had i seen a wagon. To me the wagons filled up the length of the car properly and looked alot better than the aussie assembled sedans. I have always like old school cars with a boxy shape especially station wagons, so when i saw this i knew i had to get it! After a week or so talking to the guy about swapping cars we finally met up and swapped. When i first saw the wagon it was in worse condition than i expected, paint wasn't in very good condition, some door locks didn't work, surface rust in the typical places and the engine ran like absolute crap! We were told there was something wrong with the engine on idle but was fine when were at speed. Once we got home and had a proper listen and checked it out we had a feeling it was dropping a cylinder, so decided to get a compression test it and sure enough we had a dead cylinder :/ So after a couple days of having the car i didn't really know what to do, was i gonna keep it and spends lots on money on it? or sell it for cheap or try my luck at swapping again for something shittier? Here's the car when i first got it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjaminBaker Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 So after a couple months of having the car i decided i'd keep it and slowly build it up over time as i had barely seen any or any done up before. I started cleaning it up and thinking of things i could do to it. First think i wanted to do to it was repaint the bottom half as it was easy and cheap. So i picked up a few cans of primer and bumper black paint from repco and got to work. I didn't really have any experience painting but gave it a good go Got it painted and lo0ked alot better, still pretty rough though without the hubcaps on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjaminBaker Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Next step was to get some new shoes the wagon and lower it. I heard that s13 front suspension can be put in so you can use adjustable suspension instead of getting custom made adjustable struts because the strut and hub are all one piece. I decided i'd just get some wheels and lower it later on. Originally i wanted some 15" ssr mk2's or mk3's but i that soon changed once i found out how hard it is to get some and how much they coast :/ so i did what i never wanted to do and bought some cheap replicas until i could afford new genuine wheels. I got these, 15x9 0 offset volk cn28 reps with 205/55r15 Falken tyres. I worked a tyre shop a the time so got a really good deal even though they aren't the best tyres I fitted all the tyres up and at the end of the day i bought my car into the shop and put them on. When i first got the wheels i test fitted them but only on the rear and didn't bother trying them on the front. So when i finally put them on the car with new tyres i found out that the fronts didn't clear my calipers, so i left the work shop looking like this. Took them off a couple days later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjaminBaker Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 While i was still getting stuff together for the suspension conversion i had a little bit of a accident involving a toyota hilux :/ Lucky there was no damage so his car! After i sussed a new bumper support and straightened up the bumper eventually i got all the suspension parts, Took me about a month or 2 to get all the parts i needed to for the s13 conversion and lowering it. Wit the help of a couple work mates and the boss for letting me use the shop and tools after hours on a saturday arvo we managed to get it done in a couple hours. This was the finished product of the night 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjaminBaker Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 The next step was to sort out the motor (yes i was still driving it with a stuffed 30e that was running on 5 cylinders) I got another rb30e with 108,000k's on it for $700 which i thought was pretty decent. We finally put it in just before Christmas last year and drove it to RnV in Gizzy on the 29th then back on the 1st, for an engine that hadn't been used in about 3 months and on a long trip like that it ran bloody good! A month or so after the trip to Gizzy i could hear an odd noise coming from the front wheels. So i checked it out and found out that both my front wheel bearings were buggered. While i was checking that i noticed my brakes were getting a bit low. I ended up changing the front bearings, pads and rotors. I changed the rear pads and rotors as well, and i was putting the rear brakes back together i found out that one of the calipers had seized up, and more money was poured into rebuilding the calipers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjaminBaker Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 It's not a race car or track worthy (yet) but i wanted some seats that would be a bit more comfy than my very bouncy standard seats, so i invested in some Bride fix back bucket seats. Much better! I also bought some new aftermarket water temp, oil pressure and volts gauge since Aussie built r31's have shit wiring and none of the standard ones work apart from fuel, speedo, and rpm gauge. I was browsing through Yahoo Japan when i came across a pair of r31 Jap spec coupe head lights white use a projector bulb instead of the standard brick headlights. for only $90nzd i thought why not and contacted someone in Japan who was able to get them and send them to me. In the end including shipping and all the fees I ended up paying $300 for them. Considering they sell in Aussie for about $500 i thought i got myself a pretty good deal! With standard bulbs these headlights are that great but i picked up a good HID kit for cheap and now they're super bright! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenjaminBaker Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 Over a year and have had past since i bought the wagon and i was getting really sick of driving auto. Because these cars aren't as popular as other skylines it wasn't easy getting manual parts. I couldn't find a clutch pedal so i Used an r31 clutch master with a lengthened s14 pedal. The drive shaft was the hardest part to find, I ended up using an rb30 vl commy manual drive shaft because someone i know has used one and it worked fine but it didn't work for mine as the hanger bearing sits too far forward, I had to make my own bracket to make the drive shaft fit. I finally found an r31 manual drive shaft and it drives a lot better now, no more clunking and knocking. Since then i have lowered the front a bit more and have the tyre tucking inside the guards a bit and lowered the back a little bit but not much. i've made my own custom front lip as it's very hard to find a proper one. I have also got the r31 ti grill and bonnet (pretty rare in NZ i think). And have made some clear indicators for the bumper. This is what my looks like today Next on the to do list is lower the back more to match the height of the front. Turbo conversion (just need oil return lines and wastegate then will be doing it). Lock up or shim my diff and finally get some genuine wheels!!Will keep posting about the build as i do more to it 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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