Buying a Skyline GT-R

There are a lot of things to look out for and I think most enthusiast will give you advice that will walk along the same lines...

Year, Model and Specifications

The most obvious one is the Year and Spec of the car itself. Once you've found yourself a car, it wouldn't hurt to do a little history look-up on the dealer themselves. A lot of dealers these days claim their cars are of later models and of higher spec. I've seen a lot of GT-R's who claim to be of 2002 but are not. Claimed to be of V-Spec or V-Spec II or even V-Spec II Nür but are most definitely not. Everyone wans to get what they pay for so be careful and be on the look out.

Usually, you can more or less tell what year the car was manufactured by looking at the sashes of the seat belts as there would be an indication there. But unfortunately, shoddy car dealers now cut those sashes off as consumers are becoming more aware.

The GT-R34 was released in January 1999 in a choice of either standard or V-Spec, and to celebrate the new models arrival there was also a 300-car limited edition that wore a coat of Midnight Purple II paint. These models had orange front and side turn signals. The cabin had grey interior with red stitching. The center console was gold in color and the back light of A/C display is greenish. The VIN plates located in the engine bay, were usually made in blue in color and the engine bay itself is left black and unpainted. Also note the color of the writing of the fuse box cover is of white in color.
Some of these earlier models also come with a DVD Navigation unit located under the center console air condition vents.
Roughly, V-Spec models has everything of the standard Skyline GT-R34 and came with
Modified active LSD controlled in conjunction by a viscous coupling
Stiffer suspension
Special front and rear Venturi style diffusers (rear is made from carbon)
Attesa E-TS PRO (can redirect up to 50% of the torque to the front wheels within 1/1000th of a second.)
Combination meter with compressed scale below 3.000rpm
Brake air duct

In August 2000, and additional spec was added to the lineup which was the V-Spec II. This brought on a few slight changes made to the cars manufactured. The now later models came in two new colors which is the White Pearl and Sparkling Silver. The N1-spec rear calipers were also used along with clear front and side turn signal/indicators. To differentiate the cabin of the newer models, the interior color had now been changed to black and the center console has been changed to iridium color with a white-ish back light. Aluminum sport pedals have been added to the interior as well. The writing on the fuse box cover has been changed to a yellow/orange color. The VIN plates of the later models were now silver in color too if I am not mistaken.
V-Spec II models has everything of the V-Spec models plus a carbon fiber bonnet with NACA duct.

In May 2001, the M-Spec was released. This model was based on the V-Spec II but it was aimed to be a luxury version of the car. It came with softer suspension known as Ripple Control Dampers which reacted more smoothly with the irregularities in the roads. The rear stabilizer was also softened and the front seats came with heaters. It also came with a complete leather interior and Nissan only produced 50 units of M-Spec a month. The M-Spec came in a special paint finish called Champagne Gold.

There was also an extremely rare special N1 spec. According to Nissan’s own records, only 45 were produced over the R34’s five-year model spread. These cars were stripped down specials. There were no air conditioning, rear wash-wiper, rear light and in-car audio. The N1 came with a hand built motor from Nissan’s race engine division. This engine used a stronger block, a fully balanced bottom end along with forged pistons, new con rods, oil and water pumps, different exhaust and steel-internal turbos. An even bigger oil cooler was fitted and bigger rear brakes too.

In February 2002, Nissan had announced the final model of the GT-R34’s, which were the Nür editions of the V-Spec II and M-Spec. These models both used an N1 engine from the homologation special. The Nür has a 300km/h meter cluster (speedos). Nissan used the same speedos during the test in Nürburgring. The Nür also comes with a badge on the bumper which is a proper 3D cast badge and not like the stickers on the V-Spec and V-Spec II's. Nür's have a gold colored VIN plate instead of the standard blue or silver VIN plate. The engine cam covers are also covered in gold. The M-Spec edition of the Nür still had leather seats but the seat foam was altered to give a better ride in conjunction with the Ripple Control Dampers. Only 1000 Nür editions were made – 250 M-Specs and 750 V-Spec IIs and they were all sold on the day of release.

In December 2004, NISMO issued a press release of none other than the Z-tune. Only 20 of these will be made and only carefully selected donor cars will be used to make this "finest compilation of the GT-R". This car was trimmed in Alcantara and a redesigned steering wheel. The motor was swapped to a Z2 engine which took the capacity up to 2.8-liters and used components tried and tested in every form of motorsport that the Skyline has raced in.

Engine

Normally, what one should do is check all the fluid levels to make sure they are of the correct level before you start up the motor. Look at how clean the oil and coolant are. Oil should be a light tan color and feel smooth between your fingertips. If it's not, don’t be fooled by the salesman offering you a free service and oil change before you take delivery. The crude needs to be taken out before any more damage is done.

Check the coolant in the expansion reservoir on the driver’s side of the engine bay. Not only should it be spot on the level, but take the cap off and make sure there is no oil floating in the fluid. RB26's have been known to crack their cylinder heads, and the only sign is oil contamination in the coolant. Any sign of contamination is bad news and its best you move on to look for another car.

After looking around the engine bay for any obvious signs of abuse, misuse, lack of care, trails of leaking fluids and so on, go in and turn the igniton key but don't start. Check if all the check and warning lights light up. All the lights should be up and if it is not, someone has tampered with it. If it all lights up, start the engine and it should all go away. If any of them are still lit up, you have a problem. Don't take the salesman's word that it will be fixed after an ECU reset.

Listen to the engine note. It shouldn't have any nasty noises and the motor should be nice and quiet, rustling a bit at idle rather than clanking and knocking. There can be a little tapping from the valve clearances if they haven't been shimmed recently and you can also hear the injectors clicking at idle but nothing too excessive.

Next, check the mileage. At 100 to 120,000km the engine will need to be ‘freshened up’. It will probably need new bottom-end bearings and suchlike. This means that if you’re looking at a car with this sort of mileage and the job hasn’t been done yet, you’re likely to have a large bill in the near possible future. There are plenty of GT-R’s that are running with more kilometers than this but that depends really on how well an owner takes care of his car over the years.

Crankshafts can be a weak point if the motor has been over-revved. Even occasionally letting the engine rev to more than 7800rpm is not healthy but anything below that should be fine. Unfortunately, no one can tell whether an engine has been over-revved until something lets go but if you feel that the motor is very rough at the higher revs, you should look at choosing another car. Straight Six-cylinder motors have perfect primary balance so they should be smooth all around the rev counter. Any coarseness should indicate that the crank is not as straight as it should be.

Turbo’s can also be a problem if it’s the standard ceramic ones particularly if it has had the boost wound up. The stock ceramic turbines are quite fragile. The problem with the ceramic wheels in the stock turbos tend to shear off or fly apart when the boost is wound up above 1.0 bar, which is why most people would rebuild them with steel internals to stop the problem from recurring. Ceramic fins will offer slightly quicker spool time compared to the steel one’s but are more fragile when boost is turned up.

Once the motor is up to temperature, you can check the oil pressure by raising the rev to 4000rpm and checking the oil pressure gauge in the meter cluster in front of your steering wheel underneath the RPM gauge. It should read 4.0 bar of pressure steadily. Because of the way the gauge is calibrated, you cannot check the pressure with the engine just idling. However, using this 4k rpm at 4 bar rule should prove if the pressure is good enough.

Transmission

Transmission wise, although the transmission can sometimes be a little bit noisy, the six-speed Getrag 'box is quite robust. Sometimes the ‘box doesn’t like to be shifted too quickly and will result in the wearing out of the synchros in the higher gears. This applies mainly to the older five-speed 'box of GT-R's (32 and 33), however there is no harm or foul doing a check on the car you're keen on purchasing. Checking how the third, fourth and fifth change feels is a good idea but you have to be travelling at quite a high speed to do this. I wouldn’t recommend speeding but the suggest speeds above 130kph to get a feel for it. If there is gnashing of the teeth, the synchros are not healthy and your gearbox might need rebuilding which would add to your bill. If the change is notchy but otherwise noise-free, it’s often a sign the transmission oil needs changing.

The standard clutch should be smooth in actuation and not slip when the throttle’s opened. It should be very easy to drive, practically no different than any other stock car. If there is any stiffness to the clutch operation or you feel that the revs are rising independently of the road speed, you probably have a burnt or worn out clutch that is slipping. Be aware of any peculiar smells too as you will be able to smell a burnt clutch.

Brakes

The stock Brembo's are generally excellent. While braking, check for signs of any wobbling or shuddering. Look for cracking problems. The discs should be smooth and free of corrosion. Make sure the calipers are looking in good condition and aren’t suffering from any signs of salt damage.

Suspension

A standard GT-R suspension is fairly stiff. It's a good compromise between comfort and handling and should feel nice and tight. During your test drive, listen for knocks and bangs that could point to worn out bushes or dampers that will need replacing.



The rest are all the usual stops you do in checking a car you're interested in purchasing. Look at the rims and tyres. Check to see the condition of the rims and the wear pattern on the tyres. GT-R’s tend to wear the inside edge of the front tyres because of how the suspension is set up if I’m not mistaken. Check the bodywork for any accident damage or corrosion. Sometimes there will be rust forming around the boot lid brake light. Check the interior for signs of wear. If the gear knob, steering wheel or the clutch-foot area appears to be worn out, it’s a good indication the car has been used a lot and this give you a good reason to be suspicious if the mileage on the car is low.

As for price, it's constantly fluctuating so I myself cannot be certain what's the market value of the car now. Usually, some GT-R's seem more expensive than others is simply because they might be of higher grade and condition when they were auction off'ed in Japan.
None the less, do check the car inside out. Check for signs of abuse, wear, accidents...etc..etc.

Top Gear - Buying a Skyline GT-R