The Ohana GTR Journey: Skyline Story #002

 Photo: @shotby_kim

In January of 1995 the R33 GTR launched on Japanese markets and later set a new Nürburgring production car lap record, beating Ferrari and Porsche in becoming the first to break the 8-minute barrier. In November of that same year, another notable albeit very different, event took place. A violinist by the name of Itzhak Perlman, who was stricken by polio from childhood, took the stage for a sold out concert in New York City. Shortly after beginning his performance, a loud snap rang out as one of his strings broke. While essentially any other musician would have stopped the performance to replace the string or have another instrument brought out, Itzhak instead decided to play the entire piece on his three stringed violin. This required him to recompose each note in his head as he went, bending the tuning of his remaining strings to reorchestrate the entire work in front of the live audience. He executed this brilliantly, and it would go on to become regarded as one of the greatest violin performances of all time. 

The violinist's commitment to continue playing in spite of what he was missing has always resonated with me. After the disappointment of losing something I'd spent my entire life working towards, cars became a blank canvas to paint with the colors that I still had. This Skyline Story takes a break from our featured owners to share a bit more of my personal journey over the past 5 years with my R33 GTR. Though my attempt at making "music" certainly pales in comparison to Itzhak's, I hope it gives some insight into why Skyline Preservation Club exists and what makes these cars special to me. More importantly, I hope this may encourage anyone who feels like life is passing them by to go and make some music of their own.

Itzhak on his decision to continue the performance with only three strings,

“Sometimes it is the artist's opportunity to find out how much music he can make with what he still has left.”

Photo: @ch07_photography

My broken string

In July after my senior year of high school, I found myself covered in tubes waking in the ICU for the first time after having open heart surgery. That spring I had accepted a full ride scholarship which was set to take me from Oregon across the country to accomplish my dream of playing Division 1 college football. Shortly after signing however, I was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and told I would never play again. Over the months that followed my condition had continued to deteriorate to where I was now, needing open heart surgery to save my life at 18 years old.

Growing up football was my first love and I began training at a young age with the dream of playing in college one day. Being on the field was my outlet for expressing myself and where I always felt most at home.

After my life had been turned upside down and feeling like my dream had been ripped away just before it started, I wasn't really sure how much music I had left in me.

Learning years and watering the dream

During the years following heart surgery I began to revisit old interests of mine, one of them being cars. Although the extent of this was largely watching Top Gear, reading MotorTrend magazine, and customizing cars on games like Forza Horizon. It didn't become real until a friend began modifying his 2013 Honda Accord Sport Coupe. Being able to "help” work on his car, attending Cars and Coffee for the first time, and going for drives to test out new modifications, immediately hooked me on a side of car culture that I had never been exposed to.

It didn't take long to know that I wanted a project of my own, the only problem was that my mechanical ability was at a level comparable to a goldfish. At 24, I didn't know how to swap a tire, change my oil, or drive a manual transmission. And frighteningly, the words "torque spec" hadn't yet entered my vocabulary. 

I sold the Ford Explorer I'd owned since high school and got my first “fun” car, an Audi S4 that I daily drove, learned to lightly modify, and shipped to Hawaii during my first stint living there. The next endeavor was purchasing a 1993 Ford Escort GT for $250 (not including the battery I needed to bring to test drive it) for the purpose of learning how to drive a manual. Less than a year later, with YouTube confidence, I bought a neglected but mostly running 2003 Mustang GT with the goal of learning how to wrap a car and to make it worthy of daily driving.

One of my earliest projects was installing a short shifter on the Mustang. It took 3 hours longer than the video said it was supposed to (10 minutes), but I was quite proud of my first mechanical work. That was until a month later when one of the bolts backed out on the shifter leaving it flopping around uselessly. Thankfully, I was able to limp the car in 3rd gear. My first attempts at wrapping were similarly unsuccessful, but after many attempts and yards of wasted vinyl, I was able to complete the color transformation with only a minimal amount of black spray paint.

While I was usually in way over my head with the projects that I wanted to complete, I made it my goal to enjoy the process and to continue what I called “watering the dream”, by doing something every day that grew my skills. My favorite saying became (and still is), “The master has failed more times than the beginner has tried.”

The Skyline discovery

I can still recall the very first time I came across a Nissan Skyline. It happened around age seven while playing on the original Xbox, and I was blown away that a car existed in real life that could go over 300 mph! A red and blue R34 GTR with a rated top speed of 320 kph in the game (which I mistakenly believed was mph as a youngster.) 

From then on Skylines were always the pinnacle for me when it came to enthusiast cars, but like many other casual fans I didn't think it was possible to own one since they were never produced in the US. It wasn't until a last minute trip to Seattle with a friend who was buying a BMW that my mind was opened to the possibility. There was no reason to expect anything out of the ordinary as we pulled up to the unmarked industrial building, until the door was opened and we found ourselves standing in a warehouse full of R32 GTRs. As a new car enthusiast and someone who had barely seen a Skyline in person, I might as well have stepped into Han's garage from Tokyo Drift. The dealer happened to be one of the largest JDM importers in Seattle, and had received the E90 BMW as a trade in by chance.

Knowing it was now possible, I spent hours consuming every YouTube video I could find about buying and importing a Skyline and quickly fell in love with R33 GTRs in particular. The 90s styling, Japanese tuning and racing history, as well as the underdog status of the R33 all spoke to me. Upon learning they had just become legal to import to the US, I knew that I didn’t want to miss my chance.

The search for an R33 GTR

I connected with Toprank’s Japan division to begin scanning the auctions in search of my R33 GTR. After a few months of deciphering Japanese auction sheets I found myself circling back to the very first car they had shown me, a mostly stock and somewhat unassuming 1995 R33 GTR in Spark Silver Metallic. It didn't have the fancy Nismo bits or even the color I was originally looking for, but the longer I searched the more I realized this was the perfect blank canvas for me to put my own touch on. There also was the added benefit of buying a car from Toprank’s inventory which meant I was able to do a compression test on the motor and get additional photos of common rust areas before making the decision. It was still a leap of faith committing to a 25 year old car that I’d never seen, located on the other side of the world, but later often becomes never so I took the chance. As my rep at Toprank referred to the car "a hidden gem."

First experience with the R33 GTR

While Toprank Global handled all the logistics on the Japan side of things, it was up to me to bring the car into the US once it made the crossing. With the help of a local customs broker to navigate a stack of EPA and customs paperwork, I was able to pick up my GTR from the port in Tacoma, Washington in May of 2021. 

My very first experience seeing an R33 GTR in person was when this one was pulled around by the port employee at the shipping yard. Thankfully it was love at first sight, and I was relieved to find that the proportions did not remind me of a "boat", as it was often teased after its release. Following a fuel stop and quick jumpstart, I was able to fully experience my first JDM car, getting used to shifting with my left hand and training myself to quit hitting the wipers every time I tried to use the turn signal.

Lifelong memories with the R33

The first few years with my GTR were mostly occupied by spending my maintenance budget on discontinued Nismo parts, abusing my AAA Platinum membership, and several cross country moves. While the thrill of piecing together my dream cosmetic parts and transforming the exterior was exciting, the age of the R33 mechanically had begun to show. Elusive electrical issues and neglected maintenance items needed to be taken care of before I could drive the car the way it deserved to be driven.

Once many of the reliability weak points had been worked through, I decided it was time to truly put the car to the test. Since then, the R33 has taken me through a handful of National Parks, down the Pacific Coast Highway, over many mountain ranges, on winding touge roads, and to several racetracks. Getting to explore beautiful parts of the country from behind the wheel of an R33 GTR has been something that I never thought I would experience.

One of the most memorable trips was a 1500 mile roundtrip adventure that took place in the Pacific Northwest in late October, cutting from Central Oregon to Seattle and then into the North Cascades National Park. Which, while being one of the least visited National Parks in the country, in my opinion has one of the most beautiful driving roads anywhere. Being hundreds of miles from home on snow lined roads and staring up at the "Alps of the Cascades", felt like something out of my Forza dream. Except unlike the game, there was the added adrenaline of hoping that the car would actually make it back home. 

Equally special to me were the multiple moves, spending long hours towing the GTR behind a UHaul across the country in as few of days as possible. Making these trips with friends, and my dad, always felt like special missions that later became great memories. One such trip including a rogue seatbelt chime that rang mercilessly from Salt Lake City, Utah to San Antonio, Texas. Inevitably, these trips also led to many fun unexpected interactions with other Skyline enthusiasts we met along the way. 

"Completing" the vision

In recent years the build has come closer to what I always imagined it could be. Finishing touches like HKS Hipermax coilovers paired with adjustable aircup suspension, Bride Stradia III seats, and a custom push to start system have all made the car feel more my own. However one area of the car has mostly stayed in its original form: the engine.

After another string of reliability issues and a sense that the stock motor had been pushed as far as it would go in its current form, I decided that after 31 years it was time the RB26 was opened for a proper refresh. 

The decision of where to take the R33 was an easy one. Dylan, the owner of Countersteer LLC, a Skyline only shop outside of Atlanta, had come highly recommended to me by a number of Skyline owners in the southeast. After my first visit to Countersteer a few years prior I was incredibly impressed by Dylan's Skyline knowledge and attention to detail. No flaw was undetected down to noticing that my steering wheel bolts were not countersunk as they should be, and replacing every missing clip throughout the car. Since then Countersteer has been instrumental in keeping the Skyline on the road, and when it came time for the engine build it was the only call I needed to make. 

The goal was to revamp both the GTR's reliability and performance for future road trips and tracking alike, while still keeping the build simple enough to enjoy around town. Alongside a full refresh with new gaskets, hoses, and valve stem seals, we upgraded the fuel and oiling systems to pair with Nismo R3 turbos, and a Haltech ECU. The car dynoed at 440hp on 93 octane after tuning. During the initial drive the first thing I noticed was how much smoother and more responsive the power delivery felt. My favorite part besides the visual improvements, is that it still retains the original Skyline GTR design keeping with the twin turbo setup, but now with a much more lively and visceral experience in the higher rpm’s.

What this R33 means to me

It certainly isn't the fastest or rarest R33 GTR, but the memories, adventures, friendships, and late nights in the garage have truly made the car feel mine in a way that I could never replace with another car. The process of slowly transforming the GTR over the past five years has been a dream come true, and every time I drive the car it just puts a smile on my face knowing how far we’ve both come together.

I hope to continue driving, customizing, and sharing this car with other Skyline enthusiasts for life. For me there are no other cars like Skylines and no other community quite like it either. The longer I have owned one the more I have realized that they are more than just JDM dream cars, but also a great excuse to gather and meet others who share the same passion. Being able to share the car with those who love Skylines creates an enjoyment that can’t be summarized by spec lists and dyno stats.

The winding road of life and closing thoughts

While my car journey began as a way to pick up the pieces after the loss of my dream, I have been blessed to find a new one and to be able to share it with many others who are just as passionate about Skylines as I am. Although initially I felt that my setback had written my story, I found there was much more around the corner if I was simply willing to do my best with what I still had. I hope for anyone reading that this may serve as a small encouragement to follow your dream even if you are facing disappointment or feel you are missing the necessary pieces.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I was given to begin a new story through cars after surgery, however I still often find myself reminded of the fragility of life and that there will be days when car parts break and similarly, times when our bodies will fail. Since the day of my open heart surgery there has been one constant that gives me hope, the knowledge that God gave me a second chance and an opportunity to live for something greater than myself. I will leave you with a favorite verse of mine, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Thank you all for reading, God Bless - Ohana GTR / Nick

Mod list:

Exterior Modifications: Nismo front bumper, Nismo side skirts, Nismo rear spoiler, Top Secret rear diffuser, Stout Type R carbon hood, Car Shop F1 carbon lip, Carbon side skirt extensions, Garage Active front & rear tow hooks, molded N1 bumper vents, Carshop F1 hood lip, headlight projector retrofit w/ xenon lenses, Aero Twenty Three mirrors, Club33 rear spats, Omori Factory carbon exhaust guard

Wheels & Suspension: 18x10.5+19 Nismo LMGT2 wheels built by Sensei6, GKtech 20mm spacers, HKS Hypermax S coilovers w/ Stanceparts aircups kit, Gktech front upper control arms

Engine: Nismo R3 turbos, Nismo anniversary intercooler, Nismo intake manifold, HKS x U.P. Garage intake suction kit, Muse carbon inlet pipe, Greddy radiator, PRP R35 coil conversion, Countersteer hose replacement kit, Countersteer oil filter relocation kit, Nismo titanium strut bar, Garage Defend cooling panel, Tomei head gasket, Tomei oil pan baffle, PRP oil pump gears, Nismo oil separator

Interior Modifications: Bride Stradia III carbon back seats, Renown Time Trial steering wheel, Works Bell x Nightrunners International quick release, Mines ebrake / ebrake boot / shift boot, Custom push to start system, Wendlab clock gauge, Nismo white speedometer & triple gauge, Nismo floor mats, Nismo reproduction pedals, Nismo mirror cover

Exhaust: HKS Super Turbo exhaust, Tomei equal length downpipe

Fuel: ID1050x injectors, Walbro 450 fuel pump

ECU: Haltech Nexus

Extras: Countersteer HICAS Delete, DBA slotted rotors, Ferodo 2500 pads, Nismo steel brake lines, Xtreme twin plate organic clutch

Special thank you:

Mom, Dad, Christian, Eli, David, Tim, Chaz, Joe, Luke, West, Seth, Dylan / Countersteer LLC