Wknd

I've been contemplating to make a build thread for this car for some time and somehow found Zilvia the most suiting place.

The journey with this car started last year, during the summer. I sold my W124 which was fitment oriented car and understood I want a new project car which needs to fall under this category: 2 door, manual, rear wheel drive. A turbo would have been a bonus. I quickly understood the car has to be from Japan, because I wasn't really keen on a E36, Mercedes makes nothing sporty.

Then I turned my eyes to Japanese auctions, did some calculations and after checking out the auctions for months it didn't feel so difficult. Importer chosen, I transferred the deposit in November 2017 and started looking. At first all R32's seemed too expensive and I even looked at 180SX Type X's for some time and every car that I bid on went for ridiculous prices. Then on January 2018 I won the car from the auctions.




Quick list from the auction sheet:
R32 GTS-T Type M 1993/07
Respray, originally black, now purple
TEIN coilovers
GTR front bumper
GTR rear spoiler
GTR wheels
Intercooler
After market steering wheel
AC panel not working, tachometer not working, power windows not working
Clutch no good

So after everything was settled, payments done and the car ready for shipping I got an email from Japan that the clutch has stopped working in the port and needs to be fixed. So that took another month to be fixed. The car was finally shipped in March with the clutch replacement and some logistics error taking the time.
The car itself arrived to Estonia on the 3rd of June and after clearing customs I went to get the car from the port to drive it to my workplace for 50km.
The car in the port:




I started up the car with a booster and everything was okay, but after removing the booster it just died. So we quickly tried my friends battery on the car and realised the battery needs replacement. We went to the closest hardware store, got the cheapest and smallest battery. Put it in place and started driving. No electrics were working, the car had no power so I just cruised to my workplace for 50 kilometres.
I was pretty bummed because of the state and thought it might need a lot of work.

The next day it was clear that the original battery on the car was okay and the main reason everything was not working was the blown main fuse. Got a new one, put it in and everything was completely different. The AC started working, electric windows, tacho and everything else. So safe to say I was pretty stoked. More pictures of the car:






To get the car registered here in Estonia, all I had to do was make the headlights suitable for LHD traffic. I took the lights off the car, put them in the heater to get them apart. Redid the cutoffs for the projectors, refurbished the chrome bezel for the headlights because the chrome itself was flaking.

The car after registering:




After the car arrived this is what I discovered needed work:

Exhaust manifold bolts, some are gone and some are in the block
Rocker cover gasket is leaking
Fuel line is leaking from the overflow
HICAS delete bar installed, but the ball joints have massive play in them
Rear right coilover is slightly oily
HKS filter missing

What I have done so far:
HKS filter installed
New fuel hoses from the tank
Oil change
Timing belt, water pump and auxiliary belts
Rear taillights sealed again, they were leaking
Swapped the steering wheel for a S13 steering wheel currently
Clutch master + slave cylinder and clutch damper delete

The car is now in the garage for the winter. After the time belt replacement, the exhaust camshaft half moon broke and messed up the timing so a new exhaust camshaft is in order to get the car working again.
The purpose of this car is just to drive curvy roads and hit the track in the near future as well.
For the new season I've got some things planned and let's see how it all works out.

Here are some pictures of modifying the headlights.
All I needed to do was to redo the cutoffs.

But first of all, open up the headlights. To do so, I preheated the oven to 130 celsius and put the headlights to the oven for 8.5 minutes, then just take apart the whole thing.
I redid the cutoffs from 2mm sheet metal and just warped them to place, did some trimming. They do not look very good, but they did their job during the registration. I also let a coworker repaint the headlight housings to a flaky silver, because the original chrome was peeling and some areas had black burnt areas as well.
I will get new projectors fitted for the next season, because the current projectors are literally 2 candles showing light and the light intensity is just awful. This will also help with the cutoffs, they will be LHD on the projectors so no more messing with DIY dodgy looking things. I will keep the car on halogens though.






During registration. They check the VIN plates, tyres, markings on the headlights, odometer, headlamp beam and all the importation documents so everything is in order.



As said in the first post, at the start of the September I went to work and felt the clutch pedal is going. Fortunately it got me to my workplace and a leaky master cylinder was the reason. Quickly ordered the master cylinder, slave cylinder and the clutch dampener delete hose. No pictures of the parts or the installation, apart from the "how fun it is to release the clutch pedal" picture a friend made.



After the clutch was in order, we enjoyed the car with my friend who imported a S15 at the same time that I did. We found a great road around 60km from where we live. It's a very curvy road with slight changes in elevation and it's a blast to drive. The main goal for this car is to enjoy it as a street car which occasionally might see track time. Not into drifting and with this car I really feel how I lack good driving skills. So hopefully this change to the positive direction in the future.