Articles by Soarer-Dom
Nissan Skyline Forum
21/05/16
Alright. So today I have one of the dodgiest tutorials for you Skyline owners - or RFknB’s since you’re reading this. The Nissan Skyline is one of the easiest cars to modify, and today I will show you how to hide those pesky warning lights so you can now assume nothing’s wrong with your project.
Drift
25/04/16
Yesterday marked round 6 of D1NZ marking the end of the drift season for 2016, and as such I went along to see not only the sport of drifting, but the variety of highly modified drift missiles in the competition. While Cole Armstrong (in the bright green G35) took home the victory in round 6 after battling it out in the last round against Dylan Woolhouse, the overall winner of the 2016 season was Curt Whittaker with his R34 Skyline. Now let’s get into the interesting stuff; the cars.
Japanese
05/02/16
The top one is the hideously ugly Nissan Leopard. The bottom one is the average looking Nissan Cima. The Leopard has heritage as Japan’s police car in the 80’s, while the Cima was produced as a top-of-the-range luxury car to rival the Toyota Crown, and both share the Y32 model name. But that’s not all they have in common - they both have the Nissan VH41DE V8 quad-cam motor hidden inside that homely exterior.
Opinion
03/02/16
So here we have the marked police cars of New Zealand. I don’t know what that Kingswood is doing down the end there - probably getting pulled over for having too much beersies mate, or maybe his mullet has grown too long. The orange and red are highway patrol high visibility. The big question: Is it a Commodore? Yes: You might just have a police car on your tail. No: It’s not a cop.
Japanese
24/01/16
I know that some of you right now are eager to type into the comments section “A four-door R34”. Some of you probably will. It’s a common misconception that even the most knowledgeable Scandinavian car-nut gets wrong, and I don’t blame you - it takes a bit of digging and research to understand what it all means.
Wheels
10/01/16
Following on from yesterday’s story about buying my first set of wheels, I have created a guide to help you make sure you get the right wheels for your car. Below I have constructed a checklist to ensure you don’t end up in a situation like mine.
Readers' Reviews
06/01/16
The Honda CRX is a famous name. It is known as one of the best drivers’ cars to come out of the 1980’s, and many examples have been tuned to crazy numbers. In the early 1990’s, Honda decided to create a follow up. It was given updated styling, a VTEC motor and all models came as a hard top convertible as standard. The particular model I am reviewing is somewhere near the top of the lineage with a B16 twin cam and electric roof.
DIY
03/01/16
This is one of the most requested tutorials, especially on Nissan Skyline forums and facebook pages. This scenario tends to happen a lot: Someone sees a car for sale at a great price and they decide to buy it. Then they either realise its an automatic, or they knew it was auto and planned to convert it. Now it’s time to stop saying and start doing. Parts you need:
DIY
01/01/16
In this tutorial I will show you how to install lowering springs into a RWD Nissan, and how to install coilovers (adjustable suspension). While this tutorial covers Nissans, it may be applicable to other auto manufacturers.
DIY
30/12/15
As a good follow up to my story about driving through mountain roads with no brakes, I will show you how to replace or upgrade the brakes on a Nissan. While this tutorial is mostly aimed at RWD Nissans (Skylines, Cefiros Stageas, Laurels and Silvias) made during the 90’s, it may apply to other vehicles. The naturally aspirated Nissans were given 2-pot floating brakes, while turbo Nissans were given 4-pot fixed brake calipers. If you plan on increasing the output of your Nissan, then it is a good idea to upgrade to turbo brakes first, especially since they are a direct fit.
Japanese
27/12/15
In the 80’s Isuzu created the Piazza/Impulse to replace the 117. While the Impulse was succeeded in North America by a second generation, the follow-up to the Piazza was the PA Nero. Like the Piazza, it still had semi-pop-up headlights. The North American equivalent is the Geo Storm - the front of which resembles a 4th generation Camaro. The second generation Impulse had a turbocharged version, and suspension tuned by Lotus while the Pa Nero was given neither.
Readers' Reviews
07/12/15
In the 1960’s, Nissan Motor Corporation expanded its business worldwide. It set up factories in the United States, Mexico, England and Australia. In the mid 1980’s, the R31 Skyline was produced and sold with the newly developed RB family of engines that would replace the long-serving L-series. The model sold for the Japanese market came in a 2 Litre inline six. Australia however, was a bit more bogan and a 3 Litre variation was made specifically for this market.
Readers' Reviews
02/12/15
1. You live in someone else's shadow When you own a GT, GTT, GTS or GTST, you are always being compared to the GTR… and not in a good way: “It doesn’t have the RB26DETT”. “It’s not a real Skyline”. “Where is the turbo?”. And if you do own a GT-R, you probably hear: “It’s not pushing 1000HP like on YouTube”. There are many varieties of Skylines out there, around half of which are naturally-aspirated. Some have as little as 94HP thanks to the measly RB20E single cam, while others break the 1000HP mark with the custom-built RB30DET.
Garage
12/08/15
Bought this off a friend when he left NZ. It was his project, and kickstarted me into modding cars. Red top VTEC. Has the B16A1 engine and electric targa-top.
Japanese
14/07/15
Yes, I have seen the episode of Mighty Car Mods where they go to Japan and buy a Toyota Mark II, paint it with spray cans, and cut the springs.