Ibo's Garage - TTRS3GTR

[Ibonibo]

Hello topic clickers,

A long time ago, far far away,... I decided I don't want to sell any of my cars.
The few bucks you generally get for it was just not going to add up in my books.
So I decided to only buy top tier models or special cars (for me) and to start a modest garage (Ohhh The GT syndrome)
So the Audi S3 made a good start with it as it was the top tier model of the first A3 range and with a stunningly strong going engine the 5 valve 1.8 turbo.

A short round up of my car


1st car was:
Audi 100 Avant 2.3l quattro
*no actual pics anymore after a HDD crash some years ago*
SOLD

Then A3 1.8T quattro '98 (150hp stock):
Mods: Bodykits, suspensions, B&B tuning to 210hp, supersprint exaust, hifi, multimedia package
1st kit:

Too fast for batman:



The car had the oilpan ripped off with a engine meltdown a few minutes later... So DEAD then sold, It was rebuilt in Finland later as I found out.



Audi S3 8l 2002:
Mods: I took the soundsystem and exaust of the A3 and put it in the S3. Remap B&B 270Hp 365Nm, spacers, Front spoiler, Bilstein PSS9 coilovers, Haldex upgrade, shortshifter, New S3 shifter, TT pedals, supersprint till cat, upgraded brakes and some other mods. (really need to do a complete list once...)

Original colour:


Not for sensibles humans carenthusiasts: WARNING
The car was repainted by an Audi dealer and messed up this exclusive paint limited to a 1000l worldwide by a german Supercar tuner. Still on the tribunal with this mess. But I hope in 2-3 months it is settled and it can be repainted but in an other colour. Still need to decide on one!

That was the S3.


But a few years back (2-3 years) I really wanted to buy a second car.
A driver car, no flappy pedal shifter, no auto.
I was looking through the car market of Luxemburg everyday. There were some offers but I never really took the plunge, though I really like test driving all the cars (well those that weren't shaddy and/or rubbish).
Now a few weeks back that changed and so the story about the skyline begins:


The skyline story

This is just starting and so I will update or post as the history goes on:

I found a nice GTR Vspec a few weeks back on an importer site. Emailed the guy. All seemed well. Until, "the car is gone, someone bought it this morning."
NOOOOO!!!

So I said to him what specs I want from the car and he started looking through the auctions in Japan. After long emails and nice dealing from my side, I will get a 3 months warrenty on the car.

Now I got my first proposal.
1995 model GTR v spec
Blitz 320km gauge
Roll cage
Shift knob
Exhaust
Work emotion 18 inch rims
87000km






I already like it and the fact that it already has a rollcage saves me a lot of money, time and hassle to get it homologated.

Now back to the emailing and waiting for an answer.
Ok agreed on bidding on the car.

Also, as a side note, Stand alone ECU and suspension will be added later before homologation.
So a stock engine, then tuned and only driven by me and brand new suspension.

2011_11_10:
WOOOONNN!

This is now my skyline.
Going to make the payement, but that's just paperwork.
He even got slightly over budget at his costs (he knew about the tune ups later, so he had a bit of play himself)

I now have a nice Skyline

I get more pictures later so I will post them as they come...
So happy !


2011_11_21
Got new pics incoming:



















I know the wheel is butt ugly, will sort that out with him...
The leds will fly off too.
Full roll cage, ooohh yeaaaahh!! That's good and through the dash (lot of work) and seems to be done properly.
Rims look nice.
Nice car.
The waiting is killing me though, can't wait to get it.


2011_12_12:
Got my shipping date today : 18th ths month. 👍
I'm just hope the homologation will be done fast and without problems

2012_01_23:
Next week the car arrives at the docks in Europe (Netherlands or Belgium)

2012_03_03:
The car has been worked on, but still needs to get the tune ups done. It's first in the line as you see

2012_03:

Decided on all the tune-ups done to the car before homologation:
Greddy Trust Suction kit
Link G4 ECU + remap
Apexi Cat-back exaust system
Apexi Downpipe
Cusco Zero 2E suspension
Nardi Deep Corn Steering Wheel
Nismo front Bumper vents
Removal of LEDS
Brakes discs pads and lines changed (performance parts)


Custom plate
RB 2633

 

[Ibonibo]

2011-12-26:
The Volvo Amazon:

As Xmas present i got a car, mainly because my dad bought it before knowing I bought the GTR.
So today I visited it (it's stored in our company storage), but forgot the key so I have yet to take pics of the engine and interior.

It's a P122S as it seems. has a 4 speed gearbox without overdrive.
I don't know what engine.
It can range from a 1.6 to an 2.0l engine. The homologation card is not helping rather messing more with it.
The car was built in 1967 in Gent, Belgium as it seems. The homolgation card stats it was imported to Luxemburg in 1991. Also it stats 1986 ccm but only 61kw (82hp). That doesn't fit. it simply doesn't fit.
The 1.8 had that hp ratio, but the ccm messes it up as the 2.0 had 100hp.
and the 2.0 was only put in in 1968.

So tomorrow I go with the keys and look futher...

Here some of the pics.











2011-12-27:

So I now checked the car a bit more out:

Engine:
Now I can say I have the biggest engine block in it, just not the last evolution. It seems to be a B20A. And that fits with the Hp output. But still isn't correct in relation to the production date.
Probably/ maybe it was replaced.
But the most important is I have the right block in it. The same engine block (?not sure yet?) was in the P1800 and output 124hp.
The engine will get a complete overhaul and tuned.
Around 130hp in a RWD 1000kg car, that should be a fun car.

Exterior:
As you can see most of the metal seems to be in a rather good condition, knowing the age of the car. But I can't see through the paint and there are some spots that were filler'ed (through knocking). Some parts are rusty, most of it is just superficial rust. The sideskirt is till now, the most rusty place, but I already saw way worse on internet on the Amazons. Seems to be a common illness.
The fenders look good (ouuuffff)

Interior:

Were to start. There seems to be missing parts, but I will contact the seller, I want to have more documents and see if he still has some parts. But even if he doesn't, they are easy to get.
The biggest problem will be the roof (the big sunroof). It wasn't an official Volvo option, but were sometimes made in the Volvo factories on customer demand.

I also saw it has a sticker of the Volvo Club Germany. So I will contact them to, to see if they know about the car and it's history (I love doing those researches).

less talk more photos? No problem:

 

[Blitz187]

Nice one! Me very jealous! Car looks like its in good condition, although you can never be totally sure until you see it in person. Good luck with everything.. Will keep an eye on this thread.

 

[Punknoodle]

Sweet! That's great to hear dude, how long till its all shipped over and registered etc? I'm a bit jelly actually!

 

[Vince_Fiero]

Knowing the price of garages in Luxembourg, I guess you do not live in the Citti!

Nice car!

 

[Ibonibo]

Nice one! Me very jealous! Car looks like its in good condition, although you can never be totally sure until you see it in person. Good luck with everything.. Will keep an eye on this thread.

Thanks. Yes that is a problem, and my dad keeps making me unsecure with this. "You haven't seen it. Are you sure you get it and it isn't a con...."
That stresses me too sometimes. But he has a great reputation.

Sweet! That's great to hear dude, how long till its all shipped over and registered etc? I'm a bit jelly actually!

Shipping is 6-8 weeks. Then the modifications need to be done and the homologation, which in my country is expensive and nerf wrecking. But both are done by the importer.

Knowing the price of garages in Luxembourg, I guess you do not live in the Citti!

Nice car!

No I'm not from Luxemburg City. And the one Luxemburgish importer is a joke. The prices are way to high, his show case skyline was a scrap which he crashed when he got it in the first 3 hours and they sold the wrong suspension to a buddy of mine.
Even the prices for registered skylines here in Lux are just way to high.
A Gts33 with 140000km for 12000€ . Craaaazy.

@all : thanks

 

[Blitz187]

Thanks. Yes that is a problem, and my dad keeps making me unsecure with this. "You haven't seen it. Are you sure you get it and it isn't a con...."
That stresses me too sometimes. But he has a great reputation.

I wasnt trying to make you nervous But thats usually the case with these types of things. As long as you let it get checked out very well to see if there's anything which needs attention, it should be ok. Good luck, can't wait to see some nice pics of it! 👍

 

[Ibonibo]

@Vince: on the second read i got what you meant: parking spots!
Yes I have places (6 inside) just not enough inside places (2 inside). But that changes in 2 months (+2inside). But true in the great north it's a bit easier to get hold of parking spots.
Got around 60 public spots infront of my house, free of charge

@Blitz: Got everything detailed on the contract with the importer. Should be good. I hope.

On the update news:
Made the deposit for it today and got all the papers done with the importer.

 

[Vince_Fiero]

the one Luxemburgish importer is a joke.

So where did you go? When I was looking at Japanese imports I ended up somewhere in The Netherlands near the German border.

You know here that looking over the borders is sometimes needed, on whisky for example the rare bottle with 21% tax in Arlon is mostly cheaper then the same with 3% tax in Luxembourg.

 

[disinfected]

Almost appears to be in like-new condition from those pictures. Not bad for a 16 year old car.

 

[gt4rulez]

Nice!

Great looking skyline you got there!
hope to see some more pictures of it soon!

nice wheels aswell!

Have fun with it! its a car with great potentional to make it very fast. but it will cost you too
experienced that myself with my '95 GTR V-spec. very nice car to drive though! im sure you will like it!

 

[Ibonibo]

update 1st post


@Vince: ended up with extreme-imports (former mashamoto). been lurking on that site for a 2 years nearly.
They do the whole homologation too, and in Luxembourg to get a "immatriculation à titre isolé" is a pain.

@disinfected : thanks, i hope, looks promising from the new pictures

@gt4rulez: Thanks! Yeah already planning in the improvements . What suspension would you suggest. That comes in from the beginning and maybe a stand alone ecu (was eyeing the apexi power fc+controller).

 

[Vince_Fiero]

I know the wheel is butt ugly, will sort that out with him...
The leds will fly off too.

Looked indeed as 2 things that cought my eye.
For the wheel it might be good to see how it works, if you want to put in a smaller one or if you need this size.

 

[gt4rulez]

update 1st post

@gt4rulez: Thanks! Yeah already planning in the improvements . What suspension would you suggest. That comes in from the beginning and maybe a stand alone ecu (was eyeing the apexi power fc+controller).

Mine already came with Öhlin suspension equipped. there are a few versions avaible, mine are quite simple and arent height adjustable, but you can set the shocks very well. from comfy for long distances to rock hard so you can feel every little stone that passes under your wheels.
A friend of mine got another Öhlin set under his car with piggybacks and these are height adjustable but quite a bit more expensive.

another popular option in europe is Tein suspension. i also know a few guys that have HKS shocks. i think they all are pretty much evenly priced but not 100% sure.

stand alone ecu, i just bought a new one. but i would suggest to get a Haltech Platinum Pro ECU. compared to my old AEM EMS Ecu, the AEM was like Windows 95 and the haltech Windows 7 or something. the AEM was also part of my ignition timing problem.

its a very good ECU, with ALOT of functions. you can adjust it even better then the Apexi Power FC. and it operates very fast. (for example you can switch from mapping while driving, @ 6k rpm it will take only 1 rotation of the crankshaft to switch to the other map. its almost impossible to notice. it also works with a MAP sensor instead of the stock MAF units. works better too. and it doesnt matter if you have a stock engine or a complete maxxed out 1500hp+ drag machine, it can all handle it.

later on you can also install extra sensors and stuff like digital dash etc, these are all plug and play, you dont have to do any wirering etc.

if you want to know anything about the haltech ecu you should contact Pro Import. alot of their customers cars run the Haltech Platinum Pro. Henk from Pro Import knows everything about it and has a very good reputation in the netherlands if it comes to ECU's/Mapping/Electronics etc.
http://www.proimport.nl/contact/

he can compare both ecu's alot better then i can so i would suggest to contact him of course it also depends on what your budget is.

 

[Ibonibo]

@Vince:
Yes, leds fit Audis and not others, it's ridiculous to see all the cars (saw a berlingo with leds and an old Volvo, I laughed so hard) with aftermarkets leds. So lame.
Front bumper gets rid of the leds and get Nismo front vents added.
The steering wheel would be ok if it wouldn't been red. I hoped for a 3 spoke stock steering wheel though .
Well I will see what he says about it. Otherwise I will put a Momo or Sparco in it.

@GT4rulez:
For the suspension, what are the top tier makes?? Suspension is really important for me.
I was looking in the Cusco Sport Zero 2E and the Tein Flex (both fully adjustable).

For the ECU, I was already googling Haltech when I saw it in your thread . And it messed up my plans (because of the price difference)
As the engine is bone stock, and considering the price of the Haltech I think it will be a slight overkill. And I will never go above 450hp (except if I brake the engine, which I won't (knock on wood), I would rebuild it stonger, then maybe, but that are a lot of if's and when).
So is Haltech still a must or does the apexi suffice for my purposes (and there is still the possibilty to upgrade from Apexi to Haltech later on if there are too much mods)?

I was planning now as immidate tune up :
An induction kit, ECU and remap. The Haltech alone nearly eats that budget. So as you said :budget.

An other question: (see pic from under the car). Is that still the stock exaust tubing, meaning it is just a muffler mounted on?

The suspension is a sure thing to get in when it comes to belgium, but for the performance I still am not sure, what and how to do first.
I need to get the things done that are see-able so they are homologated. Then later I can add things that either don't need homologation or they (mostly I) don't really care (like the ECU)

 

[Rotary Junkie]

What's with the focus on standalone ECUs? I would *think* that there would be a way to simply remap the factory ECU.

 

[Ibonibo]

^Limited setting that can be tuned with the factory ecu and it's never costumized to your car, it's a reamp that goes on all the cars, whether you have a exaust, intake or neither (very few tuners do a customized remap).
Plus you can remap it if you slowly upgrade the engine.
And it is suitable if you go beyond a certain tuning stage
I think it is also more a specificity to japanese cars. Never saw a german car with it (if it wasn't tuned beyond ludicrous).
There are Standalone kits that cost as much or less than a remap for a german car!

On all my others car i have also just a remap on the stock ecu.

 

[Blitz187]

Quiet in here... So whats the latest on the R33?

 

[Vince_Fiero]

Quiet in here... So whats the latest on the R33?

I guess on boat on the Ocean trying to avoid tropical storms

 

[Ibonibo]

Well I play the waiting game. And I hate it

I talked with the guy end last week. He was looking to get it shipped. Should/must be shipping before x-mas.
And I asked for the prices for the mods I need to have done.

He will tell me when it is on the boat. So waiting...

If everything goes like planned, which it never does!, the car should arrive in belgium end january, then mods going to be installed (1 week) and homologated (2 weeks). Question is for the translation of the car papers: does he have templates (fast) or are they done individually (really slow)?
That should get me soon-est end of febuary.

I just fear that i get the car when there is a meter of snow on the roads which would suck big time for a test drive

 

[GTMail]

Nice Skyline! Wish we got them here. But why did you ruin those Audis like that? No offence but those A3s (in my opinion, which doesn't matter) were ruined by body kits and ugly paint jobs. Good to see you picked up a beauty though.

 

[Ibonibo]

Thanks.You did have skyline, just not long enough :S
On the Audis:
A3 was done during my show-n-shine days, so it was a "show car" but one that actually was fast. And I liked it and still do, and that's quite all what counts, if i tuned my cars for the approval of other people, that would be poor in my opinion.

S3: Only front bumper was changed and with a purpose, look at the stock bumper, the 2 intercoolers on the sides don't get enough air after it's tuned, so bigger vents are needed, and cutting bigger holes in bumpers is forbidden here and would look worse. And I love that colour on the S3, it's one of the best pearleffect colours I have ever laid eyes on, just sad the paintjob was screwed. It will get repainted but I don't know when or in which colour, I waiting for a judge to make a call

 

[Ibonibo]

Update 1st post: Shipping date 18th December 👍

 

[Blitz187]

^^ Nice! Good news for you I presume

 

[Vince_Fiero]

5 days before it goes on the boat.
Then months before IBO gets it, the waiting will be painful.

 

[Ibonibo]

Yes good news!

But before I bought it, I knew the guy is really sick/ill.
So it always can take a bit more time, if he gets a relaps or something.
I read on the dutch skyline forum that some guys waited 8 months to get their car, but the result was everytime ok. And some of the customers didn't know about his conditions or didn't care and became kind of aggressive.
I know that if everything goes like planned in 2 months I have it, but it can also happen that I need to wait 1-2 months longer.

And yes the waiting is nerv-wrecking
But it was forseeable, so I can only blame me
And everything will be forgotten when I turn the key for the first time

 

[MedigoFlame]

Congrats on getting the Skyline! A good looking R33 GT-R. Feels rather depressing that there wasn't one in the U.S... Apart from the V35. >_>

 

[Ibonibo]

Thanks man.
Yeah really sad what happend to the US imported skylines. I hope not all were crushed!

 

[Ibonibo]

Update with a new car and pics... XD

 

[E28]

That Volvo looks like it has some potential to become a really nice car. I'm assuming that you're going to simply restore it?

And an R33... You're going to have one seriously nice garage.