Andreas visited Z Car Garage to get his 1983 Nissan Skyline running correctly. We admire these 80’s gems, working on several DR30 Skylines and with a few tweaks plus dyno tuning Andreas was back on the road in proper form.
The Sixth Generation
Not familiar with this right-hand drive specimen? Most Americans are familiar with the classic 70’s Skylines and later GT-R series, but this 6th generation (R30) chassis is often overlooked, yet very special in its own right. Andreas’ model is a ’83 Nissan Skyline RS-X and it’s the first iteration of the distinctive “Iron Mask” front end. This generation also marked introduction of the FJ20 engine, though Andreas’ is an early, non-intercooled model:
In Japan the R30 sold well and had a great following with Nissan enlisting the famous actor/racer Paul Newman to appear in ad campaigns. The R30 also formed the basis for the insanely cool SuperSilhouette race car:
DR30 Ownership
With its angular styling, pillar-less windows, killer graphics and FJ20 power what’s not to like? Andreas had been wanting a DR30 for the past 10+ years and after driving Reid’s DR30, it motivated him to finally get one:
“With the help of The Import Guys, I purchased it from auction in June and picked it up in November in Washington and drove it straight home to Northern California. 2 days, almost 1000 miles and it did it perfectly. I have been fixing a few things here and there like a new front lip, interior trim, suspension, brakes and threw back on some OEM parts but my journey with the car is still young. I have auto-x’ed it already and do have my eyes on potential track days.”
Andreas was having problems with the car not revving properly and recalled his discussion with Reid (thanks!) about his and getting work done at Z Car Garage:
“I reached out to Rob for help. Kind of funny, on the day of the appointment to get this issue checked out my car broke down a mile from the shop and he was nice enough to help me tow it there. I have pretty modest goals, I just want a good looking, fun to drive DR30. This one has its issues like most 35+ year old cars but the idea was to get myself a nice project (but a driver). No need for a beauty queen, and no real need for massive power. Give it a refresh, and then just drive the hell out of it.”
Skyline Sorting at ZCG
Since purchasing, this R30 was not running correctly so we started troubleshooting the fuel system. We figured out some of the issues (bad fuel pump, running extremely lean, no fuel getting to motor) and we got Andreas running.
Despite new injectors, fuel filter, fuel pump we kept hitting these limiters. The factory ECU wouldn’t allow it to rev over 5krpm so we called our friends from JWT. Clark Steppler is the master of all vintage ECUs and he worked his magic on the delicate, vintage unit. As you can see from the dyno plot we have full rev range power/tq.
Dyno Tuning
Rob dyno tuned the FJ20ET, now with full power available to redline it put down 178hp/158tq to the wheels. Impressive power for the time, with a hot-pipe. Nissan really was special in the 80’s!
Enjoy this video of the dyno run and Andreas enjoying the DR30:
While the Skyline was here we replaced the front control arm bushings with new Superpro bushings:
Andreas was driving the car when he felt a loss in power. We discovered a boost leak in the hot pipe and resolved it. In Andreas’ words “No issues now and car runs like a dream.”
Enjoying The Ride
With the engine sorted Andreas has been driving his Skyline everywhere, happily boosting. Ps…did we mention how good it looks on the Longchamp wheels?
He even made it out to the recent Norcal Skylines Matsuri 2020, an event we were lucky to attend last year:
“I want a car I can have fun with and drive hard), not something that I just take to cars and coffee. So I appreciate all the help he gave me to get my car back up and running and back to its former glory!”
Thanks for letting us work on your DR30 Andreas. We love the direction you are taking it!
More pictures in the gallery!
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