BIG BOPPA

Well, after a rocky start in to the GTR scene I finally put a deposit down on a Black R33 GTR with quiet a impressive spec list, from then things have kind of spiralled in to what could be called a passion or even a obsession.

Enter BIG BOPPA  (The car's name comes from my good friend "The Nite" once he saw the car he said it reminded him of the evil car from Mad max, and the name has stuck )

Picked the car up on Friday 16th July 2004, The “Skyline smile” was well and truly installed. The car was a completely different beast to my previous GTS-t, the only way I can describe the difference is, imagine taking a Jack Russell for a walk and then taking a Rottwieller for a walk, one is Light and snappy and the other is Heavy and solid.

The reason for buying a already modded GTR was to save money, this however did not go to plan!

First thing was add a Top Secret Carbon Bonnet, the body kit was not the best looking of things so that was next on the list, a Trust Gracer Bumper, Trust Gracer Skirts and custom made rear spats from the mad man that is Gazza @ Japsalon.

I was browsing the GTR.co.uk forum and saw a advert for R34 GTR seats for sale, these were something I had always liked the look of but unfortunatly were just too much over my budget, so just as an off chance I thought I would ask for the price (thinking it was going to be £1000+), to my surprise the seller came back with £450, so naturally I bit his arm off.

I then decided it was time to concentrate on the engine, so I had the car at a “tuner’s” to have the boost controller set up and a few tweeks to the map. Several ££££’s later and lots of tanks of fuel (which to be honest I may aswell just have poured the fuel on the floor by the exhaust) I later found out the car was massively over fuelling and the boost controller was not doing its job, it also needed the brakes upgrading as they were, well ..........non existent, I picked up a good triple plate clutch which needed fitting, took a long while to get used to it as it was either ON or OFF .

I then decided it was time to take the car to a specialist, so of she went to ABBEY MOTORSPORT and I have not looked back since, had the car set up and mapped by Danoh, (in my opinion the most knowledgeable mapper of skylines) Danoh also fitted my New PFC as the one that was in there was not sufficient enough to have a safe map installed. Fuel consumption was 100 times better and the car felt a lot stronger. They also fitted the clutch properly.
On the dyno she made 505 ath and 401 lbs of torque.

In November I had the pleasure of spending a day with J-tuner’s Craig and Matt had a great day, being in the spot light.

After a great year of events and plenty of miles. On December 31st 2005 the bottom end let go, the obvious failing it had suffered in her earlier life had obviously taken its toll. The noise of the pistons rattling is a sound I never ever want to hear again.

After a few days of deciding the way to go forward, the car was picked up and taken away by Andy from SP AUTOS to have a squint at and take the engine out, whilst it was out Andy discovered that the turbos were no as I thought HKS 2530’s but were actually HKS 2540’s andanother extra bonus was that the manifolds were found to be a HKS Stainless steal tubular ones.

Then the engine, shortly followed by the car was transported to ABBEY MOTORSPORT to have the rebuild done and to have the spare gearbox fitted, It was discovered that as I expected, the big ends had given up the ghost, and also the poor old pistons didn’t get away unharmed, so naturally they were replaced with ABBEY MOTORSPORT Forged Pistons and a new crank.

After the rebuild I picked the car up to go through the dreaded and dull running in process, 1000 miles of not being able to go over 4000 rpm and to make the most painful of processes more arduous I decided to go to Zolder in Belgium along with Mick Begley in the JUN LEMON and a gaggle of other powerful skylines, It was torture, but to cut the long and slow story of running in short, it was back up to ABBEY to have the service and mapping done.

The point had arrived to see what power she had made – 525 bhp ATH and 421 lbs Torque which to say the least I was well chuffed with. The engine is the best it has ever been.

In Summer 06 I then added 3G brake rotors and yellow stuff pads, which were well needed as the previous ones were just not up to the job.

Also added a few other touches that I think her very unique, like Flush Fitted Areo Catches, Kansai Service Strut Brace, Garage Defend Cooling Panel and a few graphics.

02/04/07 - Update, well the susspension is fitted and WOW what a difference that makes, again top service from Abbey Motorsport, they also reccomended that the rear discs were changed, so they wer next on the list. Ordered and fitted 3G 10 slot rear rotors and red stuff pads.

Then Boppa was visited by Tim from Envy Valeting, click here to see what magic he did.