[nohlan_4]

Well this thread is looooong over due. I have been a long time semi lurker and owned my 2009 GTR since 2012 alot of this thread will be old pictures but I decided to finally document my car in sort of a timeline or the journey its been on and some milestones that have passed since owning the car. I have a lot more pictures than what will be posted in this thread but these are some of the highlights.

This car was purchased as part of a trade on my 2008 Evo X that I had purchase brand new when they were released. The Evo was a fun car but even at the FBO level that I was at with that car it just wasn't that reliable. I wanted a more reliable sports car that I could beat on a little harder and not have to worry about breaking it. After a short search (at the time there was only 3 GTR's for sale in Canada) I found a SS 2009 a couple of provinces over with only 18,000 miles on the clock, some emails back and forth and we were off to finish the deal.

Was slightly sketchy completing this purchase in a dark parking lot beside a casino but there weren't any major defects with the car at all mechanical or otherwise so it was a no brainer.

After half a summer (2012) with the car I was impressed by how easy it was to drive everyday and have fun with it not worrying about breaking down. I enjoyed it stock for a short while...

But as many of you can atest to the GTR just needs a little bit more sound to make it like the car it was designed to be (even though I told myself it would stay stock and I wouldn't mod it). So over the fall and winter of 2012/2013 I began my tireless research on which parts I would use on my FBO build.

Brakes were the first thing I came across as my factory front rotors were cracking badly at only 18,000 miles so I purchased a full set of AP J Hooks with Carbotech AX6 Pads. These improved braking over stock noticeably and were a nice addition.

Next came the power, I happened across a FBO part out ad on GTRLife for most of the parts I was going to purchase anyway so it was a sign! I jumped on it right away. GotBoost 3" Intakes, 2012 Inlets and AMS Catless DP's. I wanted alittle more than average so I got a local race shop to do a mild port and polish on the 2012 inlets before install.

Trying to be proactive and in case I ever wanted more power in the future I wanted to get the best flowing exhaust I could get. At the time no one was making a 4" so I was looking at 3.5's and 3's. Not happy with any of them I waited awhile and bam! ETS came out with there 4" exhaust and I was able to grab a brand new in the box from a member on GTRlife that had changed his mind. It is still the best exhaust to make power on a GTR IMO and I love the sound.

The final piece to the puzzle was the tuning platform and this was debated back and forth a million times when ECUteck came out for the GTR. Not knowing a lot about the system and having the COBB AP previously on my Evo I decided to stick with COBB. I purchased a V2 with TCM from a member also on GTRlife....now that I think about it the forum provided all the parts for this part of the build!

With my etune dialed in I was ready to enjoy the first summer with all my new power! What a difference it made, I can still remember my first WOT pull after going FBO and saying wow! The car now felt like it should have from factory. My friends and I went about planning out an epic road trip to enjoy the cars on. Leaving from Alberta we traveled down to Portland, south down the 101 all the way to San Francisco we took many photos along the way but these were some highlights. We even had a chance to take the cars out to the legendary Sonoma race way for the first go at the 1/4 in the GTR. At sea level I ran a 10.71 on pump gas! What an awesome way to close out the trip.

 

[nohlan_4]

The car was just so rock solid I didn't really see a need to do anything more for awhile. Oil changes, tires and transmission services kept me happy and the car happy for 3 years.....just a couple more pictures of our adventures together. I have had no mechanical failures at all with this car to date and it has been super reliable. My AV unit did go out but that was covered under warranty no issue.

I treat you good, and you return the favor.

Local car meets are a live and well all over the world, even in the far North of Alberta Canada. We have many hardcore car guys in my small town so the meets are always interesting for sure.

The first real photoshoot I did of the car was with a friend from a city nearby. He shot these shots on a 30mm film camera. I thought they turned out awesome, still back in the day circa 2014.

The old CBA has also gotten to hang out with a few of its own kind as well, in Alberta the GTR is pretty common when you factor how many people live here. A couple meets I have been too.

Also I had a chance to participate in a Alberta based rally called Royal Rally. It was a fun time and awesome experience that I will probably do again sometime. The organization and car variety was great. This was summer 2016 and they have almost doubled in size already so they are taking off for sure. I would recommend everyone do at least one rally in there car enthusiast life time.

The car had never been dyno'd before but I knew it was making the right power for FBO pump gas just by the 1/4 mile times, I have run 10.80's consistently in Alberta air and altitude. So I figured it was time to do it just for fun! Dyno was a mobile dyno at a local car show so it was cool to have everyone watch the pulls.

After all the good times and years with my CBA I felt like I wanted to upgrade. I found a DBA that I liked that was an american car but however the deal was far from smooth and after almost 9 months it fell through and I remained a CBA owner. That whole ordeal kinda soured me from looking for a new car as I had a perfectly good one at that I knew the history on now at 62,000 miles on the clock. So I decided to help me fall in love with my GTR again I would add some bling.

The day before I got my wheels, wish I could get this picture retaken!

Premium Advan GT's in racing gloss black with P4S were ordered and fitted. This was the first brand new mod this car has seen! And I thought they turned out awesome. I also protected this investment with the Kamikaze ceramic coating by Miyabi. they clean up crazy easy now.

I'm sure though as you all know that the mod bug bites and stays latched on so after the wheels I wanted to updated the other lacking aesthetics of an almost 10 year old car! The side skirts and lip had seen better days after not being protected all of its life so I went with a subtle but classic kit. Zele carbon lip kit! Of course I couldn't do just the sides and lip with finishing it off on the rear. The side skirts I found online brand new for a great deal from a fellow owner and the rear and lip kit was bought brand new from a site vendor. Two brand new mods in less than a year wow! This time however immediately after install I brought the car in to have the pieces wrapped in full xpel protection since I had decided to keep the car I wanted it to look good for as long as I can keep it that way.

This brings me to the end of my long GTR journey and how the car sits currently. I have also updated the V2 Cobb to a V3 recently and add some smaller carbon accents. This summer I am attending my first 1/2 mile event so that should be a lot of fun even though my power level will be mid pack at best I think. This build thread will be evolving however as I have some bigger plans for this car come fall of 2018 so stay tuned!

 

[iaanr]

Beautiful! Stories like this show how great it is to own one of these cars. How many miles while FBO?

 

[nohlan_4]

Beautiful! Stories like this show how great it is to own one of these cars. How many miles while FBO?

I think they are awesome! You hear a lot of bad and in 2012 there were lots of bad about transmissions etc etc. But you have to realize people usually only complain about the bad!

Roughly 43,000 miles while at full fbo on pump gas.

 

[Wicked]

Congrats and enjoy it in good health.

 

[nohlan_4]

First real picture with my new setup.