TO THOSE WHO HAVE WENT FULL BUILD (900-1200whp)

9557 Views 36 Replies 26 Participants Last post by thebeast, Dec 11, 2015

Mrrobinson53181

Discussion Starter · Nov 24, 2015

Some questions for those of you who fit under this category......
1. Do you track it, drag strip it or daily drive it around the streets?
2. Are you having any issues at all with reliability?
3. Now that's it said and done, would you do it again?
4. How did you decide which route to go? Piece it together or with a package deal?
Thanks!!

1 - 20 of 37 Posts

Shipwreck

· #2 · Nov 24, 2015 (Edited by Moderator)

1. Drag strip, airfield events, and weekend cruiser. She's a garage queen, I don't daily drive her.
2. No issues *knock on wood*
3. Yes, I would do it again. I'm impressed with how tame and driveable the car is, I would probably go bigger if I had to do it all over again. The exhaust and transmission noise is only marginally louder than the P800 setup I had before.
4. Package Deal, Switzer Ultimate Street Edition Pro

Edit: When I was shopping/researching different builds, I wanted a car that was fast & reliable without sacrificing what I had with the basic bolt-on, turbo upgrade, 93 octane kit I had (P800). I wanted to go a lot faster, but I didn't want to have the car always on a trailer going back and forth to the shop for tweaks, updates, maintenance, etc. I didn't want to ask Team Switzer to support me in person at every event I went to, although I'm sure they would have. Anyway, since my car is not a daily driver, I probably could have stepped up to a bigger package and still met my goals.

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Cicio

· #3 · Nov 24, 2015

1200 and under in a GT-R is completely daily drivable if you want it to be and very safe when put together by a qualified shop.

It is 1300+ where things get a little interesting.

My personal car is 1100whp and I would drive the car anyplace every day all day.

BBGT1000

· #4 · Nov 24, 2015

1) Mainly track (10 or so track days a season for me), made it to the drag strip a few times over the years, daily drive it when weather permits (although it is 32 degrees out today and I took it to work in full HKS livery).
2) No issues with reliability. Can't really even say given the amount that I track it. Last year only issue was an oil leak from a fitting.
3) Yes because it has been an awesome experience. Will I do it to another car in the future I don't know, but I have learned to never say never.
4) I have done almost 3 full builds on my car, stock displacement built engine alpha 9, then converted to GT1000, then stroker/cam/port HKS engine with GT1000. I had a mutt with a basis toward HKS parts and some AMS. Built a good relationship with HKS and have moved to all their parts. And I have done just about everything you can to a GTR engine/trans/suspension/cooling/fuel/brakes/body kit/wheels...

Ultimately what lead me to do a "full build" was close proximity to a great shop, Kaizen. If I didn't have a great shop (AMS, Top Speed, Jotech, Kaizen, Jacks type shops come to mind) relatively local I might not have gone this far.

Last time we dyno'd I was around 1000hp to wheels, new engine build might get me a little more.

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909

· #5 · Nov 24, 2015

[background=rgb(246, 246, 246)]1. Do you track it, drag strip it or daily drive it around the streets? Daily.[/background]
[background=rgb(246, 246, 246)]2. Are you having any issues at all with reliability? I've only had one easy to fix issue...and it's been a lot of miles.[/background]
[background=rgb(246, 246, 246)]3. Now that's it said and done, would you do it again? Yes. [/background]
[background=rgb(246, 246, 246)]4. How did you decide which route to go? Piece it together or with a package deal? There is no right or wrong answer. I started with a package, but swapped out a few parts here and there to capitalize on things I already had and things that don't matter what name is stamped on it to save some $.[/background]

mforrest100

· #6 · Nov 24, 2015

[email protected] said:
1200 and under in a GT-R is completely daily drivable if you want it to be and very safe when put together by a qualified shop.

It is 1300+ where things get a little interesting.

My personal car is 1100whp and I would drive the car anyplace every day all day.

I remember you bought a midnight opal sometime ago if I recall correctly. Is that the car you are referring to as your personal car? I could be mistaken overall.

Cicio

· #7 · Nov 24, 2015

mforrest100 said:
I remember you bought a midnight opal sometime ago if I recall correctly. Is that the car you are referring to as your personal car? I could be mistaken overall.

No I only had that car for a short time as it was for some other testing.

Currently I have a 14 that we have been prototyping turbos on for about a year.

ALPHA Performance

· #8 · Nov 24, 2015

1250whp and below can be completely daily driveable and reliable if you put the right parts behind it.

Eric

JLHILL82

· #9 · Nov 24, 2015

[email protected] said:
1200 and under in a GT-R is completely daily drivable if you want it to be and very safe when put together by a qualified shop.

It is 1300+ where things get a little interesting.

My personal car is 1100whp and I would drive the car anyplace every day all day.

I will concur with Cicio here.
This car/setup he is referring to is an absolute blast! Unabomber will confirm this as well.

It's why I'm letting him build me one!

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nixlimited

· #10 · Nov 24, 2015

ALPHA Performance said:
1250whp and below can be completely daily driveable and reliable if you put the right parts behind it.
Eric

How few years ago would this have been a completely ridiculous statement?

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mforrest100

· #11 · Nov 25, 2015

[email protected] said:
No I only had that car for a short time as it was for some other testing.

Currently I have a 14 that we have been prototyping turbos on for about a year.

Nice!

335irlz

· #12 · Nov 25, 2015

Mrrobinson53181 said:
Some questions for those of you who fit under this category......
1. Do you track it, drag strip it or daily drive it around the streets?
2. Are you having any issues at all with reliability?
3. Now that's it said and done, would you do it again?
4. How did you decide which route to go? Piece it together or with a package deal?
Thanks!!

1, Yes. I drove it 100+ miles to the strip and back then drove it to work the next morning 60 miles in the freezing cold.
2. No
3. Yes sooner, skip mild turbo upgrade and FBO.
4. Because it was proven reliable and cheap for me to do

M O N S T E R

· #13 · Nov 25, 2015

Mrrobinson53181 said:
1200 and under in a GT-R is completely daily drivable if you want it to be and very safe when put together by a qualified shop.

It is 1300+ where things get a little interesting.

My personal car is 1100whp and I would drive the car anyplace every day all day.

Have you seen the Road and Track testing of the Alpha 12? Anywho, IMO 1000whp is the sweet spot for a all around race car. Kind of the way it was originally designed. Above that, the car tends to lag and things break easier. Remember that "race car problems" thing I mentioned earlier? It happens a lot more frequently with higher powered vehicles (not just GTRs).

GSX-R35

· #14 · Nov 25, 2015

Mrrobinson53181 said:
Some questions for those of you who fit under this category......
1. Do you track it, drag strip it or daily drive it around the streets?
2. Are you having any issues at all with reliability?
3. Now that's it said and done, would you do it again?
4. How did you decide which route to go? Piece it together or with a package deal?
Thanks!!

1. Since the build: two track days, a half-mile event, and a few 500+mile trips. Driven mostly as a weekend car though, not a DD.
2. Boringly reliable.
3. Yes.
4. Went in stages - exhaust first, then slowly added parts to FBO status, then after talking to Cicio took the plunge and went Pro8 turbos, fully built motor, and Stage 2.5 trans all at once.

changster

· #15 · Nov 26, 2015

I don't think anyone who has blown their car up to smithereens is going to post much. But I would take Eric @ AMS's view above PLUS one additional line. Not only do you have to use the right parts but also the right builder/tuner.

GT35/Alpha12/ETS 35 build levels can be reliable (like Eric said, around 1250ish whp). And it's gotten better over the years for sure. My Alpha 12 build was from 2012 (R.I.P) and a whole lot has changed since then and shops have gotten better for sure.

These are the shops I would trust in the US:
AMS
English Racing
Iveytune
T1R
TSM now with Rob doing the tuning
SP Engineering
Bill @ SprayitRacing

There is a reason why a handful of shops have all the records. It's no coincidence.

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NVRENUF

· #16 · Nov 26, 2015

[email protected] said:
1200 and under in a GT-R is completely daily drivable if you want it to be and very safe when put together by a qualified shop.

It is 1300+ where things get a little interesting.

My personal car is 1100whp and I would drive the car anyplace every day all day.

This- exactly. 1200 hp in my built A12... By TSM.... Track, daily, everything driven. I'd drive it 1000 miles with no 2nd thought or concern.

Would I do it again? I could NEVER drive a stock Gtr at this point. I'm never going back and I'd do it again over and over. Mine drives smoother than stock.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mrrobinson53181

Discussion Starter · #17 · Nov 26, 2015

Thanks for all of the feedback!! I live in SoCal (Temecula area) so not too many shops closer than an hour+ away, which isn't bad at all. SP Engineering is about an hour and 20 away.....

Vitamin S.

· #18 · Nov 26, 2015

Subscribed. Lots of success stories here.

GTRFUN

· #19 · Nov 27, 2015

I'm hanging around this thread

Sent from my SM-G900V using GT-R Life mobile app

Visconti

· #20 · Nov 28, 2015

Interesting thread!

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