Ultimate Street Car Challenge 02: 1998 Nissan Skyline GT-R

Let's face it. An Ultimate Street Car Challenge without a Skyline would be like Shakira without the curves. But this is not the Skyline you voted for. That car was a silver R32 GT-R owned by Hiro Nanahoshi, the owner of Motorex, the company that federalizes every Skyline on American soil. But that car experienced engine problems just days before the contest. A few phone calls later and we managed to talk Daniel Suh of Los Angeles, Calif., into bringing out his black 1998 R33 GT-R.Daniel has owned his GT-R almost since new, and he's perhaps the only person in this year's USCC who actually drives his car every day.

One of the least modified vehicles in the competition, Daniel's Skyline wears a list of products that reads like a who's who in the Japanese aftermarket. To upgrade the power output and reliability of the venerable RB26DETT, an A'PEXi Super Suction Kit passes the intake charge through a huge HKS GT-series intercooler and twin 300ZX TT mass airflow sensors.

Daniel impressively performed the final assembly of the engine himself, using a 1.2mm Tomei head gasket and complete gasket set. HKS cam gears fine-tune fairly mild Tomei 260-degree cams. Like the R33 that competed in last year's contest, Daniel fitted his car with twin ball-bearing center section HKS GT-series 2530 turbos fitted to ported stock exhaust manifolds. Understanding full well that good emissions are worth as many points as big power, an efficient 3-inch catalytic converter cleans things up before the exhaust finally exits through a Kakimoto exhaust.A large A'PEXi fuel pump squirts fuel through GReddy 720cc injectors, with fuel delivery controlled by an A'PEXi Power FC.

This Skyline features more computing power, both stock and aftermarket, than Cold War Stalingrad. A Blitz SBC_iD unleashes the tremendous amounts of boost the RB26's cast-iron bottom-end is capable of supporting. Daniel also outfitted his car with the HKS funboxes consisting of the Electronic Traction Control and Electronic Drag Adapter units, meaning this four-wheel-drive car can do rear-wheel-drive burnouts with the twist of a knob. This unit can also be used to statically control front/rear torque biasing, letting the driver decide just how much steering should be accomplished with the throttle pedal.Remote reservoir 16-way and fully height-adjustable Ohlins coil-overs are the only modification made to the suspension. This same suspension was on the R33 that competed last year and posted some of the best handling numbers in the test, on true street tires.

Daniel has left the stock Brembos in place to slow the R33's considerable 3,450-pound heft, but he added Project u pads. Like almost every car in this year's contest, the Skyline wears Hoosiers. Here, they're sized 275/35ZR-18 on all four corners and are mounted on 18x10-inch Work Meister wheels.Perhaps the Skyline's niftiest modification is in the drivetrain. Daniel uses a NISMO twin-disc clutch to hold up to the ridiculous drag-launch clutch drops Skyline owners love so much, but once the torque is harnessed, power is transferred through a five-speed OS Giken gearset in the stock Skyline case. Apart from being substantially stronger than stock, first gear is longer to take advantage of more revs and more power, and should be worth at least a few tenths in the quarter mile.Can a mildly but thoughtfully modified daily-driven Skyline hold its own against very tweaked, eminently capable USCC competition? Stay tuned.