BNR34 Shell

[VertigoEpidemic]

Sorry, but I wasn't sure where to put this question...

Does anyone know if there is someone that can get me an R34 or R33 Chassis shell? I'm not trying to avoid Mrex or legalizations, I'm just looking for a car to toy with and put in a different engine and what not. Stricktly for racing only.

[Tuner]

There are many here that are "track use only" Try eBay, or even Japanese Auto Resellers, you'd just have to pay for shipping.

[VertigoEpidemic]

Know of any sites of the top of you head that could help me?

[sil180sx]

yahoojapan.com

[wdb]

Hmm, you wanna get your hands on an R33 or R34... but you don't want the engine? You wanna put a different engine in it? The RBs are generally pretty good.

Umm... if u can get the shell, with the engine, then that's the way to go. Are you talking FR Skyline (e.g ER34) or BNR33/34?

[Ghost of Duluth]

Umm... if u can get the shell, with the engine, then that's the way to go. Are you talking FR Skyline (e.g ER34) or BNR33/34?

He probably wants a BNR34 since that was the title of the entire thread.

[f8ldzz]

Good luck trying to get it into the U.S.
Although importations of vehicles has been relaxed a bit a few years ago, it's still tough trying to get a full chassis imported.
You can get almost everything else, but to get a full unmolested chassis is next to impossible.
You see, the DOT is keen on people trying to sneak vehicles into the U.S. that are not DOT legal.
Any vehicle that is not normally imported into the U.S. will be scrutenized.
You can get front half cut...back half cut...engines...parts..., but the shell is going to raise some eyebrows.

If you're serious about this, I would find a shell and get it cut in half.
Yeah, not the best option, but at least it's not going to trigger a DOT red-flag.
If it's seriously going to be a race car, it's going to be caged.
The cage should take most of the chassis load, so the cut shell should not that big of a deal.

[LOVMUFN]

A 'shell' is not concidered a car, you can put it in a container and label it as 'car parts'. If you want to be super safe you can take the fenders off and you will have even less problems. Find someone that gets containers on a regular basis and have them get you a shell and throw it in the back of the container. As long as the car is not complete it is legal. You can have a full car with all origional parts in a container and if it is in pieces it is legal to label the container as car parts, and customs, even if they look in the container will see only car parts and a shell of a car. If you put the car back together here it is something you did after it got through customs and is completely legal. I have known people that put full cars in the middle of a bunch of half cuts and they searched the container and passed it anyway.

On another note, cutting a car in half and putting it back together is a REAL bad idea. A lot of production passenger cars made after oh... 1980!!! are unibody frame construction which means that the body of the car is one with the frame of the car. That is how you can have a car with a weak spot in the frame like the 240 does just before the rear wheels and not have the car split in half while driving around. Not to mention trying to get anything to line up when you weld it. Or even the fact that the car is not one, or two layers of about 4 ga. steel they are 3 or 4 layers in some spots, trying to weld that properly and have it still retain ANY of its properties when it was 4 pieces is impossible. Then there is the fact that it will warp under the heat of welding. It once was posible to cut and shorten a car. The fabrication required to do it today involes a TON of work not much of which is welding. There are probably 4 people in the world I would even ride in the car after they did it to the car.

[Ghost of Duluth]

Good info both of you but if you assemble the car after it has come over in parts, it's still illegal. No matter where or how it was assembled, it is still technically illegal. The idea of cutting the car in half is not that bad of an idea in relation to the others that I have heard. Either way, you are going to have ALOT of work on your hands so it's probably too much of a plan. Also, it would be alot of money to do, money that you could put to good use in another car. Probably have 2 built 240's for the price you are going to pay to get the shell, get it here, get it through customs, put back together and all that jive. Not cost effective.

[LOVMUFN]

He stated he is using the car for racing perposes only... You can do WHATEVER you want to a race car. What you do to it only tells you what tracks you can race it on if there are rules at the track or what class of whatever racing you can be in if you want to be in a type of racing. An indy car is obviously illegal to drive on the street but is not illegal to own and trailer to a track.

[Ghost of Duluth]

Good point. Wonder what class that would fall under in SCCA? or would it? Rally class maybe.

Either way, too much money to spend unless you are committed like Gangbusters to racing that car and spending gobbies of money. To get that car, build it and campaign it for a year I would estimate well over 30g's. Entry fee's, travel expenses and whatever else may brake on the car. Of course, you can always get a RWD one and do the old tried and true 350 chevy with a truckload of sidewinder missles. Nah.

[f8ldzz]

Originally posted by LOVMUFN
A 'shell' is not concidered a car, you can put it in a container and label it as 'car parts'. If you want to be super safe you can take the fenders off and you will have even less problems. Find someone that gets containers on a regular basis and have them get you a shell and throw it in the back of the container. As long as the car is not complete it is legal. You can have a full car with all origional parts in a container and if it is in pieces it is legal to label the container as car parts, and customs, even if they look in the container will see only car parts and a shell of a car. If you put the car back together here it is something you did after it got through customs and is completely legal. I have known people that put full cars in the middle of a bunch of half cuts and they searched the container and passed it anyway.

I dunno what ports this is coming through from, but most major ports the port authorities they are not dumb about importing a full shell. You might or might not be able to get the full shell to pass, but if it doesn't, you're screwed with nothing to show after paying for the whole mess. The only thing that I know of that won't raises a red flag is cutting the chassis in half.

On another note, cutting a car in half and putting it back together is a REAL bad idea. A lot of production passenger cars made after oh... 1980!!! are unibody frame construction which means that the body of the car is one with the frame of the car. That is how you can have a car with a weak spot in the frame like the 240 does just before the rear wheels and not have the car split in half while driving around. Not to mention trying to get anything to line up when you weld it. Or even the fact that the car is not one, or two layers of about 4 ga. steel they are 3 or 4 layers in some spots, trying to weld that properly and have it still retain ANY of its properties when it was 4 pieces is impossible. Then there is the fact that it will warp under the heat of welding. It once was posible to cut and shorten a car. The fabrication required to do it today involes a TON of work not much of which is welding. There are probably 4 people in the world I would even ride in the car after they did it to the car.

If you're serious about this, I'm sure you have very good welding resources.
"Race car" implies you know what you're doing, and I know several individuals who have done this with a perfectly running car afterwards.
A cage takes care of most of the load anyways.
If you can build a cage, welding the rest of the car is a piece of cake.
Warping under the heat of welding is a myth.
If done properly with a *TIG* welder, you will get nil warping.
Do you even know about TIG welding?
I would never MIG this project; it has to be TIG'd.

[LOVMUFN]

I'm just saying that for a functional race car it is not a good idea in my opinion and if I saw a car with a seam all the way around a car I would have serious doubts about even passing it in any tech for any event unless it had a proper framing job using something other than a "roll cage" as the cars structural support. A new chasis and a cage are two VERY different things. The Long Beach ports are pretty damn big and I have never heard of anyone having problems getting a shell through there. And because someone says 'race car' doesn't mean anything, especially on the internet. I also didn't say it was impossible, just a bad idea and that I would not get cought dead driving or riding in one.

Warping body panels is not a myth, most sheet metal, if welded too slow will warp. No matter what type of machine you are using. Even someone that can afford to get a chasis here doesn't mean they can afford a tig machine and know how to use it.

Have any of your friends ever crashed one of these cars? I would be interested to know what happens to the 4 layers of steel when you make them one in one spot all the way around. You can't just be smart about what will happen when the car is going you have to be smart about when you hit something. No one plans it but it happens in all types of racing.

[VertigoEpidemic]

Well like I said I'm not looking to get around legalities. I'm not a tree hugger, but I do think that emission standards do help keep our world a bit nicer.

Anyways... here is my plan.

Get the shell weather it be an R33 or R34, take out everything in the engine bay, drop in either a Nissan VG/VQ class, or American muscle. (which ever fits best, I'm assuming the VG will) and then go back to work to get some moneys because right at that point I'll probably be broke as hell.

To break it down:
RWD Skyline to race for fun. Perhaps when I become better at drifting enter a competition with it.

Even though I'll probably get flamed for this, it will be more of a show car then a go car at first, but my passion for racing out weighs my self perception about looks. So after I'm not broke is when the real power will come out. (The pizza business just isnt the best job to support such a costly hobby! )

[VertigoEpidemic]

Originally posted by Ghost of Duluth
Good point. Wonder what class that would fall under in SCCA? or would it? Rally class maybe.

Either way, too much money to spend unless you are committed like Gangbusters to racing that car and spending gobbies of money. To get that car, build it and campaign it for a year I would estimate well over 30g's. Entry fee's, travel expenses and whatever else may brake on the car. Of course, you can always get a RWD one and do the old tried and true 350 chevy with a truckload of sidewinder missles. Nah.

Lots of money required yes... Committed yes... Sidewinder missles sure... adds a nice touch there Ghost!

Could a Skyline enter an SCCA race... don't they have to be american cars, or just engines... I dont follow Nascar to much, but I know there aren't any non-american cars in there.

Old TnT 350 huh... Whys it gotta chevy, why not a 351? (poking fun)
Off toppic: BTW... Are Ford Intersepters all as cracked up as I've heard? 300bhp at 6000 for a 260 cu in NA isn't that bad.