Anyone ever heard of these guys? Nissan Skyline Kit Cars!

[Brian Hamilton]

Place is called Kaizo Industries. I just got off the phone with one of their reps. here in the US. All you Aussie and European guys are lucky because ya'll got these cars. We didn't here in the US. Even the Canadians can import them straight from Japan with litle to no modification. ANYWAYS, this place sells the cars as complete rollers minus engine, transmission, driveshafts, and CV shafts. For those parts, they have suppliers in the states who offer the parts to complete the assembly of the car. They have US VIN numbers and all DOT compliant parts on the roller. Pretty cool setup and I'm going to get one... some day. Check out their site...

Kaizo Unibodies - Home

If you have any questions give them a call and they'll be more than happy to chat with you. The R33 GTS-T's are about $15-20k, GTR's are about $25-30k, R34 GTS-T's are $35-40k and GTR's are $45-65k depending on the options (V-Spec, V-SpecII, etc.). The way they do it is they take these good condition used cars, strip them down to metal, fix any body damage or patches, repaint, redo the interior, reinforce to US specs, replace what needs to be replaced to be US compliant, etc. You're basically buying a brand new car as they are VIN'd as 2008 models and are essentially new cars. Anyways, check em out, I thought it was cool stuff.

Laters,

Brian

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

Just to point out down here in old europe the Nissan Skyline remains a private import (and according to what I know ONLY available with Uk side drive,identical to japanese).
Unfortunately also down here those models are too rare,as well as for the Supra.
I personally know a guy living in Bergamo owning 2 ones, the price (including all dougane import taxes) was around 50k euros...maybe a little too much for an used heavy car with 280 hp.

In their website they also have a pic about a 288 gto body, is that a replica?

 

[Dave]

In the UK they officially released the skyline but the likes of the R34 GTR (which officially has 280bhp... but actually sports a bit more) was rather pricey at £54k... especially when you could get an import for £30k... hence the reason they didn't sell many UK models over here.
The MK4 Twin Turbo Supra also comes with 320bhp... the 280bhp figure is standard in Japan.. it was an agreement years ago that they wouldn't build cars with more power than that..
They did make them more powerful, they just officially quoted their outputs as 280bhp.

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

didnt they make a final edition r34 with more than 500 hp?

 

[Brian Hamilton]

didnt they make a final edition r34 with more than 500 hp?

Yes, the Z-Tune. They bought back 20 used Skylines that had to pass a stringent inspection and then they took them down to bare metal and repainted them silver and did some body mods and made it an insane freak of a car. Gawd they are sick!! Here's a pic...

Diff. cooler...

Awesome car!!

Laters,

Brian

 

[Scott]

Brian,

That is a pretty cool concept but hate to bust the bubble.......illegal to do under Federal guiedlines on a Skyline. I own a Moterex Skyline R34 so know quite a bit about this. Just because you take a engine and transmission out and fix a body then sell it as a kit car chasis does not make it any more legal. If you read the Guidelines from the transportaion dept about vehicles and importation you will see it clearly states that you CAN NOT take an engine and transmission out and fix items to title it as a kit car if you put an engine in it from the same manufacturer. If you were to put say an American v6 it would be able to do, but you can not put a nissan engine nor transmission into it and try to title it as a kit car. I know there are many companies trying to do this and skate the system but it is still federally ILLEGAL. I know many states that have many State registered skyilnes from various ways, but they are not Federally legal. What this means is that yes the State said sure and here are your tags, but if you got pulled over by a cop who knoew even a little about these cars and you did not have the proper import documentation of these, right there on the spot you car would be impounded and taken federally and you would be SOL with absolutely no chance of getting your car back. Like I said I know quite a bit about the system, it took me almost 3 years to get my Skyline through Motorex and the problems they had. Talked to a few detectives about this who interviewd myself many time about dealings with Skylines and people importing them. Was a true headache. I know what this company says that it is legal, but trust me when push comes to shove it is not.

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

seems an italian trick..to import 2 boxes unassembled coming from the same car.
People is not stupid..but surely few ones are carnut as we are here,so u always have to be lucky when u find a cop (the risk is really too high...I cant count the tears thinking at my dreamcar taken away..forever..sigh.).
I think anyway there is the legal (tricky and surely expensive) way to keep it street legal and use that without any possible nightmares.

This is anyway an idea to place a better engine in the wonderful skyline (how about a v8?..LOL..).U will anyway loose part of the car..cause, even if I am not wrong, the skyline is 4wd.
Also for me she is a too nice vehicle.

 

[Brian Hamilton]

Well, what you're getting is just the rolling chassis. They do not give you the engine. That you have to source yourself. They have people using the G35 V6, Chevy LS2/LS6 V8, and of course the RB26DETT. Everything on the vehicle is US DOT compliant. This is basically what Superformance and Noble do with their cars. They are shipped to the US as a turnkey minus and then you install the drivetrain. That is the only way they do it legally. It doesn't make sense that you couldn't put an RB26 in a Skyline kit car/replica if you can put a SBF in a GT40 kit car/replica. The process is the same. The cars are no longer Nissan Skylines, they are Kaizo Kit Cars, they have Kaizo VIN numbers, Kaizo stampings, etc. I don't see a problem with it as long as they are selling and marketing them as Kaizo R34 Kit Cars with no mention of Nissan or Skyline anywhere since they are not Nissan Skylines anymore.

 

[roaldin]

So how many others here own GT-Rs?

Long live the RB26!

Here's mine - GTR - a photoset on Flickr

(It doesn't sit high at the back, the drive isn't flat at that location.)

Paolo - Regarding the factory power output: they must be one of the easiest cars in the world to improve on that figure (substantially) before serious mods are needed.

Tim.

 

[Scott]

Brian,

Just because they fix the chasis to make it "Dot compliant" the law to sell,I reiterate, that if you put a non skyline engine in it that is fine but if you put an engine that was available to the skyline it is illegal. The skyline difference to Superperformance is that one is a factory chasis and one is a built from scratch chasis. Just because you fix it to make it DOT compliant it is still a factory issued chasis. The Skyline is the Number 1 on the import watch list. Please if you get a chance read the NHTA rules on this and on kit cars. It is very crystal clear and precise and was rewritten specifically because people were trying to circumvent the system for skylines. Just trying to give to you the honest advice. I knwo it sounds tempting, but like I said trust me been down this road...And from talking to the skyline owners who are deff. in the loop This company as well as one out of Florida are being watched and it will be just a matter of time. I fyou wish to do this hey power to you . I love my skyline and really hate that they can not be brought into the states. Motorex really screwed this system up for a lot of people.


Otherwise, admire the skylines around the world. Great looking car what have you done to it? Currently building a new RB26, with a few goodies and one turbo. nismo1 block and a few tomei goodies with outrageous cams. Shooting for a comfortable 700 at the wheels. Just got some new Volks last week.....only took 4 months from Japan. Big downside of Skylines in the states is really getting parts here, takes a while.