# Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R - now available in LHD



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Designed and developed over an 18 month period by Nissan R&D staff:
Zero compromise conversion, retaining all original equipment.
First deliveries to be made in early 2011.

Much more details and photographs to follow when we get back from the show!

Regards
Ian


----------



## slidewayz (Aug 11, 2007)

not a bad idea for the left hand drive market. What have you done with the window controls. Is the main switch pack on osf door or has that been moved to the nsf?


----------



## LiamGTR (Nov 26, 2006)

There is going to be a 2011 R33!? Or i'm guessing you can send your car away for them to do the conversion and have it back by then ?


----------



## armt350 (Aug 23, 2010)

Does it come with a working OBDII system?? Thats about the only thing keeping the R33's out of the states


----------



## Rain (Apr 8, 2006)

interesting....

PM with more info please!!

Edit: If this has official Nissan paperwork, ill be VERY VERY interested.


----------



## Austrian GTR (Oct 28, 2008)

Sounds interesting, but why only R33's


----------



## Cris (Sep 17, 2007)

Austrian GTR said:


> Sounds interesting, but why only R33's


I assume that the LHD dash exists for the R33. I guess that there is no R32 dash and the maybe no R34 or it's just too expensive at this stage.

If I were moving to 'wrong side of the road' land then this might even make me want an R33.

If the headlights are done too then it could be a very nice car especially if some (legal) solution to the silly US import laws could be found.


----------



## Rain (Apr 8, 2006)

Not only the US, even some of the EU can benefit from this! 

If this has some kind of official support from Nissan EU somewhere, and one dealer can talk to another, to place an order, i can see this working out amazingly well for people stuck in stupid countries with stupid laws about driving RHD cars.


----------



## DARKER (Jun 29, 2009)

In 2008/2009 many R33 where sold from UK to europe because of the weak GBP. I got one to, just one third cheaper compared to 2007. 
If the conversion kit is not to expensive, it will sell like hot cakes.

Most of the german Nissan Silvia / 200SX drivers sold or broke up their cars and are now Skyline owners.


----------



## arnout (Oct 29, 2003)

got a lot of pics from this conversion from last weekend, but you guys are missing a lot still. The window wipers are still RHD, the indicators are still on the wrong side of the steering wheel, the window controls are still wrong etc.etc. Still a lot of work to do guys, but anyways, good job! I'm also converter an R34 to LHD, it's not that difficult it's just a LOT of work!


----------



## DARKER (Jun 29, 2009)

I've been there too. I drove 1000kms this weekend only to see the demo car. This three things you daid are true. But more important to me was the fact, that this conversion is made from professionals. This is no semi-pro conversion which will rust you big holes in the car the year after.

The guys are on the right way. I'm sure this conversion will be worth the money.


----------



## cleethorpes (Sep 30, 2008)

I'd be happy with a proper lhd headlight kit


----------



## DARKER (Jun 29, 2009)

edit: oops double post


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

arnout said:


> got a lot of pics from this conversion from last weekend, but you guys are missing a lot still. The window wipers are still RHD, the indicators are still on the wrong side of the steering wheel, the window controls are still wrong etc.etc. Still a lot of work to do guys, but anyways, good job! I'm also converter an R34 to LHD, it's not that difficult it's just a LOT of work!


Hi, nice to meet you (or your friend, i'm not sure) at the show.
You are correct, the demo car was missing a few details. All these items have designs/solutions existing, but we didn't have the time before this show to fit the parts.
We are updating the website very soon and will add photographs of the car in great detail.
Good luck with your R34 conversion.




DARKER said:


> I've been there too. I drove 1000kms this weekend only to see the demo car. This three things you daid are true. But more important to me was the fact, that this conversion is made from professionals. This is no semi-pro conversion which will rust you big holes in the car the year after.
> 
> The guys are on the right way. I'm sure this conversion will be worth the money.


Hello Stefan, very nice to meet you at the show and thanks for all your comments and feedback. I was so humbled to hear that you drove all the way from Frankfurt to Assen, just to see our car!
We will continue the pursuit of unrivalled quality.
Hopefully we will take the car to Germany soon so that people can test drive the car!

Please keep in touch and good luck with the T88/emissions problem!

Regards, Ian


----------



## DARKER (Jun 29, 2009)

cleethorpes said:


> I'd be happy with a proper lhd headlight kit


I've converted the headlight by myself. Just two Hella Lights, two aluminium plates with the shape of the original low-beam glas and there you go.
Costs 80 Euro and half a Day handicraft work. I cant post it here, but if you want, I can mail you some pics. (R33)



Ian C said:


> Hello Stefan, very nice to meet you at the show and thanks for all your comments and feedback. I was so humbled to hear that you drove all the way from Frankfurt to Assen, just to see our car!
> We will continue the pursuit of unrivalled quality.
> Hopefully we will take the car to Germany soon so that people can test drive the car!
> 
> ...


Like I said, very neat car. I liked that. The details with the Wiper/winker, door panels and so on are time intensive but ease to do. So for me not so important.

There are a few more things I thought about later when I was already home again;
Maybe you can tell me; Among other things...What ehm "Lenkgetriebe", I think in english its "steering gear" did you install? That from 300ZX /Z32? 

What I mean is the part with the active components of the power steering.


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

DARKER said:


> I've converted the headlight by myself. Just two Hella Lights, two aluminium plates with the shape of the original low-beam glas and there you go.
> Costs 80 Euro and half a Day handicraft work. I cant post it here, but if you want, I can mail you some pics. (R33)
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you.
Steering gear is special.

My history includes design engineer for Nissan.
I designed hydraulic power steering system. 
As such i have contacts in Hitachi Japan, so they produced steering gear with the same specification (torsion bar stiffness, hydraulic valve characteristics and gear ratio) as R33 GT-R for us. 
It is different to 300ZX gear used by most people!


----------



## cleethorpes (Sep 30, 2008)

DARKER said:


> I've converted the headlight by myself. Just two Hella Lights, two aluminium plates with the shape of the original low-beam glas and there you go.
> Costs 80 Euro and half a Day handicraft work. I cant post it here, but if you want, I can mail you some pics. (R33)
> 
> 
> ...


I have factory zenons so not sure if you have the same..if you do any info you have would be appreciated.

I have seen conversions where the internals have been machined to alter the beam.. but I would rather keep the original internals..


----------



## james1067906 (Aug 23, 2009)

this conversion has been around for quite a long time, a company in america did it first unless im mistaken... 
read about it in a gtr book, The Legendary GTR or something like that


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

james1067906 said:


> this conversion has been around for quite a long time, a company in america did it first unless im mistaken...
> read about it in a gtr book, The Legendary GTR or something like that


All LHD conversions are unique to their maker, there is no kit.

Our goal from day one was to strive to acheive Nissan levels of quality...

Please see some photos of our conversion that i've managed to pull together, despite the ongoing work on the cars.









Showing the European spec wiper / indicator switches (following the feedback from JAF show)













































It's not 100% perfect yet, but it will be when we get ready to deliver cars in January 2011.


----------



## paul creed (Feb 18, 2003)

Nice work Ian.
I told Alex about your work (My co author of the 2 Nissan GT-R books). He's the guy that built a LHD R33 and R34..
Wish i had known about this a while ago for various reasons. Could have made the IP mould at work. Let me know if you have any future plans for stuff like that.


----------



## james1067906 (Aug 23, 2009)

Apologies, didn't mean any offence Ian, was just commenting that i'd seen it in the past.
Have to say, good job though, pretty much perfect and looks like it could have rolled out of the factory like that


----------



## blue34 (Jul 28, 2005)

That master cylinder and servo kind of rules out a nice pair of top mount turbos. Remote servo? 

A nice job though looks very original.


----------



## Chris Wilson (Aug 20, 2001)

Ian C said:


> Thank you.
> Steering gear is special.
> 
> My history includes design engineer for Nissan.
> ...


What are the chances of finding a faster rack / pinion ratio to go inside a stock RHD R33 GTR casing Ian, even if some machining to say rack bar length was needed? Thanks, looks a great project!


----------



## Tinoush (Oct 26, 2009)

I sow it and tried it in jaf Assen.
it looks and feels natural.

i am still interested Ian. we spoke together remember? i am friend of sam who was buying garrets car.

i only think price wise (to me) its a bit high and the dashboard needs to be finished in some nice material.

for people out of uk
if you need a lhd this is the one to go for.
technical its feeling like the car was never a rhd before.


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I treat it all as a positive so I can make the car even better!

I've now signed up to twitter so I can make daily posts of what we're doing and how things are progressing preparing for first orders. You can follow us at  (LHD_GTR) on Twitter

Chris
Fastest ratio steering gear Nissan have made is 60mm/rev (60mm stroke for each pinion revolution) and that's R35.
R33 and R34 are both 50.5mm/rev (as is my LHD car).
I've not seen anything between these two figures!

Tinoush - yes of course I remember!
We are working on dash finish, we will soon start to conduct thermal cycling tests on our chosen solutions to ensure the dash will survive in the market, both high and low temperature destinations!

We're pulling together a press pack which you'll be able to download from the website very soon!

Ian

__________________
www.LHD-GTR.com


----------



## tyndago (Oct 24, 2002)

paul creed said:


> Nice work Ian.
> I told Alex about your work (My co author of the 2 Nissan GT-R books). He's the guy that built a LHD R33 and R34...



Yes, Alexander did the left hand drive conversions here in the states. He only ever converted 2 cars that I know of. One R33, one R34. 

Left hand drive was not a requirement in the US, so most guys left them right hand drive.

I drove the both of Alexanders left hand drive cars, and the bump in the floor on the left side, and Alexanders pedal placement had me feeling a little off.

Nissan Skyline GT-R s in the USA Blog: Left hand drive R34 GT-R

Henri Helanto did a conversion on an R32 years ago.

This R32 popped up in Canada. Nissan Skyline GT-R s in the USA Blog: Left hand drive ( LHD ) Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 for Sale


----------



## LiamGTR (Nov 26, 2006)

LiamGTR said:


> There is going to be a 2011 R33!? Or i'm guessing you can send your car away for them to do the conversion and have it back by then ?


Can anyone answer this ?


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

LiamGTR said:


> Can anyone answer this ?


We are supplying cars already converted to LHD or you can send us your car and we'll convert it and ship it back!


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Quick update....
A prototype of our own design LHD headlamps is now completed, we just need to get the parts made so we can start to test.

As you can see, we've tried to replicate the 'series 3' type xenon units whilst converting to LHD.
These are halogen projector lamps, but a xenon kit could be added later.

Worth noting - we can produce these in RHD format too!
they also fit GTST series 1 etc.










Car fitted with elitetech headlamp and original headlamp


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

The new brochure is now available to download here:
www.LHD-GTR.com/lhd/brochure


----------



## Fuggles (Jul 3, 2001)

There is also a DIY guide for R34s in the News and Information section of this forum Link here for full details


----------



## Jags (May 20, 2007)

Ian- can I just ask, are those optional parts available to everyone or just the LHD cars? That rear diffuser looks quality.

Edit: also does it include all the fixings/bolts etc to fit it on to the car?


----------



## JapFreak786 (Aug 29, 2003)

i'd love to have one of those rear diffusers if my car stays!! though only question is,will it flex or anything at speed? aluminium is quite thin and light isn't it? sorry i'm not to sure could be a silly question to ask


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Jags said:


> Ian- can I just ask, are those optional parts available to everyone or just the LHD cars? That rear diffuser looks quality.
> 
> Edit: also does it include all the fixings/bolts etc to fit it on to the car?


All my parts are available to everyone. Final tests of the current design ongoing now, hopefully use them at MIRA this month!
Then they'll be available!

Everything to fit will be included, except tools!


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Lots of interest from all over the world in the car, it's gone down a storm.

We're feverishly conducting winter testing while making some small design changes. More photos to follow shortly.

Expect to see cars in Europe, Canada and Middle East during 2011!

Ian
www.LHD-GTR.com


----------



## JapFreak786 (Aug 29, 2003)

any updates on these car's then? got any pictures we can see of the converstion,including engine bay??


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Few pics on the gallery page here:
http://www.LHD-GTR.com/lhd/gallery.htm


----------



## Jobi Joba (Apr 19, 2004)

Do you have a picture of how close the rear turbo is now from brake master cylinder and steering column?


----------



## Blammo1970 (Jul 23, 2011)

Ian C ... about the wipers, will you convert them to lhd as well?


----------



## Guile (Jul 23, 2011)

wow this is awesome... I might be interested in one of these... would you be able to send one to Canada?


----------



## Blammo1970 (Jul 23, 2011)

Guile said:


> wow this is awesome... I might be interested in one of these... would you be able to send one to Canada?


If you are from Quebec, I would like to know if the S.A.A.Q. will even accept to register it. Technically, the ban is on RHD only, but who knows how they would react to a LHD Skyline. When I hear that someone has been able to register one, I'll get myself one too


----------



## TEN57 (May 29, 2010)

Very impressive undertaking which should make a lot of people very happy. Best of luck with it.


----------



## Mario Ramirez (Nov 3, 2010)

IAN can you help me here please!!!
http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/155480-help-i-need-change-my-r32-gtr-rhd-lhd.html#post1507488


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Our demonstration car is now up for sale on autoscout website:
Gebrauchtwagen: Nissan, Skyline, R33 GTR LHD Left Hand Drive, Benzin, ? 18.000,- AutoScout24 Detailansicht


----------



## B5254T4 (Sep 13, 2011)

Nice job! Any orders yet?


----------



## Tassu_Spirit (Jul 28, 2006)

I have heard of a company or workshop in Estonia that converts r33's. They use a nissan primera dashbord. And many years ago I heard a rumour that some arabian company converts skylines and they do it officially. Don't know about that if it can be true.

This is a really old video of an LHD R33 and in somewhere middle east/arabian country I think.
1000BHP skyline vs hayabusa - YouTube

Anyway. Good that there is new company in business, when some can't tolerate rhd cars in lhd traffic.


----------



## Rain (Apr 8, 2006)

"officially" in the middle east can mean a lot of things lol! 

Simple rule now is, if it doesnt roll off the factory floor in LHD, its not legal to register.


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Ian C said:


> Our demonstration car is now up for sale on autoscout website:
> Gebrauchtwagen: Nissan, Skyline, R33 GTR LHD Left Hand Drive, Benzin, ? 18.000,- AutoScout24 Detailansicht


Photos:


----------



## Jm-Imports (Feb 12, 2007)

ian can you shoot me email with spec and pics so i can forward direct to customer.


[email protected]


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Will do mate!


----------



## rik boellen (Aug 29, 2010)

Hi 

top job..

Is it possible to order only a lhd dash
just interest for future project..

regards rik


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Short video of the car!

Elitetech Automotive's left hand drive R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R - www.LHD-GTR.com - YouTube


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

rik boellen said:


> Hi
> 
> top job..
> 
> ...


Sorry, not available in component form.


----------



## .::TopSky::. (Nov 4, 2010)

Verry nice work! Getting sick of bad conversions with Maxima dashboards. Superb!

:thumbsup:


----------



## Jm-Imports (Feb 12, 2007)

ian call me tomorrow 07958166871


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Demo car now for sale on pistonheads and ebay!

thanks


----------



## Nigel-Power (Dec 16, 2009)

Yeah , saw this on PH.

It suits someone in the Gulf, Scandinavia or other European countries.


----------



## .::TopSky::. (Nov 4, 2010)

It looks verry nice and the work done on the car is superb but I still get a bad feeling when I look at the car. I mean Skylines are supposed to be RHD. If you are a true GTR enthusiast the last thing you think about is driving on the wrong side.


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

few more pictures of it taken today:


----------



## geoffree (May 16, 2010)

Found on another forum, not quite up to spec.


----------



## Blammo1970 (Jul 23, 2011)

geoffree said:


> Found on another forum, not quite up to spec.


I guess it's working but I'll pass. How do you use the turn signal and wipers? Might be the passenger's job.


----------



## freakazoid3 (Jan 19, 2008)

nice :chuckle:


----------



## R390LM (Mar 7, 2010)

any update on this ?


----------



## Zenki33 (Apr 6, 2014)

Wish I could get the projector headlamp mod he offered.


----------



## Sam-R33 (Dec 2, 2014)

I need to get a left hand drive interior, any clue on where to find it ?


----------



## Zenki33 (Apr 6, 2014)

You won't find it. You have to do what waS done with mine, use all the original dashboard, cut in half, flip de sides, and fibber glass here and there, wrapp it and done.


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

I've still got all the fibreglass moulds for the LHD dashboard if anybody is interested.

Ian


----------



## Sam-R33 (Dec 2, 2014)

pictures of what you got please Ian C ?


----------



## Ian C (Jun 3, 2003)

Due to a change of business direction, we are now selling off all of the LHD GTR conversion Tools, CAD and fibre glass dashboard molds.
You can find the auction detail here: 
Nissan Skyline r33 GT R LHD Conversion Dashboard Molds Tools CAD Business | eBay
Starting price is only $3000 plus international shipping





Good luck!

Thanks
Ian


----------



## bkvj (Feb 13, 2006)

Ian C said:


> Due to a change of business direction, we are now selling off all of the LHD GTR conversion Tools, CAD and fibre glass dashboard molds.
> You can find the auction detail here:
> Nissan Skyline r33 GT R LHD Conversion Dashboard Molds Tools CAD Business | eBay
> Starting price is only $3000 plus international shipping
> ...


That's so cheap. Wish I had the cash/R33 now already. I do hope the person you'll sell it to will keep it going as a business so to say. I would like one when I get my R33...


----------

