While I was going through my end of 2019 clean-up of my PC desktop, I realized that I had these photos stashed away in one of the folders from my Australia trip that I hadn’t posted yet. I literally edited these photos on my 12-hour flight back from Sydney, half-asleep in the dark, and have not revisited them since. Now looking at them on a bigger screen, I’m pretty happy with how they came out. It’d be a waste to not post them up here because this BNR32 is legit one of the best builds I’ve seen all year…

If you haven’t been keeping up and need context, I first became aware of this build while I was in Sydney for their Hot Import Nights show. I was honestly expecting to see a bunch of really wild cars there with all kinds of neon lights and shit but there were actually some really well-executed builds there. In a sea of a pretty packed venue with a variety of differently styled builds stood this incredible clean white Nissan Skyline (BNR32) GTR. What immediately stood-out to me was just how simple it was. There was no crazy aero, just factory additions from their famed N1-model GTR, a set of BBS LM wheels which had been refinished, a set of Ganador mirrors, and some mild aesthetic improvements. The display it was included in at the show was also very pleasing to the eye, with a likewise-white Mitsubishi Evolution adorned in Voltex aero right next to it, propped-up on the bed of a truck and trailer. As I walked closer, I was even more impressed when I got a close-up look at the engine bay. Coming from a world of fantastic Honda builds, I’m used to seeing engine compartments that have seen extensive alterations, some, if not all, having streamlined and ‘shaved’ panels. It’s almost a ‘must’ to attempt if you’re building a Honda but to see such extensive work devoted to a BNR32 Skyline was new to me. Okay, ‘new’ probably isn’t the correct wording, let’s just say it’s ‘unexpected’. I’ve seen Skylines with a lot of work in the engine bay but I just don’t expect them to be so refined. I went through the rest of the car and even walked back over with Sam Du, who was also judging cars that day at HIN Sydney, and we both decided it was deserving of top honors at the show…

The day after HIN, I was hanging out with my friend Yonas Liu from JDMYARD and he told me that the owner of the GTR was from Dahtone Racing, a GTR-specialty shop that was actually very close to where JDMYARD was. He said he’d take me there so I could do a little tour of their shop and I was excited to see what else they had. I thought it’d be great to actually meet the owner and chat with him about his Skyline for our Vlog series. So the day before I was set to fly back home to California, we stopped by Dahtone Racing where I met the owner and builder of the award-winning GTR, Andrew Daher. He was kind enough to make some time for me and even moved his BNR32 outside so I could get some better photos of it. As I mentioned, the photos came out pretty good and would probably be good enough for a magazine feature even but….as we found out recently, there aren’t any left with Super Street ceasing print operations…

Daher was generous with his time, giving me a tour of his facility and showing me the many Skyline GTRs that he and his staff have been working on for customers. The white BNR32 was special, however, as it was his own personal car that he had been working on for the past few years. It’s not a car that just sits at the shop and isn’t driven, you’ll be surprised to know, as he drives it fairly often. The day after the show, he had went on a 5-hour cruise to Bathurst with a couple of other GTRs for a day of fun. It’s a simple-looking car but there is so much more involved with manifesting it into what it is today…

I really wish I had more time that afternoon to get more photos of it around the city instead of just outside his shop, but I didn’t want to ask for too much. It looked like they were busy working and stopped whatever they were doing to move cars around for me. Nonetheless, maybe it made for sense that the Skyline was just sitting in the middle of this bustling business complex…

The engine itself is an RB26 head mated to an RB30 engine block. Everything has been meticulously planned-out inside the shaved engine bay and whatever wasn’t available or didn’t suit the overall execution of the bay was custom fabricated…

A Garrett GTX4294 turbocharger mounted to a thick-walled stainless turbo manifold. You can see here that the heat from the manifold has burned the passenger-side shock tower a bit, even with the heat-shielding wrapped around it. Some might see it as an imperfection but if anything, it just shows that the car is driven—hard. From chatting with Anthony, he told me that the manifold would be sent off soon to get coated and it’ll massively reduce how much heat the manifold excretes…

The most interesting piece on his RB set-up is the Plazaman intake manifold. At a glance you might just think that it looks like every other Plazaman RB manifold or similarly styled intake manifold but there’s so much more going on than meets the eye.

If you look a little closer, you’ll realize that it doesn’t have a throttle body at the end of the manifold. That’s because this Plazaman manifold is hiding the brackets and motors for the electronic six-throttle drive-by-wire system. It essentially has six individual throttle bodies within which are driven by electronics. It’s a system designed by Dahtone Racing and all the guts of it are hidden on the underside of the manifold…

A closer look at the manifold and how its held together by ARP hardware…

Custom cross-flow radiator and hard-piped plumbing with HDI clamps…

Nice how the plumbing for the turbocharger runs into the body of the Skyline with the intercooler connection hidden from view…

Real carbon fiber molded cam cover, valve cover, and wire cover which also hides the R35 GTR ignition coils and trigger…

Dahtone Racing fuel rail with black -AN fittings and braided lines…

The hood has been paint-matched but here you can see how the Varis carbon bonnet is vented and how it wraps around the cam cover of the RB26. Nice touch with the exposed carbon to show what material it actually is and how it flows with the carbon fiber pieces under the hood…

The interior is also filled with some really cool detail touches. I didn’t get a shot of the Bride seats or the rear seats which have been reupholstered to match. It has a unknown carbon fiber dash cap which sits nicely over the factory dashboard, carbon stereo surround, and a classic Nardi 3-spoke steering wheel…

A look closer revealed a Tomei 310km/h instrument cluster…

Such a subtle but rare piece to have for any GTR lover…

Alpine head unit with said carbon fiber stereo surround made by Superior Auto. The Skyline also had a 5-point Cusco roll cage which was also paint-matched…

One more exterior shot before I went inside to see what else they had lurking inside…

When they say Dahtone was a GTR shop, they weren’t kidding. A variety of customer Skylines were inside of various generations…

When I made the decision to go to Sydney, I had no idea I’d be standing in front of an R32 GTR, an R33 GTR, and a V-Spec II Nur BNR34. This shot alone probably made my trip worthwhile…

Just a beautiful sight to see coming across the “REAP3R” V-Spec II Nur on concave white Volk Racing TE37….

We chatted for the Vlog and then we parted ways. Pretty awesome to visit Dahtone since it was completely unplanned and unexpected. Their time and hospitality were much appreciated. Thanks to them and to you guys for making my 2019 a special one. Happy new year folks!!…