An R32 With A Difference…

R32 Skylines have always been one of the cars on my “to own before I die” list. With a lot of rough and ready examples out there it can often be hard to find a good one to start off with. However Amjed Aslam’s freshly painted GTS-T is not a beaten up skidder, but a clean, purpose built drift car.

I was standing on the clammy, congested train for hours, the train that was taking me to my next location for the shoot for this feature. So after what felt like a lifetime I eventually arrived at Kirkcaldy train station. Walking out of the train and down the stairs I heard a loud car on idle, I knew what it was before I saw it. I stood in awe as I turned the corner and saw the car I was going to be getting chauffeured around in all day…

When we modify cars we usually stick with the trends, and a set of wheels and coilovers is the extent of a lot of peoples spec sheet, be it through lack of funds or simply because they don’t like taking any risks. However sometimes in life you need to take risks to stand out from the crowd, and when Amjed decided to take a gamble on a re-spray in Citroen green, who knew he’d be so lucky to pull it off?

Amjed bought this 89’ R32 GTS-T from Jap Performance Parts in Sussex back in 2007. Since then the car has had the spec list expanded from only the untouched engine and a set of coilovers. Amjed had once done the whole £100 matt black re-spray job but thankfully he saw sense and got the 32 fully re-sprayed. The colour is from Citroen, an unusual combination for sure. But it certainly works well and for a colour and car combo you don’t see often it does look fantastic.

This is no normal RB R32 however; the heart in this beast is of an inline 4 variety. Yes, you guessed it, an SR20DET. Originally from a 180SX this straight cam SR sits neatly in the R32’s colossal engine bay, sporting a variation of quality parts. This car is running around 280HP thanks to the T28R S15 turbo and other supporting mods which include; Z32 AFM, Z32 fuel filter, R32 GTR fuel pump, Nismo 555 injectors, Blitz FMIC, Japspeed turbo elbow, Japspeed flexi down pipe, Japspeed cat back and a de-cat. The car has a Nistune ECU mapped by Steve Sadler at FC tuning. All this in an R32 shell provides a quick and well powered car for going sideways.

The car sits sweetly on a set of Rota Grid Drifts in 17X9 ET25 flavour, lowered on HSD coilovers it looks very aggressive whilst retaining its fresh appearance.

Outside the Skyline remains what looks to be fairly stock, thanks to the OEM style approach Amjed has opted for. It benefits from some nice upgrades like the Type M skirts and rear spats, the GTR front bumper and grill, and the N1 headlights along with the Ganador mirrors and +25mm over fenders.

But his is no hard parker, Amjed has been drifting this since the day he got it and uses it daily! Being a mechanic he can keep up with the maintenance woes and gets a regular supply of used rubber through the garage!

In the cockpit you will once again find some great additions from the standard R32 spec. A Bride Brix recliner has been fitted, a 6 point Cusco cage and a nice dishy steering wheel provides that enhanced feel when pushing this car on the limits.

Amjed originally bought this car from Jap Performance Parts 5 years ago, hopefully he will continue to love and care for it for the next 5+ years and we can all watch it grow even further from the standard it’s at now.

A big thanks goes to Amjed for allowing me to get some pictures of this car and hopefully it won’t be the last time. I hope you’ve all enjoyed reading this… My next feature will be on a certain FC3S RX-7, stay tuned for that one!

– Ross Callaghan.