Article Series
- The facts about Nissan Skyline importation into the United States - Part 21844
- The facts about Nissan Skyline importation into the United States - Part 31845
- The facts about Nissan Skyline importation into the United States - Part 41846
- The facts about Nissan Skyline importation into the United States - Part 51847
- Ken Morrison's 1987 R31 Nissan Skyline5824
- 2001-2005 Nissan Skyline JDM Parts Catalog26301
- 2001 Nissan Skyline 250GT Sedan Japanese Sales Brochure26787
We’ve all done it. You’re surfing the internet and you come across a picture of something so beautiful that your heart skips a beat. Instantly you want it. You’d do anything to have it. Case in point: A few months ago, someone posted up this picture on the NICO Facebook page.
I instantly wanted to get in touch with the owner, but the guy who took the picture was at a random car show in Okinawa. My hopes were dashed. However, as luck would have it, NICO happens to have a few members living in Japan. One of my good friends, Neal Hartman (NICO members know him as Gold Digger) knows the guy who owns the car. He talks to him and the guy agrees to an article about his beautiful car and answer a few questions. It was my lucky day.
Enter the owner, Ken Morrison.
Year, Make, and Model: 1987 Nissan Skyline
Where do you live? Okinawa, Japan.
Where did you get your car? I had just turned 16 and was looking for a car. Was about to walk into the shoppette (convenience store), when I saw this black Skyline in the parking lot. The owner came out and asked if i wanted to buy the car, even though it wasn’t really for sale. This is how it all started.
How long have you owned it? This is my first car, and I have owned it over 14 years now.
When did your love of cars begin? My dad is into cars, he owns a ’69 AMC AMX. It was supposed to be my first car, but we moved to Japan and did not bring the car with us. As a kid, I worked on cars, either helping my dad fix up project cars we had, or in shop class building small block V8s.
What made you decide to buy this car? At the time, most of the cars in the area were white, because its a tropical island. Seeing a black 2-door sports car was all it took.
List of modifications — Oh man this is gonna hurt :
Engine:
RB26 with new Nissan 86.5mm pistons
Crower i-beam connecting rods
balanced 33 kouki crank + single crank key conversion
rb26 oil pan w/ cut transfer case, with tomei baffle plate
ported head, hemi-circle combustion chamber
HKS M45 #9 spark plugs
HKS step2 cams (272/272 10.2mm lift)
HKS springs and retainers
HKS adjustable cam gears
Tomei 1.2mm metal head gasket
Tomei metal intake and exhaust gasket
Greddy intake manifold with single Q45 throttle body conversion
Jun Oil pump
ATI Super Damper crank pulley (1000hp rated)
Trust “kouki” exhaust manifold with Jet-Hot 2000 coating
Trust Type-C wastegate
Trust T88-34D turbo
custom 90mm stainless exhaust piping into 100mm rear muffler
Fuel system:
Sard 1000cc injectors
Sard twin-entry fuel rail
Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator
Sard 280LPH fuel pumps x2
Sard 5L Collector Tank
Walboro 255lph pump in-tank to feed collector
Bosch in-line fuel filters x2
All custom lines – twin -6 aluminum fuel lines to fuel rail
-8 aluminum fuel line for return
Cooling system:
2-core copper radiator
twin 12″ flex-a-lite fans
ARC 3 core front mount intercooler
Trust oil cooler
Footwork and chassis:
Hurst Line Lock kit
17×8.5j front 17×10.5j rear SSR SP-1 Professors
235 Star-specs (front) 275/40/17 Federal 555rs rear (need to buy better rears!)
26x10x15 Mickey Thompson ET Drags on 15×8.5j P1 rims for drag
Greddy Type-S coilovers (S15)
Cusco rear camber tops (r31)
Adjustable tension rods
S14 5 lug hubs (front)
Whiteline front sway bar
R32 GTR brakes (non-brembo)
Grex brake pads
some brand of stainless braided brake lines
Cusco master cylinder stopper
R33 Type M rear member (multi-link conversion)
Cusco rear sway bar
Dmax adjustable upper arms
Dmax traction rods
Solid sub-frame collars
Nismo front strut bar
Custom rear strut bar
7-point roll-cage
R31 house trunk-through bar
R31 house center floor bar
Drivetrain:
R33 rb25 transmission (stock!)
Uras poly transmission mount
OS TS3BW weighted flywheel triple plate clutch
Cusco 1.5way diff (GT-R)
GTR half-shafts
HICAS lockout bar
Exterior:
Racing Silhouette front and rear bumpers
Racing Silhouette side steps
R31 house overfenders (front)
S30z rear overfenders
R31 house/Eastbear frp hood
R31 house FRP trunk
Uras Grill
R33 Nismo clear side markers
shaved antenna, emblems, moldings, etc
some generic aero mirrors
Interior/Electronics:
Recaro SR-5 seats x2
Sabelt 4-point harness
Momo Jet CF steering wheel
Kenwood KVT-717 7″ screen indash DVD deck
Kenwood 25th anniversary 4channel amp XXV-02a
Kenwood 25th anniversary mono amp XXV-03a
Kenwood ES-01 6″ splits (front speakers)
Kenwood 6×9 rear speakers
Bewith Voltage regulator
Greddy SM-Integrate water and oil and exhaust temp, oil and fuel
pressure, and boost gauges
Defi 115mm tach
Defi Control Box II for playback
Greddy Profec B-spec II boost controller
Optima Yellow top battery (relocated to trunk)
HKS F-con V-pro gold version 3.24
What is still stock that you will never change? The body. Everyone tells me to just buy a GTR as it would be cheaper and faster, but I can never change from an R31. If I ever have to build another car, it will be another R31.
What shows have you been to? Ive been in a few car shows, only local ones. Most recent one was for Airman’s Committed to Excellence (ACE), Kadena Air Base – Best Engine Bay.
Do you race it or is it a show car? Race car definately. Still has plenty of rough spots to make it not a full show car. I would like to work more towards that though.
Do you use it as a daily driver? Yep. 700+hp daily driver that gets me to work and back home.
700HP hard at work……
Beautiful:
Many thanks to Neal for the heads up and to Ken for taking the time to send me the info for this article. Even though Ken isn’t a member on NICO (yet), I appreciate him sharing his story and amazing pictures with us.
-Bex (nissangirl74)