If you are into rare JDM cars, one of the unicorn cars that you probably lust after is the Nismo 400R. The 400R is a very limited edition R33 GT-R that was produced by Nismo, Nissan’s motorsports and high-performance arm. Unlike some sticker-tuned specials that other manufactures have produced the 400R is legit, built with many special Nismo performance parts integrated into the car, OEM style, or done right! We were lucky enough to have our friends, JDM car importers, Top Rank Imports allow us to take a close look at this pristine low mile car before it was shipped to its new owner for an undisclosed huge sum of money, we are not kidding here.
Only 44 Nismo 400R’s were made at Nissan’s Omori plant. The Omori plant was closed for mass production but Nissan has kept it as a production proving plant where they produce trial production prototype vehicles. Before any Nissan is released, about 50 trial production vehicles are made and this is where issues like parts fit and finish are resolved before mass production begins at Nissan’s other plants. Omori is also the home of Nismo. With short-run specialization and the in-house proximity to Nismo, Omori was the logical choice for 400R assembly.
The 400R was built to commemorate Nissan’s involvement with the R33 in LeMans and I believe to also homologate some of the parts for racing. The styling of the car is changed, starting from this functional front facia. It has a deeper air dam with functional vents to cool the front brakes. Other vents give more airflow to the radiator over and under the large front mount intercooler. Larger side scoops feed air to the larger engine oil cooler.
This carbon rear wing has an adjustable rear element so you can tune the amount of downforce available.
400R livery was also a part of the package.
10 comments
What is a huge sum? I’m thinking a collector die-hard would pay 1.5 million USD. Just a random guess lol
Not that high but not too far.
HA! Thanks for sharing these articles as always.
The stroker engine should have been supplied by Reimax in partnership with Nismo
http://www.reimax.com/gtr_rbx2.8enginekit.html
The boost solenoid and intake manifold look to be put in after the fact.
The boost control solenoid appeared to be stock. I think the N1 manifold was probably after the fact.
Ahh, just noticed its an Apexi solenoid. So maybe a PowerFC to keep the intake manifold combi happy or a AVC-R boost contoller.
Hmm, looks like it has a R35 AFM conversion as well.
All the aftermarket parts were removed now so its in full stock condition.
I can attest to how good a job Top Rank’s paperwork is: Cappuccino has now been registered in two different states with zero issues. So glad I bought my car from them. And I didn’t even get a MotoIQ discount so that’s not a sponsored endorsement, I’m just a happy customer!
I can also attest to how expensive JDM classics are getting. My Cappuccino is worth about $4K more than what I paid for it in 2018. Good Cappuccinos are now worth what AZ-1s were when I was Kei car shopping.
It also amazes me how great a job Nissan can do when they really try: The 400R is an amazing car. A shame that more often than not Nissan has a “that’ll do” attitude about the cars they make.
The Nismo collector- what some people call a plenum is aftermarket. These didn’t come out till much later. They help to balance the airflow to #6 cylinder. Its interesting inside, 1-5 are all bellmouthed, #6 isn’t. https://www.gtrusablog.com/2013/02/nismo-plenum-for-rb26dett.html This 400R had some aftermarket mods on it, but we removed most all of them now. The collector is still on there, changing that on the car is a job.