Porsche 911 Safari builds are now more popular than ever, to the point where the Stuttgart automaker created its own, 473 horsepower, $223,450 sports car with a 3-inch lift. But what if you’re more of a JDM guy? What if you like your cylinders in a row instead of a boxer layout? Well, famous YouTuber Adam LZ answered that question by building the world’s most famous and perhaps first R32 Nissan GT-R Safari.
Other people have tried to lift various Skylines. In fact, there’s a sedan for sale right now. But we believe he has the only R32 GT-R built to the same degree as a Porsche 911 Safari. This raises the question: How much does Adam LZ’s GT-R Safari cost?
Everything starts with a raw shell of an R32 Skyline which doesn’t have a motor but is in relatively good condition. We know that this is worth about $10,000, and it was partially restored at a shop in Connecticut.
And Adam already has the perfect engine for it, left over from his other projects. It’s an RB26 from another R32, which is fitted with a Garrett GTX3576 Gen2 turbo, a big PWR intercooler, racing ECU, and makes 500 horsepower. GT-R parts can get out-of-hand-expensive, and it’s impossible to put an exact figure on this 2.6-liter, but it’s probably worth $20,000.
Probably the coolest, most useful feature of the build is an aftermarket AWD controller with allows you to change the torque split between the axles and also turn the AWD completely off. Believe it or not, some of the exterior components come from Nismo.
The Safari GT-R is equipped with a Nismo off-road roof rack, four Nismo 6-inch fog lights on the bumper, eight 4-inch fog lights on the roof box, plus a Nismo off-road bumper. Now, just to be clear, these parts weren’t intended for a Skyline. For example, the roof rack costs about $950 and is built for a Frontier, the same as the front bumper, which is another $1590. Meanwhile, the lights come in sets of 2 costing $543 and $455, respectively. So that’s about $5,500 just in official Nismo parts.
The Safari details
The wheel setup is vital to ensuring the R32 keeps its fun factor while transitioning from track to off-road use. The car is fitted with some 17-inch multi-piece Rays wheels which are no longer on sale and came from one of Adam’s old drift cars. They’ve been re-finished in bronze, fitted with fresh caps, and wrapped in Nitto Nomad Grappler tires (215/65R17). There’s nothing particularly special here, but you’d still spend about $4,000 on this wheel-tire combo with finish.
Now, these tires are about 28 inches tall, way bigger than any normal Skyline would have. And so, the Safari GT-R needed the right kind of suspension. Thankfully, Adam is on good terms with Florida suspension specialists BC Racing, who built him a custom coilover setup.
There’s a lot of custom fabrication work involved too, with the roll cage being one of the vital components needed to keep Adam safe. Many talented Skyline specialists pooled their experience into one of the best projects cars of 2024. Finally, we arrive at the graphics, which include a Supergloss Olive Green wrap and special graphics made by Jonsibal to replicate the original Nismo rally cars. All-in, the Safari GT-R owes Adam LZ at least $70,000. This sounds like a lot until you realize Stradman sold his Safari 911 for around $186,000 in 2020. Of course, the build isn’t 100% complete yet.
