HAWAIIAN SKYLINE

Romeo Lomibao: The Lucky Owner of an R34 GT-R Skyline

Romeo Lomibao is one of those fortunate guys—and he lives in Hawaii! In fact, he is the only person on the island of Oahu to own an authentic R34 GT-R Skyline from Japan. Yeah, he sure is one lucky dog.

Discovering the Silver V-Spec R34 GT-R

While doing some online research a couple of months ago, I came across a gorgeous, silver C-West-equipped V-spec R34. I decided to check out the pictures and see if I could find more information about the car. My research led me straight to teamrice.org, which not only had incredible photos but also a spec sheet and video footage of the Skyline. I checked out the car, picture by picture, and then watched the video about 20 times. This car was so clean and well built; the fact that it was a real-deal Skyline made it all the more intriguing.

Challenges in Featuring the Skyline

We weren’t sure if we would be able to get this car in time for publication, but fortunately, things worked out just right. Over a four-week period, our photographers from Team Rice were going around the island shooting feature cars.

An Unexpected Setback

One day, Justin Saiki received a phone call from Lomibao and got some unexpected bad news. His Skyline had been involved in a fender bender, and the entire side of the car had been damaged. Needless to say, we were disappointed when we received the news.

Finding a Silver Lining

While in the process of looking for cars to substitute for the Skyline, we got another call—this time with better news. Saiki had gone through his archive of old photos and came across a collection of Lomibao’s Skyline pictures that might just work. He told us that the pictures were about six months old, but no one had used them. If we liked, they were ours. We told him to send them over with the rest of the photography, and that we would take care of the rest.

A Treasure Trove of Skyline Photos

To our pleasant surprise, some of the Skyline images were the exact ones that we had seen several months earlier and first attracted us to this incredible car. Saiki sent us more than 50 beauty shots of the Skyline’s exterior and several detail photos of its engine compartment, interior, brakes, and wheel setup. We were in business.

Building a Head-Turning Masterpiece

This car was built with one purpose in mind: to impress everyone who sees it. Lomibao didn’t want to go the crazy route with some funky paint scheme or monster body kit. He wanted to keep his R34 clean and simple, yet dazzling enough to break a few necks on the road and at shows.

Exterior Modifications

The most obvious exterior mod is the full C-West body armor, including a front bumper, side skirts, and rear bumper. If that’s not enough C-West for you, Lomibao also installed a very expensive full carbon fiber wing. When we say “expensive,” we’re talking in the ballpark of about two grand—and that’s just for the wing!

Perfecting the Look

After all the body pieces were test-fit, they were sprayed silver to match the original color of the car. The new look was almost what Lomibao had envisioned, but there was still something missing. The C-West carbon fiber wing looked a bit out of place with all the silver, so he decided to order a carbon fiber vented hood to match the rear wing. After the hood was installed, he was finally satisfied with the exterior makeover of the car—until he noticed the huge hole in his front bumper. Something was still missing … he needed a huge Spearco intercooler to fill that void.

Upgrading Suspension and Brakes

Once the exterior was complete, it was time for Lomibao to move on to the suspension, but tweaking it was something that he was not too sure about, since a Skyline’s stock suspension and braking are among the best in the world. If you do choose to upgrade either of the two, get ready to spend some serious cash on good hardware. No $50 coilovers or $200 brakes will do if you are upgrading a Skyline. Names such as Tein, Kei-Office, HKS, and Brembo are usually what can be found on Skylines around the world. Lomibao decided to upgrade with Tein Type RS coilovers. As a V-spec model, the Skyline came equipped with Brembo calipers and big brakes.

Adding Rare Advan Wheels

After the coilovers were installed, it was time to bolt on the monster 19×10-inch Advan wheels. Prior to the car going into the body shop, Lomibao had placed an order in Japan for this exclusive set of silver Siena Generation IIs. The wheels took several weeks to arrive on the island, but when they did, he couldn’t stop smiling. Not only are these Advans as rare as can be, but the finish is beautiful. This setup features a huge 3-1/2-inch lip in the front and rear, and the wheels are matched with 275/30-19 Nitto NT555 tires.

Enhancing Performance

On the performance side of things, there is not much that you need to do to the impressive RB26DETT motor that comes stock in the R34. But if you really want some extra power, a couple of power-adders can do the trick. The first thing that Lomibao did after installing the intercooler was add a full cat-back HKS Hyper Exhaust system. After that came Nismo oil and radiator caps to add some spice to the already impressive motor.

Continuous Improvement

Lomibao was satisfied with how the car handled, looked, and moved—for a little while. A couple of weeks before the traffic incident, he decided to add some more power-adders, so HKS filters were installed, along with polished HKS turbo piping and an upgraded radiator.

Stay Tuned

We apologize if this feature has you drooling. There’s no doubt that if you ever considered an R34 before, you really want one now! Lomibao has done a great and tasteful job at building his Skyline. It has been quite an experience in our attempts to feature this car, and we look forward to seeing it completed. Of course, we promise to bring you more on this beautiful Hawaiian Skyline as soon as it becomes available.