Hardman69

I now have $-100 to my name. So no, no 'Nats for Me ! ! Hehe - I just checked My morning "untimed" practice times - I hit my entry-form target of 1:57 flat on my Third EVER lap of the track ! ! ! I'm SO going back with a fully-fit car ! ! ! (and properly bedded-in brakes!)

Yup - that's Me I was on 2nd hand RE55s - Thanks to Craig at Trackside Race&Rally Tyres in Kilsyth. I'm REALLY sympathetic to the gearbox 99.9% of the time, and the cogs themselves are FINE - it's the selector mechanism that's farked. I've been nursing gradually worsening synchro's on 4th for YONKS, which I REALLY damaged trying to quick-shift from 3rd-4th in the wet one night, to keep a drift going. (ummm, any cops reading this - it wasn't on public road . . . . ) Anyhoo! Which car were You in Roy? Hi to everyone I yakked to, I really enjoyed Myself (busted gearbox aside)

Hi All ! I've gone & gotten all grown-up, and put a V.Quiet 2x2.5" catback system on my R33 GTS-T, which means My all-stainless 3.75 inch, straight-through Cat-back system is up for sale. I THINK it's an APexi N-1, I haven't had a good look at it yet. The exhaust shop is bracing it for me, 'coz I wasn't happy with the factory reinforcing at the mufflers (cracks starting) so I'll put pics up when i get it back, probably just before, or after easter. It bolts up to the factory position Cat, with a 3" flange. Uses all the factory Rubber hangers, takes all of 5 mins to install. I'm in S.Eastern Melbourne, thinking $500, willing to entertain reasonable offers. -Nathan.

2 timed laps. That's all - on my 3rd flyer in the first timed practice, I Fv(KED the SH!T outta the 3rd/4th fork/selector/whatever, and had it Jam half in 3rd, half in neutral. Happened shifting on the right/left direction change outta MG. It's been playing up for a while (synchro's on 4th are cactus) and I guess it finally let go. 1:53.9 isn't too bad though, with Bendix ultimates (not even bedded in yet on the front!) and 200rwkw. The DriftBox (loaned - thanks Monti!) said I was on a 1:53.5 when the 'box went, and I think there's at LEAST another second to be had once I learn how hard I can push on all the quick stuff. I think I was only doing 150-odd onto the front straight, with a ton of room & grip up my sleeve. Hmmm, guess my target of 1:57 on the entry form was a smidge conservative!!!!! HOW GOOD is Hayshed and T1 ? ! ? ! I was braking at/just after the 2nd line on the track into T1, with HEAPS of room to spare, turning in at 170, realising I had HEAPS of room& grip, and punching out hard up to 185km/h before braking into Southern loop. BOOOYAAH ! ! ! My V.Max on Winton's main straight is 172km/h ! ! At least I can drive (gingerly, in 1st, 2nd & 5th!) around 'til I have the coin to fix the box, it self-righted itself (with a BanG!) leaving a servo, on the way back. Oh - what happened to the Black R34(?) that stopped around 4pm at Siberia? I was flagging there for a while. -Nathan. p.s. My mate & I got a TONNE of pics - RAY! TUNE that Silvia MAN! (You'll see once the pic's up!) - I'll let Youse know when they're uploaded.

RE: Bonnet pins Revolution Racegear, Maroondah Highway. $39 per pair. Saw 'em when I picked up my pretty Blue triangle.

Sweet - Thanks. Hey: Your 'Line throws flames too ! ! ! it's fun, eh? =D

The Tow hook ! ! I forgot - is the factory tow-hook okey-dokey? Do we need a sticker, pointing to it? Thanks again!

HELP ! Okay - assuming I pull everything together (quiter exhaust, tyres, harness) and get the app. in, I'm still not sure on . . . Bonnet: Does it need a strap or something, as well as the two factory latches? Stickers: Do I need a door-number, and a battery triangle, for the Skyline's battery in the boot? Passengers: Will they need a 4-point harness (I'm running R-Compounds) Noise limit: If a car scrapes in under the 90db stationary test, should it be kosher at P.I. with 75db trackside? I've only run the (wonderfully loosely regulated) Fridays at Winton - I've gotta get new rear R-Compounds for P.I, coz mine are into the tread bars. D'oh ! ! Thanks heaps guys - Nathan.

Cool - thanks guys. Hey: how many folk have 4-point harnesses? I've been V.strongly advised to get one for P.I, which is fine if I wanna keep doing track days in the skyline, but I'm not sure if I do . . . . decisions decisions!

Hey guys, couple of questions: What sort of time could I expect at P.I. (for grouping), considering I did a 1:41.6 at Winton with a blown Manifold->Turbo gasket (I expect a 1:40 flat when fully fit) Will the WRX club mandate a 4-point harness if I run R-compounds on my lightly modded GTS-T ? Ta - Nathan.

It wasn't really any better or worse. I was worried that air that'd been crammed through the FMI/C by the front bumper intake, would bleed out the bottom of the gap between I/C and Radiator - into the lower-pressure region behind the front bumper. The PowerFC showed a peak water Temp of 116deg.C this time . . . . 8-O

This is more for Vic/NSW guys, but anyhoo - (move to a more appropriate thread if necessary) For everyone's info: CAMS revised the Group 3D "Sports Sedan" rules for this year, to allow WAY more freedom, especially for turbocharged 4WD "original floorpan" cars (i.e. GTR's !) - Note that you can't run a full spaceframe AND 4WD - you can still run a RWD Turbo and a spaceframe though. They ditched the Multi-Valve engine equivalency rule/calulation - so now you can run a 3.5L Turbo/S.chrgd 4Valve engine (before it was only 2.5L), or a SIX LITRE 3 or 4Valve N/A motor! Can anyone weld together a pair of 3L F1 V10's ? ? ? - Seriously though, anyone with a mega-power, tough RB26DETT stroker could CLEAN UP those Chev V8's now.. . . . I actually think they went too far, shoulda just relaxed the MultiValve factor from x1.4 to say . . . x1.3 or so..... That would've allowed standard-crank RB26's in, up to 2.7L total volume actually. Woulda allowed the 4.6L Mustang N/A V8 too, as well as 4.5L Nissan & Toyota N/A V8s. (all good, now you can stroke & bore 'em!) You don't need opening doors anymore on full space-frame cars, and they ditched the rule which said spaceframe cars needed original factory panels for the A/B/C Pillars, sills & roof. That means full carbon/glass bodywork if you want. You can have a rear diffuser now too (Bugger: I'd figured how to cheat one under the old rules too, using exhaust mufflers as side-skirts!). Full changes here: (pdf) CAMS Group 3D Sports Sedan Reg. changes for 2007

A Coupe half-cut is kinda hard to work with - makes it more or less impossible to keep the rear seats, or even the roof & rear glass for that matter. That said - Cutting the C-pillars lets the rear seat area be used as a bigg-ass icebox, with it's lid sealing around where the rear quarter-glass & rear screen went. I'm having a hard time thinking-up how to get 8-burners worth of BBQing fun into a skyline boot . . . Has anyone actually tried to get anything bigger than an overnight bag through that opening?!?!?!?! ! ! It might take a more radical mod- like attaching the taillights to the bootlid, and having the hotplate slide out?? Maybe a big square-ish plate that rises up & back from the boot, with some of those weak-ass Ceramic turbo wheels as the burner knobs?? ? !

Ahh yes, that's the plan (if My CAMS licence & SAU membership turn up!) - It'll be full steam ahead for the March 31st WRX/SAU day at Phillip Island.. . . . (SO hanging out for that track!)

Muhahaha - Got a Z32 afm yesterday morning . . . . now to max-out those stock injectors before next Friday! ! ! Here's a Vid of last time I was up, note sweetness of the GT3's exhaust as it blasts by . . (Did I mention I braked later than him?) Like the Tankslapper at the end?? -I did that another 3 or so times that day. . . . (The one off the ripple-strip was BRUTAL!) So - Anyone else interested? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

My R33 GTS-T has always had weak spark: When I did the Intercooler, full exhaust & standard ECU, it broke-down the spark when the factory boost solenoid opened @5,500rpm. Installing the PowerFC brought the mixtures back into sensible land, and all was good for quite a long time (Std. Turbo ran out of exhaust flow @180rwkw). With a more serious turbo installed, I wicked up the boost a bit - and ran out of A.F.M. signal @9psi & 6600rpm. D'oh ! Any more boost was blowing out the spark again too. So I did the Silicone trick, and . . . . . . . . 18psi @5,000rpm and feelin' FINE ! ! ! ! Now I just need one of those fancy Z32 AFM's ! !

Noice1 Craved ! I think I'll have to put a lil' panel between the very bottom of my I/C and the bottom of the radiator, to stop air bleeding out between the 2 cores. On the 37deg. trackday I did at winton, 3 hot laps in a row saw the water-temp up around 110Celsius plus ! ! !

I've got HKS Hiper D' Coilovers, and I THINK they're 9 or 10kg front, 6 or 7kg rear. They're WAY too stiff to be comfortable, or even practical on the street! They're not oven helpful on the track - at Winton I was running the shocks at 2 or 3 clicks on the front, 5 clicks on the rear (out of 12), on the street it's 1 click front, 2 clicks rear. I'm ditching the spherical-bearing shock mounts, putting conventional rubber-bushed mounts on the strut-tops soon, to try and get SOME small-bump compliance.

AFAIK it's whatever you can get away with. There's a couple of old hag's I know of who live along the river (Downstream from Echuca) Who'll call the MSB on yo ass if you're loud - and they'll just tell you to cruise past her place quietly, or avoid that stretch all together. I was up there in '06, and MAN were the top half-dozen boats IMPRESSIVE at full-noise! At 110+mph on the straights (& bigger curves!), they're only skipping into contact with the water just enough to keep the prop in the water, and keep pointed more or less in the direction of travel. AWESOME ! !

For my first trackday at Winton, I did deflector ducts, cable-tied to the front lower wishbones. I cut them from black 3mm polyethylene with a jigsaw, and bent them up with the heat-gun. (Images from Right-Front wheel) It was a wet/damp day, but there were two sessions where the line was mainly dry in some of the braking areas, and I didn't have and front brake problems. The rears were completely unventilated though, and suffered immensely as the track dried, and I braked later & harder. The rear Discs didn't warp in the traditional sense, instead they expanded inbetween the ventilation vanes, leading to a shuddery vibration. The rear pads were COOKED by the end of the day too (Still work okay though!) They started as EBC "GreenStuff" and ended up as "CharcoalStuff" ! ! ! More on round 2 of venting/ducting later. (Oh - I did high 1:47's when the track was at its driest, out to 1:49's+ when is was all-wet)

These are in 1-end of my rear suspension's upper-links. (they fixed my rear camber nicely) The almighty Whiteline Camber-adjusting bushes for the R33 GTS-T ! ! ! ! Oh, and this was taken behind pitlane at Bathurst '06 I have a sudden urge to buy some Elf Race Fuel for some reason . . . . . .

But I just BOUGHT R-Compounds ! ! ! ! I think they're worth as much time per lap as 70->100kw anyway, especially at P.I. where you're already wound-up pretty quick onto 2 of the 3 straights. Sandown is all about the POWER though. Jeremy Clarkson would love it ! Oh, and I know that consistency wins championships - I have a Kart club-champion's trophy to prove it! (it's largeish & moderately impressive)

Hey: My GTS-T has 'Zorst, 'cooler & PowerFC but that's it . . . . . If I bolt on my R-Compounds, I'd get FLOGGED in modified! (180rwkw just doesn't cut it nowadays!) hmm.. . . Maybe Banzai driving could overcome the power deficit ! =D

(Sighh...) Smoking a joint is breaking the law, so why don't the Police have hundreds of sniffer dogs trained, so that they can go door to door, busting everyone they can lay their hands on ? ? Something called "Appropriate enforcement" or similar, I think. It's about applying the weight of policing manpower to where it's most effective. I doubt that defecting show-cars has any benefit to the community, or makes anybody any safer. It's just arrogant show-ponying in front of a crowd & cameras. (I think it could be politically motivated too, so that the Govmnt. can point at something and say "See, we're doing something to stop street racing!") Oh - and before someone can cry "Deterrent! Deterrent!" - This publicity won't make determined "street racers" even blink, it'll just make more people wary of organised events, keeping them at street meets and away from organised events like SpringNats and Calder Drags.

I hate to be negative on such an ACE forum, but I cannot BEGIN to tell how disappointed I was with SpringNats '06. I actually can't think of much about last year's that I'd KEEP, so I'm going to have to leave it at that! Was anyone else up there? Are My expectations set unreasonably high?? (Seriously - apart from a couple-dozen sweeeet rides, I'd be dumping on multiple aspects of nearly everything I saw/experienced there.)