Sydneykid

The LPG thing has been popping up a bit lately, understandable with the ever increasing fuel prices. Here is short blurb I posted on the Stagea forum yesterday; Here’s a quick run down on why LPG is a bad idea; 1. You need 1.3 litres of LPG to go as far as 1 litre of 98 ron. 2. The LPG tank (being a pressure vessel) has thicker walls, hence for the same outside dimensions it will hold 20% less. 3. Add 1 & 2 together and it means 50% less distance between refills compared to he same dimensioned petrol tank. 4. LPG is now 99 ron, the 110 ron dropped to get the price down 5. There isn’t an LPG system designed for RB’s, so you would need one to be made up “special”. Think lots of $’s. 6. They will use a single point gas mixer (not 6 injectors, not sequential), it will simply be connected to the throttle, more throttle opening = more gas squirted in. No fuel mapping as such. 7. Your standard ECU will run the ignition etc 8. Driveability, cold start and run, hot run etc will all suffer as a result of the poor (in comparison) fuel metering. 9. If you live in a cold area you won’t be able to drive your car until it warms up. If you don’t warm it up, drive off and accidentally use too much throttle you may well get a gas explosion in the inlet system. Not large enough to hurt you but large enough to require a top end rebuild. cheers

Do you have a dyno graph of the A/F ratios to post up? Mine went R&R mapping as soon as I went over 125 4wkw. cheers

Better add SOSK (son of Sydneykid) to the list. I might let him drive the R32, or he can use his R33. That way if the R32 isn’t going, we can both use the R33. Always good to have a fall back situation. If it’s raining, I am going to use the Stagea though. cheers PS; Is this State of Origin? So Roy is on the NSW team.

Have you disconnected the front stabiliser bar? If not, then disconnect one link, doesn’t matter which one. If it still won’t fit (not unusual) I use a long lever (1-2 metres) between the radius rod and the subframe. I push down on the lever with one foot and slip the shock eye over the bolt with my two hands. I have been known to sit on the lever rather than use a foot. A pinch bar works well as a lever, or a large piece of steel rod/bar. Don’t use a broom stick, they break and the wife gets upset. cheers

Do I detect a common difference? High rpm and lots of rev limiter controlled launches. We don’t do that many launches, one per race, so 24 per year, plus a few practise launches. With only light use of the launch control rev limiter. It could also be related to the crank moving inside the oil pump rotor, like a hammer effect. That would be very noticeable on the rpm limiter, like a jack hammer. What sort of clearances are you running on the oil pump drive flange? I know on at least one crank we have to weld up and regrind the flanges, as they were worn. A couple of other cranks were rejected as they were too far gone. The crank collar (for RB20/25/30) has a much smaller clearance than the “standard” RB26 flange. It is actually a very snug fit. cheers

Huh, try getting software for a HKS FConV And they don’t have a Commander cheers

I tuned the Motec in the R32GTR using the Self Tune function (being Motec, enabling that function costs more of course). Simply set the A/F ratio aim target and did a few laps. That’s about as “closed loop” tuning as you can get. The Nissan LeMans cars ran closed loop for 24 hours for better fuel economy (less pit stops). Closed loop power tuning is the future, no more dynos (yahoo). cheers

1. Use spacers 2. No difference to RWD or 4WD. Many front wheel drive cars have better front to rear weight distribution than a Skyline with that great lump of RB cast iron in front of the front wheels. 3. No, the front left should carry the same weight as the front right and the rear left should carry the same weight as the rear right. More precisely the diagonals should weigh the same. cheers

Go to the DOTARS web site for a list of compliers by vehicle. cheers

Here’s a quick run down on why LPG is a bad idea; 1. You need 1.3 litres of LPG to go as far as 1 litre of 98 ron. 2. The LPG tank (being a pressure vessel) has thicker walls, hence for the same outside dimensions it will hold 20% less. 3. Add 1 & 2 together and it means 50% less distance between refills compared to he same dimensioned petrol tank. 4. LPG is now 99 ron, the 110 ron dropped to get the price down 5. There isn’t an LPG system designed for RB’s, so you would need one to be made up “special”. Think lots of $’s. 6. They will use a single point gas mixer (not 6 injectors, not sequential), it will simply be connected to the throttle, more throttle opening = more gas squirted in. No fuel mapping as such. 7. Your standard ECU will run the ignition etc 8. Driveability, cold start and run, hot run etc will all suffer as a result of the poor (in comparison) fuel metering. 9. If you live in a cold area you won’t be able to drive your car until it warms up. If you don’t warm it up, drive off and accidentally use too much throttle you may well get a gas explosion in the inlet system. Not large enough to hurt you but large enough to require a top end rebuild. And a few others I have forgotten. cheers

No problems cheers

Sorry, I don't have a dyno sheet that I can post up for the R32GTST with the RB20DET in it. There are limits to the ECU remapping, you might run into them before you get to the target power output. Every car is different, I can't be more specific than that. Cams is an interesting story, I was given what I was told where standard R32GTR cams. I had no reason to check them. There wasn't any reason for me not to believe the guy that gave them to me as he had no motive to do otherwise. I stuck them in at the same time as I did the turbo and the Power FC install. Tuned it and away we went, used the old RB20 for couple of years. Then I stuck the original RB30DET into the R32GTST and gave the cams back to the guy that loaned them to me. It wasn't until I tried to copy the R32GTR cams into RB20 trick for someone else that I ran into problems, same as a few other guys have. So I don't know whether it made the power on standard RB20 cams, RB20 aftermarket cams, standard RB26 cams or maybe even aftermarket RB26 cams. When I sold the original RB30, I stuck the RB20 back into the R32GTST with its original cams. It made within 8 rwkw of the same power, which I wasn't surprised at given its age, it was getting pretty tired at 180,000k's and after 3 years of racing. Not a very conclusive answer I know. cheers

The output voltage of the alternator is controlled by the voltage regulator. They are usually a pretty stable device in any car built since 1980. Are you sure you have a voltage problem? Have you checked the voltage stability of your car? A cheap multimeter will do that (~$20 from SupaCheap), a quite usefull device to have in your tool kit. Or a Consult interface to talk to your ECU (~$50 on the Group Buy forum) an even more usefull device. Both unlike an aftermarket voltage stabiliser which is basically useless. If you truly have a problem, then you will have to replace the voltage regulator and/or the alternator anyway. cheers

I am sorry, as a long term user of both Autronic (BMW SuperTourers and Commondoor V8Supercars) and Power FC's (Hondas and Nissans) I hardly think my advice is one sided. cheers

Some of my experiences; Example 1 R34GTT with R33GTST GCG Ball Bearing High flow and standard Neo cams = 253 rwkw. R34GTT with R33GTST GCG Ball Bearing High flow and 260 Tomei Poncams = 265 rwkw. Gain from changing cams = 12 rwkw (up to ~20 rwkw at some rpm points) R34GTT with R34GTT GCG Ball Bearing High flow and 260 Tomei Poncams = 275 rwkw. Gain from changing turbine cover and tuning = 10 rwkw That’s my R34GTT on our race team dyno, which is most certainly not “happy”. Example 2 R33TST with R33GTST GCG Ball Bearing High flow and 256 Tomei Poncams = 260 rwkw. R33GTST with R33GTST GCG Ball Bearing High flow with VG30 turbine cover and 256 Tomei Poncams = 273 rwkw. Gain from changing turbine cover and tuning = 13 rwkw Ian’s R33GTST on another dyno, since results collate, most likely not “happy” either. You can draw your own conclusions from the above. cheers

Hi Russ, we have used 30+ N1 oil pumps over 5 years and not broken one. So I am very interested in getting to the bottom of why you have had 2 failures. I don't believe it is simply a case of you having been extremely unlucky or we have been unbelievably lucky. There must be a reason why we don't have problems, something we are doing different. Maybe not something obvious, maybe nothing to do with the oil pump itself. So what I would like to do is list what we do and see if it is any different to what you did; 1. We always use a wide oil pump drive flange crank (late RB26) or a crank collar on RB20/25/30 cranks. 2. We use all sorts of different harmonic balancers, mostly standard RB26, but some RB30 and ATI. 3. We balance (to very fine tolerances) every up & down and round & round piece. Firstly individually and then as a group. This includes the harmonic balancer, the flywheel, the clutch plate/plates and the pressure plate. 4. All of our engines have oil surge prevention sumps, usually wings, baffles and one way doors. 5. We prime the oil pump on assembly 6. We are very particular about the torque of the harmonic balancer retaining bolt, and we insist that the tension is checked once the engine has been run for 20 minutes. 7. The blocks have the usual oil restrictor flow limits, various depending on the vehicle usage pattern (rpm limit, circuit, drag, road use etc). 8. All engines run oil coolers, most (but not all) run remote oil filters. 9. We insist on an oil filter change at 20 minutes running from new. That’s about all I can think of that is remotely linked to the oil pump. The reason for the N1 oil pump selection is for the extra pressure without excessive oil flow. Despite all of the oil return mods and upgrades (inc external return lines) we have found the aftermarket (HKS, Jun, Apexi, Trust etc ) oil pumps simply have too much flow. Plus they cost almost as much as a dry sump pump. So we never use them. If you want to continue this discussion in another thread or via PM, please just let me know. cheers

I can arrange a set for you through the Group Buy at retail minus ~15%, freight is free to wherever you want. Some things you need to know: 1. There is no "off the shelf" kit for an R34GTT 2. There is an "off the shelf" kit for the R33GTR and R34GTR 3. You will need a spring change to the R33/34GTR kit to suite the R34GTT (I know what rates to use) 4. The shock valving will accommodate the spring change (I have checked it on the shock dyno) 5. There is no stock in Australia, they are airfreighted in from Germany on payment of a 100% deposit 6. The springs used are made by Eibach for Bilstein (they have Bilstein signage) 7. The R34GTT springs are Eibachs 8. The kit is not cheap, especialy when you add the costs of the R34GTT Eibach springs The above is why your local distributor is not all that interested. PM me if you want to proceed or would like more details. cheers

Yep, that's right on an RB20/25. But an RB26 has the throttle bodies after the plenum, which holds a lot of "compressed" air. That air reverses direction and goes back through the AFM and out the BOV. Hence rich running. Certainly not as much as with a atmo BOV and the AFM before the compressor. With the RB20/25 you need to be carefull not to put put the AFM too close to the throttle butterfly. Partially open butterflies disturb the approaching air flow quite a bit, and you want the AFM to be metering perfectly. Plus it needs to be before the idle bypass feed. Otherwise you will have non metered air going into the engine. The usual place for the AFM is just after intercooler outlet, maybe halfway to the throttle body. There are plenty of cars with it in the location. cheers

Have a read of the feedback on the Group Buy thread. http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...showtopic=85467 Nothing like other peoples experiences with the same model car. cheers

What we are doing by corner weighting a car is making sure that it puts its weight down evenly, the two front tyres carry the same load and the two rear tyres carry the same load. The total diagonal weights are even. For an un-corner weighted car, think of a rocking table, with 1 leg shorter than the other 3. When you lean on one corner (turn left round a bend), the table (car) goes bonk until that short leg hits the floor (the spring takes the load). Now lean on the other end (turn right around a corner), the table (car) goes bonk until that leg hits the floor (the spring takes the load). So when you have 2 corners, one after the other, you get instability (bonk) whenever you turn the steering wheel. This makes the driver feel like the car is slipping just as he turns the steering wheel, he has no confidence. It also unsettles the car, the tyres don't like the sudden hit of load (bonk) and they do actually slip a little. How much difference does it make? It's like a dyno tune, if the weights are out by a lot, then it makes a lot of difference. If they only out by a little bit, it makes very little difference. cheers

Hi Sam, it depends on where you drive and how you drive. If you drive like a little old lady and only on the freeway/highway then you will get a little more inside tyre wear. If you drive like a maniac, don't slow down for corners and seek out winding roads (avoid the freeways) then you will wear out the outside of the tyres. If you drive like a normal Skyline owner (sporty, briskly) on a mixture of roads, then the tyres will wear perfectly. Which is why I recommend those settings for the average Skyline driver. cheers

Hmmm, I reckon no matter where you place the AFM an atmospheric (vented) BOV will affect its readings. If the BOV is after the AFM, the AFM will measure air that doesn't end up in the engine. ie, whatever the BOV vents to atmosphere If the BOV is before the AFM, then the air that has already gone past the AFM will reverse direction and get measured twice. Either way = short term rich running (maybe stalling) after the BOV vents. cheers

Hi Adrian, I agree 99% with what you said, except; 1. My ethics would stop me publishing a magazine and owning an import business selling parts that are obviously aimed at the same audience as the publications. Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t see how I can be impartial when I have my own interests to protect. An example, Ben stuck a KKR turbo on the RB24 and the results (based on my opinion and experience) were disappointing to say the least. But there was zero critique, if it had been another turbo (not one of theirs) would it have copped a bagging? I would like to think so. 2. Product guides are great, except they have deteriorated into a list of products/suppliers with ZERO technical input. My daughter, who knows almost zero about cars, could prepare a better product guide for potential buyers. It’s the editor’s job to get content, if he/she can’t get it, then they aren’t trying hard enough. 3. The letters to the editor are for guys asking advice on their cars, not for feedback on the magazine itself. Hence why Martin mostly writes the responses. I can’t say as I have ever seen a critical (of the magazine) letter ever printed. Don’t get me wrong, I know how hard it is working against printers deadlines. I used to write 4 or 5 magazine articles a year and I remember the editor was always on my back to finish them in time for review and sending to the printer. cheers

That's 3 times as much as a Power FC cheers

My recommendation; Tomei Poncams 256 degrees inlet and exhaust for RB25DE (non neo) Tomei Poncams 260 degrees inlet and exhaust for RB25DE (neo) Any brand adjustable exhaust camshaft pulley at ~5 degrees retarded Bass Junky inlet cam adjusters at ~ 3 degrees advanced. Set the camshaft timing on the dyno. cheers