Sydneykid

The spring seats, top and bottom, determine the amount of dead coil. I know the effect of the standard spring seats (for R32/33/34 models of Skylines). Therefore I know the number of dead coils. Race coils always have the same configuration, ground flat both ends, to keep the coils at 90 degrees to the seats. Therefore I know the number of dead coils. Anyime you want to test it out, the offer stands. cheers

The Consult port and its matching terminal in the Nissan Dealer service department, has been around for many years on all models of Nissan. Certainly all modesl of R32/33/34 Skylines and Stageas have Consult ports. The common interfaces/handsets work on all the models that I have tried. cheers

Whiteline adjustable caster bushes are available on the Group Buy and Centreline or Traction Tyres can fit. cheers

I knwo the amount of free coil in a Skyline spring and allow for it. I know the amount of free coil in a race coil and allow for it. If you give me the spacing between the variable rate coils I can work out the various rates. If you give me the taper on the wire I can work out the variable rate there as well. Any time you want to check out the calculated rates for accuracy, just let me know, I have a spring rate tester. cheers

Clean the AFM's and then check the voltage, I use spray on brake cleaner, no residue. There is simply no better way of measuring the airflow into an engine than an AFM. Using a MAP sensor driven ECU means it is guessing the airflow. Do a search if you want more info, this is an often discussed subject. cheers

Ports 1 to 4 were used on my laptop, that was the problem. so it took me a bit of fiddling to get it moved to port 5 in the Calumsult. Once I did that it worked fine. cheers

I will kick it off, I have a Newkleer DIY kit interface (see Group Buy section) that I use with my lap top. The kit was easy to build, but the USB to com port link was a bit tricky to get working. I am using the Calumsult software, free download via a link in the Group Buy. I find it OK, the only complain is that it is imperial measuremts (eg; MPH) which can be off puting at first. The lambda sensor readings (O2) are not calibrated (volts only shown) so I will have to make up a conversion table. This is a grab of the most common screen I use; Picture to go in here; I haven't done very much logging yet, but I will start that tonight and run it for a few days and see what it reveals. I have already detected a spark plug missfiring by the sometimes eratic lambda readings, this is very noticeable at idle. When it should really be stable running closed loop. Sample log to go in here; That's enough for this post. cheers

There have been a number of different hardware solutions for interfacing with the Consult port on Skylines. There are some excellent Group Buys with handsets and interfaces for lap tops. There are also number of downloadable software options around, some free, some with small fees. The idea of this thread is to have an ongoing discussion about what software and hardware people are using how they are finding it, what sort of benefits they are getting and maybe even some tricks and tips that we can share. So please feel free to drop your thoughts into a post. cheers

Hi Ben, Bisltein Australia ran out of some part numbers, from memory they had some rears for R32GTR, but no fronts. So they asked Bilstein Germany for enough stock to balance the sets. A handfull arrived via airfreight last week, so the Group Buy is stll open. It is hard to tell how long they wil last, maybe 2 or 3 weeks is my guess, based on the current sales rate. PM me for full details. cheers

My observation; 1. As soon as I increased the boost on the Stagea to 10 psi the A/F ratios dropped into the 9's, that's 33% more fuel than 12's you need for best power. 2. Due to the increased airflow (via the AFM) at boost build time the standard ECU was into rich (hence the 9's) and retard mapping. This means you need more throttle opening to compensate for the loss of power from the retarded igntiion timing. Double whammy, 1/3rd more fuel than the engine needs and more throttle to achieve the same acceleration or to hold the same speed. cheers

I keep hearing that, but I have never actualy seen an auto Skyline using the EManage ignition option successfully. I HAVE seen a few with burnt out coils trying though. cheers

Indexing plugs, wow that's an old trick that I haven't used for ages. I don't even think I can remember all of the theory for a turbo engine. Is it to point the earth electrode at the inlet stream so that the spark doesn't blow out as easily? Plus that woud delay combustion a poofteenth, so might be good if you have preignition problems. On an N/A engine (Chevy) I remember we used to point the electrode away from the quench/squish. So that the spark is NOT shielded, to give a quicker more spread ignition. That would be hard to do on a RB though. If I also remember rightly the claim by the indexing washers makers was a 5% improvement at best, that's both in power and economy. It used to be such a pain (in the back) to do on a V8, took about an hour to do all 8 plugs. The RB would only be 75% as painful, plus the plugs are a lot easier to get to. Let me know what sort of result you get, I am sure Moroso or Jacobs still sell the indexing washers. But the plug size might be a problem. cheers

Nope, the aluminium is relatively soft, doesn't get very hot and it was only 0.3 mm that I was removing. It's not like there is tonnes of half molten swarf flying all over the place. The glad wrap is really just there to concentrate the vacuum pick up from the cleaner. That engine is running, tuned and gone today. I can take pictures of my own RB26 cylinder head if you like, it has been machined for Jun 272/280 with 10.5 mm lift. If you take a camcover off it is easy to see what has to be done to make room for an extra 0.5 mm larger lobe on the camshaft. There is no magic, the most common reaction when I show people this HUGE MACHINING job, is " is that all it is?" cheers PS; I am sure one of the guys posted up some pictures a while ago, maybe try a search. If I remember rightly his job was very nice, but a big overkill using a mill and removing 1 or 2 mm, just to be sure.

The PFC also has "outputs to run the auto", no big deal there. The problem is no aftermarket ECU (that I have found) has the shift logic programmed to cut/retard the ignition on gearchanges. I have driven autos with Motec's, Autronics, Wolfs and PFC's and none of them have decent shift quality. They are all very jerky at low throttle openings and have lots of slippage at larger throttle openings. The more power, the worse the slippage. All but one have now had gearbox rebuilds in fairly short intervals. In the Stagea I have a Jaycar DFA for fuel tuning, a Jaycar IEBC for boost control and an Apexi SITC for ignition tuning. That's a glove box full of piggy backs, but the gearchanges are as good as standard and the gearbox is still alive and kicking. cheers

It's an auto <_< so it's SAFC time. Pick up about 20 rwkw maxpower and 30 rwkw or so in the mid range. cheers

This "machining" of the cylinder head to clear high lift cams is grossly overrated. I "machined" an RB26 cylinder head to clear 10.3 mm lift cams yesterday in less than 20 minutes with the die grinder. And I didn't take the cylinder head off to do it either. Just had the trusty vacuum cleaner in action and some gladwrap. Think about the numbers involved. If 9.8 mm clears easily, then the max you have to remove is 0.5 mm. That is hardly MACHINING :lol: :lol: Cheers

Take a look at under the bonnet of a 300ZX and you will quickly change you mind. Their engine bay is wider than an R32 and all of the stuff still doesn't fit without lots of compromises. If you are going to stick a V engine in there, then a twin tubo Q45 would be at least worth the effort. cheers

The elcheapo and DIY versions are in the AutoSpeed articles written by JE; http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_0353/article.html http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_1353/article.html http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_2717/article.html cheers

Yanks , they just HAVE to have the latest wiz bang shit. I usually use both RPM and AFM voltage as they are the axis on the injection map. With a bit of practise you can then identify which load points need to be tuned. Speeds up the tuning process heaps. You really need 2 people if you want to tune as you drive. That's what logging is all about, drive & log -----> stop & review & tune ------> drive & log etc. I do that until I am happy I have covered most conditions. I pick up all the inputs at the ECU plug, once you are familiar with the pin outs it only takes a few minutes to log everything that you need. I don't splice into the standard wiring, takes too long and is messy. A few years ago (for the race car diadnostics) I made up a short (around 1 metre) wiring harness with 10 cables in it, each is a different colour. Every cable has a piece of thin wire soldered to the end, insulated with shrink wrap except for the last 3 or 4 mm. The wire is small/stiff enough to push in through the back of the ECU plug, into whatever pin I need. There is not large current draw involved here, it's only a signal for logging, so the connection doesn't have to be permanent. I am going to make up a similar harness (with less wires though) for the A/F meter logging inputs, I will post up some pictures when it is done. cheers

What I usually do is to disconnect the engine pipe from the cat and have a look in the front of the cat. Only take a few minutes, jacking up the car is the most time consuming part. If its a turbine, I can always see bits of ceramic sitting in front of the matrix. If it is the turbine, I ship the turbo off to GCG and get it ball bearing high flowed, 60 rwkw more and same look and fit up. I think there is a turbo removal guide in the how to section. If not let me know and I will post up my way of doing it. cheers

There are still a couple of sets of Bilsteins left, so the Group Buy is open. But don't delay too long. Check out the Group Buy thread in the Stagea section or PM me for details. cheers

Very hectic weekend, getting ready for Eastern Creek next weekend. Picking up the sample cat tonight and I will send it to Magic tomorrow. Bank transfer also will be done tonight for my DIY cat. cheers

Hi Matt, I have a set of these; The Steelman costs around $200, which is OK value if you use it all the time. But for around $20, this is better value for the occasional user (thanks to JE from Autospeed); Either of them make hearing pre-igniton while driving or dyno tuning very easy. There is no better knock detection than the trained/experienced human ear. cheers

I have been too busy to get back to it, we took delivery of the Dallara F3 at the conclusion of the A1 GP meeting and I have been learning how to engineer one of those things after quite a few years away form open wheelers. Sequental 6 speed, mono front shock, wings, diffusers, downforce etc. We have a shake down race this weekend at Eastern Creek to iron out the bugs (not the car, the pit crew) before the full National Championship season next year. So my own car stuff has suffered from inattention. Plus I have had a couple of problems with my laptop which only surfaced when I was setting up the Group Buy Consult interface (that's a good simple kit). The USB to Com port software didn't want to co-operate, but that is sorted now. So I will get back to the testing and set up of the A/F meter next week. cheers

The Nismo FPR adjusts the fuel pressure by the simple/common method of increasing the spring preload. I am not sure that I understand how that makes it "hard" to tune. I just stick the pressure gauge in the fuel supply circuit and turn the adjuster bolt until I get the desired pressure. Then I get on with ECU tuning of the A/F ratios, with the occasional check that the fuel pressure is still in the window that I selected. All FPR's are hard to get right if you use THEM to tune the A/F ratios, some are more sensitive then others, some have largish windows that the pressure moves around in. This makes getting consistent A/F ratios much more difficult. That's why I would never use an FPR to tune A/F ratios, that's a job for ECU tuning (itself or via piggybacks). So I am very curious as to why they think the Nismo FPR is hard to tune. Next time you are there, can you please ask for more details. cheers