Sydneykid

Garrett "talk" says same core, turbine and compressor. Very minor changes in the housings to justify the inflated HKS price. No real world differences. That may just be the Garrett line, but I haven't seen anything to doubt it so far. What are you guys paying for T04Z's? The going rate for the HKS T04Z seems to be around $3K and Garrett is around $2.2K cheers

275 lbs per inch cheers

We could have nice old chat about "restrictions", there are plenty of opinions on that topic. The fact is Late Model Turbo cars would dominate the class if they were allowed to generate the same power as the V8's (Early or Late Model). One obvious example, I can have a 700 bhp VL with a 6 litre Chev in it, but I can only have a 400 bhp RB30 powered VL because of the turbo restrictors. Now that makes no sense at all to me. Quick clarification, Dave is the driver of the IP car, he is not the owner, so technically it isn't his car. All 4 tyres actually go off pretty much at the same time due to the weight, we give away 400 kgs to the rotaries. As for the lap times going off, I think you are being tricked by the good start the 4wd gives. These are the lap times form the last Eastern Creek round of the NSW championship; 50 Dave Loftus Skyline Gtr R32 1:53.0985 1:47.6990 1:47.1596 1:47.8643 1:47.4363 1:47.4839 1:47.3391 1:47.3691 Race win with the fastest lap being on lap 3 (1.47.1596) compared to the last lap (1.47.3691). That's not a big deterioration in lap times (2/10ths of a second), not perfect admittedly, but it is being worked on I can assure you. As for settings, maybe I was bit too subtle, let me be a little more blunt. I am not about to blurt out on an open forum, in detail, the suspension settings that we have worked for 3 years to arrive at. So that the other 4 X GTR's that can't catch us get a free leg up. I have told you the philosophy that has worked for us, if you choose not to believe it that's fine by me. Just go and buy a pyrometer and find out the camber settings for yourself. If you want to know the ride height versus dynamic camber, take the springs out and jack the suspension up and down and measure it yourself. Look, you obviously have it in your head to reject everything I say. Sorry, but until one of your cars finishes a race in front of any of mine, you are being a bit silly rejecting the free advice. In 2005, with 19 race wins out of 24 in Vic and 23 race wins out of 25 in NSW, you have a bit of catching up to do. cheers

Hi Chris, you should notice a big improvement in handling and traction compared to 308/305. There would have been all sorts of strange suspension geometry at the height. Tighten the shock nuts until the thread stops, don't use excessive force. The top of the dust covers is held in place by the bump stop, so the bottom has to be free to move up and down. Cheers

There are a whole host of settings we use on both the Improved Production and the Production (Combined Touring) GTR's. There are variabilities in ride height, alignment and damper settings for each circuit. The maximum we use is 4 degrees negative camber on the front, most circuits we don't even use that much. This is Late Model Improved Production with serious roll cages and chassis welding. We can run a lot of caster, soft springs and serious antiroll, anti squat and antidive rates and low profile tyres. It is not some floppy 30+ year old Early Model Improved Production car with huge amounts of chassis flex that needs 6 degrees of camber to offest its deficiencies in rigidity and suspension design running 60 series tyres. If we didn't have to run turbo restictors we could destroy every lap record in the country. But that isn't fair to the Early Model cars that dominate the numbers, so we wait patiently for that to even out. Plus I also look after a couple of Early Model Improved Production cars (one is the joint 2005 NSW and Vic Champion), so I don't want to burn all the bridges. The best I can suggest to you is to use the tyre temperatures to tell you how much camber you need for your set up. My suggestion would be that if you need more than 4 degrees, then your set up is not going to give you the best lap times. Hope that was of some help cheers

PM sent, and thanks I did try to get the very best deal I could. cheers

Since the 350Z is 3.5 litres, V6, 206 rwkw, RWD and 6 speed, the GTR will have to go somewhat better than that. My guesses; * Between 3.0 and 3.6 litre V6 with at least 300 kw * To do that it will need a turbo or two, I reckon 2 (GTR history) * It won't NEED a 7 speed, but they might give it one just to bump the spec up * With 300 +kw I don't think RWD will do the job, so I reckon 4wd is the go. * Light weight (well lighter than the R32/33/34), so lots and lots of alloy, bonnet, boot, guards, suspension etc * Some functional carbon fibre bits, front spoiler extension, rear wing and diffuser * Two trim specs, spartan for racing and luxury to justify the price. Them's my guesses. cheers

Hi Chris, wow that was quick delivery, they only left around 3.30pm Friday. Yep C90-20191 = 70191 (Should have had 70191 on the box) The shocks come with the circlips in the standard groove. Since the springs are 30 mm lower (than standard springs) that means the standard groove will give you 30 mm lower than standard (when new) height. Remember that springs take a couple of days to settle to their height and usually come down around 5 mm from when they are first installed. All measurements following are centre of wheel to guard vertically; Standard (new) height is ~385 mm front & ~375 mm rear 355/345 mm are the standard circlip positions 347/338 mm are one circlip groove down 339/ 330 mm are two circlip grooves down 331/328 mm is the lowest of the 6 circlip gooves Note that 355/345 mm is the best handling positon. You will need a spring compressor to remove the standard springs, as they have a lot of preload. Hope that was of some help cheers

We run lots of caster so we don't need a lot of camber on the front, only at Philip Island do we use anywhere near the 4 degrees maximum. We actually remove negative camber from the rear, at the right ride they always have too much without the adjusters. If we need more than 4 degrees negative camber to get even front tyre temps, then I know we don't have enough antiroll. cheers

Hi Steve, I don't know how much total heat the HICAS adds. I reckon maybe none, as what heat it adds would be dissipated by the long run underneath the car in the steel pipework. All I know is, the first GTR I removed the HICAS on, boiled its power steering fluid at a track day as it had no cooler. Ever since then I have run a cooler on all R32's and not had one problem. Cheers

For adjustable upper front control arms try Noltec (Greg or David). www.noltecsuspension.com Note that they are not legal for Improved Production. Neither are the adjustable radius rods either. For adjustable bushes (eccentric style for camber and caster) that are legal for Improved Production, just send me off a PM and I can organise it via the Group Buy. cheers

I agree, the R33 power steering pump is smaller, lighter and simpler. In an ideal world, it would be worth changing. But, in my opinion, the cost in both time and money is excessive for the benefit gained. Plus it makes it a far more complicated upgrade than simply swapping one hose around. Most of the guys doing HICAS removal want a simple and quick elimination of the rear steering. Having to change the power steering pump, pulley, hoses and reservoir is a complication that might stop them from doing what is really necessary. ie; removing the HICAS itself. Later on they can swap the pump etc over if they want, but it isn't necessary for them to get 99% of the benefit. The 1% from swapping the pump can be done later. cheers

R32GTR's and R32GTST's have a cooler on the power steering standard. It is a simple loop of aluminium pipe, but it works. On the race R32GTST I have used a standard Stagea auto transmission cooler as the power steering cooler. Works a little better. cheers

Do you have the standard stabiliser bars? Or fixed (not adjustable) aftermarket bars? It's an R31 GTS Coupe isn't it? I designed a front adjustable bar for them a few years back (a friend of mine had a black one). I can organise one for you at a "good price" if you want. They are usually 27 mm (R31's need a lot of antiroll) but if you are running big front spring rates, maybe a 24mm will be OK. From memory, the rear doesn't really lend itself to an adjustable bar because of the mountings. Due to the rear suspension design, R31's need a serious antiroll upgrade as well. The Whiteline off the shelf, fixed rate bar is 20 mm, but I used a 22mm on the black car. I even tried a 24 mm rear bar to see if we could reduce the rear spring rate, but there wasn't enough anti squat. So the camber change on power down was excessive with the softer spring rates. PM me if you want to discuss further. cheers

You don't have adjustable stabiliser bars on the car already? cheers

There is a thread on tow bars in the Stagea section; http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...showtopic=49484 cheers

Limp home doesn't prove its the AFM. For example if the throttle position sensor dies and you unplug the AFM, it will go into limp home mode. Just make sure it is the AFM by checking the output voltage with a multimeter or a Consult. If it is the AFM, I would always try cleaning it (with spray on brake cleaner) before I chased a new one. Cheers

They have onviously not complied with the contract. I reckon you have good grounds to take it to another compliance shop. I would give DOTARS a call (be prepared for a wait) and ask them if you can change compliance shops. Maybe call some other compliance shops (for your model) and ask them what to do if another compliance shop fails. Cheers

Sorry Pete, they were suggestions for people building the kits, not you. You have done a great job. Except the pictures are blurry in the instructions. Either that or my eyes are worse than I thought. cheers

My suggestions follow; 1. Yep you are better off with no HICAS 2. Standard caster (radius) rods aren't adjustable, so does that mean you have adjustable bushes (at the front of the caster rods) and they are adjusted for as much caster as possible? Have a look they should be yellow bushes at the front of the radius rod, like this; If so how much caster does it have? 3. Did they tell you why they are insisting on toe in? Toe in gives dull response, exactly what you don't want in a drift car. I don't understand how toe in can help. 4. Well that might work, but if it has no front suspension travel left it will bottom out and understeer savagely. So be carefull. 5. Good luck, please let us know how it goes. cheers

AFM's don't die, are you sure? Stagea AFM's are not unique, same as R33GTST. cheers

The standard Subaru stabiliser bar is asymmetric, it doesn't seem to worry the Subaru engineers. They believe it is inconsequential, and their asymmetricity is more than the 1/2 adjustment setting on the Whiteline adjustable rear bar. So I don't have any problem ignoring it and consequently I feel fully justified in sticking by my original post. Next time you are racing in NSW or Vic, pop into our garage and say g'day. I will be glad to do a blind test on your car. If you can pick the difference, even 51% of the time, you can win a bottle of Jack too. But make sure you bring one with you, just in case you don't. cheers

One last try, let me table the average results for the Subaru 22mm adjustable rear stabiliser bar at 60 mm travel Soft/Soft = 2,350 Soft/Medium = 3,017 Medium/Medium = 3,133 Medium/Hard = 3,667 Hard/Hard = 3,933 That is 3 holes on each arm with 5 rates as per my post; One last Jim quote, from 2002; We moved on from this with the real world test as I described in the post above, the answer I arrived at was "insignificant" because no one could pick it in a real world (blind) test. You choose to believe what you want, all I can say is try it for yourself. If you can pick the assymetry (in a blind test) then you will be the first. cheers

"Worse", is not the word I would use. More like "unpredictable". This is discussed many many times, try doing a search (HICAS - Sydneykid) if you want more info. Cheers