Sydneykid

All R32 front strut towers are the same. So as long as it clears the engine, a strut brace will fit all models. Some R32GTR front strut braces don't clear the higher plenum on the RB20DE/DET in R32GT. R32GTS4 and R32GTST. A front strut brace is a must have for improving handling, as the front upper control arms are mounted to the strut towers. I don't know about the rear strut brace as far as 2 door versus 4 door, but all models of 2 door are the same and all model of 4 door are the same as far as the inner guards and strut towers are concerned. I wouldn't stress too much over not having a rear strut brace, they don't do a lot as the rear upper control arms and traction rods are mounted to the subframe not the body, so bracing the body does pretty much nothing. Cheers Gary

A few days won't matter, I was simply suggesting that you get the alignment checked soon after making changes if you care about the handling. This is what is usually needed for each height increment, note that all measurements are centre of wheel to guard as usual; Standard (new) height is 380 mm front and 370 mm rear 360/350 mm needs only the standard rear camber adjusters 350/340 mm needs 1 front camber kit and 1 rear camber kit 340/330 mm needs I front camber kit and 2 rear camber kits BTW, R32GTST and R33GTST front springs are pretty much the same, so I don't see any logic in "someone told me these springs look like they were meant for an R32". More to the point, the rear shocks are quite different R32 to R33, so if the kit (front and rear, springs and shocks) fits an R33 then it definitely wasn't an R32 kit. Cheers Gary

Let's clear up something first, R32/33/34's come standard with coil overs, yes the coil spring is fitted over the shock absorber, hence coil over, front and rear. So "sticking coil overs" in a Skyline is a meaningless statement, when the fact is you can't not have coil overs. If you have simply lowered your car for looks and don't care about the handling, then don't bother reading any further. So, on to the more important stuff, I simply can not believe the reluctance of people to get their suspension geometry checked and aligned. No car, where you change the height, is exempt from the most basic of alignment correction. If you have lowered the car by any visible amount then I can guarantee the car will need alignment. Cars also go out of alignment from there normal operation, just because it was aligned last year doesn't mean it still is in alignment this year. As for no adjustment standard, there is toe adjustment on the front and toe adjustment on the rear as well as a small amount of camber adjustment on the rear. If you are changing your spring and shock units to improve the handling then you are waisting your time if you don't also get the alignment corrected. Skylines, like all cars, are designed to operate within a certain height range, by lowering it you have almost certainly moved it outside its operating range. That means the standard adjusters, particulary rear camber, most likely won't have sufficient range to correct the alignment. When the car is within its designed height parameters it doesn't need front cmaber adjustment, that's why it doesn't have them standard. But you have most likely lowered the front suspension outside that range and so it will need camber correction. The fact is I can change the whole handling balance of a car, without touching the sprigs or shocks, just by changing the alignment settings. Don't believe me, well neither did Jason until I aligned his Gallant VR4, refer HIP issue 105. So the person who told you that your car will need realignment after lowering was correct and maybe you should listen to him more often. Cheers Gary

~80 mm But I find 3" (76.2mm) ID silicone hose works OK, stick it in some hot water and it stretches easily.. That gives an OD of the silicone hose of ~90mm, although some silicone hoses are bit thicker. Cheers Gary

~200 mm with RB26 head and cam covers. That's with the engine lowered ~15 mm on the engine mounts Cheers Gary

Whiteline only sell catalogued part numbers, so they don't have one. I don't think KMac have a design, but you might want to check with them. I do know Selbys Swaybars definitely have a design for R32/33/34 with HE sumps because I did it while I was there. Plus I have one on my R32GTST. Cheers Gary

Over the years a few guys have asked me to post up some pictures showing the engine mount redrilling required to fit the RB31DET under the R32GTR bonnet in the R32GTST. So here we go; Driver's Side Passenger's Side

Well there you go, I do it the same as the instructions.............hang on.............that's might be because I wrote the instructions Cheers Gary

I use the original High Energy design of sump with the square front. I don't like the sloping front design as under brakes the oil surges up the slope like a launching ramp. Then #1 and #2 big ends splash through it on crank rotation, this foams up the oil which is never a good thing. With the square front there is no slope fo the oil to run up, it hits the 90 degree wall and stays below the splash screen. The resason for the slope is to clear the standard swaybar. But let's face it, if your car needs a HE sump then it sure as hell needs a bigger front swaybar than standard. If you already have an upgraded swaybar then they are an easy sell, with that money you can buy one designed to clear the sump. Cheers Gary

Firstly the bad news, Top Secret don't make shock absorbers, they buy them from a shock absorber manufacturer and put their stickers on them, whack them in a Top Secret box and double the price, actually triple is closer to it. Really, that's good news, because Bilstein is one of the manufacturers they use. My best suggestion would be to take them to Sydney Shocks and get Paul to have a look at them. He will then be able to tell you what they are, if they can service them and approximately how much it would cost. Cheers Gary

How do they know your particular car came with ABS? Cheers Gary

I don't know that particular brand of arm, some you can't buy replacement bearings for, they have non standard sizes. Just take the damaged ones along to your local CBC shop and they will tell you if they are a standard size. But do it before the bearing chews out the arm, because you definitely can't buy replacement parts for the arms themselves. On our rough roads I wouldn't expect them to last very long, so it may pay to buy a spare set of bearings Cheers Gary

Good to be back, I have finally cleared enough space in my time (and brain) to actually read up on what I have been missing out on. Especailly E85, as I started using ethanol in the Skylines almost 4 years ago and the Stagea has always run on some % of ethanol. I used 110 ron as it is the lowest commonly figure quoted for ethanol, some quote it at 120 ron. They measurement of ron is not particularly accurate for ethanol, actually more to the point, it's not truly relevant. They really need to devise a more accurate and applicable measure with up to date physics and chemistry. Let's face it ron over 100 is a simple extrapolation of iso-octane and hence can be argued for and against. As for the Powerplus claim you get that result when you use 120 ron for Ethanol. 85% Ethanol at 120 ron blended with 15% 91 ron = 116 ron 85% Ethanol at 120 ron blended with 15% 98 ron = 117 ron Still only 1 ron difference. The point I was making is that using 91 ron or 98 ron (ie; 15% of 7 ron) is never going to make more than 1 ron difference in the total result, so it's really just marketing spin. Cheers Gary

Scott or Dyno Dave at Insight, they have lots of E85 experience now. E85 availability is really dependant on where you live, I go past Lansdowne at least once week and our race team machinist is walking distance from the Nowra outlet. E85 based on Manildra ethanol : Shoalhaven Ethanol Fuel 215 Kinghorne St Nowra NSW 2540 Ethanol Fuel (near McDonald's) 251 Princes Highway Albion Park NSW 2527 2 Rawson St Granville 2142 Enhance (Liverpool side of the Mecano Set) 987 Hume Highway Lansdowne 2163 Forestville Ethanol Warringah Road just north of the Coles Express Station. (not confirmed) E85 based on CSR ethanol United Service Station 127 Victoria Rd Rozelle NSW Sydney Powerplus buy the ethanol (the 85%) from CSR and then blend it with 98 ron petrol (the 15%). What you buy from the outlets above is 85% ethanol plus 15% 91 ron petrol. So Powerplus claim a better brew, to justify 2 to 3 times the price. Personally I don't give it much weight, to me the blended with 98 versus 91 is a bit of marketing spin. The simple numbers are; 85% Ethanol at 110 ron blended with 15% 91 ron = 107 ron 85% Ethanol at 110 ron blended with 15% 98 ron = 108 ron I am not sure that I would be spending 2.5 times as much for 1 ron. Cheers Gary

I use an air chisel to remove the outer standard bushes, the new polyurethane ones just push in with a tap from a plastic hammper. It doesn't matter whether you have the eccentric up or down as far as the amount of static camber is concerned. But it changes the dynamic camber, eccentric down gives sligtly more dynamic camber change if the car is around standard ride height. Cheers Gary

The LCA itself is the same, the outer ball joint is the difference. On the GTST hub it has the usual small ball joint taper, the cast iron can handle the load. But the alloy can't, so they use a large conical mount into the hub. So you can use the GTST LCA's, you just have to change the ball joints. The rear lower shock mount is also different, GTR shocks have forks on the bottom with the bush pressed into the hub. The GTST rear shock mount is the same as the front, the bush is in the shock eye with a pin sticking out of the hub. Everything else to do with the rear shock is the same. So the simple answer is to order GTR rear shocks, instead of GTST. The 300ZX front hubs are quite different, the steering rack is mounted in a different place in the 300ZX chassis due to the engine configuration (V6 versus I6). So the steering arms on the hub are different. I have never tried swapping 300ZX to Skyline or vice versa, but I doubt that there is much weight difference, so it hasn't been a priority to test. Plus I suspect the geometry may be an issue. Cheers Gary

R32GTR's were available without ABS, in fact none of the N1 (race) versions had ABS. So no ABS is not a rego issue, they don't have to have it. Cheers Gary

Not sure if those particular arms have roller bearings or ball bearings. The ball bearing style last about 2 race meetings before the balls get pounded out of round and knock like crazy, eventually they fail and the bearing locks up, which chews out the arm, in a couple of laps. The roller bearing style are a bit better, but even they are under sized. They last about 4 race meetings, then the cage cracks and the rollers fall out of alignment. The loose rollers chew out the arm instantly and the upright flops around noticeably. The fact is R32's have terrible upper arm geometry, especially when you add some caster, plus the spacing across the arm is too narrow to absord the twisting load. That's why the design was changed for the R33 and R34 to a wide based wishbone style. Bushes tolerate the poor geometry better than rigid bearings, we get a whole season's racing out of a set. Plus they don't just fail instantly, you can see the wear and carry out replacement before it becomes an issue. Cheers Gary

About 5kgs for the pair, but be aware of the mounting differences, lower control arm outer and shock absorber mount, it's not a straight swap. That's unsprung weight, so very worthwhile doing. Cheers Gary

What do you mean by "worn"? The rear subframe bushes are silicone filled, they need replacing when they burst and the silicone starts dripping out. If there is no silicone leak then they don't need replacing. In which case pineapples are the go as you can change the rear subframe angle, something R32's really need. Cheers Gary

Cheers Gary

I'm running SuperSparks in the R33GTST for 266 rwkw at 1.1 bar without any problems. The standard coils were blowing out on the dyno at anything over 0.8 bar. That was the best 6 standard coils I could find out of the 20 or so that I had lying around. I have Splitfires in the R32GTST but it also has a HKS Twin Spark. Unfortunately I can't swap coils between the R32GTST and the R33GTST because the R33GTST is a series 1.5 and has the ignitors built into the coils. Based on my experience with SuperSpark and Splitfire I really don't think there is any advantage in spending the extra money on the blue ones. Plus JustImportParts were great to deal with and delivery was overnight. Cheers Gary

To remove or not to remove, that is the question? Sorry Bill......... In a race engine I never do, because I lose too much compression that I can't get back with head/block machining because of the piston to valve clearance. I am not fan of cutting flies in pistons as that just gives even more hot spots and a thinner piston crown under the flies. You have to keep in mind the reason for squish zones, which is to concentrate and accelerate the mixture towards the spark plug, thus avoiding the potential for incomplete burn at the outer extremities of the combustion chamber. This has the by product of reducing the tendency for uncontrolled burn, more commonly called detonation. Back in the bad old days (of huge lag) decompressing an engine was considered an OK thing to do. But as we got a lot smarter in our tuning, the fuel and intercoolers got better, the need for low compression ratios disappeared. Although some dinosaurs still cling to it. In a race quality engine, whether it is used on the street or not, I can’t see any reason to do away with the squish zones any more. Unless you use crappy fuel with a lousy tune and don’t care about lag ie; the car is used for drag racing with an auto. I still see some huge boost engines doing away with the squish zones, but that has more to do with poor efficiency in the engine which is what makes the huge boost necessary. If people spent more time on improving the efficiency and increasing the airflow instead of simply turning up the boost, then they would find it unnecessary to decompress by removing the squish zones. Cheers Gary

Good to see someone else has had a go. For the last 3 years I have been using ethanol in gradually ever increasing volumes. Firstly 10% as was in V Power Racing (VPR), then mixing E85 and 98 myself to get similar results to VPR (70% x 98 + 30% x E85). This gave almost exactly the same power, fuel usage and performance as VPR. With no changes to fuel pump, tune or injectors. Lately I have been using 60% x E85 and 40% x 98, to give even more scope for inlet air temp and ignition advance. The downside was the need for larger injectors (740 cc's to 1000 cc's), an increase in the fuel pump's capacity and a bit of tuning. I didn't need the 740 to 1000 increase for the 60/40 mix, but I had the future in mind when I chose the 1000's. I will also go to 2 x 044's instead of the 1 x 044 that I curently use. The next step is to 100% E85 which was always on the agenda, but it looks like it might be sooner rather than later. Cheers Gary

Brookvale and Campbelltown What planet are these guys from Nissan on No one with $150K is going to go to Campbelltown to buy a GTR. Even Brookvale is far from ideal, the appropriate demographic is City, Eastern Suburbs. Lower North Shore and Inner West. Where the BMW, Mercedes and Porsche dealers are. But you don't have choice do you? There aren't any decent Nissan dealerships in those areas are there? that's because other than the GTR you sell low demographic cars that compete on price alone. Just another reason why selling GTR's through the current dealer network is a joke. Once the "new GTR" charisma has worn off, no one is going to drive to Campbelltown or Brookvale to buy one, let alone get it serviced and stand in line with the great unwashed. No cheers for Nissan Australia Gary