Sydneykid

Hi Nick, I thought I covered your first quesion in post #70; I don't know how else to express it. There are 2 sets of Stagea front Bilsteins left, then that's it, no more Group Buy, for I don't know how long. Yep, the caster kit is very worthwhile, makes a big difference to turn in, steering feel and straight line stability. They are hard to fit without the right equipment. I did a Skyline caster kit a couple of days ago. Jacked it up, took the wheels off and removed the radius rods. Popped down to Heasmans and they used their 20 tonne press to push out the old rubber bushes and push in the new polyurethane adjustable ones. Took about 20 minutes, would have cost about $30 to $40. Then went back home, rotated the adjusters for maximum caster and then fitted them. Drove it to the workshop and did a quick wheel alignment, the toe needs adjusting when you pull on the caster. I had the standard springs and shocks in for about 20,000ks, the spring rates weren't too bad but the shocks were terrible, Floated around like a boat. So I slipped the Bilsteins in it, dropped it down a few circlip grooves, still with the standard springs, for about 5,000ks. I was working on the kit at that stage and so I needed to check out the whole thing. I was pleasantly surprised at how much difference the springs made. The comfort is only mildy affected and it has a much more sporty feel. A few of the guys to save installation costs, have fitted their kits over the weekend and then dropped the car off for the wheel alignment (and any stuff they can't do) on the way to work on Monday. Pick it up Monday night, all done. The Stagea Suspension thread has most of the info you need to DIY. cheers

Yes Daniel, I have specified revalving for the Bislteins to suite the spring and bar rates I have chosen. B46-2107 and 2108 = R33GTR, I wouldn't use those, the spring rates necessary to hold up the front of a 4wd Skylines are very different from the ones needed to hold up a 2wd. Hence the shock valving is quite different. -B46-1873 and 1916 = R33GTST, I can't physically use them, the R33GTST has an eye at the bottom of the rear shock and R34GTT has a fork. -BE5-2590 and 2589 = Stagea, I wouldn't use those either, the spring rates necessary to hold up the front of a 4wd Stagea waggon are very different from the ones needed to hold up a 2wd coupe. Hence the shock valving is quite different. Plus I can't use them anyway, the Stagea has an eye at the bottom of the rear shock and R34GTT has a fork. PM me with eactly what parts you want and I will confirm the prices. You have a few options with regard to adjustable and non adjustable stabilser bars and the free freight and extra 5% over $1K in one order. Hope that answered your questions cheers

Nope, PM has room for new message at the moment. I have had a couple of guys say that the PM system was down for a while. Maybe have another try. cheers

A few guys have asked me to give them some more details on each part and what it is used for and why it is needed. Here is what I wrote for them; Shocks and spring are prety obvious, I have chosen the Bilstein shock rates to match the spring and stabiliser bar rates,, So they have good sporty ride, not uncomforatable and still give great handling. If you are going to lower your car (and who isn't?) you are going to need some camber correction, otherwise you are going to wear out the inside of the tyres. This is due to the excessive negative camber that happens to Skylines and Stageas when you lower them. This is what is needed for each height increment; Standard (new) height is 380 mm (centre of wheel to guard) 360 mm needs only the standard rear camber adjusters 350 mm needs 1 front camber kit and 1 rear camber kit 340 mm needs I front camber kit and 2 rear camber kits Stabiliser bars are THE best bang for buck handling upgrade you can do. And you can fit them easily yourself. Adjustable or not? Pretty simple really, if you want/need to spend the time adjusting the anti roll to fine tune the balance just how you like it and you know what you like, then the extra cost of adjustable stabiliser bars is worth it. But if you just want to put them on and forget about it, then save some money and go the fixed rate bars. I have chosen the anti roll rates (bar sizes) that complement the rest of the kit. So have no fear that they are inferior in some way, because they aren't. Skylines and Stageas NEVER have enough caster. That's why they wander at speed and understeer on turn in, not enough caster. The 4wd ones are worse, they have even less caster than 2wd versions. They really benefit big time from more caster. You could leave out the rear subframe alignment kit, but it is only ~$100 and takes 10 minutes to fit. Age softens them and the strandard rear subframe bushes need all the help they can get even when new. A few guys have asked, no don't make any money of what they buy, I got paid for doing the engineering of the kits. So I don't really care whether someone buys a whole kit or not, I am just letting you know why each component is there in the kit. If I could have left out some parts I would have, but I couldn't. Hope that answered your questions. cheers

Maybe pop into your local tyre service (one that has 4 wheel alignment equipment), get the alignment checked (don't adjust anything) and post a copy of the print out of the results. Then I can advise on the best course of action. chers:)

Yep you could do that but, when the Bilsteins run out the Group Buy will have to close. A few guys have left a deposit ($100 per shock) which holds the whole kit until the balance is paid. That cost covers revalving shoud the order fall through for any reason. PM me for more details. cheers

Sorry for the delay. Jamex have everything for your kit in stock except the springs, Whiteline have advised production of the appropriate mandrel sizes Monday/Tuesday. So they should be shipped Wednesday. Springs are made in production runs based on mandrel sizes, Skylines have tapered springs, so they need a unique mandrel size for each model (damn Nissan). The Stagea Group Buy just missed that mandrel size run, so we had to wait until it came around again. Just not enough volume for me to push asside the other common springs and demand a mandrel change. cheers

Never seen an R32GTR V Spec with an active diff, only ever seen them on R33's. What Duncan said is spot on, ATTESA controller required. Plus it may pay to check the ATTESA clutch pack, as the power goes up they tend to slip and not deliver enough front torque. cheers

I have noticed that there are a few of the old style bushed adjustable arms popping up on Ebay and such recently. They are generally discontinued products, with the most common now being the arms with spherical bearings. I wrote this review on the common types for a magazine, but it mosly applies here; FRONT The Whiteline bush kit replaces the standard rubber bushes with polyurethane ones. The inner steel tube of the bushes can be rotated to adjust the camber, when you tighten the bolts the tube is locked to the control arm. So the camber doesn't change. I have NEVER seen a Skyline where the front camber is so far out it can't be adjusted with one front camber kit. One front camber kit costs $272.00 (on the Group Buy). The blue arms, I haven't seen one of those upper control arms for years. They are OK, the main problem is the adjustment is in steps, so one hole can give too much and the next hole too little. Also the retaining bolts are very small, the thread in the arms strips over time and that do break (when loose) under heavy load. This is not too dangerous as the main bolt is still trapped, but it is quite freaky when they let go. They need to be tightened regularly The black arms, they look to be the newer style with the eccentric washer, to overcome the step problem above. It is a bit hard to tell from the pictures, but the problem with those was there was only an eccentric washer on one side and they twist with the caster (when you turn the steering wheel). So they need to be tightened regularly. Of the three front arms this is the best one. The chrome arms (not a good idea to chrome plate suspension arms, they crack and the plating covers the cracks so you can't see them). The picture is not good enough to see what style adjuster they use, it looks like its the same as the black arms. REAR The Whiteline bush kits replaces the standard rubber bushes with polyurethane ones. If you need one kit, the inner bush on the upper control am is replaced. If you need 2 kits (as is your case) then both the inner and the outer bushes are replaced, the inner one on the upper control arm and the outer one on the upright (hub). The inner steel tube of the bushes can be rotated to adjust the camber, when you tighten the bolts the tube is locked to the control arm. So the camber doesn't change. I have NEVER seen a Skyline where the rear camber is so far out it can't be adjusted with two rear camber kits. One rear camber kit costs $123.00 (on the Group Buy). The blue arms have spherical joints on the inner mount. The outer mount uses the standard rubber bushes that are trapped in the upright (hub). They are the best style of adjuster, infinite adjustment, easy to get at and they have lock nuts so they never slip. The only bad point for a road car (and it's a big one) is the spherical joints. The wear very fast, are non greasable, have no dust covers (so they are illegal/defectable) and really make the suspension very harsh, chassis cracks etc etc I get adjustable arms sent to me all the time to replace the spherical joints. But they are mostly a unique size and you can't just buy replacement sphericals. So you have to buy band new arms. The bottom line is suspension experts have found the adjustable polyurethane bush is THE most effective method for adjusting camber on a road car. The adjustment is permanent and they don't need any maintenance or regular tightening. Sphericals are great on a race car, where no one cares about noise, they are replaced frequently and cracks are welded up regularly. How much camber correction do I need the following is a quick table I drew up based on the front height, all models of R32/33/34 Skyline are pretty similar. But as usual, remember that every car is different; Following are the usual front heights and what camber kits are needed at each height. Standard (new) height is 380 mm (centre of wheel to guard) 360 mm needs only the standard rear camber adjusters 350 mm needs 1 front camber kit and 1 rear camber kit 340 mm needs I front camber kit and 2 rear camber kits I hope that answers some of the common questions that I get asked on adjusting camber on Skylines Cheers

I think this might answer your questions, if not ask away.... I have arranged a Group Buy using Whiteline and Bilstein components and I have personally engineered the kits. There are Group Buys for R32GTST, R32GTS4, R32GTR, R33GTST, R33GTS4, R33GTR, R34GTT, R34GTR, Stagea Series 1 and 2. There are separate threads listed in the Group Buys section for each model. A quick story on what everything does in the kit and why I have engineered it that way; Shocks and springs are pretty obvious, I have chosen the Bilstein shock valving to match the spring and stabiliser bar rates. So they have good sporty ride, not uncomfortable and still give great handling. If you are going to lower your car (and who isn't?) you are going to need some camber correction, otherwise you are going to wear out the inside of the tyres. This is due to the excessive negative camber that happens to Skylines when you lower them. Details follow; Standard (new) height is 380 mm (centre of wheel to guard) 360 mm needs only the standard rear camber adjusters 350 mm needs 1 front camber kit and 1 rear camber kit 340 mm needs I front camber kit and 2 rear camber kits Stabiliser bars are THE best bang for buck handling upgrade you can do. And you can fit them easily yourself. Skylines NEVER have enough caster. That's why they wander at speed and understeer on turn in, not enough caster. You could leave out the rear subframe alignment kit, if you are short on cash, but it is only ~$100 and takes 10 minutes to fit. Plus most Skylines are getting on and the standard rear subframe bushes need all the help they can get. Just to make it clear I don't make any money of what you buy, I got paid for doing the engineering of the kits. So I don't really care whether someone buys a whole kit or not, I am just letting you know why each component is there in the kit. If I could have left out some parts I would have, but I couldn't. Hope that was of some help cheers

Yep, a few months ago. They don't carry stock of Stagea pads (no surpise there) they just get them on order from Bendix. But Bendix don't make them anymore so they don't have stock themselves. cheers

I don't know whether CA18DET boost control solenoid is normally closed or normally open style. You need to check that, turn the IEBC on and try blowing through the fittings on the solenoid. If you get no resistence both ways then it is normally open. If you get resistance one way (at least), then it is normally closed. Then you know which way to set up your IEBC (as per the instructions). Hope that helps cheers

The crush tube in the centre of the bush has an offset hole. You just rotate it to get the right amount of camber. Then tighten the lock bolt so it doesn't rotate. cheers

Do they actually have stock of the Bendix Premium 1398BP's? I'll take 2 sets if you can get them. I had our local Repco guy search through every branch looking for stock. He only found 1 set, they were in Adelaide on the computer but when they went to get them, they weren't physically there. Cheers PS; The Lucas European pads stop well, no squeel either, but (like all European pads) they make brake dust, lots of brake dust.

We are up to 265 rwkw with the standard exhaust manifold on the R34GTT. If you are looking for less than 300 rwkw, personally I would have a go at power porting the standard manifold. Abrasive Flow Enginering at St Marys did some others that I liked the look of, defiitely worth a try. cheers

The default Power FC rev limit for an RB25DET is 7,500 rpm, that's real RPM as measured by the ECU. Not necessarily the RPM displayed on the tacho. cheers

Just to fill in the missing info, the Q45 AFM is 90 mm, so they are 10 mm larger than the 80 mm RB20/25/Z32 AFM's. That's 26% more flow using the old Pi from high school. For completeness, RB26 AFM's are 65 mm, but there are 2 of them. We are using the Z32 AFM for 265 rwkw on the R34GTT, but I tuned it OK at 245 rwkw with the standard RB25 AFM. The Power FC mapping has both load (via the AFM) and RPM axis. So when the AFM reads 5.1 volts, I can still tune it via the rpm axis. It doesn't go lean or rich or do anything stupid, it's just not quite as accurate as when the AFM has some voltage change left. Plus you tend to be a bit conservative and tune it a little rich/retarded when you have no voltage change to rely on. As a result maybe you lose a few bhp, but that's about it. Maxing out the AFM (at 5.1 volts) is not THE big deal it is made out to be, as long as the tuner knows what he is doing. cheers PS, when I say "I tuned it" I really me "we tuned it", because I am not the world's greatest tuner.

9.4 to 1 compression ratio helps. The recent track resurfacing and the current race tyre technology would see a good 6 second per lap improvement. Then there is the current minimum weight of 1355kgs, the V8SuperCars would get lapped 4 to 5 times in the 1,000k's. And that my friends is why they don't let GTR's race with the Commondoors and Foulcans. The severe ass whipping would be very embarasing. But fear not, you can see the R32GTR's whooping it up against the pushrod dinosaurs 6 times a year. Thanks to Duncan and the Man in Bulk (the current NSW Combined Touring State Champion). cheers

Hi Tonk, had a quick read of this thread, there seems to be one bit of IMPORTANT info that has been asked to be confirmed and it hasn't. So, I will ask it again........... Are you sure the ACL spec sheet said 0.007" piston to bore clearance? I have NEVER seen an RB engine with that sort of clearance. The forged piston rule of thumb is 0.001" for each inch of bore (86 mm = 3.4") So I would have thought 0.003" to 0.004" would be the clearance. Standard RB26DETT cast piston to bore clearance is 0.035 - 0.055 mm (0.001" to 0.002") Do we have a mm versus inches mix up? If the expansion rate of the piston doesn't need that sort of clearance (0.007"), then you have the typical cock in a sock problem. From what I can see in the picture, I would not be surprised if that was in fact the case. Maybe the problem here is the ACL spec sheet has the incorrect (ie; too large) piston to bore clearance. And that is something I can check tomorrow while I am in the machine shop, there is an ACL spec sheet there. I will be working (YAHOOOO) on my new RB31DET (it has JE pistons). cheers