Sydneykid

The thing to always keep in mind is that good Japanese mechanics charge like brain surgeons. And bad Japanese mechanics are hopeless and charge like lawyers. The costs of parts is cheap compared to the cost of labour, that's why the Japanese have so much bolt on stuff. It lowers the cost if you have a good mechanic and saves the stuffups if you have a bad one. That is simply not the case in Australia, so I don't buy parts I don't need just to maybe save on labour later. I don't reckon it's cheaper, because where do you stop? If I change the water pump, then I should change the camshaft oil seals. I should change the cam cover gaskets too. While I have the camshafts out changing the oil seals, I should change the valve stem seals. etc etc When I change the cambelt I check the other stuff and if its OK, then I just change the cambelt. cheers

Yep, the gallery is dropping in and out, been doing it all day. Hopefully it wil be back on track shortly. This kit is mostly for road use, but it will go fine on the track with the adjustable stabiliser bar option and the alignment set accordingly. Ian is currently leading the NSW Speed Event Championship with basically this set up. I am working on a circuit specification, that is more for guys who only drive their cars to and from the circuit, targas and that sort of stuff. Plus a drag setup and even one for drift, they will be released gradually over the next couple of months as the engineering is finished. cheers

That's nothing, you should see the Foulcan with the 6 litre Sprintcar engine go , it's got another 100bhp on the Commondoor. cheers

The shocks don't care about ride height, the only thing that matters is the spring rate and the weight of he car. On the height, yours is around 10-15mm higher than mine was, it was ~395 mm LHS and 390 mm RHS at the front. I don't know why that is the case, maybe Nissan had a tall spring option. So you may well find that you end up at 375mm with just the springs. That's the beauty of having the circlip height adjustment, you can juggle it around to get what you want. You will need to trim the bump stops, have a look at the Stagea suspension thread for details. If you have a 20 tonne press you can swap the caster bushes over yourself. Considering the current height of yours, it will pay to check the camber after the springs and shocks are in, just to be sure that you don't need a kit or two. cheers

Undoubtedly, but it will be interesting see how Dave in the GTR gives him some hurry up. Plus we have a few more big horsepower cars up here that he won't blast past quite as easy. Should make for some good viewing on Speedweek. cheers

Hi Mike. most 18" wheels weight heaps more than the standard 16" wheels, especially when they are 36% wider (7" versus 9.5"). This show up any weakness in the shock absorbers as they have to control the movement of this extra weight. So my guess is it time for new shocks. If the car has doen more than 60,000k's then its time for new shocks anyway. cheers PS; There is a Group Buy on Bilstein going at the moment, check in the group buy section.

Oh no, it's a winner at Sandown, the track suits it, 2 drag strips joined by a wiggle. But he is coming up to Eastern Creek, so it will be interesting to see how it goes on something a little more technical. cheers

The Whiteline coils lower the Stagea about 25 mm from standard (when new). There are 2 circlip groves machined above the standard circlip groove and they are 8 mm apart. So you can set the height back to within a couple of mm of standard. Then you can come down from that in 6 steps of 8mm, that's 48mm. Maybe some numbers to make it easier; 245 X 45% = 110 mm 17" wheels (8.5" diameter) = 216mm 216 + 110 = 326 mm 225 X 50% = 112 mm 16" wheels (8" diameter) = 203mm 112 + 203 = 315 mm 4 of my fingers (right up at the knuckle) is 90 mm 315 mm + 90 mm = 405 mm Which is what you are seeing We mostly talk about the front height, the rear height is usually lined up off the front. They seem to handle/look best with 10 mm of rake towards the front (rear up), that is measured at the sills just behind the front wheels and just in front of the rear wheels. cheers

I have organised a SAU Group Buy for Whiteline suspension components and Bilstein shock absorbers for R32GTST. We get 15% discount off recommended retail and free freight if the individual order is over $500. Plus anyone who spends $1,000 or more gets an additional 5% discount. I have chosen the springs rates and the stabiliser bar rates based on my experience with this model. Plus the shocks come with matching valving for those spring rates and 5 circlip grooves for setting the height up just how you want it. In addition the adjustable stabiliser bars come with 2 extra holes for even more adjustment. The recommended settings for road use are also included. The savings on a full kit is around $600, so it is not only technically a great set up it is also good value for money. Delivery is via Toll Priority and I have organised an Australia wide price, so it doesn't matter where you live, you will get the parts at the same price as everyone else. Please post up your order here and any questions you may have. Fitting and alignment can be done at the following locations; Heasmans Sydenham NSW East Coat Suspension Kirrawee NSW St George Steering Punchbowl NSW Centeline Thomastown Vic Traction Tyre & Suspension Rowville Vic Discount Tyres Service Belconnen Act More fitting stations will be posted as they come to hand. cheers PS; Several sets of shocks and springs are currently in stock, bushes and stabiliser bars are made to order. So delivery is 10 days from time of order, all items are shipped via Toll Priority using their Off Peak service. Consignment note numbers will be provided at the time of shipping, so your order can be tracked via Toll. Payment should be made in full to the bank account details in the initial post, the receipt number for internet banking is acceptable or a copy of the deposit slip for over the counter banking. Send them to me via PM.

Let me know how you get on, I might be able to get some of what you want through the Group Buy. cheers

The best I can suggest is to stick it on some flat ground, get the tape measure out and measure the centre of the wheel to the guard. With new 245/45/17 tyres, 350 mm is about 2 fingers between the tyre and guard. So 342 mm is about 1 finger, 334 mm is zero fingers and 326 mm is minus 1 fingers. Depending on how skinny your fingers are of course. cheers

One or 2 laps wouldn't be a problem early in the day, but they would boil the oil after 6 or 8 depending on the track and surface. The piston area is too small and they don't move enough oil, so the limited amount of oil though the valves creates localised heat that can't escape. The oil boils and gets air bubbles in it and the bubbles provide no dampening effect, they just goes straight through the valves. It is one of the reason why the larger drift cars go off during an event, what works on an AE86 doesn't cut the mustard on an R34 Four door. cheers

For around the same money. you could get a set of Bilsteins with adjustable spring platforms, Eibach coils with tender springs on the rear. Plus have the shocks valved perfectly to suite the spring rates and the car weight. I would then add a pair of adjustable Whiteline stabiliser bars to tune the handling balance. Lot's of rear bar for drift and then back it off to drive home That would give you a far better drift package and far less hassle driving it on the road, especially in the rain. cheers

Oh no, Bathurst is far harder than Philip Island on oil surge because of the altitude changes. You have to keep in mind that our GTR's (particularly the Production ones) are built to regulations, not "stick whatever you like on it". Plus Duncan spent a long time sucking hot air from Phil's GTR, not to mention the high speed spin when the brakes failed. Oh, that reminds me.....did the engine run backwards during the spin Duncan? cheers

quote=Josh,30 Aug 2005, 06:36 PM] True, the are distributed by them, BUT as far as I know izimuda isnt sponsored by either, so his input would be impartial... unless they asked him to say that.. hahaha. Oh dear, who paid for him to come to Australia? I don't know about him, but I would hardly dump on the product when the guy who sells them is paying for me to be there. As well as loaning me the car that they are fitted to. Personally I think the springs rates are way too high, the valving is simplistic and the damping adjustment is one dimensional. The only thing they have going for them is the ability to adjust the compression and extension travel independently. And that's hardly much of a compensation. cheers

Personally I don't use plain bearing turbos, so the T78 wouldn't make it onto my list. Does anyone have a compressor map for a T04Z? I had heard (more than once) that the Garrett T04Z and the HKS T04Z are exactly the same. If you are doing circuit work with that GTR I would be looking at a pair of 2530 Kai, similar power and better response. cheers

The R32GTST has a weight advantage, but the R33 has bigger brakes and engine. It's a trade off. The real killer is when the R32 has a bit more weight off and gets the bigger brakes and engine, then the R33's struggle. That said, Ian is still leading the NSW Supersprint Championship in an R33GTST. So it ain't all that bad. cheers

Honestly I think it is the ciruits, Oran Park and Eastern Creek are far harder on oil surge than Sandown, and Wakefield is probably a bit harder than Winton due to the altitude change. You may remember that red Commondoor at Sandown, it runs an Accusump. Hi Roy, in total weight terms the dry sump set up weighs a little more, but it is much better for weight distribution. The 10 litres of oil is in the tank in the boot and we also mount the oil cooler, catch can and oil filter at the rear as well. All up it moves around 12kgs from the front to the rear. And that's a big advantage. Plus we run a scavenge stage for the cylinder head, so dynamically there is far less oil up high as well. This improves the front CoG a bit. The removal of oil from the sump increases the horsepower as the crank is not hitting oily mist. Not to mention the negative sump pressure from running excessive scavenge (in total terms), that gives as a few horsepower as well. I would trade of the few kgs extra weight for those advantages every day. cheers

Have to agree on the 048's, the deterioration in their performance is quite noticeable after a few heat cylces. Most of the guys who run in catagories with choices between 032R's and 048R's are sticking to the 032R's. They are far more consistent in their lap times. Particlualry on the front wheel drive cars, the 048's are only lasting one race meeting on the front. The 032's will do 3 or 4 race meetings. I have been pushing this with Yokohama for quite some time now and not really getting anywhere. It is good to have another opinion (not fornt wheel drive) to verify against. cheers

I will avoid the metallurgy. Whitleine use cold winding spring steel from BHP (to the German Standard) , it is specifically designed for the cold winding of coils and to maintain its grain structure during that process. This requires high powered hydraulic coil winders. This the same basic steel specification as used by Eibach, Jamex, Koni, Bilstein etc This process is good if you are making small batch runs, as the set up time for different coils is short. Kings, on the other hand, use spring steel, also from BHP, that is designed for hot winding. This requires a much lower powered coil winder, but tempering is an additional step in the process. Many OEM coils are made this way as the process is good for long batch runs, due to the longer (than cold winding) set up time. The bottom line is, neither process is technically superior as long as the procedures (for that grade of spring steel) are followed. cheers

They are no more diffficult than any other high powered rear wheel drive car to get the handling right on. You will find the HICAS removal and rear subframe bushes make a difference, but getting the camber and caster spot on is a big step in the right direction. In the wet I would have softened up the shocks, not had them on full hard. The rear bar on full soft and then adjust the front bar to balance the handling. The hard shocks and rear bar are why you had the oversteer. Lucky you didn't have the stiffer springs in for the wet, they would have made it worse. cheers

R32GTST, R33GTST and Stagea are now on the Group Buy. I will be adding R32GTR today as the enginering is almost finished. cheers

Whiteline can make custom stabiliser bars (it costs a bit extra), but you will need to give them the dimensions or take the car there for them to measure. Something simple like "same as 180SX front bar but with 20mm more dip" may well be enough. Or a picture with dimensions on it is even better. cheers

It really depends on how low you want to go. At the 350mm height, the front will be fine without adjusting the camber and the rear will be OK using the standard camber adjuster. At 342 mm the front will be OK (just) but you will most likely need 1 rear camber kit. At 334 mm the front will most likely need a camber kit and the rear will definitely need 1 camber kit. At 326 mm the front will definitely need a camber kit and the rear will need 2 kits. So it's simply a question of how low do you want to go? Cheers

Hi Brad, I can put grooves down to zero if you want, but you have to be very careful. There is not a lot of suspension travel, this is not shock absorber constrained, it is front driveshaft limited. In addition the front lower control arm moves to a static upward angle (outwards, towards the wheel), this means a dynamic shift to positive camber on suspension compression. Hence a savage jump into understeer, not good on a car with a 4wd system that shifts away from oversteer on power on ie; double whammy. I have spent several days jacking the suspension up and down, looking for the design limitations. Added to that I have driven so many Skylines that handle very badly, some are downright dangerous. I have then designed the suspension kits to give the best handling and ride. Bottom, line, if you want super low for look that's fine, but don't expect it to handle or ride very well. cheers PS; 350 mm is on the standard groove, there is 24 mm lower than that (3 X 8mm) availble via moving the circlip.