Sydneykid

Yes they are, because the spring and shock move together, same leverage ratio, same movement ratio, no differential in contact friction. This makes it easier to tune the spring and damper rates. No contest, the Bilsteins will give superior ride and handling. Yes cheers

Hohohohoho We just got rid of the last of the 5 race team Escorts, glad to see the black of the rusting, oil dripping, unreliable, piles of Pommy crap. Don't go there Roy Don't even think of it cheers

On the F3 a 0.5mm toe change is a lot. Our driver can report accurately on small toe changes repeatedly. But, on a Skyline it gets lost in the slop, tyres, bushes, mount flex, chassis twist etc. There is no way I can feel 0.5 mm toe change on any of our race Skylines (they have 6 to 12 point roll cages and lots of seam welding) and over the years I have developed a good feel for small changes. On a high mileage road car with no cage, you would be lucky to feel 1 mm toe change. Toe in a “stabilising” setting. On a rear wheel drive Skyline with reasonable power, toe in is a perquisite. It helps overcome the power oversteer. Plus, under brakes, R32/33/34’s toe out. So the toe in is there to offset that. Note I am talking about 2wd Skylines here, GTR’s (and other 4wd Skylines/Stageas) sometimes need toe out to overcome their poor turn in. The inability to get enough caster on them being a contributor to that. I use different spring rates for different tracks and different tyres. For example road tyres don’t like spring rates over 300 lbs/inch, “R” type tyres tolerate up to 400 lbs/inch and slicks are OK over 450 lbs/inch. Note that is the effective spring rate at the tyre, which in all cars is not always the rate of the spring itself (leverage and movement ratios apply). As for tracks, Philip Island, being high speed and relatively smooth, needs (and can tolerate) a higher spring rate than, say, Oran Park. I also use large amounts of anti roll, anti dive and anti squat so I can run supple spring rates for better tyre contact. I also have double adjustable shocks so I can use bump valving as well. cheers

More lift is better, but the trade off is machining of the head to clear the lobes, which is much over rated, valve springs to handle the extra lift, followers, even offset ones for smaller base circle cams, piston clearance etc. So it's not a question of "better", more one of budget. cheers

Next week is my understanding. cheers

Tomei Poncams have been consistently the best solution for RB25’s for us. So much so that I wouldn’t really consider using any other cam in an RB25. But that is NOT the case with RB26’s, we have used Jun (in my own engine), HKS and Tomei Procams. Given similar duration and lift, there doesn’t seem to be much difference from one brand to another. So I wouldn’t limit my choice to just Tomei Poncams, in fact the best performance I have seen out of an RB26 with 2530’s was with HKS 264’s. DirtGarage had similar results, 440 or so rwkw from memory. What I do, every time, is to look around for the best price, regardless of brand. cheers

I get lots of PM’s (every day) from guys with engine tuning problems. A large % of them are from guys who don’t want to spend the money on a tune when they haven’t finished the mods. They are part way through their list of upgrades and only want to get their car tuned once, when it is all finished. What I tell them is that there are sacrifices that they have to make, put up with less than 100% performance, live with the misfire, tolerate the lousy fuel economy, don’t use full throttle, watch the knock readings all the time, etc etc. They are the facts of living with it untuned, there is no escape from them. Otherwise the mods aren’t working and money is being wasted on them. That it runs worse, is in some ways a good sign, if it runs perfectly then maybe the mods aren’t doing anything. The problem is a badly running car decreases the enjoyment, a lot. A nicely running car is a joy to drive, by trying to save money they are reducing that enjoyment down to a lower level. Plus they are wasting money with poor fuel economy and in many instances doing permanent damage to the car, not just the engine, but the perhaps the clutch, the gearbox or the diff. So think carefully about your modifications, the order in which you do them and most importantly the budget you are going to spend over the timeframe that you choose. Then talk to your tuner about your plan. Most of the tuners I deal with are very receptive to repeat business and give price and quality of service advantages to regulars. They want you to come back a few times, they want you to talk to your mates over time about how well your car is being tuned. Their business mostly lives and dies on word of mouth, so a guy who gets his car tuned once only then goes away, is not as good for their reputation as a guy who regularly sees driveability and power increases. The big advantage of using a tuner more than once is that they get to know your car and you, what it needs and what you like. People who drop in out of the blue, say “tune my car” and piss off, never to be seen again are hardly going to get as good a tune as someone who has been there before. The tuner knows the car, its mods, has the previous dyno runs and, most importantly, knows what the owner wants from it. In summary, do the usual exhaust, filter, intercooler upgrades and turn the boost up a couple of psi or so. You most likely won’t suffer too badly, although fuel economy will be crap. But once you start slipping on that bigger turbo or adding a few psi of boost, larger injectors, bigger AFM, adjustable fuel pressure regulator etc, then you need to seriously think about getting it tuned. Even if the mods list isn’t fully ticked off. cheers

Should be up this weekend, the last of the price confirmations is due tomorrow. cheers

I would add that the boost level is completely irrelevant. It’s all about airflow, the standard ECU couldn’t care less about boost. An example, my Stagea ran just fine at 10 psi with the standard turbo, but when I stuck the high flow on it hit savage R&R mapping, but still at 10 psi. Why? Because the GCG Ball Bearing High Flow has more AIRFLOW at 10 psi than the standard turbo. So repeat after me BOOST IS IRRELEVANT cheers

OK, firstly let’s define “boost cut”. Firstly the ECU has no idea what boost a Stagea S1 is running, so there can be no such thing as “boost cut”. That’s what inferior cars with MAP sensors do, not Stageas with AFM’s. Next let’s define “fuel cut”. Does the ECU turn off the fuel pump? NO. That would be pretty stupid, while the pressure was dropping (over a second or two), the engine would run lean. Nissan ain’t that silly, especially since the idea is to protect the engine (when the ECU sees unusual things) not blow it up. We need to keep in mind that ZERO fuel means that the engine is NOT running at all. That happens (injector duty cycle = zero) on normal overrun, to save fuel. It is NOT lean running, sure the engine is rotating, but no combustion is taking place. So it’s not lean in a combustion sense. What the standard ECU does (when it sees unusual things) is to add some fuel and retard the ignition to protect the engine. The more “unusual” the readings (eg; lots of airflow) the more fuel and retard the ECU adds. Eventually there is so much fuel and the ignition is so retarded, that the engine simply refuses to run properly. You can feel this as a decrease in power output, which then returns as the airflow drops. At the same time you can get backfiring in the exhaust, that’s the unburnt (rich) fuel burning. Does the ECU cut the ignition? Nope, the tacho would drop to zero if it did, and it doesn’t. There is one more circumstance to discuss, that is knock. What happens when the knock sensors hear lots of pre-ignition. This is totally different to excessive airflow as sensed by the AFM. This is when the boost is so high that the knock sensors detect detonation and the ECU reacts to protect the engine. At low knock levels the ECU simply uses the Rich & Retard mapping. But when the knock gets high the intervention is both swift and savage, the ECU closes the injectors (injector duty cycle = zero) and stops the combustion process. This feels like a sharp stab on the brakes. Since this stops the knock, the power quickly returns. If the knock returns, then the process happens all over again. In summary (simplified); Excessive airflow = R&R mapping and reduced power Knock = turn off the engine and zero power cheers

PM sent cheers

With home garage tools, most guys can do everything except press the bushes in ($50) and the 4 wheel alignment ($whatever). If you get a decent suspension workshop to do the whole lot, it will take one guy a full day. So multiply 7 hours by their hourly rate. cheers

Some technical stuff. A048R’s are the control tyre for a number of CAMS circuit racing classes, Combined Touring and Improved Production being a couple of them. They come in two “compounds” (medium and medium/hard), although Yokohama Australia swear that they are both the same “compound” but with carcass differences. Both compounds are not available in all sizes. The range overseas is greater than what Yokohama bring to Australia. They have ~5.5 mm tread depth compared to ~8 mm that you find on most normal road tyres. They have the normal wear bars at ~1.5 mm tread depth The lack of useable tread (5.5 – 1.5 = 4 mm) compared to normal road tyres (8 mm – 1.5 mm = 6.5 mm) means ~40% less tyre life. It also means less water dispersion in the wet, which just get worse as they wear. The tread compound is 40 to 60 duro, road tyres are typically 100 plus. The soft tread compound, compared to normal road tyres, means ~30% less tyre life So if you get 25,000 k’s out of normal road tyres you can expect to get around 8,000 k’s out of A048s. They are VERY critical on alignment, for example too much/little camber will wear them out VERY fast. So make sure your wheel alignment settings are spot on for your usage patterns. cheers

Obviously I have a bit more knowledge that what has been made public at this stage. This is a merger, no brand names will be lost, Whiteline (the brand name) continues, as does Nolathane. This is a joining of sales, marketing and distribution, not a merger of production facilities. I have read on some other forums that ALL the Whiteline staff are loosing their jobs. This is NOT TRUE, there are 4 staff (that I know of) moving to Sommersby. The production staff stay at Minto. There is more information to come, so stand bye. cheers

Same Group Buy price, $144 a pair plus $10 freight. If you are contemplating using standard shocks & lowered springs, I suggest you have a read of this thread. http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...c=103158&hl cheers

Just to clarify. There are 2 legal (Australian Design Rule) requirements, one is a minimum 100 mm ground clearance, the other is 2/3rds the original suspension travel. Both have to pass to be "legal". So a car that is legal at 365 with a 3" exhaust (ie; at 100 mm ground clearance) may be an illegal 88mm with a 3.5" exhaust. Regency have a reputation for using their own rules, so best to check exactly what their interpretation of "2/3rds the original suspension travel" is for your particular model. Get it in writing if possible, because Regency also have a reputation for changing their mind. cheers

This thread is really for spring rate calcs, so let's take this to PM. cheers

The R&R was getting a bit annoying, stopping the WOT fun far to often. So I dropped the boost down until I couldn't feel any more R&R, that was ~13 psi. Which will have to do until after this weekend and the Bathurst 12 Hour race is over and I can spend some time tuning the DFA and SITC. Which should let me turn up the boost a bit more. I will definitely have to finsih installing the HKS SLD, because it will most certainly exceed 180 kph next time on the track. cheers

You have a decision to make, do you want to compromise the road tyre wear or the handling on the circuit? If you want to sacrifice the handling on the circuit in order to improve the road tyre wear, then the above are the settings for you. If you want to sacrifice the road tyre wear in order to improve the handling on the circuit , then the suggested road alignment settings are as follows; Front Camber = 2.5 to 4.0 negative Front Caster = 7.00 degree positive (basically as much as you can get) Front Toe = Zero Rear Camber -1.5 to 2.0 degrees negative Rear Toe = 2.0 mm in on each side The best recommendation (no compromise) is to get your wheel aligner to show you how to adjust camber, and then mark the adjusters for the 2 settings. That way you can do it yourself at the track, while you have the car jacked up to put the R tyres on and change the stabiliser bar settings. Cheers

The progressive windings are close enough to ensure that they run 100% of the time on the high rate ie, the progression is only there to keep the springs trapped at full droop. If you are looking for more roll control then stabiliser bars are the correct answer, not higher spring rates. cheers

The suggested road alignment settings as follows; Front Camber = 1.00 negative Front Caster = 7.00 degree positive (basically as much as you can get, slightly more on the LHS as it helps with the drift to the gutter) Front Toe = Zero Rear Camber -0.5 to 075 degrees negative Rear Toe = 2.00 mm in on each side Cheers

I have yet to see a perfect front upper arm design for R32's. Nissan obviously agreed as they went to the wide spaced arm on R33's and R34's. Caster is adjusted via the radius rods, offset bushes in the front of the radius rod being the best solution for a car that does any road work. cheers

Yep, mine for a start, it had Bilsteins in for 4 years. cheers

Try the Group Buy; http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...showtopic=88141 cheers