scathing

You might want to add the Falken FK452s to your list. They'll be around the HPZ price I'd guess, but I've found them to be good in wet and dry and they've lasted me a reasonably long time (UTQG 300). My 255/35 R18s cost me $350 each, so a higher profile and smaller diameter rim should be noticably cheaper. However, if I had to choose between them and the DZ101s I don't think I could split them on performance or life.

There aren't that many auto 350Z's. For years, if you wanted Brembos you had to get a manual. Even now, having Brembos means no auto option. The only Aussie 350Zs I regularly hear about with slushboxes are the roadsters, and it's not like hairdressers care for flappy paddles.

It won't be the Super Ti. Those are pretty much never noise legal. Nissan/Nismo used Fujitsubo for their optional exhausts for a while on the Z33/V35. The display cars they had at motoring shows back in 02/03 had a Fuji' on them. I'm not sure if it's a custom run of exhausts made to Nissan's specifications, or if they just rebranded a "Legalis" model.

Some people like NA. I'd personally love to build the bottom end to run lighter, stronger, internals and a high compression.

Maybe this part of the first post will answer the question. Why not see if you can find an Australian delivered R32 GT-R? That would comply with the rules. You could get an Aussie S14 or S15 for that money, if you want a Silvia (I wouldn't spend $20K on an S13). Your other option is to go Euro. I found a 2000 model 323Ci for $20K. It won't have the balls of a Japanese turbo, and its a slusho, but it'll have the right handling dynamics and be less of a cop magnet. If you do get a 3 Series, for god's sake get a 6 cylinder at least. There are some Z3s going around for that price too, but those things handled like poo.

For those that like lockups:

From what I've read, the system uses several microphones. If they're directional enough, it shouldn't be impossible to triangulate the source of the noise. Putting it on Mt Ousley Rd, on such a steep section of road, is just bollocks if you ask me. There's not much by way of housing out there, and there's sound barriers, and I'd rather there be a little noise than trucks having no brakes at the bottom of the hill.

Real sports cars don't even have fog lights anymore. You're right, they were only cool back in the early 90's. These days, seeing fog lights just tell me that I'm approaching an econobox or family hauler. If it's quick, then I know it's a tarted up econobox / family hauler.

Tyres used in Australia must either be American DOT approved or European ECE approved in order to be road legal (Australian doesn't have specific ADR requirements that aren't met by either of those two standards). To my knowledge, Japanese road tyres do not necessarily need to comply with those standards. The other things you've heard may be true, but I know for sure that my old Falken RS-V04 semi slicks were "street legal" according to Falken Japan but were not road legal in Australia due to the lack of the above stamping.

Japanese legislation requires their cars to be speed limited to 180km/hr. Hence why the JDM R35 has a 180km/hr speed limiter when it's not on a race track even though the entire car will cope with going much faster safely, and why Nissan had to spend the time/effort coding in all the race tracks into the GPS. For other countries, I think other people have covered it. The law requires that your tyres be able to cope with the top speed of your car. Setting a 250km/hr speed limiter means the car can get away with W-rated tyres...which may also explain why a lot of the Euro luxo-barges have a "soft" 250km/hr speed limiter that lets them go a tad faster, since W-rates go to 270km/hr. I can imagine that the other engineering requirements (having an engine sit high in the rev range, with high load due to wind resistance, requires specific tuning) to make sure it's safe. Most of the German manufacturers have a "voluntary" 250km/hr speed limiter in place, aside from Porsche. I remember reading a piece a while back that said that even CEOs of other German manufacturers didn't think Porsche should be limited even while their companies did.

It was a good cruise and a great day. It was nice to see everyone so well behaved. Putty's gotten a whole bunch smoother since I drove it last, too. You should have seen the guys standing out front of the Ford dealership as about a half a dozen Skylines rolled by. Unsurprisingly, no-one at the Nissan across the road bothered coming out for a look. I'm sure they're still pretending the R33 and R34 didn't exist or something. Mind you, I was right at the end of the line for food thanks to the unplanned detour some of us made. Next time, we should call ahead and tell the pub to staff up. :-) It was good to meet some new faces, as well as catching up with some guys I hadn't seen in a while. BTW, I know people asked for media coverage. I'm going to try and write something for the motoring blog I write for, and see if it gets published. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many shots so if people want to donate some photos for the article I'd appreciate it. If anyone is willing to do so, can you PM them to me or send them to alan @ the motor report .com.au (no spaces).

I don't see why not. The NA 2.0L powering the old Sport Clio was a gem. It pulled pretty hard below 5500RPM, until whatever cam magic it does kicks in and has the thing scream all the way to redline. It's a full production engine that shits all over the SR20DE powering a limited edition Autech S15. The FI 2.0L powering the Sport Megane is a pretty nice engine too. 165kW isn't much by modern standards but it a very light tune and will easily make more power.

Exactly. Chances are the question has already been answered, and if people weren't too f**king lazy to pull their finger out and search for enquiries instead of expecting to be spoon fed the answer like a baby then the other members of the community wouldn't get the shits. Seeing the same stupid questions being asked over and over again, making the forum feel stale because there's nothing new to read. Feel free to add that to the list of gripes. Oh, also add apologists for sticking up for people who do the wrong thing. Coddling people who make mistakes instead of telling them the correct procedure just propagates mistakes instead of fixing them.

We call them nuggets.

The Skyline and FairladyZ, as grand tourers, been heavy (for Japanese sports cars of their time period) for quite some time. Ironically the S30 240Z is lighter than the S10 Silvia but, as the cars were positioned in the model line up, the FairladyZ grew up. The Z33 weighs as much as the Z32 2 seater does, which given the decade between them and OEMs' tendency to make newer cars bigger and heavier than their predecessors isn't a bad thing. And 1500kg for a GT back in 2003 wasn't that bad. It weighed more than the S15, DC5R and T230 but it's also a lot more comfortable and well appointed. The Skyline was in the same vein, but with even more of a touring and less of a sports focus than the Z it picked up more weight to accommodate the better sound dampening and rear seats. The Z34 is meant to be lighter again, with a smaller overall size as well as more aluminium in it's construction. I've had a look at the V36 and while it has picked up weight over the V37 it also feels a lot more solid and quality.

Comparing a brand new, warrantied, completely street legal, OEM-quality car with a great interior to a used modified car (in terms of bang for buck) with a rubbish interior and questionable road legality is pointless. Is it going to be as comfortable? Is it going to be road legal? Are you still going to have a warranty if something breaks under normal road usage? Will it have the same resale for the money you put into it? We are talking about a road car here, not a track day special. If you're after the latter, you could buy an Evo VI and sink $60K into it and get something that's faster than both. etc etc

Some retailers are too lazy to use pics of the actual product, so they use stock photos. This is what the rear suspension on a Z33 looks like: That should be practically identical to a V35. There's only one kit I know of that converts the rear end to a coilover setup, but it also replaces a whole bunch of other stuff as the geometry and loads are so different on the components.

S15 is my favourite. S14a (kouki I guess) next. RPS13 180SX (hatch back) S13 (coupe)

You still have back seats don't you?

And they'd void your warranty if you bought your car from Nissan Australia.

The auto is a 5 speed, right? That means you'll be running a 3.2:1 final drive. If you do a gearbox swap without changing the diff ratio, you still won't see the acceleration of your manual brethren. I always thought that if I was to go FI I'd run that 3.2:1 FD, but so far I haven't seen too many turbo owners in Australia looking at doing a swap. The only guys I've seen even consider it are in the States, making big power with built engines.

The minimum legal offset you can have on a V35 is +17, so the offset advice that BLISTC gave you above fails your legality requirements. The lowest offset for a 9.5" wide front rim that doesn't require camber arms (there's not much guard to be rolled in the front) is +22. You could probably get away with something lower with a suitably narrow tyre, but +22 is considered to be the "safe" limit. I run 9.5" +22 with a 255 width tyre on my Z33 and it doesn't scrub, when I'm cornering hard.

I'd love to do ITBs, but it's hard to justify without doing the bottom end too.

A repairable write-off is a car with damage that's not economical to fix. Like den says, it's all about money. The insurance companies will usually use a rule of thumb that says that if the repairs to the vehicle are more than half the insured value (agreed or market, whatever) then it's a repairable write off.