warps

What is this fascination people have with second hand suspension? In most cases a set of new dampers into your old suspension will be miles ahead of crappy second hand shit that's been in 20 different cars. Good suspension costs money. If you can pick up MCA for $1,500 then that is an absolute bargain. Murray has been building world class suspension systems for top level race and rally cars for years now. The fact that you can pick up anything with his name on it for $1,500 is staggering. I know it's not his top shelf gear, but for him to put his name on this stuff would give me the confidence to use it. Don't throw money away on another set of second hand crap, and inherit someone else's problems again. My local suspension bloke tells me that he loves cheap second hand ebay stuff. He sells heaps of brand new gear when people buy second hand stuff, then take it to him to install and set up. He then proceeds to show them how worn out / damaged / poorly built it is, and ends up selling them brand new gear. He has bins full of ebay junk, and sells plenty of performance stuff as a result. I don't know why you're so fixated on getting adjustable damping. Do you really think that your arse is going to tell you whether you have optimum settings in your suspension? MCA will be able to match the valving to suit the car and springs, and that will get you close to the mark. If you're an experienced racer, then you can fine tune from the base settings, but most people won't feel the difference that one click in settings makes, apart from the placebo effect. Have you actually called Murray to talk to him? He's always more than willing to help people out, and what he doesn't know about suspension design probably hasn't been written yet. You might even find that his gear can be upgraded down the track, eg fitting external canisters. I don't know if that's the case, but certainly worth asking. Trust me, you wont find anything with similar specs to the MCA gear for "a lot less". You will find some flogged out, unknown spec second hand chinese junk for a lot less, but I know which I'd rather put my money on. If you can't afford to buy the decent gear (hell, $1,500 isn't a lot of money) then save up for a while and miss a few events. It wont'; be the end of the world. You will be a lot better off for it. Which would you rather; getting scared in an ill handling pig of a car doing 15 track days a year, or going 2 seconds a lap faster, having the time of your life in a sweetly balanced, reliable car only 5 times a year? I know which I'd pick Sorry for the rant. Just your reasoning makes no sense to me.

265? You sure? Even my shopping trolley ( <------ over there) has factory 262's at the front, and it has less than 120 killerwasps. The DBA catalogue shows the following for R34 GT (RB25DE) F: DBA 4963. 296mm dia, 30mm thick R: DBA 908. 297mm dia, 18mm thick

Terry, I'd seen a lot of those news reports at the time, but my take on the situation was that a French journalist was told by Michael's son that the camera caused the head trauma. He then went on to make these claims in the media (a journalist sensationalising the news? surely not!). The reports I read were all just journos speculating on this, without any concrete evidence being given. There was an investigation by ENSA suggesting this, but from what I've seen their findings are also inconclusive (extract of a news article below). Experts from ENSA, the world-renowned ski and climbing academy in the French ski resort of Chamonix, have conducted tests to determine whether the presence of a solid object between a helmet colliding with a rock would weaken the structure. The helmet smashed but the camera he had attached to it, in order to record him and his son skiing, was undamaged. The footage, audio and visual, has provided police with crucial information about the crash. "But why did it explode on impact? Here the camera comes into question. The laboratory has been testing to see if the camera weakened the structure." I haven't been able to find any conclusive results from their investigation. I wasn't attacking you - just was interested to know if there were any findings to substantiate the rumours. Unfortunately journalists have a habit of running with speculation and sometimes passing it off as fact.

*damped* Just sayin'

Don't put weight in the back to try to counter bad suspension setup. That's a terrible idea. Hard to know exactly what is wrong - too many variables. Could be poor alignment (toe), poor damping, slop in bushes, tyres themselves. It could even be the front end causing problems at the back (mismatch, poor alignment etc.) How do you know it's at a good height? Just from looking at it, or because of the amount of travel (bump and droop) you have available? How has the ride height affected geometry? Are the dampers in good condition? (ie did you buy them second hand?) Best advice is to take it to a suspension place (preferably one who understands track cars) and check out what you have (bushes, alignment, shock tests etc.). This might give you an insight into what's going on

Why don't you contact these guys? I hear they have a knack for coming up with simple, elegant solutions to Engineering problems. sounds like they will be right up your alley. http://www.rubegoldberg.com/

Those sound like TT's words over at IPRA I get frustrated trying to understand their rules. It seems that different people have different interpretations. Don't know if you saw my queries about pedal boxes a few months ago, but my interpretation of the rule (can't move any of the pivot points more than 75mm) means I can't use a common axis pedal box in my Honda because the stock pedal box has the accelerator and brake pedal pivot points more than 150mm apart. Hence it's impossible to have them pivot about the same axis and be legal (my interpretation) However, I'm told that "the intent" of the rule is to stop people moving the driver back by ridiculous amounts, and the rule mainly applies to brake and clutch pedals, given the number of possible variations in accelerator design. If that's so, why don't they spell it out clearly so that newbies like me trying to build a compliant car can actually understand what they intend the rule to say? Sorry - just had to vent.

I love the LS engines, and I agree that an LS R33 could be a good thing. Just be aware that you might limit your choices in competition, as most categories wont allow this type of engine swap, unless you're in the open class against sports sedans. +1 on a cheap, fun track car. Because nobody has said it yet, I'm going to chime in with my usual EK / EG Civic or DC2 Integra. Barrels of fun (very neutral handling despite what the uneducated anti FWD keyboard warriors say) and reasonable power to weight. If you want to spend a few extra $$ you can pick up a K swapped Civic / Integra which gives you the potential for a reliable 200-250 HP at the wheels. Plenty for a FWD buzzbox that weighs nothing. Remember, the easiest way to gain speed is to lose weight (the car, not you). Start with something light and well balanced and you don't have to go nuts with mods to get a fun, quick car.

It works even better if you hit both sides of the knuckle simultaneously. I've only had one rod end I couldn't get apart this way, and that had to be cut off with a cutting disc, then the taper stub pressed out with a 30 Tonne shop press. Nasty.

You need to use a dial indicator for this. I think that the standard allowance is 0.1mm (0.004" for us old blokes). You won't pick that up by eye. It's a good practice, as it will tell you whether there's any crap / high spots under your rotor. I've found that what looked like a clean mounting surface had small metal filings on it, giving runout. After a bit of cleaning I got it to within the spec pretty easily I know that a lot of people don't bother with this, but like anything, done properly it is just another way to eliminate possible problems down the track.

Has this been proven? I've seen some people make these claims, but from what I've seen, there's been a lot of speculation and opinion, but I haven't seen the results of any proper investigation. Also, I'd dare say a motorsport helmet is a bit harder than a skiing helmet (the latter rate about the same as bicycle helmets) Not suggesting we should be sticking cameras to motorsport helmets, although I know of a lot of people who disagree with this rule. Personally I don't see the need to be sticking anything to a helmet when there are plenty of other places in a car to be mounting cameras. I know the issue of cameras has opened a big can of worms in many sup regs over the last few years. It seems that there is beginning to be a bit of common sense applied.

All I can say is at least you went down fighting. Good to see it was backed in - you were having a proper go. As for whether to repair or not - I think that the tribe has spoken.

No I'm just being OCD. Don't worry I see him as a Finn as well - agree there. TBH I take very little of what I read on the net as being serious. Easier to stay happy that way

No it's not. Just cause his dad was a Finn doesn't make it a Finnish name. Sounds more like a Swedish name to me (the Swedes are as prevalent in Finland as Kiwis are here). In fact, the letters B and G are very rarely used in the Finnish language For that matter, Bottas doesn't sound too Finnish to me, either. Tip - if the name ends in the letters "nen", then it's 99.99% certain it's a Finnish name. Also, many of them end in a vowel (most commonly A or O)

Another option could be to refurbish the existing ones with new pins and bushes. I wouldn't think it would be too hard to get some new bronze bushes made up, and new hardened pins turned up to take any slack out of them. I've been thinking about doing this for a long time (when I used to play around with the flogged out door hinges in old dattos) but haven't had a need for it since getting my lathe.

I always use 2 people to bleed brakes, so can't comment on whether a pressure bleeder will work. I used to bleed the handbrake separately, and it always worked for me. Others bleed the brake system as if the handbrake isn't there, and it seems to work for them. Here's a process used by some rally guys. Never tried it myself, but it seems to be a good last resort for when nothing else works: the method used is to put foot on pedal (pump it a couple of times to get a pedal if necessary), pull up on the handbrake and THEN open a rear bleed nipple. Once the handbrake is fully up, and the foot pedal is down, lock up the bleed nipple. At this point, pump the foot pedal to bring the handbrake back to the down position. Do Not force the handbrake down with your hand as there is a chance that air will enter via the seals in the handbrake master cylinder. Using this method on both the commodore rally cars at home works a treat. I have also had other cars come over with "spongy" handbrakes, used that method and "presto" firm pedal and handbrake

I was going to say that MCA already make coilovers for the S chassis (Murray's own S13 Rally car and his son's drift car were, I believe, the test mules). However, you won't be picking up a set of those for <$1,500. Definitely good gear though, although historically he's always been biased towards gravel (having been a gravel nut for the last 30-40 years). I believe he now caters to all performance tastes (but not the bling brigade - there are already plenty of brands out there for that)

Hmmm better tell the guys at work to stop using the 900ft lb ratchet torque wrench, then. Besides, the breaker bar was only a very recent addition to my kit. Have used it a few times, and definitely more comfortable wailing on that with a big pipe. As I said, a decent ratchet will handle anything you can throw at it without using an extension, and I have seen plenty of people using pipes on ratchet handles without any failures (tbh I've never used a cheapo ratchet, so can't comment). Me doing something doesn't make it right, but having seen something done plenty of times gives you a feel for what they will handle. I definitely wouldn't be loading up the fine splines in my ratchet ring spanners, though.

Pffft bitch please. My 25 year old Sidchrome socket set says otherwise (I've never met a bolt it couldn't undo - sometimes with big pipe on the end of it) I've seen some godawful things done to snap-on ratchets and socket sets too. Decent quality ratchets can handle a massive amount of abuse. But to answer the OP's question, a decent rattle gun should make light work of it.

Any sticker / sign place can make up whatever you want. Just go and talk to a few. You might even convince one of them to do it for a good price if you let them put one of their stickers on your car.

I LFB in a manual Anyone who's ever rallied a FWD or AWD should be intimate with left foot braking. RWD not so much, but still has benefits. Most people don't have the fine control of the left foot because they're used to pushing the clutch in (not as much to do with whether you left or right handed) On the road though, right foot it is.

Honda do it too. I found stacks in the EK race car. I would bet they're pretty common in most cars.

He isn't He's there for the bishes Lol at Harry's Weber comment. Nailed it!!

That's opposite of what the IPRA guys were saying when the 050's came out. Compared to the 048's, which heat cycle badly, they reckon the 050's were good till they were at the canvas, hence better value for money as you can use them till they wear out and not lose performance.

Just rip the lot out and put in an adjustable pedal box. "Hmm where can I get one of those?" you say I'm glad you asked http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/443943-brand-new-obp-adjustable-pedal-box-assembly/