rev210

I have a mate who works for Bosch and has access to rather massive discounts on thier gear. I asked if he can source automotive gear and he said all he needs are the part numbers. I am pretty sure we can get the Z32 part numbers but, ust wondering if there are equivalents for Nismo AFM's and also if people have ran into top feed injectors by Bosch in thier travels that are the right impedence and fitting type?

I recently purchased one of these Autobarn88 Intake pipe kits for my R32 GTR.So I thought I would tell a cautionary tale about my experience yesterday. Lets begin. I came across the kit on the performance-wise website and thought " hey why not give this a go? " The Intake kit is advertised as a 'bolt on kit' but, it's far from one. Yesterday I started the morning in the sunshine under the bonnet of the R32 GTR striping out the factory intake bits with the new parts laid out on the grass ready to go in. The first and most obvious indication that things are not as they seem is in the instruction leaflet. Well 'instructions' would be a misleading term to apply to what is basically just an inventory list and for those who need some instructions you would be up the creek (not a big deal for me though). The first indication that the kit isn't 'bolt on' is there is a page in the booklet that has a pic and an instruction to relocate your power steering tank to the front of the engine bay. Well thats not to bad you might say. But, you will need to pop out and buy some new transmission oil hoses and clamps. You will find that isn't the only set of hoses that need purchasing in order to 'bolt on' the kit. You will also need a new longer oil breather hose. You will also need some new factory BOV recirculation hoses although that part of the design is so flawed you might like to go out and just buy an atmospheric BOV kit and plug them. The first snag I ran into was the front intake pipe that attaches to the turbo. It won't go on. It hits the power steering pump. Being a good little modifier I was not detered. I got my die grinder out and sanded off a few mm of alloy to give clearence and then on it went. Hurrah and Huzzar I said. I then noticed that the rear pipe (the one that necessitates relocation of the power steering pump) has need of a much longer oil breather hose (off to the shops) and it also has a rather large nipple for the very small vacume line pickup. So I threaded in a brass nipple for that. At this point you can tell I am one of those 'positive' people, most would have boxed everything up by now and started drinking and cursing, not me (well not yet). After bolting that one on I then went to examine how the recirculation pipes for the BOV went together. Oh dear. The supplied T peice and the replacement elbow (replace the factory single all in one metal pipe) require new custom length pipes at first glance. I fortunately have access to alot of the correct diameter pipes that can be trimmed down (lots of GTR parts). This is where it began to dawn on me that the china kit was never going to fit. EVER. You see, you simply cant use those bits. I tried, with access to more fittings than most. In the end you couldn't get this to work even if you cut and rewelded the pipes, I actually thought about it. I thought for interest sake before I went making any new pipes up myself I would dummy fit everything else. Here is the most condeming part of this mystery. * The front intake pipe ,that required power steering pump machining, Points straight into the recirculation pipe with the AFM attached --- Not going to happen. It also required a custom length bolt for one side of the connection to the turbo (not supplied I supplied one) * The front turbo outlet pipe also ends up pointing into the recirc pipe, all roads lead to recirc pipe. * The Y collector angles have no relationship to joining with anything in the kit, in so far as the outlet pipes want to point at something else, in most cases the recirc pipe. In China that spot in your engine bay has good feng shui no doubt. I have applied to get a full refund from Performance-Wise, so I will keep an update on this part of the review. In summary my review of the experience is as follows; # Paul at Performance-wise is prompt, friendly and professional. ******* 3 stars for Service so far.***** # The Performance-wise website is HIGHLY misleading about the product ***** 0 stars for product info *** # The KIT is a giant chinese practical joke *** 1 star , I can see the funny side but, I'm not laughing yet ** My advice is that this kit ,even if it worked, is so poorly designed that it should never have seen the light of day in manufacture. There is simply no need to have to re-locate the power steering bottle to achieve the result. Is this the last cheapo china part I will ever buy? Who knows? If people think it would help to have some pics to laugh at let me know and I will post a few for amusement. remember this is a good example to bring up next time you argue with me in a topic thread

Although a little contraversial I think a set of dialed in cams for stock turbos are good for enhancing their power delivery. You get bottom end like an RB30 and the driving experience is a fantastic improvement. You also don't need as much boost, timing or aggressice AFR to make the same power or greater. I had only one dyno printout retained from one initial tune (the lowest starting point) and it shows as much or even a little more power at 3,000 rpm than peoples Rb30 hybrids including stock turbo ones. I am a few months away from doing the Tomie Cam / stock turbo combo again, so I can replicate the results I got last time. I will be doing a step by step on it and giving the cam timing settings and hopefully timing map info I wind up with to share, as setting up cams for people and lots of tuners is more 'magic' than science sometimes. So it's goos to have some info kicking about. If anyone has a set of Tomei 260's they want to donate I'm happy to guinea pig them

you learn the lesson " Buy Cheap. Buy twice" with these things. At least it's not alot of money

My thoughts... It's not a 'patch up job'. It's a fix. As good as any aftermarket pipe. Looks factory. Gets you some bonus horsepower + prevents the pipe sucking shut (happens on higher powered cars btw not factory turbo ones) For $5. Here's some free tips for you that help address some of your thoughts that you may be interested in. The AFM. It's not real restrictive until your reach the end of it's resolution and need to upgrade. The wire mesh on the AFM. Rip it out. The factory air filter isn't undersized up to some decent power in terms of upgrades. If you have a blocked factory filter get a new one. You can smooth the insides of the factory airbox out if you get bored for some very slight gains. Pod filters that are unshielded aren't flash, sucking in lovely hot engine bay air. Hope that helps

Tips for the timing belt; Cut it in half before you install it. And then just staple it back together. Easy way to install. Start the engine and if it doesn't seize you haven't got the timing completely wrong, you might even be close.

It's cheap gear at the end of the day and does work for people. But,given busted oil lines kill motors (and it's not unknown to happen to quality gear) I would personally steer clear of oil cooler kits that are built in a hurry. Teflon tape in quantity isn't a good thing even if it works it's not what you should be using for oil. Springing a big leak under load would not be your friend. It's not like a leaky sump gasket ,its pressurised oil. Game over occurs very quickly if you are track racing. Enough fear mongering for today though.

No the split isn't the issue it's the actual way the pipes are welded up. They aren't trying to line anything up, the china stuff gets done in a big hurry. JJR belmouth would have the same issues no doubt. If the flange isn't welded on right your still up the creek. Just get a local exhaust shop to do a pipe. Should be about $400 or less. Then again the JJR unit may not be the issue at all. Try the other things first and see how you go.

No worries. the overlap ranged from the weld protruding into the gas path to the actual flange plate bolting up crooked so that I had to cut into the plate itself. The wastegate welds were all 'lipped' really bad inside too. If you left them alone then no doubt much crapper performance than stock. The kicker is they all bolted up easy enough with the exeption of one, that needed material taken out around the flange weld as it stopped one of the nuts going onto the thread. Locally you can't beat $350 - $400 for something custom from a good exhaust place, even if it's only mild steel.

Sure, should have added... Manufacturing of the pipes I have seen ( about 5) and subsequently had to spend hours with a die grinder on has been nothing short of 'rushed'. They aren't taking the time to align anything. Which is fine for the very low price you are paying. If you don't clean them up, they may give you some issues like this one. I've been lucky enough to get them to work for myself and others but, with more effort than is worth it. They are only $250 but, if you have overlap on the flange where the turbo bolts on, it may well bolt on but, you may also wind up with a top end restriction that makes the stock dump pipe look good. Also, there are a number of people who have had the wastegate foul the product. A few others have had warped flanges that won't seal. Granted you can have the product exchanged if it really doesn't work but, a number of punters who don't know any better won't go checking the quality of the work and making sure there isn't any alignment issues. Hey it bolts on! Wait a minute whats this weird restriction in power? Having said that it could be something else causing the issue.

Just Jap dump pipe is probably the culprit. Peice of crap.

I've had one before and it leaked like a bastard both the thread on the oil cooler and the actual pipe fitting on the hose leaked. Threw them both in the bin. Protecting an expensive engine with something that may develop something more than a leak isn't a good plan. It's only a $250 lesson anyway. The factories that make them don't quality control anything. Everything that gets made there gets done in a big hurry.

Mine, is on the way and I should have it thursday/friday or so. For the price it's excellent value. Paul is a good operator too.

yes. Take it out. depending on mods = 12-13psi usually once removed.

waste of time. They are solid cams and unless you have a Neo that means no-go.

I'll take your vote for most retarded comment, perhaps you had a few beers on cup day so it's all good. Drag racing makes a simple point so it's good you picked that as an example. I have piloted an ice-skating low 10 peice of crap car down the 1/4 a few times. Not much skill involved, basically correcting the inadequate car setup is not 'driving', it's not even that much fun. The mark of a successful 10 second braket car in drag racing in consistancy. You dial in , hook up and run the times. Snaking down the track is the sign of someone who isn't really serious with thier car setup or hasn't got it right yet. As you go quicker the idea is to have some control at hand to keep it tight. I've seen a 8 second engine jammed into a 'peice of crap car' that did a 10 with it. It had no bragging rights + no consistant times = lose. And the same engine in a car designed to put the power down do an 8 with it. The difference? The car was setup to get lots of traction. It had Bragging rights + consistant times = win. Your not going to get a chance to go faster and well 'drive' if the car can't hold on or brake well enough to match it's own power or your skill/reaction times.

I've owned plenty of rwd cars and a few GTR's. The GTR's are absolutely 200% more a drivers car. If you like struggling for traction then buy a peice of shit datsun 120Y and run around on bald razorblades. Struggling for traction is the mark of a crap car/ non-performance.

I would look at the -9's too

And then we say "welcome to the club"

Well read the first response post of mine and open the pic and you will.

Know exactly where you are coming from. But if you think about it, a wanker is still going to act like one whether he builds the car himself or not. Building the car doesn't automatically make you worthy of appreciation or non-wankerdom. All the blokes I know who have done cars up themselves nod silently together when one of says we should have paid someone else to be the poor sucker to do the job. That includes some guys who own their own workshops. Think of it in performance terms to restoring a very old car. The best place to start ironically is with as plum an example as you can, as opposed to a completely rusted out shell. You spend less time and money getting to the 'first' destination, the journey has no end and the best parts are actually further down the track. The thing is that you will still keep modifications going till you run out of money. It's a disease with no cure, only management.

If that is a photo of 'your' engine bay your problem is that the factory boost controller is still connected. My suggestion is that you get someone who knows what they are doing to fix it up for you.

On the factory boost controller there are a couple of hoses. One will have a yellow stripe and near this stripe is a metal bung inside the hose. Remove it.

Plenty of appreciation in built cars I can assure you. You appreciate that the fact that bits that are bolt on, cost lots of money. I've appreciated them more than the ones I did myself. These cars didn't break,burn,cut or cost me like the others for the same enjoyment. Think of it this way; buy $50k+ worth of car and bolt on bits with the forged motor in it for $20k. If you want to customise it you can flog off the parts that don't suit your taste or even swap them. You wind up spending less money. Think of it as buying a bargain box of parts. Some you might not want but, replacing them for the bits you do sees you do that far far cheaper as a starting point than a bog stocker. Besides, you don't get to gain much in 'experience' from building a 'bolt on' car, unless you have never used a spanner. If you want to spend some money and gain experience then try a 'custom' or restoration job. Or if you are sticking with the Skylines invest in learning how to tune your own car. Much bigger talking point and you get some returns on the investment. Buy the o2 wideband and do some learning so you can have a go. Custom fabrication is a 'talking point'. The last bit about it being " better to say you built it from scratch". Take it from me as someone who can lay claim to a few cars, you certainly don't feel better at all when you say it.

If all you are doing is getting a 500HP Gtst then my tip is to put the extra money on the mortgage and buy some poor shmucks dollar burning gtst build. If you want unique then I reckon a TB48 straight six build is the go.