AlcoholicA

Here's an old photo of mine...

yeah, I posted a similar request in the Cefiro specific forum section, and so far nothing..... I want to see some other installations and be inspired before I begin to make my own.

Here's a picture of my car with that style of grill before I changed the front end... I have no idea what series car it is from, if in fact it is unique to any particular series or specification..... I thought it was totally lame, so I swapped it for a GTR style grill with new front bar, which I reckon looks heaps better! by the way, I like those clear indicator lenses on UNL5HD.... nice looking car!

um, yeah I did.... was I not supposed to?

1. What is your name and where are you from? My name is Paul - I'm from the UK originally, but worked in Australia [sydney] for 3 years, and more recently moved to Thailand 2. What is your occupation? I'm a teacher 3. What is your date of birth and blood type? 27/08/1973, type O I think 4. What are your hobbies? Cars, Music, Computers, PS2, Watching movies, , building stuff/breaking stuff, drinking beer 5. How many years have you had your license and what license type are you? I've had my UK license for 16 years, and I've had my Thai license for 1 year [just got my license renewal at the weekend] 6. How many accidents have you had (your fault) and how many traffic violations have you had? 2 accidents: 1 - a hit up the backside by a truck while I was not moving. 2 - a motorcycle ran into the side of my girlfriend's car while I was driving.... hit and run - I guess he didn't have insurance? 2 traffic violations: 1 - speeding... 50mph in a 30mph zone.... two young female officers gave me a warning and let me go without any penalty 2 - unloading my car whilst parked on a double-yellow line [no parking] zone 7. What was the car you owned before your current one? I still own my car in the UK - it's a 1986 Ford Escort Cabriolet [special edition of 750 made]. Before that, a heavily modified 1990 Ford Escort RS Turbo 8. What is your current car and it's mileage? 1991 Nissan Cefiro in black, running 1JZ-GTE and 132,000kms on the clock 9. Is the car Auto or Manual? Manual 10. What part of your car is unique that no one else has? passenger-side heater/aircon vent in perfect condition.... I also found 500 baht when I took the carpet up to rewire the speaker cables. 11. Do you own a motorbike? No 12. Biggest trouble/problem you've ever had with a car you've owned? clutch died 2 weeks after I bought the car, and recently I had an overheating problem. 13. Do you have an in-car navigation system? no - unless my girlfriend could be described as navigator [road signs here are mostly in Thai charactors with tiny little English words] since she translates for me. 14. Do you have an e-tag/electronic toll unit? What are your thoughts on the system? No, but I saw it in use when I lived in Neutral Bay and had to cross the harbour bridge ever day. The electronic system seems to work much better than the cash toll-booths.... quick and no hassle. 15. Do you have a particular route or road that you enjoy driving on? What is it? Bangkok to Pattaya highway 16. Do you have a meet point that you prefer? What is it? Yes, but it's usually a bar where I meet friends and get p*ssed 17. What petrol do you use? Why do you use it... Brand, Price or Convenience? whichever petrol-station is the nearest whenever I need to get some petrol 18. What is your favourite engine oil? mobil 1 19. How often do you change the oil in your car? every 3,000 kms 20. What make is your tyre, and what size is it? Yokohama 225/40/17 I think? 21. How much tread is left on your tyres at the moment? a lot - I just put a new set of tyres on all around, a couple of months ago. 22. Do you use winter tyres? no 23. How often do you wash your car? whenever it's dirty - which is usually every 3 or 4 days. 24. What magazines do you read/subscribe to? I read [look at the pictures] Thai RACE magazine.... it's all printed in Thai unfortunately! 25. What music do you listen to while driving? Rock.... Van Halen, The Darkness. Indie... Oasis. 26. Do you listen to the radio in your car? If so what station and/or show do you prefer? No... radio is the poor persons cd-player on random shuffle! 27. When you are stuck in traffic, what do you do to pass time? people-watching... it's amazing to look at all the thai people around. they think nothing strange about picking their nose in public! 28. What products can you simply not be without in your car? spare water [to refill a leaking radiator] and power-steering oil [to refill another leak] 29. Do you prefer to take the highway or the scenic route to places that are between 50 to 100 km's away? Depends how much spare time I have.... 30. Does your significant other prefer to accompany you on your drives in the passenger seat? sometimes.... 31. What is your preferred tuning shop? In the UK, Turbosystems. In Thailand I have no idea.... I haven't found anywhere with a rolling-road setup yet... 32. What is your preferred second hand parts shop? Big John's, or the local scrapyard. 33. When you see the sticker "Baby On Board" what do you do or think? avoid! stressed out moms or dads, wired on coffee, and their mind on everything else other than the piece of road that they are driving on.... 34. Do you like the Nissan models that have been released since Carlos Ghosn took over as CEO? no idea who he is or when he took over, so I can't really comment. 35. Although the Cefiro and Laurel has been replaced by the Teana, do you consider it a valid successor? No way - the Teana sucks a$$. 36. What are your 3 most favourite Nissan models, excluding the one you own? Syline R32GTR, Silvia S14 and 200sx 37. What are your 3 most favourite non-Nissan cars? Ford Escort RS Cosworth, Mazda MX5, Nissan Skyline R32 GTR 38. If you were to buy a new car now, what would it be? if money were no object I'd buy a new Ford GT40 39. Although its not Nissan, do you like Rotary Engines? sure... 40. What quality do you feel your car lacks? stopping power - my brakes are really lame stock 41. What generation is your Cefiro? no idea.... but it's a 1991 A31 42. Is your car RWD or AWD? RWD 43. Why did you choose to buy your car? because it's black, had a sunroof, and 1JZ-GTE 44. When you chose your car, what other models did you also consider? Cefiro with RB25 45. When you bought the car, what condition was it in? Normal or needed some work? Looked very presentable but needed a bit of work mechanically and in the electronics departments. 46. How many times do you drive your car in a week? every day 47. If you had to coin a catchphrase for Cefiros, what would it be? "drink a litre of petrol faster than I can drink a schooner of beer..." 48. What car would you say is a rival model to yours as far as features are concerned? over here in Thailand, Honda Accord's and BMW 3 series are considered the equivalent because of how common they are and how easy they are to modify. 49. What is in your opinion, the best features of your Cefiro? styling - from the outside I think it looks awesome, and I think that the leather seats are ok... 50. What parts of your car don't work like they should? The air-con goes hot and cold regardless of the position of the temperature setting control 51. Have you ever dreamt of your car? Give an example. yes, the best one was about my girlfriend [dressed in a tiny bikini] washing my car 52. What do those close to you (family, partner etc) think of your car? my brother who is a car-freak, he likes it. My girlfriend loves my car [but is sometimes jealous of it], and her brother likes my car a lot since he has a Cefiro too. Friends and work colleagues say its nice in a polite, but ignorant way. My students are all impressed, and think I'm the coolest teacher for having a cool car! 53. What spec would you class your car as? Drift, Drag, Circuit, or Cruiser? Cruiser 54. Which is more important to you about your car? Appearance, Performance/Power or Comfort? it's all good..... but the most important to me is reliability! 55. What seats and steering wheel do you have in your car? standard seats in black leather, and the R32GT steering wheel. 56. What brakes does your car have? (Including disc/hub) bog-standard brakes..... due to upgrade in the next month or two. 57. What exhaust does your car have? no idea the brand name of it, but I got the front silencer out to try to stop it scraping on the speed-bumps in the road.... need to upgrade sometime to something decent, but there are higher priorities to fix/replace first. 58. What headunit/stereo is in your car? Sony GTS550 with 10 disc multichanger 59. What gauges does your car have? Boost and voltage. 60. What aftermarket suspension parts does your car have? KYB coilovers 61. What structural reinforcement parts does your car have? front and rear strut brace bars 62. What intake/cooling parts do you have on your car? front mounted intercooler [unsure which brand], and a custom alloy radiator with two twin-speed fans 63. Anything else you have replaced on your car? too much to list here.... 64. How many km/l do you get out of your car on average? no idea, but not many 65. Do you think you'll be driving the same car in 5 years? no idea.... depends if I can sell my girlfriend's car and find a decent 200sx 66. Would you purchase the car you own if it was new? (ie you'd be the first owner of the car) no 67. If you were given the choice between your car and your partner, which would you choose over the other? my girlfriend - although sometimes she thinks otherwise 68. If the Cefiro you own did not exist, what would you be driving right now? an old 2-door E30 BMW 3-series 69. A lot of Cefiro owners are changing to JZX100 Chaser's and Mark II's, what do you think of them and would you change? meh.... 70. Which headlight do you prefer, projector or non projector and HID or regular? no idea - what's the difference? 71. If you were to respray your car, what colour would it be? Dark metallic grey 72. What is the first mod that you would do on a stock version of your car? fix the suspension 73. Is there a mod in particular that you would like to never see done to a Cefiro? I hate seeing cars with RAISED suspension, or the hydraulic lift/drop suspension.... 74. If your car is RWD, is there any time when you wish it was AWD? Or if your car is AWD, is there any time when you wish it was RWD? when it's wet it might be nice to have a bit more front-end grip that AWD would give, but never enough to make me wish my car was permanently AWD 75. Have you ever considered your car awkward or uncool? Why? yes - it's a bit awkward getting up the ramp to exit a car park as I always scrape the exhaust pipe, and sometimes I catch the bottom edge of the front bar/spoiler if I'm not super-careful. 76. Do you have any brochures for your car? Where'd you get it from? no 77. Do you have a service manual, log book and owner's manual for your car? Log book, and some service history - but all written in Thai.... 78. How do you feel about the price of Cefiros on the market now compared to the price you paid for your car? 79. If money was not an issue, what tuning mods would you make to your car? everything - complete upgrade or rebuild of every component. 80. Would you upgrade the hub assembly of your car? (eg 4 stud to 5 stud) yes - I plan to do that when I have saved enough cash to upgrade both my brakes and wheels at the same time... 81. Would you upgrade the air-con system in your car? (eg manual to climate control) no 82. Have you made any parts for your car, or any DIY mods? sure - a lot of subtle mods have been DIY..... I made a new battery tray when I relocated the battery back to the front of the car, and I made some new speaker enclosures for the front and a new speaker shelf for the rear speakers.... my next DIY trick is to make a complete sub-woofer installation 83. Do you own any spare parts for your car that aren't needed yet? a few bits and pieces.... but nothing major 84. If it was feasible to own a second car identical to yours, would you? why? I can only drive one at a time.... 85. How much have you spent on repairs to your car? shhh.... can't let my girlfriend know that little secret! 86. If you see another Cefiro which has been modified differently, do you pick faults in it? sometimes - depends on what the modifications are and how well they have been done 87. Have you ever watched Initial D, and do you think your car would have beaten Takumi? never seen it, and no I doubt my car would beat him 88. Would you buy a scale model of your car, and how much would you be willing to spend up to on it? no 89. Would you buy a remote control model of your car, and how much would you be willing to spend up to on it? no 90. Has your car ever been in a magazine? If so what and which issue? no idea... I doubt it 91. Have you ever participated in a cruise or attended a meet for Cefiro owners? I went to a drag-racing strip with Cefiro owners, and I went to Pattaya with another Cefiro owner 92. Is there any other forum members' car that you idolise or was very impressed by? Yes, I'm always impressed by Ford Sierra RS Cosworths or Ford Escort RS cars.... 93. Would you do a face swap/upgrade (ie R34 front on R32, C33 front on A31, etc)? no 94. What would you consider the locally produced equivalent of your car? The Cefiro was for sale in the local marketplace in Thailand, so this question doesn't really apply? 95. You are offered to pick straws, one straw will get you free mods of your choice and track time to test them, the other will see your car returned to factory standard. Would you pick straws? worst case scenario for me would be to lose my 1JZ and get an RB20DET, so hell-yeah.... pick straws! 96. You are to attend a track day, however your car gets damaged, and have the following choices: - run the same model as your car, but with a fully tuned RB20E engine. The car has done 150,000kms, and the engine has done 50,000kms. - run the same model as your car, but with a RB20DET auto. The car has done 500,000kms, and the turbo has done 60,000kms. - run your damaged car What would you do? not sure which car, but whatever you can be sure of is that I'd kane the $hit out of whichever car I decide to drive 97. If you were to grade yourself as an expert on Cefiros, what would you be out of 100? 60-70... maybe 65? 98. What is the purpose your car serves in your life? A-to-B in style.... 99. One word that describes Cefiro owners in the country and the rest of the world? in Thailand, I'd have to say they're usually crazy guys with 1JZ or 2JZ's transplanted! 100. Other than "that was long and tiring" do you have any comments? after filling that out it's time for a beer....

I know that there's a dedicated forum for car audio, but I've already looked through it and found nothing inspiring..... I'm trying to figure the best way to build an install for subs for the back of my Cefiro. I've been looking online for pictures of other Cefiro's with big installs, and found a couple of pictures but I've attached what I think to be the best below.... I'm fitting 2 x12" Sony subs along with Sony amp and Sony multi-cd-changer unit.... I'm pretty handy with a jig-saw and hammer, and I have loads of wood to build my own enclosures. The only major problem that I can forsee is the rear strut-bar in my car impedes how far back I can mount the sub-woofer speaker box..... any ideas? I'm wondering if any of you guys got big systems installed in your cars [like the one in the picture above] and what they look like.... If anyone has got a big installation, would you share some pictures or at least describe what you've done for best effect [best sound and best looks] Cheers

Year model:1991 Motor: 1JZ GTE Man/Auto: Manual Average k's p/tank: 300-350 on short local runs, and 350-400 on a long run using highways [and not on boost all the time] Hows it driven: hard.... Mods: standard engine, with KnN air-filter, standard blow-off, 3 inch exhaust with front silencers removed What would you change about it if you could: bigger turbo and bigger fuel injectors.... blitz blow-off and blitz wastegate and a huge exhaust back-box.

I recently had my cefiro repainted on the passenger side rear quarter due to some a$$hole hitting my wheelarch, but since this "repair" the passenger rear quarter window has not been refitted properly and in the process the rubber surround was stuffed up..... I need to replace the rubbers, and refit the glass and chrome to stop the leak... and I need to do this quickly because in Thailand its now considered to be the rainy season [there was near flooding during torrential rain this afternoon], and the people at my apartment building are giving me shit about me parking my car under cover every night..... Anyone replaced the rubbers on their window surrounds before? What kind of a job is it - is it a couple of hours, or a full-day job? are the replacement parts expensive? Cheers

totally agree with that statement - SSR's look awesome.... I want some, but no cash now.... [plus I'm not in Australia]

I just posted about SONY CDX-V6800 as a good option - but I just realised that the Aussie Sony options are more restricted and this particular model isn't offered over there.... sorry - you could try this one instead.... CDXF5710X 52W, MP3/ATRAC, 7 COLOUR, AUX IN $479.00 AUD inc. GST This flip-down CD/MP3 model features the improved Xplōd cross-key design, and with 7 colours to choose from for your display background the CDXF5710X will make every trip a little more entertaining! Key features: Drive-S Deck MP3 Playback ATRAC3plus Playback CDR/RW Playback CD-Text Display/Scroll SSIR-EXA Digital Synthesiser Tuner FM18/AM12 S-MOSFET 4 x 52 Watts Pre Out x 2 Sub Out Aux-In DSO2 EQ7 - Seven Band Equaliser Bass/Treble Control Loudness High Pass Filter Low Pass Filter BBE MP CD Changer Control MD Changer Control Detachable Front Panel

Here's mine looking a bit "george michael", with standard bumper/bar.... and gold wheels Now, here it is with a new front bumper/bar, grill and sideskirts fitted.... looking a lot less ghey And here's my girlfriend's brothers RB20 Cefiro...

I'm actually in Thailand, where there are lots of bodyshops that have every different style of bodykit imaginable..... so I know it doesn't help your search to find it in Australia. Mine is a fiberglass copy, which while being very cheap - isn't a perfect fit. The bodyshop got quite $hitty about it when I complained it didn't fit perfectly, but I think I can modify it to make it fit slightly better - so if you are going for a copy, be very careful and trial fit it [and modify accordingly] before its painted. Thanks for the positive comment... I like it a lot. Here's another photo I think it makes a huge difference to how the car looks, and it makes the FMIC look huge. I haven't decided yet where to move the number plate to, so its still sitting on my dashboard. I've noticed that I get lots of looks from people checking the car out. I work at a university and a lot of the students are rich-kids and they have highly modified Cefiros since Skylines are very hard to find over here.... for me to have a car like this is instant street-cred with the students

I used to have what appeared to be the same front bumper/bar as you, but recently changed it... Before... after....

Ok guys - problem solved! I found it eventually... the arial cable fed from the front of the car to the rear through the roof lining!!! Just as Konnect said, the signal reception is fine even with the arial down....

Again, thsnks for the response... I have tried looking there already. The arial has a signal cable but it is only the jack attached to the arial unit, but it isn't plugged into a length of cable that would run the length of the car to the center console at the front of the car. I have located the arial cable at the front of the car, but so far I'm unable to trace it to the back of the car. As I already posted, I have the carpets out, and I wouldn't be able to miss it if it were running through the floor area of the car..... I think its highly unlikely that it would run through the roof lining, so I am thinking it has either been cut at the front end of the cable [near the console], or it is wound up and lodged behing the dashboard. Considering some of the other wiring in the car, I suspect it's been cut. Well, I'll keep looking - but thanks for the responses so far.

thanks for the response. I'm not sure how often the arial would be up asI'm not really a "radio" kind of person... [i have a 10 disc multichanger and the headunit has a single mp3/vcd/cd player]...but I figured I'd fix the arial power while everything is out of the car. The power issue isn't the problem - I can fix that this arvo, but I still can't find the arial signal cable. I'm not sure if it is fed through the roof-lining of the car since the part of the cable that I have found traces into the top left of the dshboard. I don't want to take the dashboard and headlining apart today so I'm tempted to just cut my losses and buy a new arial cable and feed it underneath the carpet with the speaker cables? so does anyone know how the arial should be fed through the car [from the factory] - in the roof-lining or under the carpets?

I'm not sure if this is in the right section or not, but my question is specifically about Cefiros, so here it is. I'm trying to fix the terribly badly installed piece of cr@p Kenwood CD player in my Cefiro with a much better Sony unit.... The loom has been chopped around, but I've found wiring diagrams that will help me place everything together correctly. Installing the new unit isn't the hassle - but the electric arial doesn't work, and actually the arial cable is somewhere in the car, but I can't find the end that should plug into the actual arial in the boot of the car. I found the power feed to the arial broken halfway through the car, which explains having o power to the electric arial, but the missing arial cable means no radio signal. I currently have all of the seats and the carpet out of the car but I still can't find the arial cable. I don't want to yank the center console end of the cable in case it breaks or if it breaks other cables as I pull it - so my question is does anyone know how the arial cable is usually fed through a Cefiro? Any helpful hints would be most welcome. I need to get the car back together asap, because I'm booked into the bodyshop on monday to repair a recent hit-and run, and fit a new bodykit.

Some a$$ drove into my cefiro this weekend, while it was parked. The hit was only low speed, so there isn't as much damage as there potentially could have been.... the rear passenger side wheelarch has been scraped slightly breaking the rear bumper and leaving small indentations. The bodywork and paint is easy to fix. However I've been given a replacement bumper and sideskirts - free of charge. The rear bumper/bar is B-wave style as below.... B-Wave back-end: Anyway - the dilemma that I now have is what do I do about the front-end? I don't want to leave it standard, and I don't particularly like the B-wave front [as shown below], in fact I much prefer the TBO III [also shown below]..... but the problem is that the B-wave and TBO probably wouldn't make a good combination due to the different lines that they have..... B-Wave front TBO III front So here's the thing - at the moment I'm thinking doing some creative bodywork filling using either fiberglass or plastic bodyfiller.... I'm considering using the Bwave back end, filled to raise the indented lines to make the bumper completely level and smooth, and to fill the line around the TBO front - also making it smooth. Maybe by having both bumpers smoothed they would appear like they are more of a matched pair? Has anyone ever done or seen anything similar, or done anything else impressive by mixing and matching bodykit styles? I know its a lot of work, but the end result could be something different enough from the norm to be unique..... or should I just bite the bullet and buy a matched pair of TBO front and back ends? Come on people..... share opinions and inspire me!

has anyone got any pics of either the C33 or R32 consoles for comparison?

It's probably not so relevant for me to post "Ceffie spottings" because Ceffies are very popular, and very common to see here in Bangkok.... but yesterday I drove alongside another black Cefiro with gold rims, and the same standard front bar as my car. Smoke billowing out the back of his car, so I figure his turbo is probably stuffed - that would explain why he was driving so slowly! Also yesterday at the local university I saw another black [with sunroof] Cefiro, and the other day I parked next to a grey Cefiro that had the TBOII kit on it.... grainy pic because I took it with my phone camera....

Here is the grey RB20 Cefiro that belongs to my girlfriend's brother..... Here are a few pics of mine... the first two are from when I was buying the car and came out a bit too dark, and the third one is a better shot of the photo that I posted up in another forum topic.... sorry about the size of the full-size pics - I didn't have chance to resize them As well as getting the clutch fixed I'm also having the broken speedo repaired and fitting a blitz blow-off valve a turbo-timer I'll try to get some more photos when I collect my car. We're all planning on taking the three Cefiros on a cruise down to Pattaya to check out the sea and the sand, and to try to get some good quality photos.

Since I bought my 1jz Cefiro, I hadn't had it checked over my a mechanic yet - but today I had the need to do so - the clutch had been getting worse and worse this week and made the car pretty difficult to drive through the Bangkok traffic.... so I took it to a local friendly mechanic. I went there with one of my girlfriends friends who has a 1jz Cefiro, and later her brother joined in his RB20 Cefiro - he was concerned about his steering rack so he's getting that checked at the same time as I'm getting my clutch replaced. The mechanic decided to take us out on test-drives to see the charactoristics of the clutch problem on my car, and the steering rack on the other car. This guy was not scared to use the pedal on the right.... we have some pretty good roads nearby the garage, and there wasn't much traffic around. To be driven around in a pair of Cefiros, driven on the limit was a good experience, and it allowed me to make a direct comparison of the RB20 and the 1JZ. The RB20 was a very free-revving engine, and very responsive, but didn't feel particularly fast. The 1JZ was a little more laggy, and was slow through the rev-band, but once the turbo kicked in it was fierce and felt much much quicker than the RB. Both cars were pretty much standard, so of course I know that there was a huge power difference which has to account for the performance difference. Both cars have been left with the mechanic for him to repair. The 3rd Cefiro - the other 1jz [which IS a highly modified car] was the ride home.... again, I was treated to another experience of the performance that the 1JZ has to offer. Now, I'm not trying to condone street-racing, or driving at speeds in excess of the legal limit - but J-E-S-U-S!!!!! The speed was awsome, and has to be every guys dream to drive a car with that kind of performance. My girlfriend, and the other guys girlfriend were screaming with excitement. All in all, an exciting ending to an otherwise dull day.......

Cheers for the advice.... would like to hear a bit more on recommended parts and configuration for the twin dump setup, and which is the best free-flow exhaust that is recommended - the middle section of mine catches on the massive speed-bump at the entrance/exit to my apartment building, so I figure a refit is due soon, and a possible replacement in the next 6 months if it lasts that long..... Since I haven't actually posted one yet, here's a pic of my car for anyone who's interested....

I'm not sure which ecu is being used... I haven't really looked yet - I'm still getting acquainted with everything in the engine bay - trying to figure what is part of the 1JZ conversion and what is still original Nissan..... As for details of the conversions, I haven't found many details about "how to" do the conversion on websites in English, but I've been told that it is covered on the thai website www.cefiro-thailand.com although of course the majority of the content is in Thai. I know a few Thai engineers whos english ability is ok - I'll try to see if they can translate some details for me to post up.

Interesting to hear the comments so far..... Here's a picture of the engine.... it looks very basic and standard at the moment since only just acquiring the car I haven't yet had chance to "pretty it up". I have to admit that the conversion has been done very well, and really the only thing that gives any indication that it doesn't really belong there are the Toyota markings on the engine and that the battery has been relocated to the boot/trunk of the car. As for your question about what has to be changed, I'm not too sure other than the items that I've read on here and a few other places. I did actually look at a number of BMW 3series' with 1jz's before I settled on the idea of a Cefiro, so its a fair conclusion that it's possible to squeeze them into nearly any car that has an engine bay with suitable dimensions. I finally chose the Cefiro over the BMW based on the fun I had driving my girlfriends brothers RB20DET. I have to say that I feel like I made the right choice in that area, and its good to hear the comments about the engine choice that I made too.