Beer Baron

you are on the right track. I know john very well and sure he's an old fuddy duddy, but he actually races his car and has lots of customers with quick cars of all types including many GTSTs and GTRs. he is smart enough to pay attention to what works and what doesn't and knows the reasons why. and has tried and tested lots of different combinations on his and on customers cars. plus he talks to me so he can't be too dumb. lol. he is also not in love with any one brand of gear and will source whatever is suitable for the CUSTOMER. not just flog whatever shit he gets the cheapest. sure it's a mission from ACT but it's not like you'll have to make the trip a dozen times. so I say if you're happy there, then just go ahead and get UAS to do it.

we used to. was easier than carrying the compressor. so we just take big nitrogen bottle. use it to run airjacks and inflate the tyres. works well. but honestly it makes little difference. the theory is lovely. in practice there is not enough difference really to justify the price difference between $0 per fill for air and $40 for nitrogen....

I wouldn't buy either the genuine or the copies. they are both beaten by a number of other designs out there. you want good, go tomei dumps. you want screamer, buy big single with external gate.

ummm bozodos I've had sixaxis controller with dual shock/rumble function for close to 2 years now.....

lol, it's don quixote. they just make it sound like donkey. and the shop song does go don don don donkey otie I guess which can confuse a bit. glad you enjoyed your trip.

ok places to eat. since I live in the city and never cook i've eaten at most places around. if you want to try a few here are my picks: Jazushi - devonshire st surry hills (2 min walk from central station, take devonshire st exit). this place has great japanese food and has live jaz most nights. it's also owned, and staffed by japanese people (this does make a big difference). I eat there a lot and have not had a dish i did not like there, and I've eaten some great japanese food all over japan to compare it with. Superbowl - Chinatown mall area. if you go to chinatown, go to superbowl. it looks like nothing at all but is easily the best chinese restaurant in chinatown. you'll spot it easily. all the other restaurants will be nearly empty and have touts outside trying to lure you in. one of them will be full. that's superbowl.... If you like ramen go to ichi ban boshi which is in pitt st in the shopping centre next to kinokuniya book shop (also worth visiting). forget tetsuyas you have basically no chance of getting in unless you want to go next year. if you want a top class dining experience instead go to the berrowra waters inn. not cheap, around $150-$200 per person but amazing food. probably among the top 5 in sydney. it's on the water and only accesible by their private boat (they pick you up) or by water taxi, or sea plane if you're keen! For you I'd say get a train up to berrowra or hire a car for the day. to get to the fish markets the best way is by light rail. the light rail stops pretty much just outside. monorail only goes to darling harbour, not to the fishmarkets and it's probably 10min walk or so from there. consider having a drink at opera bar at sunset. much nicer in summer as it'll be a bit chilly this time of year. but still a beautiful place to sit and have a nice drink. or check out horizon bar in the shangri la hotel. nice flaming cocktails (i believe one of only a handful of places that do it due to OH+S!). Ivy is nice too. but no real views. do the harbour bridge walk if you haven't done it. great way to do a day trip. public transport here is basically you just buy tickets either one way (example, kings cross to central) or you can buy a return ticket if you're just going from A-B then B-A. if you want to go A-B, B-C, C-A then you'll need to just buy single tickets for each journey.

yep, I would go to a training day. going to club drift days is ok, but if you don't pick it up fast you will easily get frustrated. also 90% of those days do not allow any passengers so you can't have someone in the car with you and you really do need that to show you what you're doing wrong. asking people for tips and hoping for the best does not always work. you'll learn more in 1 full day or proper instruction than you would at half a dozen club/open drift days I think.

internal only by the look of the pic above.

another one whose seen it before too! so often you get RB26 balancer comes loose after not being done up to spec. they then start to wear little groves into the crank snout and eventually snap off keyway and then just spin freely. that's when you'll notice it as you suddenly have no power steering/water pump/altenator.... in all likelihood this may not have been what caused your oil pump failure. they are common enough on their own! as I said earlier as long as the journals weren't damaged from the oil pump failure and if the crank is not bent then that snout damage is an easy enough fix. but there's a couple of "ifs" in that sentence... anyway, if you need a new key I have some spares and they cost bugger all.

lol, perhaps we should un-ban him so he can come back and take it like a man!

want to sell that block? or swap + cash your way for a brand new N1 block.... ?

do a search for k sport or D2 or G4. all basically the same thing. and most peoples opinion of them is fairly clear....

no, they feel just like a cheap second rate seat. think of it like this. try on a $2,000 ermenegildo zegna suit. see how nice the fabric and stiching is, and how when you wear it you feel like a million bucks. now put on a $300 lowes/kelly/country/whatever cheap suit. and surprise surprise you feel cheap, uncomfortable etc. all the cheap copy seats of tried felt just like I expected. crap... companies like bride are not profit hungry rip off merchants. there is no giant scam going on. they spend the right money on good materials, top designers, research and development and safety testing, and when producing the seats they have strict quality control measures. that is where your money goes, it's not keeping thousands of overweight japanese salary men in $200 a glass sake and hostess bars. you get what you pay for. pay good money, get good safe seats. pay half the price and sadly you do not even get half as good. it's actually worse value as you pay half as much but only get a quarter of a genuine product.

yep they are noisy at idle too. the only time the noise will stop (if it's injector noise) is that brief moment when you rev the engine up to say 3,000rpm then quickly get off the throttle. as soon as you get off the throttle the noise will stop for a second as the revs fall, then start again as it hits idle rpm. so if it's not making this noise at idle, the sadly it's most likely something else. GTR injectors are very noisy though and that noise is often mistaken for other things by those not used to what RB26 sounds like.

good question and the right answer. on any given engine a turbo charged version will be quieter than NA version. so if you took the same engine, and same exhaust, but one was turbo and one was not the NA car would be much louder. it's purely because the turbocharger is causing a restriction in the exhaust and muffles the sound of the engine.

well ken has some good advice. mondial is a good place to start. in all seriousness. an NA SR20 silvia would be a great first car for the things you want to do with it. or an NA RB25 R32 GTS (hard to find these days and overpriced due to demand). an R34 RB25 NA is a good car too and more bang for buck but obviously costs a lot more. conversely an NA manual 2JZ supra would be a good base to start with too. they go quite nicely.

yep, it's called work ethic and is probably half the reason he was such a prolific winner. while half the drivers are off getting hand jobs and getting pissed he is most likely nerding it up with the engineers learning how to win. not sure it's the right call, but it would certainly endear him to his employers. no matter how much he was paid they got value for money...

if he ordered the right nismo coppermix clutch (ie a late 32/33 pull one) then he wont need the converter stuff. they make a compatible clutch so you don't have to convert.

you left out the best of them all... bathurst... Of the few in aus I have driven (Eastern Creek, wakefield, Oran Park GP, Oran Park Sth, Oran Park Nth and Phillip Island) I would rate Oran Park GP as my favourite. Have not done a full lap at bathurst and it's not a full time circuit but it's really number 1. Eastern creek: fairly convenient location in sydney. nice high speed turn 1 and with an open exit onto a straight can carry good speed there. has some ok elevation changes and is not bad. a bit of a 'power circuit' and can get a bit boring. pit facilities are ok, good compared to most aus tracks. food is shithouse. spectating points are shit too. surface is quite good, and has some astro turf which effectively widens how much track you can now use at a few key points (courtesy of A1 GP running there). Wakefield park: bloody far away at about 3 hours drive from sydney. bloody cold in winter, bloody hot in summer. any times in between you will most likely get sunburned and rained on in the same day. and the flies. my god the flies. track is ok, fairly safe if a bit boring. quite short, dicky, fiddly little track. facilities are best described as "average to poor"... also a mission to get decent fuel without having to do a 30 min drive each way. Oran Park GP: My favourite of the NSW tracks, but it's not here for much longer. has a figure 8 (ie track passes under itself) which is awesome. great elevation changes make it feel like a big roller coaster ride. lots of wall for you to hit and turn 1-2 is a bit of a butt clencher. if you get it right the parts from the top of the bridge through to the end of the straight are quite nice and flowing. the first part of the lap (turn 2 through to the bridge) are a bit dicky, slow turns, hard on the gas, hard on the brakes, turn it in and repeat for a few corners. but once off the bridge it's all good. facilities are a mix. main garages are ok and the pit area is nice. if you're unlucky enough to be in the rest of the paddock area it's crap. the bitumen looks like they dumped it from a helicopter. it's so uneven and coarse. not very conveniently located, 1.5 hours out of sydney. food is shithouse. spectating is excellent with some great vantage points that are nice and close to the track. South layout doesn't do it for me, and nth layout is only good for drifting or go karts. see it while you can. Phillip Island: great track with great facilities. goes to show what having a yearly international event does for a tracks facilities. great pit area, nice surface the whole thing is a class act. spectating is ok but not great. nice change of elevation heading up to MG but that's about it. hayshed is a bit of a butt clencher in anything fast. and in anything real fast it's probably no longer flat out. last turn coming onto the straight (actually the last few) is great, bullshit fast, turn 1 is fast too, but as you flow from turn 1 into the braking zone for 2 in some respects I feel you can attack turn 1 eastern creek a little harder as you have a nice long straight between 1 and 2 there. amazing scenery help make for a nice days driving here too. I've done it a few times now and loved it. a lot to learn there though before I'm anywhere near being quick. need to get to a few more oz tracks while we still have any.

can almost see the office in this pic,

some R32s in this one for you.

hmm I have been inside the little office/room at fuji drift circuit but don't remember seeing anything much in there. I have only really been in there to register for drift days and pay. should have looked around more... here is an R33 shot I took that is not too bad. it was taken at fuji too, but on the short course. I also took this shot which I quite like. It's R35 super GT prototype though... this one is pretty average photo skill wise, but a nice shot none the less. racing the mines R35 on the tomei expressway ( think it was the tomei, bad memory.) will try and find a nice R32 pic for you. now have you got a pic of this art that is in the office/viewing room at the fuji drift track. i've been there heaps of time but never noticed it. maybe it's new.

yes you can. fatz certainly did! he doesn't have more than about $20 in cash and assets... you fit in it fine fatz. what you talkin bout. sure you were on the bucket instead of in it but it was fine... anyway guys, still for sale and pretty motivated to sell. looking to buy another property now and want to sell this car badly.

yep it's still chugging away at my parents place on the sunny northshore. very keen to shift it. you'd be hard pressed to find a better condition truck for this money. i've been all over it, under it and inside it and it's nice all over. all log books and every single service receipt is there and it's always been serviced on time.

Hi guys, I have for sale a brand new HKS turbo timer type 0. it's a nice, neat, small turbo timer. and looks very modern. It's the latest version from HKS. It has 2 modes of turbo timing and also has a volt meter function which is mildly handy. It's brand new in the box. asking price is $145 delivered to most places in aus. or pick-up from me in sydney for $140. It's this one: you can even watch a nice little video of it here (in japanese) courtesy of HKS Japan. http://www.hks-power.co.jp/products/electr...r/timer_t0.html