Beer Baron

lol, thanks mate. I will definitely need that one.

I'm a big fan of the willans. they work well and easy to use. 3inch 4 point with the rotary buckle is about $350, add about $80 for the 5/6 point nut buster strap. yeah it's expensive but cams has extended their life now I think from 5 to 10 years so it works out to be about $40 a year. not a bad price for safety. http://www.willans.com/

lol, sorry guys.

balls deep or nothing. circuit looks ok. bit mickey mouse though like all tilke crap. I guess the esses on the straight might be half quick but the rest is typical tilke. lots of tighening radius corners (lame), lots of 'technical' stuff. no high speed balls out corners like ohh spa for instance. I reckon that track would work better in reverse direction.

yeah trent will be able to find it no problem in 10 mins or so. he would have fixed literally hundreds of skylines with the exact problem you describe.

yep, that's the pump. and like marlin said give link a try. if they are in the ballpark just buy it off them. around $500 or so is average. maybe $600 though with todays crappy AUD.

thanks cobber. thought it was 2gb. if i wasn't so lazy I'd do mark a favour and update the firmware so it can handle 8gb but like you say 2gb can record a fair bit of wang mounted choc tunnel diving bedroom action so no real problem.

friday is alfa 3litre 75 for me, with cage, semis etc. saturday is M3 track car, again brakes, cage semis etc. and then for spa it's lotus exige 240S. for the F1 GP we are both riding our beer scooters though. not sure how a beer scooter fairs against the mighty 2010 RBR but it can't do worse than HRT or lotus....

lol, and yeah good point. we will be able to nicely compare the radcam and vio. anyone care to send some inducements my way before I review the stuff???? anyone??? crash footage should at least help us identify who grabbed whose hand first and therefore who is gay. PS, the RADcam is also ahead in my book. being a child of the 80s the rad-ness of it all certainly appeals to me.

yeah I wouldn't write of the radcam just yet. it's HD where as the pov 1/1.5 is not. it's also a bit cheaper (and heaps cheaper than the POVs used to be). it looks to me to do everything the VIO does. and they both accept an external mic (which is the best way to get sound in a POV anyway) so if using the same mic on a radcam and a POV I can't imagine the sound being all that different. I think till recently the VIO was the best option without spending massive dough as they are easy to use and pretty reliable. but the radcam looks to me to have a few key advantages on paper at least. they support much bigger SD cards for starters. I'd wait till marlin tests his out as like he said he's got lots of experience with the VIO products so can make a good comparison. ps: marlin, what size card were you using in the VIO I've got? do you know if it has the update firmware to allow 8gig cards or is it on the old firmware which only allows up to 2gig?

yeah GTR fuel pumps are great but 32 pumps are bloody old by now and do fail. I would just replace it with a nismo pump. easy direct fit pump and flows enough to supply fuel to 6 X 700cc injectors if need be. fuel pressure is bloody important and can be intermittent fault which makes it hard to catch without a fuel pressure gauge. with the gauge any fault in fuel delivery will be instantly apparent. could save you an engine one day....

yep, most likely a pipe blown off, or vacuum hose off. best bit if you are not sure what to look for is take it to a mechanic and get them to find the missing/split/blown pipe. easy fix.

yeah I wouldn't say CPs are shit. they are built to a price and for the money they cost they do a fine job. they are nothing super special but they certainly aren't rubbish either. plenty of cars use them without problem.

nope, you don't need the hand controller if using FC datalogit or fchako to tune and switch maps. these products (and a laptop and software) can do everything the HC can do, and more. so there is no need for a hand controller if you buy and use this product. the only thing the HC is better at is as a permanently mounted monitory tool.

I do love a nice tight hako. good product and very well positioned price wise. cheaper than a datalogit but still very useful. good idea to just focus on the hardware and let people use their own software. should be a winner. I might add one to the bits and pieces.

the step 3 differences were: gudgeon pin size larger on S3 pistons (obviously comes with rods and pins to suit). also, the S3 pistons have 3 coatings on them. off the top of my head they had moly coated skirts, titanium coated ring lands and ceramic coated tops/crowns. crank is the same from memory and rods are the same too apart from pin size. the S3 kit was fantastic no doubt but the S2 kit is still a serious piece of gear. I wouldn't hesitate in using one for a big build.

battery life is not stellar but mine has improved since it was new. not sure how long you've had yours but mine steadily improved over the first 2 weeks or so. I treat it the same as the old 3GS and just put it on to charge when I go to bed at night.

the defi din guages are pretty readable for their size. they do come with all needed sensors and wiring etc. very easy to fit and use. my advice though would be go with some defi-link guages. no need for the bling BF series ones, the plain defi link are easier to read anyway. no need for the 60mm the 52mm are fine and a bit less obtrusive. they come with sensors etc too. and all top quality. very easy to wire up as you buy the controller and get it power and ground and then plug one gauge into it, every other gauge then daisy chains off the one next to it. no mess. they have fully adjustable warnings both visual (red flashing light on each gauge) and audible (loud buzzer). so you can set oil pressure to go off when pressure drops below 2bar, and set the temps where you want them. also get a fuel pressure one and you can set that too. they also have record function as a basic form of datalogging. so you can record for a stage and watch it afterwards to see what was happening with temps, boost, oil pressure etc during the stage.

the two blue little circles by themselves are spring insulators. just pieces of rubber. the blue bits on the shocks between the main springs and the lower spring perch are helper springs. just there to keep the springs captive under droop. the springs fitted to the shocks are swift. that bronze colour is the swift 'default' spring colour. do you know what rates they are? good score.

also, ebay. have a look on US ebay as a lot of retailers sell on there, you can then get their shop details if interested.

I am loving all the ze-tool hate that's bubbling up these days. I've been a passionate hater of the little bastard child ever since he punted my mate webber up the jacksie in japan. that was not cool. it cost webber are sure second place and a possible (probable?) win as he was much faster than the only car ahead of him in the wet. anyway, thankfully the knuckle head hasn't improved and everyone can now see what a spoilt little monkey he is. and yeah mark certainly does seem to be well liked and respected amongst the F1 drivers and other people in the business. He has gone about his career the right way, no back stabs, speaks his mind, earned his place in every team he drove with and puts 100% into the sport. on top of that he dedicates a lot of time to issues related to F1 like safety etc, drivers rights and of course spent a fair while as president of the GPDA (GP drivers association) which in itself shows his position amongst the drivers. he's a hard bloke not to like.

hmm, d'oh. how come we get fined for recovery costs from sand trap and bloody F1 drivers get a free tow? they've got it arse backwards. if anyone can afford a couple hundred euro for a tow it's those guys. and we are on bloody struggle street here! plus we are far more likely to end up there what with our sub-F1 skill levels. it's all a bloody conspiracy.

yeah that was 100% bullshit. I'd like to see webber or someone roll up to the front row and then take an extra half a car length... if you can't stop an F1 car on a line you really shouldn't be driving.

yep, I agree too. the new boys like hamilton and vettel know there is no consequence to little fark ups so they can push hard and when they overstep the mark it's nothing more than a run wide and some pick-up on the tyres. more 'old school' drivers like webber are used to the days where if you came off the track 9 out of 10 times you stayed off the track either in a wall or gravel trap so naturally they drive differently and are being disadvantaged a little. so yes they should change it. but can they hold off on changing spa till AFTER we've driven there next month? hacks like me need these massive concrete run-offs. it's how i cut my sick laps. otherwise it's into the wall I go....

oh, and if this is a build diary it'll get moved to the projects/build ups section. and btw I think your 420hp may be a tad optimistic from a 17 year old standard RB26 with a power FC, boost controller, front pipes and a jap cat back exhaust. more like about 330-350hp at the engine. expect around 220-250rwkw depending on how much boost you're runing.