KiwiRS4T

I got mine from Ebay (US) - was shipped from Japan in about 4 days. Have a look on the AU ebay site first but there are always plenty on the US one.

Extended dyno run is extreme use for SMIC a well ducted one on the road will get a lot more air through it. While max KW is of interest take a 80 to 120 km/hr time at each stag of tune to see actual improvement in performance. What kind and size are your new injectors?

You could buy a lot of fuel for the thousands it would cost to buy a 6 spd Getrag let alone the cost of conversion and then your top gear rpm could still be the same. can you not find a taller diff from the Nissan line up (for say $500)?

I am using Castrol Edge 5W - 30 in my C34 and aftermarket filters - high flow Pipercross in my airbox. (Also non Nissan synthetic ATF in my auto, steering and Atessa).

Yes please.

Don't guess - failure without an AFR meter could be disaster! If no-one has an electronic copy then you could try the Jaycar website or even email Jaycar for an electronic version. If all else fails I can copy and post to you (but this would be a last resort as it could take a week from here). Bob

Yes, sell it to MyStag260 - after 3 months I've stopped believing. I have a plan "B" and if that doesn't work I'll just make my own!

Grey imports are available in NZ for NZ$120K to NZ140K. AU$170K sounds a bit steep - should be more like $AU 100k

Replacing the exhaust plus low impedance replacement filter in your standard airbox (such as Pipercross PX- PP1128) will make a big difference - more efficient so more power if you boot it or more economy if you don't - but from front pipe through gutted cat (or more efficient high flow cat) to quiet muffler it won't be cheap. If you get an Apexi SAFC you will be able to tune your air/fuel ratios and then you should get an Apexi SITC to allow you to adjust the timing across the rev range (get it tuned on a dyno). A good quality fuel pump and an adjustable fuel pressure regulator would help to ensure an adequate fuel supply. The usual economy tips: keep your tyre pressures up, don't carry any unnecessary junk around in the car and as stated elsewhere clean/check your coils and check your spark plug condition/gaps.

Yep get the Bilsteins first- I got a reconditioned set ...good as new but cheaper.

The S2 is better in many respects ( more power, tiptronic, poss more airbags, better trim etc) but some people prefer the look of S1. But if you are planning to keep it for only one year then I would buy one that is well sorted with minimal mods to help with resale and spend as little as possible since with oil prices inevitably rising heavy wagons are going to continue to lose value and the less you spend the less you can lose.

I see your turbo replacement thread is quite old. have you done the supension since then? SK's bars are available here through Shockabsorber Services Int Ltd - can give you more details if it is not too late.

The sparky at Torque Performance is wiring in my SAFC, SITC and LM2 afr meter (yes I would say it is typically RB rich at max revs as people report flames shooting out of the exhaust on the track day) so once I sort out some form of knock detection I plan to tune it myself. I expect to be able to put some more advance in low down - it goes like a rocket from about 5000 to 7000 but want a bit more zip in the midrange. When I get a better turbo and my adjustable exhaust cam gear fitted I will tune it as best I can and then take it somewhere (Soichi?) and see how much they can improve on my tune.[later] Just got my car back - it appears to be running lean in the midrange - will see if I can remedy that with my SAFC or whether I need to turn up the fuel pressure.

My main engine mod is the bigger exhaust (from front pipe to rear including gutted cat) and a bigger (Trust) smic and so far this is giving me 155AWKW. I have fitted the Jaycar boost controller and am now fitting the SAFC and SITC and will then tune it - but I'm not expecting more than about 160- 170AWKW until I get a new turbo to push it over 200AWKW. I have actually spent just as much money on the brakes and twice as much on the suspension and now i have a pretty zippy touring car but my first track day revealed 1. I need better wheels and tyres 2. My greddy speed cut thingy doesn't work so i still don't know how fast my car can go past 180km/hr but more significantly... 3. Its slow off the line. Using just a stopwatch and the speedo my 80 to 120 time (done all in 2nd gear) is about 5.5 seconds which is comparable to the Holden Sportwagon Calais which also weighs 1850kg but is supposed to do 0 to 100 in 7.95 seconds (say 8) whereas even with booting the auto against the brakes I can't get much better than 11 seconds. Do other people with similar power levels get similar 0-100 times or is mine exceptionally slow? The 80 - 120 time is compatible with my current power level but I expected it to be a bit quicker off the line. A lot of fairly ordinary family cars can do better than 10 seconds. Has anyone else timed their car over 0-100 or 80 - 120? I am wondering if my Atessa is playing up. I'll change the ATF in it and give it a good bleed and see how I go after a tune.

I wouldn't say the custom valving is no longer available but you may need some patience to track them down. You probably need to contact Gary Cook (SK) and if he cannot sell them to you he may be able to point you to them. His PM box seems to be always full so your best bet would be to try his business address:Superior Suspensions Pty Ltd 4 Lincoln Street Minto NSW Tel +61 (2) 9603 0100

Chassis is the same but turbos are different: R33 on Series I, R34GTT (bigger exhaust wheel housing) on series II so front pipes may differ but I expect the rest would be the same. R33 front pipe is a tight fit on my Stagea but have had no problems with it.

Yep Bilsteins are the shock of choice - I've put them on both my Stageas (previous n/a and current turbo) - you only need extra circlip grooves if you want to go beyond the available adjustment range which i didn't as I have only lowered mine by about 35mm. Any shop with the appropriate gear (a lathe?) should be able to add grooves so if you're planning on a radical drop you should probably get them first up. SK has researched the ideal valving but the research was paid for by someone else so i think you'd have to contact him to get that set up. Being in New Zealand i bought my Bilsteins locally from a factory trained suspension guy and the settings seem OK to me (although I'm not a suspension expert). The springs seem to be a matter of taste - I got Teins whch seem to be a bit hard for road use but I can't be bothered changing them at this point.

With one exception the part numbers will be OK no matter where you buy them as they will recognise the old Whiteline codes. The exception is the front sway bar. Whether you want fixed or adjustable you need to put an X in the code and to be sure specify 24mm thickness and say its for a Stagea (e.g. BNF27X 24mm for 1997 Stagea) for a fixed one). This last is only made by Superior Suspensions under the Selby brand. The list says "for Series I and II" which i cannot verify although I think its correct (same can't be said for brakes).

What a mission! Would this be a good time to fit the big bore exhaust (if funds allow) or has that already been done? Looking forward to the new power figures!

Disclosure: I used to be a mechanic back in the last century but my hands on experience with RBs is pretty much limited to my S1 Stagea. Whether bigger injectors are indicated for now or later would depend on the duty cycle now - if they are running at only 60- 70% now they should not require replacing. And even if they do or maybe especially if they do you still need to ensure an adequate fuel supply from your fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator. Increased boost will require increased fuel pressure to get the fuel out of the injectors at the required rate.

Did the guys at Unique motorsports say what the problem was? The ecu can't really "override the settings" because all the SAFC does is to modify the signal from the AFM thus creating a new reality for the ecu. One downside can be that it alters your timing so they should really be fitted together with an Apexi SITC so that your timing can be fine tuned. I will be fitting both over the weekend together with a wideband sensor and afr meter (LM2) so I can start tuning - although this is on an RB25DET. I don't know how the V6 is different but think the SAFC/SITC should work OK too. p.s some tuning tips from SK which may or may not be useful to your particular car/engine: Recently a few guys have been asking me about how to get around the DFA (SAFC) compromise of leaner A/F ratios at high boost and higher rpm and richer A/F ratios during (and sometimes just after) boost build. The problem is if you increase the AFM voltage at higher rpm (to get richer A/F ratios) the standard ECU sees this as increased airflow, which may push it into R&R mapping. Which results in power dips and a lack of response. Sometimes this doesn't show up on the dyno but raises it ugly head when you drive in variable conditions on the road or track. To fix this “R&R versus too lean at higher boost” problem you have to increase the fuel pressure (via an adjustable fuel pressure regulator). The trick is to increase the fuel pressure just enough to get the A/F ratios to the target (say 12 to 1) in the rpm range that it is currently running too lean (usually above 4,500 rpm). For adjustable FPR I use the Nismo bolt on style, ~$150 from Nengun. Set the FPR to give 45psi above boost when boost has stabilised (anything above c3000 rev/min). Once you get the higher rpm A/F ratios in the range that you want them, you use the DFA (SAFC) to lean it out in the other rpm ranges where it will then be too rich. This (reduced AFM voltage) also helps with preventing the ECU going to R&R, as it uses lower airflow map load points. So you get 2 benefits. In order to lean out the A/F ratios, the DFA settings are used to reduce the AFM voltage (that the ECU sees), which usually advances the ignition timing. So the SITC is used to retard the ignition timing. This retarding is mostly required at revs over 4,500 rpm. Most times under 4,000 rpm you can sneak in a bit more advance, which improves the response considerably. If you are using a suitable turbo (eg; GCG ball bearing high flow) the adj FPR, DFA and SITC you should be able to get the boost up to 1 bar, maybe 1.1 bar. That will give you another 30 to 40 kW over the 12 psi that you may well be restricted to if you don’t use the adj FPR to cure the high rpm leanness first. It does require some fiddling around, but no more than trying to achieve the same results with a Power FC on a manual. It’s just a matter of tuning the right bit first. Hope that was of some help to fellow auto owners.

Bypass the solenoid and or get a boost controller (but yes, he needs a tunable ecu).

These people are contactable at their West Auckland branch: http://www.gearboxfactory.co.nz/index.htm They say they do shift kits - you could email them with details of your car (and gearbox number e.g. RE4RO1A) to see if they can supply what you want. (Although it could be worth phoning Mike at MV autos in Adelaide as he has done heaps specifically for skylines and stageas)

That's not a joke. Ethanol is alcohol. It is the basis of commercially produced spirits. Apparently people who make their own ethanol have to put some (2%) petrol in it 'so that no one will drink it. In American Drag racing there is a class called "Top Alcohol" which is for methanol powered cars (methanol is chemically very similar to ethanol but methanol is naturally poisonous so undrinkable).

If you really want to know the precise ratio and do not have the information to calculate it (cc of head, exact bore and stroke) then perhaps you can measure it by pouring oil down the spark plug hole at TDC and then filling it again at BDC - potentially messy (bit of a mission to get the oil out again) but dead accurate (and no, I haven't done it myself).