-
Posts
2,714 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Feedback
100%
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Media Demo
Store
Everything posted by JimX
-
The shop I rang up had the ST115's $30 cheaper! In size 255/40/17. How are they in the wet?
-
suspension, what to go for if i do it?
JimX replied to DJ_L3ThAL's topic in Suspension, braking, tyres and drivetrain
Then new suspension for you I was in a similar situation. When I got the car it was like I was driving a hovercraft. -
In order of easiest to hardest (assuming stock car) Increase the octane of your fuel. Back your timing off. Reduce your boost. Richen up your fuel mixtures.
-
I have only lost 1 point off my licence (4 years ago so I've now got a full complement of points) in over 15 years of driving, but I will definitely complain about cops revenue raising. Based on stories like siksII's and what has happened to my friends and family. For example, one of my mate's dad, who is around 60 years old who drives everywhere and had never had a traffic fine in his life, recently got done by a speed camera which he didn't know was there, 75 in a 60 zone or something. Copped it sweet, but gee I wonder how many lives that fine saved?! And yes this was the widest, openest road you could think of and still be a 60 zone (probably should be an 80 zone). SiksII, I can fully sympathise with your situation. Cops like to set up their cameras where they know they will bust people, not where they think they will save lives. Your only hope is that there are some judges out there that are more reasonable than our police force and politicians, who will hopefully agree with the ridiculousness of that speed trap and let you off.
-
NOT MIDAS. When I went to get my discs machined there (I had little choice on a Saturday morning), I heard the guy ring up a customer and tell him that his FTO was ready, "oh and by the way your service will be $50 more than I quoted, because we had to use synthetic oil". ie, he didn't ring up the customer to tell him this before they did the work, it's just something they slapped onto the bill at the end. He then went into a spiel about how the guy's FTO was an import and had a high revving 4 cylinder 24 valve engine (aren't 24 valve FTO's 6 cylinder?) and therefore needed synthetic and then had a semi-heated argument with the guy trying to prove that he needed to charge him an extra $50. Besides which, $50 should buy you a whole bottle of cheap synth (which they no doubt use), it shouldn't just be the price difference between synth and mineral oil. Oh, and the pricks wanted $55 just for machining 2 discs. I opened my wallet in disgust and said "I only have $50" showing him the contents. He thought about it for a few seconds and said "Yeah that'll do". I guess I got the bargain of the century! (not). No receipt either so I guess they don't have to pay any tax on that $50. This only applies to one Midas in particular, pm me if you want to know which one. I've had good dealings with another one of their shops, but play it safe and just don't go to any of them. Many people have had bad dealings with other stores of theirs.
-
T3/4 or T4? I've got a T04E and I'm happy with it, good for over 250rwkw (ie, more than your stock injectors will make). They are quite cheap, around $1800 new from Garrett (less if you can get trade prices), or closer to $1000 second hand. There was a T3/4 I was considering buying from Turbogst (forum member) when I thought mine was buggered. The thread is here, and it doesn't appear to have been sold: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...&threadid=19943
-
As Robo's said, the timing (PowerFC) will help in the lower rev range. This is assuming you set your timing based on the upper rev range where you want your peak power. That will leave the lower rev range uncatered for, and the PowerFC will help. In theory, both the PowerFC and S-AFC will give you almost the same peak power - for the latter you just set the timing to the optimal advance in the peak of your power curve. The PowerFC is still better all round, because you can run it slightly leaner with more safety. With my car the AFR is around 11.5:1 at full noise - which is very rich, but doesn't bother me at all because I'm still maxing out the injectors anyway. I might be able to squeeze another 5kw out of it with a PowerFC by running it a little leaner, but I've already said above, this option would cost me over $700 (over $1000 including tune). The real question you should be asking is how much money do you want to spend? If you've got lots to burn, get the PowerFC.
-
suspension, what to go for if i do it?
JimX replied to DJ_L3ThAL's topic in Suspension, braking, tyres and drivetrain
I can back up what Honey has said - I did the swaybars on my Commodore and it made it handle like a Skyline (well, almost!) I would have gotten swaybars for my Skyline before the shocks and springs, but the old suspension was totally buggered so I didn't have much choice with limited funds. The other thing too is that the stock Skyline swaybars are much better than factory Commodore ones, so there's probably more room for improvement on the latter. -
Most of the power gains are made by the mixture map. Timing allows for a smoother power curve and slightly better economy and power. The PowerFC also compensates for temperature so you don't have to run "safe" (richer than optimal) mixtures to cater for summer heat. It also has a few other bells and whistles like a knock sensor readout. If you have the bucks the PowerFC is worthwhile, but on my last S-AFC tune I got around an extra 30rwkw, at which point my injectors were maxed out. I couldn't get any MORE top-end power out of the engine with the current setup, although I could gain more in the lower rev ranges with a PowerFC where my injectors aren't at full duty cycle. If/when I upgrade my injectors I will look at upgrading to a PowerFC.
-
S-AFC is short for Super Air Flow Converter (made by Apexi). In simpler words, it's just a mixture controller. Very popular on R33's because these cars don't have a reprogrammable ECU. It doesn't change the timing, but generally does quite a good job on mildly modded Skylines.
-
suspension, what to go for if i do it?
JimX replied to DJ_L3ThAL's topic in Suspension, braking, tyres and drivetrain
I got Whiteline springs with Bilstein shocks (both from Whiteline) but for some reason the front springs are 10mm lower than the back. I don't know if this was deliberate or not but it looks pretty good this way so I'm not complaining. You don't need a spring compressor at all to fit this suspension. I just used my own body weight to compress the spring about 2cm. -
Not sure. Version 2 might, but I don't think mine does. I just left the one that came with the car in place, and my mechanic hasn't touched it. It might be wasting space
-
rebuilding jap suspension
JimX replied to hippy's topic in Suspension, braking, tyres and drivetrain
You can rebuild them, but it's expensive. I think like $200 in parts for each shock, which will probably have to be imported from Japan. -
Lenno, ah Sorry for the misunderstanding! I was thinking you meant engine hoist, not car hoist. (man I'm stupid). I think the first thing I'll need to do is sus out what parts I'll need. I might speak to a gearbox shop or something. 2fardown, I can't do your plan word for word, because my front bar is too low to drive onto ramps I'm just going to use my ramps to hold the car up after jacking it up (like axle stands but more stable).
-
Sewid, the price difference is a lot more than $300. Looking at the Greenline site you quoted: SAFC-II: 32918 yen = ~$422 PowerFC: 79233 yen = ~$1015 That's closer to a $600 price difference. On top of that, if you want the hand controller for the PowerFC, throw in another $360. (although admittedly you may need a fuel cut defender for the S-AFC). The S-AFC is also a lot cheaper to tune. For someone on a tight budget, I don't think you can go past a second hand S-AFC. There is a big market for second hand S-AFC's, so even if you buy one and want to upgrade to PowerFC later, you will make most of your money back on the S-AFC. Especially if you bought second hand to start with. I've thought about selling my S-AFC and getting a PowerFC, but the upgrade will cost me around $700 (or more) plus tuning costs. I'm already getting over 200rwkw with no pinging, so I can't justify this massive expense. Once I upgrade my injectors and can break through the 220rwkw barrier, I will look again at upgrading to a PFC. My choice was a lot easier because my car already came with a fuel cut defender and EBC.
-
How do you use the hoist under the car? Does something go underneath and through both sides? Maybe I could hire or borrow one or something.
-
Ah, rattles. Do we need any more proof that our cars are really Japanese Commodores? Seriously though, rattles can be an indication that the car's been involved in an accident. Getting hit can loosen up joins and welds and cause things to shake around a bit. The worst rattles to get rid of are in the dash. I had one really annoying rattle in my dash of my previous car (Commodore) which I could never locate. If the rattle seems to be coming from the door trims I would spend a Saturday morning taking the trim off and investigating, it's a lot easier than pulling the whole dash out.
-
Well that's why I was going to use the trolley jack Although I'd still have to think about how to balance it well enough on the trolley jack until we could get it out from under the car. Maybe 2 trolley jacks with a piece of 2 by 4 between them?
-
Bleach1, sorry I forgot to mention that the first thing I did when I got the car was put in some Heavyweight Shockproof oil. 2nd and 5th gears used to crunch every time, but after putting the new stuff in the box is where it's at now. Lenno, why would I need a hoist? Surely the box isn't that heavy that 2 people can't lift it? My plan was to put the car on ramps, then use a trolley jack to slowly lower it onto a wheeled dolly or something then lift it up onto the workbench or ute (depending on if I can work on it myself or not). Or can you use the hoist somehow to make it easier to drop down? 2fardown, I think Nismogirl got hers done for $1100. Keep in mind though that both yours and hers included the workshop doing the removing and replacing of the box, which I would think is half the labour cost or more. I'm aiming to keep it under a grand. Just one more question - what are the long term consequences of letting the crunching go without repair? Will it damage the whole gearbox, or just the synchros and dog gears used to engage the other gears?
-
I'm getting a bit sick of a couple of my gears crunching. Namely, 1st -> 2nd crunches when cold, and 4th -> 5th crunches hot or cold (not every time though). How hard is it to replace the synchros yourself? And is that all you need to replace to stop the crunching? Would anything else be worn out and need replacing? If it's too hard to do at home, what would a workshop charge for a rebuild, assuming I just hand them the box and not the whole car? (saving some labour costs). I've never dropped a gearbox out myself, but I don't imagine it will be too difficult, just time consuming. Any tips on how to do it? (R33).
-
Where exactly is it leaking from? If it's internally and the oil is going out the exhaust, you will probably need a rebuild with new seals. If it's around the oil lines, chances are that the bolts have just come loose. There are no gaskets in there (there are none on mine anyway), it should seal well enough with the bolt pressure. If it's somewhere in the middle (around the housing but still in the engine bay?) then it'll still probably need to be looked at by a turbo specialist. What sort of turbo is it? Garrett in Chipping Norton will rebuild a sleeve bearing Garrett turbo for around $350.
-
I've got a Bosch 044 pump which flows more than a GTR pump, and my injectors are fine.
-
I put a Bosch 044 pump in my car and didn't notice as much difference in the mixture as I thought I would. It'd be less difference for a GTR pump (less pressure) so I don't think a re-tune is absolutely essential but would be recommended. The ECU will cope to a certain extent.
-
Her insurance should cover everything that was damaged on your car. Proving that it was her car that did the damage is going to be where the challenge lies. If your car is comprehensively insured, let them do all the chasing up, and pray that she isn't insured with the same company! (or you will probably get screwed)