JimX

T88, Quicktrak worked? Do you mean your car was stolen and found with the tracking device? If, so did they catch the thieves?

I'm pretty sure they're legal, I've never seen an air box which has some sort of ADR approval stamp or sticker on it like brake lines for example. The other workshop wouldn't be Hills Motorsports would it? Their box is made from aluminium and seals better than the UAS one. At the cost you mentioned though it's really only worthwhile if you have lots of money to burn. I got the cheaper fibreglass one from UAS for around $160 I think. It does the job well enough.

Thinner tyres will generally handle better in the wet (all other things being equal) because they can push the water out of the way a lot easier. That's why some fat wet weather tyres have HUGE vertical grooves in them, to try making them the equivalent of 2 smaller tyres. So it's fair to compare a thicker tyre with a thinner one in wet weather. If anything the thicker one is at a disadvantage.

Duncan, are you sure you're not confusing the ZE-326's with the ZE-502's? The latter are much cheaper I think. That's what Ben had on his for compliance (by the dealer) and I'm pretty sure they weren't an overly expensive tyre. They usually throw the cheapest tyres on they can find for compliance. Of course I could be wrong, maybe you got the number right and they do suck It's just that I know that the 502's are really bad.

Would flow testing be part of an ultrasonic cleaning process? May as well get both done at the same time.

For anyone that's interested - I got prices for all 3 Falkens listed on their site. The ST-115's are $289 each, and both the FK-451's and ZE-326's are $310 each. These were all in the size of 255/40/17. I will be getting the 451's I think, I've got silica tyres on my motorcycle and I love them.

I think around 14:1 is the "perfect" mixture, but this will not cater for any variances such as turbulence in the plenum, injectors not flowing *exactly* the amount they're supposed to, etc. That's why cars are usually tuned to around 12:1. 13:1 would be better if you could get it reliably, but it'd be risky if you haven't got everything tuned absolutely perfectly and compensating for temperature. The "best" mixture depends on the car. Some will show a big jump from 11:1 to 12:1, some will have smaller differences. My car seems happy enough at 11.5:1. The richer you can leave the car, the less likely you are to detonate. My car could run happily all day at over 12:1 during winter, but in summer without anything to compensate for the temperature it would probably ping. That's why my mechanic tuned it to 11.5 or so.

Where could I get that done? Can I wait while they do it? Thanks for all your helpful advice!

FM901's in 255/40/17 for $310 is dirt cheap. If anyone knows where to get them for that price in Sydney, please tell!

Can you get decent tyres in 255/40/17 size for around or under $300? All of the big brands seem to be $450 each. There must be something almost as good for less.

I don't know what exhaust housing it is, but it looks really cheap and crappy! It's just got a single round outlet that's the same size as the dump pipe (maybe 2.5 to 3 inches? a little smaller than the 3.5" for the front pipe and cat-back anyway). Most of the other turbos I've seen have a square outlet with a partition down the middle which would suit a split dump pipe really well, but in my case I think it'd be a waste of money (if it would even fit). If anyone knows of a way I can cheaply upgrade this to a bigger split outlet, please let me know. I'll be upgrading the actuator hopefully in a couple of weeks.

RS500, I have absolutely no idea what my wheels are All I know is the AR, which is 0.6. The turbo was identified by an engineer at Garrett in Chipping Norton, because it doesn't have "T04E" stamped onto the housing. I've got a humungous power/torque spike at around 4500rpm, but then it dips and surges as the wastegate fails to cope at 15psi. I'm looking at getting this fixed relatively soon, but until then I'm dropping the boost to around 12 or 13 psi. The power doesn't feel any less at this lower boost because it wasn't holding maximum boost before anyway.

Can cylinders running too lean be detected by spark plug colour? I have a front-facing plenum and I've no doubt that cylinder 6 runs leaner than cylinder 1, but I pulled all the plugs out and checked after around 5000km and number 6 was a healthy light brown colour, and number 1 was a little darker and everything else something in between. So I don't think I'm running too lean overall, just that the rear cylinders are running correctly and the front ones a little too rich. But there is very little difference in the plug colours, so it's not like number 1 is fouling or anything.

If you get a boost controller you will probably need some sort of fuel cut defender or you will get an even bigger flat spot. Do any electronic boost controllers have these? My Profec B doesn't, the car came with a HKS fuel cut defender as well and it works perfectly.

I was just looking at the Bridgestone Australia site and I looked up the G3 and SO3 specs. I couldn't find any listing for a 255 wide tyre in the G3 section, but did find one for the SO3. Do you know where to get a 255 G3 from in Australia?

I have Toyo Tranpaths on the back of mine. They were very grippy when I got the car, but now they're almost down to the tread markers they're not quite so good (lost traction on dyno at >200kw for one). They are still pretty good in the wet though. I wanted to get Toyo Proxes to replace but like all good tyres in this size they are >$450 a pop. If I don't have a spare $900 to burn when the tyres are at an end I might have to pick something cheaper.

With what mods?

You have to tell them everyone who will be driving the car. I'm not sure if you can put it in your parent's name, ring and ask.

RS500, out of interest why would you stay away from the T04E? That's what my turbo is and it seems very similar to yours with regards to full boost (at around 1 bar) and power output. I think that the Cosworth engine is only 2 litre as opposed to my 2.5L, but keep in mind that my power output of 214rwkw is at 1 bar and also with a weak wastegate actuator. I'm pretty sure I can get the same power with less boost once I replace it with a stronger one.

If your old pads are worn, you will have to push the calipers back. You can use a small G-clamp as already suggested, or a screwdriver for the bush mechanic method. If you use a screwdriver, alternate the sides from which you push the piston back or else it'll go in crooked and may stick. The instructions with my new brake pads also say not to lever off the disc, but don't say why. Presumably so that you don't scratch the disc or put too many stresses across the disc, though I don't think you'd warp it with such minimal pressure. Edit: There's actually a tool designed specifically for pushing brake pistons back, but unless you got it really cheap I don't think it'd be worth getting.

It depends on what boost you are running. Garrett have a 16psi actuator which is $290. If you are only running standard boost or a little more (up to 10-12psi maybe?) then the standard actuator should be ok. I'm breaking the threshhold with mine at 15psi so until I get a new actuator I've turned the boost down.

Robo's, that's pretty normal. The higher the pressure the more fuel the ECU usually dumps in unless dictated otherwise by tuning. When you see the opposite it means you have maxed out your fuel system (pump/injectors).

The clear coat on my rims has had it. The paintjob on the spokes is still good, so I don't want to re-do the whole lot. But the bits around the edge have lots of yellowing peeling clear coat which I want to get rid of. My mechanic tried polishing up the fronts and this worked to some extent, which is what gave me the idea of removing the clear coat entirely on all of them. Can anyone suggest a good way to do this? It doesn't have to be perfect, they are 2 piece rims and there is stuff deep into the wheels near the edges of the spokes which I will never get at, but I'd like to remove the majority of it from the outside edges. Should I bother re-applying some new clear coat once the old stuff is off, or should they be ok exposed to the elements?

What's the biggest difference between the GT25 and the T04E? I ask because mine also flows around 450hp, or so I'm told.

Yes, it's definitely fuel cut. Also the mixture is pretty bad to start with at 10:1, it should be at least into the 11's. The mods you have done aren't in vain though (although your exhaust system was a little expensive), once you get the boost and fuel cut sorted out you will get an extra 50kw on those figures easy.