JimX

I usually figure out what I'm doing as I go along when changing pads, because every car/motorcycle seems to be different (at least the ones I've owned). But they're all fundamentally the same, you have a calliper held onto the hub with some bolts, and a disc inside the calliper which comes off when you take the calliper off (or on motorcycles, it comes off with the wheel). The primary safety thing you should be aware of are getting air in the lines, which won't happen if the callipers aren't faulty and you don't remove the hose. Also, once you've put the pads in place, pump the brake pedal a few times to push the pads up against the disc. Once the pads feel firm again your brakes are ready to go. Definitely don't forget this step or you will be driving into a tree before you know it!

I'm in. What size is my jacket though? I only know my pants size! My T-shirts and casual shirts vary between M and XL depending on brand (sometimes M and L on the same brand but different shirt types are the same size!) and I can't remember the sizes at all off the couple of jackets and pullovers I own. My business shirts I think are 42 but that's a neck size. Do jacket sizes vary much between sizes as do shirts?

I would have to say one of the most dangerous things on the road is a taxi on the lookout for a fare. They will do crazy shit to pick up passengers, it's as if they think if they don't do an instant u-turn across double lines or slam on the ABS as hard as possible then some other phantom taxi will beat them to the passenger. Even when dropping off sometimes they will slam on the brakes to pull up or go around a corner without indicating because they didn't understand their passenger yelling out to them where to stop or turn. For these reasons I always get ahead of taxis asap especially if they're not carrying passengers. As for a smash repairer, how new is the rest of your paint? Even if it's in good condition but it's the original paint, respraying the rear quarter of the car will be noticable when compared to the front. It will also age differently so the difference will get more noticable as time goes on. This is the reason why when I got rear-ended I got a full respray of the car along with the rear quarter. It cost me some $$$ on top but nowhere near the same price as it would have cost if the repairs weren't being footed by the insurance company. If you want a full respray then ask the workshops what sort of discount they'll give you on respraying the rest of the car. If your insurance company is a good one you'll be able to go to any workshop you like so you can get the best possible deal.

Hehe that's ok, even more confusing because I *did* speak to you about my car when I bought my cold air box last year It was a long time ago though, well over 8 months I reckon. I thought you just had a really good memory (coz I didn't remember much about the convo myself)

Boosted Zed, I think you might be thinking of someone else My car already came with a Garret T04 turbo, and according to the previous owner flows up to 450hp. I also had no real power expectations from this work, except maybe to get >200rwkw, but I never expected >260. I think 260 would be pushing the limits of my turbo, unless I ran more than 1 bar of pressure. The cat size I'm not sure about, but the front pipe is 3" so I presume the cat is also 3". If not then I'll set aside another couple of hundred for that, probably get one of those high flowing CATCO ones.

Boosted Zed, it was making 150rwkw before the S-AFC tune, and 166 after. Not sure what it's got now after the cooler and plenum upgrade, but suffice to say it can now step the rear out in 2nd gear, in a straight line on a dry road, with grippy Toyo tyres on the back. I mentioned in another thread that I won't be able to afford the fuel pump upgrade probably until August, because I've got my insurance renewal coming up soon and I need to preserve every penny I have for it. I've already got the pump, I just need around $250 to install it and re-tune the S-AFC. I'll see if I can do a few more things at the same time, like the dump pipe (still 2" at present) and fuel regulator. All depending on how much the insurance premium costs and how much money I can save in the meantime. I took a mate who owns an Audi S3 out for a spin the other day and he readily admits that it would flog the pants off his car (except in the wet, his being 4wd)

Belly_up, I think a lot has to do with the firing order. The GM Gen III sounds a lot smoother than the previous Holden engine, and the only fundamental difference is the firing order. I think they changed it to smooth out the idle. You can get some of the sound back with a decent exhaust (most I've heard are crap) but it still doesn't sound as rumbly as the old Holden V8's or even the current Ford V8's. That said, even a "rough" sounding V8 is still quite smooth in a driving sense.

I reckon all boxer engines sound similar. Porsches sound more like VW's than WRX's do though. I'm not sure why the sounds are different, but with a boxer 4 and a v-twin (motorcycle) you get more of a pulse because each half of the engine fires at once. I don't know how that applies to boxer 6 engines because I would have thought the extra set of pistons would interrupt the pulse wave of the other 2. That also doesn't really explain V8's, which have even more cylinders to interfere with the "pulse" sound, and yet they still sound very "pulsy". Also, 180 degree parallel twin engines (motorcycles again) sound fairly "smooth" like an inline 4, but a 270 degree parallel twin sounds like a v-twin which also has a 270 degree firing pattern.

The AFC is excellent. Aside from a slight increase in power it really smoothed out the delivery so I found myself more able to avoid bouncing off the rev limiter. It made an extra 15kw with the old intercooler and plenum, pretty much from idle all the way to redline. I'll get it re-tuned when I fit the new fuel pump, hopefully around August.

Tyres will always wear a little more on the inside because of the negative camber. If they wear on the outside first then something is really wrong!

It's around $800. $900 "fitted" would only be if you want to do a straight swapover from the existing plenum (it's around 1 hour's labour just for this part). But if you don't already have a front-facing plenum, you will be up for a few more hours work than this, to cut the chassis rail and run new intercooler piping to suit. You will also need to buy the extra intercooler piping (probably at least 1 bend, if you can re-use your old stuff). I would set aside around $1100-$1200 for this upgrade if you already have the front-mount. You will also need a new throttle cable ($80 or so) because the original one is too short. Also with the Hills plenum they like to run the piping through where the windscreen washer bottle is, so you'd have to replace that with a smaller one if you still want to wash your windshield (+$100 or so for an alloy one). So probably closer to $1300-1400. Add another $1000-1500 or so for a decent intercooler if you don't already have one, and another $450 or so for the piping.

The whole upgrade I did was all about removing restrictions and increasing throttle response and therefore power and economy. I was getting huge amounts of pressure drop before, at 1 bar I think it was in the order of around 5psi. My economy has also improved after the mods, I was getting around 15-16L/100km before, and now it's down to 13-14. The other reason why the front-facing plenum also helps power and economy (aside from the less pressure drop) is the intake doesn't go all the way back over the top of the hot engine, thus heating it up less. I guess to achieve the same effect on a stock intake you could just thermal-wrap the piping which goes back over the engine. Because I also upgraded my cooler at the same time it's hard to say how much power I gained from each mod, but I'm very happy with the overall package and would never go back to the over-the-top plenum. One day I might sell this one and get the sexay Hills Motorsports plenum, but not for a few years yet.

Ronin, no. There's currently a BIG delay on even mild mods for my car now, probably won't get anything done until after winter. I've gotta upgrade my computer a bit for tax purposes, and then I've got my insurance policy renewal coming up in July. I'm scraping every penny that I can together. After that the fuel pump will go in (possibly with a regulator as well) and the S-AFC will be tuned and the dyno results posted. I'll do a new post about it when it's done. Gee, I hope this 044 fuel pump works! Or that I get it installed before the warranty expires Oh, and thanks MrMayhem

A bad toe alignment will kill your tyres 10 times quicker than high camber. Same thing happened to me, the camber even looked ok but because of front end lowering, the toe was pushed in too far (also about 4mm) and this is what killed my front tyres. My tyres had nearly full tread on the outside edge, but on the inside edge was through the steel belts before I noticed! :eek: Hard lesson learned - whenever raising or lowering your car (or buying one that you suspect has been raised or lowered), get a wheel alignment done asap!

Try calling him at Campsie Hifi. Ask for Jordan.

I've bought a set of mag locknuts and a cold air box from UAS. I thought they had pretty good service for them - they stuffed up the ordering/making of the air box a bit (it arrived a few days after they said it would) and they gave me a $10 discount because of that. But when I asked them if they could tune my S-AFC, they couldn't, and they referred me to Silverwater. Before I went there though, I discovered Hills Motorsports in the same block of "units" (whatever you call those workshop things). Hills is by far and away the best performance shop I've ever been to, and I don't anticipate ever having to go elsewhere. Their treatment of customers is second to none, and they *really* know what they're doing. I would say if you wanna buy some add-on bits like strut braces or air boxes or bodykits etc then UAS is fine, but if you want your car worked on, take it to Hills. Edit: Hills Motorsports isn't listed in the White pages, because he gets more than enough work just by word of mouth! That says a lot about the place IMO. I'm guessing that when Mark had it listed, he was probably getting too many random clueless n00bers ringing up and wasting his time. Hills Motorsports is a true enthusiast's workshop.

V4's exist in motorcycles, mostly for weight distribution and balance. They're sort of a compromise between an inline 4 (front-heavy and wide) and a twin (narrow and good weight balance, but less power and revvability). There isn't much point to having them in cars because inline or boxer 4's are compact enough to fit in a square enough configuration anyway, in most small cars. A boxer can probably do everything a V can but with better balance characteristics. Btw, V and boxer engines are generally more expensive to make than inline engines, because they have 2 cylinder heads.

The 300ZX uses a V engine to get the nose lower and the engine bay shorter, to help improve handling and aerodynamics. This is a high powered high speed sports car remember, not a grand tourer. It also has 3 litres to play with, to give it a slight edge over the RB engines in the power stakes. If it were only 2.5 or 2.6L, the RB engine would crap all over it in power and revability. It would still have a slight advantage in the weight and size distribution though. Edit: Also for some reason, V engine designs seem to be easier to get cleaner emissions out of. Holden's ECOTEC is a prime example, when compared to Ford's inline 6. Also, the next generation of Skylines is going to the V engine design, primarily due to emissions.

Check the voltage regulator on your alternator. Flickering lights is one symptom of a dead regulator. If it is dead, get it fixed asap. I know someone who had an old 4cyl Magna and his regulator was gone, which meant that his alternator was putting out up to 16 volts. This may not sound like much, but within a few days (not being diagnosed) it killed his stereo and all of his gauges, one by one. And this is with an old carb'd Magna, imagine the damage that could be done to the expensive electrics of a Skyline! The simplest way to check it yourself is to put a voltmeter across the battery terminals and rev the engine in neutral. The voltage should not go any higher than around 14.5, probably staying around 14 or even a little less. If it's more than this, take the car to an auto electrician, who will replace the regulator for around $100. It's a 5 minute job, usually they will only charge a few bucks for installation.

Can someone sticky this already?

The plug is towards the back of the sump, I *think* on the passenger side but I really can't remember. I always have to look for it again whenever I change the oil (3 times now) and never take a mental note. The oil filter can be removed by hand if the previous owner has done it up properly (ie, by hand). Try using a rag to get a better grip. Failing that, try using a filter spanner, but I don't know which type will fit because I've (luckily) always been able to remove it by hand. Normal oil filters are fine, just make sure you get the right type. I don't know what that is, I just ask my spare parts shop for an oil filter to fit a '95 turbo Skyline and he gets me the right one.

Changing the oil is the same as every other car, just remove the filter and sump plug, let it drain out, put new filter on and plug back in, then fill up with about 4.5 litres of your chosen oil. I personally change the oil every 5000km instead of every 10000, burnt oil deposits are the main cause of turbo bearing failure so you want it as clean as possible all the time.

You don't want a car just because it's common? That's kinda odd. And with your preferred choice of car, actually wrong. My gf thought the same thing, that Skylines were more common than Silvias/200sx's. So I made a bet with her that there were more 200sx's than Skylines one night as we were walking around the city. So we started counting for an hour or so as we were walking around, and once we were done, I had won the bet by a ratio of about 1.5:1. My theory is just that it's easier to notice the Skyline because it's so much sexier Good luck with your question, but I daresay coming to these forums and saying Skylines suck won't get you much sympathy.

Pump fuel should last at least a few months if stored in your petrol tank. If the weather is hot and you leave your car outside in the sun, it'll go off quicker. Garaged is best.

Steve I know, but the plug colours all seem to be fine. My S-AFC wasn't tuned to the leanest possible mixture either, was was done to around 11:1 at the higher RPM's (up from high 9's:1) so I'm pretty sure I'm safe. Will get everything re-done to around the same ratio when I put the new fuel pump in which should help even more with preventing leaning out.