djr81

My R32 GT-R has developed a case of "bleeding stinking silicon shite from the rear subframe bushes" as is common for the model. Can anyone suggest a vendor for replacement bushes & also how much for them & for the install. Thanks in advance.

What mostly affects R compounds is the number of heat cycles they get put through. Tread face temps get up around 90 degrees on a circuit & the more times they go throught the heat up - cool down cycle the harder they get. BUT (there is always a but) they wear faster than they harden - so don;t worry too much unless you only do hill climbs. Street - 32psi. Drap - less don't know Track - start at 32 & let them down from there. Aim for mid thirties hot. Best check it to run a pyrometer across the treadface after a run.

A couple of things: One of the principal differences between stainless steels & carbon (ordinary) steels is that stainless has a much higher coefficient of thermal expansion. Hence when heated it will expand much more than ordinary steel. That is why keeping the stuff flat when welding it is so difficult. It is for this reason that you should make the flanges that attach to the turbo from carbon steel - otherwise you can stress the housing. I have a set of HKS dumps made with carbon steel flanges & stainless pipes. As for the grade 304 is just as good in this application as 316. 316 has a higher chrome content & is better at handling acids (Principally hydrochloric) - not a concern in out application. No point using either 316L or 304L as these only have a lower carbon content - a waste of money for our application. Electrolisis can be a problem - but usually only if you live to about 140. There are that many different steels, aluminium & other metals in the engine bay it is usually not worth worrying about.

Gary, I am missing some understanding somewhere (ok, most places, but I digress). Doesn't the oil return from the turbos feed into the sump in any case? I thought that it wouldn't matter much where the return line from the catch can goes as pressure will be present in the sump from blow by anyway. But as I said, maybe I am missing something....

That is a neat installation. I have seen some really horrible ones with hoses trailing all over the engine bay & dodgy holes punched into the top of the catch can to allow it to breath. Also the constabulary don't much like external breathers on the things... Can I ask where from & how much?

From what I understand the ECU was changed to reset the speed limiter from 180km/h to was unacheivable number. Other than that it was the same unit.

Hey Jason, can you post up a picture of your oil/air separator. I have seen some GT-R fill their catch cans within a few laps. It is because some people install a high volume oil pump without matching it to an oil restrictor to reduce the volume of oil pumped into the head. What then happens is that with some lateral gees & high revs the cam covers get filled with oil & it goes from there into the catch can. The setups for some track GT-Rs are quite particular as to how they plug into the breathers on the cam covers. The White's R34 that they used in Targa Tassie is a good example. I think I may have a photo somewhere of the engine bay. As for the overfillers (Guilty as charged) I don't have any problems with oil going places it shouldn't.

The search button is your friend. Basically you get a small roof mounted aerial, an oil cooler for the ATTESSA system & the speed limiter effectively is removed. From memory that is about it.

As part of the Tomei kit install you disconnect a plug under the bonnet. This in addition to fitting the washers & the small electrical unit. Unfortunately I don't understand all the instructions (They are in Japanese) so don't know exactly what it is you are disconnecting... Can anyone help?

The car is 15 years old, has done close on 100,000 miles. So it will probably be tired - it certainly sounds it. For my ten cents it is probably better finding something that you don't have to spend 2 or 3 thousand on to get it up to scratch. There should be loads of R32 on the market presently.

Some questions: Do I need to consider a better fuel pump or is the standard one good enough? Stadard one is ok if your AFR's are ok on the dyno. Just turn up with a full tank. Is 16psi OK to run with this setup? Maybe, see previous answer. Do you need to drop the gearbox to fit the baffled sump kit or is it actually easier than that? Not 100% sure, but I believe it is harder than that. Remember you have a drive shaft running through your sump & a subframe holding the whole shebang up. Are there benefits or pitfalls in replacing the engine driven radiator to a thermo electric fan? Slight gain in power, not worth messing around with. Anything that I should consider that I haven't listed? Worry about temperatures of everything - but mostly your engine & your brakes.

No there aren't too many people at club level who push their cars 10/10ths. Doesn't mean you should dismiss everyones opinions, however. You got some good input about HICAS but chose to disagree with all of it. For the record, the conspiracy theory bit related to your posts whereby you assumed that all the motoring journalists all failed to understand how the HICAS system worked. So you assumed they all got it wrong & that all the posted documents were wrong aswell. As an aside, one of the fundamental difficulties with most engineering subjects (be it car set up or whatever) is that it takes a great deal of effort to publish results and that those results are applicable to a very narrow field. To such an extent that it is rarely done. So take your bat & going home. Fair enough. Don't let the door hit you on the arse on the way out. (A joke, by the way)

Print it as a pdf & then attach it.

Richard, Just be careful drilling holes in the parcel shelf. There are approximately a bazillion wires under there for god alone knows what purpose. Best to remove it before getting too carried away with the drill. Also stick your head in the boot to find location. Mine is infront of the ATTESSA module. Also, mine was made to 50mm in height. I would suggest making it a little taller to clear the seat back properly. You bring it forward to stop it fouling with the rear screen. Cheers Richard

I found a photo of the bracket. You also need a bit of threaded rod to screw into the underside of your camera. I also place some rubber between the camera and the bracket to soak up a bit of vibration. The bolt in the bottom threads into a nut that I welded to the washer in the child restraint kit which in turn is rivetted to the steel parcel shelf. This stops everything falling apart when you want to take the bracket out. Give us a yell if that doesn't make sufficient sense.

Bloke, I know you have issues with brokers, but please don't tar Danny (Imports101) with the same brush as Geoff (Prestige Motorsports). To be clear (& to follow the forum rules) I have had very good experiences with Danny when it comes to standing by his guarantee that the vehicle delivered matched the desciption sent. There was a problem not of his making, but he fixed it. He also sorted the transport, customs, compliance, rego - basically everything. For some of us the money spent on a broker is money well spent - not least because for me it means I don't have to take time off work to go & sort details & move cars & jump through all the other hoops that you need to to get an import on the road. One final thing - the number of SEVS/RAWS workshops for some models is very limited. They may not necessarily be too happy about missing out on the brokerage work. So they may not want to comply your car for you. It would pay to make sure you have found a compliance workshop BEFORE going either direct from Japan or through an independent broker.

You are missing the point - a small change in cornering speed results in a large change in laterals gees. For example you need 5% more grip to take a corner at 82km/h as opposed to 80km/h. A 5% difference is very easilly felt. So even a terminally understeering (Even for the three laps on that run until I dialled it out) can get through the corners reasonably quickly. As for different circuits requiring different suspension set ups - you will find it is mostly down to time, money and understanding that these things are not changed. The parameters for car set up are so multifarious that it can make it very difficult to have a gun set up for every track. Different grip levels can fundamemtally change a cars handling characteristics. For one the suspension geometry will take on more acute angles, any non linear sprints/dampers/bushes/roll bars will behave differently, tyre loads will have their effect & loads will be transferred & apportioned differently between the two ends of the car. For example at lower grip levels you may need a larger roll couple differential front to rear than at larger grip levels. So, in short, different grip levels can markedly alter a cars handling, not merely exaggerate its traits. Maybe I am the one that is exasperated (I think you meant exacerbated) because I get tired of people resorting to personal abuse (Inexperienced, should take up lawn bowls etc etc) when they run out of logical arguments. I thought the idea of the forum was to discuss things and try to add to peoples collective knowledge, not invent conspiracy theories when others disagree. As for the camera I put another child restraint anchorage point in the parcel shelf & then made up a bracket to bolt the camera to. The bracket is to lift the camera above the rear seat cushion. You also need a spacer to make up the gap between the parcel shelf (The wood one) & the lower steel shelf. I can post a couple photos later if it would help.

Never said there was a problem in second gear corners. HICAS effect is more pronounced, but then again so is low speed understeer. The problem is more so on turn in to third gear corners - which is what I was talking about. I never did complain about 2nd gear corners - you said: There wouldn't be too many corners on Australian racetracks where entry speed would be below about 80-90kph for any reasonably setup GTR on race rubber. You'd pretty much need hillclimbs for lower speed corners, and MtCotton is about as tight as they come. I was simply pointing out that my local track had a couple. Not complaining, just pointing out the fact that they do exist - inded that they are not uncommon. You are right - chasing set up is a pain in the arse. It is one of the reasons why cars that are good at one circuit may be rubbish at the next. It is also a good reason for having adjustable anti roll bars & for taking a tyre pressure gauge & a pump with you to the track. A higher grip circuit will often result in different handling characterisitcs to a lower grip one. That is why people soften their set ups when it is raining, or have to make adjustments between the morning and afternoon sessions. On a GT-R most people install more rear anti roll when the grip levels are higher. Leaning in my seat doesn't help me go around corners - it was simply a reaction to the EVO in front of me having a massive tank slapper on the marbles/dirt because he was looking in his mirror instead of where he was going. Actually not fitting properly in my seat doesn't help much either - I only just fit in the car as it is.

The point is simple: With the HICAS removed the car understeered more on turn in. Which means the rear wheels were working in opposite phase... Actually second gear corners is not where the problem lays. It is in third gear corners. If you think putting up with a bad handling car is a sign of having large bollocks then good luck to you. Personally I would rather fix the set up & get better lap times. Half the fun of owning a GT-R is improving the car & getting better lap times out of it. I never said I was happy with the present amount of understeer mid corner. For the record since the SES at Wanneroo I have changed the springs & dampers & adjusted the roll bars to fix the problem. What it does show is that the handling of a car will vary immensely from circuit to circuit & even from day to day. The week previous the set up was fine (At another track) with no hint of the plough understeer that showed itself in the first set of laps at Wanneroo. I had to adjust the car - consequently the next set of three laps contained by best time for the day. As for tyre pressure - as long as you are in the right ballpark less pressure gives a larger slip angle, all other thing being equal.

A few comments Harry: Torque characteristics & redlines vary from motor to motor. Having overlaid the torque curve with the in gear speeds, for my car anyway, the change up point works out to be under eight thousand - so it makes sense to use third instead of revving the berries out of it in second. Yours may be different & produce a different result. By the way if anyone wants to know how to do this I am happy to post it up. Not every circuit in Australia is Mt Panorama & not every corner is Caltex Chase. There are a plethora of second gear corners (My local circuit at Collie has two, the short course at Wanneroo has one, hillclimb courses usually have a couple) & slower speed third gear corners. The reason the photo I posted up earlier shows a heap of understeer was that, having disconnected the HICAS the car was understeering badly on turn in. I spent most of the day dropping the rear tyre pressures & subsequently messing around with springs, roll bars, camber & caster settings. For the record it feels like phase reversal to me on turn in & disconnecting the HICAS made the thing understeer more on turn in. Sideways action is fine - even fun. It is not necessarily quick & on turn in to a corner it is definately neither fun nor quick. One of the problems with car setup is that alot of people (Not necessarily you) confuse bravado & oversteer with quick & effective driving. The idea is to get the car around the circuit as quickly as possible with the least amount of drama, not necessarily keep the spectators amused. The important thing is to have a go & have some fun. By the by, I don't have sump baffles & with cornering gees reaching into the 1.3 + range I have never had oil surge problems. Just overfill the sump by about a litre. Obviates the need for such an expensive modification for cars that only occassionally hit the track.

Most of the entry points for corners on tracks (Atleast over here) at taken in third gear in the range of 4000rpm to 4500rpm. That is according to my data logger. Makes turn in for those corners at around 100km/h - well inside the HICAS working range. Second gear corners will be much less than that - the HICAS effect feels more pronounced in slower corners. Attached are a couple of photos from Wanneroo - specifically the turn in to CAT corner at the end of pit straight. One shows the usual amount of steering lock, the other what happens when the back end breaks loose... In any case if you are happy that the HICAS helps you get around the track quicker good luck to you. I wasn't, changed it and am happy with the result. So everyone is happy. Gotta be, um, happy with that.

Maybe I missed the point, but how are of the explanations inconsistant. At high speed (ie above 120km/h) the HICAS may well drop out, or atleast stop opposite phase steering on turn in. Certainly Honda arranged their system to work in that way & from what I can remember so did Nissan. At lower speeds, from my understanding it uses a reverse phase on turn in to corners. From what I have experienced with the HICAS connected & the subsequently not connected that is what it feels like to me. As for Chinese whispers, I was looking at the original article, so I don't know. Maybe all the different car magazine journo's all misunderstood all the engineers.

Gees mate, you put a pretty high standard on your information sources. Thing is the information that both Wheels & Car magazine would have come straight from Nissan - the magazines (usually) don't make this stuff up & instead rely on the manufacturers to provide it. The one degree mentioned is at lower speeds - 0.3 degrees at higher speeds which would seem to be over 120km/h from your source. There were several generations of HICAS are you sure the SAE paper is from the R32, not the R31? Bit confused what "Phasereversal" refers to if not opposite phase steering... From an engineering viewpoint they would design it to opposite phase on turn in to help the front heavy car turn into the corner.

It is trying to tell you something is wrong with the throttle sensor or circuit.

Can't hurt. I am going on holidays for most of January, so given I am not trying real hard at the moment it should be around in the new year.