grae35

I agree with FlyingEL in that E10 will result in way less power and long term use not a good idea as from memory it is same RON as std unleaded ie 91 RON. Our cars are designed to use at least 95 RON fuel and premium unleaded at 98 RON is preferred if you want max power from your engine. All this is besides the problems that some cars have with the 10% ethanol blend affecting fuel system components adversely.

Just changing the y pipe and nothing else in the exhaust train is not likely to change horsepower or torque in overall quantity. What it will do is change the characteristics of where max torque and horsepower are produced by your motor, ie you can have a stonger bottom end but will sacrifice some of your top end power. Alternately you can have a bit more towards the top of your rev band (this may suit track work for example) but will be a trade off with some loss of low down torque. Smaller pipes flow better at low rpm but restrict top end flow. Larger pipes the opposite. But if all you are doing is the y pipe then doubt it will be significant either way. I have not heard anyone say that the y pipe is restrictive in our motors. If you want to make a difference you need to consider hi flow cats and/or extractors and a cat back system. Unfortunately big dollar items.

I would say they are both good grippy tyres in the dry. RE001's have a bit of a problem in the wet so reckon the fk452's would be better. I am currently running RE050A's on my V and have read articles that test them as pretty much equal to the 452's but nearly double the price. I also have a second set of wheels with an early Jap domestic market model of the RE001's and while great in the dry they are absolutely terrible in the wet. Make the stability control come on nearly every corner.

Yes its definitely a Z445

If you want a free service manual ( full workshop actually) then grab this one I found several years ago for the G35 Infinity from the USA. Some things are obvously different in a left hand drive and security radio etc is different but practically everything else mechanical is identical for our cars. http://psedog.com/cars/fsm/g35

I've got rda slotted and qfm pads. If they are the A1RM pads then being a performance pad they can squeak a little until you bed them in properly. Even then I found the need to occassionally give them a single hard application to keep them absolutely quiet. Once you have tracked the car they seem to be ok from then on. The other street only pad compounds should be fine with just a bed in procedure- Usually accelerate to 80kph then brake moderately till about 10kph. Do not stop instead repeat 80kph to 10kph braking at about 1minute intervals about 6-8 times and then drive around for a few more minutes to cool the brakes down. If they still squeal your mechanic may have made a mistake in assembly of the anti rattle shims so take them back for him to have a look at.

Thats what I thought too after running a 14.85 sec best run last Dec with a totally stock (160rkw dyno dynamics shoot out mode) car. However experimenting with 1/8 tank of fuel and no boot contents (spare etc removed) has only resulted in shocking axle tramp untill tyre pressures are below 30psi and then dont seem to bite off the line. Will get new data next Sat from willowbank but 'seat of the pants' testing hints at slow hole shots from too light a rear end set up. Reason I cited a 13.9 pass was that an aquaintance with a 200rwkw coupe got this time from his best run of the day a couple of years ago. I have personal experience against a stroked (3.7 litre) coupe that could only manage a 15.50 sec pass same run as my 14.85. His was auto and a free wheeling diff (no lsd ) so attribute the slow time to traction issues.

around 13.9 seconds for a good run

Another option is to try Greg from GSL RallySport. He is a trader on this forum in the Classifieds section. He sells QFM pads quick return via post. A1RM for high performance odd track day use (I use these on my car) and HPX street use only. They are excellent value for money and work great. See his posts for specs.

Free boost cos I am also interested in this info. Had one quote from Borla of $800 freight - more than the cost of the exhaust!

Thanks mate Mine also took about 10 days and I put them in last weekend. Not a quick job but was lucky to have all dry tubes and no oil leaks. What I did find though was plugs from both rear cylinders had the pointed ends of centre electrodes worn totally away givng a gap of about 2mm. Never had misfires even at red line gear changes so the coil packs must pack a real punch to still fire them with that gap and a very rounded stub of the centre electrode remaining. All other plugs ( cyls 1,3,2 and 4) were intact with standard looking wear and carbon build up especially on the curved ground electrode underside directly above centre electrode. Engine seems smoother but subjectively less powerful though this may be just my imagination. Will get a better idea next month when I get a few 1/4 mile times and compare them to decembers numbers on the old plugs. Makes you wonder about the advantages that a plenum spacer may give to our engines in evening out inlet flow to front and rear cylinders! Has anyone else had this problem/ condition when changing their plugs?

Mate I'm not wanting to be rude or anything but the two FK452 - 245/45/18's on the rims are worse than "not too good" they are down to the wear indicators and legally bald! You might want to rethink your prices.

Glad to hear your engine check light problem has been sorted. Yes I too changed all oils and filters and pads rotors and fluid when I first got mine but didnt worry about plugs because of their extremely long service interval. The NGK R,s you took out sound like they were the OEM laser platinum ones. Hopefully the Iridium IX are just a bit better again ( if you can believe NGK's advertising hype). I was hoping you would say that you got them from autodinamics as that has been the cheapest I can find. How long did the order take to arrive? Thanks for the info.

Was that $US68 or did you find a local supplier? Also you mentioned that your old plugs were very worn out. Any idea how many km's they did? I am considering looking at mine but manual says that the OEM ones are good for 105k miles so have not bothered as my car is only just 57k km.

Try http://psedog.com/cars/fsm/g35/coupe/2004

Ive had my 4dr 2004 350gt sedan for a little over 18months now and can def recommend them. Parts are pretty easy. No probs at all with filters pads rotors have replaced all these. Drive belts were a little more difficult becos needed gates racing belts not std ones but even then when I finally bit the bullet and ordered from USA no probs at all. Becos same motor trans as 350z these parts are easy. Body panels etc may be more difficult but that would be same issue whether considering 300gt or 250gt as well. Check out insurance as they can be pricey for some younger drivers. I'm lucky being older have same cost as a commodore. I think if after an auto I would prefer the 5spd as cvt is very expensive to service or repair. Also, probably wont worry you but autos dont get the lim slip diff that the manuals get if you ever consider motor sport / performance driving. No doubt fuel economy would be improved on the 250gt and 350gt and you really are best advised to run premium unleaded (98 ron) in these motors. Well the 350 gt at least.

Edi You can pretty well get the same things in a sedan as a coupe - same changes in engine between series 1 and 2. premium and standard models, 6sp manual and the auto options. The manual sedans do not get the brembo brakes option but otherwise are very similar. Exhaust system is slightly different and has large single rear muffler with twin outlets compared to the coupes horizontally mounted rear muffler and separate outlets. Sedan has slighlty more low down torque but slightly less top end power but you can hardly notice the difference. Seating position in the sedan is way higher than coupe but again not significant unless on a race track ( and even then I wonder how much difference it really makes.) Sedans are way cheaper to buy but getting a good manual one is still extremely difficult simply because the Japs only produced manuals at the rate of 1car per 200 manufactured. Inside the cabin they are damn near identical, in the front seats anyway. Obvoiusly rear head room is significantly cut by the sleek coupe rear end.

Did you get rid of your 18inch oem's that you were trying to sell last year ? Or did you put them back on when you sold it?

I get around 8.5km/l around town in a 6MT. Almost made it back to Brisbane from Sydney on one tank in 2008 when I first bought the car(900km+). At the other extreme though on my first skid pan day I was almost exclusively in first gear (reving the nuts off it of course) and managed the dubious fuel burn rate of 19 litres for 19km of driving. Could not believe it and now that I am game to tackle it in 2nd gear consumption has improved vastly.

Ive got a 6mt sedan and do a lot of skid pan days and the odd track day so have been most interested in this topic. Am lucky enough to have inherited a glove box owners manual with the car on purchase and have since also sourced an infinity workshop manual. Both have lots about this topic. Before owning this car I had never spun a car on the road except once in an accident(over 30 years ago). However if you are pushing your limits on a skid pan (as you should be to learn something) then it is really easy to drift and spin. I commonly run out of drifting talent and go for a spin on the wet pan. The VDC button definitely does make a difference to our cars but it is more complicated than many may realise. Start the car up normally and you should see both the VDC OFF light (rhs of tacho) and SLIP warning light (in between speedo and tacho) illuminate briefly to confirm the system's operational status. They should go out in about two seconds or as you continue to turn the key and engage the starter motor. VDC is now turned on. This is the default setting and according to the manual... When accelerating or driving on slippery surfaces VDC sensors detect the tyres beginning to spin or slide and control the brakes and engine output to improve vehicle stability. When the VDC system does this it tells you by blinking the SLIP light in the centre of your instrument panel. The longer it engages for the longer it blinks. However being an earlier generation stability system and aimed for normal rather than sports driving I have found that it actually is too aggressive for my liking and cuts a lot of power from the engine. Thus you whizz round the corner etc barely able to feel any slide beginning but well aware the system has cut your power down. Just as you would want to save you in normal driving. The TCS (Traction Control System) works in a similar way cutting engine power when wheel spin occurs. So if your off to the drags dont also forget to turn the VDC off each go. Lucky I managed to remember that one ok! Same deal with the SLIP light which blinks to show that TCS is operating to cut wheel spin. Apparently is also very useful in the snow. ABS or the Anti-lock braking system works no matter whether you turn your stability and traction control systems on or off. Thank goodness because on my local skidpan we have competitions where you need to be able to drift the car but also to brake and swerve on wet concrete which is way easier if abs does all the thinking for you. Although that said one of the boys does actually pull his abs fuse under the bonnet to turn this system off too. Now is where it gets complicated!! And for those of you like me with the viscous limited slip diff as well I am still not quite sure exactly how it interplays at the same time. But to go back to the manual it says further.... The VDC system also uses an Active Brake Limited slip Differential (ABLS) system to improve vehicle traction. The ABLS system works when one of the driving wheels is spinning on a slippery surface. The ABLS system brakes the spinning wheel which distributes the driving power to the other drive wheel.(and this can scare the shit out of you on the track!) If the vehicle is operating with the VDC system turned off, all VDC system functions and TCS functions will be turned off. (however) The ABLS system and ABS will still operate with the VDC system off. And as for all the other systems the SLIP light will blink to indicate its operation. Also you may hear a clunk noise and/or feel a pulsation in the brake pedal. This is normal and not an indication of a malfunction. This could explain what happened to me at Willowbank drags last month when up against a beautiful v35coupe with a stroked 3.7 litre motor putting out 40kw more at the wheels than my car, he didnt beat me like I expected. Because it was an auto and no lsd I am thinking now that perhaps his lack of traction for the free wheeling rear wheel (because of the std open diff) caused ABLS to activate to brake his smokin drive wheel and thereby cut his effective power to less than mine. No doubt he will clean me up when he gets an LSD. And finally to the issue of holding down the VDC off button for ten seconds. I have tried it today and all that happened to me was that the VDC OFF light (which came on when I initially pressed it) went out. Thus VDC was back on. I tested this by cornering hard and yes the SLIP light came on and I could feel power cut. So I agree with Alan, it seems not to work. Theres heaps more I could say about track corners etc and VDC but this post is long enough as it is so will save next instalment for another time if anyone is even interested that is!

For everyones information, just to let people know, there is a way of getting the gates racing belts for our cars. The a/c belt (4PK945R) is no problem available from any Super Cheap store as a special order in product. Cost me $44.99 last week in Brisbane and took about three days. Coincidentally it also fits TR,TS Magnas with 3.0Litre v6 motor. The power steering belt (6PK1175R) was more problematic. After a number of calls and emails to Gates in Melbourne I managed to find out (as many of you would already know from earlier in this thread) that you cant buy this belt directly in Aust. However if you contact a Gates distributer/retailer such as Repco or CBC and describe the belt by its US part number K060465RB they can order you one through Gates Australia. I was quoted $AUS59 plus $AUS16.50 freight. Unfortunately this will take about 12-14 weeks as this delivery charge only gets you ship transport. I found one for $US48 online from tothelimitmotorsportz.com plus a USPS Priority mail International shipping cost of$US37.20. All up about $AUS94 and delivery in 6-10 days according to the USPS site. Be warned if contemplating an order that Repco told me there is a shortage of these p/s belts in the US at the moment so stock may be very limited.

To each his own but just be warned not all police have the same opinion as to what is 'distracting to other drivers'.

Carpets appear blue in photo. Is this accurate or are they dark grey? Coupe or sedan?

I'd be shopping around then and get a few quotes. If all else fails you can get some good 2nd hand glass from crash damaged cars at wreckers. I do remember last year one in sydney with lots of ok bits. Cant remember if front screen ok or not. I found it with a google search. Good luck.

For some reason sedan screens are available in Australia but coupe ones may prove a bit harder to source. Thats why I took out the windscreen option on my car insurance. Check your policy but if not covered be aware of the difference in size of sedan and coupe screens. At least one forum member has been caught out by repairers who ordered the wrong part and had already popped the old sceen out only to find the replacement didnt fit!