Revhead

Holy sheeet...

You could try saying "the wreckers down the road treated us like crap, so we thought we'd give you guys a go" or words to that effect. They know that they're in a great position to make their competition look bad, and it also shows that you're willing to leave if they treat you badly. I was in a similar situation looking for parts for my old Commodore a few years ago... The sad fact of the matter is that, even if you and your mates are good blokes (and I have no reason to doubt that), a large amount of 17-18yo's that go into wreckers are wankers. Go in with the right attitude, know exactly what you want, be polite and if they still treat you unfairly, go somewhere else. If your treatment was particularly bad, and/or you really want to get something from that particular yard, make sure you get the name of the staff you dealt with, and ask to speak to the manager. Explain to them that Fred was very unhelpful and was rude/condescending/whatever, explain what you're trying to achieve (ie buy an engine) and that you're willing to do it NOW. If you don't have any joy with the manager, say "you just lost a sale", then turn around and walk away. Or you could just take a parent or two as mentioned above... preferably dad, mum will probably get similar treatment to what your mates have already experienced. Unfair but very likely.

The car is veeeery nice - leather, two sunroofs, four cup holders, six speaker stereo etc. Seats were very slippery when it was picked up due to the leather treatment - the first time I got in it I slid into the centre console Extremely comfortable car, and should look really tough once it's been dropped a bit and Gary's ditched the pea shooter exhaust!

Kilowatts aren't everything, but lack of them can make an otherwise enthralling drive quite tedious - the MX5 I drove was a bit like that, it handled beautifully, stopped incredibly well, but with the exception of being manual instead of auto, opening the throttle was no more exciting than the Government-issue Laser I had the week before.I never said I didn't understand the Elise, just that I was disappointed that they skimped on the engine. It was designed as a driver's car, pure and simple (I think I remember seeing a quote about how a Lotus engineer's brief was to design the 'perfect' chassis). Cars that have huge amounts of power and an underdeveloped chassis are often criticised, why not the other way around? I don't care what powers it, as long as it is exciting to drive. Regardless of whether it's a revvy NA four, a turbo'd six, or something else, I want a car to provide some level of excitement, at least in the *way* it delivers its power.There's more to a convertible than wind-in-the-hair stuff. If growing up means I'm happy to be bored to tears when the throttle is pushed to the floor, then I'd like to stay immature forever. If you like drop-top cars, you'll love riding a bike

Will definitely consider it once my finances are looking a bit healthier and my coils no longer arc out on the head (all six of em - argh!)

Couldn't get them turbo could you?

At a guess it was tuned to run on a car that had a 2540 turbo on it. Other than that it's a case of plug it in and see how you go, from what I hear it can be difficult to get info out of Mines as to what exactly was done to the ECU.

I've had my R33 for around 4 years now, and have racked up about 100,000km in it, a lot of which would be highway kms (it was a 200km each way trip to work for a while, I did that every day...). In that four years, all I've done to (except mods) it is: * Timing belt inc idler/tensioner bearings (routine service @ 100k) * Water pump was very noisy but still working fine. Replaced it anyway during 100k service * Wheel bearings were getting pretty noisy at around 150,000km. Replaced them. Prick of a job. * Driver's window wouldn't wind down. A friend of mine fixed a dry joint in the module with a soldering iron for free. * Replaced the handbrake and gear boots with Jay95R33's awesome leather jobs as the stockers were rooted * Stock clutch died at around 130,000km from memory. * Battery died about a year ago. It was still the stock 1993 Japanese battery!!! * Tacho feed from the stock ECU stopped working. Good excuse to put in a PowerFC. * Have just started having problems with the coils. Saving for some Splitfires. At first glance it looks bad, but in reality the car has given me VERY little grief. I know people who've bought brand new cars who've broken more stuff in their first year than I have in four. All in all I'm extremely happy with the car. When it comes time to upgrade (soon...) another Skyline is definitely right up there on my list. It has only failed me once (when the battery died), but I was expecting it so it wasn't a drama as I was in the Repco carpark. I was buying a new battery coincidentally, so it just went in about 10min earlier than I'd planned Other points to note. In four years, I've: * Averaged around 450-500km to a tank * Burned approx 10,000L of premium unleaded. Average prob 80c/L (was 55c/L when I bought the car...), so $8,000 in fuel * Done approx 20 oil changes (@ 5,000km). $60ea = $1200 * Given it a full clutch and brake system bleed, once when I got it, and every 25,000km after that. Free * Been through three (?) sets of brake pads @ ~$200 for four * Worn 4 (I think) sets of tyres. Say around $750-1000 for a set (stocko 16s until recently), so $3-4,000 on tyres * Been to the skidpan about six times, the drags I think three times, but haven't made it onto the circuit yet (not in the car anyway) Anyway that's about all I can think of now.

Convertibles look nice but there are far too many that don't have the go to match, ie they're just pose-mobiles. MX5 is a great car, but the asthmatic four banger doesn't do the chassis justice - my old 202 Commodore could beat them in a straight line. Work it hard, bolt on a turbo, or do an engine swap, and they're a formidable opponent at the track. Having not driven one, I'd guess an Elise would be similar - with a fantastic chassis like that, why oh why did they put such an underpowered engine in? Another 100 or so hp would make the car so much more enjoyable. Yes they're still quick point to point but for crying out loud, give it some power! I've driven a few cars that have been really good in the corners and under brakes but seriously lacking under the bonnet, and although still plenty of fun, they end up just being frustrating. I chopped a poser in an F355 convertible big time on my bike, had his missus in the car giving him a hard time too

SK - I got the turbo for the cost of a bog stock, NA RB30 long motor (~$350 from memory). It had already been modified by the previous owner, who had it on a VL. Far, far cheaper than modifying my existing turbo. Wouldn't the aerodynamics be a moot point, with both wheels having been replaced as part of the rebuild? Or am I missing something? PS, I mentioned that it had T4 internals in the first post

Don't forget that Japan runs on 110V and use a different plug type, so if you do buy anything in Japan that uses rechargeable batteries or needs to plug into a socket for some reason, make sure you have a way of using it once you get back to Australia.

Of course it's only a temporary fix, I'm not that dodgy I'd always planned on getting some Splitfires or something in there (investigated MSD but was going to cost ~$1.5k!!). It's misfiring again though, so I might rip em out (again...) and try to plastic weld them too. I just have to find something that won't blow the coils to pieces! I could always hit them with the oxy... Nah just kidding, here's the plan though: I don't know whether the soldering iron I have will get hot enough, so I'll get an old screw driver, grind it down to a sharp point, wrap the handle in rags, and heat the fark out of the screwdriver with the oxy. That should make it hot enough to melt some plastic from an old distributor cap/coil/something that's lying around the workshop onto the end of the coils. One other note with mine - the cracks had actually started to make their way up the bit that the spark plug sits in, making it really difficult to get a decent seal. If I get a chance/could be bothered I'll whip out the camera and try to get some shots.

Mine used to make a bit of noise, but I sold the setup and now just have stock rears and a set of splits I've reclaimed my boot space, an 85L box (ported DVC 15") makes nearly the whole boot unusable!

Update on mine: I found that every single one of my coils had that hairline crack. I taped up the coils, and the problem seems to have gone away, woohoo! Only problem I'm having is that the tape keeps falling off once I get a bit of heat into the engine, so I hit the coils with a bit of insulating gasket maker (the sensor safe stuff), then taped over that, then put the coils back into the cradle with a small amount of cotton fabric in an attempt to hold the tape in with a bit of force, rather than relying on the adhesive. Seems OK now, will have to give it an extended test today

Will do, planning on having a look today (Sunday). I'll post up whether it fixes mine too - here's hoping

Nice job on the shirt? I can't believe you hide a stomach and jubblies like that from us Dammit, some competition for the unfinished mods trophy... it will be mine

Will have to give this a go - mine runs fine as long as I'm using less than around half throttle. Once over ~4k, if I use more than ½ throttle, it does the rev limiter-like miss. Still managed to drag off an XR8 with half throttle and 8psi though

I'm in as a spectator, and for lunch

Willing to do anything eh? How much do you charge for the whooooole night? Thought about registering a business and working for yourself? Or are you already doing that (noting your sig) and just looking for something while the business picks up momentum?

I have no idea what they're worth (though I'm guessing $$$$) but in a bike mag I read about a clubman-style thing, based on a Caterham Seven IIRC, that you could option all the way up to twin bike motors (choice of Hayabusa, Blackbird or ZX12R) and 4WD. 0-100kmh in 2.8 sec, and would no doubt lap any circuit on the planet faster than just about anything once setup right. If you're interested I can dig up the article and scan it, might take a while though, I have quite a few bike magazines Bolt a turbo to each of those motors, run low boost to keep it reliable(ish), and you'd have a 700hp, 500kg racer

Hehe at first glance I thought the bit in the middle was a twin cam head It's on an angle like an RB is in a 'line engine bay, has the large bulge on one side, and the CAS on the other Nice concept though, well done!

I had to leave my car at a panel shop recently. 1800rpm rev limit on the PFC, take the hand controller with me, make a note of what's on the speedo, and I instantly felt better

Alternator, or the wiring to/from it.

Update Ladies' shirts now available. See below.