Kinkstaah

Actually everyone on the roads was really well behaved. The only person that did any minor tailgating was a local hoon in a Turbo Focus. Unfortunately we weren't going the same way so there was no grand initial D touge battle. Lots of people pulled over and let me through. The amount of "Hey man nice car, omg skyline, nice 34 man woo" was suprising. Like really suprising. Like almost annoying. My partner was obviously surprised, she'd never seen anyone in the real world point out the car/like the car/want to chat about the car before, so to have like 3 people per day mention it was notable, I could finally say SEE? SOMEONE THINKS THEY'RE COOL. Everyone was also pretty suprised about the weather. Every day was dry and about ~13-14C. Mount Wellington had a sign that said they close the gates at 9pm and I was heading up there at about ~7:30. It was VERY apparent that conditions were getting significantly worse by the minute on the way up and down. The road on the mountain was terrible though, it's no driving road. I have various suspension related questions now. Luckily it was only about 20 minutes from where we were staying to the top of the mountain as said Google maps. We only had the 2 nights in Hobart. We went to the Farm Gate Market though which was really good - And went down to the Hastings Thermal springs/caves down there during the day. I'd definitely be up for going back again, so luckily there's a few more sights yet to see. Didn't get to do the west coast/queenstown/cradle mountain so this was supposed to be a 'scouting' trip anyway of sorts if I were to one day do/take part in/organize a more car-focused trip. As for the boat, it wasn't bad. Well it was bad, but not in the way you're thinking. We did the night trip which leaves at 6:45 (though you have to be there ~2 hours earlier) and arrives the next morning at about 6am. There is nothing to do on the ship. If you plan accordingly and bring a book/tablet/show to watch/charger you can just chill out, take some Travacalm and just sleep through it. The food there is an extremely basic buffet that costs $32 a plate, or $14 for a $3 pizza. The way back we had a travel kettle and a few different types of cup noodles and made our own tea/coffee in the room. This was a far superior way to do it. At the very least book one of the rooms with beds. I guess as we were in the off season we didn't have room mates. You get an option for rooms with 4 beds (2x bunks) or a room with just the two bottom beds. There's also some option for a deluxe queen bed but it's much pricer. We've been on sleeper trains in Asia before so we figured this is similar (and it was)

You just gotta be really, really, really clear and decisive with what you want your end product to be. 99% of people who want this conversion aren't "I want to run a 295 front tyre!" so they don't really need the widebody. They just want the OEM body to look a little less dumpy, so bonnet, bar, skirts job done with some camber, stretch, slam. It's when you want that, but then decide to pivot later you get big problems. See also if you're willing to get an all in one fibreglass bar, and you're willing to accept fibreglass problems like cracking the entire item on a driveway, instead of just a piece attached to the bottom, etc etc etc. Decide this all before buyin'.

The hood lines up with the fenders. The front bar doesn't perfectly line up with the fenders where the wheel arch is. You have to 'squeeze' the front bar 'in' as it wants to naturally flare out and be longer on the sides. There's a few threads where people notice this when they only swap a GTR style bumper and front bar. Unless you have genuine OEM items - you may be better served getting conversion kits. There are GTT bumpers to fit GTR hoods. There are GTR hoods (non genuine) to fit the GTT bracketry. MAY

So, I put my boat on a boat. First of all, I'm going to come out and say it. Why is Tasmania not considered a holy goal, an apex that all road-legal modified cars go to, to experience? This place is an absolute wonderland of titanic proportions. If people are already getting club runs for once in a lifetime 30 person cruises to Tassy then I've never seemed to see it. It is like someone replaced the entire place with an idyllic wonderland for cars, and all of the people living there with paid actors who are kind, humble, and friendly. Dear god. After doing a lap of almost all of the place I've found that it's a great way to find out all of the little things that the car isn't doing quite right and a great way to figure it all out. All in all, I drove for 4 hours a day for a week and nothing broke. I didn't even need to open the engine bay. This is by all means a great success, but it has left me with a list of things to potentially address. I also now have a 3D printed wheel fitment tool which annoyingly hasn't got any threads in it to actually assemble it. I might be able to tape it together to check the sizing I actually want to use, but it'll likely involving pulling the shocks out to properly measure travel at least at the front, and probably raise the car while I'm at it, at least in the rear. I scraped on quite a few things and I'm not sure how else to go about it. I was taking anything with a bump at what felt like 89 degree angles. And address those 10 other tasks. And wash the car. God damn it is dirty. And somehow, the weather was perfect the entire time - And because I was on the top of Mt Wellington it turns out it was very much about to freeze up there. I did something I typically never do and took some photos up there in what must have been -10 and the foggy felt like suspended ice, rather than mere fog. If you own a car in Australia, you owe it to yourself to do it.

If the sound goes away when you clutch in, the 1.5/2 way diffs are just shit, and you are a normal person. The diff is likely "fine" but driving at anything under 30kmh is a violent horrible experience. It would be exaggerated with solid diff bushings and subframe bushings if you have those.

What 1.5 way? There's no such thing really as a 1.5 way, just different ways of explaining 2 ways with different ramp rates. HOWEVER. In any driving in a straight line your 1.5 or 2 or 1.7 way should have no clunking at all. With the clutch fully depressed the diff should be silent (unless it's welded but I'm assuming it's not). Something aint right here.

I used to have Walbro 255's when they were a pretty common update. (or were they 044? 040?) In any case I had a dirty tank. I thought the tank was good, but I would find the filter would clog in maybe ~50km of driving. If the issue persists, well, your fuel system or tank has crap in it that the pump is sucking up.

Stock ECU (or more accurately stock tune) absolutely refuses to go over 10psi and behaves like you have seen. The Nistune is the same if it is the stock tune. If the Nistune chip has been tuned, the resulting tune could be literally anything for any combination of parts. The Nistune just makes the stock ECU Tunable.

@PranK can you elaborate further on the Colorlock Dye? The website has a lot of options. I'm sure you've done all the research. I have old genuine leather seats that I have bought various refurbing creams and such, but never a dye. Any info on how long it lasts? Does it wash out? Is it a hassle? What product do I actually need? Am I just buying this kit and following the steps the page advises or something else? https://www.colourlockaustralia.com.au/colourlock-leather-repair-kit-dye.html

Nah that is not actually a lot. Just painting my GTR frontend and the little bits to make sideskirts/nismo flare pieces work correctly/fit on the sedan/mount up correctly came to about $7000. Is it a lot? Sure. None of this is economical. Economy would be shelling the car and buying a 2010 Corolla to commute in. The perspective of all of this is different.

I am yet to see anyone ever regret a quaife or helical. ...other than drifting/skidpan duties. I kind of want to upgrade my factory helical with a Quaife (but really it's not ultimately that different, and is a MASSIVE UNDERTAKING), that's how good the hype is about them, that I want to try them 'just to see'

This is why I gave the disclaimer about how I drive in the wet which I feel is pretty important. I have heard people think RS4's are horrible in the rain, but I have this feeling they must be driving (or attempting to drive) anywhere close to the grip limit. I legitimately drive at the speed limit/below speed the limit 100% of the time in the rain. More than happy to just commute along at 50kmh behind a train of cars in 5th gear etc. I do agree with you with regards to the temp and the 'quality' of the tyre Dose. Most UHP tyres aren't even up to temperature on the road anyway, even when going mad initial D canyon carving. It would be interesting to see a not-up-to-temp UHP tyre compared against a mere... normal...HP tyre at these temperatures. I don't think you're (or me in this case) is actually picking up grip with an RS4/AD09 on the road relative to something like a RE003 because the RS4/AD09 is not up to temp and the RE003 is closer to it's optimal operating window.

I mean I agree. I've seemingly never had issues and I have RS4's in the rain, but I drive pretty slow in the rain, and I commute around on the street and pretty much never push it. But it's not like you're going to uncontrollably slide off the street with them in the rain. At least here in Aus. And I say this before I drive to Tassie in Winter. AS above, the term "Semi" is a bit of a misnomer. The ContiSportContact7 is also a "Semi" or a "UHP" tyre. It's the same category as an AD09 in any case.

I feel I should re-iterate. The above picture is the only option available in the software and the blurb from HP Tuners I quoted earlier is the only way to add data to it and that's the description they offer as to how to figure it out. The only fields available is the blank box after (Input/ ) and the box right before = Output. Those are the only numbers that can be entered.

God damnit. The only option I actually have in the software is the one that is screenshotted. I am glad that I at least got it right... for those two points. Would it actually change anything if I chose/used 80C and 120C as the two points instead? My brain wants to imagine the formula put into HPtuners would be the same equation, otherwise none of this makes sense to me, unless: 1) The formula you put into VCM Scanner/HPTuners is always linear 2) The two points/input pairs are only arbitrary to choose (as the documentation implies) IF the actual scaling of the sensor is linear. then 3) If the scaling is not linear, the two points you choose matter a great deal, because the formula will draw a line between those two points only.

So I found this: https://www.efihardware.com/temperature-sensor-voltage-calculator I didn't know what the pullup resistor is. So I thought if I used my table of known values I could estimate it by putting a value into the pullup resistor, and this should line up with the voltages I had measured. Eventually I got this table out of it by using 210ohms as the pullup resistor. 180C 0.232V - Predicted 175C 0.254V - Predicted 170C 0.278V - Predicted 165C 0.305V - Predicted 160C 0.336V - Predicted 155C 0.369V - Predicted 150C 0.407V - Predicted 145C 0.448V - Predicted 140C 0.494V - Predicted 135C 0.545V - Predicted 130C 0.603V - Predicted 125C 0.668V - Predicted 120C 0.740V - Predicted 115C 0.817V - Predicted 110C 0.914V - Predicted 105C 1.023V - Predicted 100C 1.15V 90C 1.42V - Predicted 85C 1.59V 80C 1.74V 75C 1.94V 70C 2.10V 65C 2.33V 60C 2.56V 58C 2.68V 57C 2.70V 56C 2.74V 55C 2.78V 54C 2.80V 50C 2.98V 49C 3.06V 47C 3.18V 45C 3.23V 43C 3.36V 40C 3.51V 37C 3.67V 35C 3.75V 30C 4.00V As before, the formula in HPTuners is here: https://www.hptuners.com/documentation/files/VCM-Scanner/Content/vcm_scanner/defining_a_transform.htm?Highlight=defining a transform Specifically: In my case I used 50C and 150C, given the sensor is supposedly for that. Input 1 = 2.98V Output 1 = 50C Input 2 = 0.407V Output 2 = 150C (0.407-2.98) / (150-50) -2.573/100 = -0.02573 2.98/-0.02573 + 47.045 = 50 So the corresponding formula should be: (Input / -0.02573) + 47.045 = Output. If someone can confirm my math it'd be great. Supposedly you can pick any two pairs of the data to make this formula.

Continental have consistently beaten the absolute shit out of every other performance tyre in Wet/Damp/Cold conditions and give up a little bit of time (half a second at most) in the dry. Almost like it's engineered for German conditions or something. I'd def give those a try.

I mean it's a bit late to say "This won't have any tangible effect and it is not worth spending more than about three seconds on it, please just enjoy the car" But I said it anyway. Does the pod actually get any airflow in that position behind a bumper like that?

Welcome to Skyline ownership. Yes, it is entirely possible parts websites get things wrong. There's a whole world of inaccuracies out there when it comes to R34 stuff (and probably 33 and 32). Lots of things that are 'just bolt on, entirely interchangable' aren't. Even between S1 and S2 R34's. Yes they have a GTT item supposedly being 296mm. This is incorrect. I would call whoever you got them from and return them and let them know the GTT actually uses 310mm rotors. Depending on where you got them from your experience and success will obviously vary.

This is a recipe for disaster* Note: Disaster is relative. The thing that often gets lost in threads like this is what is considered acceptable poke and compromise between what one person considers 'good' looks and what someone else does. The quoted specs would sit absurdly outside the guards with the spacers mentioned and need REALLY thin tyres and a LOT of camber AND rolling the guards to fit. Some people love this. Some people consider this a ruined car. One thing is for certain though, rolling the guards is pretty much mandatory for any 'good' fitment (of either variety). It is often the difference between any fitment remotely close to the guards. "Not to mention the rears were like a mm from hitting the coilovers." I have a question though - This spec is VERY close to what I was planning to buy relative to the inboard suspension - I have an offset measuring tool on the way to confirm it. When you say "like a mm" do you mean literally 1mm? Or 2mm? Cause that's enough clearance for me in the rear :p I actually found the more limiting factor ISNT the coilover but the actual suspension arms. Did you take a look at how close those were?

The best part is when you own the car long enough that you look back and find your OWN ham fisted amateur shit!

Yea - I mean I've seen my fuel pump which is decades old and uh, while I'm not saying this with real knowledge... but I sure get the ick at using anything in the fuel system that produced the state of that pump. Many years ago I went through multiple pumps (and strainers) before I dropped the tank to clean it out with extreme violence. I'm talking the car would do maybe 50km before coming to a halt, which resulted in me cleaning out the filter with some brake cleaner and going on my way. None of my stuff ever looked like what came out of your fuel tank. I don't think I'd be happy with it unless every single component was replaced (or at least checked/cleaned/confirmed to be clean here).

I'm back from the dyno - again! I went looking for someone who knew LS's and had a roller dyno, to see how it shaped up compared to everything else and confirm the powerband really is peaking where Mr Mamo says it should. TLDR: The dyno result I got this time definitely had the shape of how it feels on the road and finally 'makes sense'. Also we had a bit more time to play with timing on the dyno, it turns out the common practice in LS is to lower the timing around peak torque and restore it to max after. So given a car was on the dyno and mostly dialled in already, it was time for tweaking. Luis at APS is definitely knowledgable when it came to this and had overlays ready to go and was happy to share. If you map out your cylinder airmass you start seeing graphs that look a LOT like the engine's torque curve. The good thing also is if you map out your timing curve when you're avoiding knock... this curve very much looks like the inverse of the airmass curve. The result? Well it's another 10.7kw/14hp kw from where I drove it in at. Pretty much everywhere, too. As to how much this car actually makes in Hub Dyno numbers, American Dyno numbers, or Mainline dyno numbers, I say I don't know and it's gone up ~25kw since I started tinkering lol. It IS interesting how the shorter ratio gears I have aren't scaled right on this dyno - 6840RPM is 199KMH, not 175KMH. I have also seen other printouts here with cars with less mods at much higher "kmh" for their RPM due Commodores having 3.45's or longer (!) rear diff ratios maxing out 4th gear which is the 1:1 gear on the T56. Does this matter? No, not really. The real answer is go to the strip and see what it traps, but: I guess I should have gone last Sunday...

I mean, I got two VASS engineers to refuse to cert my own coilovers stating those very laws. Appendix B makes it pretty clear what it considers 'Variable Suspension' to be. In my lived experience they can't certify something that isn't actually in the list as something that requires certification. In the VASS engineering checklist they have to complete (LS3/NCOP11) and sign on there is nothing there. All the references inside NCOP11 state that if it's variable by the driver that height needs to maintain 100mm while the car is in motion. It states the car is lowered lowering blocks and other types of things are acceptable. Dialling out a shock is about as 'user adjustable' as changing any other suspension component lol. I wanted to have it signed off to dissuade HWP and RWC testers to state the suspension is legal to avoid having this discussion with them. The real problem is that Police and RWC/Pink/Blue slip people will say it needs engineering, and the engineers will state it doesn't need engineering. It is hugely irritating when aforementioned people get all "i know the rules mate feck off" when they don't, and the actual engineers are pleasant as all hell and do know the rules. Cars failing RWC for things that aren't listed in the RWC requirements is another thing here entirely!

This is the check list they sign off on. This implies that adjustable coilovers of the type we're referring to are not a "Variable Ride Height" system. This very much is in the ethos of "I can change the height while moving/while parked without pulling wheels off the car and mechanically doing so"