Kinkstaah

All of this just to say you drive a "manual" drag car.

You don't. Or if you do, you do it for fun? It's only a shit box to you because you're accustomed to it. You just want a new shiny thing instead of enjoying the thing you built. Really you have to ask yourself what you find fun about the journey and target it. Objectively your car is great and you seem to need more seat time. Go read a review of the same people who drive a R chassis who have also driven a modern BMW. You can see as clear as day which one they find more entertaining/rewarding to actually sit in the seat of and want to go driving in. I still remember Carlos Lago saying his LS swapped S13 was a better car to drive than a P1/LaFerrari or 918. https://youtu.be/w-BEXoI9J-M?t=361 There you go.

Where's any of these new euros in WTAC? It's not that simple. What you're seeing is things like better matched turbos from the factory for displacement. AVERAGE power matters lol. Shifting speed with DCT etc matters. Yes, bump steer and kinematics do matter, but we're talking about racetracks here, not doing rally. You used to have to mod cars a lot to get to where cars come out of the factory now. They come pre-modded, that's about it. It's absolutely easier to get a 340kw M4 Competition, because all it needs is a tune and comes with a 3L TT with tiny turbos ready to go, this is what you pay 140K for. Remember, this is for fun. They are less fun. Want to go fast? Buy an actual race car or an open wheeler and absolutely massacre any road car and laugh at them/us for even bringing a stupid boat out on the track. f**k, actual Go-Karts will turn better times if you want to do some insane superkart stuff before you die doing said superkart stuff.

You have no idea the ratio of "Engine and Gearbox Sound relative to Exhaust sound" that are out there, I can raise you tenfold with the symphony of brick-in-washing-machine sounds the LS and T56 make. This car is mint, and is far more interesting than any stock BMW, and likely a much better car too, not to mention far more rare/street creddy if that is your thing.

Honestly, that is one pretty 'shitbox'

It also happens with the LS... and also happens with SR20 and the BP18T.... E85 is stinky stuff man

Not sure, I have no need for Expensive-Gouge-Juice anymore, though I do have the capacity. I remember not needing to touch any of the enrichment tables for start with the ol Haltech PS2000. Would start perfectly with full ethanol in the middle of winter without any issues. Never had any cold start problems at all, or hot start for that matter, was the most overblown 'problem' E85 ever had. At least for me.. But ye, do an oil change then drive for 100km then smell the oil filler cap. It smells like E85 really fast in my experience and isn't an indicator that the oil is ready to be changed yet.

I dunno about the smell, oil will smell like E85 if you do so much as drive it out of your driveway...

It's just one of those things, people kinda/rarely investigate a power failure. I mean: RB25/30's generally get sent to higher power levels than stock RB25's that are unopened. What is it about a RB25/30 that actually resists damage from power better than stock RB25 ordinarily would? Why do people expect it to last longer, then? Keep it all reasonable and drive it hard. You can see how well that has worked for Bill in this case, there's reasons for it!

Diff or rear wheel bearings. It kinda has to be. (though it could be a tailshaft... what else rotates back there?). The comically loud diff whine I have had in the past was due to the crown/pinion gear being f**ked. Messed up bearings is generally a low grinding/rumbling sound. Diff is usually a much higher pitched whining...right? I've had a wheel wobble so badly it almost fell off, and I wouldn't say it was ever loud enough to be conversation-stopping, whereas diff whine was alarmingly loud, piercing but the car "drove fine".

Generally yes though. Modified car shops are run a-w-f-u-l-l-y. This is the prime reason why these cars are often (by far the majority) modified by their owners. The truth is they don't employ anyone to really run the business side of things, they just do the work in their respective factories, on their own time. They are able to do this, because there is no pressure to improve, and they have an incredible backlog of work to get through, because their services are still in demand. If a workshop appeared that had high throughput, high quality, and good communications, such a workshop would absolutely clean house. I've been stunned for the last decade and a half as to how this hasn't occurred. I suppose at the end of the day these are very small businesses all round, and perhaps owners/operators do not want pesky things like wages cutting into their profits. There is no reason it should take months to a year to build an engine. But it does, because... see above.

In my case, the RB block became a consumable track day item more or less. The LS is far cheaper. Oil temps skyrocket under high throttle. I would suspect your 33GTST street car was sitting at 150C for 19 of those 20 minute sessions without an oil cooler. That said, perhaps 150C oil temperature isn't actually as bad for everything as things may make it seem. Leaving it tuned down and enjoying the track/driving it is VERY sage advice. Also generally "Track the car, and see what limits you first, then upgrade _that_" is the upgrade path of the smart person.

"Reasonable brakes, tyres and cooling" to this extent REQUIRES: Brakes: Race pads/upgraded/full BBK. Tyres: R Comps, the best street tyres will be screaming for mercy before this on a track with many bends. Cooling: 25+ row oil cooler, a radiator sent from the gods/ducting. Bonus: Accusump Without any of these the car will very much be a 1-2 laps (at most) before your oil is 150C+, brakes die, engine overheats. There is a reason: Is a thing. It takes LOT$ of "Reasonable brakes, tyres, and cooling" to do 30 minute flat out session all day.

There's no real downside and it's not strictly required. Caltex used to serve E70 to E85. As Bill mentioned up above, United has been E80-85 pretty much forever. Never ever saw that change. I suppose the offensive price gouging for the product is worth something. (then again, Ethanol lowers the price of 91... so... they're probably maximizing the 'cheap stuff' by keeping that Ethanol content up in E85)

On the subject of drives: Now that my power steering/steering had been freshly installed/entirely revamped and battery/electrical system entirely redone, post-emergency alignment and utterly f**ked tyres, as my new ones I bought in January couldn't be squeezed in/installed in a day.... ….to do a 1200km drive through the long weekend from this route: There were many photos and a few Instagram posts of people who are not me, https://www.instagram.com/p/CppXVDDpQu2/ https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cp5BoUQJBF2/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D WhatsApp Video 2023-03-13 at 5.15.52 PM.mp4 WhatsApp Video 2023-03-13 at 5.20.24 PM.mp4 WhatsApp Video 2023-03-13 at 9.07.39 AM.mp4 I did take this photo though: All in all everything was amazing. The power steering system actually held up flawlessly under some genuinely hilarious load being put through it, because if you noticed the pictures every other car was a: Civics MX5s (with boost!) MR2 (with a K24) Modern Fiesta ST Clio RS Most on much newer than 5yo Tyres, and a few on R-Comps, in the twistiest, unrelenting roads in Vic. And the old tank of a boat or whatever it is really held up well, and supposedly quite intimidating making big angry V8 noises in the mirrors of cars that it had no right to hang with in such twisties. The only fatalities was one of the civics did a bottom end in Mitta Mitta (he hired a truck to tow it back the next week) and I melted my exhaust hangers with my exhaust due to the unrelenting RPM and … spiritedness of driving it. The actual metal rods the hangers slide over got so hot they melted through the Poly exhaust hangers that I thought were an upgrade. Perhaps Polyurethane is not the best material for an exhaust hanger. I did provide this information to where I bought them, and the business refunded me. My retired rubber exhaust mounts have now been re-added, with a hoseclamp around them to reinforce them some - a trick I saw on a similar thread about melted polyurethane exhaust hangers. While on the subject of Polyurethane, apparently my diff bushes had also left. These left long before this drive, and were the reason I got a bit of a clunk on any acceleration. Luckily the tyre provider had a set of spare rubber ones from a S15 that was going solid. They have a better design so the part cannot simply exit. The clunk is now gone. So yes, great times, everyone vowed to do it again soon, and another 3 day booking and $500+ in fuel, everything was great, and I came back to get my previously-purchased-but-not installed tyres, and another alignment to fix my OCD. Until my alternator appears to have died and let go. https://speedmaxinnovation.com/blogs/news/almost-all-the-gm-alternator-information-you-could-need?page=2 This very helpful link makes me believe that while I have an American standalone loom for my LS, they didn’t seem to actually put a resistor in (or it isn’t connected to my battery lamp/adapted to it, or I forgot/didn’t care at the time) the one wire the alternator uses. So the 175A alternator I have my custom pulley on is off for an old school man to look at, to avoid me having to buy another $700+ 215A alternator and move my pulley onto it. At least with the power steering deleted from the engine bay it is a very simple belt arrangement and very easy to remove the alternator. At least it wasn’t stuck in Mitta Mitta with a broken bottom end.

The rear wing endplates and stands don't meet the requirements as above - They need to me smooth and not sharp. There's some examples of legal wings. You'll note that every OEM wing follows this kind of design principle.

The R33 GTR is the best looking Skyline GTR. It is.

I should say I _DO_NOT_RECOMMEND_ doing this if your stock pump will do the job. I.e for a road going LS, no, you do not need this. If a RB pump can handle the high RPM I also wouldn't really recommend it. Also, it is f**king loud. by loud, I mean it sounds like a fuel pump, outside of the tank, sitting in the boot, getting much louder if you turn the wheel, it is an ever present, very loud, electric whine that does not stop. Ever. I could probably get the fittings. GKTech do ones that adapt the rack. https://au.gktech.com/high-pressure-power-steering-6an-adapters From there on it's AN fittings depending on all your angles and where you want to mount the pump, and how long hose you want to run. I believe the PUMP end has a 15mm (?) bolt that comes out, so a regular bolt -> AN fitting works here and the other is a push on hose for the low pressure side. Speedpro do actually do a power steering hose, but it holds less pressure than 200 series (??) and is intended for being inside the engine bay and not run under the car, so not really useful in this application. In a RB setup you'd probably run the hose on the inside of the chassis rail, but I don't have that option.

The TLDR: Moving the battery and converting to Astra power steering pump cost about $4000 incl very much mates rates labor for the bits I didn't do. This is one of those jobs that seems sensible and logical and simple enough, but to do it right with all the considerations turns into a bit of a headache. I spent $300 on wiring alone just to run the cables from the boot to the bay. There seems to be no photos of taking the interior out to run it along the channels of the body. The resident electrician advised very much that the cables should run on opposite sides of the car, so that is why the Negative terminal is on the passenger side, and the positive terminal at the front where the battery was. The washer bottle moved out the wheel arch up into the bay, purely so my oil cooler gets more airflow and perhaps runs a little cooler. Everything helps and all these mods were very much a "maybe I can get SOME performance benefit..." There's a custom bracket that bolts down into the car to holt the bottle up, as well as extending those wires through the arch and into the bay. Power Steering side of things was equally as expensive. The pump itself cost $200 from a local wrecker, but as we know that is barely the most expensive part. Lots of money on lines and fittings. Boot And of course, under the car with some very neato 3D Printed brackets I found on thingverse. In the end my boot looks like this. It's not quite finished in these pictures, as they were taken when _mostly_ hooked up and they are hard mounted to the chassis through the carpet. I'll post up a picture once I have the full boot assembled as there's one more bracket/strap to make for toolboxes. But there's an idea for now. I then took the car on a ~1250km blast through the great alpine road with a bunch of people I've never met before, and it was a really awesome time. Hilariously, while the power steering and battery gave me absolutely NO issues at all.... (yes I was admonished for having this finished the night before then immediately belting the shit out of the car...) .... the steering shudder I was feeling that lead to all of this was due to brake deposits, presumably. The steering had nothing to do with it, and no, in absolutely no way can you feel the difference in the weight distribution

This was the route I took. I had kms in my insured kms saved and knew I would need to do the service after. So I figured I'd just give it a bit ol drive. I've wanted to do the alpine road but doing that in a day is pretty crazy as you have to get up very very early to do it, and really needs to be done over a long weekend/take leave. By the time I got moving it was 1pm, so I did the above and got back in the evening in mostly one piece. I sadly don't know much about the drive from Syd to Canberra. I did the scenic route _once_ to Sydney via the coast, but don't remember enough of it to have any opinion, someone more local may know as above Heat. Had nothing to do with the wiring. That causes issues if they are constantly being set to the "on" or being activated. Same thing as the option A or B being constantly held down. This was just all the exhaust going through 1in at the last muffler, causing heat, and heat > plastic casing the motor was in. Closing the Varex took my AFR from 13.1 to 10.9. It is a pretty massive restriction!

Well what’s happened since then: I took the car for a very very big drive (~700km in a day) around every twisty road imaginable. This was fantastic, except I was getting some pretty gnarly vibrations through the steering wheel, which I resolved by simply not braking around the twisty bits. Actually worked really well. I also noticed the car was running a little leaner than I would like, (~13.1 AFR) up high, so I simply closed the Varex. I did make it home, to find somewhere along the line the Varex refused to open up again… Also noticed my steering rack was obviously leaking from the driver’s side. I assumed this was the cause of my steering wheel shudder. At the time I thought it might have been understeer. The car also needed a service, and needed spark plugs which I had not changed since, well, at all. What was suprising to me is that ONE plug was different heat. Just one. The one with all the heat marks all over it. I had initially checked two or so of the plugs to see what was in it when the conversion was going on. Never thought I’d have to check 8 because mysteriously one was a hotter range… 8x Iridium plugs of the same range (TR6IX) went in. Oil came out and went in. Supposedly the filings are of normal range in LS land, and it is still pretty fresh (~15,000km since assembly...) I also ordered a metal Varex motor. I then thought that I’d definitely need the rack rebuilt. …And if I’m doing that, I should probably do an Astra electric power steering conversion and put that in the RL corner of the boot, because I needed ~20kg of weight there to have the car corner balance itself, as it was only ~20kg out before.. …And if I’m doing that, I should probably relocate my battery there too. …And I should probably move my washer bottle to where the battery was, so my oil cooler gets better flow…. How hard could that be?

Nobody escapes the laws of thermodynamics. What do you do when your aircon system heats up? What's the aircon condenser cooled by? .......air 😛

I passed an emissions test in NSW (for Victoria!) doing the IM240 with a cammed LS. Keep the stock cam when you go there. I had four cats, 2x100 and 2x400cell. They do not seem to impact performance at all. Given how the IM240 is actually done, I see no reason why you would not pass it due to the addition of a supercharger because ALL of the tune is outside any real load cell area. They would barely use 20% throttle in any of it. It is a sample generated in the 1960's of a 4 minute (hence 240) cycle of stop, go, drive around town experience with one pull onto a medium speed highway from like 60-80kmh. The events are timed, so they cannot say, floor your car from 0-80kmh, the actual acceleration gradient, gear change times, and what gear you are even in are controlled. In my case I was allowed into the lab/dyno area to directly work with the guys to pass the car, even tune it on the spot. This depends a lot on your charisma and people skills I suspect. The biggest kicker for me was actually idling, and the car produced much more pollutants idling than it did moving. A lot of the test is idle. Hence a big choppy cam with raw fuel going out the exhaust is _not_ optimal but I barely scraped through. Having a 2003 car you will have more stringent targets to hit than I did, as I was in the 98-2002 bracket.

You did buy a fast factory car. You just want to make that car blow the doors off a 300K+ car that is 15+ years newer. There's some perspective for you 😛

I never knew you could have a ODB2 port do more than 1 thing at one time..... TIL.