Kinkstaah

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.

HPTuners But it is a flashed based ECU. Can't modify settings on the fly. (actually you can but it's only certain OS's that do not support E85, so maybe you can) The thing that put me off the varex thing is you obviously sacrifice your ODB2 port for it. I don't doubt that someone smart with a Haltech/Motec/ExpensiveECU could mimic the behaviour by sending X volts when Engine parameters = ABCD which would then activate the stepper motor...

You can actually get an ODB2 box for a Varex, which will (yes, live) link into to engine parameters to open. So it can be automatically set to fully open at 50%+ throttle or whatever variable or combination of variables you choose.

how good are LS's though

All cars are toys. Nobody needs them. If it does not make you happy, then don't do it. If it does, then do so. You will know how you feel after you do it. You will know yourself if you would rather see a GTR instead of a Modded GTS4. Logic never mattered. It never _will_ matter. It's like putting a V8 in. It just feels right. I do not wish I secretly had a R34 GTR. I would not prefer to drive a Z tune if you gave me the keys to both. Others would disagree. In these cases you already know what you want to do.

But you said cruising slow was what you're all about. Now you can do it dropping cylinders and popping and banging. Sounds like an upgrade! As an aside, LS's are hard to even notice you're running on 7cyl for a month or so. Been there myself 😛

Your better car will need these mods for motorsport too. (I guess maybe not with regards to full electric steering, which all reviews universally hate... so I mean there's that)

Not really rage, but "I turboed my NA auto and it doesnt work now" is a thing. Because people do this cheaply (not necessarily OP) it is generally "how much of my original NA car can I retain?" Which is effectively nothing. It's _probably_ still cheaper to sell the NA and buy a turbo 😛 Still does not solve the issue of the cheese gearbox which won't survive 150kw, let alone whatever the forged motor is wanting to be. Haltech when I did it, did _not_ have an automatic gearbox controllable ECU for sale. Nobody did... If the elite can do it, do it. The main issue will be finding an auto elec at $150/hr with the confidence to give this a try, but once you do it is fairly straightforward as long as the auto (any auto) has its inputs in the realm it likes. It just won't, and cannot, and never will be a straightforward plug and play solution. Until someone makes an adapter I suppose, to go from the NA TCM to the GTT OEM ECU...

Then you're in for a rough spot. I would legitimately consider the crazy path of a BMW DCT conversion. Anything else is going to be underwhelming. Sensible me says buy a car with a decent auto in it. A V8 10 speed mustang is going to be a lot more fun and a lot more fast, and a lot more everything than the anguish of going down this path. It really depends on how irrationally compulsive you are with regards to keeping a R34, or whether you want what an R34 can do. If in your mind this is a 100K, once in a lifetime car, BMW DCT is your answer. If logic is being applied in any way, shape, or form... A10 Mustang or one of the many other automatic-optioned vehicles is going to be far faster, simpler, easier, more enjoyable, less regrets.

This is the first I've heard of it :D. Do you have any more photos of these R34 seats that have airbags in them? It must have been a very very rare option for people to select for some reason. My solution is leave the OG seats in. Unless you have a 5/6poiny harness, HANS device, cage and are on a racetrack, I much prefer an airbag that is functional. You're at the point where people do 'foamectomies' to seats to make them fit better as opposed to just removing certain elements of airbag functionality. Some cars have an option from the factory where you can actually reconfigure which options the car has (I did this with a Megane to tell it it didn't have TPM's from the factory). No idea if the R34 or any skyline has any functionality of sorts for this.

This is a normal and expected outcome from doing what you have done. I'm tired of going over what is going to be needed to fix it. The best solution is to not fix it, and to put a manual in. Can't drive manual? Learn. This is both the best solution and the simplest solution. The more complicated solution is to reconnect the OEM ECU (yes, ecu) and reconnect its relevant parts to the TCU. Then you effectively splice the Haltech into the engine-parts of the OEM ECU, and run the haltech like an old school piggyback. But it's a NA gearbox which will not last at all. It won't last if you put a shift kit in. It just won't last, period, so doing all of the above work will cost you thousands and leave you very sad. Still don't want to go manual? You could go a Turbo gearbox and build that, but it's still a $10K adventure to get it close to being able to perform the way you want, including an aftermarket gearbox ECU, which gets wired in similar to the TCU's original setup. You will need aftermarket flex plates (they do not exist) and other bespoke things. Your other option is to fully manualize the transmission. The crux of the issue is that the R34 Turbo ECU has the gearbox/TCU pins on the engine ecu. The NA has them spaced out to a seperate TCU with the same inputs/outputs for Nissan reasons. It is plausible to rewirewire wires that lead to the NA TCM pins into their corresponding R34 GTT ENGINE ecu pins. This _will_ work, and then you could feasibly run a Nistune Engine ECU, which also only works for the Turbo/GTT ecu. The workshop manual pinouts are a treasure. In theory you could look ingo the workshop manual and see what inputs the R34 TCM actually needs so it can operate the gearbox. It probably has wiring for power, tach, TPS and such from the engine ECU. Probably. I never looked into this. Lots of ECU wiring and f**king about ahead for you. All of it more expensive than a manual swap. Much more complex than a manual swap. Much worse result than a manual swap. My car spent years at a workshop with them trying to figure this out until I did it with a mate in about 30 minutes by actually reading the manual. Oh look I said manual again. Go manual. Any excuse you have about this is invalid. Refer to this post in the future, so you can re-read it and be like "lol shit yeah he was right I'm glad I went manual"

Could argue it is indeed a different engine...

Depends on how you set them up! (though most people do it for max squat, which is as you have described). Something to consider next time the subframe is out, which realistically is hopefully fkin never...

Dumb question Are these just pineapples by a different name (intended function). Sell them to me. Axle tramp and my R34 are an iconic combo.

I just got 17,500 kms from my RS4's. Was thinking about changing to NS2R's because RS4's seem out of stock... everywhere. This is through a few track days and running them at 36psi on the road when they are on road use. Seem to still be the bang for buck performance champion. I was also interested in the NS2R/AR1/CRS options. Porsche guys have a lot of feedback on the CRS and compare it closer to a Pilot Sport Cup 2/2R and rate it on that level/better than that level and it seems to last longer. Some are faster on them than they are on AR1's, others give up a few tenths but the CRS is a much more streetable tyre than the AR1. So realistically, the CRS is the next level step up/level up from Nankang, with a price to match - But still much cheaper than the same size in a Pilot Sport Cup 2/2R.

Welp, given there's no airbag wiring with regards to the seats in a R34, you have done something different.

www.willtheyfit.com Very useful. Or measure. As GTSBoy said, 17x9 +30 just about lines up perfect with the outside of the guard. 10.5 +22 is 27mm beyond the guard.

You gotta keep in mind when people talk fitment in 2023, the rim and tyre are two seperate entities. a 9.5 +27 fits in the same space a 9 +30 does... if the measurement you are actually using is a 265/35/18 tyre mounted to it..... I am sure you know where I'm going with this. Of course, to a degree a rim will physically hit suspension components or be 30mm outside the guard even if the tyre is inside it. Of course you and I would say that's stupid, but instagram may disagree.

Can you rephrase this? I've tried to read it a few times and can't understand if BMW is good or bad. Truthfully tho, you can't really know if a car is going to hold up to the abuse of the ages until it actually becomes old in the first place.

Do they really break them in scenarios that aren't huge digs with drag tyres attached? That said, a Barra in anything usuuuuuaaallly results in the above line being its use case.

Thats the thing about painting in general. It sucks the first 200 times, and then you think it sucks the next 1000 times, but other people say "Nah its actually good!" at that point. There's not much in the way of shortcuts.