Kinkstaah

Pretty huge. If you had Non-neo forged Pistons in a Neo motor, I.e R33 RB25DET pistons in a R34 RB25DET Neo which the S2 Stagea has, your compression would be massively high. High enough that whoever assembled the motor would surely notice...... surely.... It might be the other way around, I can't quite remember. But you'd definitely have compression ratio issues if the wrong pistons end up in the wrong block/head combination. (neo vs non neo)

As an owner of a sedan, I confidently say they will end up all rusting before they are really worth anything at all. Even though functionally they're probably better than the coupe, people buy things based on their eyes and hearts which means coupe all the way. Nowadays you'd try and just manual convert an auto sedan, and enjoy driving the thing as opposed to it being a collector item.

The BMW mentioned also wasn't bad on fuel, but it did have a mysterious issue of always fouling two spark plugs, due to the location of the runners this made a whole lot of sense when we looked at the FPR. It could simply be something like the wrong pistons used, sky high compression ratio etc too. E85 will help with the pinging, but obviously better to find the source ?

This is possibly monumentally off topic, but I recently was made aware of a similar issue where a Boosted 1979 BMW 320i was pinging its brains out on like 3deg of timing. After years of living with it we tested the FPR (Which was a well known australian brand) and it was dumping a good liter a minute of fuel into the intake at idle through the vac line. It's probably not that. But if you've checked everything else..... (it could also be as mentioned, something done when engine was rebuilt. If your car behaves differently, look for all the things that are done differently to others)

Either that or.... People into Skylines in 2006 weren't into Skylines because they were Skylines, but because Skylines were the current cream of the crop, bang for buck, pretty stout car. Now in 2019 they look for the same requirements, and are also 13 years older than they were in 2006, so their requirements change a little, and unsuprisingly, look for cars that meet those same requirements. It's the things the car does that people were attracted to, not the car or badge itself. No real car enthusiast is only an enthusiast for one specific car, make, etc. It's always been about how well the car matches the activity the driver finds fun that makes something good.

Yourself and Mat Wooten's R34 had actual supportable, reliable data behind how the engine was driven, how it lasted, how long it lasted etc which is what people should be looking for instead of "I've owned the car with 600kw for years bro no probs" that can sometimes befound. Definitely seems exponential in terms of power vs longevity (as you'd expect). A lot of things start to go pear shaped in Skylines as you go over 300-320kw, Clutches get shit, grip gets hard, lag becomes a problem, gearboxes let go, diffs can't hang on, NVH increases exponentially, engines explode more often, etc. But yeah with a NA+T this all happens at 220kw instead of 320kw. If OP wants to have a 220kw car honestly and won't want more, then sure, NA+T and it may suit him really well. Statistically improbable, though, hence all the well informed advise that gets repeated time and time again. Rare is the guy who is OK to drop down on power, usually same guy who has had reliability issues at higher power and the joy of cars hasn't been brutally snuffed out by them lol.

I actually don't think it's come to that, and honestly, legitimately, I would prefer what I have over a M4. I'm not saying anything is better than another, but the M4 is not really my jam and the complexity and cost involved would turn me off. Just a very different animal in the end. Can't throw another M4 engine in there if you blow it at the track one day. Changing plans 5 times does cost you though, so having a clear idea what you want, how you want to use it to begin with is strongly recommended which is I am sure the point you were making here. All the advice at OP is in that vein, trying to help and skip a few costly steps between where he is now, and where he wants to be. Some advice I found is different to what I experienced. I would take advice with a pinch of salt and ask better, specific questions nowadays. When people say "I've had 350kw for years" you do need to establish exactly what driving patterns people have. 350kw commuting to work is different to 350kw doing the odd highway pull or hill run vs "I take it to the track (once a year)" vs "I take it to the track (30 times a year) when it comes to reliability. Usually when you get the actual usage data of cars and their associated power levels, you can see where the builds differ. In my case it was mostly that. Like Dose pipe said, want to track a car reliably? You're going to start caring about heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, heat, HEAT on so many more components than any road/street car and re-engineer that entire aspect.

I had a very similar situation when idling the car for 30 minutes or so. The car wasn't overheating, but that bottom hose was still ambient temperature. I took the car for a drive around the block, talking ~1-2min drive around the block, cruising around like a responsible adult, or alternatively, like a guy who wasn't sure if his thermostat was actually working. Pulled into garage, checked bottom hose, bottom hose was now the temp of the top hose. The temp sensor for the car (and my aftermarket one) are in the rad top hose, so you will KNOW via gauges overheating if the thermostat truly isn't opening.

I had a NA+T Skyline that I bought when I knew very little, then put a GTT motor in it (not a NA+T) which was the smart decision. I did RB28 stroker kit, EFR Turbo and a Manual conversion. Now it has a 5.7L V8 in it and a T56. So skip all the lines and yourself a V8, OP. I will testify as a package it beats the everliving shit out of any other Skyline or engine combination, you could give me the keys to a R34 GTR and I would hand them right back as that car is nowhere near the same level of comfort or fun or performance or reliability or peace of mind or cost. So yeah, stay NA is what I am saying obviously. There's two types of people in the world, one who will stop, listen and think and benefit from other people's experience (both good and bad) and actual, genuine idiots. Threads like this help define what kind of person someone actually is.

Imagine how shit life gets before you seriously grab your phone and dial 000 for the police. Think about how out of control your life would be if you had to pick up the phone and make that call. Then imagine every moment from that point on being your work day. I remember a lovely lady cop telling me how she would rather not have to deal with people who have hit a tree at 125kmh with their body splattered all over things.... We're a very long way away in Australia relative to some other police states like the USA when it comes to police and (generally) how they act. Infact I'd wager with body cameras a lot of "mate just go home" that police currently and have issued won't happen anymore because they can't let people off the hook due to said recording.

The conversion cost is about ~1k-1500 for a mechanic to do if for you, so think closer to 3500-4K installed and running. After that your only issue is the auto steering wheel, but you can always use the buttons to trigger something if you want to get fancy. It is worth doing if you find a really nice auto 34 that is unmolested or has the (other) modifications you are looking at.

To put it in perspective, I was reading up about road course stuff and someone put a stat out there, in an average 20 minute track session, you're doing the equivalent of 75 drag passes on your car in 20 minutes. When people say "I've had 400kw for years and haven't had a problem" they are not doing say 375 drag passes in one day.

KW seem great until things explode and you get passed by a MX5 with 95kw cause that dude has done 180 reliable track days and has seat time. If you're building a track car, the engine should be the last thing you touch to modify at all, other than cooling ?

I had similar issues with a cracked block, multiple times. What was happening is on low rpm the coolant pressure was enough to get into the bores and cause a misfire. Rev the engine enough and combustion pressure was enough to push combustion gas into the coolant, so while it wouldn't miss... it was very obviously pressurizing the coolant. This will get worse before it gets better. Pepare yourself for replacement engine time. Misfires and Coolant being in places it should not be is never a good combination.

Unsure about the exhaust though, as the NA and Turbo exhaust layout is understandably different. That said, when I swapped from a NA to GTT chassis I don't remember having issues with my exhaust fitting on the new car. At the very worst it may be a new hanger that needs to be welded on.. if that.

The car has *some* adjustability and there's bushes you can get from Whiteline or Superpro that will adjust camber that is more than enough for a stock height car. They are cheaper, legal, more compliant and overall a better solution that what you listed.. That said, there IS a problem if you can't get less than 2deg neg camber on a stock car. Fixing this is definitely what you would/should/must do first before buying aftermarket arms to sort it out. This is definitely a "Find someone who knows what the underside of these cars should look like" situation

Am... am I a russian bot? Shit. I am all for LGBTI. Maybe I am massively intolerant elsewhere... last time around I was in the upper top right corner. At this point I'm surprised I can pass captcha checks on websites.

cool, i'll vote for uh uh...

tbf I kind of understand the second half, if the shocks are fked you kind of cant know until you make sure they operate as expected (i.e the adjustable dampening won't adjust)

I was reading the sad gearbox post and I was about to say "This is why people are using CD009 <--- 350/370z gearboxes" which beat the RB box hands down.. and you get another gear! Sadly the R33 gearbox prices you were quoted is the norm nowadays.

It is worth mentioning that when people talk about OMG SO GOOD SO MUCH DIFFERENT it's rarely and apples to apples comparison. Either setup will do fine, and these are minor handling differences which can be preferential at best when comparing known 'good' options. I drove my car back to back with the same model car with BC BR's in it, and honestly other than some feel, I can see that it realistically would have performed the same or very very similar. it's not like we are all going to crack it cause we saved $1000 and did a 1:31.1 at the track instead of 1:31.0. Were the BC BR's harsher, did they have a little more roll? Sure. Was this due to other things like bushes in being in better or worse condition in either car? Possibly. Were they a hell of a lot less expensive? Absolutely. I say the differences in all forms of aftermarket suspension are subtle. You will like the MCA's.

I did not, though have heard great things about CTSV kits in general and had thought about converting to them one day, as the pad size in these things is massive, way, way, way, way bigger than the D2/Ksport/Attakd 356mm kit I currently have. Alpha Omega did a kit for the S15 but don't do it anymore..

I also have a similar kit and have had them for years - Though I went for a more uprated version with harder springs and received 5/4KG springs initially and later bought 8/6 springs and used those later. The car rode and drove really well relative to any other 34 I ever had a chance to drive in and Shockworks at the time's test car was also a R34 and they admitted defeat along the lines of not selling me their kit due to me unlikely to get any benefit at all from their product over what I have. Bilstein Australia (based in Sydney at Heasmans) will also rebuild/revalve the shock to suit if you like which is something I am going to do because one of them is weeping after a few years, and I have somewhat drastically changed the car to the point where revalving may be sensible... (i.e there is no RB in it anymore). plus the fact mine were originally done by SK to suit 5/4 springs to begin with. Bilstein AU were nice enough to communicate and ask me to get the car weighted so they can advise whether they even should valve to suit, and I tend to like companies that try to save you money when you ask them for a service. Other brands when approached with the same question were far less forthcoming.... i.e "Just buy our most expensive thing you'll be fine" etc. I have not tried MCA's myself, and was looking into them but after chatting to bilstein its far more cost effective to get them serviced and revalved then selling and changing brands considering I and everyone that ever drove the car really liked how the Bilstein/Eibach combo worked in real world and on the track. For reference the Eibach springs I got/have are: ERS Y/X ERS-H-200-60-0050 ERS Y/X ERS-H-200-60-0040 Replaced with: ERS Y/X ERS-H-200-60-0080 ERS Y/X ERS-H-200-60-0060 If you really want you can buy the 5/4 combo I have as they're sitting around unlikely to ever be used again, if you wanted something 'better' than King springs, Eibachs are also an option.

The rinseless wash stuff feels like magic when you use it though. Now I don't know about the chemicals but the claim is that it breaks the bonds down between the paint and the dirt itself. It "feels" like it dissolves it instead of wiping it off. So quite often you will spray something stubborn and it wipes right off, which is... skeptical. Things do exist for bug stuff though - Pretty much the hardest things that exist to clean off a car really is good ol dried up splatters after going for a drive in the country. That said, the rinseless wash stuff is often regarded to as "the wash between washes" so to speak. The bonus is if you do it once a week it literally takes ~5 minutes. Hasn't really been in use long enough yet for someone to say "I did this once a week for 10 years and this is what happened to my paint" yet.

Buy my Nismo one. It's turbo back though.