RaseR

Hey Guys, Strange one for you all - ever since I've owned my S2 R33 (most of this year), I've noticed that whenever I take a slightly spirited drive through the windys, I can feel and see the steering wheel pulse left/right in my hands at irregular intervals...haven't had time to book it in to be fixed until now, so any ideas what I should be looking at? Variables: Car has standard airbag wheel, HICAS, upgraded castor bushes, runs on 18x8 350Z alloys (235/45), lowered springs (-30 to -40mm) Pls Let me know if you have any insights!

Hey Jared, 177rwkw?! Awesome result mate...I must admit I completely forgot about this thread! My cat-back section turned up from Japan late July in almost as-new condition...bought a 3" Catco big-body and 3" stainless split front/dump (old style) through BATMBL, had it all installed at Casey Exhausts in Berwick (they do excellent work, but you pay for it). My thoughts - car is way more responsive, heaps of torque everywhere! Scary in the wet, awesome in the dry...feels way faster overall. My review of the components purchased: .3" BATMBL Split front/dump pipe (stainless): Amazing piece of gear, almost looked too good to install, it's the older style with smooth bends and a semi circular wastegate/turbine divider as opposed to full circle turbine wheel enclosing style of the newer type, I much prefer the design I got as it means I can go high-flow without any mods to the pipe. Spool-up of the standard turbo sounds insane with this pipe, I have std airbox with apexi panel, so literally no other induction 'sucking' noises, with this pipe you can hear the turbo whizzing away nicely without the huge 'whoosh' noise of a pod (I'm over that now...) .3" Trust MX cat-back: Beautifully constructed exhaust, mild steel pipes with highly polished stainless rear muffler that looks the goods and also pretty damn quiet..but still has a meaty idle! .3" Catco big-body catalytic converter: This is the second one I've bought...1st time, no troubles at all - fit onto my R32 perfect, bolted straight on...Not so on the R33, it was around 1.5" too short which meant the exhaust shop had to extend my cat back to compensate , the temp sensor bung was incorrectly positioned and caused the sensor to hit the cars underbody, fixed with a slight bend to the sensor body...not very happy with this components construction, flows well though. Overall - awesome result...I'll take some pics soon.

As rev210 mentioned, it really depends on your power/boost and revs the problem is occuring at... Assuming it's the usual Skyline misfire, my experience is that gapping the plugs down only somewhat resolves the issue in that it no longer misfires, but instead you get a lovely flat spot! I bit the bullet and bought Splitfires, installed new plugs at 1.1mm gap...worked perfectly on my old R32 that was running 1.1bar at approx 170rwkw...No misses ever again, the car was incredibly smooth through the rev range and I did alot of k's with that setup...in fact, same story with my SII R33... Gapping the plugs just masks the actual problem, which is a weakness in the ignition system...usually the coil-packs (cracked or compromised in some way).

Just my 2c - you would know if it's the coils...If they're cracked or stuffed in any way, it will it sound like you've hit a rev limiter at around 4500rpm or so upwards (exhaust popping and general misfiring). That's my experience with cracked coils on an S2 R33...Splitfires fixed the problem - but it doesn't sound like what you're experiencing.

I'd be a bit wary of carmate, I bought a fibreglass R33 Type-M style front lip from them recently...It arrived quickly enough, complete with a 6cm crack in a pretty visible location (see my avatar - the crack was the on the bottom left corner). I thought it might've been shipping damage but my panel shop informed me that someone had tried to do a dodgy repair on it (and hadn't succeeded!)...which ruled that out. The good news was once the panel shop had repaired it, the fit was pretty damn good.

Okay then, similar question...Does anyone know the maximum tyre width that will fit onto an 18x8" rim? I'm presently running 235/40 R18 on 350Z Track rims, but would like to go a bit wider on the rear next time around... 245's would seem logical as the Z already comes with these - but the problem is that to get the correct rolling diameter for an R33 I'd have to get 245/35 R18s (-0.5% different diameter to standard)....a bit of an unusual size apparently...the only tyre manufacturer online I could find that lists them at a semi-reasonable price is Kumho with their KU19 (I had bad experiences in the past with these too) ...Now if I could squeeze a set of 255/35 R18s (+0.60% different diameter to standard) onto the back that would be a lot easier as they seem to be readily available. ...but: a) would it be possible & safe? b) would it look terrible (bulging outwards etc)? Any insight would be appreciated!

I'm pretty sure that plug connects the thermo fan on the front of the radiator, which only comes on when coolant/engine hits a certain temp - nothing to do with the boost gauge I'm afraid. Perhaps check to see if the MAP sensor for the boost gauge is also disconnected (little black box tucked away down the back of the engine bay in the driver-side corner)...should have an electrical connector and a vacuum hose connected.

Hi mate, just FYI - you can get these brand new from Nissan for around $70 each, they usually can get them within a day if that dealership doesn't have them in stock...in my experience anyway.

Hi mate, I'm interested - please pm me the details! Cheers.

Thanks for that Michael, can't wait to receive/fit it!

sorry mate, realised the lack of info - so updated my post!

Hi mate, Legalis-R by Fujitsubo and Kakimoto.R by Kakimoto are two exhaust types/brands that are known to be quiet and also high-performance. Check: http://www.fujitsubo.co.jp/ http://www.kakimotoracing.co.jp/ Both in Japanese but relatively easy to navigate....as I recall, a business on these forums - BT-Revolution can get either for you brand new.

OMG - The flutter sound does not come from the BOV....It just means your aftermarket BOV is set too tightly and most of the air is reversing back through the turbo getting chopped up by the impeller hence the 'flutter' sound...You couldn't hear it b4 because your airbox muffled the sound. Back off the adjustment of your BOV to make it open up earlier and your flutter will be gone....even better chuck on the std BOV, they're pretty good until you start running high boost levels.

Hey mate, I'm in for an R33 version!

This place also has them genuine & brand new: http://www.ozeparts.com.au/ $539 for one though!!! ...I referred my panel beater to them when I was involved in a minor accident a couple of months back....They must've had a number of them in stock because the car was back under two weeks later and I now have brand new headlights!

Yep - totally normal, my old R32 had it and so did my friends...Passengers have actually complained about it on occasion, I took no notice because I never had to sit in that seat!! ...I had some kind of generic floor mats with 'twist lock' plastic clips and they fit really well. Hope that answers your questions.

Hmmm, sounds like he's using a philosphy which relates to cars with naturally aspirated motors (ie. non turbo), where a certain amount of back-pressure will be beneficial to midrange torque and overall power gain. The general consensus, at least in my experience with 6 cylinder turbo motors is that back-pressure is your enemy and the more easily exhaust gas can escape the turbine housing the better. I'm sure it's possible to go an exhaust diameter that's too large and not optimum, but think about it - a turbocharger is essentially an air-pump that's driven by exhaust gas and needs to expel that gas at a fairly rapid rate so as to keep the impeller spinning at the optimum rate for boost/power generation. 50Nm sounds like a pretty big claim for torque increase on a more restrictive exhaust, I'd ask him to show you the proof (in way of a dyno chart or something) on a turbo motor. My 2c....actually more like 10c, but whatever.

hey anthonymcgrath, that's exactly what I mean. Surely wiring the solenoid so as to be constantly on is not really a good thing, you certainly don't need it to pulse at idle and low rpm which it will do if it's permanently grounded....this would have to wear the solenoid at a far greater rate then something like the Jaycar IEBC......anyway.....

So many aftermarket pedals have dodgy mounting mechanisms....I had a set of Lonza pedals which I absolutely loved the look of (JDM style mate!!) , but the bendable tab style of fitment meant they always felt loose. I've now gone back to a set of old skool Razo pedals which have alllen key adjustment, they truly are the best (other then std style fitment) aftermarket metal pedals you'll ever experience....easy to heal-and-toe with too

Question - this mod sounds great and all in theory, but surely grounding the standard solenoid permenantly means that it would be pulsing 100% of the time that the car is turned on? Including at idle and really low RPM when it doesn't actually need to? Just a thought anyway... For those interested - the Jaycar IEBC sounds like a better option in the long run if you're on a budget (like myself).

I also had to cut the sides off my number plates after I had my new front bumper installed (std series 2 R33)....Making up brackets to install it at such an offset (over 1") seemed ridiculous. None of the actual letters or numbers on the plate have been affected, so I'm sure it's fine....most number plate surrounds obscure the same amount. My previous car (R32 GTS-t) has this same thing done by the previous owner/importer and I never had any questions about it in over two years of driving....

Hmmm, my two cents here - I've had both on my old R32, a 1/8" Festo bleed valve switched by a solenoid to run 16psi on a std turbo (steel-wheeled) and then later a Blitz Dual SBC Spec S...and I've got to say that the Blitz wasn't all that great, it would never actually hold the boost setting I entered, even under 1bar....I tweaked it endlessly and it just couldn't do it - regardless of what gain setting I had to accompany the boost ratio...whereas the bleed valve was actually pretty reliable! I'm sure more expensive EBC's are better...but personally I'm going to try the Jaycar EBC for my R33 - cheap and invisble, especially if you have an RB25DET with std boost solenoid. See what I did there? Answered the question (in a way) and also managed to squeeze in my opinion about cheap Jap EBC! Sweeeeeet.

Amen GTRGeoff, I've said this for years.

I barely felt the weight difference between the R32 & R33, running similar suspension and I live out in the Dandenongs of VIC where I drive on nice, windy roads every day...Whatever though, I'm not at all pushing the cars to their limits. Forget rusty R32s & R33s, you can find rusty R34's without even looking too hard! I went and had a look at a couple of dealerships for an R34, and with only a few seconds of grovelling around on on the ground, I noted at least two underrcariages that were riddled with rust, unlike both my R32 and R33 which were perfect underneath. It really depends on where the car came from and more importantly how it's been looked after....

pfffffttt, I remember parking next to an R33 every day when I was in the R32....The 'whale' thing is all perceptual, the actual car is barely any larger. I also remember parking next to an S15 200SX in the '32 and thinking my car was a 'whale'...in the words of Bart Simpson 'It's an illuuuuuuuuuusion!'