The Max

http://www.skyline-gt.com/filedump/v36-translation2.pdf

What he said. That's how I found my ECU model number.

I bought the cable directly from UpRev's website. The generic Osiris Standard package, which is purely for flashing a file prepared by a tuner and emailed to you is US$500. This is limited to 3 flashes - additional eFlashes then cost US$50 each. The Osiris Tuner package, which allows you to do the tuning yourself, is US$700. Because we're dealing with JDM, I took the safe approach when I bought mine. The first thing I did was buy the Cipher package for US$200. This was a relatively cheap test to see if it would identify my ECU so that I can then liaise with UpRev to determine if the Osiris package would support my ECU. It did and so the only thing I had to pay for was the upgrade cost to the Osiris Tuner which was just the difference, therefore, US$500. Forgot to mention: The software is free. The money is all in the hardware.

The fundamentals of tuning are still the same. It's a question of what resources the tuner has to do a good job of it. The only benefit I can see in finding an "official" tuner is that they would know the software (and where applicable, hardware) best in that they can work on it probably more efficiently than an unofficial tuner but it's not a dealbreaker by any means. I'm taking mine in to Tunehouse since I've known Jim from when we attended the MoTeC training seminars back in 2003, he is a fountain of knowledge and experience and he has the Chassispack dyno, which he knows very well and which I'm a big fan of.

Way ahead of you there. Even though I'm still in London, I've been running the software updater regularly to see what else Jared has introduced to his product. His support has been fantastic and when I sent him a dump of my ECU, he quickly found it was the same codebase as another ECU and sent me the upgrade file within 3 days. That's enough to impress me. As long as I can tune the fuel and ignition maps, I don't really care much for the rest at this point. At least I can actually tune this one, unlike my old Maxima. When I realised I'd have to wire in an aftermarket ECU for its turbo, I figured the only way to do it right was to go balls and all with the MoTeC M800 and then I found myself in hog heaven with all that I could do with it, speed-dependent boost control, etc. The less hassle the better, hence why I'm trying to avoid all aftermarket ECUs since GTM's forced induction customers are successfully pushing about 400hp out of their cranks using the UpRev Osiris along with upgraded fuel components.

It's not a replacement ECU. Also known as flash tuners, it's a cable that allows access to the factory/OEM ECU's parameters and gives the user the ability to adjust those parameters, including fuel and ignition maps. I got one in preparation for possibly supercharging mine, or to at least get a more aggressive tune out of it.

Absolutely. Their AM/FM radios cover the same range as ours. Edit: (had to add in the "AM/FM" so nobody would think I was talking about XM radio, heheh)

It is pretty damn good for a factory system but everyone's tastes are different, which is why I'm changing the speakers in my set up and adding a couple amps along with a JBL MS-8 DSP and a subwoofer in my '09. The headunit itself is fine, though I wish it supported FLAC files. I'll live with using my Sony ATRAC walkman plugged into the auxiliary input instead. It's hard to suggest to someone what they should do for speakers though because perception is a very unique thing and while my tastes result in more expensive speakers (Boston Acoustic ProSeries in the rear from my Maxima and recently purchased Boston Acoustic SPZ series in the front), that may be excessive to someone else. Your best bet is to trust your ears. The only honest advice I believe one can give is to the reliability and, to some extent, the technical merits of the speakers. Of course, it's hard to trust your ears in a showroom where it's not the interior of a car, particularly with all the different cars out there but with a little effort, you can and will land what you want. As far as brands go, I've been a long time fan of Boston Acoustic for their accuracy and power handling. As alternatives, Focal are very accurate, JBL are pretty decent, JL's C5 and ZR series are quite nice too. Again, to my ears. There are people who will swear by Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine, Polk, etc. All are technically decent and well made but beyond that, you really need to hear them for yourself. I haven't really covered the broad range of speakers out there so I wouldn't know what the other manufacturers are doing in terms of materials but you want to be sure that with a harsh environment that cars are, you'd want something that can handle sitting in the hot sun all day too. Good butyl-rubber (or similar) surrounds and tough Kevlar (or similar) cones are vital for the longevity of the speaker but of course, they must also be carefully selected and implemented so that they don't colour the sound in a bad way either. Since you're not putting in a beefier amp, I'm guessing you're looking for a sub that will replace the existing one in the parcel tray? If so, you'd need to do some homework on this because you're limiting yourself to what would essentially be just free-air subs. Using any other kind of sub without its intended enclosure would prove to be a waste of money. Pioneer have had a long history of reasonable free-air subs so you can probably take a listen to some of those. One thing to be really careful with though is the temptation of cranking them louder and louder as your hunger for power grows. The key is to power your speakers clean. Just because you're running a speaker rated at 100WRMS doesn't mean you can run your 18WRMS stereo full-tilt. When driven hard, an amp will begin to clip and that clipping is audible distortion. It is also raw DC power which will eventually fry the coil. No speaker coil likes DC power and that's the main reason why a majority of speakers blow.

Out of curiosity, since I haven't converted my lights back to their original HIDs, I have noticed that my high beams don't seem to have as much reach as they probably should. I keep the AFS switched off to avoid the AFS alarm from the lamps not being able to swing at all since the conversion and to obviously avoid any mechanical damage as a result. Do our headlamp assemblies start in the lowered position perhaps and that's why my high beams aren't really pointing high up like they should?

Ok. That makes more sense then. Bugger that. I'd rather not contend with the EPA. I had a test pipe in my Maxima before embarking on the turbo project. After that, I was prepared to spend the cash on a Magnaflow HFC since taking out the cat would've been a minuscule gain in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't a race car where every millisecond counts.

...or easily pluggable. Though I still have many a fond memory of my old M800 in the Maxima after all that time wiring it in. Customised it to the teeth. Even my boost was controlled by it, based on ground speed to minimise wheelspin, torque steer and to minimise the strain on the slushbox. There was nothing I couldn't do with it. Still, it did have the lambda page which meant that it could deviate from the fuel map to a certain degree if it had to - what self-learning ECUs do, fundamentally. That's the beauty of a good aftermarket ECU. The beauty of an OEM ECU though is that they've gone to a great deal of trouble in their R&D getting the right mapping for the vehicle. So reflashing it to alter the parameters as required is an excellent alternative in my opinion given you maintain the OEM driveability and you've got the perfect base map as your reference.

Certainly applicable to OEM engine management systems which do go open loop at WOT but not necessarily so with good aftermarket systems, to within reasonable deviations from the base map of course. If the base fuel map is wildly different from the lambda table, then the ECU will struggle as in its PID closed loop regardless. There has to be a reasonable median for it to be effective.

So you don't have a wideband O2 sensor as an integral part of your exhaust? You only have it for tuning and then take it out?

Sorry, I should have been more specific and referred to NA systems, though I wouldn't expect a serious difference in the tune as you did in a forced induction situation. Was the location of the O2 sensor(s) changed? It almost sounds like they wound up on the other side of the catalytic compared to the original set up.

Ok, I'm a little lost here but what the fudge are test pipes? Is that another term for resonators?

Absolutely. While I did the math, I still budgeted for $60k for anything unforeseen. Better to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.

I've yet to install my Megan Racing axle-back but what would be a good combination to complete the catback system to achieve a minimal drone, maximum legal sound level on acceleration whilst still maintaining the deep note this axle-back gives? Would this XO2 and Magnaflow combination be the way to go?

There is also the UpRev Osiris which will flash tune a G35.

Short explanation: Exhausts do not require an ECU tune. The reason why people tune their cars after bolting on their simple modifications is to add to the tally of gained power through the less conservative tuning compared to stock maps. Long explanation: If the exhaust had any influence at all, it may possibly be from changing headers in which the gases arriving at the wideband O2 sensors thereafter would be potentially different but that difference would be absolutely minuscule. If you want real accuracy in measuring air/fuel mixtures, you would need to put a wideband O2 sensor on each of the ports at the headers to monitor each and every single cylinder individually as the ECU could then tailor the fuel/ignition parameters for each cylinder individually. I saw this done at a MoTeC seminar and I must admit, it did look cool and the results were useful from a racing point of view. But the gains from it were that minor that while it helps in a racing situation, it does nothing for the average street enthusiast like us. In my time of installing and tuning engine management systems, there has never been a situation which has warranted me altering the maps because of different pipework.

The former is a halogen bulb intended to look like an HID. The latter is an HID bulb.My knowledge of the V35 is hazy at best so I'm not sure if the OEM headlights are HID but if they are, then you'll need to have retained the HID ballast and retaining clip from the compliance conversion.

I should have noted that mine is an '09 model (with the 7-speed auto) which I won in the auction in November 2011. Having checked on a few of the import agents' sites, including the guy I dealt with, they seem to have plateued at $52k but I still say allow yourself $55k.

I'll never understand why people take an elegant car and slap on a bunch of stickers for which they receive no sponsorship dollars from.

I agree on all counts. I put a lot of love in what I do with my own vehicles as well as others' (and my glue-heatshrinked connections live inside the OEM conduits, heheh). I have my techniques for shrinking the heatshrink without scorching any adjoining wires or components in tight spaces. At the end of the day, for as many wrong ways to install, there are as many right ways too. I've done my share of audio, security and engine management systems but there is no way I'd do it for a living. I'm sure the pros here can tell a number of stories about some "pros" in the business who ruin it for the real pros such as themselves. Besides which, working on broadcast systems pays a lot better for me and brings with it a lot of travel. It helps me afford to buy my V36 but it also keeps me away from it for a while. Man I miss that thing.

The diode protection in your LED is to protect the LED itself, not the vehicle's electronics. Otherwise, the LED is not the same as a conventional light bulb type of test light so it won't draw more current across a circuit causing any kind of damage to the vehicle's electronics anyway but you don't need me to tell you that. That said though, don't you prefer to use a proper multimeter instead of a test light? I realise it may seem excessive if you're only looking for a 12V feed but what if you're looking for a variety of voltages which can only be identified using a multimeter in the very least? Maybe it's just the electronics engineer in me saying that but I'm always happy to see it from someone else's perspective if they're prepared to give it.

Harder to pick than a broken nose and I definitely don't have crystal balls. Other factors would be the unusable navigation system, the Japanese menus, the lack of cruise control on most of them (though I never used it much in the past). Those would potentially hurt your ability to resell the vehicle when there's an Aussie version available with the right languages and navigation, albeit more expensive. http://www.j-spec.com.au/wiki/Nissan/Skyline/V36/id-509 Not really. Once you start memorising symbols and/or menu layouts, you can comfortably navigate your way around the essentials. Then there is also this great manual which can be found right here: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/332357-v36-skyline-japanese-translation-document-work-in-progress/ Have you considered going to the effort of importing one from Japan yourself? That's how I got mine. I wasn't inclined to buy one from a local dealership because of my lack of faith in car salesmen. It was all fine when I bought my '03 BA wagon a couple years ago but not for a car of this value. Then to buy privately, again, you're at the mercy of someone who will hopefully be honest enough to tell you if it was purchased from a dealership and if there were any issues with it, given that there are dealerships out there with a reputation for getting in cars that are less than grade 5A and not doing much to fix them up for minimal fuss as opposed to just fixing them for sale. Caveat emptor dude. There are plenty V36s available in black and red. At least, there were plenty of them when I was waiting for the right one to come along last year. It took me 7 months of patiently waiting but finally the one I was after surfaced at an auction and I had my agent deal with it right away. Oh and it is pearl white. I don't like black because it's a difficult colour to keep clean and hide scratches. I avoid red because that colour does tend to show visible signs of fading easily. And I definitely avoided the sunroof because despite it adding value, it really is a useless feature for me and it's just another weak point where water can leak through. Each to their own though. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Keep in mind that a good V36SP (i.e. with all the bells, whistles and luxuries) with say less than 25,000km will still set you back around $55k on road, if you decide to import yourself as I did. That will save you around $5k compared to getting one of comparable quality in from a dealership. It's still a fair amount cheaper than the V37 that Infiniti Australia will be flogging. The ultimate question is, how long are you willing to wait? Do you want to get rid of your V35 before it loses any more value? Would you be prepared to drive around in a nugget before settling on your nice car? If the money is burning a hole in your pocket, cautiously look around for a locally available vehicle. If you can give it a few months at least, import from Japan. If you can wait a near eternity until the right one comes along, either import from Japan or buy from Infiniti Australia if they decide they were too overzealous on the pricing and ultimately reduce it to something that can be deemed reasonable. It's all up to you.