GTSBoy

The centre is a barbed pin that catches on the 4 tangs around the outside. You just need to push the pin back through the other way, noting that that might not be easy. I don't know if there is a proper tool for removing those. I'd take it off with a dremel, seeing as the weather guards would be going in the bin anyway.

Tres hilarious

It's PWM 0-5v square wave. Same as the ECU sees from the cluster.

Don't just ask the question. Put a temp sensor in the hot side pipe and find out what temperature the turbo is producing. *(But otherwise, all advice above is also valid).

I haven't looked at the wiring diagram that closely, but I think the speed signal is available at the HICAS CU also. As to how to "see" the speed signal....with a consult unit you can see what the ECU thinks the speed signal is. If you want to look directly, then you need to tap the wire with a CRO. You can buy cheap CROs that are USB or wifi these days that you can use with your computer or phone. Worth having.

Are you worried about the grinding marks on the shaft or some wear marks on the lobes? The grinding marks may or may not be factory. It is common for there to be some grinding marks along the casting flashes on those parts of the cam. Yours look like they were fairly aggressively done, but there's nothing to suggest that it's not as-factory. They might have been touched up by someone who thought that further removing casting flashes would improve the cams (when it really wouldn't). Have a google image search for RB25 cams (and also google for RB20 and RB26 cams) and look at the variation is what can be seen there.

If the engine has been open to the weather you pretty much have no choice but to pull it apart and expect to find a few unpleasant surprises. Could be rusted bores, etc etc.

I'd like to think that they've been looking into cryo treating also. I must ask them. Norwood Automatics have been cryo treating input shafts on Ford (and other) autos to help them hold up in Barra drag applications (and other high torque combos). Proven to help.

First things first... What. The. Living. f**k? How? Just how? Have you been parking it in an acid bath? 2nd. Yes, maybe a talented welder could build that back up and then machine it flat. But....you would only do that for a vintage car where getting a replacement is zero chance. 3rd. Yes, it is almost certain that all the Neo (turbo/NA/20/25) covers should fit.

Yes, this is a feature of the design. Most just run without those bolts. The paranoid do whatever mod is required to get bolts in there.

Sam at Neat knows knows his shit. He's done good diff work for me.

Yes, as above. If it isn't tyres, I'd suggest softening the front bar. You will give up some of the initial turn in in exchange for some more mod corner grip. Is it possible to put more rubber on the front? 225 is a skinny skinny tyre for a heavish car at the track.

Am I the only one that noticed that both the pistons and the rods are listed (in the OP) as being to suit both RB25 and RB26? Given that the Neo25 uses RB26 rods to go with the unique Neo25 pistons, it would seem quite reasonable that CP and/or Manley would have one part number that could be used on either a 26 or a Neo25. OP, you are worrying about the wrong things. Follow advice above. Then start wondering why they are not telling you what the plan for the oil pump and/or drive is, why there's no mention of the head, gaskets, timing belts, water pump, etc etc etc. Ask them about those things and listen for a confident response. If the response is not confident, you will likely need to go elsewhere.

Disconnect everything on that circuit. Replace the fuse. Plug the disconnected things back in one by one until the fuse blows.

Behind the trim panel on the LHS rear corner of the boot.

That's my point precisely.

They're not really "active suspension" though, are they? Not in the computer-controlled-takes-input-from-a-bunch-of-G-steering-angle-rideheight-speed-etc-sensors-and-tries-to-control-wheel-rate-and-position-to-keep-the-body-flat/steady sense that proper active suspension is, right? You're just talking about electrically/remote adjustable damping rate, right?

I'm not trying to be homophobic here, but, which guys are you trying to impress with these actions? We all know that girls don't give a flying f**k about shiny radiator hoses (or almost anything else to do with cars) and I'd not really be looking to pull a root from many of those that are suchwise interested. And I'm certainly not looking to pull a root from any of the guys who would be impressed....so why bother impressing them? It's a 30 year old Datsun, ferchrissake.

This is another example of where "just spit on it!" is applicable.

I see what you did there.

30 months later and there are still no half price backdoor 2nd shift ones available on aliexpress. I'm still sorta tempted. The black housings are less blingy and therefore more tasteful, but somehow the massive change in appearance from the stockers also isn't the way I want to go. The alternative appears to be the Morimoto M LED 2.0 projectors that you can retro in the same way as previous HID options, that seem to be a good choice. To be fair....anything new, even a bad LED, is likely to be so far ahead of the stock projectors that it will seem like perfection. But the Moris are going to cost >$700 landed, and then you still have to dismantle and rebuild the housings. Seems like a tough value proposition against the Coplus/78-works ones at circa double that price point. Plus, with the full replacements, you put the unmolested originals in the shed.

Why not wrap them in tinsel?

It'll be the washer hose.

Just....swap the new old engine onto your existing sump/diff and cut out all the heartache? Close up the original engine with the 2WD sump in the shed, where it doesn't matter whether it's got a diff or not. Win?

Cannot see how this could make a (positive) difference. The thermal conductivity of stainless is less than of mild, so if anything SS should be better than mild WRT this problem. What is this? A sheetmetal shield? If so, doesn't need to be inconel, because any shield that is stood off from the hot surface will never be anywhere near as hot as it would justify inconel over some other SS or similar (and cheaper) alloy. Further, I am a great advocate of radiation heat shields, but you must always remember that when you need one, then the source of the heat is bloody hot, and with a radiation shield between it and some other heatsink (in this case the strut tower, etc) then the heat source will radiate less heat away and will run at an even higher temperature. So, if this then means that more heat is pumped into the air flow around it, then you're just moving the problem from one place to another. And the hot air flow can move the heat from one place to another also. Again, not sure if it will help. Ti's conductivity is not drastically different to typical SSs anyway. CF not required for the purpose. Vents could well be helpful regardless of CF or metal bonnet. Obviously chopping up a metal bonnet is unlikely to be palatable, so understand the drive towards CF. Additionally, this thing about venting harks back to the question about convective heat transfer. If you put in any extra heat shielding, such that hot surfaces get hotter and move more heat into the air, then you really need to find a way to get rid of the heat. Now, a vent on the bonnet directly over the turbo will work as a short chimney to allow hot air to rise out whenever the car is stationary. When moving, who knows what the aerodynamic effect of the vent will be wrt all the other aerodynamic effects in play? It could be good or it might do nothing or it might even impede the "cooling" available without it. That last point is probably where the difference between your two cars (unless they are both Ceffies). The airflow in the engine bay is probably the main difference, notwithstanding the possible influence of the black paint on this car being better at receiving radiant heat from the exhaust. Maybe the airflow is better in one because of an undertray difference, or bodykit difference where the air can escape under the car better in one than the other. Maybe the radiator/intercooler/etc sealing and ducting on this black car is better than the other car and the heat shed into the air stream is better (more of it) and that is making the starting temperature in the engine bay higher, before you start adding heat from the exhaust. This is the same argument as having balanced fans on a computer case. There's no point having 10x90mm fans blowing into a case if there's only 1x90mm fan's worth of exit area. You'd be better off switching a few fans to exhaust and get more airflow and lower temperatures. In the case of the car, having a great system for getting the coolers at the front working isn't necessarily great if that heat gets stuck in the engine bay. What is really required is some form of low pressure zone somewhere down low in/behind the engine bay to encourage the hot air to escape. If there is a high pressure zone down there between the floorpan and the road, then there's an obstacle for the engine bay air to escape. I'd be willing to bet that any number of cars have a relatively higher pressure under the front floor than they do in the engine bay. Or at least, not sufficiently lower than the engine bay to allow the air out. How to change that situation on a street car is possibly a tough answer to come up with and likely to be quite different between chassis/setups also. It probably is all your fault. 😛 I think a CF bonnet with a means to exhaust the air from the radiator out in the front centre is a logical thing to want. Cause suction behind the coolers and further improve their performance without putting much of their heat contribution into the engine bay. Then the other vents on the bonnet would be arranged such that you have some scoopy things towards the front on the sides to get some cool air in and some vents with negative pressure arrangement further back to allow it to escape and take some heat out with it. Stay away from the cowl region as it will provide inconsistent results (possibly an exhaust at low speed and possibly an inlet at higher speed when the pressure rises at the base of the windscreen). There might even be an argument for a small, high speed axial or barrel fan to draw cool air from a brake vent or similar and duct it to the hot spot so that you're starting with the coldest air available rather than general hot engine bay air. Obviously this will require an escape route afterwards, because otherwise you're back near square one again.