Duncan

changed the bonnet struts...cheap and easy.

Fitted these today...fit fine, came with new ball joints as well, no problems. Can't got wrong for $42 delivered....

oran park makes me sad

OP's post removed at his request, he is working on this directly with the workshop first and will update later.

I don't know if your mate is my mate (Chris from Craved Coatings), but he did the radiator, oil cooler and sump on my race car, it definately ran a degree or 2 cooler afterwards. When you are pushing everything super hard, every degree makes a difference.

fair enough, I guess I understand part of your concern - but the truth is there are no truely "crap" brands being sold, except maybe among the bottom of the china bay stuff. PAR is a serious aftermarket brand who have been around for years and done thousands of gearsets. Yes they do feature among the warranty horror stories (like PWR for instance, and PPG for that matter) but it's not like they are an instant guarantee of failure. Having said that, obviously I agree it is dishonest to claim to supply one brand, and actually supply another. it looks to me like you are looking for someone to blame, not how to fix your problem. All this thread/posts/comments etc and you are not even aware of what the issue is yet? If the failure is not related to a PAR/OSGIKEN/whoever supplied part, would that change your opinion about what happened?

I don't know their semi slick at all, but for a cheap tyre I was very impressed with their street tyre's grip. The extra wear Chris was seeing might be related to being softer/better grip than the usual chinese rock-hard tyre that lasts for 1billion klm but has no grip.

It's not what you want to hear....but $4200 for a stronger gearset, fitted, was an absolute bargain, no matter what the brand was. I think you've been told a few times already in this thread....but I'll try again. Gearboxes have a few major parts that can break, and you have only changed the gears themselves. You are almost certainly running the original, factory selectors/forks/synchros/bearings etc. Any of those can break, particularly due to how they have been treated over the years (even before you owned the car). On the bright side they are much cheaper to replace the redoing the whole box, however it is still the labour that will sting (it takes a few hours to put box in and out). On "whining", straight cut gears are stronger and whine. The noise is very loud and obvious. Helical gears are weaker and quiet, which is why everyone uses them. In pretty much every gearbox the forward gears are helical and reverse is straight cut. You can get quieter whining from worn bearings in the box but it is totally different to the straight cut noise. No "brand" of gear is significantly quieter or noisier.

why not mate....they better have good pizza at the pizza shop!

Mark, that is brilliant news, especially with all the troubles you've had. I love your perserverance, lots of people would have burned the car down by now - but hopefully a trouble free day makes it all worthwhile (that's how it works for me....I always forgive my girl for all the troubles when she runs nicely) Also, a hge thumbs up for Yavuz and Unigroup....they have had hell getting that setup to work but have persevered and come up with the goods. Not to mention Yavuz giving up his only day up each week to head to the track and help you out

yep, the stagea will be towing the race gtr down....best of both worlds

I'm heading down to the Skyline Nationals http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/397824-skyline-nationals/

ouch, she doesn't look too healthy, great to hear that you and your nav are OK. Out of interest...did something in the car come loose and hit your ribs, or did that injury happen in the seat? I think its important to keep in mind the huge loads in a crash when you are doing the interior of a car.

gooone!

just ordered these.....http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190693714614&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:AU:3160 about $40AUD. will report back but they look right

ahh good point...sorry haven't tried any falken semis. I have run their slicks, they were good for the price too.

its the production car category that I race in, there are 5 classes, he is in class A but didn't do qaulifying so had to start at rear of grid (40 cars back). Plenty of cars finished in front of him, mostly 4wd turbos eg emo Xs. the driving standards of course have been a point of frequent discussions....who needs repair bills.

I don't know those tyres, but their FZ201 are good dry tyres at a comparably very good price. I've run both the softs and mediums and both were good, although the softs obviously are for short runs only. I found the mediums terrible in the wet though.

we stayed at the bakehouse last time Eric, it was fine. In fact I've stayed pretty much everywhere in that damn town and the only places that were really not up to scratch were the Alipine Heritage Inn (really not like it sounds, but it was mostly Pete's snoring I think), and the Pelican Sheep Station. There are some places that are a bit expensive for what they are, so the smaller places like Bakehouse are good. Great to see you filled the day Pete....now book another one closer to the end of the year so I can have a go!

gone....someone got a bargain

Yes, you can do that. It is much easier on a trolley jack though. Firstly, make sure you have used a clutch aligning tool, and put a little grease on the spigot bush (in the end of the crank) and on the geaerbox's thrust bearing. Once you are ready to mate the two up, it is critical that the engine and gearbox are exactly straight, otherwise the engine will never ever go in. This means you need to drop the back of the gearbox down a long way to line up straight with the engine. As the 2 get closer together you may be able to use a long bolt or g clamp to pull together the last bit - but again make sure it is straight, don't force it. It is possible that the engine will foul on the engine mounts while doing this, if so remove them until the box is bolted on, then put them back in.

Thanks David, I'll put it in the post tomorrow morning.

well well well....look who it is. Good to see you're alive! By "trusted workshop" I'm assuming you mean somewhere different to who was doing the work previously....I have not heard them called "trusted" for years.

sorry I don't know, but an educated guess says the narrower edge should be towards the leading edge of the disc as it turns.

settle down rooster....I meant they are professionals at avoiding warranty claims