Steve

I dont know about anyone else, sorry, Yes I was referring to HKS only, as other places make larger cams that can be run with NVCS. Not so confusing now is it, you answered your own question. I know it is being pedantic, but context can be hard to convey over a forum, so I beleive some times it is warranted, such as now. But really, if you are having such a hard time grasping the concept, why hold on so tight, doesnt really make a huge difference if you call something step one, or mild upgrade or bottom of the range?

Well I havent heard anything bad about them (unlike 2540) so thats a good thing:)

I cant understand why they would put up a 256 NVCS cam for exhaust. I was told that they also do a 256 inlet that is for use without NVCS, perhaps they have their wires crossed, and should have 256 in, with and without NVCS instead of a 256 exh with nvcs? I was told the only HKS cam I can get to run with NVCS is the 256. This was by a friend who rang Japan for me to find out what options I had.

where did you see that?

about $3-4 a plug (edit: for coppers), autobarn or tilbrooks:)

no probs with the 8s at all Matt, all good. Enrico, sounds like its time for a power fc and z32 AFM. Also, have you upgraded your fuel pump yet? about time for that too. If you fit it when you do the AFM, you can get one retune for both at the same time - save you a few $$$

How much? From a couple of thousand (may be a bit less) up to as much as you want to spend.

Forging, AFAIK, is the process of making a peice of metal into a particular shape, by heating/bending/machining etc. The other type of process commonly used is casting, which is pouring molten metal into a mould. Casting usually does not provide the same quality of finished product, due to imperfections in the metal, such as dirt or air, that arise from the process. Not sure about 3 piece, but 2 peice are usually 1 peice begin the out rim that the tyre sits on, and the other being the centre that bolts to the hub. the idea of 2 peice and 3 piece is that they will generally be stronger than a 1 piece (usually means cast) wheel.

Interesting. The wider the track the better the handling will be, no question there. It is illegal in aust to widen the track beyond 24mm (from memory) or close to it. This is federal law. But if the car has been engineered, its a different matter (except in SA where an engineers report means squat), as approval can be granted to waive federal law, as is the right of all transport ministers (in each state), and is usually delegated to an approved authority - safety being the main concern. I have been told by an engineer that widening the track of a car can put excessive strain on the axles, beyond which they were designed, thus I suppose the rulings. If you change the offset, this will have the same effect as fitting spacers. As long as you get the nut threaded properly on a spacer, how will it be different to altering the offset?

Another thing to think about, if the stocker gets re-shimmed too tight, it will die - Joel and Enrico, I would recommend you take the car to a diff specialist. If eigher of you need to go for a spin in my car, to see how the 2 way feels, give me a hoy.

Duncan, you ask why anyone would want anything but a 1 way - well I definately prefer a 1.5 or 2way. With a 1 way, if you get oversteer and back off, your back end can whip around really hard, throwing the rear in the opposite direction. A 2 way will not do this, and a 1.5 wont either. 2 way (according to sydneykid) has an advantage if trail braking into corners. I dont do this often, but if you do get a corner come up unexpectedly (it has happened to me) and you are hard on the brakes into the corner, the weight can lift off the inside rear tyre resulting in sudden hard oversteer (the rear wheels are not working together, power goes to the wheel with the least resistance) - which can be pretty hard to catch. So there is a benefit in that it keeps power to both wheels. Stock nissan skyline diff is a LSD, which stands for limited slip diff. There are many types of LSD, the stock one is viscous - it has oil in it. This will allow one wheel to spin before the diff locks, when both wheels will spin. Viscous diffs can be a little unpredictable, esp when they get older. Open wheeling, then if the wheels lock sometimes kicking the back end out unpredictably and wider/quicker than a mechanical LSD. Mechanical LSD uses plates like clutches. when the plates are pushed together, the rears lock. 1 way will lock only under accelleration, not under decelleration. 1.5 will lock under accelleration, but only 50% (or there abouts) of the locking pressure on decelleration. 2 way locks fully on accelleration and decelleration. (this isnt 100% accurate, but you get the idea). a mechanical diff makes a huge difference to how the car handles, I would rate it nearly as much difference as fitting decent coilovers (on my R33, with 63,000kms on it). It puts power down better (car is quicker, esp off the line), the predictability is perfectly consistant. The rear doesnt step anywhere near as wide as with the stock diff in a straight line. In corners, you can feel the rear coming around, not just jumping wide (as with the stock unit) when traction starts to brake. I find the car seems to sit flatter in corners too. If the rear does get too wide (with 1.5 and esp 2 way) taking your foot off the accellerator will result in it coming back in a very controller manner, not snapping around in the opposite direction. This is of couse unless you have left it too long, beyond the point of no return. To give you an idea of the improvement in traction, previously in a straight line, I couldnt even drive the car off the line without chirping, and first and second were useles - not traction, wild sideways and just dangerous on the street if I tried to give the car too much - Just recently, I lined up another member off this forum, him with RE540s, me with crappy revspecs, but I was actually pulling ahead of him slightly (he is running 12s), we were both spinning the rears, but I wasnt just sitting there making noise and swaying across the lanes. 2 way a disadvantage? depends on what you are after. much better for drift, and a little more predictable if you are coming off the power during oversteer (esp heavy oversteer) - but a little more understeer. Well, I can also add, that after fitting the 2 way, I fitted adjustable castor rods, where previously I had castor bushes (that gave me 7 1/2 deg castor). The rods are adjusted about 1 cm shorter from the bushes, and turn in is just amazing - the car handles like it is much smaller. (and besides, as $350 for a 2 way, there is no way I was going to pass it up:p) A mechanical diff can be a bit clunky, and chirp the inner wheel when turning in a tight circle - another downside is the back end gets out alot quicker in the wet than with a viscous diff, but once again it is predictable, and if you drive suitably, not unstreetable at all (unlike an old GT falcon I owned, couldnt corner in the wet, esp if braking into traffic, bloody thing used to do 360s all the time) Anybody who is thinking of doing this - do it NOW. Not only is it a great handling mod, you get the power down much better, and the car is alot quicker to drive, straight line and corners. I actually thought I had a 4.3:1 ratio (vice R33 4.1:1) at first, the difference is that much. As mentioned there are different types of LSD, mechanical and viscous are but two.

wastegate actuators are only around $260AUD from greenline plus post, so alot less than $700

Hold on a second, I never said step one means "the biggest cam you can run with VVT", please re-read. The following applies to RB25: HKS 256 step on inlet cam is the only cam (HKS make) that still allows the use of VVT. Tomei, from memory, make a 260? HKS refer to different levels of tuning as steps Step one HKS cams are 256in/8.8, 264ex/9.0 Step two are larger, step three are larger again. I am pretty sure HKS do a step 2 inlet which is 264, it has a larger lift than the 256, and obviously a longer duration, which would explain your confusion at 264 step on and 264 step 2. I am not as sure, but I believe they also do a 264 exhaust that is similar lift, in that it isnt a direct bolt on. Different engines have different durations and lift for their steps, obviously. If you look at a catalogue (which I know you refuse to own;)) they have different levels of tuning. Each sucessive 'step' requires more work, for different levels (or steps) of tuning, and the step 1's are a straight bolt on. The steps were described to me much as you pointed out in the latter part of your post - but I didnt pay alot of attention at the time, as I was after cams that allowed me to use VVT and were a direct fit and kept reasonable idle without the need for vacuum tanks for brakes etc - I didnt look past a direct bolt on, as IMHO, it would be overengineering a car being used for street and light track work. Does that help?

this is how my EBC is plumbed, with the solenoid to the top of the gate and a direct boost line to the diaphram. It holds shut ok, just when the gate comes open it drops slightly then fluctuates as it tries to control the boost. This is only when I am running higher boost, ie1.5bar plus. The fluctuation isnt bad, but at lower boost its spot on, and the power curve is nice and even, with no dips. So I am hoping that a harder spring will give me the same boost control that I have at 1.2bar with the 10psi spring that is in there at the moment.

What are you going to do with a spring for a exterenal 40mm HKS standard wastegate:) but I do believe whatsisname may have a spare wastegate actuator lying around;)

Matt, you ricer:p I had one of those, they are nice and shiney, match your engine bay beautifully. Thank god you didnt get the type 3, they leak like a sieve. I seriously think you should just borrow shaun's slicks, just for one run - just to see what you can do - my money would be on mid/low 11s:) Go on, as Danny would say, dont be weak....

Actually, I am buggered if I know, the are the ones that tilbrooks had on the wall????? all I know is that they are 8 heat range:)

Joel, yep, standard springs and lifters. not planning on running huge rpms, and the cams arent that agressive.

AFAIK, step 1, 2 etc are terms coined by the Japanese for levels of tuning, as in: Step one HKS inlet cam is 256/8.8, step one exh is 264/9.0. Step one inlet is the only HKS cam you can keep NVCS with. Step two are higher lift, and larger duration on inlet (264), there fore you can have a 264 step 2 cam.

I still have a spare wastegate spring that is too soft, would it be worth trying to get it re-tempered?

Hmm, 96 ron, that doesnt make life too easy. Do you know anyone up that way that works at the airport, or anyone on a station that runs choppers? avgas will make your life alot easier:D

EDIT: sorry just noticed you have a new BOV.

sorry Hiep, I dont acutally have any, I was just playing along to T-mans implication that I was gay, to give him a thrill. You can have my old coppers when I have finished with them if you like, they are NGK 8 heat range, but I am sure they will be fine for your car:p

SLY33, not really sure how HKS rate their turbos, except that I have heard from a few souces that the power quoted on their turbo comparison charts are based on the turbo alone, ie, their compressor maps (that they wont release), and are 10% lower than what the turbos actually make. This is where it gets confusing, as they are rated at 1 bar (on the turbo chart) so it is hard to tell what they will do when you turn the wick up. Fortuneately most of their turbos have been around long enough that it isnt too hard to find real world figures of what people can achieve with the right support systems. I think if you were chasing around 250rwkw, the 2835 would be a better choice than the 2540. grepin is making 275 at 1.3bar, it comes on boost quite early and is very responsive. Even my 3037, with a 0.61 turbine housing was making 256 at 1 bar, and hitting 1 bar at around 3000rpm. Just no good once you wind in any more than 1 bar boost, as with the small housing it would come on boost too easily and throw the back end sideways very easily - not good for traffic and meant I could only have 1 bar boost dialed in for daily driving. The 2540 from every thing I have read, and all those I have spoken to concur that it is really only ok for drag applications, as it doesnt really do much lower in the revs - even in single form.

HKS step one for exhaust is 264 duration, 9.0mm lift.