Steve

meshmesh, I think you will find that the EPA accept an IM240 test which can be done in VIC for around $600. Qld will let you do just about anything to a car, short of strap rockets to the side, NSW have free EPA testing so you can get mods approved as complying with local regs. On a side, you can drive to NSW and get a free IM240 test done, as testing there is free. Joel, exactly, it would apply to drivers too, so if you make it compulsary for young guys to own twin turboed old holden V8s (which predate emission ADRs and therefore are quite legal without having to go through the nause of testing and compliance,) it will make the roads safer very quickly:p - kill em off before they have a chance to breed

I have an external gate, the spring is too soft but it feels quite hard when out of the gate, much stiffer than min boost is rated by the feel of it. How do you know what rate spring to fit? what is the relation between boost pressure and spring rate when changing the entire spring? do I have any other options Currently the spring is only a 10psi, I still have the old spring (which is softer), can this be retempered to a new rate? (time to break out the oxy:)) Cheers

yeah, I got thousands of them.

sounds good, make sure you have a good intercooler (no doubt you already have one), and good management. A conservative tune doesnt mean you wont have power. Hopefully your tuner will go for around 11.5/6 AFratios at peak torque, and 12s thereafter. You wont know for sure until you get the turbo fitted and on the dyno for a tune - this seems to be where gremlins will raise their head in the first instance, then on the road, until you have them all ironed out. There are so many variables, it would be near impossible to highlight them all. I have found the issues I have had, others havent. and vice vesa. Timing is another matter. If you have a power fc, you can actually make correction across the range when driving should you run into trouble. If you detect detonation on the street, just pull 1 deg of timing across the range, and monitor closely. I deg seems to make a huge difference to knock when you are at the threshold where the power fc starts to warn of problems. I have managed to keep my engine in one peice with over 300kw on stock internals with just a head gasket to drop CR to 8.6:1 - but I am running around 1.5 bar and up to 1.7 bar regularly. Best advice I can probably give is look at what they do in japan, then copy it exactly, without taking any shortcuts - they have been tuning these engines for so much longer than in Aust, and they tend to perfect things to a fine art. All the R&D has been done by them - with proven results. What other mods have you got? what turbo are you running? what fuel are you using?

Sorry BigDatto, cant help with specifics, here is a link to comparison dynos for 2510, 2530, 2535 and 2540 :http://www.hks-power.co.jp/products/turbo/...c_gt/ac_gt.html might find it interesting. The 2510s on there are tested at 1.2bar, the 2535 though at 1 bar. I think you may find it will vary for each car/engine, depending on setup. things like cams, porting, exhaust etc all seem to have an impact on where optimum boost pressure will be. When the car is on the dyno, just keep turning up the wick until the returns are minimal for the increase in boost. Grepins 2835, when originally tuned used 1.65bar, as that was where it was producing optimal returns. He found boost leak, fixed that, now he finds 1.3bar is optimal. I was running 1.7bar, after changing exhaust, I am running around 21-22 psi. I know another guy who was running a 3037 on SR20, he found optimal boost was around 1.4bar, but was making the same sort of power that I had at 1.2bar on my RB25. I would imagine there is an optimal boost pressure for each turbo in a perfect world, but my experience has been that there is no such thing as a perfect world. Sorry I cant be of much help.

Anyone heard of the buffalo theory?

Hmm, well to start with, the mods that you do and dont do, will vary greatly depending on the power you are aiming for. You say dont do injectors, but upgrade the cams? Why would you be putting in cams unless you are at the stage where you need to upgrade the injectors? asking for trouble. Why pull the head off to o-ring the block unless you are once again chasing some decent power? certainly the stock head gasket is fine until well over 250kw. If you are pulling the head off, make sure you change the timing belt at the same time. It could be argued that an RB30 is an excellent value for money upgrade, once again it depends on how much power you want and where you want your torque. I spent alot of money on cams, custom manifold, head gasket - once you figure in return from selling the stock RB25, a 3L conversion, such as the ones RIPS sell, would have probably made better economical sense, and given me a bottom end power band (which is where street cars spend most of their time) that just cannot be duplicated by an RB25 - just depends on what you are after. I think if you want to start an 'power upgrade thread' you need to look at things from the beginning, and progress in a logical manner, once you start pulling the head off, it opens a huge can of worms, as then you start thinking about porting, cc combustion chambers, o-ring block and head (as mentioned) etc - talking some serious work here, and it can be very expensive. A logical sequence of events IMHO would be Exhaust (cat back or full system, and make sure you do something with the joke of a cat) FMIC, Pod - must be with a partition and CAI Bleed or EBC Fuel pump Management (SAFC, ITC, full ECU - once again depending on what you are after) If you dont have a full exhaust system, now is the time Exhaust cam gear Clutch (may have already given up the ghost - if you are chasing over 250rwkw, I would suggest a twin plate+ or otherwise a super single should be fine) You now have around 200rwkw+ at 12.5psi boost, from here things get a bit tougher and more expensive. You need to have a good mind as to what you want to acheive power wise, and be careful not to over engineer the car This is just the power side of things, think also about suspension, shocks and springs - or coilovers, castor, camber, diff, wheels, brake pads. You may not be doing all these straight away, but I can recommend you give them alot of thought, as being able to get power down, and handle well makes far more differance to the feel of the car, and the pleasure of driving than just the push in the back when you nail it -IMHO I learnt this the hard way spending thousands on power, only now spending probably around 1-2k on final sus mods like castor and diff, camber and hicas removal - bang for buck with suspension in phenominal. Going further, if this is what you want, you should have full management, and hopefully some injectors on the way. Then comes the big one, what turbo? the choice in turbo will make or break an upgrade, so before it can be answered at all, you need to consider what sort of power you want, keeping in mind that a strong bottom end and mid range may mean you cant have a fantastic top end, midrange and top end, forget bottom end, etc. The more power you want, the more lag you will have. Right about now is a good time to consider if you want to go down the RB25 path, or go 3L which will give you tons more torque down low, and is capable of spinning up a much larger turbo, quicker than an RB25. Not that the car has to be a dog to drive off boost, but it will be very different. You also need to think about pushing the rev limiter right to compensate - really there are just so many variables here, its an entire thread on its own, that could go on for pages by itself. Actually, having just written all this, I just remembered that www.meggala.com has a build up section that covers alot of this. It would be worth checking his site out. good luck EDIT: an oil cooler, a must for the track, otherwise debatable if it is really necessary for a car you just drive on the streets - cant hurt, but its not all that cheap.

1 Bar is nothing for the stock internals even at stock CR, 265 is fine too. Merli was running more boost and more power with totally stock internals for some time without dramas. It all depends on the tune, you can destroy stock internals with alot less than 265rwkw. I would highly recommend you dont take any short cuts though, ie, do your injectors!

only the turbine wheel is ceramic on skyline turbos, not the compressor wheel. My S1 turbo looked exactly the same, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

have seen 3037 second hand around 2K, as long as its in good condition, it goes well as a single on RB25, so no reason why it wouldnt go well on RB26.

comon andrew, only 90kg???? I do think the suspension may have something to do with it, and the weight distribution, gearing (taller diff), or maybe you are just an awesome driver? an extra 100kg will make a noticeable difference, see if you can find someone who weighs an extra 100+kg and go for a run, just make sure they are in the front, not in the boot helping with traction:p

Buy some coppers, and ask for your old ones back (unlikely they will have them though). Coppers are the shit - unless you are made of money and buying those fancy arsed iridium gay plugs:p

yep, 8.6:1 CR.

But Cheeky, that sausage had your name on it:p

mr mature you.

take the 10 Matt, you've got the slip;) Andrew, I had problems with the twin plate too, until I got a bit more fuel in where it engages, now its almost like a stocker:p

If you wanted to go to consumer affairs, or min of fair trading, first you need to get a statement from another shop to say what they would have charged for the work, also, if you didnt get a quote to begin with, you will have nothing. Unless you have a contract, or quote/estimate, you're pushing shit up hill unfortuneately. I vote for Shaun at Boostworx too, I am v.happy with his tune and his service, and god knows, I have had alot of different places in Adeliade tune my car:p So, T-man, are you getting Hiep's SAFC? also, we had a very special sausage for you on the dyno day, just ask Cheeky:)

seems a bit wierd that you have 264hp and still 0.2sec slower than a 3.5L magna? Are you sure someone isnt farking with your dyno figures?

INASNT, I know the stock internals will be near the limits, but I have seen JMS's R33 making a little more power, bouncing off the revlimiter for extended periods and it held up ok to this sort of punishment repeatedly. The japanese, I have been told by people who have first hand experience, have been making this sort of power with stock internals for a long time. Just decompress the engine, upgrade the injectors and have a safe tune - easy. And so far, I have flogged this thing hard, overboosted to 1.9 bar, bounced off the rev limiter both cold and hot weather, under full load in all gears and all is good. Not in a hurry to push things much further though, as I am happy with the power - I still cant get it all down.

thanks for the photos Andrew, could you please remove my plate numbers too? cheers:)

Do you still have the old nismo diff? clutch packs can be replaced.

congrats on the time, the ute is coming along nicely. matt, what times did you pull?

the locals did, I am just glad I managed to calm them down enough that they didnt call the cops - I really dont need a defect.

bleeders work by allowing some of the boost pressure to be vented, rather than going to the wastegate. To reduce the boost, you need to lessen the amount of air being bled off. If there are no markings on your bleeder, such as a + and - symbol to indicate which way to turn it, you can try turning the bleeder 1/2 a turn clockwise. Take the car for a drive and see which way the boost is going, then adjust apropriately. If you do have markings, just try adjusting down by 1/2 a turn at a time, test drive, then adjust again as necessary. May I ask why you only want to run 6psi? thats pretty low, below stock on an R32 or 33. Another way you could get the boost down is to remove the bleeder competely, so the boost goes directly to the wastegate. This way you will just run whatever the minimum boost of the gate is.

good power Hippy, if you want to feel like you have more power, try pushing that pedal on the right a bit harder, its the long skinny vertical one - works every time:D