Lolrick

Looks like I'll be taking an advanced driving course, then! It will be good to learn about all those things that you wouldn't even consider until you were told, of which there seems to be so many. I like doing this in my own car as well, as ultimately I want to be comfortable with my vehicle (not just overall a more knowledgeable driver). Those drift courses look so good, however at $800 a pop, the value proposition seems lower, especially if i've just taken an advanced driving course. The idea of getting to drive the institutions cars is amazing, but how much actual time do you get in the car? the programs all say "one demonstration, then 3 attempts by the student". Has anyone done a full day version of these? Then, definitely joining the club, so to say, and coming along for a few events, notably Texikhana. I must say, my confidence in driving slightly quicker has genuinely grown this last week alone since im starting to push myself every now and then. I'd actually like to aim for a track day (even if i'll have no idea what I'm doing) as i'd like to put the car under the throttle for more than a few moments, and to put it through a corner and see how well it actually handles. However, first things first, time to look out for a good deal on the advanced driving course

Thanks for the speedy replies, guys! I'll probably check those experience sites like red balloon and adrenalin and see if i can get something on special Might hold off on club ownership for now, as I genuinely am still getting used to a low, RWD and manual (yes, never owned one in the family). But on the club membership and texikhana, how easy is it to mount that fire extinguisher? I have zero fabrication knowledge or tools. Can i just bolt on with the bracket that most extinguishers come with? It's little things like this that are pushing me to the advanced course - there's only so much that the Drift King can teach you off youtube from 20 year old overdubbed videos! Thanks! Always nice to receive those sorts of complements as a Skyline owner... I feel i constantly have to exemplify good driving practices to disprove the stereotype.. doesn't help that i like kebabs, though lol Haha i work with a lot of old mechanics, so I'm getting pretty good at working out what is BS and what isn't!

Hi all, I've recently gotten into my Skyline, and feel it would be appropriate to get some some advanced driver training/have some fun in a controlled environment (skids in the car park doesn't seem to be the go anymore). However, I'm having trouble finding good information on the net. First of all, I've spent a good many hours in freeway, rural and city driving conditions, so I am confident with my defensive driving. What are your experiences with an advanced driving course? I'm especially keen to get into a skidpan and spend some time working on recovering from slides. I'm currently based in Homebush, and would much prefer going to a facility close by. Searching for 'Advanced Driving Course", I've returned these results: Ian Luff Sydney Motorsport Park (The Formula Company) Driving Solutions (Penrith) Unless these are on special from adrenalin/redballoon, they are $320, $370 and $250 respectively. Do you believe that i can find better value elsewhere? This brings me onto my next point - SAU NSW club membership. I've had a look at a few of the events (i.e. Texikhana), and they look good fun. However, this is my first time in a sports car, and i feel that i will miss out on the driver training aspect if i go for only this option. For the time being, I'm not interested on going to the track or the drags as i don't think my driving skills are really ready for that sort of environment. I'd basically like to find somewhere that i can stuff up without impeding others or having my car on a tow truck (she's my daily!) Cheers guys! Mick

We sell paint protection products at the fleet company that i work for, and essentially it's a warranty item - it doesn't do much for the paint on your car, but if you happen to get rust/bird crap/UV damage within a certain period (5 years?) that ruins your paint, then the product manufacturer will repair it- usually with a resprays

Thank you!

Still only halfway through haha, will need to unbolt the bottle on the passenger side and maybe even take off the pod, but otherwise seems pretty straight forward! The drivers side LED went in perfectly btw, thank you!

Only a few seconds? Haven't really thought to measure that. I just checked, and it turns out i have the manual height adjustment as well. Thing is, i cant seem to find the ballasts that should be there? I noticed the dust cap has not been tampered with

Hi guys, my import papers say i had the halogen bulb installed into my factory Xenons, but when i turn my lights on, i still get the "initial big flicker, then dim, then slow spread of light" - is this achievable with a halogen bulb? Thanks!

Yeah I had another go last night and got the drivers side one out. Seemed to be the same process as described above. Cheers guys!

Hi guys, just digging up an old thread real quick... Can anyone confirm if removing the parker bulb is the same process for an R34 with factory Xenon headlights? I'm having a few issues myself getting them out! Cheers! and Merry Christmas

I'd hate to link to the SMH, but I found this opinion article a good time-line, free from usual media sensationalism http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/steam-under-the-bonnet-20131213-2zctr.html

You say "consider me at fault, too" - but really, we are consumers, and are not obliged to purchase something just because it is made in Australia. Many consciously choose to support Australian business (which is positive!!) but generally people will vote with their wallets, as they are entitled to. For many, Commodores just aren't the right size, cost, or image. That said, I've driven a VF Ute and Calais, and I'm quite impressed. Engine is fun, not tooooo thirsty, and the interior is finally representative of a 21st century vehicle. Most importantly, there have been half decent price drops across the board. However, Holden just don't make enough margin on most of their commodore sales (margin is high - they don't cost much more to make than a cruze but sell at a premium, but there are overhead costs to recover) because they give many of them away at close to cost price - for example, the Federal Government sure isn't paying retail price, and any reasonably priced fleet is getting massive discounts too. Commodore might be in the top 5 sales from VFACTS, but they just aren't making all that much money. Yeah, the AMWU has had a cruisey few decades here, and will be paying the price. I hope that they, and the transport workers union, cease to exist after Holden and QANTAS go. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what the unions have done for us, but we needed them 2 decades ago, their job is done. Australians have it too easy already, and now unions just seem to be a cash cow for certain party members. Further, the issue isn't just pushing for more money/less hours etc - for some reason, the AMWU seems to have a hand in strategic decision, which was hard enough for Holden in the first instance being an American subsidiary in a vastly different market. Things such as robotics were issues cited that were blocked by unions, as it would cost assembly lines people's jobs - if only we could see the whole picture, where instead of a relatively unskilled assembler, we could have had opportunity to research, build and develop - and then maintain - innovative technologies such as these robots.

I'm keenly anticipating any changes to vehicle legislation, and the effects of this on the new and used vehicle market. For example, with falling tariffs and no need for any protectionism (at all) can the Government wind back things such as the Luxury Car Tax? Will importers pass on savings (assuming AUD stays steady for a while) and will our overall new prices drop? Perhaps, mostly significantly, will the restrictions on parallel importing be removed? OR, will we remain a dumping ground for the world's manufacturers and have the Government continue to see motorists as revenue raisers (as we are powerless to resist, really - no way of 'voting with our feet') Can i also mention, we have just signed a free trade agreement with Korea - this is not necessarily significant because we will soon have access to Kia/Hyundai/Daewoo-Holden imports without tariffs, but because our parts suppliers can now have a crack at the Korean market. Korea isn't necessarily cheap, either, so Australians may be able to compete with this agreement. The volumes sure are larger! Many sources in the mainstream media have cried that the parts suppliers are the ones that will make up the bulk of the job losses... but the fact is, these guys were slowly getting phased out regardless, either through winding up business due to decreasing Australian manufacturing demands, or because they were already moving off shore, most notably to Thailand. I may stand slightly right-wing here, but it naive and a real entitlement issue to think that anyone should be guaranteed a job for life, especially in a competitive global environment. Yes your Government should look out for you, but you can't expect to see no hardship. While it sucks to have many job losses, speaking more specifically to the auto assemblers, I don't see why they should attract particular sympathy - business closing down is just another part of business. When Bowen announced the FBT implications in July, this could have set tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs in the salary packaging industry, yet there was no public outcry to have these people on generous severance packages and re-training programs. In fact, all that i heard were people saying about time we ended the tax rort (if someone would like to discuss how FBT is not a tax rort, I'm happy to take the time) Similar to the GFC, where many white collar workers simply found themselves out of jobs, there was no ready support, excluding the existing structures (centrelink)

That's the problem, don't think anyone can figure it out! haha

So I got around to reading Go Auto news today (yes, it's not the most reputable publishing, but it gets emailed directly to me at work). Turns out that a few days ago, Coles and Woolworths agreed to cease heavy discounts on fuel, as other companies were unable to compete as they did not have separate arms of business to draw the losses from. As a result, Coles and Woolworths have agreed to limit all discounts to 4 cents per litre. I am absolutely astounded that, after all this time spent 'investigating' pump price cycle, price gauging, collusion, and generally having no correlation to Singapore oil prices (even if hedged months in advance), the ACCC have only succeeded in removing predictable price cycles (i.e. we knew Tuesday was the cheapest day to fill up, now it's russian roulette) and to now reduce the discounts that consumers get. Further, these discount dockets only seemed to recover the amount that was artificially inflated by the scheme at the pumps - meaning the consumers have once again been left to bear the prices without protection. I don't mind paying the taxes on fuel (45% or so) but I'm getting pretty tired of the manipulation of pump prices, and the lack of positive action by the ACCC/Fuel Commission. Article link: http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/0280BC0B01715E58CA257C39002350B1

Absolutely no idea - hasn't been on a dyno, and I don't think that i'll be budgeting for a dyno tune either lol. I'll just say that it's "fast"

Thanks guys! If you jump on my profile and go to gallery, there should be a photo there! Clean looking GT-T in silver with factory spoiler and GT-R rims - exactly what i wanted. Purchased off a casual SAU forum member. Turbo has been high-flowed and been tuned by Toshi - apparently he's a bit of a whiz?

Went through that no, no luck either. Regardless, purchased a car last Tuesday, hasn't fallen apart yet very happy to join the community!

It puts the VIN through fine, but I always get rejected when i try to match the rego up. I had this with a previous R33 that i was looking at. It seems the carhistory.com.au people aren't too interested in these cars, as they were less than helpful. It's ironic, you'd think that these sorts of vehicles would benefit most from this sort of service.

Done I've jumped on carhistory.com.au (and did so previously) but find it frustrating that they can never seem to find information regarding the vehicle. I rung them earlier in the month, a young lady with a British accent answered, she did not seem interested at all in helping me out. Ah well, such is the nature of imports.