shubby0901

Got the car back, damage has been repaired. Keen to finish exams, work more shifts and throw some more cash at the car.

I was going to sit and study for exams, but then I thought that's boring so I changed the coil packs. The car is so much smoother, idle's smoother and quieter and revs quicker too. Another thing ticked off the list.

Ive heard from alot of people the genuine ones perform better, besides i believe you cant really go wrong with genuine parts. Also these were significantly cheaper than any splitfires I could find online and instore.

Recieved my new genuine Nissan coilpacks today. Keen to install them but will have to wait. Car going for repair on monday, exams from then on so will be after the 28th most likely.

Car has been booked in to be repaired on the 23rd at the repairer of choice of the insurer. I have been told not to do anything with the car, not even wash it. So I am just leaving it as it is till it is fixed.....soooo its not getting much attention at the moment. Also exams coming up so don't have a lot of time. On a side note, the insurer I am dealing with as a 3rd party is Youi. As of now, super impressed. Everything is quick and easy. Hopefully it stays this way.

ECR33-113995 Thanks!

Got rear ended today while on the way to work. Was a very low speed crash so damage is very minor, mainly scratches and small dents and the boot no longer lines up. but it is damage which now needs to be fixed. Thankfully, the guy at fault has insurance...

Swap completed. Was easy, hardest part was finding the actuator. Makes a significant difference, car is much faster when pedal to the metal. Definitely worth it. If someone wants a RB20 turbo, no wastegate actuator, lemme know

Nope just replacing the RB25 waste-gate actuator with the RB20 one as it runs at a higher PSI. I will have to find something to do with the RB20 turbo, probably try to sell it.

Car had a thorough wash today to prepare for paint touch up. I had some paint colour matched and used a small brush to fill in all the small scratches and scrapes. Although not a proper fix, its better than nothing. The effectiveness of my paint skills will be seen in the morning when its all dry. Yesterday was 1 year of me owning the car. I had said 1 year I will drive the car as is, and so on its 1st anniversary with me, I bought a RB20 turbo. I've actually been looking for a RB20 turbo wastegate actuator but was unable to find one. I did however find a RB20 turbo with the actuator which I bought and removed the waste-gate from. Installation is easy but I need some new vaccum hose so off to the parts shop in the morning to grab some and finish the job.

The car has new disks and pads, although I think the fronts need to be re-bed because they are still squeaky...and has had a full bleed and everything so it should be fine. I'm not chasing massive power, just something to play around with. Yeah I have my eyes peeled for anything cool although im not a fan of the canon tips. The varex is expensive and I will spend some time saving up so who knows, something cool might come up.

Thanks for the offer but I think im done with the look of the car for a while. Just touch up the paint chips/scratches and it should be fine. Im not looking at performance increases so exhaust and perhaps a boost controller. Really tempted to go for a catback exhaust with a varex twin tip muffler...but that route is quite expensive compared to various other catback options.

I thought about doing mine myself but then decided to get them done professionally. One of the lights has a crack and I was scared of making it worse. Hopefully the lights stay clean for a decent time.

So I got my headlights polished. They were really really bad and required some serious work. I thought about doing it myself but decided it was not worth the risk. So here are some before and after pics. After: Looks heappps better, totally worth it. I seem to have reached the end of my exterior looks mods/repairs so now onto the performance of the car. About a week from now, it will be 1 year that I have had this car. Time to look for a cool as bday gift?

Quick Review: Pirelli P1 Tyres Size: 245/35R19 After driving around with these tyres for a while (only on the rear wheels), I am very impressed. They have stupid amounts of grip, espcially compared to the old Nexen N6000 I had before. It is very hard to get these to spin, you have to have really high revs and then drop the clutch. This is in the dry of course. They are pretty quiet too. I have noticed a move in the road noise to the front of the car (older Nexen tyres). They are reasonably priced too compared to others in the same range. I am yet to see what the wear is like., will post again later. Will highly recommend to others.

I read a while ago that you should just be able to twist the belt to 90 degrees. If it goes past that, then its too loose and if it doesn't reach that then its too tight. I'm not sure if this is correct but im sure someone will correct me if im wrong. Manual probably has numbers which you can measure using tools designed for it. I also installed what they call "square" (they're still rectangular) plates here in SA. They look nicer and actually fit in the cut out of the stock bumpers designed for jap plates...looks wayyy better

This is my first DIY so constructive criticism is always appreciated. After much searching online and failing, I thought I’ll write up how to change an RB25DET accessory belts. That is the Air-Con, Power-steering and Alternator belts. If this DIY already exists, all good here is another one. Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic, I try and work things out using my own knowledge and other peoples DIY to please don’t blame me if anything goes wrong. Belts I used: Alternator: Gates Micro-VAT 4PK850 Air-Con: Gates Micro-VAT 4PH915 Power Steering: Gates Micro-VAT 3PK835 Meaning of the numbers: 4: Belt has 4 grooves, this cannot change in the replacement belt PK: Not sure, don’t think its important 850: Length of belt, you need roughly the same. All pulley systems have lots of room for adjustment for size of belt so you don’t have to have the exact same one. Have a look at what is currently installed and get something similar in size. LET THE DIY BEGIN! Firstly, you need to figure out which belt/s are worn. For me, when I had the steering at full lock with a cold engine, I would get belt squeal as well as when I turned the Air-Con. Therefore I decided to change those, as well as the alternator while I was at it. When you open the engine bay, you will see your belts such as the pics below. The the second step is to loosen the alternator pulley which is found on the left side of the engine bay, when facing the car. This will be done by loosening the bolt numbered 1 and then turning bolt number 2. You can then push the alternator towards the engine and loosen it. The next step is the removal of the fan. Using a 10mm spanner, undo the 4 bolts. It helps using WD-40 and then holding a pulley while applying force onto it. Once they are undone, remove the fan. Once the fan is removed, you need to remove the belt at the very front first. This is the power steering. I believe. To remove this, loosen bolt 3 and then turn bolt 4 to bring the nut away from the holding plate. You can then push the pulley system and loosen the belt. Once loose, the belt can be slid off. The next step is the air-con belt. To remove this, you need to get under the car and remove the underbody protector by removing the 6 screws. Once removed, you will see another bolt near the middle of the car which needs to be loosened. This will allow the tensioner to move and loosen that belt. With the bolt loose, push the tensioner. This might be really tight so use WD-40 and/or a hammer on the block circled, NOT THE PULLEY ITSELF, to move it up. Once this has moved enough, you can pull that belt off too. The last belt to be removed will be the alternator belt. Since you have already loosen it, you can just slide that off too. Once your belts are off, you can just need to reverse the process and put them back on. First alternator belt, don’t tighten this. Next the Air-con belt. Tighten aircon belt tension bolt enough so that belt twists to 90 degrees and nothing more, don’t re-install the under-body protector yet. Install power steering belt and again tighten it so you can just twist it to 90 degrees and tighten the other holding bolt. Next re-install the fan. Once the fan is tight, you can tighten the alternator belt to the same tension. Start up the car and listen for any noises. Any screeches means the belt it too loose. Power steering will screech at full lock so hold it at full lock for a few seconds. Air-con should screech as soon as you start it if it is loose. Alternator should screech at any point when the car is on. If any screeches are heard, tighten the corresponding belt using bolts 2, 4 or 5. Once all belts are tight, you can reinstall the underbody protection as we left it off in case we need to tighten the air-con belt. Go for a drive and test it out. If any screeching is heard, tighten the belt which causes. Avoid belt squeal eliminators as they are only temporary fixes which make more of a mess than solve the problem. Final Step: Enjoy your screech-less belts and pulleys !

I got Pirelli P1's installed due to availability and cost. They are really quiet and have tonsss of grip in the dry. Have not tested the wet weather performance yet though

I ended up giving the belts a go. I was scared at the start cuz I couldnt get the fan off but it wasnt that hard. Ive typed up a DIY tutorial too, will upload it later as I couldnt find one for myself. No more screeches...YAY!! The PS one I believe is the one which is from the side. Worst part is I dont have a ratchet spanner so the tensioner took about 20mins to tighten as the spanner would only turn 10 degrees or so everytime.... Air-con one was easy since you can get to the tensioner from under the car. The thread also has over 3000 views...that blows my mind. Thanks alot guys!

Did a car service today. Changed oil, spark plugs and filters. I need to change my accessory belts too which I tried but without knowing what to do, was hesitant. Might look for someone who knows what to do and can teach me for next time.

Cheers for the offer but I think my next thing is an exhaust. Im trying to do some research about what to get, intrested in getting a Varex setup but not sure. Is anyone reading this running a varex? I would like to know your setup i.e. cat?, mid muffler?

Could do. I drive the car everyday to uni so I am very keen on making sure it is dailyable. Maybe needs a bit more lowering, king springs?

Finally finished painting the rims. Got the tyres fitted up and wheels installed. I reckon it looks awesome. Ill try and get some photos in the day light and see if I can get the metallic to sparkle. Hyped to finally get the wheels on.... Time for a photoshoot with the car clean and shiny Got the rears wrapped in Pirelli P1's, the fronts still have the older Nexen N6000 which I will change when they wear a bit more. Time to think of the next project now.....

Also got my Dashcam and installed it. Its the Mini 0805. I will upload a mini review soon. Hid the wires behind the a pillar trim and then behind the driver kickpanel.

Yeah it looks good. It is somehow the perfect height to block headlights of cars behind me so that I dont get blinded by them. Reverse lights look good, im interested to see how long they last being cheap ebay bulbs. Started painting wheels finally. Should be done soon. Also partly installed a dashcam, just need to fix it to the screen.