MerlinTheHapyPig

sweet, thanks for the help guys. I just cut the damn thing in the end. All works fine now (though steering pump made a nice grinding noise when i turned it on, but i turned the wheel a few times and it went away) I'm having issues removing the tie rods from the rack, if i turn one, the other side turns, i think i'll just remove the rack with the rods attached. Anyway that's something for tomorrow. I better get this working! drift practice at winton on saturday!

i had mine rebuilt, about 6months ago. one is leaking already...

Gary, There is a aluminium fitting (17mm bolt thingo) as shown in the diagram about 1cm from the bottom of the red line in the diagram (there is a bracket just above it, I'm currently trying to undo this bolt, but it's being a bitch). I'm assuming this is where we hook up the line. I was expecting to see a rubber hose (like the ones on line 1). How does the new rubber hose hook up to this line? do you need a special fitting, or can you just move back the 17mm bolt/thing and slip the rubber hose over the line?

i just thought i'd get someone to clarify this before i start hacking away on my power steering lines. on a r32 gtst, looking at the hicas solenoid in the drivers side of the engine bay... Line 1 goes from oil cooler to hicas solenoid. Line 2 comes from bottom of engine bay into the hicas solenoid. What is the best way to make the connection to line 2? there are no rubber hose sections that I can find, they are all metal screw fittings. Do I unscrew one of the fittings and just hacksaw the screw bit off? What's the best way to approach this? From what I understood of what sydneykid posted, you can just hoseclamp the rubber hose onto both line 1 and line2, but i can't find where on line 2 that this can be done without hacksawing off one of the screw fittings.

These are my comments from learning to drift in a fairly basic r32 gtst -rims start with 16's stock r32 and r33/s14 rims are good. Make sure tyres on front are good. Higher pressures on the rear can make it easier to loose traction, i usually run 38-40psi -suspension was a bit of discussion on this in another thread http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=125069 regarding swaybar upgrades vs jap coilovers i'd be looking for some good japanese coilovers, I would also get aftermarket pillowball castor rods for the front, and some tie-rod spacers for more steering lock (can be purchased from www.garage-13.com) Also consider hicas lock perhaps, if you haven't lowered the car too much, camber adjustment is optional, you probably won't need it. Then get a wheel alignment after installing all of them, set front castor to +7-8deg positive. A bit of toe-out (ie. 0.5mm each side) also helps for better turn-in for drifting. -brakes stock, make sure your pads and rotors are all in good condition, replace if necessary, good quality pads is a must for any motorsport. Make sure your handbrake shoes are adjusted. Skyline drum handbrakes lock HARD. much better than s13's which use the disc brake as the handbrake. -other things top of the list is a Diff that isn't stock. Either weld it or get an aftermarket mech diff. Most r32 stock lsd's are crapped out by now (15 years old or so), shimming is not really a permanent solution. Some people get lucky and have a good viscous lsd which locks nicely. But once you start drifting they don't take long to wear out. Welding is a good option in my opinion, but not too streetable (though it's not much worse than a tight 2-way) The usual power mods are recommended, though stock power is plenty to start with. Also things like handbrake button, aftermarket steering wheel, shift knob, racing harness, aftermarket seat are great things to have and make life easier. Alot of drift mods i've listed aren't too street friendly. Just keep that in mind...

yeah, it was the claw type. i had a spare balancer from another motor, so didn't really care if i broke it. I had to pull out the radiator and aircon to get enough room, though i'd been meaning to pull out my aircon anyway, so killed 2 birds with one stone so to speak. I think i may invest in one of the pully pullers that you screw into the 2 holes on the balancer next time.

i still have mine... better question should be.... has anyone been stuck on a train track and had to use one??

when i did my timing belt, the harmonic balancer bolt was pretty easy, but pulling it off was an absolute bitch, used a puller and a heap of crc and it came off in the end. I was worried about busting the rubber in the harmonic balancer because the puller was pulling so hard...

i've been using the motul 4100 10w40 for a while, no complaints here. Though i'm thinking of moving to a higher weight 10w50 or something, so might give mobil1 a shot. hard to compare 4100 to 300v chrono, because the 300v is more than double the price or something...

1.5-ways are plenty good enough for drift. This is what i'd recommend, because they are so much more versatile. 2-ways can be a real pain if you like to go on the odd twisty cruise, or intend to use the car for a bit of circuit work. I've found through my own experience and friends experiences that a new-ish 2-way, is almost exactly the same as a welded diff with the exception that they will un-lock when you clutch-in which is handy for driving it on the street going around corners at low speeds. One might say they are dangerous, but only for noob's who haven't driven with the diff in enough to get the hang of it. They are less forgiving than stock lsd's, but more predictable. I like my welded diff because it's about as predictable as you can get, and not really much difference between that and a tight 2-way (as long as the weld's hold up) one might argue that 1.5-way's are more dangerous because it's harder to determine if they will lock under deceleration under different circumstances.

hmmmm, might check my schedule. I'm not really a beginner but could just be a fun day, meet some people etc. is it all on the skidpan or do we get to hit an actual track?

so the "Entry is open to members of affiliated car clubs." part of the rules & regs can just be ignored?

from memory, anything between 127psi and 170psi is good compression, and variance of no more than 15psi between cylinders (these are from rb20det manual if i remember them correctly) low-compression related problems can arise from -piston rings (or cracked piston / stuffed bores) -head gasket -valves / head bottom-end rebuild will include new piston rings and will fix any bottom-end related compression problems. Usually to tell if your rings / pistons aren't holding compression you can add 10ml or so of oil to the cylinder when doing the compression test, if the comp increases then your rings are gone. (not to be confused with 'compression ratio') when rebuilding an engine you can lower the compression ratio by taking material out of the head, however this is completely different from what i've mentioned above, and low compression ratio's aren't necessarily bad, particularly for turbo's which are more prone to detonation. An aftermarket thicker head gasket can also lower the comp ratio. it would be impossible to detect if the comp ratio has been altered without taking the motor apart. hope this answers your question

do a compression test. This is the easiest way of determining what's wrong. If it's lower than 120psi or if it's very low in one cylinder, put about 10ml of oil in each cylinder and do the test again. -if the compression is good (all above 120psi and no more than 15psi variation between cylinders) then i'd say it's the turbo seals -if the compression rises on the second test it's definantly rings or pistons -if the compression doesn't rise on the second test, then it's valve related (or could also be the head gasket), i'd say stem seals most likely.

i have used them on an r32 gtst before and they fit fine. I've also used stock r33 gts-t rims and they also fit fine, so i'd say you should be alright. If you want good 16's, go for some stock r32 gtr rims, they 16x8inch (instead of 7.5), and much much lighter. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19/merli...6/skyline01.jpg

well, i think everyone here has valid points! I'm not trying to be argumentative, i'm just encouraging discussion of different points of view. locked diffs aren't that bad on the street (i drove my r32 with one for about 6 months as a daily), but it would probably rule out the possibility of using the car for circuit racing. You have to treat it with a bit of respect in the wet, but as long as you know what you are doing and don't have "drifted on" tyres on the rear, you're always in control. Though i have pretty much ruled myself out of any circuit work or twisties cruises for most part. the way i see it, both have the following benefits... swaybars - can adjust stiffness, oversteer/understeer etc. jap coilovers - stiffer springs, can adjust height, damper and camber. I've found damper can be used to a small extent, to adjust stiffness between front/rear, i.e. car will understeer on full soft rear, and oversteer on full hard rear. (skyline's don't get camber tops, but s13's do) As i mentioned before, drifting tends to be more forgiving on crappy setups, because you aren't going as fast and you don't ride/jump ripple strips like you do in circuit. I don't really object to taking the swaybar approach as a first option, but ideally you'd still need aftermarket springs/shocks of some description anyway. The way i look at it, is that you can have jap coilovers with stock swaybars and still have a good 'drift' setup. But you'd be struggling with aftermarket swaybars and stock springs/shocks.

my main worry is not knowing how well the car will work for drift, with swaybars + stock suspension. It's something i've never tried, which is why i'm more inclined to suggest a "prooven" solution. have you SK, or djr81 tried drifting a car with aftermarket swaybars and stock suspension? (this is more of a practical comment, i'm not questioning anyone's credibility) My argument here isn't that you *shouldn't* get aftermarket swaybars, it's that you shouldn't use stock springs/shocks regardless of what you do with the swaybars. as far as driving home in the wet is concerned, i'm using quantum coilovers with 8kg/mm springs (this is a fairly common 'jap' spring rate), and with the damper softened up on the rear, driving home in the wet isn't an issue. I've seen people try to drift with stock swaybars and stock suspension, and it isn't pretty. Now, i've also drifted my own car, with ~$2000-$3000 suspension and stock swaybars, and a friends car with $8000 suspension and whiteline adjustable swaybars, and dispite the fact that my friends car is much better setup overall, body roll isn't an issue for either car, and i can drift either of them with relative ease.

you said you're adopting s13 hub/brake setup anyway, if you go adjustable swaybars you'll still have to do something about getting s13 suspension aswell. So compare cost of stock s13 suspension v aftermarket + swaybars (might wanna also check if r31 swaybars will work with all of the s13 stuff) Just keep in mind, aftermarket s13 coilovers will also give you camber adjustment and height adjustment. I have no objection to people using adjustable swaybars, i just don't recommend them because i haven't had a chance to try them in my own car so can't comment. I'd like to try them, it's on my list of stuff to buy! SK, i'd like to try the full bilstein/whiteline groupbuy setup for drift, if only i had enough money to spend on experimenting with these things! if you know of anyone competing at Drift Australia/Forumla Drift level using it? i'd be keen to have a chat with them.

on a tight budget, you can't expect the car to be handling that brilliantly. drift is a lot more forgiving on crappy setups than circuit work due to lower speeds involved. Sure you will learn slower with a crappy setup, but you can learn the fundamentals in any rwd car with an lsd/locker just do what you can, and you can gradually start getting things to improve your setup. Drift battle ran a couple of issues with guides on how to set up an r31 for drift, i've had a friend who has tried this and just be wary that the magazine makes it sound alot simpler than it actually is (s13 suspension/hub/brake conversion) I haven't really played around with stiffer swaybars, it's usually something people go for later down the track because most of the jap coilovers have high enough spring rates to compensate for body roll fairly well. when i started drifting about 2 years ago, it was with a stock r32 with, shot coilovers (which came with car from japan), welded diff, tien castor rods. That was about it handling wise. And was enough to learn the basics, but pretty scary when you start using 3rd gear 100km+ (with shot coilovers, hicas, shitty wheel alignment... but hey, u use what u got...) you can give the secondhand tiens a shot, they aren't gonna be great but usually better than stock for learning. Then once you build up skills and hit the track, time to save up for something decent. my advise would be what you've planned (strip interior, locked diff, s13 brakes/hubs, s13 coilovers (shot tiens will do for now, easy to upgrade later), some cheapo pillowball castor rods, wheel alignment) save the rest of the cash for now, you'll probably use it to pay for track entry (or defects). Future upgrades would be power mods, better coilovers (get camber top plates), tie rods, swaybars, other handling mods. the car is manual yeah?

I've been told that police testomony is taken as expert witness or something along those lines (i'm not really into the legal stuff), which is why they don't need "hard" evidence to convict people of speeding/red lights/not indicating etc.etc. (ie offenses where you are 'observed' breaking the law, but there is no photographic evidence) If a member of the police lies in court about an offence, they are committing perjury, which is quite a serious crime if they are caught out, i'm not saying it doesn't happen, and there are cases where they get away with it, but on the whole most vic police aren't corrupt. I've spoken to a couple of members in the police and read the legislation, and have reached my own thoughts on the issues. (my next door neighbour is a TMU officer - i had a beer with him the other night and picked his brain on some of this stuff). Anyway, my main point was to say, all these offenses existed prior to these law changes, and the standards of proof are the same as they have always been. Not really sure why everyone is making such a fuss over all this!!

a couple of things about this legislation (as told to me by a vic tmu officer) firstly, all the offences (burnouts, drifting, street racing etc.) are already offences. All these laws really change are the penalties that can be imposed for committing these sorts of offenses. The "your word against the police" argument isnt' really relavent here because these laws have all existed for years and years. Such is the case with most traffic offenses, solid proof is not required. It would be very unlikely that police would lie about an offense because for police to do this would be putting their career on the line for no real gain (except maybe the satisfaction of punishing a smartass.. though i mean look at the risk vs gain) excessive noise is already an offense, and for your car to be impounded it would have to be in conjunction with a "loss of traction" style offence, not just by itself. (ie having a loud exhaust won't get your car impounded, maybe defected though) 99% of the people here don't really have to worry about this, and impoundment ruling for 3 months or sale of vehicle will have to go to court anyway. So if you are worried about how this legislation think of how many times you have received a court summons for a traffic related offense. This would be a fair indication of the number of impounds you can expect to receive!! Also, ALL impoundments have to be reviewed by a senior police officer, and you are given 28 days notice if the police intend to seek a 3month impoundment or forfeit of vehicle with the relavent court. Police by themselves can only impound a car for max 48 hours and for this to happen the offence has to be reviewed by a senior police officer.

rb20 ecu's are easy to remap, if you want a cheaper option. I'd rather remap than go emanage, but powerfc or wolf3dv4 are probably better options if you can afford it.

hmm, interesting intercooler heat soak can cause the pressure to drop a bit, but probably not as much as you describe. If you have an electronic boost controller, try removing it and wack in a boost control valve (just get one of the cheap ones, thread in forced induction "i found a good cheap boost controller") it's important when tuning to tune the areas on the map below the corresponding boost level, since 95% of the driving you do, won't be full throttle / full boost. I'd suggest working out what's wrong with the boost (use manual boost controller, check for vacuum leaks, cooler hose leaks), then re-dyno'ing it and if afr's are still all over the place, re-tune does boost drop like that when driving it on the street? maybe the fan on the dyno wasn't providing air to the intercooler.

it's hard to predict what would happen, it depends on what the tuner has done say it was tuned at 12psi, the regions on the map corresponding to loads when boost is higher than 12psi aren't really touched. The tuner can just leave them, or guestimate, or put in some safe values. So can be hard to predict what would happen here. Do you have the plot of manifold pressure (boost)?

you're running heaps too rich. It's probably not tuned for that level of boost.