Hardman69

Is anyone from around Mullgrave/Glen Waverley/Dandenong going? I probably won't have a gearbox-in-car by then, but wouldn't mind going along for a chat/meal/drink, so, . . umm, . . . aaahh.. . . Can I bum a lift? If I have any money to buy dinner by then.. . . . . (stupid dumb gearbox)

Seems this has degenerated into a "what pisses me off about F1" thread - Quite possibly My fault for mentioning how cool F1 would be as a SPECTACLE if we could actually SEE cars sliding around more than 1 or 2 degrees. Yo Sam ! I WISH i was at Oran park dude! I'm lucky to get a TOE north of the Murray lately dude, let alone all the way up there! I might however, have to organise a trip up to ye olde' Sydney town to do a track day at Oran before it closes. Maybe even fly up for a Formula Ford school day (I did Calder, and even pooey old slow open-wheelers are GROUSE!) Oh yeah, is there a thread for "What I'd like to change in F1" ? ? . . . - I guess it'd inevitably end in a flame-war, and get locked.

I sez "Meh" to diesel - I watched a special on the Sebring 12-hour on "In pit liane" this week, and the Audi R10's sound SH!T ! I suggest a piston minimum weight, 'coz it still gives the engine designers room to increase revs through stronger cranks/conrods/pistons, although not by much! - also, it lets U alter the performance of the V8 vs. V12, through altering the piston weights every few seasons, as necessary. Chassis Ballast would do for mid-season changes.

Talked to Simon @Competition gearboxes today, He said the input shaft is rooted, as well as the 3rd/4th selector sleeve. 3rd/4th selector fork is SHATTERED, with half lying on the bottom of the gearbox case - 4th syncro is more or less gorne! Shall see how We go with the parts/rebuild - fingers crossed !

(Shrugs) I dunno - can't even remember where I got the JPG from! - and Sam, I believe U have the same rims as I got with My white, Series2 R33 GTS-T. (They're My trackday rims now). Eh? Oh yeah - If it's got a load of jizz on the front tyre, Thorpey sez it's fooolly Sik ! !

Put the hard word on Bernie for that $20 He owes Me, can Ya ? Seriously though, I've had enough of 19,000rpm Mosquito motors. You can barely tell the difference in engine note between the V8 and the old V10's ! I'd like to see V8's Vs. V12s again, at 3 to 3.5 Litres, but with minimum piston weights imposed to regulate revs, and therefore Hp. I'm thinking . . . . . 11,000rpm -> 12,000rpm max? Did anyone see what Williams came up with a couple of years ago, if regs had been frozen in sliding-skirt ground effect days? Scary.

I'm IN SO hard, there'll be friction burns on the application form! (nice times b.t.w.)

Gots'ta love Sideways, over the exit kerb, one wheel on the grass & sparks flying ! ! GO GILLES ! And U just know He probably kept the throttle mashed down hard.. . . That's the kinda spectacle missing now - actually being able to SEE how hard the drivers are pushing ! ! If you're not trackside, 10metres from where they start braking, there's precious little indication of how much current cars/drivers are pushing on. Strip the downforce, BIG slicks, and fatten-out the width of the cars, AKTION ! p.s. Ronnie Peterson was apparently a notorious drift-merchant too:

Hey, I'm currently smack-bang in the middle of a 'box rooting . . . . (Oh how I wish it was as good as that sounds) SAU Vic thread on My rooted Gearbox It gets dropped off for a strip today, I'll be updating my Vic thread on what the damage is, literally and financially.

Ahh yes - From Best Motoring International: Fuji Fast ! I'm looking at the DVD right now actually, it's got some of Tsuchiya's farewell JGTCC season (NSX hotness) on it too. Gots'ta love that N/A induction bark.. . . I've heard vaguely of N/A RB26DE's getting built in Japan to run a reliable . . . 300kw@10,000rpm . . . . BOOYAH ! !

Ditto ! All testing and no racing makes Massa a soft-headed boy

Aaahhh, actually I have a reservation, and it's about ALL GTR's on the (public) road: They're RWD, until there's slip, and then power starts feeding to the front, right? So inexperienced driver-boy punches it hard out of a corner, maybe it's turning left at a biggish intersection with the run of the lights, whatever.. . . The rear starts stepping-out when the Turbos spin-up, (it's wet, perhaps?) - so a lil' oppy lock gets fed in, just as the torque starts arriving at the front wheels, loading the the steering with some torque-steer, and BAM ! GTR spears in opposite direction & meets outside of corner/median strip etc.. . . . Call bulls!t if U want, but I know of someone who's done it - and they didn't really know what was happening at the time, 'coz it was all so quick. That's just an example, but variable AWD big grip + turbo power opens up a whole world of sh!t if things get just a lil' outta control. Add to that a certain . . . . lack of imagination, when "having a rip" at that age, and for sure, it's dodgey. Food for thought, but if I'd had the means to get a GTR at 21, no amount of advice or nay-saying could've stopped Me, so kinda makes all this irrelevant eh?

Aaahhh, He only stopped 2 laps after the leaders, and with/before 6 other cars. Webber's best lap was slower than everyone in front of him, so He probably finished about as well as could be expected (i.e. solid). - He creamed DC and the Torro-Rosso's, so it's looking like car holding him back. Betchya He can't wait for the Major mid-season Newey-isation update !

Yeah, thanks abcent - A mate in the trade is seeing in the morning if he can get a changeover from Japanese Gearbox Wholesalers in Rowville, if not I'll probably flip a coin between 360 and Competition - they both sound pretty good, and charge similar rates, and they're practically a stone's throw from each other !

Yeah, EggZackery ! ! As much as I'm a tightass, I'd lurrrvvv a set of splitfires in there, so I can get back around a 1mm gap, and punch out a heartier low-midrange wad of Torque (and Turbo spool-up). One of the coils has started "popping" & breaking-down at 18psi though, so I'll have to see which one's peeled the silicon off a bit (I'm guessing it's that). Oh, The V-Grooves I had so much joy from were NGK R series, BKR6E - They're like, $3 each or something !

On Hamilton's use of "tricked" - I think it's maybe an odd choice of word, but I didn't take him as cocky at all - He practically apologised for Massa falling off the track when He tried passing Ham' the 2nd time ! And I think Hamilton actually did do a decent job of "Sucking in" Massa to outbrake himself there, He showed quite handy racecraft many times in the race I thought. After the first 10 minutes excitement, yeah - it did get a bit boring, so I had a crack at forum-whoring on Here ! Shame Webber (car/tyres?) fell away in the last 15 laps, He looked pretty solid until then. Go Nico Rosberg too, like I think someone else mentioned.. . . . Frank Williams will no-doubt fire him in the next year or two, since He's looking seriously good as a RACE driver now . . . . Go Frank . . . .

So, 'box is dropped, Here's some of what came out with the (pretty, shiny) oil: Note the Lil' clip here, left of the plug - that dropped out with the oil. Who KNOWS what else lies at the bottom of the Box?! Saw plenty of Synchro-shards, and OOOHH BOY is there some filings in that-thaaar oil !

Hardman69: R33GTS-T 200(ish)rwKw - RE55s, HKS CoilOvers Winton 1:44.something (Nokia timing, streeet tyres, Blown Turbo Gasket) Winton 1:41.6 (Driftbox timing, RE55s, REALLY Blown Turbo Gasket, again) 1st flyer @ P.I. in timed run #1: 1:53.9 (Official, and Driftbox) 3rd flyer @ Phillip Island 1:53.5 (Driftbox, Using end of prior lap, plus 3/4 of last lap before gearbox went) I'm calling dibs on using that "Dodgey" lap with a "virtual" S/F line at P.I. . . . . I only got 2'n a bit flying laps dammit ! hmmm, looking at other's times, what will I need to crack 1:50 flat? . . . . . hmmm.. . . (strokes chin)

OKAY : I'm donning the flame-proof suit now . . . . . (ooh, it's tight in the groinal-region!) VH Commodore. HEAR ME OUT ! You'll get a rough one free, or near-free. Parts are so easy and cheap to get, You practically trip-over them as you walk into most wreckers, and You'd be AMAZED at how cheap most new genuine spare-parts are. - Not to mention, these are just about THE BEST supported thing in the Aussie performance aftermarket. Have I mentioned, that they weigh 1260kg WET, and have a generic Borg-Warner Diff centre? (sooo many drop-in LSD's) Strip it out, do a "Ghetto rebuild" on a 5-Litre V8, with a hottish Cam, and the best flowing intake/exhaust gear you can afford, make sure the gearbox is ok (Manual only peoples) and drop in VL Turbo Calipers & front discs, with a disc rear-end . . . . . BAMMO ! Track Beeaatch ! p.s. Get yourself a REALLY tight 2nd hand, or reco'd NON-ASSISTED steering rack. They're light-enough once you're rolling, give BAGS of feedback, and you'll never worry about boiling power steering fluid. YEAH !

If anyone decides to throw even a lil' (big) chunk of ca$h at a new motor, it'll be record-smashing galore with the '07 rule revisions.. . . . No more Multi-Valve equivalency rule ! That means 4-Valve heads on 6Litre Chevs, and 3.5Litre turbo/Supercharged 4-Valve motors. KRIKEY ! Can anyone plonk-down the monnies for a 6L V12 Ferrari engine? Maybe splice 2 RB26DE's together?? Seriously though - can someone gift Me $20k for a race-tuff 2JZ stroker with twin 400hp snails??

Mine was fine with just a 3.75" catback 'zorst, then had spark breakdown @9psi with FMIC and stock ECU. I re-gapped a set of V-Grooves to 0.8mm, put 'em in and . . . . . . STILL breaking spark! (not as badly though). Simon at Nizpro said that's V.Common for the R33 GTS-T, and . . . . A PowerFC and Tune fixed the hell out of it. The Factory ECU goes V.Rich above stock boost, makes a heavy mixture to push spark through. I put a higher flowing Turbo on, went to pump the boost . . . . Spark Breakdown ! ! couldn't get past 10psi . . . I did the high-temp silicone trick, and now it'll push through a 12.3:1 Mixture at up to 18psi, with 0.8mm gapped iridiums. I think the V-Grooves were a frag better, going back there once the iridiums are done. The moral of My story? If you've got weak/leaking factory coils - You CAN chase your tail around, and Dodgey-fix your way through to running decent boost & power, BUT it's a VERY fine line you've gotta walk, between spark gap, boost, and mixture. I'd LUUURRRRVVE a set of Splitfires, but I'm getting by on $11 of silicone for the moment, and I just don't have the cash. I have . . . . $6, not $600. (I LITERALLY have $6!!)

I did it for 5 days after Phillip island last week - It's RUBBISH! If you've got the shoulder straps done up anywhere near tight, then You can't head-check over your shoulder. NOT COOL ! ! Plus, it's just a pain, to unclip the harness, and have to loosen off the lap-belt, and re-tighten it every time you get in the car.

I used a non-ratchet tie-down strap, with hooks at both ends and a cam-buckle. 'twas about $16 for a pair at Bunnings, I think. I got the blue-strap "Lion" brand, 1.83metres long. It's way too long tho - I had to run the loose-end back&forth between the hooks at each end. 1m would be plenty! I put 1 hook through a hole under the bonnet's front-edge, and the other down to the tow-hook, past the front chassis rail. I mounted My extinguisher on aluminium strap (min 4mm thick I think, see CAMS manual online) under the front-seat mounting bolts. Get a blue battery sticker, I'd recommend a 3" harness (e.g. search ebay for a Monza one, $170, dated to 2011) - Legal tread on UR tyres (R-Compound or not) ummm, Helmet that meets standards (CAMS Manual online again) Cotton/wool long sleeve/legged getup, NO GLOVES req'd? Bring as much fuel as U can carry - it's $1.75/L at the track! (or 10min drive into town) Bring an assortment of tools- and misc. bits, like self-tapping screws of various sizes - great for those lil' things that come loose, that U didn't notice on the street. (e.g. wheelhousing liners etc.)

Do it with the window down, listen hard for the engine note changing - if it's spark breakdown You'll hear a pop/paff type noise, as it hesitates. With boost that low, it'd have to be a pretty badly cracked coil case to leak spark, or some seriously dirty, wide-gapped plugs. They're likely still at the factory-spec 1mm gap. A note about re-gapping plugs: Narrower gaps mean less torque & power - especially low-down. You wanna run 'em as wide as possible to keep a big, clean, happy flame burning inside those cylinders. Of course, too wide and it's pop-pop-pop, blown out spark when the mix gets thick.

There's no ECU mods listed, so I can't see how it'd be pinging - stock ECU only ever goes rich/retard with bigger boost. I'm waiting for a better description of the sound it makes when it hesitates. Peace out bruddas ! -Nathan. (p.s. I'm Nathan, You can't be Nathan too. think of another name!)